Hail Caesar! Review Contest Entries

Hail, TMPers!

My name is Andrew Walters and I've been gaming for nearly three decades. My first game was Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe bought in 1976, and even that didn't turn me off. I found Ogre the next year, and it's been gravy ever since. I suppose my first gladitorial game was Melee, which I took to school and my friends and I played every day at lunch until we had worked every angle to death.

Max and I always meet at the local conventions, and now we're starting to get in a few games outside of cons. He has miniatures for more different genres than anyone else I know. I have a bandsaw. We're a perfect team.

I think I'm qualified to review for the following reasons:

1. I've written several game reviews. This is probably true of most TMPers, but I've been paid for several, if that counts for anything.
2. I really care about game mechanics: the I-go-you-go problem, how damage to an individual, unit, or vehicle is modeled, how different types of probabilities shake out over several rolls, my wife and kids have to listen to tirades about these at the dinner table. They're very polite about it. I drove across the county to a library with a copy of Jane's from 1904 to study how Fred implemented his tack-on-a-paddle based hit-location system. I may write a book. I really care about game mechanics.
3. I've been an official playtester in three or four games. That pilot named "Walters" in GMT Games's Zero! - that's me.
4. I have a history degree from UC Berkeley, and I'm pretty sure we covered Rome. We must have, there are a lot of books about Rome around here.
5. I've seen the movie Gladiator. I thought it went down hill after the opening battle with the Gauls, which was historically problematic, but fun.
6. I lose more often than not, so I'll be able to gauge my enjoyment of the game, not the enjoyment of winning (how's that for lemons into lemonade?).
7. At PacifiCon in 1981 (82?), I played a chariot race game that was long out of print even then. I managed to jump my one-wheeled chariot over two wrecks, amazing the crowd and scoring a free photocopy of the rules. So I've been around the track.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a Man-In-Black for Steve Jackson Games - but since they don't publish any gladiator games, I think I'm in the clear. (Frag doesn't count.)

...and thus we contest entrants are on display, as men condemned to die in the arena.

Hail Bill!

Hi, everyone!

My name is MaksimSmelchak, and I've been an active and well-known member of the gaming community in general (as well as at TMP) for a long time.

Around TMP, I'm known to be regular poster on the science fiction discussion forums, as well as having argued far too much on the Current Affairs forums in the near past.

I'm perhaps best known for having headed the group that re-established the 6mm_miniatures Yahoo E-group, and having helped several other gamers over the years to form their own Yahoo E-groups to support their favorite gaming genres and/or local gaming communities. I'm a big believer in the power of the Internet to help support the gaming community and, as a result, support TMP 100%.

I have my own gaming blog: 6mm-minis.blogspot.com/

Here are URLs for two of the more popular Yahoo E-groups that I help run:

games.groups.yahoo.com/group/6mm_Miniatures
games.groups.yahoo.com/group/6mmScienceFictionWarGames

I've been gaming for a long time (since the late 1970's), and originally cut my teeth with the early versions of Star Fleet Battles (starship battles) and Chainmail (fantasy miniatures).

By the 1980's, I had become a big fan of microarmor and started my science-fiction miniatures collection with Battletech. I played all manner of games, and particularly Steve Jackson games - with Ogre and Car Wars being two of my favorites.

By the 1990s, I discovered Games Workshop and became a big fan of the Epic Space Marine gaming system. I eventually became one of the major contributors to the Epic game, and am credited in the Epic-Armageddon book.

The twenty-first century has been good to me, and I've tried all types of genres of games from giant monster kaiju games to ancients using DBA. My interest in ancients has led me to an interest in gladiator games.

About a month or so ago, my good friend Andrew Walters called me up and asked me to be his partner for the upcoming TMP Hail Caesar! Review Contest. I was flattered and immediately agreed. Last year at a gaming convention, I played in one of the games Andrew Walters hosted and had such a good time that we vowed to get together more often. As all too often works out, our busy schedules have prevented us from getting together since last year - so I'm really looking forward to entering the TMP Hail Caesar! Review Contest as an excuse to get together more often with my good friend Andrew Walters and his family.

We've already planned to build an arena for playtesting. Andrew Walters has a garage full of dowels, foam sheeting, glue, etc. and we're sure we can build a simple but effective arena for our gladiators! It should be a lot of fun and I'm greatly looking forward to the contest!

I feel very well qualified to review this game because I have a lot of experience writing both game and book reviews at BoardGameJunky, Amazon.com, and as a paid reviewer for several gaming publications.

Andrew Walters and I have prepared for the possibility of being chosen as reviewers by playing several gladiator games, such as Ludus Gladiatorius from EM-4 games and Cyber Gladiators from Firefly Games so we have a basis for comparison. Ludus Gladiatorius came with a set of painted 25mm gladiator figures (Woo hoo!), so we're all prepared in the miniatures department as well.

And of course, no one could properly prepare for a gladiator game with out watching Ridley Scott's Gladiator film with Russell Crow!

I'm very excited to be entering the TMP Hail Caesar! Review Contest, and hope that Andrew Walters and I are chosen to be reviewers.