Blood on the Sands - Gladiator Types & QRS

I've managed quite a fair bit of play testing on my "Blood on the Sands" gladiator rules in the last fortnight. Of course I continue to tweak things like crazy and I wonder will I ever be satisfied it's perfect. I keep forgetting to take photos though so I can't post more AARs, but these games are more research than enjoyment at the moment. I am happy to report I have had a couple of victories though (Yeah!!). One was with "Barcias the Babykiller" a Damnatio ad gladium gladiator, destined to be put to death the first time he fails to win and the other was with an unnamed retiarius whose opponent  eventually submitted through exhaustion.  You have to take the wins where you can get 'em.

I've had some positive feedback from a friend, who is an experienced gamer, but first time player of BotS. He enjoyed himself and is even keen to get some gladiators painted up. A good sign. My biggest hurdle I face now is getting the rules clearly down in print. I can teach the rules concisely and easily enough - the concepts are not hard, but writing them is proving difficult.

Although I soon hope to get some help from a professional graphic designer I have been toying with some layouts for parts of the rule book. What follows is a taste of some of the gladiator types and part of the QRS detailing some basic actions etc just to keep the appetites whetted. Images appearing on the gladiator cards are the property of Crusader Miniatures and have been used with their permission.

The Murmillo

The Hoplomachus

Part of the QRS

A Few Figures Painted

What follows are just a few of the figures I've finally finished over the last month. Staring at me still is such an odd assortment of figures from so many genres. I see a carnivorous ape, a great white hunter, some gladiators, some pathans, a zombie horde, a masked highwayman, a pair of hell hounds, an organ gun, two werewolves and a pirate. Weird. Do you ever get the feeling you should just stick to one project?

Charun (Crusader)

Retiarius vs Murmillo (both Foundry)

A pair of hoplomachi (both Crusader)

A midshipman (Old Glory)  and pirate (Foundry) for our next Indostan game.

18th Century Horror

Although I haven't posted anything for quite a while I have not been resting on my laurels. I've been furiously working on my gladiator ruleset "Blood on the Sands" and also prepping for the next big Indostan game, which should be along within the next month.

I have been slightly distracted though by a small project involving zombies, ghouls and vampires. Inspired by the goings on over at "Dust, Tears & Dice" involving some Elizabethans and the undead. My original plan  was to run a "Pike & Shot & Zombies" game but firstly the rules were for individual "heroes" only and secondly I have not a single ECW figure. Considering the amounts of 18th century bods we have lying around I thought I'd try to utilize them instead. So sometime in the future I envision a kind of Witch-hunters in tricorns type game against the forces of evil.

Last Christmas I purchased a box of Mantic zombies and about a dozen Mantic ghouls. Both types of plastic undead are really nice, easy to put together and a dream to paint. I have painted my first 9 (of 30) zombies and although not a horde, look good massed together. What follows is hopefully a taste of things to come...

"Dont fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"

"Their eyes are ALL white Sir!"

"Then fire!! Fire!!"