As if running the Gangs of Rome table for two days straight at MOAB wasn't enough, I somehow agreed to put on a third day of demoing, but this time my own gladiator ruleset, Blood on the Sands.
Anyone who still reads this blog may realise I have been working on Blood on the Sands, on and off, since 2013 (embarrassingly). Admittedly there were some long hiatuses between versions but BotS never truly left my mind. It was during our Covid lock downs here in Australia that I really started dedicating a lot more time to it.
Blood on the Sands was born on the Lead Adventure Forum, in my opinion, in it's day, one of the finest forums where gathered some of the most talented people in the hobby. Like blogs, I fear that LAF and other forums, were overshadowed by the lure of social media and slowly their members found other, shinier places, to discuss their hobby. It is still today a great source of inspiration. My Blood on the Sands post on LAF still claims fame as the most viewed unpinned post on the Ancients board (to date standing in at 181,731 total views). The 10 year long Blood on the Sands post can be found here for anyone with 14 hours to kill.
Here and now, still quite a few years later, Blood on the Sands is thankfully in a much better place and is a body of work that I feel really proud of. The rules are to the stage where they require a bloody good bit of editing and although rule tweaks and modifications go on constantly, they are mostly complete. I endeavor to move forward with Blood on the Sands in my seemingly eternal quest to find a publisher.
I ask anyone with any interest in Blood on the Sands to please join the new Facebook page to stay up to date with further developments.https://www.facebook.com/bloodonthesands
Here are some pics of Blood on the Sands being played at MOAB, in Sydney Australia. A very special thank you to Paul from The Man Cave for playing, such an enthusiastic and positive player, and generally all around great bloke. Damian and Ed who brought along their own contubernia of Roman legionary reenactors, Damian of whom has been play testing BotS since the beginning. And lastly but definitely not least, Victor, who helped run new players through the rules and who has been a constant sounding board for my gladiatorial delusions and vital play tester.
I really enjoyed playing BotS - surprisingly simple to play for the amount of detail, and some interesting decisions to be made at all stages.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kaptain - it was great to have you playing it again.
DeleteQuite a fabulous gaming experience, thanks for having me! It really reflects its extensive testing and consideration to deliver that 'easy to learn, hard to master' balance that is hard to achieve. And very inspiring too - I'm off to paint up more Gladiators for our next game!
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure Paul! I am so very glad to have been able to show you first hand and that you're a budding lanista too. Can't wait to see your new stable of gladiators and to meet up for a game.
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