Blood on the Sands Introduction Youtube Video

I've been meaning to make a Youtube video for a while now to help those who are undertaking play testing of Blood on the Sands to get started. Well I thought I better give an introduction of the game before I launch into a more detailed explanation of rules mechanics. Anyway, if you fancy a chuckle at someone attempting to pronounce Latin terms when they can barely speak English - the Blood on the Sands "movie" should be right up your alley! I'd love to hear what anyone who manages to sit through this thinks.

Blood on the Sands Playtest

I had the opportunity to run a couple of play test games of Blood on the Sands for an old friend, Damian, and his good friend Ed. I met Damian years ago (probably 8-9 years ago) thanks to Blood on the Sands, when he reached out to me asking for a game. Damian and Ed are both Roman reenactors and it was great to be able to pick their brains on a few subjects. Thanks to Damian for being such a gracious host; for the wine, wolf nipple chips and the authentic Roman eating couch!

We had two very different matches. The first between a Thraex and a Murmillo, that saw Damian's Thraex suffer a devastating deep wound to the torso in the first exchange, which his poor gladiator wore for the rest of the match. The Thraex put up a good fight, considering his wound, but failed to land a blow on Ed's giant German Murmillo. The Murmillo hunted him relentlessly and eventually ended the match with a slow kill wound to the Thraex's torso for a second time, but he was spared by the crowd and granted missio.

The second fight was between two Provocators, one large and a Son of Pluto to boot, meaning his blows would hit home much harder and the other was agile making him harder to hit. The arena was scattered with training posts. Damian had a much better run in this combat and the Provocators danced around the obstacles trying to corner each other against them. At one stage Damian caught Ed's gladiator against a pole and delivered many punishing attacks against him, which severely fatigued Ed's gladiator. In the end this is what ended the match as Ed's Provocator could stand no more and had to submit exhausted. The fickle crowd shouted for his blood and he was put to the sword.

A great afternoon gaming with great company to boot.

 

I am happy to say that play testing is progressing very well and this time around I've actually gotten the rules written comprehensively (in my opinion) and as good as complete. I believe Blood on the Sands has evolved into a game that is easier to learn and much more accessible, while keeping the core of what I wanted the game to be all those years ago.

 

The Thraex and giant German Murmillo face off.

Our gracious host, Damian.

Ed preempting victory.

Blood on the Sands

 Some serious playtesting begins...

Blood on the Sands

 

More Sarissa Old West Buildings for Babel

 The slow construction of Babel, my old west town continues.

Over the Christmas period I managed to complete more Sarissa Precision buildings and some accompanying scratch-built additions.

First off is the Church/Schoolhouse. This is an iconic building for any old west town and I went for a traditional whitewash look. I applied a very pale green undercoat and then a wet drybrush of off-white. I added a small craft store bell into the belfry for some added realism.

No old west town can do without a graveyard and Babel is no exception. I constructed this graveyard from an mdf sheet, cut to fit the shape of the Church. The fence is just cut down coffee stirrers attached to a matchstick frame. Although Sarissa offer their own mdf headstones, the plastic ones I used here are from Renedra, along with a couple of Woodland Scenics armatures. The final image of the graveyard shows the model unpainted with thin pieces of foam in places to form the raised grave mounds.

 The Sheriff's Office with Cells forms the objective of quite a few old west scenarios. This is a nice model that is half wooden and half masonry. Bring your dynamite.

Babel's Undertakers and Cabinet Makers is one of Sarissa's Mediumplus Building 3s. It's done is a somber charcoal colour. I scratch-built a small construction yard to sit by the Undertakers, consisting of a storage area and coffee stirrer fence. The saw-horses are just made of stirrers as well and at the time of posting my coffins are yet to arrive.

Lastly is a massive new comer to Babel in the form of The Grand Majestic Hotel, Sarissa's old west Hotel model. This thing is pretty gigantic and will dominate the center of town. I have ordered an Artizan Not Al Swearengen to stand on the balcony. Unlike the Saloon, this model does not have any interior features.