I was touring through MAGWEB.COM the other day at work, looking for articles to print and read later. I came across a real gem of a little game in the issues of SAGA magazine. Issue 67 has an article entitled "We Who Are About To Die Demand A Recount!" The author, Gary Comardo, sets out a very quick and easy set of gladiatorial combat rules that I found very entertaining. I am a very big fan of the Gladiator style skirmish game and was interested in any new mechanics that Gary could provide. Previously our gaming club has played at Gladiator using the old Steve Jackson games Melee and Advanced Melee. These rules provide satisfactory encounters yet the mechanics had to be re-learned by our club every year. We tend to play the game annually around Easter weekend. What I found in Gary's article was a completely simple and yet satisfactory game mechanic that would allow a Gladiator game with little fuss over the game mechanics of Melee. What is very coincidental is that both systems use hexes as the movement formats. I have a painted hex map that fits over a 6' by 8' table and also have a very nicely painted set of Marx 54mm gladiators from the old Ben-Hur set. What follows is the addendum to Gary's original rules. This is a special issue of the Penny Whistle Coliseum. We are going to portray the owners of a school of gladiators. We will manage the finances that allow our enterprise to supply gladiators to the arena. Our fortunes will raise and fall with the skills of our trained athletes and the wagers we place on the games! Let the games begin: The following rules will be added to the copy of Gary Comardo's "Recount" rules. Each player will start the game with 24 gold coins. Purchases will be made from the gladiator slave market and merchants that provide the tools of the trade. There will be a fight bill that will list the number and types of Gladiator engagements that will take place. The Slave Market: Gladiators are purchased for 3 GC. They begin the game with 6 Strength points. Extra conditioning and training will increase the strength 1 point for every gold coin spent to a maximum of 12 Strength points. These funds are paid to the bank. A gladiator that wins five combats in the ring will increase in skills. We will give a veteran gladiator +1 to his Action point roll if he wins five combats. An elite veteran of the games has won 10 combats. This distinguished gladiator will receive +1 on his Action point roll and +1 on his combat rolls. I anticipate 5 to 6 players for this game so I will create a set of twenty gladiator character cards with roman sounding names. These sheets will be used to record their win/loss record. Gladiators that fall below -6 are dead. In addition to the standard 6 points strength start, I will consider an auction where the players bid on a better than average gladiator in terms of starting strength, veteran, or elite status. Weapons Market: Heavy Gladiator Armor and weapons 3 GC. Medium Gladiator Armor and weapons 2 GC. Light Gladiator Armor and weapons 1 GC. Retarius net and trident 3 GC. I will create for this component of the game a set of equipment cards. Each card will depict the correct level of armor and weapons. Cards will be matched with the character card and put in play in front of the owning player to record their gladiator's actions during the game. Gambling and Prize Money: When players watch a combat they may want to make wagers. All bets are placed near the Character card and a notation of who bet what and how much is recorded on scratch paper by the players. Winners collect their money at the end of each combat. The gladiator's owner must put in an ante for each combat that he competes in. This is money for prizes and will be matched by the bank to sweeten the pot. The Fight Bill: Roll the appropriate D6 to give the number of fights that will occur within a given weight class. The sequence will be as follows. Each player that wants to enter a contestant will be given a choice clockwise around the table. If there are two contestants that want the same fight roll a D6 with the high die roller getting the fight. 2D6 Light Gladiator vs. Light Gladiator Ante: 1 GC each total prize money 4 GC. 1D6 Retarius vs. Light Ante: Retarius 2 GC Light 1 GC total prize money 6 GC. 2D6 Med. Gladiator vs. Medium Ante: 2 GC each Total prize 8 GC. 1D6 Retarius vs. Med. Ante: Retarius 2GC Medium 1 GC. Total prize 6 GC. 2D6 Heavy Gladiator vs. Heavy Ante 3 GC each. Total prize 12 GC. 1D6 Retarius vs. Heavy Ante: Retarius 3 GC Heavy 1 GC. Total prize 8 GC. Back to Table of Contents Penny Whistle #48 Back to Penny Whistle List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Lion's Den Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com