Champion Pallas with Secutor vs 3 Tyro

I promised a battle report to better show the flow of the game. So I threw together a team fight. The teams were made up of arena champion "Pallas" aided by a tyro (novice) class Secutor against 3 tyro class gladiators ( Cruppellarius, Retirarus and Myrmillo). All Gladiators except Pallas have 2 wounds. The Cruppellarius is the one with worst Disciplina (training) having only 2 when the remaining Gladiators have 3and Pallas having 6.

Pallas is armed with a Celt "Lancea" which has a strength 5. Gladius weapons have strength 4 and the Retiarius trident only Strength 3, however it always roll 3D6 to wound so quite dangerous!

Initiative was worked out by always checking which team had the "lightest" members left, that team received +1 to the initiative roll.

House rule applied:
1) Only the highest dice in any combat counts.
2) Winner of combat chooses between High stab/Low slash
3) Fights are worked out by using Disciplina value +1D6 per attack
4) Pallas being a huge giant, had 4 wounds instead of the usual 3 wounds a champion gets in his profile (on the other hand he had minimal amount of armor).

To make things a bit more action oriented this time around I dropped the requirement of having non champion gladiators roll morale checks when wanting to attack the arena champion. Usually that is one of the main perks of being a champion - people are very cautious about getting close.

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The fight

Turn 1
Facing off against each other both teams stand in their corner of the dusty arena. The editor gives the signal to start the fight. Team 2 wins the initiative and starts moving against the Champion on his supporting Secutor.

Myrmillo moves with intent to intercept the Secutor, the Cruppellarius moves painfully slow in his plate armor. The Retiarius moves up in the middle and throws his net against Pallas, hitting the giant (3+ to hit) and managing to entangle his body (rolling 5 on the entanglement chart). Pallas rolls to see if he will manage to free himself. He rolls 3 which would mean he will free himself but will but have his Disciplina (training) reduced to 1. Not wanting to be crippled like that Pallas uses up one of his "Desire to win" points (he has 3 as a Champion) to tweak the result in his favor. He will free himself without penalty next turn.

Furthermore, the Retiarius rolls to see whether or not he manages to drag his entangled opponent into base contact, rolling 4+ which is enough, bringing the giant into Trident range!

Movement phase is then handed over to the opposing team, and the Secutor rushes up to help Pallas in the fight.

Retiarius has a Disciplina 4 with his Trident, Pallas had Disciplina 6 and Secutor Disciplina 3.
In the fight Retiarius beats the Secutor but Pallas beats the Retiarius. Thus only Pallas manages to land a hit on the Retiarius, Pallas goes for a "high stab", lands a hit on the well armored weapon arm of his opponent and fails to wound.

Turn 2
Team 2 wins the initiative again, and the Myrmillo charges the Secutor while the Cruppelarius moves into contact with Pallas, both Gladiators save the Retiarius this way.

Myrmillo vs Secutor fights ends 3vs6 meaning the Secutor wins. Secutor goes for a high stab and lands a blow to the head, smashing the helmet and damaging the visor. This also lowers the protective value of the helmet by half and counts as a successfull wound!

Meanwhile Pallas fights the Cruppellarius and the Retiarius, he manages to beat the Cruppellarius but the Retiarius sneaks in a Trident stab towards Pallas weapon arm. Rollind 3D6 to wound the Retiarius manage to cripple Pallas weapon arm, reducing its Strength from 5 down to 4.

Turn 3
Secutor and Myrmillo continue their fight, this time the Myrmillo wins and goes for a High stab which lands on the weapon arm of the Secutor. The Myrmillo fail to wound the arm protected by segmented plate armor.

Pallas fights off both Retiarius and Cruppellarius, he picks the Retiarius as the recipient of his high stab which strikes the opposing Gladiator straight in the chest. He rolls 2 to wound when he needs a 3+, so he expands another CV (desire to win) point to tweak the result in his favor. Successfully wounding his opponent.

Turn 4
Secutor loses the fight and receives a stab to the chest from the Myrmillo evening out the fight with both Gladiators having 1 wound left.
Pallas wins his fight and continue his focus on the Retiarius, jabbing him in the face with his spear but the helmet saves the enemy from taking a wound.

Turn 5
Myrmillo wins another fight, strikes against the heavily armored weapon arm of the Secutor failing to inflict a wound once again.
At the same time Pallas fails miserably as he rolls a 1 and his both opponents roll 6’s. Cruppellarius goes for a “low slash” which hits Pallas in the stomach but fail to cause any wound. The Retiarius goes for a “high stab” and catches Pallas in the weapon arm once again but this time neither of the trident tips do much good. Pallas escapes without any wounds!

Turn 6
Myrmillo wins again against the hard pressed Secutor who backs off and takes a blow to his shield which saves him from injury.

Pallas wins again and stabs the Retiarius in the face again with his spear but the helmet on the opponent keeps deflecting the blows.

Turn 7
Myrmillo wins against the Secutor again slashing at the lower leg of his opponent, only to hit the armored part.

Pallas takes another stab to his weapon arm from the Retiarius but the chainmail deflects all damage.

Turn 8
Both the Secutor and Myrmillo fight ends in a draw – as unlikely as it seems so does the fight between Pallas and the Cruppellarius and Retiarius!

Turn 9
Secutor makes a last effort and manages to win the combat against the Myrmillo, going for a “high stab” he manage to land his Gladius strike against the already damaged helmet of the Myrmillo splitting it in half this time and incapacitating his foe. The crowd cheers as the Myrmillo yields. In order to get the “thumbs up” the defeated Gladiator need to roll 2D6 and add his class value, needing a total of at least 10 to be allowed to live. The Myrmillo rolls a total of 13 and is dragged off the arena to the medicus.

In the background Pallas roars and beats both his foes, again focusing on the already wounded Retiarius, going for another “high stab” and once again hitting the Retiarius straight in the face. However this time the armor value of the helmet is beaten and the Retiarius is knocked out. Yielding he manages to roll a total of 14 and he too is allowed to leave the arena alive.
This leaves only the Cruppellarius to fend for himself.

Turn 10
Team 1 wins the initiative, and both Pallas and the Secutor charge the heavily armored Gladiator. Their skill surpasses their foe and both manage to score hits against their common enemy. Both gladiators go for a “low slash”, the Secutor inflicting a wound to the stomach and Pallas slashing open the upper leg. With 2 wounds inflicted, (somewhat miraculously at the same time) the Cruppellarius is defeated and yields. The crowd not being pleased by his performance gives a thumbs down (he rolls a total of 7) and he is put out of misery as Pallas impales him with his spear to the roar of the crowd.

The medicus working on the Retiarius and Myrmillo is skilled enough to make both Gladiators “fully heal” (they roll a 5 and a 6). They will be fully restored in time for the next fight.

…………


Some thoughts about the Gladiators. The tweak to the fight where you count Disciplina+1D6 is in my opinion a lot better than the original rule. It makes the "class" difference between Gladiators much more apparent.

The Cruppellarius had bad luck today getting killed so fast, and he should not be paired against a Champion that's for sure. The Retiarius is dangerous as hell, both with the net throwing and his 3D6 damage dice from the trident. If lucky he can potentially kill both Gladiators and Champions with one well placed hit. I think focus will be on killing this one as fast as possible. Or if possible bring along one "contra Retiarius" Gladiator who can cut off the net to make the Retiarius less dangerous.

I hope to show more of the special rules in the next Gladiator fight. Like the shooting rules, spear bonuses, defensive fights and more Champion related stuff.