Dice and Dying

"You're leaving yourself a bit open mate\"

I haven't managed to add anything to this project over the last two or so weeks but as I realised that I haven't shown many of my figures, nor my novelty dice here's a few pics of each.
First up is one of the less dynamic figures from (Pegasus, I think)
I had to add a scratch-built sword from sprue, though I forget why.
If you're thinking that his arm appears at a funny angle, you're  right, as it's been bent.
If you don't think the arm looks awry then please ignore the above comment.

Useful as a 'light' or medium gladiator imo

The next gladiator in the chain mail trousers and greaves (yes, I know *rolls eyes) is from the Italeri set ( I know this because you get two of them)
I've also bent both his arms into slightly more 'active' poses.
Previously to the above plastic surgery, his shield was held way up in the air, great for a vignette (maybe) but looks a bit foolish in the arena.

The above gladiator and his 'twin'

I did the same sort of thing with the second figure in this pose and I think I've made them look different enough (the skin colours helps too)

Useful as a generic 'light''gladiator

The figure on the left was also the type of figure I used for a retiarius, again he's lightly armoured and I've given him a scratch-built spear, though it's difficult to make out in this fore-shortened view.
The view below shows him and his twin (as a retiarius) still without a net.
I'll be using this figure as a generic 'light' gladiator, probably against beasts as he's armed with a spear.
You can tell by the differences in positioning that one or both have had their right arms slightly bent into different positions.

Spear and trident  armed.

I've been fortunate enough to have now played quite a few one-on-one games with my son and even though we originally got many rules wrong, we're both fairly competent now in knowing what dice to throw and when.

My XV dice- total cost £4.50

The dice shown were bought on a whim from eBay and cost a mere £1.50 (incl. p&p) for a set of five dice. There are two distinct sets, one numbered I to VI and the other having V, X, C, I,  and M on their six faces. I haven't found a use for the yet but who could resist a set of them at that price?  The two sets only come in white and are of very good quality - it has made me wonder about the sometimes exorbitant prices being asked for other dice of a similar quality.
I think that I should have used these in my two games against my son today. In the first game, we each had a lightly armoured gladiator (small shield and gladius); I stumbled fell after a collision and was quickly dispatched after failing my appeal to the crowd. The whole contest had lasted less a full turn (eight phases) and we'd had only three phases of combat!
The second combat we both had fairly similar, but my dice throwing was well above average and I reckon I'd rolled the best gladiator I've ever had. With my superior strength and combat factors, I charged into combat on the first phase of the first turn to quickly dispatch my son's "weaker" fighter". With a swift attack to his groin I inflicted seven wounds on him and the subsequent critical roll dropped his agility rating by 1 (that's gotta hurt). Unfortunately we'd both allocated an identical number of combat factors to our first attacks and they would therefore occur simultaneously!
He managed a staggering roll of 17 'to hit' on his three dice (I'd managed a similar 'good' roll), but the subsequent wounding roll was an instant kill! We reckoned an uppercut that went under his helmet and through his skull did the trick.
So turn one, phase one, attack one and it was all over - we'd taken longer to roll the characters than play the game! Two games then in about an hour - can't be bad.

That's all for this week.

Cruppelarius (?) and 'Minotaur'

Cruppelarius ?

The question mark in the title really refers to the fact that, as far as I can find out, no-one actually knows what a Crupelarius looked like though it seems that everyone is agreed that he was some type of heavily armoured gladiator.
The figure shown here though is not what I purport to be a Cruppelarius, but is a generic 'Heavy' gladiator, who can easily stand in for any such gladiator.

The figure itself is a minor conversion from the vignette in the Pegasus set that I used to make a casualty from (see here).
I've used the gladiator giving the 'coup de grace' as the basis for my 'heavy' gladiator.

Can you spot the surgery ?

The conversion is very simple requiring little in the way of major modelling skills.
The only piece of modelling he needs is a small part of his thigh filling in with some modelling putty (or something similar) but as it's less than a centimetre across it should be within the capabilities of anyone.
In addition to the plastic surgery (teehee) he also needs a sword and a shield.
I made the sword from a piece of the sprue that came with the set and the shield from a piece of thin plasticard.
 

He's not heavy... He's  my .....

If you're thinking that the sword looks a tad long for a gladius, then you'd be correct if it had been intended as a gladius.
In fitting with the idea that he's a "heavy" a decided to make it a spartha (a long sword basically) for variation if nothing else.

The shield was also a scratch-build from thin card with a boss made from a plastic BB shot cut in half. 
You'll also notice that although he's meant to be  heavily armoured, what passes as armour for his chest and back, hardly covers a half the area.

 In the second photograph above, alongside the vignette, is a standing figure,  in another hopeless (imo) pose for a gladiator.

I converted my version of this figure into a 'Minotaur'.
I think I got the idea originally from a film where a character played by Sean Connery kills such a best (Time Bandits?).

He's still a bit static but I think a little more interesting.

 There was quite a bit of modelling required for this figure and a bit of shopping!
Once I had made up my mind to make this figure  the search was on for a suitable cow's or bull's head (my modelling skills only go so far).
I found a suitable looking piece in a Poundlandworld-type shop (Bargain Buys?)and upon getting it home found that not only was it a good size but that the model cow hollow and even better, it was modelled in two halves that snapped together !
This made cutting the head of the cow into a suitable fit very easy as the whole head fitted over the gladiator's head fairly comfortably which meant I didn't have to cut his head off.

The two horns were made from pieces of sprue that were twisted and filed to shape  before being glued into sockets on the cow's skull.
The hide of the cow, covering the gladiators back was made from tissue paper soaked in pva.
The weapon was another scratchbuild from  sprue a piece of chain (Poundlandworld) and another plastic BB shot to make a flail.
It does give a little more variety to the weaponry in use, although I could have made a much easier alternate weapon such as a maul or mace.

With a little conversion work I now have an additional pair of Gladiators  that I wouldn't have had otherwise.













That's it then for another week, thanks for taking the timeout to look and I do hope you find something interesting here/

News and Games

Regulation starting positions

My eldest son elected to save me the boredom of solo dice-throwing and joined me in a couple  (or three) games of one-on-one gladiator combat ! There was nothing special about any of the three games that we played, but there was a lot of searching through rules for the answer to many questions of  "What happens next" and "How do you do ...."
Despite my half-memories of the rules and the fact that we were trying to play some form of hybrid game using two ever-so-slightly different sets of rules we still managed to have a decent game, lasting slightly over an hour and the basicds of the game were sorted out.

Formation dancing in the second game as we couldn't hit!

 The second game was a week later and between games we must have both had a brainstorm, the game dragged on and on for about three hours without it seemingly having any end in sight.
We had both missed two things that would have brought the game to a conclusion much more quickly. Firstly,  throwing for the number of wounds inflicted (needing a score of '8' or better) is much easier with the  regulation number of  three dice rather than the two dice we had handicapped ourselves with!
Secondly on the odd times we did manage to get a wound we forgot that there is always a chance of there being a critical hit, for additional damage.

The third game was far a more satisfactory fight, though both combatants were fairly weak compared to the two muscle men that we had used in the previous fight.
Even though my gladiator had a fairly low strength for this fight, I still managed to disarm my opponent, (making it three times out of three that I'd done so), but despite this his lack of training mean't he succumbed to his wounds fairly quickly and fell unconscious to the floor. (He was shown mercy by the mob however!)
There were still a couple of hiccups during the game that we had to sort out and a couple of irritating minor misprints in my quick reference sheets and no doubt there will be othersm but at leat I'm rolling dice!

In other news I had reason to be on Boardgamegeek during this last week and had a quick look to see if there was anything happening on the Gladiator front. I was surprised to see that a file I had earlier uploaded had gone, but I was even more surpised that it hadn't really gone, but had been updated!

George Mendoza has added a whole new chunks of gladiator goodness, some I'll be using, some I won't but all is worth persuing.
He has added a few new animals to fight in the arena, an elephant being the most eye-catching  addition and also the rules for animal contests have been overhauled significantly, so much so that they have little resemblance to the originial. This latter point doesn't bother me as I'll pick and choose which bits I'll keep  - as always. There are rules for mounted gladiators that have been added and a new weapon (a lasso) for the laquiarius *a substitute retiarius type). 
The campaiogn system has been overhauled and mostly re-written too but, whilst it looks interesting, for now I'll be sticking to my own camapign rules and pinching ideas.
He has also added a new attribute to the gladiators, one of Luck, which is an easy addition to make and I'll be looking closely in doing so as I like the idea of "appealing to the gods"  - quite thematic.
There are a few other changes, typos corrected etc. but at first glance there is nothing major.

That's it then for this week, not much I know, but I did get some games in !

Criminals

Prisoner #0001

Following on from my post last week, the other use I put my WWE wrestlers to was as criminals for my arena.
There was a minimal amount of modelling to do on these figures, namely some form of loincloth (which I made from tissue and the 'belt' from thread) and a weapon or weapons. The weapons were roughly cut from sprue and filed to shape  - nothing dramatic, so long as they looked roughly like a knife or sword.
 I did give one a rough shield  which in game terms will be small and half the strength of a normal small shield.
There was also a bit of cutting to do to rid the models of their wrestling boots, so they appear either bare-footed or at least without the heavier footwear of the original wrestlers.
It's probably a bit anachronistic to give prisoners weapons for a 'fair fight' as they were routinely executed without such a luxury afforded to them. In my games though they will have a chance to fight (be it a very slim one).

Prisoner #0002

As was mentioned in my last post these chaps are slightly (2-4mm) than the other figures I have but are still very usable as far as I'm concerned.
Both the poor unfortunate above and his companion to the left are armed with gladius styled weapons made from sprue.
The chap on the left ahs also had his boots cut down to sandals, rather than be bare-footed.

Prisoner #0003

This character (on the right), though not my favourite does at least have some variation in his clothing insomuch as he's wearing a mask! Again very anachronistic I'm guessing, but at least he makes for a distinctive figure.

Prisoner #0004

The last of my four 'convicts' is armed with a longer weapon than the others and is equipped with a shield too.
In game terms he'll  only be slightly better off and will still probably fall victim to a well armed and trained gladiator.

Better view of his sword and shield

All four in the arena

In the full program of events for my arena, these will appear after the morning beast hunts and other animal slaughters but before the main gladiator bouts. They are tagged in with the other 'novelty acts' so that players can always have something to fight if they can't otherwise fulfil the requirements for the second session of the games.


 In other news whilst I haven't been able to make any further progress with this project, (hopefully that will change in the near future) I have managed to fit a trial game in! The game was very entertaining from my point of view and I think my opponent also enjoyed it too (fingers crossed).
I'll probably write a bit about the game next week, but that's all for now.  

Casualties

Of the two sets of figures (three boxes) from Italeri and Pegasus, only one of the two Pegasus sets has a single casualty figure (shown in the photograph to the right).
Unless you are playing with a single pair of gladiators (in which case a casualty figure is unnecessary)  then there is a  need for more casualty figures.
I envisage having a maximum of four one on one combats in my arena with probably four players having a pair of gladiators each, so more casualty figures were desirable.








Of the other figures in the Pegasus sets, there is a pairing of a gladiator giving the coup de grâce to another gladiator (really a two model vignette) and the opponent of a retiarius complete with net over his upper body as can be seen on the to the left.


The two effectively 'uselss' figures I utilised to make more casualties. The first (the victim of the coup de grâce.) can be seen on the right here. very little in the way of modelling was necessary on him. 
I think that he makes for quite a decent casualty and although he does 'sit' awkwardly  on the ground I can live with it.

Composite casualty.

The Retiarius' opponent however needed a little more work as all that was salvageable from the figure was from his waist down - he needed an entire upper body!

The day was saved however by World Wrestling Entertainment, or at least a set of figures purchased from Poundlandworld!

The Wrestlers

Five figures and a few useful bits for other things (no chairs etc. being thrown in my arena) seemed to fit the bill nicely.
There are two variants of extras in the packs and two variants of the figures themselves, those with an arm in the air and those with their arms by their sides (the preferable pose). I looked for the packs that had at least three with their arms in the preferred position,

There is a a bit of work to be done in removing the heavy wrestling boots from the figure, but they are made from a very soft plastic so even with my limited modelling skills I think I make a passable corpse!
  
The loincloth abomination was made from kitchen roll and could have been much better with some modelling putty (which sadly I have none off and no skills with in any event).

It does have to be said though that the actual height of the figures is slightly less than 54mm (around 50mm) but it;s hardly noticeable.
 All of these, save for the new base colour, were completed
earlier this year.


I've also used these figures to supplement my gladiators victims, in so much as several of their number have been 'converted' to act as poorly armed criminals, which I'll post about next week.
I do know it's probably unlikely that criminals were given any chance in the arena other than as victims of execution, but where's the fun in that?  - More next week !

Retiarii

Italeri Retiarius

I've at last finished painting the last highlight colour on the bases of all my gladiators (not just the retiarii); it was being held in abeyance until I'd settled on the final colour of the arena floor.
The choices of Retiarius between the two sets (Italeri and Pegasus) are very limited to one in each set.
Both sets suffer in my opinion from 'problems' though.
Firstly the trident is very flimsy in each set and in my Pegasus set I managed to snap the damn thing (But see below)

Italeri Retiarius still on sprue

The sparcity of Retiarii figures for variety, if nothing else, was a bit disheartening too, especially as the Italerii figure was stood like a pudding with his trident pointed at the ground as in the photograph.
For each of my two specific Retiarii from the Italeri box I did cut the trident free from the base of the figure and tried (with only a modicum of success) to bend the arm into a more appealing stance.
(In the photograph above-right, the head has also been adjusted slightly)

Second Italeri Retiarius

Looking only marginally less static than the original is the second Italeri retiarius painted as an African which for some reason has almost become a cliche for this genre - and of course I've gone along with it too.
 The tridents on both these figures hardly looked very threatening (from my point of view) and were a bit thin and spindly, so I looked to making my own to replace the feeble.

The inspiration for these came from some Renedra fences  which as I had one of a mere three that came with one of their buildings I utilised mainly because the three tines (the prongs) of the trident would all be inherent in the piece. Any breakages etc. that occurred would be turned into broken weapons and other weapons I will need to litter the arena with. In the rules I've opted for tridents can be broken, resulting in either a useful end and a useless bit or vice versa. Tridents can also be thrown (as can all weapons), so some separate weapons will also be needed.

From the photograph above and top the left, you can see I only managed to make a couple more broken trident ends (the useful bits) and a couple of spears. from the photographs above and to the left, you can see I only managed to make a couple more broken trident ends (the useful bits) and a couple of spears.From a single fence piece I can get two full-length tridents and be left with pieces, long enough  to make spears from.

Here's a photograph that shows, firstly an 'ad hoc' retiarius, again from the Italeri pack. Originally he was stood passively with his left hand resting on an axe - hardly a dynamic pose!  He's obviously had one of my trident conversions added, though the fore-shortening of the photograph does make the tines look huge!
He does have some armour on his left arm, which passes fairly well for the arm-guard (manica) but he's missing the signature galerus the shoulder armour), even so I think he makes for a passable retiarius  and I really wanted to have four !

 Being quite pleased with the results of my trident program, I gave the Pegasus retiarius one of the fence conversions too, to replace the broken one.
This figure is by far the pick of the bunch and actually looks as if he's moving; it's a bit sad that his victim is almost an unusable figure, in that he covered in the retiarius' net !
He has the galerus shouldert armour that instantly points him out as a retiarius but the armour on his right shoulder is  a bit suspect
It does begs the question though, where are their nets ?
I have made the nets (honest guv) but haven't glued them to the figures, especially as the bases hadn't been painted, but also because of time.
I reckon the nets should have a 'square' design, unfortunately I've tried and been unsuccessful in obtaining anything close, in a size that looks right. I eventually settled for a hexagon patterned net from something I found in the bathroom.

That's it for this week then, next week I'll show just how the WWW has helped me in this project !

  

Lynx

Two Lynx before the bases were done.

These Lynx or Lynxes, if you prefer, were my first animals that I'd painted up for my Gladiators. Originally I think they were lionesses or some other big cat, but in a much smaller scale.
I converted them to represent lynx by docking their tails and nipping their ears into the characteristic tufted, pointed ears of many of the different lynx species.
I gave them extra height on their bases was originally done to match up with my gladiators, which in hindsight looks awful now imo., but I won't be altering them.

Their bark is...., no , wait....

All four, blurry, thanks to the rubbish cameraman

I based the colouring on the European Lynx  (not quite extinct yet) though the colouring seems to vary greatly; overall they look quite scruffy compared to the 'big cats'.

"these don't look that bad"

I doubt very much that these animals hunt in packs, but for my purposes they'll stand in for the wolves and wild dogs that I wanted and have yet to find a more suitable substitute for.
As these were made way back in January or February this year, this week's contribution to the project has been to finish painting the bases on all my menagerie (and the base of the single luckless gladiator shown)

I don't fancy his chances

Over the brown of the bases there a brighter yellow sand colour over a much lighter colour matching the arena.
Here's a couple gratuitous photo graphs pf the whole lot, just sixteen in all but they do seem to fill the arena.

Arena spectator's point of view (ish)

To finish off with, here some more of the animals that I got in the bags; some of them are suitable candidates for the arena, whilst other are a bit 'meh'.
First off, this elephant, which as you can see, I did start to do some work on. I'm a bit hesitant to use it, it has a peculiar physiognomy, with its short legs and general size, but anything larger and It probably wouldn't fit on just two hexes, so it's on the back burner for the moment.

"Two to one, hmm"

These two zebra are really good models (with just a little flash) but obviously they do need a better paint-job (which even I think I can manage).
There is scant evidence of Zebra appearing in the arena (along with many other 'exotic' animals) and I have no hesitation considering including these.
Whilst they're not generally associated with being a naturally aggressive creature they can

"If I can catch it, I can kill it...probably"

probably put up a bit of fight with their hooves and teeth.
Unlike this poor creature, the giraffe, which I reckon would turn to flight immediately on entry having no other apparent defence, though maybe it could give you an "evil glare".
I won't be condemning this animal; the model itself is a bit on the small side when compared to the other 'larger than life' animals I'm currently taken too appearing more like a baby alongside the gladiator.

Another animal I've considered using is a mountain gorilla that came in the bags (I like to get my monies' worth), though there are a couple of things holding me back. Firstly the there is no upright figure for the creature and my modelling skills are way lower than those needed to convert one of these to such a stance.
Secondly I can't find any evidence of them in the arena, which is hardly surprising, considering that they come from the mountains of the Congo)
If they had appeared I'm guessing the Romans would have though them some form of wild Barbarian! - (just me fantasising)    

"They're vegetarians ....right?"

Next up are a pair of hippos, though these appear on the small side (hippos are BIG), they could represent adult bay hippos though (if that makes sense) .
Unlike the larger version below,
which I'd love to use  in a combat, when I work out how to flood my arena.

"Look at the size of his gaping maw"

"Aww, just the one then?"

I almost one hundred percent sure that I've seen a mosaic featuring a rhinoceros, but the chap on the left looks a bit small  compared to the one I encountered in Edinburgh zoo. I suppose he could be used as a pygmy hippo though.
The rather daunting model below is the large version of the same model and is a far more imposing opponent and one of the few that you could give a decent armour value to for the thickness and toughness of its skin.

The legendary Mokele-mbembe maybe ?

That's it then for this week, I'll be turning to more human matters next week (and painting up the rest of my gladiator bases), thanks for taking the time to visit here, hope you found something interesting.