Started on - well primed - some excellently sculpted Crusader Miniatures Gladiators. These are the heavy armed and armored types. I still need to get some Retiarii. These are named as they are from the Crusader sets. They're temporarily based; I plan to mount them on hexes.
This is the first picture of Gladiators I remember as a kid; it is in a book titled "Classical Myths" by Max Herzberg. I still have the hardcopy printed in 1960 that my mom bought at a booksale back in the early 70's. The caption in the book is from Byron, "The arena swims around him - he is gone. Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won." I prefer, "Ave, imperator, morituri te salutant!" I remember reading about a US soldier in Vietnam awaiting a full-scale attack, turning around in his foxhole and saying to his comrades, "We who are about to die, salute you!" His buddies failed to see the humor.
The Societas Via Romana site has a great introduction to this favorite pastime of Romans; as well as short descriptions of the various types of Gladiators.
I haven't yet decided on which rules to use with them, but there was a recent post on TMP about a modification to Morituri te Salutant. It sounds intriguing - the modification, that is.
I play gladiators with "Habet, Hoc Habet!". It's a nice game, though lots of charts. Does a nice job of replicating the bloody hand-to-hand and the different weapons and armor of various gladiator types.
ReplyDeleteDouglas:
ReplyDeleteI've heard of it & will take a look at it too. Thanks, Dean
That was a very helpful post. I'm a little bit closer to identifying a handful of ancient gladiator models, now that I know their classification.
ReplyDeleteJames:
ReplyDeleteI'm belatedly looking for rules now - there are a few I've read a little about, but wouldn't be adverse to trying out a board game and adapting it by adding figures. Dean
Dean, have you tried RSBS? They're ideal for solo gladiatorial games.
ReplyDeleteHave you read my Spartacus campaign?:
http://javieratwar.blogspot.com/search/label/Campaign.%20Red%20Sand%20Blue%20Sky