Gladiatores Review

The sword is heavy in your hand. Sweat and blood run in rivulets down your tired and aching body. And the sun, that wicked golden eye, it stares down at you, relentless, glaring and baking your flesh beneath the scant armour. Of your opponents there is only one left standing and you know he feels the same. You can only hope that his weapon is heavier, his body more drained and that his wounds are deeper.

Game: Gladiatores: Blood For Roses

Designer: Jason Maclean Jones

Publisher: Badcat Games

Artists: Ania Kryczkowska, Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo

Runtime: 20 - 90 minutes

Player Count: 2 - 5

Gladiatores is a fast paced, hard hitting take-that game of arena combat, there’s a touch of deck building, a hint of memory, a smattering of betting and amidst all the Gladiator quotes there will be lots and lots of swearing at one another.  A game about fighting should always be accompanied by plenty of smack talk I say. After choosing which of the six different gladiators you’d like to play as and adding to the small deck of gladiator specific cards from the central supply you are more or less ready to say in a gruff Scottish accent “Gladiators, ready!” and start fighting.

[caption id="attachment_2791" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Hoplomach is doing OK overall, maybe this fight he'll distinguish himself for a greater reward[/caption]

The combat in this game is very light and can be very fast, it’s based on a card trumping system, where one player will launch an attack by playing one of their attack cards, the defender has to play a card that repels the previous, which in turn can also be countered. And so this goes, back and forth until one player cannot play another card.  However, this isn’t just a case of playing one card after another; you’ll have to repel the previous card with specifically named cards. So, a Cleave, for example, can only be repelled by either a Parry or a Block, which in turn can only be repelled by a Disarms/Grab, or a Shove/Leap respectively.

This all means that players have to carefully manage and negotiate their hand of cards because this game isn’t really a deck builder, as you’ll be shedding cards far faster than you’ll be picking them up. You see, the cards don’t only represent what moves and actions you can take, but also your energy, use it up and your gladiator collapses to the sand. It’s important to note here that losing a bout of combat though isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be a good idea to let your opponent use up their defence cards where they don’t directly affect you.

[caption id="attachment_2789" align="alignnone" width="1920"] It started with a Thrust and the same player ended up having to Dodge[/caption]

In Gladiatores players are trying to do two things, as you are essentially playing the game at two levels. One in the arena as the gladiator, where all you care about is dispatching the others. The second is as the owner and operator of a Gladiator Ludi (a school or troupe) where all you care about is the overall fame and glory. This ‘glory’ is collected in a variety of ways and is represented by these little rose petal tokens. You’ll win it for pulling off certain or special moves in the arena, dishing out damage and naturally, winning the fight.

[caption id="attachment_2794" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rose Petal Glory![/caption]

Another way to win glory is through the in-game gambling system. This mechanic overall is very much like a backup plan, a hedging-your-bets type of thing and in that function, it works well, but I find myself wanting a little more from it. I will state here that I personally dislike gambling generally, but here I dislike it because when I lose the bet (which Gladiator will win) all I’ve lost is the opportunity to win, there’s no weight or consequence to it. However, winning the bet is both a great catch up mechanic and always leaves me with a smug sense of satisfaction.

[caption id="attachment_2793" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Glory Wheel, what it's all about![/caption]

It is with these considerations that Gladiatores is far more than a simple combat, card trumping game. Players will often have to plan and strategize about the whole fight, not just the combat they’re in because even when not in a fight the other players are watching what cards are going down on the table. If you see someone play more than two Blocks you can be fairly confident the attack on your turn will find its mark. This game has “active downtime” whereby a careful player will be watching and waiting for their perfect moment to strike. Add to this that in each fight at least one player will probably be trying to defend another to win the bet too and all of a sudden you have a dynamic and clever fighting game.

Now, Gladiatores can be played one of two ways, a single event and season mode. The former functions better as a tutorial/demo than a true reflection of the full game simply because it doesn’t show off what this game is capable of, it doesn’t really allow players to build relationships and vendettas, it makes the gambling, tactic and sponsorship cards almost redundant. Having played Season mode I would now, never play a one-off fight outside teaching someone else.

[caption id="attachment_2790" align="alignnone" width="1920"] There's an array of Events to take part in, and these all add to the variability of the game[/caption]

In the “proper” game you’ll come to see and appreciate the nuances between each of the gladiators, knowing how valuable or dangerous particular cards are for certain fighters is part of the overarching strategies and joys of this game. With the highs of exciting and quick-fire card playing along with the often twisting combats, there is the ever-present risk of being knocked out of the game. With Gladiatores this pseudo player elimination; where your gladiator is killed and out for the remainder of the combat, it can be a little frustrating.  Yes, there is still the bet, but you have no way of influencing it, so you’re stuck in this kind of in-the-game-out-the-game limbo. Luckily, as more gladiators are knocked out of the fight, the rest of the match speeds up, but if you’re the type of gamer put off by things like this, it could still be a little too much like actual “player elimination” for you.

[caption id="attachment_2792" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Special Attack has been used, the player will have to wait another turn before it can be used again.[/caption]

The card trumping mechanic works really well, it's very quick and easy to explain and although it can feel a little random at times it also creates a more interesting and exciting twist to each fight, there is never a guaranteed winner. When a volley of cards are slapped down between two players this game triumphs at creating those “and take that” moments, while simultaneously having the other players grin like starving wolves watching their prey exhaust itself. This game manages to strike a good balance between being fun, fast and fighty, and also creating enough tactical and strategic moments to elevate it far above a simple card trumping game. As with any arena style combat game, the more the merrier and bloodier and with around five rounds of combat you’ll get bad luck, drama and a lot of variety each time you play.

Now would you look at that, a whole review of a game about gladiators without a Gladiator or Spartacus quote in sight...I must be getting professional or something.

Disclaimer:

This review was based on a prototype version of the game provided by the publisher, as such the final version may differ from what is seen here.

Hoplomachus: Origins - Review

Game Name:	Hoplomachus: Origins	Published Year:	2015
Game Publisher:	Chip Theory Games	Player Scale:	1-2
Game Designer:	Adam Carlson, Josh J. Carlson	Run Time:	15-30 min

 

“Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant”

Introduction

The Hoplomachus series brings us back to ancient times, to fight as a group of gladiators in the Roman arena games. There are currently 3 games in the series, but I will talk about the more recent one released, Hoplomachus Origins. On this one, instead of playing in the arenas of Rome, you’ll be playing in 3 different arenas of other civilisations trying to gain fame to finally make it into the greatest arena. This game differentiates from the other two in the series as the fight conditions change and it incorporates a drafting mechanic at the beginning of the game.

How it plays



The first part of the game corresponds to the drafting. The two players will have to choose, one at a time, the gladiators and tactics they wish to use for their combats. There are different gladiator houses that you can choose from and you can mix as you wish. You will choose a total of 8 chips, and in every combat, you will use a maximum of 6. You’re also limited to use only one champion per combat, though you can draft multiple if you wish, these are more powerful gladiators.

There are two different kinds of chips you can choose from. Gladiators, which have different abilities depending on their class, and different stats. There is a wide range of abilities in the game, ranging from basic attacks of different kinds to alternative attacks or passive abilities. This is one of the most interesting parts of the game as depending on the different mix of abilities you have in combat you’ll have different strategies. The other kind of chips are tactics, these are special abilities you can deploy in a fight to temper with your opponent or aid you, but at the expense of taking the space of a gladiator.



Once the draft is done, the fights begin. You will play on the 3 arenas, but at in a randomly chosen order. Every arena has a different objective. In the Atlantis Arena, the first gladiator deployed will be your leader, which will have double the life, and the objective is to kill the other leader. In El Dorado arena, both teams have a treasure chest, and your objective is to carry it to the other side of the arena. And the third arena, Xanadu, you’ll need to control the centre of the arena, where at the beginning of the round you’ll score a point for every gladiator you have in those hexes and whoever gets to 6 points first wins the fight. Alternatively, you can always win by killing all the gladiators from the other team.

The fights play with a very simple set of rules: deploy, move, attack. In a player’s turn you will be able first to deploy a gladiator and/or tactic, then you’ll be able to move all your gladiators deployed in previous rounds and finally attack with those gladiators. Then is the other player’s go. As you can see the gameplay is very simple, but there is a lot of strategy behind your choices, as the fights are brutal and fast to play, every decision matters.



As a handicap for the winner, the player who’s lost will choose one of the chips in the opponent’s pool and will eliminate it from the game. Also as you are running a house of gladiators you will earn and lose reputation as you keep winning or losing. This reputation will hold for all your games of Hoplomachus Origins, and will modify the drafting rules at the beginning of every game just for you. This is a very cool addition to the game, that you don’t need to use if you don’t like it, but is a very cool system to compare scores with your friends, and remain in the top of the reputation chart will be a real challenge, as for every 10 reputation a harder handicap will come in effect.

The solo game



The game comes with specific solo rules, in the form of 20 different trials. In the solo game, you will face different challenges against special champions. You will only draft 6 and the rules for drafting will be different for every trial. These start quite easy but will rapidly increase in difficulty and will be a real challenge in the latest ones. The premise of the solo game is that once you win a trial you can go to the next one, and if you fail you can attempt it once more or you will fall to the previous trial. The opposing team will follow some simple AI rules to move and attack, plus the champions will act depending on the dice rolls.

Opinion

The game system is very simple, so is very easy to explain and get going, but there is so much strategy in those combats with all the different abilities, that makes every game unique and very challenging to master. There is a lot of interaction between the different gladiators that you can exploit in your favour. Fights play in 5/10 min each, so is very fast to play, and it makes for a very interesting game in such short gameplay time. Just using this game, you have 33 different skills, not counting the different basic attacks. The game comes with a total of 20 Gladiators from 5 different schools, plus 8 tactics. But the good thing is that if you own the other games you can mix the units to have a bigger pool for the draft, increasing the choice and replayability of the game even further, which is already big. The solo mode is very well implemented and makes for a challenging and very entertaining game that plays fast and is quite different even if you replay the same trial.



Component wise, this is very high quality, the games are not cheap but they are worth every penny, not just for such a good gameplay but you get top notch components. All the information is displayed in the heavy poker chips and the art is quite good. The arena maps are on neoprene mats with very cool art. This game is the cheapest of the 3 in the series so it makes a good entry point if you are interested. The games can only be purchased from Chips theory games website directly, they do that to keep the cost down as and now they support EU friendly shipping with very reasonable prices. The box is quite big and it comes a bit empty, but they will probably release more content for it in the future, plus there are already a few mini expansions that are compatible if you want to increase the pool of gladiators.

The good: Lots of strategy and tactics involved in the game and it plays fast with simple game mechanics. The components are very good quality. The solo game is excellent. The house reputation is a neat addition to the game.

The bad: The price is high, you get quality, but it might put some people off. For me is worth it, and this is the best entry point being the cheapest of the three. It will take a few games until you see some abilities in play and start forging your tactics.

You might also like: Hoplomachus: The Lost Cities, Hoplomachus: Rise of Rome and Too Many Bones.

That’s it for my review of Hoplomachus Origins folks.

I’ll see you around in the arena and don’t expect mercy!

Jesus