Gladiator Gaming Project

[Whiterook]

Heroes of the Colosseum
Lock ‘N Load Publishing

I’d bought a Lock ‘N Load Publishing game several years ago called, “Heroes of the Colosseum”. I’d not played it and had been shelved since then, as I’d so many other things going since then. See here for more details.







…I’m currently learning it now, to play over Christmas week, and so far, it’s a very cool looking game! Your have six Gladiators, represented by large chits, and tracked on large cards per style Gladiator; all of whom have three attributes (Savvy, Speed, and Strength), and trackers that quantify the damage they take in combat. It’s played on one of two, simple cardstock arenas. Combat is done by dice throws, against charts that add modifiers and conditions. Overall elegant design.



Gladiator: Blood & Sand
Compass Games

What led me back into interest in playing this game was my attending the 2022 Compass Games Expo last month, where I played another gladiator game as a playtester, called “Gladiator: Blood & Sand”, under development and to be released (planned) next year.







As I read Heroes of the Colosseum, I see there were a lot of similarities, though G:B&S is all card driven driven, versus HotC is dice driven.

The interesting thing that happened with G:B&S is, the designer, Greg Smith provided gladiator miniatures he’d found on ETSY… the game is currently designed to use chits for the Gladiators, but he is hopeful they may offer minis when it’s produced (I kinda doubt Compass with go for that expense). What these minis did was make the game that much more visceral and lifelike… and better eye-candy!

Those minis have been on my mind and not only would I want them for the the Compass Games version game, but also for Heroes of the Colosseum, so I went on the hunt, and here are the purchase strategies, current results, and future options, laid out in this thread!

[Whiterook]

Gladiator Miniatures Needed

Well of course, the first thing was to identify the Gladiators I needed. It just so happens that both games use the same six:

1. Murmillo — believed to be from the Greek word for “fish”, this gladiator featured a helmet with a plume to resemble a fish dorsal. He carried a Gladius (Roman Short Sword) and a Scutum (a large rectangular shield)
2. Thraex — word which means “Thracian”, thos Gladiator wore a helmet with a large crest of the mythological Griffin. He carried a Gladius, or a curved dagger sword called a Sica, and carried a small Buckler (small shield)
3. Secutor — from the Latin, “Chaser”, this Gladiator wore a plain helmet with a minor fin atop (to deflect sword blows). He carried a Gladius and a Scutum
4. Hoplomachus — from the Greek word, “Hoplon”, which means “weapon”, he carried a Long Spear and a Buckler
5. Retiarius — from the Latin word “Rete”, for Net, he was lightly armored and typically did not wear a helmet. He carried a Net, with which he tried to ensnare his opponent, to move in for a kill with a Trudent Spear
6. Dimachaerus — name which means “Two Weapon Man”, this Gladiator carried two swords, typically Sicas or Gladiuses, and no shield

The next thing was to check out what’s available for Gladiator miniatures out there. Answer… not a lot! My criteria was simple: First, I figured 28mm was the best size to look for, as it was what was used in Blood and Sand, and looked great. 15mm would be a second choice initially, but there’s pretty much nothing out there in that scale, which I was surprised at first, but realized much later, for a reason, which I’ll get into later. Second, I wanted the miniatures to look fairly realistic, and not exaggerated in a cartoonish body style. That was it… I can work with anything else, including non-based.

I liked Greg’s, ETSY purchased minis, so I went there first. I found several sets and individual pieces that looked good for various and differing sculpts, and the set that stood out the most were pretty close, if not the actual ones Greg has, which are the ones I bought! …more coming up on that, but first, some of the challenges I faced in the hunt. On ETSY, the sellers are terrible at saying what the scale is of the minis, and I got the distinct impression many didn’t know how to tell scales! The majority of these minis are resin, which I assume they home 3-D print themselves (…the days of casting seem to be going the way of the dinosaur). Sculpt designs were wildly different too, from over exaggerated poses to cartoonish apparitions.

I then started to look at other manufactures, and the majority are out of the United Kingdom, whom appear to be the reigning Kings or Miniatures! But same as with ETSY, in every maker of minis, there were no real good options of gaining all six styles of gladiator I wanted, except for the dealer I bought from, TheByzantineMage. (Pictures to come… seller site down for holidays)

[Whiterook]

TheByzantineMage

These are the miniatures I bought

For the Murmillo




For the Thraex




For the Secutor




For the Hoplomachus 




For the Retiarius




For the For the Dimachaerius

[Whiterook]

Arena Rex

This is scale is what I was referring to earlier and promised to get to… one that I wasn’t really familiar with, and is called “Heroic Scale”, which basically equates to being bigger, and therefore easier to paint. This line of miniatures is in the 35mm range! They retail at around $19 each.

These are GORGEOUS! These miniatures go with the game of the name, and oddly enough, I just got introduced to the system at a Connecticut game store this past Monday, where I went to play a wargame with a buddy from that State. The store, called The Battle Standard, sells mostly miniatures and has large gaming layouts for several miniatures systems, including Arena Rex! The owner was showing us some of the miniatures, and later that evening, a game was played. Amazing stuff. Resin, which you assemble and paint.

I’ll probably pick up some of these, as I can match up Gladiators I need. Here are the ones I’m thinking about…

For the Murmillo, the “Otho Mentulus”




For the Thraex, the “Hermes” figure




For the Secutor, the “Urbicus”




For the Hoplomachus, the “Iason”




For the Retiarius, the “Dimitrios”




For the Dimachaerius, the “Tiet-Khebi”