Gladiators

OK, the first 12 gladiator models for the upcoming club campaign are off the painting table. Here are the six more-heavily-armored gladiators...

And here are the six poorly-armored dudes.

These are all Foundry 28mm figures from their excellent gladiators range. While most of the figures in the range are a mix of armor and weapon types, I tried to pick out six archetypes from historical arena matches.

The first is the "Thracian." He is characterized by the sica sword (well, sort of a facsimile), which was designed to reach around shields and hit the unarmored backs of opponents. He also has a medium shield and the griffin-topped helm.

Next, we have the "Secutor." He is the traditional match up for the Retiarius gladiator (see next below). He is armed with the gladius sword (for short stabs), and is defended by a large shield and the secutor helm, which is finished smooth so that the Retiarius net cannot entangle it, and small single eye holes to protect against the trident.

And here is the "Retiarius." Armed with the traditional net and trident, the Retiarius tactic is to ensnare, then impale his foe.

Next we have the "Hoplomachus." This is a Roman rendition of the traditional Greek hoplite warrior...though why this poor fellow had to suffer with such a small friggin' shield is anyone's guess. After throwing his spear (should he have chosen to do so), the Hoplomachus could draw a gladius sword to continue the fight.

Here is the twin-bladed "Dimachaeri." Not a pervasive gladiator type, but cool looking nonetheless. This one wears a secutor helm.

Finally, we have the main archetype for the heavy gladiator, the "Myrmillo." He carries the standard scutum shield, gladius sword, left leg armor and a crested myrmillo-style helm.

And, as you can see, the Hotzmap arena showed up in the mail this week...yeah!

Well, looking forward to starting this campaign soon.

Next up, it's back to Cryx. I played in a local Warmachine Steamroller tournament last weekend and took 3rd with a 3-0 record. How do you get 3rd with a 3-0 record? Tiebreakers. Now, the main tiebreaker in Steamroller tournaments is enemy warcaster assassinations. The 1st place guy had 3 assassinations. The second place guy had 2. I, in third place, had 1. You see the pattern. Well, I play Menoth at tournaments, and Menoth is not generally an assassination faction. However, Cryx is...so I'm going to go Cryx in the next tourney. We'll see what happens. Anyway...

'Til next time.