Thursday 9 July 2009

I am Spartacus.................


It was a low key affair at SEEMs last night - in fact there was only five of us present - so Mr Fox rolled out the old standby game of Ludus Gladiatorius by EM4 for the delectation of the discerning few. This is a man to man Gladiator combat game with some very nice pre-painted 28mm figures supplied with the rules and game components. All the main types of gladiator feature including the Retarius as well as a very nice Lion - just right for chasing criminals etc. The game is simple to play and great fun and the night finished with my figure bleeding like a stuck pig with his opposite number in a similar condition. The only other combatant left in the arena was too far away (and staying that way as well!) to take part in any other unpleasantness and the final figure of the four protagonists was the only casualty of the dead kind.


I have a couple of very good books on the whole Spartacus Slave Revolt - Spartacus: the Man and the Myth by M.J.Trow (who also wrote a similar title on El Cid) and The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss. There is also an Osprey Warrior title (number 39) Gladiators 100BC to 200AD by Stephen Wisdom and a forthcoming Campaign series title on the subject is due. Of course we also have the added bonus of the film (one of my all time greats) Spartacus as well as Gladiator with Russell Crowe.


I must confess that the idea of a Spartacus Slave Revolt DBA 15mm army is very appealing and I know that Donnington produce the figures..................;-)


All in all, a great diversion for a club night and as it requires very little in the way of material a sure fire credit crunch winner!

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