Irregular Wars Wargaming

At the end of August, Gio organised an amazing looking Blood, Sweat & Cheers tournament in Mexico. It looks like an amazing time, with eight competitors sending their gladiators into the ring to claim the adoration of the crowd and the much coveted title of ludus champion. Putting a crowd-pleasing twist on the game, Gio arranged for Lego mini-figs to represent all the gladiators! I would encourage you to pop over to Gio's blog and have a look (in Spanish and English). He's graciously allowed me to borrow a couple of his images, but I only wanted to show a taste here. So go on, go check it out! Congratulations to Gio for what looked like a brilliant event, and to all the players - not least the ludus champion, Isaac!

What better way to celebrate a hint of spring in the air and humidity dropping to a reasonable level, than to sup deeply on the fumes of matt varnish. I didn't manage to get my hands on any varnish last summer, so today the backlog was effectively a pandemic's worth of painting, or to put it another way, 1,118 figures. Seems somebody had some extra time on his hands... Admittedly many of the Greeks were previously painted, but they were all rebased and touched up, so they still count.  This tranch is all 10mm stuff painted and based for Fantastic Battles : my Ziggurat Dwarves (137), Wyld Elves (93) and a Classical Greco-Macedonian army with mythological elements (245) which is, not co-incidentally, also 200 points of Early Macedonians for l'Art de la Guerre. In this lot, 6mm Napoleonic Austrians (630) for Bataille Empire and 28mm gladiators (6) for Blood Sweat and Cheers , and sci-fi halflings (7).  

  At the start of the month I sent off the updated BSC rules to Ganesha and the files at the various retailers have now been updated. The cards themselves have not changed - but the free pdf rules have been expanded to add clarity, a campaign system for competing ludi has been added, and there are also now simple guidelines for solo play. The revised rule booklet (8x A5 pages) is available  here . A professionally printed card deck is still available from DriveThru Cards  here , or a pdf (print and play) version of the rules can be bought direct from Ganesha Games  here , or from the Ganesha Gumroad store  here . I owe my thanks to the following for their playtesting, co mments and suggestions: Laura Wright, James Bryant, Brett Hodgson, Jim Latimer, Andrew Common, Andrew Murrell, Andrew Brown, Massimo Moscarelli,  Diego Chisena, Diego Riccitelli,   Joel Lawson,   Victor Jarmusz,   Steven Jarmusz,...

  There is a great game overview, review and some match reports for  Blood Sweat and Cheers over at the Stronghold Rebuilt blog . Click HERE ,  HERE , and HERE to go and check them out. 👍

Finishing up my existing 28mm gladiators for Blood, Sweat and Cheers , I can introduce Leon the dimachaerus, and Alexius the hoplomachus - both from Crusader Miniatures.  A rough comparison shot alternating Wargames Foundry and Crusader figures. In general the Foundry figures are taller and leaner, while Crusader are shorter and more muscled. I've no problem using them together - after all people come in all manner of shapes and sizes. The big difference really is in the helmets, where Crusader's helmets are quite a bit larger.  

Snatching a couple of hours of downtime over Halloween, I painted up two more 28mm gladiators for my gladiator school. I have dozens of 15mm fighters, but there is something nice about these big lads when you are only using one miniature at a time.  On the left are the old hands, Lycus the murmillo and Satyros the thraex; on the right are Zeno the retiarius, and Scorpus the secutor. Lycus, Satyros and Scorpus are all from Wargames Foundry, Zeno is from Crusader Miniatures. 

  With our part of the world under increasingly stringent lockdown rules once again, I've found myself playing more and more Blood, Sweat and Cheers , both with my nine year old, and also solo. Bouts can take between 5 and 25 minutes each, and there is little prep time, so it is an easy game to wip out, roll dice and put away again. In honor of his increased use, I decided that Lycus, my left-handed murmillo , needed to have his shield pimped out a bit. As Lycus seems to be the latinised Lykos, Greek for 'the wolf', I went for a wolfish motif based on coin imagery of the wolf that nursed Romulus and Remus (though I left the boys themselves off the shield). I'm not wholly convinced that I captured it with too much skill, but hopefully the aim is clear!😁   Roman Didrachm, c.275-255 BC, courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group (CNG)

Over at the Lead Legionaries blog , Mike Demana has posted a nice little review of their first encounter with Blood Sweat and Cheers. Worth a look it you're passing through . 👍 

This week I found myself gaming with Lee on the far side of the River Foyle. We started off the evening with a couple of quick introductory gladiator bouts using  Blood Swear and Cheers . In the first bout, despite being wounded early on, my thraex managed to get the better of Lee's murmillo, tripped him up, and then delivered a telling blow. The crowd favoured both gladiators equally, and were happy enough to allow the bleeding murmillo to walk out of the arena to entertain them another day. The second bout saw Lee's dimachaerus take on my sagittarius. The sagittarius is always a tricky gladiator to use; his melee attack is so weak and he doesn't tend to do well going toe-to-toe. The crowd, however, loved watching him slip past the dimachaerus multiple times, popping off shots with his bow from a distance as his opponent lumbered after him, swatting away the arrows with deft parries. In short order, both gladiators were staining the sand red from multiple wound, but ...

... and Edu from Hetairoi Wargames has now completed all eight bouts of his great gladiatorial rumbustification using my card and dice driven gladiator rules, Blood, Sweat and Cheers . In case you missed it, the classic match up between the thraex Hermes and Crixus the murmillo was a real nail biter. Read about it HERE . The final fight saw Scorpus the retiarius take on the two secutors Flamma and Astivus. The retiarius had the high ground, but would that be enough? You can find out how he got on HERE . As for the winnings, the results speak for themselves really. All participants started with 100 sestertii and had to place bets on all matches. Delighted to have come out with a positive result; I certainly never expected to win considering I placed my bets according to which gladiator models I likes the best! The winner (or in this case, Tonijor, the runner up) gets a copy of the print and play rules courtesy of Ganesha Games.

Following on from the first three bouts of Edu's Ludi Hetairoi , using my card-driven Blood, Sweat and Cheers gladiator rules, I'm very pleased to be able to direct you through to the next three bouts. Bout four saw Amandus the thracian take on the hoplomachus Simplex. In the fifth round of fights , the murmillo Actius fought the laquearius Germanus. And for bout six , the two scissors, Ingenuus and Satur went head to head. With two bouts to go of day one of the games, I am, rather surprisingly, top of the leader board vis a vis the wagering system that Edu set up for the games. Having placed 100 sestertii in bets, I have so managed to make 185.6 in winnings. We'll watch what happens next with care, but if this keeps up, I might have to have a party, or run for public office, or buy some more slaves, or something...

The first three gladiatorial bouts have been played by Edu and co. over at Hetairoi Wargames. For those that missed it, the rules were posted HERE . In the first bout, Hilarinus took on a bear. The blow by blow account using Blood, Sweat and Cheers can be read HERE . The second bout used Palaeo Diet: Eat or Be Eaten to simulate Mamertinus' brave struggle with two tigers. The full account can be read HERE . The third bout returned to Blood , Sweat and Cheers (with a minor tweak to allow ponies) to play out the clash between Maternus and Habilis. You can find the full report for that game HERE . Stay tuned to the Hetairoi Wargame blog, as there are plenty more bouts to come!

Over at Hetairoi Wargames , Edu is running a series of interactive gladiator games using Blood Sweat and Cheers.  There will be a number of fights played with the results posted on his blog. He is giving readers a theoretical pot of coins to place bets against each of the fights, and will award prizes (sponsored by Ganesha Games) to the people with the most success at the end of the games. Do have a look < HERE > and please do get in involved when the games are ready to go.

I'm thrilled to be able to announce the release of Blood, Sweat and Cheers , the card and dice, gladiator dueling game published by Ganesha Games and available at DriveThru Cards . The game lets you match gladiators with ten different fighting styles in bouts lasting 10-20 minutes each. The deck consists of 60 cards and includes everything you need to play the game except for gladiator figures, wound markers and six-sided dice. The rules sheet (available HERE ) is only two pages, allowing players to pick up the basic mechanics of the game quickly. However, playing your deck to the strengths of your chosen gladiator may take longer to master!  

The murmillo, Lycus, shifted his grip on the gladius as the humidity of the afternoon made his palms slick with sweat. So far, the bout had gone all his way. His opponent, Satyrus, was new to the arena, unsure of his own abilities, hampered by unfamiliar surroundings and the claustrophobic intensity of a thraex’s elaborate helm in the full heat of the sun. Nevertheless, he moved fast, that thraex. The razor-sharp edge of his wicked, curved, blade had come close lacerating Lycus’ shining torso a number of times. Only the murmillo’s months of drill had allowed him to bring around his mighty shield just in time to save his skin. A lucky jab had allowed Lycus to draw the first blood of the bout. Satyrus was bleeding, but was not so hurt that it would greatly impact the rest of the fight. The crowd were roaring now – cheering Lycus on to continue his attack, driving him, compelling him to stay on the offensive. How long would he be able to keep it up though? How long before Satyr...

Well that happened sooner than expected! What a wonderful surprise, to come home after a head-melter of a day's work to find a wee package waiting for me from DriveThru Cards.  Upon opening it, I was delighted to see my proof deck of cards for Blood, Sweat and Cheers . Above you can see the whole pack laid out excitedly - if amateurishly - on the table. In the centre is the six-card arena so that players can get stuck straight into the game without having to call in the set designers from Ridley Scot's Gladiator . Below that are two cards abstracting the mood or favour of the crowd into a linear tracking system. To either side are reference cards so players do not have to refer to the two-page rule sheet once a bout has commenced. The rainbow selection at the top right of the photo are the gladiator cards, each outlining attributes and two special actions unique to each gladiator type. To the right is the play deck of 40 cards (showing three example cards) which are dealt t...

Blood Sweat and Cheers has made it into it's final version and a proof copy of the deck has been ordered. However, due to how long it will take for the proofs to reach me, there is no point holding out for a release before the end of the year. Presuming there are no problems with the proofs, I would expect the game to be available from the start of 2017. Above is a shot from one of the playtesters in Australia. This was taken with a penultimate version of the rules which micro-managed movement. In the final version, the area is divided into 12 zones with movement abstracted by zone. It makes for a much more fluid game and removes unnecessary beardiness from the game. The deck will include six cards which will fit together to form an arena straight out of the pack, so all you'll really need to invest in before your first game is some gladiators. Of course, there is nothing to stop you modelling an arena (I have done so myself), but zones would have to be superimposed...