Blood Sweat and Cheers beyond the Foyle

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 in the end  it was Lee's dimachaerus who was more skilled, and the sagittarius was taken down. The crowd enjoyed his antics so much that they were happy for him to carried away to the infirmary - there to be tended back to full health by a decent Greek doctor and a myriad of beautiful Syrian slaves.