Sunday, February 13, 2005

 

"So Timmy, Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?"

I attended a convention this weekend. Not Dundracon, which is next weekend, but the Shield Gaming Conference. It's like the convention before the convention, if you will--an intimate gathering of a hundred or so afficiandos of historical miniatures wargaming.

This was the second year for this convention. Last year, it had the rather dry moniker of "Ancients & Medievals Conference." Along with this year's crisper title, the convention expanded its focus to all historical periods, up to the 20th Century. I'm not certain if the expanded focus directly led to the greater attendance this year, or if word-of-mouth did. Whatever the case, the show was easily double the size of what I saw last year. The gaming overflowed from one large room into a second and sometimes a third. Additionally, the small dealers area was triple the size of last year, with a much greater variety of things to buy.

Unlike last year, I actually got into a game or two this time. On Saturday, I played a game of Roman gladitorial combat called "Habet Hoc Habet." I'm sure that means something really cool in Latin. Sadly, in my Tolkien-infested brain, I kept calling it "Hobbit Hack Hobbit."

Anyway, the game was run by Rod Thompson, who designed the game. It's a fun beer & pretzels romp with a decently robust combat system. The real stroke of genius in the game's design is this: the players aren't playing the role of the gladiator. Instead, each player is the owner of several gladiators. The goal for the players is to amass as much money as possible. While you can win money by having your gladiators win their fights, there's even more to be made by wagering with your fellow owners.

Rod ran us through two rounds of combat, but first, we had to create our gladiators. This was fun, if for no other reason than we got to think up silly pseudo-Roman names. I rolled up two gladiators. The lousy one I named Ludicrus, and the more studly one I decided was his brother Dudicus. Some of the other gladiators were named Bleedicus, Patheticus, Nudicus (a naked raving Celt), and Smaktum.

The first round was a venatius, which pitted the gladiators against a pride of hungry lions. The betting was fierce. I bet that Smaktum would win (that is, remain standing at the end). I knew that Ludicrus had no chance! I would have won the bet, too, but Patheticus decided that the better part of valor was to run away as much as possible. Smaktum acquitted himself gloriously, cutting down no less than three lions single-handedly before he fell. Ludicrus did not last very long at all. Patheticus indeed was the last man standing, much to our dismay.

The second round was a gladiatorial free-for-all. Except for Patheticus, all the gladiators were fresh. I put in Dudicus, but I placed two hefty bets. One was on Bleedicus to win; I knew Bleedicus was easily the best fighter in the game. The other bet was a side bet with Rod that Patheticus would not survive the round. (After all, everyone was mad because he ran away!)

Of course, in the very first round, Dudicus very nearly decapitated Bleedicus! Somehow Bleedicus survived, but it was a very near thing. My own gladiator was ruining my plans! Luckily for me, Bleedicus then dispatched Dudicus, for which I was very happy. I stood to make more money with a Bleedicus win than if my own gladiator won. And that's how it worked out--Bleedicus took down Patheticus and, despite many wounds, won the day. Since all my bets paid off, I finished the game with more money than I started with! I ended up placing third in the money count, which was good enough for a prize of a gladiator miniature. It was a great time, with lots of laughs.

Enough for now--I'll talk more about the Shield Conference tomorrow or the next day.

Oh, and if you're wondering how I'm doing with the preparations for "True Meaning of Haste"--I finished the painting last night. I created some player handouts tonight, and there's nothing but little tasks left before Friday night. I wlll borrow someone's digital camera for the weekend, so you can be sure there will be lots of pics!

Jefferson 8:17 PM

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