Gladiator Gauntlet Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Round
  • R1: Draw enemy cards
  • R2: Roll for event
  • R3: Combat
  • R4: Reroll one health die (optional)
  • R5: Move to the next round
• Ties
• Critical Hits
• Glory
• Health
• Abilities
• Tactics
• Game End
• Scoring
• Clarifications
• Variants

Components

• 1 rule sheet
• 9 cards
• 6 d6 dice (4 blue, 2 red)
• 4 small wood cubes

Setup

Place the Gladiator, Event, Round, and Tactics cards in front of you. Shuffle the Enemy deck facedown and put it to the side.

Place one cube by the Glory track (you start at 0), one by the Enemy Health track, one on the Round list (at I) and one on the Events card.

The two red dice are the enemy combat dice. Place two of the blue dice on your Gladiator card, one on each of the heart slots – this is your health. Each die should be set to 4. The other two blue dice are your combat dice.

Choose your difficulty: easy, normal, or hard. Easy ends after round IV, normal after round V, and hard after round VI.

Start the first round.

Round

Each round consists of the following sequence:

1. Draw enemy cards
2. Roll for event
3. Combat
4. Reroll one health die (optional)
5. Move to the next round

Each item will be further explained.

R1: Draw enemy cards

At the beginning of each round you draw the number of enemy cards specified by the Round card. Flip the cards to the appropriate side (A or B). These cards should be placed in a row which you will fight through one at a time from left to right.

Adjust the Enemy Health tracker to the amount listed on the enemy card.

NOTE: If the round specifies that "Enemies reroll [1]/[2]" that means that if any of the enemy dice match the reroll numbers you must reroll those dice one time (do not reroll again if the subsequent result is still that number).

If at any point the Enemy deck runs out of cards reshuffle all discarded enemies into the Enemy deck.

R2: Roll for event

Roll one die to determine which event is active during the entirety of the current round. Events are resolved immediately unless specified otherwise.

You may add or subtract 1 to this result by spending 2 glory.

R3: Combat

The Combat phase continues through multiple matches until either you or all enemy cards are dead.

Combat matches follow this sequence:

1. Simultaneously roll all combat dice (both yours and the enemy's).

2. Form two pairs of dice, each consisting of a red and a blue die. The two higher results form one pair, the lower results the other pair. The highest number in each pair determines who will win that pair.

   Example: you roll blue 3/4 and red 1/5. You would pair up r5-b4 and b3-r1.

3. You may swap one – and only one – of your health dice with one of your combat dice. You do not have to swap. Combat dice with a value of 6 may not be swapped, although health dice with a value of 6 may still be swapped. Adjust pairs as necessary to ensure that one pair always has the higher results and the other has the lower results.

   Example: you roll blue 3/4 and red 1/5. After pairing r5-b4 and b3-r1 you see that you will lose the high-high pair. Fortunately one of your health dice is a 6. You swap it with your b4, resulting in a b6-r5 pair, which you will win. Your health die is now a 4 instead of a 6.

   Any time that you replace a combat die of value 1 with a health die of higher value you gain 2 glory.

   Example: you roll b4-r2 and r2-b1. You have a health die of value 3. You swap it for the b1, resulting in a b3-r2 pairing, which you will win – but your health die now is now value 1. Gain 2 glory for this risky move.

4. You may spend glory using the Tactics card to adjust the dice further. Some Tactics modifiers may adjust the amount of damage dealt or received in the next step. Adjust pairs if necessary.

5. After all adjustments are finished, the higher die in each pair wins, causing the other gladiator (player or enemy) to lose 1 health. Nobody loses health for a tied pair. Therefore it is possible for a gladiator to lose 0, 1, or 2 health in any given combat (without scoring critical hits).

6. Repeat combat matches until the leftmost enemy is defeated. If there are enemies remaining, adjust the Enemy Health track to reflect the new enemy card and continue through additional combat matches until all enemies are defeated.

R4: Reroll one health die (optional)

After completing a round and before you progress to the next round, you may choose to gamble for more health. If you do so, choose one of your health die and roll it. The result is your new health value for that die. This roll cannot be modified.

R5: Move to the next round

Move the round tracker to the next row and return to step R1.

Ties

Ties result in no winner, unless overruled by an event. This means that neither side suffers damage for the tied pair.

Critical Hits

If either side rolls a 6 they have scored a critical hit. Critical hits deal two damage if they win their pair.

Example: You have pairs of r6-b5 and r2-b1. The enemy would win both these pairings and deal three damage to the player.

Glory

Glory is used to purchase tactics and modify the event die. You can have a maximum of 5 glory.

Gain 1 glory every time you successfully complete a round.

You may also gain glory from abilities, in combat, or from events.

Health

Health represents your stamina and endurance during the games. Your health may vary widely during the game as you swap combat dice in and out with your health dice.

You can have a maximum of 12 health. Each die has a maximum value of 6.

Whenever you – the player – suffer damage (i.e. lose health), it is always taken from your lowest health die. Any remaining damage after a health die reaches 0 is not applied to the next die, in other words, damage may never be distributed between your health die. Once a health die reaches 0 it is permanently removed from the game.

Abilities

Player abilities are listed on the Gladiator card.

Gain x glory at any time during combat in exchange for +x enemy health. You can activate this ability once during a combat match as long as you are fighting an enemy with remaining health. You gain x glory, the enemy gains x health.

Example: you gain 3 glory, the enemy gains 3 health.

If you ever deal more than 3 damage in combat, gain 2 glory. Any time you deal more than 3 damage immediately gain 2 glory. This ability is always active.

Enemy abilities are listed on enemy cards and either directly impact the player or the enemy card. Abilities which impact the player are in purple text and preceded by "Player:".

• Player: no Cautious Defenses. The player cannot use the Cautious Defense tactic vs. this enemy.

• Player: no Quick Rests. The player cannot use the Quick Rest tactic vs. this enemy.

• Player: no Dirty Tricks. The player cannot use the Dirty Trick tactic vs. this enemy.

• Player: cannot swap dice. The player cannot swap health and combat dice vs. this enemy.

• Player: -1 glory per match. The player loses 1 glory at the end of every match if this enemy is still alive.

• +1 health per round. This enemy gains 1 health at the end of every match if still alive.

• Rolled 5s are critical hits. This enemy deals 2 damage for pairs won with a 5 or a 6.

• Health equals player glory. This enemy's health equals the player glory amount when the card is first fought. Minimum of 1 health.

  Example: the player just defeated the Provocator and has 2 glory remaining. The next enemy in the line has this ability, so its health is set to 2.

Tactics

The Tactics card has three different modifiers you can purchase with glory. Each modifier can be used once during a combat match – you can purchase any combination of them with your available glory. Or, you can choose not to purchase any.

• Cautious Defense: reduce incoming damage by 1. Costs 1 glory.

• Quick Rest: +2 health to low health die. Costs 2 glory. If both your health die are the same value choose one to adjust.

• Dirty Trick: +x to a single combat die. Costs x glory.

  Example: you spend 2 glory to increase a combat die by 2.

• Swift Execution: double all damage dealt. Costs 4 glory.

Game End

The game ends in agonizing death if both of your health dice reach 0.

The game ends in bloody conquest if you kill the last enemy in the final round. Remember, your final round varies based on the difficulty chosen (easy, normal, or hard).

Scoring

Your final score is calculated by the adding the following:

• Remaining health x 2
• Remaining glory x 1
• Highest round beaten x 5

The highest possible score is 59.

Clarifications

A die value cannot ever exceed 6.

Enemy health may not exceed 6.

Each combat phase may have multiple combat matches.

Variants

You may use rule variants to make the game easier or harder.

• No enemy rerolls. Use this variant to make the game easier by removing enemy rerolls from rounds II, IV, V, and VI.
• No enemy abilities. Use this variant to make the game easier by ignoring all enemy abilities listed on the enemy cards.
• Enemies regenerate health. Use this variant to make the game harder. Enemies regain 1 health whenever they win both pairs during combat.