Gladiatores: Blood for Roses Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Gameplay
  • Quickplay Setup
• Setup: Event Selection
• Crowd Favour
• Setup: Bidding
  • Bidding Example
• Play: Ready Gladiators
• Play: Betting
• Play: Combat
• Combat Sequence
• Combat Cards
• Gladiator Cards
• Play: Winning an Event
• Wheel of Glory
• Play: Victory
• Reset: Cleanup
• Additional Rules
  • Discarding Cards
  • Exhaustion
  • 2 Player Games
• FAQ
• Combat Example

Gameplay

• Event selection: Flip over the top event card to show rewards (see Setup: Event Selection). Remove any excess crowd favour tokens above the total indicated on the event card from the supply and place them back into the box.
• Start player: The winner of the previous event takes the Active Player marker.
• Bidding: Gladiators available for purchase are revealed and players get to bid on them (see Setup: Bidding) until each player has chosen and paid for a single gladiator for the next event.
• Ready: Each player takes their purchased gladiator card, 14 combat cards, life point tokens and extra crowd favour that the gladiator brings to the combat (see Play: Ready Gladiators).
• Turn order: All players (starting with the Active Player) now take a face down Turn Order marker, reveal it and place it in front of them. The player with Turn Order 1 takes the Active Player marker and will initiate the next combat.
• Betting: Each player now has the option of placing a bet on any of the gladiators entering the combat including the player's own (see Play: Betting).
• Decide: Each player chooses one of their Tactics cards to use in this event and places it face down near their Gladiator card. This Tactics card can be revealed at any time during the event.
• Combat: Arena combat is explained in detail in Play: Combat, Combat Sequence and Combat Cards. Crowd favour is gained during the fight. Note that defeated gladiators get a bonus towards the next Bidding step (see Play: Winning an Event).
• Winning: The undefeated gladiator is declared the winner of the event. Rewards are now collected by all players (see Play: Winning an Event) and placed on their Wheel of Glory (see Wheel of Glory).

Quickplay Setup

1. Each player chooses a gladiator card (see Gladiator Cards).
2. Take life point tokens as shown on the gladiator card.
3. Draw 14 combat cards in total from the 3 combat decks.
4. Take a random Turn Order marker each.
5. Player with Turn Order 1 takes the Active Player marker.
6. Player 1 begins combat! (See Play: Combat for how to fight.)

The winner is the last gladiator with life points remaining.

Setup: Event Selection

Gladiatores: Blood for Roses plays over 3, 4 or 5 rounds depending on the length of game required. The game will end either:

i) at the end of a round where at least one player completes their Wheel of Glory, or

ii) after a set number of rounds decided at the start of the game.

Gladiatores can also be played as a single round "quick" combat game. Players draw a random gladiator for the battle and skip the bidding step. All glory rewards are still gained as normal and converted into victory points to determine the winner.

Each round of the game is an arena event represented by an event card.

The event card shows the following:

• Winner prize reward: the 1st prize wreath for the winning gladiator.
• 2nd prize reward: the 2nd prize wreath for the runner up.
• Crowd favour supply: the number of crowd favour tokens available in the event.
• Crowd glory rewards: the glory wreath awarded for each band of crowd favour converted after the event.

These events offer opportunities for player's schools to gain fame and glory by sending their gladiator into the arena to fight. These cards indicate the prize reward for winning as well as the glory gained from impressing the crowd (crowd favour).

Event cards are normally randomly drawn for each round.

Variant: As a game variant, event cards can be drawn in advance of the game starting and laid out side by side (so players get to see which events, and their rewards, will come in subsequent rounds).

Crowd Favour

Crowd favour tokens represent the glory gained from putting on a good show for the event organiser (the Editor) and the crowds who come to see the gladiators fight. Because the crowd has a limited size, the number of crowd favour tokens are also limited.

During an event, crowd favour can be gained from:

i) causing wounds to another gladiator: each wound caused gains 1 crowd favour token;

ii) defeating a gladiator, which gains an extra 2 crowd favour tokens;

iii) combat cards;

iv) gladiator abilities.

All crowd favour gained during an event comes from the event supply pool. When this supply has run out, the crowd has chosen their favourite gladiator and no more favour can be gained (except if using the variant rule below).

Variant rule: A gladiator that causes wounds can take crowd favour tokens (equal to the wounds caused) from the losing gladiator.

All crowd tokens gained in an event must be fully converted into glory wreaths after each event and cannot be saved for later.

Each event card shows the glory rewards gained from converting crowd favour tokens into glory wreaths. For example, a 3 crowd favour token and a 1 crowd favour token (4 in total) convert to the glory wreath shown for the 4-7 band on the event card.

Setup: Bidding

In the bidding step, the market will be filled with available gladiators. Players will then take turns to bid on these gladiators, or outbid each other to secure their chosen gladiator, so that each player will have a single gladiator to use in the next event.

The helmet icons above the bidding placements indicate which columns will be used depending on the number of players. So, column 3 will only be used in a 4-5 player game.

I. Reveal the top gladiator marker (currently face down) and place it with the name showing next to the 1st space of the market. Subsequent gladiators (equal to the number of players +1) are then revealed and placed similarly above the 1st.

II. The player on the 1st marker position of the Star Player market board chooses which gladiator they will bid on and moves their marker to the left-most position of that gladiator's rank. (In the source example, player 1 has chosen the gladiator at 2nd rank.)

The other players in order now choose gladiators and can outbid another player (in 3+ player games) by placing their marker to the right of the previous bid. The outbid player must now immediately choose another option.

Positions left empty by a player who has had to move by being outbid cannot be re-used in this bidding step by any player. This outbidding process continues until all players have chosen not to change their bid (have passed).

III. The cost of the chosen gladiators must now be paid (by paying glory wreaths from player boards back to the supply). Players unable to pay the cost from their player boards must take an advance from the Bank Wheel by moving their marker up the scale by the amount owed.

Bidding Example

Ludus Genua has bid for the gladiator in row 3 by taking the 1st space (bronze). Ludus Messana chooses to outbid Genua, taking the next available space (silver). Genua now has to immediately change their choice, and moves to the first gladiator space available in row 2 (bronze). Genua's previous space in row 3 is now no longer available to any player.

Messana therefore has to pay a cost of 2 silver to buy the gladiator in row 3, whereas Genua only has to pay 1 bronze.

Genua must pay a bronze glory wreath token into the supply and takes the gladiator card for the next event.

Messana however realises that at the moment they only have a single bronze glory wreath (value 1) on their board. To pay the silver (2) required, Messana must borrow the extra glory as an advance from the Bank Wheel.

This advance counts against a player's victory points at the end of the game.

The Messana player moves their marker on to the 1 (bronze) position on the Bank Wheel.

Note: If a player has somehow borrowed the maximum 6 points from the bank, they must use their own glory wreath tokens to pay for gladiators from now on.

Play: Ready Gladiators

Every player should now have successfully bid (and paid) for one of the gladiators available. Each player takes the corresponding set of 9 gladiator specific combat cards into hand, then draws another 5 cards of their choice from the 3 combat decks (total hand size of 14 cards).

Variant (marked with the 2-player icon): Draw 9 cards each (total hand size 18 cards).

Players now take the number of life point tokens (from the supply) and extra crowd favour (from the box, not from the event supply) marked on their gladiator card.

Any bonuses specific to a gladiator school are now also taken (e.g. extra crowd favour or combat cards). For example, the Ludus Genua school card reads: "Most famous for training gladiators to be aggressive. Gladiators fighting for this school start events with +1 extra [attack] card."

Prior to the combat step, each player's board should look like the example figure in the rulebook (gladiator card, Tactics and Sponsor areas, school bonus, Turn Order marker and crowd favour tokens).

Play: Betting

The Roman people liked to gamble on arena fights and wagered on the experience and confidence of the gladiators winning a combat. Turn order simulates both of these factors with the gladiator attacking first being the most confident.

A gladiator's turn order therefore also dictates the betting odds for that gladiator potentially winning a combat. Betting odds are shown at the top right of each gladiator character card.

Example: with Turn Order 4, this gladiator is worth a silver wreath to anyone who bets on her if she wins the combat.

Players can only normally make 1 bet per combat event.

Skip the Betting step in a 2 player game (marked with the 2-player icon).

Players choosing to gamble on the combat select one of their betting chips and place it face down near their board.

There is no cost to placing a bet.

Once chosen, a player cannot check who they bet on! If you forget then too bad!

Quickplay: For quickplay, players do not need to use the ludus player boards.

Play: Combat

Combat cards represent actions that can be chained into a sequence of moves and counter moves, in an attempt to cause a wound or impress the crowd. Cards also represent the stamina and endurance of the gladiator. A gladiator who uses up all of their cards will collapse onto the sand and be out of the fight!

All 14 cards (18 in 2 player games) are kept in hand and are available to be played at any moment by the player.

A gladiator targets a single other gladiator to receive an attack. The other gladiators are not involved in this exchange. Cards are played on top of each other so only the top card is showing (the currently active card).

Only the last card in an exchange gets to activate any trigger effects.

• Wound: causing a wound gains 1 gladiator crowd favour token.
• Defeating a gladiator: gains a +2 bonus of crowd favour tokens.

Generally, the sequence of card play is: an Attack card, then a Defense card, then an Effect card.

Effect moves are often counter attacks or combat finishing moves because they cannot be countered (i.e. there are no card names in the orange banners). A careful gladiator will have a selection of all 3 types in their hand to start the combat.

Play continues with each player playing a card in turn until one of them passes.

Example of play: I. The attacker plays a CLEAVE attack card. II. The defender counters the attack with a PARRY card. III. The attacker counters the Parry with a DISARM card.

Combat Sequence

I. In Turn Order, a player can either:

• choose another gladiator to play an Attack card against;
• discard a card (see Discarding Cards in Additional Rules);
• or play an Effect card or gladiator ability marked with the red triangle symbol.

If a player has no Attack cards in hand they must use the Discard action!

II. The target gladiator in response can then either:

• choose to play a counter card (the possible BREAK cards are named on the orange banners of the current active card). This new card is placed on top of the previous card to show it is now the active card;
• play an applicable gladiator special ability (which ends the exchange);
• or can choose to pass.

III. The attacking gladiator can then choose to respond again by playing another counter card, gladiator ability if possible, or must pass.

IV. The defender can then choose to play another applicable card or ability against the newly played card, or must pass.

If either player passes, any trigger effects on the final active card (on top of the pile of cards) are now actioned. Crowd favour tokens are gained immediately during combat.

All cards used in the exchange are moved to a discard pile.

The player whose gladiator has the next lowest Turn Order token takes the Active Player marker, then begins their turn at step I above.

Combat continues until only one gladiator is left with life points or cards in hand.

Combat Cards

The combat cards represent specialised combat moves and counter moves. An experienced gladiator will be trained in all these techniques. As well as the 3 decks of available combat cards, each gladiator has their own unique set of these combat moves.

The card layout is as follows:

• Title: the name of the card.
• Card type: Attack, Defense or Effect (shown by a token at the top left of the card).
• Counter card type: the BREAK card(s) that can be used to "break", or "trump", this card. These are named on the orange banners at the sides of the card.
• Card activation: when the card's benefits are actioned. The card's immediate effect is shown on the upper panel and its trigger effect on the lower panel.
• Favour benefit: some cards also give crowd favour.
• Card effects: a card can have one or more effects. The dividing line means an Either/Or option.
• Gladiator set: some cards are part of a gladiator specific set. Gladiator specific combat cards have the gladiator's icon in the top right corner of the card.

Cards that have a red triangle symbol next to the title can be played in a gladiator's turn instead of an Attack card.

For speed of setup, store these special gladiator cards separately to the main combat cards (in their own deck) after use.

Gladiator Cards

Each gladiator in the game has a unique fighting style that is represented by their special ability (detailed on each gladiator character card) and their unique set of combat cards.

The gladiator card shows:

• Gladiator icon
• Gladiator name
• Starting life points
• Starting bonus crowd favour
• Betting values (see Play: Betting)
• Weapons and armour
• Special ability

These special abilities are useable at any time the gladiator is active (that is, either being targeted by another gladiator or when it is that player's turn).

Special abilities are immediate effects. Flip the gladiator card over to show that an ability has been used. The ability refreshes (player turns the card back over to the front) at the end of the player's NEXT turn.

Special "combat" abilities are treated as combat finishing moves that cannot be "countered" by an opponent playing another card against them. A combat exchange always ends if a gladiator special ability is used.

A special ability with the red triangle icon can be used in a player's turn instead of having to play an attack card or discarding.

Quickplay: For quickplay, players should ignore the special ability functions for the first couple of games.

Play: Winning an Event

The last gladiator to have either life points left or cards in hand is declared the winner of the event. The last gladiator to be defeated comes 2nd.

Gladiators who are defeated (lost all life points) or have run out of cards (exhausted) are out of the current fight.

However, when this happens, the player can immediately place their ludus marker on the lowest numbered available space of the gladiator market board.

Once combat is over, glory rewards gained from the event are now claimed by all players, even those who were defeated.

Event prize: The winning gladiator gains the 1st prize wreath (large token) while the runner up (or last gladiator to be defeated) claims the 2nd prize (small token).

The winning gladiator also claims all remaining crowd favour tokens available in the event supply. If crowd favour tokens run out from this supply, no more can be taken.

All crowd favour is converted to glory wreath tokens and placed on a player's Wheel of Glory.

Betting prize: Any player that has bet on the winning gladiator now claims their glory reward based on the betting odds shown on that gladiator's card. (Example: a bet on a gladiator with Turn Order 4 that wins pays a silver wreath.)

Wheel of Glory

Glory wreath tokens gained during the game are placed on a player's Wheel of Glory. Only tokens on this board are worth victory points (VPs). A player cannot normally rearrange tokens on this board once placed.

The 1st player to fill all spaces on their wheel gains a game end bonus of 8 VPs. The 2nd player to do so gains 6 VPs.

Note: A player can swap tokens on the wheel if they have more glory tokens than available spaces; for example removing two small bronze wreaths (1 VP each) to place a large silver (5 VPs) wreath. Swapped glory wreath tokens must be discarded back into the supply. Spare tokens cannot be stored anywhere else but on the Wheel of Glory.

Variant rule: Glory Wheel Functions. Wheels also have various functions that can be immediately used when a token is placed over them. Most affect the next event. Any crowd favour gained from these functions is kept ready for the next event.

Once covered and used, a function is no longer available, even if the player swaps glory tokens.

Play: Victory

Glory wreath tokens gained during the game are converted into VPs at the end of the game. The Bank Wheel shows the VP value of each glory token. Any debt owed from advances taken from the bank reduce a player's total VP score (e.g. in the source example, ludus Aemilius owes 5 VPs to the bank).

The player with the most VPs wins the game.

If players are tied, the player with the most gold wreaths, then silver wreaths, wins.

Reset: Cleanup

If playing more than 1 round of the game, a cleanup phase is required so that game components are reset ready for the next event.

To reset the game ready for the next round:

• Discard all remaining cards in hand to the discard pile. Remove the gladiator specific cards back into their own deck. (The printed sentence reads "back into their ." with the noun missing; "own deck" is supplied from the Combat Cards section, which says to store these cards in their own deck.) All other Attack, Defense and Effects cards go back into their relevant decks. Reshuffle each combat deck.
• Discard all used Tactics cards (and the old Event card) back into the game box. They will not be available for the rest of the game.
• Return used gladiator character cards to the centre of the table. Reshuffle the gladiator (scroll) markers and place in a pile face down as before.
• [If used] Return sponsor cards back into their sets and reshuffle each set.
• Each player refreshes their starting Crowd Favour tokens (3), placing all others into the general supply, and resets their starting life points to 4.
• Players keep their glory wreath tokens (VPs) on their Wheel of Glory.
• Players are now ready to begin the next event with the player who won the last event taking the Active Player marker.

Now that you've had some fun with just the combat, you are ready for the challenge of taking one of the famous gladiator schools all the way to Rome, to impress Caesar at the infamous Colosseum!

Additional Rules

Discarding Cards

An alternative option in a player's turn is to discard a card to redraw a card from any deck. This happens most often when a gladiator has no more Attack cards in hand and must draw one ready for their next turn.

The crowd will not be happy with this delaying, so the player must pay a penalty of one favour token (if they have any) every time they discard a card in this way. If they have no favour tokens they can still discard a card with no further penalty.

Exhaustion

Players must carefully manage their hand of cards in each combat. Running out of cards means their gladiator has collapsed from exhaustion and is out of the fight. The player will keep all crowd favour tokens gained during the combat however.

Exhausted gladiators cannot be targeted by gladiators still fighting!

An exhausted gladiator could still win 2nd place if they are the last gladiator to fall.

2 Player Games

Two player games are played exactly like the normal (or quick rules) game, with 3+ events but with 18 combat cards for each player.

Ignore the betting option. If using the Sponsor cards, all these cards are shuffled together and each player is dealt 1 card randomly before each event.

Changes for the 2 player variant are marked with the 2-player icon.

FAQ

Can you explain how the BASH card works? Sure! The BASH card is a bit more complicated than normal combat cards, because it has two options (above and below the divider line). The immediate effect above the line is a weak bash that gives the using player a quick bonus, but it does not have an effect on the target. Therefore the target player does not need to play a card in response (since the bottom effect option will never occur, the dividing line is an either/or option). If the player playing the BASH chooses to activate the bottom effect option, the opponent can then play cards as normal to try and counter the BASH.

What happens if the Combat card decks run out? There should be enough combat cards so this will not happen, but if it does just sort the discard pile by card types and refill the combat card decks. (Players with gladiators already defeated could help sort these to speed up this process if it looks likely to happen.)

If I choose the "Draw 1 card" option on the BASH card, does my target still have to play a card in response (since the wound effect will never happen because of the either/or divider)? No. You need to choose an effect option when you play the BASH so your target knows whether they need to react or not.

Why can't I re-use the same Tactics card? You can with this variant rule as long as all players agree in advance.

What happens if I've borrowed the maximum glory from the Bank Wheel and have no glory wreath tokens as well? In the extremely unlikely event this happens, you cannot bid on gladiators but can take a gladiator remaining in the market for free, after all players have chosen and bought theirs.

If I bid a gold wreath (cost 3) but don't have a gold wreath token on my player board, can I pay with lesser tokens? Yes, for example you could pay with a silver (2) and a bronze (1).

Where does extra crowd favour come from? During an event, the total amount of crowd favour tokens (the crowd size) is limited by the value shown on the event card. When taking extra crowd favour (e.g. shown on a gladiator card) the tokens must come from the general supply, not from the event supply.

Combat Example

The following example shows the interaction of combat cards and counter cards. It also shows how a gladiator's special abilities can be used.

• The Active Player is the 1st Attacker and targets a single gladiator, playing a STRIKE card.
• The options for the Defender are to play a PARRY, DODGE or BLOCK card. The Defender plays a PARRY card. The blood-drop wound symbol on the STRIKE card therefore never happens.
• The Attacker can counter the PARRY by playing a DISARM or GRAB card. The attacker cannot play (or chooses not to play) either card. The trigger effect then happens and the Defender chooses to counter-attack!
• The player (playing Kalendio) chooses a THRUST card hoping to return some damage or forcing the other player to possibly play a BLOCK, so Kalendio can use his special ability.
• The active player needs to respond with either a DODGE or a BLOCK card but realises the Entangle trap being laid. Luckily the player (playing Astyanax) has a DODGE card and plays it. He draws a card as an immediate action.
• The counter card option for a DODGE card is a FEINT. The Kalendio player has a FEINT so plays it.
• The FEINT card is perhaps the most complicated card in the deck. Essentially the Astyanax player has to play another DODGE card now, otherwise the FEINT cancels out the DODGE card (already played) and the previous card (THRUST) is successful.
• The THRUST will do a wound (blood drop), because Kalendio uses a Trident, and Astyanax has no more DODGE cards, so he decides to use his 2nd special ability (flipping his card over and taking a crowd favour token from the crowd pool for using his special ability). Special abilities are combat finishers, so the exchange of cards stops here.