Way back in July we had the opening game to our Sons of Mars campaign. Well, we’ve finally resumed the campaign uhhhh… five months later. If it works, it works.

Tonight we only had three players, so we played three matches to compose the month of events:

1. A free for all 1v1v1
2. 3v1 with us teaming up on a Hippo and splitting the rewards
3. 1v1 on a platform, with the third player controlling two crocodiles

It wasn’t the best night for the Ludus Viriathus (my gladiatorial school for the campaign). Not to spoil too much. Let’s start with the first match.

This match revolved around the saggitarius (archer). My dimachaerus (in purple) immediately went for the poor archer, wounding him off the bat. As the battle progressed, we 2v1’d the poor guy into a corner and I made the defeating blow. This left me in a direct duel with the remaining opponent.

Which I barely lost! After trading blows, he managed a critical at just the right moment and took the overall victory for the match.

Our next match was three men against a hippo. Frankly, it was terrifying. I started off strong, with my velites successfully chipping four wounds off the hippo with his javelins.

The hippo then honed in on the gladiator on the rock, while the third gladiator spent his time playing to the crowd, trying to build favor dice so he could charge in and take the kill at the last moment.

The hippo successfully threw the poor gladiator off the rock–spelling potential disaster. Unfortunately for the hippo (and me), the gladiator took the risky route and charged back in, managing a devastating blow that took the last wounds off and secured victory.

Our final battle was my provacator up against a secutor atop a platform, surrounded by crocodiles closing in from opposite sides of the arena. We made the opening initiative check and he won, so he wisely closed in on me, putting my back to the edge of the platform. After a few failed push attempts, he finally managed to shove me off the platform, into the crocodile pit.

I quickly discovered that as a heavily armored gladiator, I was not going to make it back onto the platform. The crocodiles fell upon my gladiator and he made a valiant effort, nearly killing one of them. I actually thought I might walk away with my gladiator’s life. Then, disaster struck: the crocodile rolled a 10, followed by me rolling a 1 on the save. This triggered a killing blow, which required the crocodile to beat a 10+ strength check on a D10 to instantly kill my poor provacator.

Don’t hold your breath–crocodiles get +4 to the strength checks. I’m down a gladiator.

But I loved the match anyway! The funniest part was that my opponent stood there on the platform the entire time while I fought off two crocodiles. He kept playing to the crowd and succeeded his first two attempts, then proceeded to fail every other attempt. It was as if the crowd went wild when he threw me off the platform, then got tired of him showboating as my provacator was clearly doing all of the real work.

Sons of Mars is, at its core, a pretty simple game–but played as a campaign with a series of events, it presented a seriously fun time with a lot of small, nuanced decisions that had big impacts. During that final duel, for instance, I considered pushing my opponent back, but if I failed, he would successfully push me off the platform. I decided to minimize the opportunities to be pushed off, which I now realize was foolish. I should have tried to push him so I could put an inch between me and the edge. That was all I needed to be safe and I probably could have beaten him in a straight up fight on the platform.

And now, my poor ludus is down its most invested gladiator. I have to deal with that as the campaign marches forward.

He will be avenged.