I had the pleasure of continuing my Sons of Mars campaign this past weekend. This is the longest I’ve had a wargame campaign go on for and I think the way Sons of Mars is structured really helps. If you miss a week, our GM has the players who were “out” simply bet money on the matches that happen. That way, you don’t exactly fall behind even if you’re not gaining gladiator experience.

Of course, that means I do better when I don’t show up than when I do.

This “month’s” events consisted of three matches:

Match 1: The Lion’s Den

This one started simple enough. There’s a lion chained up in the center of the battlefield and we had a 1v1v1 free-for-all match. The lion didn’t really play a part, thanks to the chain; we stayed out of his hungry reach. Three way battles always create a predictable flow: someone engages someone else, then the third player leaps in at the ideal time. That… didn’t quite happen this time.

It started with my two opponents fighting each other, but part way through their fight one of them proposed a truce to focus on me, instead. I charged in, hoping to take advantage of a high charge statistic to maybe kill one of them swiftly before facing the other. It half worked: I did kill him before facing the other player, I just took too many wounds in the process. The third gladiator readily took me down.

Match 2: 2v2 in an… Interesting Arena

For this match, our host graciously asked my son (who tagged along to watch) to setup our next arena. He had some fun setting up what I think is an obstacle course and the other players were kind enough to play it out. On our side, we had an archer and a velites, so two ranged characters. Our opposing side was a pair of traditional melee oriented gladiators, one of whom we refer to as bucket head.

We did our best to snipe the enemy as they came in but ultimately failed to garner a kill that we desperately needed to keep ahead. My velites went down first, then the archer managed a miracle slaying of one of the incoming warriors. That did not translate to his duel with bucket head, so we lost the overall match. Loss two for me.

Match 3: Equestrian Challenges

This was a 2v1 between two gladiators on foot and a mounted gladiator on a much better setup field (also my son, if I remember correctly). After digesting the mounted rules, we were off to the races and I… uh… died. I died again.

My partner managed the win this time after a long struggle against the mounted warrior, so I did technically win a match. My overall take home for the night was 10 gold, some experience, and just enough money to buy a fourth gladiator and replace my dead one.

Technical success, even if I felt like I spent the entire evening failing to roll any criticals when I needed them.

Still, it produced a fun game. In a campaign context, Sons of Mars holds up surprisingly well. After playing it this weekend, I’m going to throw it on the list for an after-work game demo. It’s easy to learn, often tells dramatic stories, and is immediately fun. I can’t say it’s the best balanced system or that I would enjoy playing it weekly, but played across a year like this it has proven quite satisfying.

Though, I should probably look into new dice.