Have Gladius Will Fight

These rules allow quick and fun gladiator combats involving just two gladiators or a whole crowd. Animals such as lions and tigers can also be included.

Each player controls one or more units. A unit can be a gladiator OR animal such as a lion or tiger. Each unit requires a unit sheet. Mark in pencil or use pins in the shaded squares.

The playing area is divided into squares to regulate movement and which units fight. Players roll 1d6 for each unit to determine initiative. The units will be moved in the order of lowest initiative to highest initiative. Roll another dice to separate tied rolls. This second roll is only used to separate initial tied rolls and does not change the order of others who initially rolled higher or lower.

It costs 1 move point to move a unit to a vacant adjacent square (including an adjacent diagonal square). A unit can only use up to the number of move points shown in the gladiator table each turn, but does not have to use all of their move points each turn. Move points not used that turn are lost. A unit cannot move into or through a space occupied by another unit.

The combat phase occurs after all movement has been completed. A player does nothing in the combat phase if that unit is not adjacent to any other unit. Adjacent also includes the touching diagonal spaces. Otherwise :- Players secretly choose which (if any) adjacent unit they will attack this turn. A player also secretly chooses the aggro level. The aggro level chosen will affect the attack and defense factors for that unit. This is how aggressive or defensive that unit will be for all combats this turn.

When a unit reaches 0 or less hit points, it is dead, and is removed from the board. A unit scores a victory point each time it inflicts a hit point of damage on another unit.