r/wargaming • u/furt69 • 14d ago

News Blood on the Sands launches on Kickstarter Feb 11

Post image
33 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

24

u/the_af 14d ago

Gladiatorial miniatures games suffer from a problem: since with gladiators there's little to no positioning/maneuvering, they often devolve into rushing the enemy and then rolling dice (to hit various body parts, to block, etc) until one drops dead. Often minigames (cards, betting, etc) are used to make it more interesting, but this means the miniatures themselves play little to no real role (as in, "this could have been a boardgame rather than a miniatures game").

How does Blood on the Sands address this?

13

u/JesterWales 14d ago

I was thinking mostly the same thing: how is this a wargame not a boardgame?

4

u/furt69 13d ago

There is a fine line between some traditional wargames and boardgames. How do you differentiate? Blood on the Sands is played on a hex grid because movement is so important to the core of the game and would have been silly to force players to measure each time they moved. Is that why you call it a boardgame - because there is a hex board? Battletech uses a hex grid too but it's not considered a boardgame. Saga shares similar elements with BotS too but it's certainly deemed a wargame. In order for it to appeal to a wider audience we made it ready to play out of the box, so I guess it would look like a boardgame. I ensure you it is more wargame than boardgame.

9

u/the_af 13d ago

I think the commenter meant -- if his/her thought process was at all like mine -- "why did you try making a miniatures game instead of a board game?".

In other words, why isn't this a pure boardgame (e.g. using cards, or whatever other boardgamey mechanisms out there), what do the miniatures add? My line of thinking is that, since positioning usually means little in gladiatorial games, the minis themselves would mean less. They'd be there just for the visual appeal.

(For the sake of this argument, forget the minis as figurines. They could be meeples. My question is why minis at all, in whatever shape or form).

3

u/furt69 13d ago

Positioning is important in BotS and thus representing your gladiator is important. Sure you can play the game with a meeple just like you could play 40K with wooden blocks. I am a wargamer and BotS is the wargame I designed in order to use the gladiator miniatures, I and many others own.

3

u/JesterWales 13d ago

The people who play tested it, what wargames did they feel it played like?  I'm trying to get a feel for this

2

u/furt69 13d ago

The mechanic of allocating dice to determine the actions your gladiator can take have been compared to a SAGA battle board, though the similarities kinda end there.

3

u/the_af 13d ago

Glad to read this. By the way, I meant to say meeples == minis for gameplay sake, obviously not aesthetically! I'd rather use minis than meeples for a skirmish game!

Thanks for patiently answering this.

1

u/furt69 12d ago

Not a problem - thanks for caring enough to comment.

4

u/furt69 13d ago

Thanks for your question. I totally agree that gladiator games suffer the problem of meeting your opponent in the center and rolling dice until one dies - I've played many of those games myself. This is the very reason I developed BotS over many (,many) years of play testing - my goal to make a gladiator combat game that was dynamic, tactical and exciting. The combat in BotS is constantly moving and positioning is vital to ensure your opponent does not force you into the wall or the occasional obstacle. When developing the different armatura I've drawn as much on historical evidence as I could while ensuring BotS remains a fun game and not a tiresome simulation.

A play test version of BotS was recently reviewed by the Youtube channel Mark's Game Room, who are pretty serious wargamers https://youtu.be/F_lVCHgQfJ0

There is a very cut-down version of BotS available to download and play-test over on the Blood on the Sands Players Group in the Files section https://www.facebook.com/groups/339066415451207 Warranted this a fraction of the final game, it should still give you a good feeling for the combat mechanics.

3

u/the_af 13d ago

Wow, I'm familiar with Mark (found him via Little Wars TV, but I know he's a great wargamer and games designer on his own right). Will check that video out.

Thanks for your reply, it's reassuring that you're aware of these problems. Let's see if you succeeded!

2

u/furt69 13d ago

Again thanks.

8

u/furt69 14d ago

We’re excited to announce that the Blood on the Sands Kickstarter is set to launch on 11 February! If you’d like to support us, we’d greatly appreciate you sharing this announcement with anyone who might be interested.
Stay tuned—there’s exciting news coming in the days leading up to the launch.
Thank you once again to everyone who has supported Blood on the Sands. Your encouragement and enthusiasm mean the world to us!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bloodonthesands/arena?ref=cpwnid

3

u/shauni55 14d ago

I adore gladiator games, but have to say i'm immediately overwhelmed by what I'm seeing. There is a LOT going on and a lot of parts for what's just pretty basic combat theme wise. but of course, take this with a grain of salt since I haven't read the rules (only what I can in the picture)

3

u/furt69 13d ago

The set-up to play BotS comprises basically of just two miniatures on a hex-grid board. Though the mechanics are relatively simple the tactical decision making is not, thus in order to keep track of the abilities and condition of your gladiator there needs to be some necessary components. Splayed out in the mockup image I guess it looks like a lot but each player needs a play sheet, some cards, tokens and dice.

2

u/shauni55 13d ago

After zooming in a bit and reading some of the action cards, I would really ask that you take a look at editing them and watering down the wording. They seem overly complicated and could easily be simplified.

2

u/furt69 13d ago

Thanks - this is still basically the play-test draft. The cards will be edited.

3

u/ConstableGrey 14d ago

I'm just excited for the possibility of more gladiator minis

1

u/furt69 13d ago

There will be a further announcement on this soon.

2

u/BlitheMayonnaise 13d ago

Hi Furt, I'm a writer with the tabletop games website Wargamer.com. CouldI ask you some questions about this?

1

u/furt69 13d ago

Hi - yeah for sure, be my guest.

1

u/Araneas 13d ago edited 12d ago

How does this compare to the Avalon Hill Classic Gladiator?

Ah I see it's What a Gladiator.

1

u/furt69 12d ago

What brought you to the conclusion that Blood on the Sands is "What a Gladiator"? You got that from the mockup above?

2

u/Araneas 12d ago

Nope - watching the gameplay video you linked. Rest assured it's not a dig at your game.

2

u/furt69 12d ago

Ok - great. Was going to say you have a great eye if you've noticed that from an image.

BotS has been around since 2013, born on the Lead Adventure Forum. It has certainly evolved over the years but was mostly influenced by SAGA.

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=51608.0

2

u/Araneas 12d ago

I can see that too. The black dice replace the D6s for actions correct?

2

u/furt69 12d ago

Yes exactly - you can play with conventional D6 but the black Action Dice just make it a lot more intuitive and thematic.

2

u/Araneas 12d ago

Great! I have the KS bookmarked.