Cut-Throat?

Hello people,

This Tuesday down at Enfield Gamers was a major training session for the local Ludi as we got stuck into Studio Tomahawks' most recent offering, Jugula!

We as a club have previous experience with gladiatorial management with Two Hour Wargames Red Sand Blue Sky so just it was a case of uncasing figures, brewing the tea and setting up. A few of the boys played the week before but this time six of us dealt ourselves out a trial Ludus and got stuck in.

The game is card activated but far more than that as they also provide the far deeper resource management element of the game that gives you a number of tactics and strategies to run with. Each Gladiator type has it's basic stats, light or heavy, move and base attack and defence values but it's the activation cards that do the business and make the game what it is i.e fun, challenging, brutal and rewarding!


 Running through the above top to bottom;
- the sandal is how many Gladiators you can activate to move
- the bloke lets you whip up the crowd which in turn gives you attack bonuses and expands you hand size (from 5)
- the helmet is how many Gladiators you can activate to attack
- the fan of cards is how many cards you can draw
On top of that there's the cars text, often situational, the star at the bottom right which can by you cards from the uber deck. The cards are also used as dice, you can play one from your hand or draw blind from the top of your deck.

In short there's an awful lot going on outside of the action on the sand. Once you get your focus on the actual hack and slash manoeuvre becomes critical as you rarely get to move and attack. It's very much a mutual support thing whilst trying to make a hole and then pick off the isolated man.

As far as the evenings games were concerned there were three of them, even as a novice, so four in a night must be possible once you crack on. In short I got taken to school......gladiator school but learnt a fair bit and by the end of the night was even beginning to hold my own a touch. Initially I underestimated the depth and variation of the card deck, I also got out manoeuvred on the sand.

Any budding Lanistas should take a look, well worth a punt!