Ludi Gladiatorii Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Basic game and additional content
• Objective
• What else do you need to know?
• Setup
• Turn Sequence
  • 1. Start
  • 2. Main phase
  • 3. Auction
• Combats
• Auctions
• End of the Game
• Description of the Buildings
• Description of the Abilities
• Historiae (event cards)
• Modules
  • Champions
  • Public Favor tokens
• Variants
• Symbol Legend

Components

• 1 instruction booklet
• 82 cardboard tokens: 36 coin tokens, 25 point tokens, 15 Public Favor tokens, 5 champion tokens, 1 starting player token
• 110 cards: 51 gladiator cards, 34 building cards, 15 combat cards, 10 event cards

Basic game and additional content

Start playing Ludi Gladiatorii and discover all its secrets before venturing into its expansions! The basic game is for 2-4 players and uses 72 cards plus coin and point tokens.

The additional content offers a more complete play experience. It is optional and can be combined as you like or used all at once. It consists of several expansions, which can be told apart by the symbols that identify them:

• Quintus Ludus lets you add a 5th player to your games of Ludi Gladiatorii (up to five players): more gladiators and a new building.
• Historiae shows one of its event cards each turn so that every game of Ludi Gladiatorii is even more different (starting player token, 10 event cards).
• Magistri Arenae (Masters of the Arena) includes a wide variety of additional gladiators and buildings, as well as two new modules that will change the course of your games (new gladiators, new buildings, new modules).

Objective

The first player to reach 7 victory points wins. You gain victory points each time your gladiators win a combat started by you, or by building certain buildings.

What else do you need to know?

• Coins: used to buy gladiators, start combats and activate some effects. All the symbols shown (coins worth 1, 2 and 3) represent coins: the first appears on the tokens (1 token = 1 coin) and you will find the others on the cards.
• Victory points: represent the prestige of your ludus. With 7 victory points, you win the game.
• Gladiators: novices and veterans who fight, earn coins and build for you.
  • Novices (Tiro): inexperienced gladiators, without adequate training, but willing to fight to stay alive!
  • Veterans: experienced and trained gladiators, from all corners of the known world.
• Parts of a gladiator card: minimum bid (top left), name, veteran/novice symbol (top right), combat value, work (coins), construction value, ability.
• Active player: the one playing their turn. They are the only one who can start a combat or an auction.
• Combat: a confrontation between a gladiator of the active player and a gladiator of another player. It is the best way to get points to win! Find all the details in the "Combats" section.
• Auction: sale of gladiators organised by the active player. It is the best way to get gladiators that fight and build for you! Find all the details in the "Auctions" section.
• Bid: the amount of coins a player is willing to pay to get a gladiator.
• Minimum bid: the minimum amount of coins any player can offer for a veteran gladiator. It appears in the top left corner of veteran gladiator cards and is different for each one.

Setup

First, select the buildings according to the number of players (some buildings carry a symbol on the left side):

• 2 players: use all buildings that have no symbol.
• 3 players: add the buildings with the symbol III.
• 4 players: also add the buildings with the symbol IV.
• 5 players: also add the buildings with the symbol V.

Then, players receive their cards as detailed below, and place them face up in front of them:

1. Take the Casula (starting player building) and complete the selection with other initial buildings chosen at random:
   • 2 players: 5 more initial buildings (6 in total)
   • 3 players: 8 more initial buildings (9 in total)
   • 4 players: 11 more initial buildings (12 in total)
   • 5 players: 14 more initial buildings (15 in total)
2. Hand out, without looking at them, 3 of the selected initial buildings to each player. If a player receives several initial buildings with the same name, they keep one of them and exchange the others for others, at random, until the player's 3 buildings are different.
3. Place the leftover buildings in the centre of the table.
4. Give 2 novices to each player and place the rest face up in the centre of the table.
5. Give 3 coins to each player and place the rest in the centre of the table.
6. Place all the victory point tokens in the centre of the table.
7. Shuffle the veteran cards and place them face down in the centre of the table, forming a pile.
8. Shuffle the combat cards and form another pile in the centre of the table.

Now, each player has 3 coins, 2 novices and 3 different buildings. In the centre of the table are the gladiator card pile, the combat card pile and the leftover building and novice cards, face up. There is also a pile of coins and another of victory points.

It is time to begin! Players gain the benefits of the buildings they have received. For example, with the Forum, you gain 1 coin immediately. When all players have taken the coins that correspond to them, the player who has the Casula starts to play. Then it is the turn of the player to their left and play continues clockwise.

Turn Sequence

1. Start

Straighten your gladiators and resolve the effects that take place at the start of the turn in the order you prefer:

• Abilities of cards with the "at the start of the turn" symbol, such as the Cubiculum or the Palaestra.
• If you have fewer than 2 gladiators, take novice gladiators from the centre of the table until you have a total of 2 gladiators.
• If you have fewer than 2 buildings, take initial buildings at random from the centre of the table until you have a total of 2 buildings.

2. Main phase

Perform one action with each of your gladiators. When a gladiator acts, it is turned (exhausted). Use one gladiator per action, except to build or demolish buildings, for which you can use several.

• Fight: challenge the gladiator chosen by the defending player. Win to gain a victory point! (see the "Combats" section).
• Work: take coins from the centre of the table, as many as the card of the gladiator used indicates.
• Build: use one or several gladiators to build any building in the centre of the table. Add up the construction skill of these gladiators and check that it is equal to or greater than the construction cost of the building. Then take the building from the centre of the table and place it in front of you. Keep in mind the following rules:
  • You can have 5 buildings at most.
  • You cannot have 2 buildings with the same name.
  • Each gladiator can take part in the construction of a single building (if the sum of the construction skill of your gladiators exceeds the construction cost of the building, the surplus construction points are lost and you will need to turn other gladiators to build a new building).
• Demolish: sometimes you will want to demolish one of your own buildings in order to build a new one in its place. To do so, add up the construction skill of the chosen gladiators. If it equals or exceeds the demolition cost of the building, return it to the centre of the table. As with construction, surplus construction points are lost and you will need to use other gladiators to demolish a new building. Buildings that have victory points cannot be demolished or destroyed.
• Chain: if you have the Officina, you can use the construction skill of one of your gladiators to chain rival gladiators (you can only do this once per turn). Choose one or several gladiators of another player: those gladiators will not be able to fight during your turn, forcing that player to defend with weaker gladiators. But remember, you need the defending player to have at least one gladiator to defend themselves or you will not be able to attack them!

You can use all your gladiators in each main phase and you can repeat the actions you want (using a different gladiator each time, as you exhaust them). For example, you can fight with one of them and then with another; build a building with two others and work with the last one. Each time you use a gladiator, turn it: turned gladiators cannot perform more actions but can still defend you at any time.

3. Auction

If you have more gladiators than buildings, choose and discard gladiators until you have as many as buildings.

If you have available buildings (more buildings than gladiators), then you can start an auction: reveal the first 3 cards of the gladiator pile and choose one of them. The player who offers the most coins wins the auctioned gladiator card (see the "Auctions" section).

Combats

In the arena of the Colosseum gladiators show their worth: the fury of combat distinguishes the strong and raises the champions.

You can start combats with your gladiators in the main phase of your turn. Each gladiator can fight only once, but you can start several combats with different gladiators during your main phase.

Each combat has the following steps:

1. Choose one of your gladiators, turn it and pay for the combat:
   • If you choose a veteran, the combat will cost you 2 coins.
   • If you choose a novice, the combat will cost you 1 coin.
2. Decide which player you are going to attack: they will be the defender.
3. The defender chooses one of their gladiators to fight. Gladiators can defend while turned and can defend several times per turn. In addition, the defending player does not have to pay any coin to defend.
4. Reveal the first card of the combat pile. If no cards remain, take the discarded combat cards and shuffle them to form a new pile.
5. Reveal the result of the combat.
   • a. If the revealed card is Impetus, add the number of swords that appear on the card to the combat skill of the attacking gladiator.
   • b. If the revealed card is Defensio, add the number of shields that appear on the card to the combat skill of the defending gladiator.
   • c. The gladiator with the higher combat skill, once the number of swords or shields shown has been added, wins. In case of a tie, the attacker wins.
6. Resolve the effects of the combat.
   • a. If the attacking gladiator wins the combat, it receives a victory point (if the defender wins, it does not receive a point).
   • b. If the revealed combat card has a skull, the defeated gladiator is discarded, whether it is the attacker or the defender.
   • c. The other effects of the revealed combat card are resolved as the symbol on the card indicates (see "Symbol legend").

Example:

1. Alberto decides to attack Ignacio with his gladiator Cretensis during the main phase of his turn. As this gladiator is a veteran, Alberto has to pay 2 coins.
2. Ignacio will be the defending player in this combat.
3. Ignacio decides to defend with his gladiator Hispanus.
4. Alberto reveals the first card of the combat card pile, which turns out to be an Attack card ("Impetus") with a sword and a skull.
5. As the revealed combat card has a sword, Alberto's Cretensis (attacker) gains one point of combat skill, which becomes 3 (2 + 1 = 3). Alberto and Ignacio compare the modified combat skill of their gladiators and both have 3. As they have tied, the attacking gladiator, Alberto's Cretensis, wins the combat.
6. For having attacked and won, Alberto obtains 1 victory point. In addition, as the revealed combat card has a skull, the defeated gladiator, Ignacio's Hispanus, is discarded at the end of the combat.

Auctions

Auctions are organised in all the provinces of the Empire, where the lanistae, directors of the gladiator schools, find the brave men who will train hard to replace the gladiators who have suffered an unfortunate accident in the arena.

The active player can start an auction after the main phase of their turn, if they want and if they can keep more gladiators in their buildings. The other players can take part in the auction if they are able to keep more gladiators. That is, both to start and to take part in an auction, it is necessary to have available buildings. If you have more gladiators than buildings, choose and discard gladiators until you have as many as buildings.

The auction has the following steps:

1. The active player reveals the first three cards of the gladiator deck: they choose one of them and discard the other two. If no gladiator cards remain, take the discarded veteran gladiators and shuffle them to form the gladiator pile again.
2. The players who have available buildings and want to take part in the auction make their bids in turn. All bids must be equal to or greater than the minimum bid of the auctioned gladiator. Players who have available buildings but do not want to take part in the auction can pass. The order for making bids is as follows:
   • a. The player to the left of the active player announces their bid first, saying how many coins they are willing to pay for the auctioned gladiator.
   • b. Then, the other players announce their bids one by one, clockwise.
   • c. The active player is the last to announce their bid.
3. The player who has announced the highest bid leaves the offered coins in the centre of the table, keeps the auctioned gladiator and places it straightened next to their other gladiators. In case of a tie between two or more players, the last player who announced their bid keeps the gladiator, unless one of the tied players has the Tribunal (see "Description of the buildings").

Auctions have a single round. No player can announce bids after the active player has announced theirs. If no player bids for a gladiator, the auction ends and the gladiator is discarded.

Example: Pablo wants to start an auction to get a new gladiator with which to keep fighting.

1. Pablo reveals the first 3 cards of the gladiator deck, which are an Aegyptius, a Phoenicius and a Gallus. Pablo wants a gladiator to fight, so he chooses to auction the Gallus.
2. Pablo waits for the other players to make their bids so he can make his afterwards. Ignacio, who is to the right of Pablo, offers 3 coins, the minimum bid for the gladiator Gallus. Then Alberto, who is to the right of Ignacio, also offers 3 coins. For the moment, the Gallus would go to Alberto at the end of the auction. Jaime, who has the Tribunal, offers 5 coins and passes the turn to Pablo, who is the active player, to make the last bid. (Bid order: 1st Ignacio, 2nd Alberto, 3rd Jaime, 4th Pablo.) Pablo wants to keep the Gallic gladiator to keep fighting. Normally, 5 coins would have been enough to take it, but Jaime has the Tribunal and has already offered the same amount: if they tie, Jaime will keep the Gallus. That is why Pablo offers 6 coins.
3. Pablo has made the highest bid, so he leaves the 6 coins he offered in the centre of the table to keep the Gallus.

End of the Game

The game ends when a player reaches 7 points.

You can freely vary the objective and the duration of the game, agreeing with the other players, before starting, the number of victory points to reach. For example, if you prefer to play longer, you can agree with them that the game ends when one of you reaches 10 victory points or more.

Description of the Buildings

• Casula (hut): is always drawn at the start of the game and the player who receives it starts to play. During the game it can be demolished, destroyed and built normally.
• Catacumbae (catacombs): your novices gain +1 combat when they attack.
• Commeatus (caravan): you can start one additional auction each turn.
• Cubiculum (dormitory): you gain 1 coin if you have one or more novices at the start of your turn (you gain 1 coin even if you have several novices). You can buy novices at any time during your turn and they enter play straightened.
• Forum: (+1 coin when it enters play) you gain 1 coin each time you build another building.
• Tribunal (courts): (+1 victory point when it enters play) you win the auction against players who offer the same number of coins as you, including the active player. That is, any player must improve your bid if they want to win the auction, since matching it will not be enough.
• Lapicidinae (quarry): the construction cost of the Lapicidinae is to demolish one of your buildings (paying its demolition cost). To use it, pay 2 coins: destroy a building of a rival and your Lapicidinae. Remember that buildings with victory points cannot be demolished or destroyed.
• Macellum (market): you gain 1 coin each time you start an auction.
• Officina (workshop): you can use the Officina once per turn, with one of your gladiators. Chain one gladiator of a rival player for each construction point the gladiator you use has. For example, if your gladiator has construction 2, you can choose up to 2 gladiators of another player but, remember: your rival needs to have at least one gladiator available so that you can attack them! (See the "Abilities" section.)

Some buildings offer benefits upon entering play, that is, at the moment of being built or of being received in the initial deal.

Remember: buildings with victory points cannot be demolished or destroyed, but are kept until the end of the game.

Description of the Abilities

• Collect (Recaudar): turn this gladiator to take 1 coin from a rival. If you use this gladiator to collect, you can no longer use it to fight, build, etc.
• Defender: this gladiator gains +1 combat when defending.
• Chain (Encadenar): turn this gladiator so that X gladiators of a rival player cannot defend this turn (X = construction skill of the gladiator that chains). If you use this gladiator to chain, you can no longer use it to fight, build, etc. Remember that gladiators will only be chained during your turn, and then they can defend normally. In addition, you need the defending player to have at least one gladiator to be able to defend themselves.
• Public favor (Favor del público): this gladiator can reveal one additional card in each combat. If you want, you can apply its result together with the result of the combat cards revealed so far.
• Deadly (Mortal): if this gladiator wins a combat that it has started, discard the defending gladiator.
• Armoured (Acorazado): if this gladiator would be discarded as a result of a combat, instead reveal the next combat card. If this card contains a skull, discard it; otherwise, it survives!
• Trample (Arrollar): this gladiator can start a second combat (free) if it wins the first combat that it starts each turn.
• Precision (Precisión): this gladiator can choose which gladiator will be its opponent each time it starts a combat.

Historiae (event cards)

The event cards of the Historiae expansion offer even more varied games. Each time the starting player's turn begins, except on their first turn, they reveal a card from this deck. The revealed card acts during the whole round, affecting all players. At the start of the starting player's next turn, it is discarded to reveal the next event card:

• Ars Augusti (art of Augustus): building and demolishing buildings costs 1 less this round, but you must use at least one gladiator to build or demolish each building.
• Bellum Gallicum (Gallic War): during your turn, you can pay 2 coins and discard a novice gladiator. Each time you do so, take the first veteran gladiator of the pile.
• Bellum Servile (Slave War): novice gladiators can choose which gladiator will be their opponent each time they start a combat this round.
• Crudelitas Commodi (cruelty of Commodus): during this round, all gladiators defeated in combat are discarded (you can use the armoured ability normally).
• Legatio Antonini (embassy of Antoninus): each player can start an additional auction during their turn.
• Munere Traiani (games of Trajan): starting combats with veteran gladiators is free this round.
• Plaga Galeni (plague of Galen): each player reveals, at the start of their turn, a combat card for each gladiator. If the revealed card has a skull, discard it.
• Saturnalia (Roman festival): each player can discard one or several gladiators on their turn, gaining 1 coin each time.
• Triumphus (triumphal parade): during this round, each time a player obtains a point, they also immediately gain 1 coin.
• Vinalia (wine festival): each player receives 2 coins at the start of their turn.

Modules

Modules are optional rules that we have developed so that you can include them in your games, if you wish. They offer a more complete experience, with more options and strategic possibilities for the players.

Champions

(This module requires playing with the building Colosseum.)

Your champion is a gladiator able to take victory points from rival players. Beware! Your rivals also have champions who can take your victory points...

When a player starts a combat with their champion, the rival must choose their champion as defender, provided they have one and it is not chained (in those cases, they can defend with any other gladiator and the combat is played normally).

If the attacker wins this combat between champions, in addition to the usual victory point, they also gain a second victory point that they take from the defeated player. That is, attacking with your champion is equivalent to challenging the rival champion to a single combat and, if you win, you take a victory point from your rival (in addition to winning the point for the combat, as always).

How do I get a champion? When the Colosseum is built, each player chooses one of their gladiators with combat skill 3 as champion, marking it with a champion token. Each player must designate a champion, and only one, as long as they have a gladiator that can be one (combat skill 3). If a player loses their champion, they will designate one that can be at the start of their next turn. If they have no gladiators that can be one (combat skill 3), then they cannot designate a champion until they get one. Once a champion has been designated, it cannot be changed (until it is discarded and another is chosen).

Remember: you gain an additional victory point if you start a combat with your champion and defeat a rival champion. When your champion faces other gladiators, the combat is resolved normally.

Public Favor tokens

(This module requires playing with the Public Favor tokens.)

Public Favor gives gladiators a second chance in combat. Rivals too, of course!

Each time a gladiator wins a combat it receives a Public Favor token (a gladiator can have one Public Favor token at most).

A gladiator can spend its Public Favor token to reveal an additional combat card (the defeated gladiator is the first to decide whether to use Public Favor). Then it decides whether the effects of the revealed card are applied or not, together with the effects of the cards revealed previously (they stack).

Thus, if a skull (or several) has been revealed, the defeated gladiator is discarded. If additional points or coins were revealed, the winning gladiator obtains them.

Examples (card illustrations are not reproducible in text):

• Juan defends and loses the combat. Juan decides to use the Public Favor of his gladiator, and reveals another card. Juan decides not to apply this card and, although he still loses the combat, he prevents his rival from winning the card's additional gain.
• Rocio attacks and wins the combat. But Rocio wants to eliminate the defending gladiator, so she decides to use the Public Favor of her gladiator, and reveals another card. Rocio decides to apply the card and eliminates the defending gladiator.

Variants

Variants are alternative rules that you can use to modify your games of Ludi Gladiatorii. We propose some:

• Buildings (draft): at the start of the game, instead of drawing buildings at random, each player chooses an initial building, in turn.
• Buildings (selection): instead of having all buildings available, show only three. They will be the only buildings players can build. Each time a building is built, a new one is shown. Any player, on their turn, can pay 1 coin to discard one of the available buildings and show a new one.
• Auctions (simultaneous): instead of making bids in turn, all players make their bid at the same time (keeping the coins in their hand and showing them at the same time).
• Auctions (wager): players lose the money offered, whether or not they get the auctioned gladiator.
• Auctions (decimatio): reveal as many gladiators as there are players. Each player, except the one who started the auction, discards one gladiator. The only remaining gladiator is auctioned.
• Combat (reserve): if you keep one or several gladiators straightened, you can use one of them when two other players fight each other. Once the defending gladiator has been chosen, you can replace it with one of your straightened gladiators (the previous defender is withdrawn from the combat). Now this gladiator is the defender for all purposes and, in addition, if it wins the combat, you get a point.
• Combat (decision): instead of revealing a card from the pile in each combat, you can buy them at any time by paying 1 coin (discarding them, if you wish, is free). You can have up to three combat cards in hand. You can reveal one card per combat, and one more by using Public Favor. When you win a combat, discard the cards you have used.

These are only some ideas that we have tried, but you can develop your own variants... the limit is yours.

Symbol Legend

Buildings (left side):

• Victory points (gained when building or receiving the building).
• Coins (gained when building or receiving the building).
• Champions (see page 20).

Buildings (right side):

• Arrow: immediate effect.
• Arrowhead: at the start of the turn.
• Build a building.
• Demolish a building (your own).
• Destroy a building (of a rival).
• Initial building.
• Initial building (starting player).
• You can discard (your own) gladiators on your turn.
• Available buildings (one or several).
• Start a combat.
• +1 combat when attacking.
• +1 combat when defending.
• Novice gladiator.
• Novice gladiators (one or several).
• Veteran gladiator.
• Veteran gladiators (one or several).
• Start an auction.
• Advantage in auctions.
• Turn a gladiator: X gladiators of a rival do not defend this turn (X = construction skill of the turned gladiator).

Combat cards:

• +1 combat to the attacker.
• +1 combat to the defender.
• Discard the defeated gladiator (skull).
• The winner gains an additional point.
• The winner gains 2 coins.
• Shuffle the used combat cards into the combat card pile.

Gladiators (abilities):

• Collect: turn this gladiator to take one coin from a rival.
• Defender: +1 combat when defending.
• Chain: turn this gladiator so that X gladiators of a rival do not defend this turn (X = construction skill).
• Favorite: this gladiator can reveal one additional card in each combat.
• Deadly: if you attack and win, discard the defending gladiator.
• Armoured: to discard it in a combat, reveal an additional combat card with a skull.
• Trample: if you attack and win, you can start another combat for free.
• Precision: this gladiator can choose the defender when it attacks.