Red Sand, Blue Sky: Heroes of the Arena (2011)

Gladiator: Just saying the word conjures up visions of vicious combat between desperate men who fought to the death for the amusement of the crowd. These games of death, originally started to honor the dead (the munus), began in 264 BC and continued through the Roman Empire in one form or another for over 900 years until abolished in 681 AD. Now with Red Sands Blue Sky - Heroes of the Arena you can recreate the glory and splendor of these games on three levels.

As a gladiator you fight your way through the Empire in hopes of reaching the Colosseum in Rome and perhaps the ultimate glory, the wooden sword of freedom, the rudis. Or perhaps you would rather be a lanista, the trainer or manager of gladiators forming your own troupe or familia gladiatoria. And the third way to play Red Sand Blue Sky - Heroes of the Arena is as the owner of a ludus or gladiator school seeking to reach the ultimate honor, a school in Rome herself.

Red Sand Blue Sky - Heroes of the Arena gives you everything you need to do this and much more. But perhaps the best thing about the game is that it can be played solo against the game mechanics, cooperatively with all players on the same side, or competitively, head to head against your friends.

At the core, the game pits gladiators against other gladiators or animals in arena combat. Gladiator stats determine how many dice are rolled, and "successes" are then counted from among the dice. Each combatant, however, has a certain number of "bonus" dice which he may allocate throughout the game to improve his chances. Tactics enter the game in knowing when to use these dice.

Campaign rules allow you to follow your gladiator's career as he strives to earn his freedom.

A player may also opt to play as a Lanista, building a school of gladiators, buying and training slaves, pitting them against other players (or against the game mechanics) and earning money by wagering on their performances, or selling them to other schools after they have outgrown the region of the empire in which your school resides.

Inside you'll find:

• A full color arena and gladiator counters to fight your matches.
• Rules to create your gladiators and fight their matches.
• Six different gladiatorial fighting styles.
• Over 36 pre-generated gladiators and rules to generate more.
• Four different Locales to fight in from the Fringes of the Empire to the Colosseum itself.
• Campaign rules that cover every aspect of the business of running a gladiator school.