Gladiators Ready…
By invitation of CQ Games we’re honored to be invited to a preview of Gladius, coming to Kickstarter Mid-February 2020.
Gladius is an already award-winning Card Game where Bluffing & Betting are the key to victory through skillful use of underhand tactics to help and hinder teams to alter the outcome of each battle.
Let’s delve into the sinister depths of the arena and find out what it truly takes to rise to victory in Gladius!
Meet the Spectators
They’ll do anything to win the game… who will you choose?
As one of 5 Spectators you will use your influence to turn the events of these games for-or-against competing Gladiator Teams while strategically betting on the outcome to win the most Victory Points.
VP is won by betting on the Winning Outcome, or by placing Death Bets on the losing team and this is represented by the Winners Podium of 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.
How to Win Games & Influence Meeple
To conquer the Podium you can’t simply have faith in the Gladiators skill alone… oh-no, it’s the influence you hold in your hands that will be the key to Victory or Death!
With a tactical deck of nefarious items and sinister schemes you will watch events unfold and wait for the right moment to cast your influence over the outcome.
So gather your Influence Cards, hold them tight and let the games begin…
Influence the battle in your favor…
In order to win big you will want stir things up to give you the edge so why not use your influence to steer the tournament in the right direction!
From a personal deck you can play cards from your hand to boost a gladiators stats, or why not nobble an opposing team?
Influence can be shown for all Players to see such as instantly boosting the morale of a champion by throwing flowers. Or perhaps it can be carried out in secret for later effect with sinister methods such as poisoning a gladiator with a face down card that will only be revealed at the end of the match… this is Rome after all!
Those who are about to die, salute you…
The gladiators will enter the arena for your entertainment, their prowess displayed in 3 skills: Fighting, Theatrics and Luck all to be put on display for you to place your bets..
Each rounds event will determine the skills needed to win the battle by these warriors so perhaps with some influence… you can guide them on their path to victory?
The concept of Gladius is fundamentally so simple in objective and setup: bet on the winning (or losing) team based on the current fighters and earn the most VP across 3 rounds.
Simple in principle certainly, but as you come to learn it’s not what you know, but who you know that will determine a victorious outcome!
You see, the beauty of Gladius is in this Fog of War that builds up around you – unknown cards that are placed to taunt and tease you. Is their influence to benefit, deny or even divert attention, you just don’t know… and then all of a sudden that sure fire bet is now tainted with doubt.
It’s a very clever mechanic to bring to such a small game and one that needs large characters to carry it off; bluffing is not to everyone’s taste but done correctly it brings so much fun to the table if all Players buy into it…
But the game doesn’t relent in its mystery as round after round all opposing bets remain unknown to Players; you may know how well you are doing but is your opponent just that bit further ahead of you? You’ll have to bet harder and use more tactics to secure that Victory.
With that in mind it has to be said that the gap between VP is marginal; this isn’t a game where players win by a country mile. In our sessions it was literally a point or two that determined Winner from Loser so make every bet and every tactic count in your favor and whatever you do don’t be tempted to burn through your influence cards as you will be left little options in later rounds.
Overall Gladius is a hugely fun and fast game; easy to learn with plenty of player interaction to be had – in the right circles a lot of banter and bluffing will make this a great game to fit into a games night!
Thematically Gladius works perfectly: nefarious tactics, gambit & intrigue to stay ahead of the game… after all isn’t this what Rome was built upon!
Coming to Kickstarter Mid-February from Cat Quartet Games we highly suggest giving Gladius the benefit of your backing and find out why it is winning victory upon victory with its awards… a perfect execution! (Pun Intended!)
Gladius available on PLEDGE HERE
