Play as the greatest gladiators in history! Fight deadly duels and lead your gladiator school to victory in this 2-5 player card game
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The ancient oak doors of the arena creak open to a sudden mighty roar from the crowd; because they know what is coming... one of the deadliest gladiators of all time! They call him Hermeros: Taker of Souls and he is Death standing!
We teased this guy right the way back from the beginning (how many of you spotted him in the Trailer??) and now he is here - to walk the sands and deal deadly blows to your rivals!
As you will see from his card, he is a Champion of champions, with 5 health (instead of usual 4) and a worthy following of fans (the 4 rose petals). His special Mortal Blow ability can be really nasty so anyone going against him better stock up on Defense cards to weather those attacks or they will be put down quickly. His veteran status means he also has a very handy ability to draw the occasional extra card without losing any energy to do so. BUT... he is not so good in defensive blocks so play him carefully!
However, being a well known veteran gladiator, he doesn't get good betting odds (only bronze and silver) since he is expected to win. So what does this mean when playing him?
It means if you spend the glory to outbid your rivals and hire him, you better plan to WIN or else he will become a costly mistake as most other players will probably target him early!
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Hermeros is now available as an Add-on character at £9/$12 and included for FREE in the top tier Praetorian and Senator pledge levels.
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There seems to have been a bit of confusion over what exactly is in the Sponsor packs included in the 2 top pledge levels (Praetorian and Senator). This is possibly due to how we worded responses in the comments so apologies for that if you were confused.
The main point is - Lower pledge levels ARE NOT missing out on exclusive content!
And second - the sponsor pack DOES NOT include expansions to the game!
Here is what is included:
* The Invocation of Saturnus - is a trial promo card for a planned future expansion to the game
* The Animal pack - is 3 promo cards to try out new animal rules that we are working on for another future expansion
* The Private Backer promo card is a powerful Sponsor card (available to all other backers FREE if you sign up to our newsletter here - http://eepurl.com/duzQ35)
* The folio is a lovely pull out addition to the rulebook that details some of the historical background of the gladiators and how we approached this info in the design of the game. Fascinating reading.
The promo cards are not final versions (since we are still tweaking rules for these possible future expansions to the game) but they do vary your play when you add them into the Effects deck. They should be a lot of fun and we encourage all backers at the Praetorian and Senator pledge levels to let us know what you all think of them!
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This is going to be a fighting finish and the crowds in the arena are super excited to see the final outcome! We are only £500 short of unlocking that gorgeous Amazonia (remember she will be a stretchgoal added to every pledge level!) so if you want her and those extra gladiator add-ons, then get pledging now to help make it happen!
Dont forget also that you could WIN a copy of the game just by signing up to our newsletter also - http://eepurl.com/duzQ35
Join us for the last 48hrs and spread the word about the game to everyone you can for this final push!
Bye for now,
Leo
Ave Gladiators!
Lots of news and updates this time! As we said in the comments we are unlocking something fun every week of the kickstarter so this week its a sneak peak at one of the expansions we have planned for the game...
The Invocations will be a set of unique cards that all go into the Effects deck. It was Jason's initial idea but it was Rob (our other designer for the game) that came back with a dozen or so new card mechanics in about an hour. They are all so cool, we instantly started planning how they would each relate to a different god of the Roman Pantheon. Because there are so many Roman gods to choose from, we are hardly likely to run out of options for this expansion!
For example: Mars will obviously have some effect over drawn attack or defense cards, while Minerva will allow players to know some combat cards before an event even starts. Bacchus for example will have some effect relating to celebration while another god might allow players to keep 2 sponsors for an event (instead of 1)! Loads of opportunities for cool stuff!
So how do they work? Because they get shuffled into the Effects deck, they can be drawn by any player at any time during an event. They will likely trigger a universal effect - that targets or benefits all players - but will often also benefit the player drawing the card too! So the player who draws it will not miss out because they get a replacement card anyway.
Very observant readers will notice that the image above says promo! So thats right, we are adding the above card to the Special Sponsor pack so backers at the PRAETORIAN and SENATOR pledge levels will get to try out this new expansion card in their games!
Not satisfied with only 1 expansion? Here's another...
We've teased about an animals expansion almost since we started this kickstarter and to be fair, players of the game over the past 4 years have been crying out for having animals put into the game!
So it is something we have definitely been working on for quite a while. It will be a future expansion because the (current) idea is to have a number of 'arena animal packs' that can be picked up separately and added to the game.
Each set is like an NPC character with its own combat deck of cards. The current thinking is that players can choose to spend their crowd favour tokens (the petals) to trigger an animal to target another player's gladiator. So when it is a player's turn, instead of attacking a target as normal, they spend the petal(s), put down their own hand of cards and pick up an animal deck. They get 1 attack and pick a target gladiator as normal.
The really cool idea though is that the target player automatically gets to take the crowd favour spent to use the animal (the crowd loves to see gladiators fight dangerous animals of course) and can earn more through playing cards as normal.
So what is the benefit to the player controlling the animal?
OK, 3 reasons: 1) The player can earn crowd favour by playing certain animal combat cards. 2) They get to force a target gladiator to spend their energy reacting to the animal. And 3) the controlling player does not need to expend their gladiator's own energy when using an animal, therefore keeping them in the fight for longer.
PLEASE NOTE: These are just current ideas we have for the expansions and none of these rules or card layouts or anything is final! But we are already excited to try out these new animal mini decks. Are you??
As we said at the start, we want this game to have a fast turnaround after the Kickstarter and try to get you all the game ready for the end of year holidays in December. So we already have much of the components ready for manufacturing even now and high on our list is the plastic insert tray. Here it is (or at least current version)
The idea is to have the insert in 2 pieces so 1 or both can be removed from the box to help hold the cards and tokens. Yes we will try to make sure that cards with sleeves will also comfortably fit. Also we are wondering if clear plastic (transparent) might be better for this tray if some people would then put the tray onto the neoprene mat and therefore want to see through it...
Let us know in the comments what you think of this tray and if you would like it in black or transparent plastic!
If you've not seen it yet, Justin, Travis & Bryn of Playing Boardgames had a blast playing Gladiatores: Blood for Roses recently and recorded it all for you. If you are a SPECTATOR, not sure if this game is for you yet, check out this video as it has some great bits that show how much fun the game is.
Check it out here:
and in fact Justin did a proper review of the game also here:
Skip through to the summary section towards the end to see why Justin and the gang gave the game a shining report!
You've all done really well to get the Gladiator sculpt G2 unlocked but now its tailing off a bit on the newsletter and we REALLY want to unlock the 3rd gladiator sculpt for you! So here is what we are gonna do.
Click on grim lookin' Kalendio above to go to BadCatGames on Facebook now and make sure you LIKE and FOLLOW us there. We are currently at 422 follows so if we can hit 500, we will unlock the G3 sculpt!!! Awesome huh? Lets make it happen - and if you already follow us, you can invite friends instead!
AVATARS
We have now made a bunch of social media Avatars available for download and use. They can be found at the very bottom of the KS campaign page.
Thanks to every one of you supporting us on this campaign as we head in to the home stretch, we love you all!
PS. Get talking in the main comments section about what you think of the expansion ideas! We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas about how with your help we can make this game even better!
Lanista Leonidas out.
Ave awesome backers!
A quick update here really just to clarify some things, especially about the new Praetorian (All-IN) pledge level. People have been asking what the special sponsor pack is and who can get it so...
The NEW Praetorian (all in) and Senator pledges (all in + 2 deluxe games) include (For FREE) an Official Sponsor pack - a bundle of lovely extra stuff that will increase in value as we go through the kickstarter and knock down stretchgoals. It will include some items that are otherwise available only as add-ons, and some secret FREE stuff carefully chosen by us to increase your enjoyment of the game!
Currently, the Sponsor Pack includes:
1) The Playable Gladiator Iason Leandros (Tribe of the Cat)
Who is otherwise only available to other pledge levels as an add-on.
2) The G2 gladiator Active Player Marker
This model comes EXTRA to the normal gladiator miniature in the Deluxe set (you get both minis!) If we unlock the 3rd mini you will get that one as well!
3) A special folio pullout detailing the history of these famous gladiators with hints and tips of how to get the best out of the gladiators in the game.
4) A very clever new sponsor promo card (only available in this bundle) that we are working on right now
+ More to follow as we unlock stretchgoals...
So your best deal to to get this extra content is to go for either of the Praetorian or Senator pledge levels! And help us unlock the Amazon at the same time.
Here she is! Our second super talented gladiator famed in history for putting on exciting stage battles in the arenas of the Roman Empire. Our amazon is handy with the blade and is extremely good at pushing aside short thrusts like sword strikes and stabs. Thus she is a natural opponent to ACHILLIA. She is also a bookies favourite for gambling and has as good fan base (rose petals) when joining your gladiator school.
Amazon is our next exciting Stretchgoal!
See you in the arena,
Master Leandros out.
Ave awesome backers!
We are now into the middle phase of the campaign where KS projects slow down and we are up against some good competition. So to keep things exciting here is a prize draw for you...
All you have to do to enter is click on the image above to be sent to our newsletter page. Signup there and you are immediately entered into the prize draw + automatically get a FREE promo card called 'Private Backer' for the game!
The Prize draw is for A *Deluxe pledge level + your mini painted by our chosen pro-painter - worth over £100!*
Anyone already signed on to our newsletter is already entered for the prize draw and gets the special promo card!
If you win the prize you can a) choose to get the prize as well as your pledge or b) we will reimburse your KS pledge and you keep the prize.
Prize will be drawn shortly after the KS campaign is finished. Full prize draw T&C here.
ALSO,
By entering the prize and joining our newsletter helps us reach 2 important milestones.
1) If we reach 500 members on the list we will UNLOCK a special score card for all pledge levels (this should be easy as we have only 33 more to go!) + the ALT. mini G2! You can then choose which mini you want in the game or take the other one as an Add-on!
2) If we reach 600 members on the list we will UNLOCK another special FREE promo card (A Blessing of the Gods) for all pledge levels, usable in the game! + the ALT. mini G3! You can then choose which mini you want in the game or take the others as Add-ons!
You backers have spoken and we listened! Many have been asking about the extra miniatures and some of you want to buy all 3 for painting purposes so we hope with this update you will ALL help us to unlock these great minis!
NOTE: The Blessing of the Gods card is a teaser for an expansion we have for the game, where each player can draw on the Blessing of one of the Roman Gods to help them in the game! Sounds cool?
You spoke and we listened! Thx to El Skutto and others, it was pointed out that there was no pledge level that had all the exclusive content in, that didn't require you to also get 2 copies of the game. That was a bit daft on our part! So after careful costing, we've opened a new ALL IN pledge level at £100 that offers all the juicy content but only 1 Deluxe copy of the game and not the painted mini.
The painted mini can be purchased as an add-on (because again some of you would prefer to paint the mini(s) yourselves!
Now read on...
We appreciate that many of you are excited to find out what is in the Official Sponsor Pack. The idea is to unlock more content in the pack as we go through the campaign (for example if you unlock the alternative miniatures - they go in the pack for FREE) but we can tell you now that it includes this guy as a super special BadCatTribe Kickstarter Exclusive: Iason Leandros (in honour of the games designer - no, sadly he doesn't look as awesome and (c)hunky as this IRL!)
This playable gladiator character is intimidating as hell in the arena with his lion skull headress, armoured side and is a huge crowd favourite for obvious reasons. We are still working on balancing him for play - He's too good at the moment! but will show you his gladiator card and unique ability very soon.
This guy is only available in the Praetorian and Senator pledge levels or as a Kickstarter Add-on!
The sponsor pack will also contain a special fold out Mythbuster infosheet detailing the history about these famous gladiators and yes, bust some myths about arena combat and the lives of gladiators + much more if we get to unlock it!
Ooof! Thats it for this update,
We hope that has answered many of your questions and re-excited you for the rest of the campaign, still loads of new stuff to unlock and we are already busy planning two new expansions based on your feedback!
Master Leandros signing off.