#82: Clash of the Gladiators

Clash of the Gladiators

• designer: Reiner Knizia
• publisher: Rio Grande/Hans im Gluck
• date: 2002
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 2430/5.88
• position on my top 100 in 2005: did not appear
• age: 10+
• # of players: 2-5
• print status: out of print
• cost: numerous used copies are for sale/trade on BGG

Others may prefer the more refined Knizia offerings - Euphrat & Tigris or perhaps Amun-Re - but my tastes run towards his, well, lighter work. In this case, a game so delightfully light that it contains almost as many die rolls as your average game of Risk... packed into 45-minute game!

Clash of the Gladiators is just that - a battle royale between groups of gladiators and the occasional rabid animal (btw, bears are more dangerous than lions - important safety tip). To radically paraphrase noted philosopher Bob the Tomato (from Veggietales): "You roll the dice, you move your mice... everybody gets hurt."

The game begins with drafting your various 4-man gladiator teams:

• Swordsmen (who give you extra dice)
• Spearmen (who let you attack first)
• Net throwers (who neutralize enemy gladiators)
• Shield bearers (who soak up wounds)
• Trident carriers (who give you the chance to reroll the dice)

Once the teams are ready, you fill in the empty spaces with wild animals & the attacks begin. A turn is simply the option to move followed by an attack & the response of the other player. Unless you're playing with someone with a bad case of analysis paralysis, the game rips along at a delightful pace.

It's easy enough to teach 8 year olds... yet the right crowd of gamers can enjoy this game as well, complete with Steve Reeves' imitations & lots of trash-talking.

BTW, this is another game that begs the question: "How do you tell the difference between a Euro game & an Ameritrash game?"

• European designer? Check.
• German publisher? Check.

It's a Euro, right? Well...

• Copious amounts of dice-rolling? Check.
• Violent theme? Check.
• "Target the leader" tendencies? Check.

Oh, it's Ameritrash.

Wait a minute... (he types, grinning!)