Shameless plug....

The story.... If you have read my profile you would have seen that I co-wrote a set of rules called Arena Games. Back when the movie gladiator came out my buddies wanted to get into the gladiator craze that was going on.

We played a number of rules sets out there but couldn't find a fun set of rules that gave us what we wanted. There were rules that were very technically challenging, and some that only went so far. Many of the games we play are based on a "feel" of what we are doing. If I'm playing a pirate game, I want it to feel like the old Errol Flynn pirate movie. Swinging from the rigging, etc. Same goes with the gladiators. So one night I show up for a game and my buddies Mike and Jim are banging their head over a set of rules. In the time it took them to play one turn, we hashed out the basics of what we wanted.

Anyway, we wrote the rules for ourselves and moved on. We had played them a number of times with our local group and it became a regular event. One day our friend Walt shows up with a huge box. He opens it and inside was this........

The Colosseum. Over 300 painted figures that have nothing to do with the game. Thank god hes retired..... So we start taking the game to conventions for a pick up game, and to our amazement it becomes a hit. It was awarded "Best New Ancients Game" at Historicon, along with a battle streamer for a "Game for young players". People started asking where they could get the rules. Hence we began publishing them for sale. Here we are presenting the award to Walt for his amazing work.


Now for the plug.......

Recently we updated out website which you can find here. Also recently they have been offered for sale at Wargames Vault. If your looking for a fun, fast game, give it a shot. I think you'll like it.

Underworld, The Game

So last time I mentioned using Starship Troopers as my rules of choice. Now this is based on the original set of rules put out by Mongoose Publishing. I have not played the new version so I'm not sure if they would work or not. However, here are the stats I am currently working with.

*UPDATED* 1/4/09

	Size	Move	Close Combat	Target	Save	Kill	Traits
Death Dealer	1	6”	D6+1	4+	4+/6+	7+	Speed / 12”
Vampyre	1	6”	D6	4+	4+	7+	Speed / 10”
Vampyre Lord	1	6”	D6+1	4+	4+/5+	7+	Speed / 12” Independant
Lycan / Wolf	2	8”	2xD6+1 D10	5+	4+/6+	8+	Hits / 2 Climb / 6” Jump / 12”
Lycan / Human	1	6”	D6	4+	4+	7+	Speed / 10”
Lycan Lord	1	6”	D6+1	4+	4+/5+	7+	Jump / 12” Independent
Hybrid	1	8”	D6+3	5+	4+/4+	8+	Speed / 12” Jump / 12” Independent
Human	1	4”	D6	3+	-/6+	6+
Human / Hunter	1	4”	D6	3+	5+/6+	6+	Independant
Human / Tactical	1	4”	D6	4+	4+	6+	Independent
Weapons Name
	Range		Damage		Type		Traits
Auto Pistol	15”		2xD6 (per pistol)		Squad		Persistant*
Assault Rifle	20”		2xD6		Squad		Auto
Shotgun	10”		D6+2		Squad		LZ (1”/LOS)
Shuriken	8”		D6		One-Shot!		Piercing / 1
Shuriken / Grenade	8”		D10		One Shot!		Killshot LZ (2”)
Grenade	8”		D10		Pack		LZ (2”)
Sword / Knife	Close Combat		As User		-		Parry Piercing / 1

I still haven't play tested these as of yet. So they are still just my base stats. If you play SST you'll see they are pretty close to the original stats used for the game.

The biggest changes are the "Speed" trait and the specialty rounds. "Speed" is handled the same as the "Jump" trait however it is primarily on a horizontal plane versus a Vertical plane. This represents the dexterity of the Vampyres. However Vampyres can technically jump over things as well. Treat this trait as the jump used by M.I. in the game. As such Vampyres may fire their weapons during the "Speed" movement.

Also the specialty rounds that are made of U/V and Silver Nitrate may only be fired by pistols. The quantity of rounds available are so low that they wouldn't be wasted. These have the "Persistant" trait. This means that any figure that was successfully hit must roll a save at the beginning of every turn before doing anything else. This represents the poisonous effects of the round coursing through the body.

If you try these out let me know what you think or how they work. Hopefully I will get a chance to throw a quick game together soon.