Unfiltered Gamer

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery was originally developed in board game form to mirror the Starz television series of the same name. In this new edition of the game, new artwork has been added to better differentiate itself from a show no longer on the air, but the bulk of the game has remained the same. I never had the opportunity to play the original version of the game, so my experience here is completely fresh.

The majority of the gameplay can be narrowed down to 3 individual phases: The Intrigue Phase, Market Phase and Arena Phase. During these 3 phases you’ll essentially execute schemes to build up your own house while simultaneously messing with your opponents, buy, sell and trade assets (guards, gladiators & slaves) and gamble and battle in the arena.

The game features 3 Game Types that work to accommodate the right game length for you. The difference between these Game Types are how much Influence you start with. Gaining Influence if the primary goal of the game with the winner being the first to achieve 12 Influence.

During the initial phase or Intrigue Phase, you’ll draw Intrigue cards. Intrigue cards will be played in turn order and exist in 2 categories: Scheme cards and Reaction cards. Scheme cards will allow you to do a variety of actions both beneficial or devious. Beneficial Scheme cards might allow you to earn a certain amount of money or draw additional Intrigue cards. These specific Scheme cards can be played toward anyone including yourself. The more underhanded cards might lower a player’s influence or remove cards from their Dominus, but what goes around comes around in the Intrigue Phase.

These offensive Scheme card attacks can be countered with Reaction cards limiting or defusing the effect entirely. Players also might possess Guard cards that allow you an opportunity to completely deflect a targeted Scheme card by rolling a die. Guard cards are blindly drawn during the Intrigue Phase and provide defense to your house.

Once all the players have either exhausted their attempts to gain goods and/or cause trouble for their fellow player or chosen to pass, the Intrigue Phase comes to an end and the Market Phase commences.

The Market Phase can be broken down into 3 mini-actions. The first being the Open Market. During this time players can freely buy, sell and trade any of their  resources. There is no limit to how this can go down. Each card also features a monetary value and players can also sell these cards to the bank during this time.

This is followed by the great Spartacus auction. During the auction, 3 Market Cards are drawn face down and revealed one at a time. After each card is revealed, the players make a blind bid on the card. These Market Cards are made up of Gladiators, Slaves and Weapons.

Gladiator cards each feature unique gladiators equipped with a distinct variety of Attack, Defense and Speed values each used during the Arena Phase.

Slave cards provide income after a round is complete helping build wealth and fund your active gladiators.

Weapon cards can be used to upgrade your gladiator prior to combat.

Once all 3 Market Cards have been bid on, players are faced with one additional bid: the Bid for Hosting. The winner of this blind bid will be given control of the Arena Phase and will earn an additional Influence point.

Entering the Arena Phase, the winning bid for hosting will issue invitations of their choosing to players (including themselves) to enter into combat in the arena. Players do have the option to refuse, but refusing to participate costs 1 Influence.

Once players are selected, they choose one of their gladiators (or slaves) to represent their Dominus in the arena. At this point all players have the opportunity to bet on a series of potential outcomes for the fight. This is another opportunity for players to beef up their wealth and gain an advantage over their opponents in the coming rounds.

Finally the battle begins! Each battle involves a series of strategic dice rolls revolving around attack strength, defense and speed (essentially the number of dice a gladiator has available is equal to their health). These dice are simultaneously resolved slowly breaking down a gladiators stamina (and number of dice available to roll). Once a gladiator meets a certain criteria in victory, the battle ends.

The player hosting the battle has the power of life & death. They have the final say in whether a defeated fighter lives or dies. Surviving fighters return to their Dominus. Dead fighters go back to the soil and sand of the arena.

After the battle and round are complete, all players take part in Upkeep where they earn coins for slaves, pay coins for gladiators, refresh exhausted asset cards (certain cards provide benefits for “exhausting them”) and heal injuries. Players roll dice to heal injured gladiators or slaves (if they were drawn into combat).

There is obviously a lot going on in this game and I didn’t cover everything. But this process of Intrigue-Market-Arena Phases repeats until a player is ultimately crowned the victor with 12 Influence.