Frank Sultana has been working on a gladiatorial skirmish game for a while now called Blood On The Sands and it is set to come to Kickstarter later this year. With that in mind, I thought it would be good to get a look at what the game is so you can put it on your radar.

Arena // Blood On The Sands

Blood On The Sands is a game for two players that lasts between fifteen and forty-five minutes depending on the back and forth between your gladiators on the tabletop. It is historically inspired, drawing from the actual bouts that would have been played out for the enjoyment of the crowd during the time of the Roman Empire.

Gladiatorial Combat // Blood On The Sands

Each player will take control of one of six different classes of gladiators that throw different combat challenges into the mix. They will have their own information sheet that will allow them to track injuries and fatigue as well as the favour and disfavour that they have gained from the crowd throughout the bout. You need to impress the plebs!

Gladiatorial Combat // Blood On The Sands

Your actions are dice-based and during your turn, you'll throw six of these action dice which determine what you can do on a turn. This could be to move, attack or hunker down and defend yourself. You will need to balance the aggressive side of your gladiators to please the crowd and your fatigue. It's all well and good showing off but if you get tired out, your opponent will just stab you whilst you're gasping for breath.

Gladiatorial Combat // Blood On The Sands

Whilst you can see some lovely pictures of an arena here, Blood On The Sands will play out on a basic hex grid (you can go as fancy as you like though). This means that you can quickly and easily get your head around movement and get into some interesting tactical decision-making.

If this has got you interested, there is a Quick Start version of the rules available to those who join the Blood On The Sands Facebook Group. It contains the rules and the components you need to play. You will need to get your hands on some miniatures but there are loads of gladiators out there for you to choose from.

Rules Preview // Blood On The Sands

As mentioned, Blood On The Sands is looking to come to crowdfunding later this year so you could use this as a chance to get involved with the game design process and perhaps give the folks behind the game some thoughts on the game. It seems like they already have a great little community enjoying the game at this early stage. You can actually check out a Project all about the game right here OnTableTop!

Are you going to be giving Blood On The Sands a go?