Next Project nearing finish line

My next lockdown project has been set of gladiator wargame rules.

What? I hear you say. Where did that come from? Good question. After publishing the battlefields book, I was intending to move straight on to the Taiping rules, but...

I got a chance to work on a set of rules with a really old friend, - my longest standing friend in the whole world in fact. We started to wargame together in Primary School, and although our paths have diverged, we've kept in touch. Alas we've not really been able to work on any games or rules together for a long time, but old Covid-19 has changed that.

A while back I got asked whether I had a set of gladiator rules ready for publication. The answer was I didn't. If you've followed my back catalogue of blogs you'll know that skirmish level games rarely feature (with the exception of "Musketeers on Ice", of course.) Any how, when my old chum and I started exchanging emails he let slip he'd done a set of sword fighting rules (the man took fencing seriously back in the day). I asked if he felt like doing a gladiatorial modification for them, which I'd publish through "Wargaming for Grown Ups Publications". The reply saying "You're on!" with outline modifications was back with me in an hour or so.

That was the end of March, so we've been to-ing and fro-ing for six weeks or so. We found a group of
play testers who were playing games online up in Sheffield, who were pleasingly enthusiastic. I even got out my old biscuit tin.

Apart from we're doing it by email, it's been like old times indeed. Derek and I were always on the same wave length when we were working on games and rules, and it seems that we still have that, even after over 40 years.

The rules really are quick play, and the combat mechanism is simple and elegant. Derek wanted to go with the name "Ludo", but apparently that's already been taken. As the combat system uses a handful of dice, with re-rolls based on skill level, we've gone for "Dicing with Death".

I think we have a final version, and that's just having a final read through as a pdf. Then we'll get some hard copy proofs later in the week, so hopefully in print mid-June at the latest. It'll be in colour, and available from Amazon, Wargamers Vault and also CP Models. Hopefully Mike will do some sort of deal with the rules and his awesome figures. It will include the trade mark Wargaming for Grown Ups diagrams so it's clear what is going on, and the well laid out and simple to read text. Not sure on exactly how much it'll cost yet, but it'll be less than "It's Getting a Bit Chile".

I hope some of you out there are as excited as I am about this.