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Our Lanistas have had two weeks to forget about their failures at the local event where neither ludus came away with a victory. Now the focus turns to the regional games of Capua. Prior to entering this event Vin decided to purchase an animal pen and fill it with a Rhino. A risky purchase at such an early stage in our campaign but it could pay dividends if it preforms well in the arena. Besides that both ludus’ have not made any new purchases this month.

In this regional event the players have submitted enough gladiators to participate in 4 out of the 6 matches. Below is a list of the match ups with the play by play in the following section.

Opening Match – Rhino (Vin) vs Champion Murmillo (Pg. 64)
Second Match – The Moor (Dimachaerus / Vin) vs Regional Dimachaerus (Pg. 62) vs Local Thracian (Pg. 58)
Third Match – Duostickius (Dimachaerus / Scott) & Caesar Choppius (Scissor / Scott) vs Champion Secutor (Pg. 63) & Local Cestus (Pg. 60)
Primus – Slothius (Murmillo / Vin) vs Local Secutor (Pg. 58)

Opening Match
Before the match had even started the drama had begun. Vin decided to bet 30 coin on his Rhino, which is no cheap sum this early in the game and after the first round it seemed like it would be a safe bet. In the first turn the Rhino charged the Murmillo knocking him to the ground and would have killed him outright if not for the 3 saves that he made from the prone position. With a little bit of luck getting to his feet followed by a series of precise attacks the Murmillo was able to score 4 wounds on the Rhino and shift the balance of power. Over the next 6 rounds both the Murmillo and Rhino danced around the arena in a series of quick combats followed by pushing a jockeying for position. The wounds were slowly coming off both combatants and in round 7 & 8 the unthinkable happened. On 3 consecutive push attempts by the Rhino the Murmillo was able to roll a 10 and win each STR test, putting the beast in a position where he couldn’t get its charge into combat off. With both combatants left with only one wound apiece the Murmillo was able to land the killing blow in round 9 and stand victorious as the crowd rained down applause for his stellar performance.

Second Match
This contest was scheduled to be a One vs Two with the Moor facing off against the Regional Dimachaerus and the winner would then face the Local Thracian. Initially things started off well for the Moor as he was able to land two blows early and gain a slight advantage over his foe. Going into round 2 The Dimachaerus nearly ended the fight with a deathblow but failed his AGL test of a 10+. Needless to say the Moor was rattled and lost a bit of his moxie for the remainder of the contest. Over the next 2 rounds The Moor was battered by a serious of critical successes in combat and took double damage on 3 occasions until he was finished at the end of round 4. A truely dominant performance by the Regional Dimachaerus who later went on to defeat the Thracian in the second half of the match.

Third Match
Our third match, a Two vs Two, started off quickly and with a fair amount of carnage. In the first round, by winning the initiative, Duostickius & Caesar Choppius were able to double team the Champion Secutor and peel off 6 of his 9 vitality points. To answer this deed the Secutor and Cestus focused their attacks on Caesar Choppius and do a fair amount of damage in return. As round 2 got underway Caesar Choppius was able to gain the initiative and in stellar fashion he slit the throat of the Champion Secutor with a deathblow. With only the Cestus left to face off against these two seasoned gladiators the remainder of the contest went as you’d expect. For the remaining 3 rounds the Cestus was battered and pummeled until he fell to sands of the arena with no fight left in him. The crowd was given the gift of blood and carnage and the victors were awarded extra coin for their entertaining match.

Primus
In a match that we all predicted would be a cake walk for Slothius, it turned out to be a tough fought contest that was decided in dramatic fashion. In the early rounds of the match both Slothius and the Local Secutor exchanged a series of blows that left both men seriously wounded as neither gladiator could make an armor save. With both men fatigued from battle the 4th, 5th and 6th rounds saw a lot of sloppy fighting and missed opportunities as Slothius was able to knock down the Secutor twice but was unable to capitalize on his advantage before the Secutor was able to get back to his feet. As the combatants continued to fail armor saves we found ourselves in the heart of round 7 with the Secutor at 2 wounds and Slothius at 1. In a series of fortunate events Slothius was able to knockdown the Secutor for the third time in the match and land the finishing blow on a critical success while the Secutor was on his back. This match was a fantastic finish to the event and truly worthy of being called the Primus.

With the July games on the horizon both Scott and Vin are now making plans to acquire some new slaves to grow their ludus’. In the mean time it looks like the gladiators will be getting fed Rhino meat until the next time they are sent out to the sands of the arena.