Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery (2020 Edition)

This is a really fantastic game. Very thematic, with strong elements of strategy, risk, and subterfuge. We were about to adapt it pretty easily to be two players as well. I posted the rules we use on Boardgamegeek.

Very unusual game, it will definitely differ from everything you played before. Great for 3-4 people.

Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery was originally a companion to the bloody and sexy Starz TV Spartacus TV show. The artwork from the show looked great on the cards. The new artwork is somewhere between low-rent graphic novel and Mad magazine. The Romans are leering and grotesque. The Gladiators and Slaves often look barely human. But the game itself is a solid one--if you enjoy being in constant conflict with your opponents. This is NOT a co-op game. You can cooperate, but alliances are fleeting. Mostly, you ally with other players only in order to screw over a different player. Each player controls both slaves and gladiators (to follow the TV show's theme of competing gladiator training schools). If slavery of any kind is a trigger for you, this is NOT your game. Each turn culminates in a gladiator battle, decided by rolling many differently colored dice. Wagers are made on the outcome. And having as much gold as possible is very helpful towards winning the game. The game is won by gaining 12 Influence. There are a few different ways to do so. And the more Influence you have, the more (and better) cards you can play without needing allies. You gain influence mainly by winning gladiator battles or being the host for gladiator battles. There are a lot of sneaky Intrigue/Scheme cards that allow you to gain Influence as well. Each turn, the players start with bookkeeping--earning gold from their slaves and/or losing gold to train/feed gladiators. Then they go around the table playing their scheme cards. Then there's a bidding phase where you can purchase new slaves and gladiators and equipment (swords, armor, etc.) for the arena battles. The last part of the auction phase is determining who hosts the gladiator battle at the end of the turn. Then the Host invites two players to fight in the arena at the end of the turn. The Host can invite themselves as one of the participants. The gladiator fights are all about rolling D6s and comparing totals. When gladiators lose dice, they lose health. And when they run out of dice, they lose the battle--or their lives. The Host is sometimes the final arbiter of what combatant lives or dies. There are some changes between the 2020 edition of Spartacus and the previous Spartacus. The board has changed slightly. One of the four starting factions is different. The miniatures seem to be of better quality. But, as far as gameplay, it's nearly the exact same game as the 2012 version. So if you have that 2012 Spartacus game or have played it before, this generic art 2020 version is not going to surprise you. I would not recommend this game for kids (you can bet on decapitations) or casual gamers or (as I said above) anyone who has issues with playing a game based on slavery. You need at least three people to play Spartacus--and four players works best. I would imagine that this base game is possibly compatible with the expansions for the 2012 version of Spartacus (though the card backs may differ). If you enjoy scheming, backstabbing, and gladiator combat--Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery is for you.

We played this once and it went really well until the end. The whole thing works really well and is enjoyable but the end becomes a game of Munchkin. The end occurs when someone gets like two goals or gold or something so then everyone else works to take one away and the game goes on. So house rule that once someone starts the game end procedure everyone gets one more turn or something like that. The rules for the end really leave a bad taste in your mouth and ruin the experience.

We played this once and it went really well until the end. The whole thing works really well and is enjoyable but the end becomes a game of Munchkin. The end occurs when someone gets like two goals or gold or something so then everyone else works to take one away and the game goes on. So house rule that once someone starts the game end procedure everyone gets one more turn or something like that. The rules for the end really leave a bad taste in your mouth and ruin the experience.