Arena Rex Forums

Good points.

I guess AR is just a game where stalemates and ties can happen. If time runs out, and both players have the same number of gladiators left, then that must be a tie. There are no army points or scenario points to act like tiebreakers. That's how I see the scenario you describe. It might not be entertaining to have a stand-off, but if both sides feel like they will lose if they advance, then that seems like a tie to me. Undramatic, but fair. The goal of the game would then be to win before it gets to that point.

This reminds me of something I was going to say in another thread (I can't remember if I actually did or not). Someone said that it is an issue that if both sides are down to last man standing, then the weaker model can just keep running away to keep from losing. That seems like the same kind of deal to me - if you get to that stage, then the game is a tie.

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The problem is, stalemates aren't a very good game state. Inexperienced players won't run and when they lose to it it makes the game feel very, well, gamey. Experienced players will eventually learn their lesson and do it, not because its fun but because there's no reason to be the one to concede.

FWIW, I think an easy stopgap is to remove the Move reaction from a Last Man Standing gladiator. That's what really makes things possible where they move into melee, you step away, and now they have to choose whether to fatigue to move again and exhaust to attack (which will kill them with the extra success/push) or stay unfatigued so that when the model that walked away walks they can just walk away as well.

Or you could follow the chess rule, and the character that just keeps running is stalling, and therefore forfeits; they're essentially admitting they can't win, and won't even try their luck.

So far, that hasn't happened with anyone I've played with. Although, we should at least allow one movement turn, because maybe the last man standing is trying to get to favorable terrain. But they get one turn until they're officially stalling. What do you all think?

I definitely prefer a technical solution rather than one that requires a judge to evaluate that one player is stalling. Since the tecnical solution can then be an actual rule in the rulebook, which "have someone decide that one player is stalling" can't be.

So removing Move reactions seems like a good start. But can't the weaker player just run away with Move actions then?

You could also say that in the case of a tie, whatever player has most vitality boxes left wins. Then actually being able to stall for a draw becomes very very unlikely.

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I have just started playing but a thought to avoid stalling that would, stylistically, give the bloodthirsty gladitorial feel is when you get to last man standing you must move TOWARDS the enemy. If you choose not to move TOWARDS the enemy the crowd turns surly hurling objects at the cowardly gladiator inflicting one damage that cannot be stopped by armor. Also the damage does not generate favor... only heroes and brave warriors get the crowd's favor!

It's not perfect but allows people to move away for tactical purposes but at a small penalty while forcing engagement.

The official Arena Rex mats at 30" x 30", but if you count from the base of the inner wall, it is more like 25" across. That means that a 30 mm model starting its turn in the center of the arena should be able to get within attack range of a 30mm standing at the edge of the arena with two moves as long as it's movement is 5 or higher. They can then still exhaust themselves to perform an attack.
So Otho, Gaius Pallidus, Ur-Kek and Nero would be the only ones that would be out of reach (although Nero might be able to reach with his larger base).
Those models could use favor dice to Maneuver and move themselves closer prior to their activation... so I guess if you spend one turn positioning yourself in the center, you should then be able to get yourself to engagement range in the following turn.

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The issue with that is if you exhaust yourself to get in 1 attack, you die if it doesn't finish them do to the auto success and

It's not necessarily a death sentence... but to avoid it you can spend a Favor to use Maneuver to make a move, then use your free move to make a second move and get within range (most of the time), then you'll be able to make at least one attack without going Exhausted.

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There can also be hazards in the way that prevent you from going in a straight line from the centre to the edge.

I would prefer it if the rules made it so that you don't want to run away, rather than making it harder to run away.

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This could probably be broken out into its own thread i.e... but it's already here so I'll just carry on:

Some ideas I have been having to address the issue:
- Remove the Exhausted penalties (extra success and push) from Last Man Standing models. This would help promote aggressiveness in the final stage without leaving a player st a disadvantage for doing so.
Or:
- Once both players enter Last Man Standing, if a model fails to engage or move towards engagement with the opposing player during its activation, deal that model 1 damage.
Or:
- Once both players enter Last Man Standing, if a model fails to engage or move towards engagement with the opposing player during its activation, give the opposing player 1 favor.

I think the issue is that as long as there is an alternative win condition established for tied cases you are going to run into the situation that once both players enter Last Man Standing one of the players will be winning at that point in time and will benefit from simply letting the clock run out.
Any rule that is made to promote engagement or prevent evasion may just end up favoring one player over the other. So what you'll end up with is a more complex set of rules that don't really make the game any more fair or balanced.
So we have to be careful how we choose to address the issue.

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