Arena Rex Forums

Hello everyone! I have been lurking on the forums for a little while and I am finally registered! I am Interested mostly by the Greeks and therefore have not purchased any models yet. However, I do own a Play-Mobile Gladiator Arena and have played a few games with proxies. I am loving this game!

Despite my interest in the Greeks (despite any info about them), I do want to pick up some other models so that I can run Demo Games at my FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store?). What would you guys suggest I pick up? Are any of the starter boxes more difficult to teach than others? What solo's would you say are must haves? (I have some plastic proxy beasts for living hazards so they aren't very high on my to buy list at the moment.)

First Welcome! I am new to the game as well! from what I understand The Zephyri will be where most Greek models will align. as to anything else I am just buying what I like the looks of best because they are all interchangeable in cohorts!

Welcome to the board!

As I mentioned on facebook, I personally think that LM and Morituri are the easiest starters for learning the game. Mainly because Ban-Luca's Stall seems to frustrate some people, and Disengage is a rule that some people seem to play wrong when they are just starting.

But you could also argue that the Morituri death effects are not suited for beginners... so I dunno. Maybe just LM vs LM.

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

Welcome to the games!!

I think the best faction for teaching the basics of the game is Ludus Magnus. They are the most straight forward faction and their faction bonuses are pretty easy to deal with. For a second faction I would lean towards using Legio IIIX. Ban Luca is a pain if you use stall but you could swap Ban Luca for a different Legio figure... say Ywain, Valen, or Urien.

I also find that when demoing the game to first time players with no experience to leave out the faction bonuses. This limits Morituri as their faction abilities really define them.

Zephyri starter could be a good one to play too some of the starter figures abilities can be frustrating to new players (Frigge in particular) or they counter some basic game play abilities. (specifically Bjarrhvit and Trapper). I think Zephyri are a great faction to build into a second demo as they begin to show some depth of play to the game.

Anyway that is my take on it. Best I can say is for first time give them the basic gameplay and then in the second game add in Clear Turn tactics and Faction bonuses. Also keep the hazards to a minimum on the first demo go through. One pit and columns or maybe a wounding hazard instead of a lethal pit. Second go through add more hazards.

Good luck and grow that community!!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the responses! Ludas Magnus will definatly be one of the starters. I'm still debating on the second starter but you have all made some valid points so far! I think it will depend mostly on what looks the most interesting to my friends who are interested in the game.

I think I might order the following:

Ludus Magnus - Starter Set
Otho Mentulus
Hermes
Septimus
Nero (with riding Septimus)

This gives me:
1) a starter set
2) Three additional gladiators that should work decently as a second cohort for demos or that can be mixed and matched to make 2 realitively even teams of 3
3) One mount/Living hazard.

Can Septimus and Nero be played together (with any level of balance) against a three model cohort? It seems like it would be fun and thematic.

Yes they can be played as a rider and beast in one cohort the game is pretty Balanced when it comes to cohort building. check out : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0 it shows all the models and their stats.

I really approve of that shopping list of models! Great selection.

I have to admit that I have never tried Sep+Nero as the only models against three gladiators - it would actually be interesting to try. Now I want to.

I have no idea how well it would work - one big problem I see is that if you want Septimus mounted and fighting, you only get a turn every other turn, because every time you attack, you will gain fatigue, and that means your next turn will be a clear turn. Granted, Nero will Wild attack during that clear turn. But still.

Basically the main problem I see is that effectively only having one model in your cohort probably won't be much fun. Your only real option is to charge in, start rolling dice, and then roll dice for the rest of the game until the game is over. Once you get stuck in, most likely you will just want to try and murder whoever is the closest enemy to you at all times.

But maybe some sort of variations on mounting and dismounting could be interesting? No way to know but to try...

_________________
My Arena Rex painting log

Im new to so correct me if im wrong but both models will activate and attack on the same turn costing only 1 fatigue for both models so the second turn when you have a clear turn Nero will go wild and attack on his own so essentially 3 attacks per 2 turns

Hey I made that google doc last night! It's not fully complete yet but I'm working very hard on it!

_________________
_______________________________________________________
I made an Arena Rex Cohort Builder
V 0.2: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing