Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery (English)

Do you have what it takes to become the most powerful in Rome?

Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery is a strategy game about gladiators and the powerful houses in the ancient Roman city of Capua, who buy, sell, train, and organize gladiatorial games. Each player takes on the role of a Dominus, the head of a family, who must lead their family to power in the city through intrigue, power struggles, and grand gladiatorial battles.

Each round is structured around three phases, where the first is the intrigue phase, where players plan their intrigues, countermeasures, and schemes. The second phase is the market phase, where new slaves, gladiators, equipment, and guards can be acquired, and where players must outbid or deceive each other to get the best gladiators through auctions. In the third phase, the arena phase, two rival houses engage in a bloody battle through their gladiators in the arena, while everyone can bet on who will win and who will lose.

Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery is a re-release of the 2012 edition of the board game. The first version of the game was based on the TV series Spartacus. 

How to play Spartacus:

Influence equals power, and in Spartacus, the winner is the one who first reaches 12 in influence, as indicated at the top of the player's own game board. How high you are also determines how many cards you can hold in your hand.

The game itself is divided into a series of phases:

• Upkeep
• Intrigue phase
• Market phase
• Arena phase

The arena phase is the longest phase of the game, as it consists of a long series of points:

• The host is honored. The one who holds the matches receives influence as a reward.
• Invitations. The host invites the players one by one and may invite themselves. If the host can only persuade one to fight, the host must step in themselves. One may decline an invitation, but it costs one influence. If it is not possible to fill the arena, the matches will not take place.
• The gladiators are chosen. The two participants choose the gladiator who will fight in the arena (if one does not have a gladiator ready, they can always send a slave instead – however, they are not very good at fighting). If the gladiators have received favor tokens (more on that under the rewards section), the owner receives two gold per token. If the gladiator is a champion, they receive six gold. In the previous market phase, it is sometimes also possible to buy weapons for their fighters. Each gladiator can carry one weapon in battle.
• Bets. Of course you can also bet on the matches. Everyone can place money on the outcome of the match. You can bet on who will win, whether one of the gladiators will be injured, and whether they will have their head chopped off.
• Fight! Each gladiator has three attributes. Attack (red), defense (black), and speed (blue). You receive the number of dice in the given color that is indicated on the gladiator card.

When the dust settles in the arena after the bloody battles, only one house remains, whose dominus can rightfully call themselves the most powerful in Rome. Many battles must be won, many intrigues must be made, and you need both friends and enemies to be the first to reach 12 in influence and thus win Spartacus. 

Spartacus includes:

• 1 Game board
• 1 Betting board
• 4 Plastic miniatures
• 1 Rulebook
• 62 Market cards
• 104 Intrigue cards
• 148 Tokens
• 26 Dice

Do you want to protect your cards with plastic sleeves? Then you will need the following:

• 4x Board Game Sleeves - Standard (50 Non-Glare)