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Spartacus is a schlocky romp of brutal back-stabbing and pacey dice-chucking arena combat. While it feels like a game of yesteryear in the viciousness of its PvP take-that, with the right group (who are happy to take that sort of interaction with a chuckle and a curse) it makes for a highly entertaining evening.
In Spartacus, you control a Domus – an Imperial Roman house - looking to increase its influence at the expense of its rivals. Through dastardly intrigue and through the victory of its gladiators in the arena.
Gameplay boils down to three distinct but interrelated phases. First, there is the intrigue phase. Here you will be playing cards and countering them. It’s quick and often nasty, and it feels delightfully confrontational if a bit dated… albeit, for me, in an enjoyably nostalgic way. Wallop! – someone has injured one of your gladiators, or stolen some money, or cost you an influence. Schemes are played thick and fast, reaction cards are used to counter. Guard cards are deployed to your player board to offer some (unreliable) defence.
Happy Backstabbing
One of the best aspects of Spartacus is that certain cards require a particular level of influence to play. And if you don’t have enough, you can ask other players to support you in exchange for… well, pretty much anything. That said, promises aren’t binding. So, it is possible to enrol a player’s support and then direct something unpleasant at all of your opponents. Including your erstwhile supporter.
The market phase is next. It combines player to player trading but also has three auctions for randomly drawn assets. These might be gladiators themselves, who will fight in the arena. Or equipment for your gladiators to fight with. Or slaves, who affect your domus’ assets. Simple blind-bidding keeps this a pacey and enjoyable competition, with a bit less bite but no less tension. Particularly when a really plum gladiator comes up for auction.
Death Or Glory
Finally, there is the arena phase, which for me is the piece de resistance. There is some very satisfying jockeying for who is hosting the fight, which houses will fight, and which gladiators will enter the arena. There is some pre-fight gambling. Not only on results, but also on whether a combatant will be incapacitated or decapitated. Then there is the fighting itself, which involved players chucking handfuls of different coloured dice. Loads of luck and plenty of tension – but room for some canny tactics with the gladiator minis on the arena hex map. Often only two players will be directly involved in this phase, but gambling gives everyone the chance to have skin in the game. And the fight itself is truly a fun spectator sport.
I really enjoy the fact that the dice are also the gladiators hit points. As they are wounded, you have to make decisions about which of the dice pool(s) to deplete. And in true cinematic style, many a bout ends with the characteristic thumbs up or down to determine the fate of defeated gladiators.
Gameplay rattles along and these three phases le round until one player has earned sufficient Influence. This is done through card play, hosting arena combat, and winning the gladiatorial fights.
Group Dynamics
I think Spartacus is a really fantastic, if highly situational, game. And it all revolves around having the right group to play with. The game is utterly brutal. Take-that card play, head to head auctions, some nasty power playing, and then some bloody dice chucking which may or may not end with decapitation. I have some friends I can put this in front of a few times a year, and over a few beers we have an absolute hoot. I have a number of other groups I play with who I wouldn’t dream of even suggesting it to. It’s lewd and bawdy (one of the intrigue cards is named after a deity’s manhood) – just like the TV series I am led to believe. But with the right people, it sings.
Production values are solid. The new art assets for the second edition beat the lazy photo stills from the TV show used in the first edition. The right group also needs to be gamerish, as the game has a fair dose of rules and it will take most of the evening to play. Though you do have some control of playtime, as you can set an agreed influence point target before you start. A quick shout out to the strong range of player-created add-ons on BGG, which include rules for wild animals in the arena. These give non-combatant domus something active to do.
Spartacus is a really tough game to give a percentage rating to as on the table it can be an > 85% or a < 25% game, depending on whether you get the group right. All I hope is that this review has given you a sense of whether you have those people to play it with. If you do, it is definitely worth the investment.
