The Capuan Arena Staff

Having completed my arena and enough gladiators to get started, I thought it about time I took a look at some gaming accessories. Actually, the game has minimal book keeping requirements but it is necessary to keep a running total of a couple of stats. Most bouts have an eight round limit so it is useful to know how many rounds have been played. Also each gladiator has a stat termed vitality, which is essentially the number of hits he can absorb. Both of these could be recorded by using dice or counters but I decided that it would be neater to use the MDF dials, available from the likes of Warbases, on which I could place a suitable scenic figure.

According to Bishop’s ‘Gladiators. Fighting to the Death in Ancient Rome’, there were two main gates to an arena; the Porta Sanavivaria (Gate of Life) and the Porta Libitinensis (Gate of Death). Victorious gladiators would leave through the former, whilst the remains of the defeated were removed via the latter by a figure dressed as Charun; a character based on the Etruscan demon of death. I don’t know of any depictions in a gladiatorial context but Charun does appear, in various guises, in Etruscan art. He is usually depicted with a large hammer and is often shown with blue skin, a hooked nose and pointed ears. Often he has snakes around his arms and large wings.

Charun - Etruscan demon of death

This will make a suitable character figure to mount on a dial recording the number of rounds.  For my version I decided to show him in a Greek style theatre mask, coloured blue and with a large hooked nose.

Using the Italeri plastic gladiators as the basis for the conversion, I chose one of the, shall we say, less martial poses.

Base figure for Charun

The axe was easily swapped for a hammer and most of the torso covered in a tunic of green stuff. The legs proved the trickiest as they had both padded  armour and greaves to remove. Rather than attempt to rebuild the legs I opted to give him boots of green stuff. Here I tried to give the impression of boots rather than anything finely crafted as a) these are toys rather than scale models and b) I doubt my modelling skills are up to it anyway.

A heavily modified Charun

With a lick of paint, I'm quite pleased with the result and the end result is actually better than I expected.

For the vitality markers I opted to depict the two ‘umpires’; the summa rudis (‘top stick’) and secunda rudis. These are usually shown wearing tunics with baggy sleeves and decorated with two vertical stripes. 

Umpire with Equites gladiator

For my version I converted two cheap plastic pirates.

Base figure for Summa Rudis

They’re not exactly detailed models but they do make useful skeletons on which to build. With a bit of knife-work and the addition of the characteristic baggy tunic in green stuff a passable umpire was achieved.

Yes the baggy sleeves are intentional

I’m quite pleased with the effect. after painting, and they do give me two unique vitality markers.

Summa Rudis and Secunda Rudis