Mutton in the arena

Cromak, a barbarian warrior, had enough of the wonderful life of a mercenary, and decided to enter the arena in the dusty little berg of Fondulac.  He had little beyond 420 talos, his axe, sword, and ridiculous helmet.  "Crom, it was a gift from mom!"

His patron, a sinister looking gentleman who might be a sorcerer, told him he had someone special that he'd been holding onto as an opponent just for a barbarian.

Imagine Cromak's surprise when he saw a beastman enter from the opposite gate.

The rules are Red Sand Black Moon, from Two Hour Wargames.

Cromak is a warrior, Savvy and Strength of 5, and Speed of 4.  In addition to the Warrior Signatures, he has Slow Mover and Slippery, a 6-pointer

Raban, the beastman, also has a two-handed axe, a Savvy of 4, Strength of 5, and speed of 3.  In addition to the Beastman Signatures, he is Nimble, a 7-pointer.

AS always, click on the pic for a larger one.  My photography was not as good as it should have been because I was too lazy to use a tripod.

Here follows the short and deadly action.

Turn 1: Raban moves out from his gate, and then Cromak does the same.  They glare and snarl at each other.

The patron sees a short fight, and a dead barbarian.

Turn 2:  Raban moves to the center of the arena and  glares a bit more, but Cromak charges.  Raban steps aside, and, as Cromak blunders past, deals him a mighty blow to the lower right leg.  Blood spurts, and Cromak goes down, seriously wounded and a Bleeder!

The patron sees everything going as he expected.

Turn 3:  Unexpectedly, Raban stops to catch his breath.  Cromak takes advantage of his hesitation, leaps to his feet, and staggers towards Raban, while his life trickles from his wound.  This is more than Raban can stand.  His aggressive nature makes him charge a little too hastily, and this time Cromak steps aside, and with a mighty sweep of his axe, disembowels Raban.  Cromak is too unsteady to even turn around.  But Raban is dead!

The patron raises Cromak's right hand in victory, and Cromak sinks to the ground.  His wounded leg will support him no longer!

After the match:  Cromak had, of course, bet 100 talos on himself to win, and so his stash is raised to 630 talos.  He gains 1 point of fame for besting a higher rater opponent, and another for a killing blow in the center of the ring.  The blow was given in the center, even though Raban's charge put him outside of the center of the ring when he collapsed.  Cromak recovers completely (no, really, I rolled it!), and barbarian that he is, spends his recovery time in the nearest tavern with the tender ministrations of a tavern wench.

Raban never got to use his bite attack because he never won the Maneuver. 

My previous games had gone to 11 or 12 turns before being decided by the opponent dying the death of a thousand cuts.  But matches can be very short, like this one.  I'm astounded that my star won (a star from me is the kiss of death!), and now I have the beginning of a campaign.   Even with writing up what was going on, it only took about 30 minutes.