Age of Gladiators II: The Draft

The best fighters originate from The Academy. This is where prospective gladiators are brought in at an early age (twelve standard Earth years) for training. Their development during this time is extremely variable, but the very top academy-trained fighters will likely be superior in skill to gladiators you have signed “off the street”.



When academy gladiators reach the age of sixteen years old, they are eligible for the draft. The draft occurs once a season with the order being determined by the owners standings in the league. The poorest performing owner will receive the top draft pick, the second poorest performing owner will receive the second draft pick, and so on. This is to help with parity in the league.

An academy trained gladiator is only allowed to remain in the league until they are nineteen years old. Afterward, all undrafted academy-trained gladiators are released for regular civilian life.

All drafted gladiators are sent to the Rookie League, where they compete non-lethally. A gladiator in the Rookie League can be promoted anytime to the owner’s Blood League squad – but we recommend allowing them to develop a few years in the Rookie League first. Unless an academy-trained gladiator is absolutely elite, they may face a tough and deadly time in the Blood League if rushed too soon.

Note that rookie may only stay in the Blood League until they are twenty-one; after which they must be promoted. If an owner does not have room on their roster, the rookie will instead be sent to waivers, where any other boss has the opportunity to sign them. So keep space on your roster for graduating rookies!

And, yes, you may notice we are using the same age for different species. Through some fancy arithmetic, scientists have managed to employ a standard earth year age for each species that conforms to their development cycle. Don’t ask me how.

Larnrron
Blood League Chief Of Operations



In my current game, I finished high in the standings during the 3008AD season. So my draft standing was very low: 51st out of 60 league owners.



So that meant 50 owners would be selecting newly-minted Academy-trained fighters before my turn came up. But that's the price I had to pay for enjoying success the previous season (I came close to winning the Blood League championship, having fallen in the semi-finals.)

Sifting through the leftovers, there were a ton of gladiators being graded by the Central Scouting Bureau in the B- overall range; pretty mediocre overall. But seeing as these fighters were young and developing still, who knows what can happen? I begin scanning the list of remaining fighters until I find a Kathaarn gladiator named Loonporl. He is well-graded in strength, stamina and vitality, which means I could perhaps develop a good melee fighter with a decent number of hit and action points.



So I go ahead and click the Draft button. A good draft selection can make or break an organization.

When I select him, he is removed from the Academy and is moves in transit to join my Rookie League roster. I see several days later that he is currently ranked #198 in that league out of thousands of hopeful fighters, so perhaps this bodes well - but it will be several years before I know for sure if my gamble has paid off.





Looking back at the draft class of 3000, it is dire.

Only one fighter from the top 15 draft pick is still active, with the others having either been killed or retired. A Human star named Gemellus was selected 8th overall and is currently ranked #7 in the entire Blood League.



Everyone except the 1st overall selection (who had a sterling 149-0 Rookie League record and an equally unblemished 8-0 Blood League record before tragically dying) turned out to be busts. Even the 2nd overall selection was incredible in the Rookie League (140-1) but couldn't quite hack it at the next level - though it is possible he had poor teammates which resulted in some losses during larger matches.

The entire 3001 draft class is dead or retired.

3002 has a few gladiators remaining, with the 1st overall gladiator named Barknij ranked #4 in the Blood League. And then the 4th overall selection, Bleeseez, having hung on to a roster spot for 7 seasons despite having a pretty poor 6-12 Blood League record. He is currently ranked #177th in the Blood League, though I would give his agent higher kudos for keeping his client employed for so long.





Academy-trained fighters typically have a better chance of success than an "off the street" recruit that you sign - but not always. You can be sure I have seen my fair share of busts and burn-outs in 9 seasons. It's just a matter of handicapping the physical attributes of the gladiators on your draft board as well as a bit of luck.