SpartaCon Rebels Convention August 15 & 16 - Waldorf, Maryland With John-Paul Brisigotti  This past weekend John, Matt and I drove down to Waldorf, Maryland just south of Washington DC to attend the inaugural Spartacon show. Hosted in the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs’ baseball stadium by the Red Serpents, this is the first show of its kind in the world celebrating all things Spartacus.

As you can imagine, the big draw was many of the cast from the show attending, followed closely by our tent where we were running demo games of Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery for new players and talking tactics with those who know it and love it.
Over the weekend we got to talk to many of the cast, including Liam McIntyre, who is an avid player of the game. We are used to gamers asking questions about game, but they usually aren’t as hard to answer as the one Liam posed us: “Why in the game does Gannicus kick my butt so often? I am Spartacus, after all!”

Stephen Dunlevy (the Egyptian) even sat in with a group of fans, who would have let him win no matter what – not a bad result for your first game!

Many attendees came in costume and, as you can see from this pair from Canada, they took the result of their game in true gladiator style.

The two-day event had some interesting events, including some gladiator combat run by a very capable group, followed by gladiator training led by Manu Bennett (Crixus) and some other cast members. The attendees who signed up for this were very brave, as the routine they went through was tough, especially when the temperature was 32°C (90°F)! Listening to Manu explain it, the fittest of them all physically is actually Viva Bianca (Ilithyia) who, despite her size, showed she had stamina to out-last some of the most heroic looking of the men.

You may already know that Spartacus actors Manu Bennett (Crixus) and Antonio Te Maioha (Barca) are both of Maori descent - the indigenous people of New Zealand. In fact, the show itself was filmed not far from our New Zealand office. As the gladiator training was coming to an end, Manu and Antonio decided to give some unsuspecting Spartacus fans a lesson in Maori heritage, teaching them the haka, a traditional Maori war dance.

It truly was a unique venue - we had never run games in a tent inside a baseball stadium before! And with all the great activities throughout the weekend, I am sure this will not be a one-off event. The Red Serpents gave fans a lot of what they wanted, with so many of the cast present, and getting so involved in the whole weekend. We will certainly go back again next year. ~ John-Paul.