
Description[]
In the days of the Roman Empire, condemned men were forced to fight in duels to the death. Just like Death Battles, looks like we never moved past the urge to see who would really win a fight to the death. Who would win a fight between twelve of the more prominent gladiators.
Interlude[]
Nero: You know, a factor that influenced our show was the writer's interest in Roman gladiatorial bouts. So today we are seeing which type of Gladiator is best in a duel to the death.
Phoenix: Of the twelve classes, who will win? The Murmillo the fish man? Retiarius the fisherman? The Hoplomachus the Greek Hoplite based?
Gerona: Or the Secutor the chaser? The Scissor the men with the odd weapons, Provacateur the Armored Gladiators?
Nero: I am Nero and they are Gerona and Phoenix, and together we analyze the fighters, weapons, armor, skills, sources, abilities, and in this case the history to find out who would win a Death Battle.
Murmillo[]

N: The Murmillo was one of the few Gladiator types, to have been around since the early days and not be discontinued due to the introduction of other gladiator types.
P: The Murmillo was introduced after the Gaelic type Warrior Gallus was discontinued due to the fact that Gaul was now part of the Roman Empire. Damn, they had political correctness back then. Hey Nero know any other myths.
N: Historically speaking the whole thumbs up and down deal was Hollywood hogwash based off a Renaissance painting and very rarely were fights actually be to the death. Gladiators are expensive, but in this fight it is to the death because we can just revive them. They're just clones.
G: HAHA you got that right Nero, we have hundreds of replacement gladiators. The Murmillo stayed part of the games until near the very end of the Gladiatorial Ages. The Murmillo normally had the helmet design of a sea monster or fish, and naturally fought the Retiarius in the arena. But due to their similar arsenal, the Murmillo also fought the Thracian and the Hoplomachus before it's cancellation.
N: The Murmillo was one of the physically stronger gladiators to not only wield a shield, and Manica arm guard, but to fight for long periods of time with all the gladiator armor. The Murmillo type men were normally muscular and were one of the Gladiators preferred by the ladies. Secutors and Retiarius were also popular with women.
P: The Murmillo was armed with a Gladius short sword, an iron blade of up to 24 inches that could cut but mostly thrusted. The Murmillo also had a scutum a wood and metal shield that enveloped the majority of his body which could cut his foes. He wore a decorated leather belt, a pair of greaves and padding to prevent chafing, as well as a Manica arm guard one that could be made of thick cloth and leather, mail, metal links, or scaled type armor. Murmillo also wore a bronze helmet, that normally had a fish or sea monster design.
G: The pros of being a Murmillo are that: they were very muscular and physically strong, had a relative a lot amount of armor, wielded one of the deadliest swords of his time, had lots of stamina, had a Scutum, and were trained to be good at kicking, and had thick leg paddings for strong kicks.
N: There are cons to the Murmillo: while they had a lot of stamina they were not the fastest gladiator around, kicking can leave the Murmillo open, and his helmet was easily capturable by the Retiarius' net.
G: But if you were a gambling man, in a bout with a Murmillo bet on the Murmillo.
(The Murmillo kicks a Retiarius down and stabs down onto the fallen gladiator)
Retiarius[]

N: We have covered the fish or sea monster man, now let's discuss the Fisherman the Retiarius Gadiator. This is one of the most well known type to modern audiences.
P: The Retiarius was unusual for a Gladiator in that they did not have a lot of armor, outside of an arm guard. They were often pitted against more heavily armored gladiators and had to rely on wit and his nimbleness to fight.
G: The Retiarius is actually an innovation off of other gladiators who were known as noosemen and relied on lasso like ropes to snare their enemies. Typically the Retiarius was pitted against the Murmillo who normally they held the advantage, or the Secutor the gladiator designed to counter the Retiarius.
N: The Retiarius did not tend to be as muscular as say the Murmillo, or the Secutor rather they were wiry and were muscular yet designed for speed. Think runner rather then wrestler, as they had to be agile and stay out of the way of the other gladiator's weapons.
P: The Retiarius strategy is to entrap another gladiator's weapon or shield and use the trident to keep his foes at bay. Kinda like a spear men but his spear has three prongs.
G: The Retiarius had a man sized trident with three sharp bronze or iron prongs with barbs, a hemp net used to encapture his foes, and a Pugio dagger a small iron thrusting dagger if his trident were to break or get lost. Sometimes the Retiarius would toss his trident. Armor wise the Retiarius wore a bronze arm guard that went down to his trident hand, a leather belt, and a loin cloth.
N: The advantages of the Retiarius was that: he was faster and significantly more agile, had the ability to entrap his opponents, and was one of the few gladiators with a mid range weapon.
P: The disadvantages are: the lack of armor one mistake could kill, the trident is actually a poor weapon due to the energy being distributed evenly making it a less powerful blow, the strategy often meant throwing his weapon, and the lack of a shield.
G: But if you want a gladiator to snare someone, the Retiarius is your guy.
(The Retiarius snares a gladiator before stabbing with a trident)
Hoplomachus[]

N: The Greek Hoplite is one of the most influential warrior in history. Nations such as Macedonia under Alexander the Great, Carthaginia under Hannibal, and the Roman Empire have copied the idea of the Hoplite and implemented it in their military or combat games. Roman Legionaries used to be more similar to the Hoplite.
P: The Hoplomachus was based off the Greek Hoplite, with the spear and round shield. Very often the armor was bronze to look as similar to the Greeks as possible.
G: The Hoplomachus however, was discontinued after Greece was implemented to the Empire. Damn, political correctness ended one of my favorite Gladiators.
N: The Hoplomachus was created to reenact the wars between the Romans and the Greeks, and were essentially a caricature of a Greek Hoplite: with a spear, sword, and miniature Aspis known as the Hoplon: more on that later. The Hoplomachus were often pitted against the Thracian and the Murmillo.
P: Physically the Hoplomachus was muscular, strong, and a powerful fighter with arm muscles designed to use his shield as a Buckler of sorts to ram foes.
N: The Hoplomachus had a spear (of around 6 feet) with an iron head and a sharpened butt end designed to be like the Hoplite: that is used like a spear but could also be thrown like a Javelin. At close range the Hoplomachus had a Gladius or short sword that can be used to cut and slash. The shield or Hoplon: was small but covered parts of his body and was designed to be swung and used as a blunt weapon. The Hoplomachus had an arm guard or Manica, a bronze helmet, loincloth, leg padding, and high bronze greaves as defense.
G: The advantages of the Hoplomachus are that: they had pretty good defensive features, good strength, had two weapons and his sword was not a dagger, had a spear to keep his foe at bay, and he had a lot of armor but it was not heavy so the Hoplomachus was fairly agile.
P: The disadvantages of a Hoplomachus is that his shield was smaller, he had no shoes so his feet were vulnerable, and is not as fast as say a Retiarius and the Bestiarius.
N: But piss off a Hoplomachus and you'll find that this is Spartaaa!!!!
(Hoplomachus bashes another Gladiator with the Hoplon and stabs with a spear)
Secutor[]

N: The Secutor is kind of the Doomsday of the Retiarius' Superman.
P: What does that mean?
N: Well the Secutor was designed to fight and counter the Retiarius, his whole battle design was designed to fight the Fishermen. His strategy to chase (Secutor means chaser) and fight aggressively to close the distance from the trident and get to the Fishermen.
G: You could also see that the smooth helmet was designed so that the net could not capture the Retiarius. The helmet is a curse and a blessing: as it is heavy and there are no air holes meaning that the Secutor has to keep the fight sure lest exhaustion, over heating, and lack of air.
N: Though, nothing will stop the secutor from stealing a dead helmet.
P: