CIRCUS MAXIMUS SECOND EDITION RULES... COURTESY OF KEVIN WORTH & DON GREENWOOD

Thanks to Kevin Worth, Racing Steward par excellence, for making these rules available.

CIRCUS MAXIMUS II

Second Edition Changes

By Donald Greenwood

The following are the changes which appear in the upcoming second edition rules. These are presented here to provide current players with the opportunity to immediately implement them--both those that are merely cosmetic and those which are quite important. Note that changes are indicated by italics. For readers who desire to order the latest edition, copies are available for $3.00 plus normal shipping and handling costs from Avalon Hill.

6.521 Voluntary straining is prohibited if the chariot has no endurance remaining, or the CDM is negative (see Jostle 7.33), or if the driver will attempt to cut a horse free (9.53).

6.7 SIDESLIP-Sideslip moves are allowed only if called for by one of the combat table results or if all other means of movement us blocked, or if the driver can demonstrate that by not making a sideslip move at that point that he would be forced to enter a blocked position (not a potentially blocked position) later during that same turn.

7.22 If the chariot changes to a new corner lane on the inside, with a lower safe maximum speed, a new, updated chariot flip check with an increased number of strain/flip points is instantly made, even if one has already been made that movement phase. However, if the chariot changes lanes to the outside, to a lane with a higher safe maximum speed, no new check is required because of it during that movement phase even if the chariot is still exceeding the safe maximum speed in its new lane.

8.41 The chariot may not use straining for the rest of the race. It must take all corner squares at the safe maximum speed for its lane, or automatically flip. However, team speed reductions (8.43-.44) are calculated first prior to determining if the chariot may be exceeding the safe corner speed.

8.43 The chariot's current maximum team speed is reduced by one at the start of every subsequent game turn for the rest of the race. Thus, if a chariot used its last endurance factor during turn 15, on turn 18 its maximum team speed would be reduced by three plus any injuries the horses may have sustained up to that point. This reduction of team maximum speed is not treated as a horse injury.

9.22 Example The attacker (red) is not directly beside the black chariot and therefore cannot attack. However, if black were the attacker, he could attack red's car or driver. Furthermore, if black's horses were in square A (where his car is positioned in the illustration]. red could still not attack because he is behind black's horses and not beside black’s car-- red's car space not overlapping with black due to the parallel corner space.

9.311 Depending on the lane change (to inside or to outside), one or two movement factors are used. These are subtracted from the team speed available (but not necessarily its written move) for the evading chariot's next movement phase.

9.41 An attack against the horse tema is resolved by comparing the attacker's die roll and his CDM total to the die roll and CDM total of the defender. if the defender's total is equal to or greater than the attacker's total, the defender loses one endurance factor and gains (at his option) one MF during his coming movement phase. However. if the attacker's total is greater than the defender's total, the defender lines endurance factors equal to the difference between the two trials and must gain the same number of MFs during his send movement phase.

9.43 M = Movement Loss, The defender immediately rolls a die, and reduces his team maximum speed (not necessarily his written turn speed) by that amount for his next movement phase.

9.52 When all damage boxes for a horse are checked off, the horse falls to the track, The chariot cannot move again until the horse is cut free. Even mandatory movement effects (as a result of combat) are ignored although any endurance or injury penalties that would normally apply from such an attack are still applied as applicable, except that the team cannot be attacked from the side where the horse has fallen until the dead horse is cut free, The chariot has no movement factors and thus cannot attack, brake or evade on the turn it attempts to cut its horses free (even after a successful attempt). A chariot which attempts an attack on such a target is still subject to any and all negative results which accrue. The CDM of any chariot which must attempt to cut a horse loose before it can move again is always 0 (unless already negative) for purposes of resolving attacks. When a horse is killed, the team loses a fourth of its remaining endurance factors (fractions rounded down). If the team loses a second horse, it loses a third of its remaining endurance factors; and if it loses a third horse, it loses half of its remaining endurance factors.

9.53 A horse can be cut free at the start of the chariot's movement phase by rolling one die for each remaining horse, subtracting the driver's CDM from the total, and subtracting the remainder from that turn's written turn speed. The chariot may then use any remaining movement factors to move during the same movement phase. If the result is a negative number, the attempt to cut the horse free failed and must be attempted again in the following turn. Only one "cut free" dice roll is allowed per player turn. The driver may not voluntarily strain his horses while cutting a horse free.

9.61 If just a chariot's team is forced into another car, it receives a ram attack as if the opposing car attacked the tem. Use the procedure in 9.5 to resolve injury to the horse team. This includes adding three to the dice roll if the opposing chariot has scythe blades, or subtracting three if the opposing chariot is light. If the attack is from a chariot directly ahead of the team (6.74), the owner of the team may select which horses a crew suffer any injury.

12.4 If the chariot wreck lands on another chariot, the falling wreck causes an immediate ram attack on the chariot team or car, as appropriate. The falling wreckage has no driver, add therefore no driver's modifier is applied. The chariot being hit by the falling wreckage may attempt to brake or evade normally (if possible) to avoid the ram attack. If the wreck remains in the same square with a chariot, that chariot at the start of its move must chance the Running Over Wrecks Chart unless it is attacked prior to that and successfully brakes or evades off the wreck.

14.2 A chariot may run over a wreck by choice or due to lack of any other recourse. The chariot is moved over the wreck square at the normal movement cost, but should (does not have to) deduct endurance factors equal to the roll of one die, When it clears the wreckage and appears in the square beyond, roll three dice, deduct the CDM from the total, and consult the Running Over Wrecks Chart. If a chariot is unable to clear wreck during its move (i.e.; it does not have enough MFs to move beyond the wreck), if flips.

15.23 The team cannot make any attacks (Exception:  16.5) or be braked.

15.25 A runaway team may be attacked, but since no car and driver exist, only the team can be attacked, by lash or ram as the attacker desires. The team could evade automatically, If a horse is killed, the team must remain in that square where it is treated as a wreck henceforth except that any check to run a over the "wreck " must add 3 to the die roll (14.2). Any home injuries are applied to both the jumping team and the "wreck" team.

16.2 The dragged driver can attempt to cut himself free at the conclusion of the movement phase in which his chariot is flipped before rolling for in injuries sustained in that turn. He rolls two dice, subtracts his driver modifier, and if the total is less than or equal to his current number of unchecked driver hit boxes, he is free. Even if freed, however, the driver is dragged a number of squares equal to the adjusted freeing dice roll (up to, but not greater than the distance actually moved by the tem from the point of the flip)

16.5 A dragged driver can be subjected to ram attacks by the team portion of an attacking chariot by placing the attacking team on the same square as the dragged driver . The dragged driver cannot brake or evade--he must accept the attack. The dragged driver automatically counts as having a driver's modifier of 0. An attacker cannot suffer "wheel damage" during a ram attack vs a dragged driver. Any ''wheel damage" suffered by the dragged driver is instead converted to double the number of injury points. This is the only type of attack which can be made on a dragged driver, and is the only time a team can make a ram attack of any kind. There is no modification to the dice roll for heavy or light car as it is the team which attacks, even though the attack is resolved on the Wheel Damage Effect Chart with the amount of wheel damage specified being turned into an equivalent number of body hits.

16.6 If a runaway team carries a dragged driver over a wreck, the driver is automatically killed.

16.7 When a driver is dragged from his car by a critical hit, his dragged driver counter is placed on the car counter. The team continues as a runaway team except that it has tocheck for chariot flip when exceeding a safe corner lane speed. The dragged driver is still subject to ram attack by an opposing team (16.5) except that the team attacks from a square directly behind the empty chariot, instead of from the dragged driver's square.

17.2 An individual driver on the track can move one square for each two remaining unmarked driver hit boxes (fractions rounded up) per turn. The driver may not move diagonally, although he may move in any direction.

17.4 An individual driver on the track can be run down by any chariot during normal chariot movement. If a chariot hits a driver, the chariot loses MFs equal to the roll of one die when the team enters his square. This loss applies only for that turn, and represents speed loss caused by hitting the driver. Should this speed loss result in the chariot being unable to reach the driver's square, it is deducted from the next turn's maximum speed instead. The driver on foot is instantly killed and removed from play.