Leopard (Sine Scuto)

gladiatoris-leopard-sine-scutum

Leopard

The leopard is the fastest Beast on the Arena, and its agility is so great that nobody can follow him when running. As with other felines, it’s a lethal scavenger, able to devour a defenseless enemy in a very short time.

At Level II, it can use its Bite to gain +1 Damage Die, and gains Slippery, ignoring its enemies’ attack radius (like red Hyaenas). Its greatest advantage, anyway, is its speed: there’s no other fighter in the basic set that can move 9 hexes without running or leaping.


design process

Gladiatoris - the prototype LeopardThe miniature should show this beast running to reflect that it’s the fastest fighter in the game, something that the prototype’s miniature didn’t.

3DBreed: “I’ve been doing some tests with the leopard and a running stance is going to be hard: these critters run by leaping, so we could only have it in a horrible sort-of upside-down triangle pre-jump stance; obviously, we cannot model it when it’s in the air.”

That’s right, the miniature could not be floating on air (I’ve always hated those transparent bases for my dear Bretonnian Pegasi). After a few 3D sketches, we settled for a lateral movement, with a back leg and a front one touching the ground.
 Gladiatoris-proportions of the miniatures

We had our doubts at first about the girth of this feline compared with the rest of the Beasts. But we made a proportions line-up, and we all accepted its size: it looked fine compared to the Panther, and just a little bigger than the canids.