Brian:
Here's some of the things you have to consider when not actively engaged in fights.
Like many of my other games, the progression of a turn is pretty freeform. You are assigned 3 randomly generated gladiators that make up your "team". You then (there are starter instructions that tell you this as well) choose a Primary fighter, that will be your fighter for the next bout, and will fight each bout unless you assign a new Primary one, which you can do before the next match starts.
There is a match-up screen where you can see the next gladiator you're going to fight, and compare their stats to your Primary fighter (along with your other fighters as well), and see the rest of the league's schedule as well (and bet Gold on the outcome of other matches, should you so desire). But there is a minor fatigue factor in the game, so you may need to switch out warriors occasionally and give your main ones a rest.
You can also decide on "enchantments" that have various effects on gameplay, and whether you want to purchase one or not. The two spell choices are randomized at the start of each game, and shuffled again after a spell wears off, or the start of each season. There are over 50 different enchantments currently.
Also, you can decide on potions for your fighters as well (think: steroids in the modern day athlete) and whether you want to use them before the upcoming match to hedge your odds a bit. As with real steroids, there can be short and long-term consequences, for some warriors anyway. But they're useful for a quick boost against a tough fighter. But it's up to you whether to use them or not.
The next thing you do is decide on advertising: in this world, getting more people to attend your matches means of course, more money. There are 6 different advertising options available, each a little different and more powerful (and more expensive) than the Last. Some increase revenue, attendance and the chance even of the King himself showing up for a match (which can add a multiplier to your earnings, generally 2X-10X). You can combine various forms of advertising, with varying effects each turn (sometimes it will work quite well, and sometimes it won't, just like real advertising). You decide what works for you.
Then you need to decide what to do with your non-Primary warriors. You can send them to training, and you select from various types of training (there are two intensities for each stat). But they can't do anything else while they're training, unless you remove them from training first.
You can do other roster stuff, like auctioning a warrior off that you don't like to another clan (3 randomly determined from over 100 different clans, with different preferences for warriors they're looking for), or releasing a warrior (both with a possible penalty to your Loyalty rating as a manager, which can affect contract talks down the road, since the arena world isn't overly fond of managers who just dump warriors or sell them off too often).
If you have empty slots, you can sign free warriors (or "free agents" in sports talk) to fill the slots. They're basically cast-off warriors from other clans that are looking for work. They tend to be a little older and not as high ceiling wise, but they're a little cheaper and tend to be a little more advanced stat wise early on.
You can read the news report as well between a normal turn, which gives you details about previous days events, and general Kingdom occurances, along with possibly important events that may involve your fighters or other fighters in the league.
So there are a few things to think about and consider each turn, as you can see.
Fights are 1 on 1.
It does look at an individual fighters record with regard to the playoffs, but its best to try to "ride one horse" most of the season, if possible. Yes, injuries play a role (another decision you have to make: should I keep a guy with a minor injury in there, even though it may slow down his healing, or give him some time to rest so he can heal faster?). The injury system use a "percentage" system, for instance, a minor injury may reduce his physical stats by 5%, or 6% or or 3% or whatever. More severe injuries may reduce a warrior stats by more than that. It's up to you whether to keep putting him out there or not. Managing this type of thing is part of the game.
Yes, rarely, warriors can die, both immediately during combat due to a lucky shot (rare) or due to injuries sustained during a fight.
Feel free to ask any other questions!