Tribal Game at Salute 2016

[werekake]

Hi guys, just making a thread (figured the Ancients forum was the closest to this topic) to talk a bit about a set of rules my friend (Lon) and I (Ara) are developing to play at Salute 2016 - which is just a few weeks away! <gulp>

We live in Melbourne, Oz but both of us grew up in Aotearoa/NZ. When Nic from Eureka Miniatures developed a nice range of pre-colonisation Maori figures, we thought we'd develop a set of rules to go along with those figures: i.e a set of pre-colonisation wargame rules which focused on hand-to-hand combat at the skirmish level. Lon came up with the idea of using playing cards for the combat, with clubs as short-weapons (patu) and spades as long-weapons (taiaha/spears).

Here's a video of the combat component of the game, which I did with my (understanding) wife:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ35jXdP_nk

I reckon it's a great set of rules, I love the idea of the cut and thrust of cards in combat. We also realised that not everyone is interested in playing a Maori wargame. So we thought that we would like to play this game in other era's and/or settings which would be considered 'low-tech'- using figures that we already had for other games we like (Vikings, Aztecs, Woodland Indians, Neanderthal, Gladiator etc). We figured that there were some basic common elements to these 'Tribal' sorts of games - affiliation with family/clan/tribe; the importance of honour/mana/face to people; the spirituality of combat; emphasis on ambushes and raids; and the memory of deeds and misdeeds passed on through oral tradition.



So - we've kinda been developing a set of rules to encompass the different periods, with army-specific rules (eg: Flowers Wars for Aztecs; The Haka for Maori; Shieldwall for Vikings etc).

We'll see how these rules go but, for the moment, our focus is on Salute! We'll be running a small game - just across from the Eureka stand. The game will be a Maori raid on a beachside pa (village-stockade), up where my iwi (tribe) are from - near Kerikeri in Northern NZ. We're frantically trying to get terrain and bits n pieces finished, before we fly out to London in 3 weeks time. Check out our Facebook page to follow updates on terrain, and some interesting videos on combat/warfare across many tribal cultures around the world:
https://www.facebook.com/tribalgame/

Come along and say hello, would be glad to chat to people about Maori culture and Maori warfare (or All Blacks rugby). Have a go at a round of combat, or come and get involved in a full Maori raid.

Win a round of combat and Nic at the Eureka Stand will also give you a free maori figure!

[racm32]

I'd love a good set of rules for these periods that I could use for stone age combat. I look forward to their release.

[werekake]

Cheers! I've enjoyed playing a few prehistoric Tribal games using my Warlord/Lucid-eye/Save-Core Neanderthals, absolutely gorgeous miniatures...

[Poiter50]

That looks good. I take it the idea is for a skirmishing game.

I knew I kept those Maori and Islander figures for some reason! 

Now to get the Pa structures that are around somewhere as well as sourcing canoes etc.

[von Lucky]

Having played a version of these rules I can say they are a lot of fun and there's a fair bit of bluff needed with your tactics.

The core need to protect and gain honour/mana/face also makes you think differently than any other wargame I've played before.

If you're at Salute I encourage you to give it a go (you can get a good feel for the game in 15-30 minutes).

[Lowtardog]

I've lucky enough to get a sneak peek and the rules look rather good, looking forward to giving them a bash

[werekake]

@poiter50 - Islander figures? What have you got? I'd love to game Tongans v Samoans v Fijians - especially Tongan invasions of Fiji.

In terms of canoes, I'm working with Mike Parker at Battlefield accessories to make a the waka taua (maori war canoe) with his laser cutter, kind of like this particular model I saw in a souvenir shop in Auckland.


I've started carving out a hull - will work on carvings for stern and prow.


We'll see how we go in the next couple of weeks...

@Von Lucky and LowTarDog, thanks for the kind words guys - glad you like the rules. We haven't had a game yet Von Lucky... you haven't witnessed my awful 'bluff' face.  

[Poiter50]

I need to dig them out from my "vault"/storage area. I think there are about a dozen Maoris and perhaps 30 or Hawaians.

I have a very small scale card Maori canoe that I bought some years back and put on the backburner when my Kiwi friend who was enthused moved back to the land of the Long White Cloud. He is back in Christchurch now but living out of the city.

yes, Mike's work would be ideal for that kind of carved effect.

Slightly OTT but I just picked this up at our local Pet store.

http://www.aquaone.com.au/2015-04-16-04-47-04/decoration/ornaments/item/3307-36764?highlight=WyJ0aGFpIiwic2hyaW5lIl0=

@poiter50 - Islander figures? What have you got? I'd love to game Tongans v Samoans v Fijians - especially Tongan invasions of Fiji.

In terms of canoes, I'm working with Mike Parker at Battlefield accessories to make a the waka taua (maori war canoe) with his laser cutter, kind of like this particular model I saw in a souvenir shop in Auckland.


I've started carving out a hull - will work on carvings for stern and prow.


We'll see how we go in the next couple of weeks...

@Von Lucky and LowTarDog, thanks for the kind words guys - glad you like the rules. We haven't had a game yet Von Lucky... you haven't witnessed my awful 'bluff' face. 

[Freelancer]

I had fun in the early play testing of the system. The use of a deck of cards for EVERYTHING in the game is very clever. Measuring range, determining initiative and the feel that the warriors are feigning strikes to draw out their opponents good moves before bring home an attack..all with cards.
Of course it means you guys are going to need to produce some custom decks for these rules.

[werekake]

Freelancer - I believe the idea for short and long movement via the card edges was yours and Scott's idea. Not needing to bring a tape-measure is good. Thanks!

Poiter50 - Thai tower??? Hoo-boy, don't get me started on SE Asia. I know Freelancer is interested in ancient Thai armies - probably b/c he likes elephants. I'm interested in the Cham and Khmer kingdoms, primarily in Vietnam. Von Lucky is interested in everything - including Burmese and Khmer. I know there were lots of skirmish border raids on settlements throughout the region in the 12th to 14th centuries... I don't see why we couldn't utilise the Tribal rules for these types of games as well.

I was in Saigon/HCMC in January - went to the National Museum and took lotsa fotos of the prehistoric, Cham and Khmer displays. Would be great to cover this period/region in more detail - it's just hard to find substantial/reliable info on it...
some fotos I took (with security guards following me around)
prehistoric weapons

cham battle

garuda


...and back to our Salute game. Work on the terrain board continues! This is the whare (house/s) that we have for the pa on the battlefield. The roof is brushed down teddy bear fur with pva glue and then varnish.

[werekake]

Preparations continue at a rapid pace!

We have the board prepared now, 4 tiles to make a 3ft by 3ft board:


The tiles fit snugly in a suitcase for the 24 hours flight to London:


Mike from Battlefield Accessories has done a fantastic job on making some waka-taua (war canoes) for the game.


...and our friend Peter from Twisted (http://www.dementedgames.com/) has helped us put together a rulebook for our game. Just a basic set of our rules, with special rules for tribal periods/genres that interest us: Maori, Aztecs, Vikings, Gladiators, Heian-Japan, Iroquois and Stone Age. We'll see if we can bring a copy to Salute.

Talking of Stone Age/Cave-Wars, we've been enjoying playing Far Cry Primal... is there much interest in Cave Wars skirmishing? I'm trying to convince Nic at Eureka that there's a market out there for (more) Stone Age miniatures.

Check out further developments at: https://www.facebook.com/tribalgame/

We'll probably also cover our wargame-geek's trip around the UK after Salute.

[von Lucky]

Oar-some.

[Iceaxe]

I'm interested in stone age gaming (some may say that's what we do out at Berwick anyway) and would probably grab a few figures is Eureka did some. I've been eyeing off their Neanderthals for years. I do have Steve Barber's Prehistoric Settlement set and a few extras, enough for about 3 tribes, so I really don't need any more. But, you know...

I do want some of those Maori canoes though. Run off another three would you, Mike?

[werekake]

Hey iceaxe, Mike and I are trying to work out who you are! A wargamer in Berwick... are you Peter?

Mike can do three canoes easy peasy - he's worked out a way of mass-producing them.

Thanks for pointing out the Eureka neanderthals - Nic didn't mention them. He did point to these particular stone-age figures (shadowforge) which didn't really interest me 


Interesting about the Steve Barber stuff... those Mammoths especially... I should check around and see what else is out there.

[Poiter50]

Try DeeZee Miniatures through Arcane Scenery, they may be at Salute.

Hey iceaxe, Mike and I are trying to work out who you are! A wargamer in Berwick... are you Peter?

Mike can do three canoes easy peasy - he's worked out a way of mass-producing them.

Thanks for pointing out the Eureka neanderthals - Nic didn't mention them. He did point to these particular stone-age figures (shadowforge) which didn't really interest me 


Interesting about the Steve Barber stuff... those Mammoths especially... I should check around and see what else is out there.