Tusk - A Review

[Ruarigh]

I have added a review of Tusk from Irregular Miniatures to my blog.
http://ooh-shiny-complex.blogspot.com/2009/06/tusk-review.html

For those that do not know or do not want to head to the blog, Tusk is a game of mammoth hunting from 14,000BC to 1914AD. It is eminently playable solo thanks to the reaction system that it uses for the beasts, but it also plays well as a multi-player game. It includes rules for dinosaurs and it has two expansion booklets that add new dinosaurs and new rules ideas. It is a beer-and-pretzels game and I am not sure how well it would support sustained play, but it is certainly fun to play every so often, particularly when your rifle fire or shouting drives the Brontosaurus over your opponent's hero and squashes him. There, you don't need to read the whole review now!

Irregular Miniatures 6mm Sir Harry Pack

[Gluteus Maximus]

Ruarigh, I agree, it is a very enjoyable game. Mini-campaigns are easy to construct, expanding the playability and letting you get a great deal more out of it. I've played it in 6mm, 15mm and 28mm and enjoyed it every time.

There are also two expansion sets, taking the system into the far future and including rules for such things as mechanical pepper-pots containing mutants  etc

Well worth getting hold of, especially to get kids hooked on wargaming.

[Barry S]

Thanks for the review write up.

I picked up Tuks and the expansion sets years ago but have never got around to playing it but I have often thought about using them at our local club as something different for the younger and not so younger 40K players.

[Ruarigh]

I reckon your club would enjoy the game as a change of pace. I have been considering, but not getting round to doing yet, a Christmas game using Tusk rules. Perhaps someone else might get it done:

The Great International Christmas Pudding Hunt
On the far distant island of Neringi-Baba roam the great herds of wild Christmas puddings. Every year fearless adventurers must brave the dangers of this island to supply families with their Christmas puddings. People have tried domesticating the Christmas puddings but they always die in captivity, so wild puddings must be hunted down each year.

The table represents the plains of Neringi-Baba. It should be mostly flat with a few lakes of brandy sauce and a little intervening terrain (holly bushes, Christmas crackers, etc.). At one end of the table is a small volcano. The volcano will spew out gouts of burning hot custard at the end of any turn in which two players roll a 6 for their APs. Each custard splatter is the size of a CD. Randomly place it by any means you prefer. Anything that the custard lands on must roll a 6 or less on 2d6 to dodge the custard or be killed. The custard remains on the table for the duration of the game. Anything that moves into the custard splatter after it is placed is killed automatically.

Each player gets to place two pits, into which they will try to herd the puddings. They may also try to shoot or net the puddings if they prefer.

Christmas puddings come in two types:
Males - These are large and ferocious. They will savagely protect their herds against all comers, including other Christmas puddings. Male puddings use the T-Rex reaction tables and are treated in all respects as T-Rexes.
Females and Children - These are smaller than the males and more docile. They use the Brontosaurus reaction tables and are treated in all respects as Brontosauri.

The winner of the game is the person that captures or recovers the most Christmas puddings. Puddings that land in a player's pits are automatically captured by that player as long as they have figures left alive on the table at the end of the game. Figures may also recover dead Christmas puddings by moving into contact with them. The first player to move into contact with a pudding automatically recovers it.

N.B. Players may not directly attack each other.