Tribal/Primeval rules questions

[racm32]

I have been looking for a good rules set to use for a campaign set in the Ice Age. I recently found out that Tribal had such in the forum of a supplement called Primeval so picked up a digital copy of each. While I'm not a %100 sold on the cards mechanic I am interested enough to give it a fair try. The problem I run into is the size of each players fighting force, specifically with the warriors. I envision "tribes" in this period being rather small, only a few family groups, so 10-15 individuals total at best.
So my question would start with has anyone tried playing Tribes without warriors? Just a chief and 5-8 heroes? Not sure if it would brake the rules to much trying that.

[von Lucky]

Definitely. Look at the Gladiator rules (p24), they're perfectly suited to your idea.

[werekake]

I have to say, the game designer - Lon - had a fairly hard time convincing me to play (and publish) this game with cards. I really didn't (past tense) like playing any games with cards (besides the Aces&Eights rpg, that was ace!) - I've usually found it too fiddly and my fat sausage fingers don't really suit the delicate art of shuffling and dealing cards.

I really like the card mechanics of Tribal, though. This is just me, but I find the combat exchanges much more fun/interesting when I get to play the cards. ...in fact, I'm finding dice rolling a bit... boring

In terms of unit sizes, I think one of the writers of the Primeval supplement made the same argument that we really should be limiting the sizes of prehistoric forces to 10-15 per side. I think we gave the flexibility for players to field a variance of 11to 23ish figures in scenarios?

I don't see why you couldn't just play heroes - the combat does tend to favour these sorts of individual combats. The general rules do state that you must purchase with your honour points one unit of 5 warriors for every hero (after the chief). However, as Von Lucky says, there are rules for playing individual heroes for Gladiatorial combat.

Two things I would say, if you're planning on going individuals and forgoing warrior units: i) those units of warriors are quite handy in specific scenarios. They can spread out and create a 'footprint' on the battlefield that can deny/channel enemy units. ii) as a wargamer, I think individual heroes tend to just run at and bash one another. I dunno, again I'm just being subjective, but I don't think I'd quite get the tactical feel from a game of heroes. I haven't actually tried playing a Primeval game (i.e the Hunt mini-campaign) this way, so I may well be wrong, it's just a gut-instinct I have.

[LeadAsbestos]

It would work just fine! Basically a multi wound hero and a unit of single wound warriors function the same way. The card mechanic seems odd until you actually play it against a live opponent, and then it really comes to life! It plays like you have some say in how the fight goes, not just at the mercy of your dice!

[racm32]

Thank you all or the input. Since I'm setting up a campaign between rival tribes I wanted each tribe member to be unique and valuable and groups of warriors did not fit it has that.
I had not read the gladiator section but I will now since it sounds Ike it would be helpful to my goal.
I'll make sure to post so AAR of the games I play to show if it works or not and will share my customers campaign rules when finished.

[werekake]

Yes, AAR or your observations puhleez! I'd love to look at peoples' ideas for campaign rules. I'm one for hex-based maps, resource management, exploration etc - gathering mana/honour to be able to 'purchase' troops; heroes that have their own personalities; basic resources like food and water; skill trees etc.

Others in our group reckon narrative campaigns are the way to go - which is what we did with the Hunt campaign.

So far we've gone the narrative route... but one day... I'll come up with something for tribal expansions in regions unexplored!

[SotF]

Not quite the same question, but is there going to be a print version of the books available soon...or at least a print on demand option.

[LeadAsbestos]

Not quite the same question, but is there going to be a print version of the books available soon...or at least a print on demand option.

Where are you, SotF? Eureka has hard copies:
http://eurekamin.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=13098

I'll have copies for North America in the next couple of weeks, and there is a seller in the UK as well.
Tons of great info on the FB group too, so please join if you can!:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tribalcommunitygroup/?ref=bookmarks

[SotF]

Where are you, SotF? Eureka has hard copies:
http://eurekamin.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=13098

I'll have copies for North America in the next couple of weeks, and there is a seller in the UK as well.
Tons of great info on the FB group too, so please join if you can!:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tribalcommunitygroup/?ref=bookmarks

In the US, I've looked around off and on for it after first hearing about the game.

[werekake]

In the US, I've looked around off and on for it after first hearing about the game.

That's our fault, sorry! We originally intended to just do pdf's thru wargamevault - this wouldn't require lots of printing etc. Two things have put pressure on us to reconsider this...

i) there are a lot of wargamers who want a physical book to play from! That just seems to be the preference.

ii) our graphic designer, Pete, is a printer. He's designed the books to look fantastic when they're printed professionally on good quality, glossy paper.

Selling the books from Oz to overseas, factoring in postage, is just too expensive. Luckily Lead Asbestos in the USA, and Mr Wednesday in the UK/Europe have been kind enough to help us out. They'll print and sell all of the Tribal stuff for us in their respective locations. Fire an email their way if you want a copy!

[LeadAsbestos]

PM sent!