[I wrote most of this on Friday - but spent most of the weekend without Internet access... As you can see I'm so worn out that I have haven't even bothered to take the required photos.]
I've been rather taken up with health issues this week, so I didn't get the chance to report the arrivals of new goodies on Wednesday.
A little while ago Annie at Bad Squiddo Games made the inspired suggestion that if I ever wanted any of her fine stock we might do some swapsies with the fine stock I carry over at Diplomatist Books. Well, some of will remember that my plans for Tribal include a box of Hirdmen... Accordingly, (a mere 15 e-mails later) Annie has now a shelf's worth of books on women in history and I have the following splendours:
So I thought I'd share my impressions on these. Don't worry! I'm not going to do one of those rambling opening-the-box reviews in which some YouTuber spends twenty minutes on why he thinks figures are best done in brown plastic rather than grey, neither am I going to get my gauge out and state that 23mm to-the-eye is preferable to 22.5mm. But, yes, I am going to ramble.*
* I can't remember who said that the main selling point of my blog was the stream-of-consciousness randomness of it all - but, you're welcome!
Neither am I going to go on about historic verisimilitude. First, because I'm not qualified to, but mainly because I don't care about it. There are many fine people out there who do care that their figures and games are 'right' - I don't mean to belittle them in any way*. But these toys (and this blog) are for my own use - I'm not going to put on any great showpiece displays - and I'm not an historical player. Frankly, my hirdmen are more likely to encounter Doug McClure, dinosaurs or Cybermen than they are to meet Rus or Skraelings. If on their encounters with 23rd Century time-travelers they have picked up a taste for Plus Twos and Argyle socks**, who am I to deny them?
* There are also some pretentious wankers - they I do intend to belittle. **As we all know, a 23rd Century time-traveler wouldn't be seen dead in Plus Fours!
But, to recap, my needs for Tribal are some Chiefs, Heroes and units of five Warriors each. All to be armed with either 'short' or 'long' weapons.
[...and here I petered out. ]
The quick-and-dirty version of the un-boxing review is:-
"Gosh, isn't there a lot in a Gripping Beast box!"
<insert rant about buying boxes that mainly contain empty space>
Duplication in the GB frames and the fact that the eight frames are identical (plus two identical 'Command' frames) and almost symmetrical along their long axis.
<insert comments on the flexibility of the having bodies in two parts, a la Frostgrave soldiers>
But conclusion that, you've still got a lot of plastic for your money and that worries about variety will probably be dispelled once I start taking them off the sprue.
Despite the half-arsed nature of this review, I'm am pleased with my 'purchase' and looking forward to getting to grips with them (it's just that I feel I need several nights' good sleep first...),
My cunning plan has worked. After a flurry of e-mails this afternoon a proposed 'arrangement' has become concrete, and I should soon be the owner of a box of Gripping Beast Viking Hirdmen. As an extra (a wholly welcome) bonus, there'll also be some Bad Squiddo Shieldmaiden Berserkers.
OK, now I've bought into Tribal, what shall I do with it?
I've been considering what figures to use.
Maoris - too expensive to source.
Aztecs - too fiddly to paint
Inca - Foundry's Inca are nice and aren't too complex in dress
Native Americans - some nice ones about, but most include firearms
HYW troops. A real possibility.
Cavemen - I do need to get me some cavemen!
But we have a winner. Vikings! Why? Well, for several reasons...
Well durr! Vikings!!!
Easy to source - my Friendly Local Hobby Store stocks Gripping Beast
Cheap to source (ie, there are plastics)
The Wife and I are both interested in the period
They will cross-over into other games (in particular Frostgrave, for which I am still building up a pool of fighters).
Ernest Borgnine!
Now for various reasons I can't just nip out to the shops and buy said Vikings. So what do I do while I'm saving up? Well, a rummage in the Shed of Delights has resulted in the discover that I have almost three quarters of a box of Perry's Ansars still on their sprues and that I haven't even touched my box of Frostgrave Cultists! I'm sure I can bash some warbands out of those...
Anyone got any other suggestions of cheapish pre-gunpowder troops? I'd need about forty or so, including chiefs and heroes armed with a mix of short- and long-arms. Potential cross-over into Frostgrave would be a big plus.
Well, on Wednesday I took the plunge and coughed up my £6.90 ($10.00 US) over at the Wargame Vault. Here are my first thoughts.
Overview
Tribal is a skirmish combat game set in a pre-gunpowder tribal/clan setting. The rules include info on (and are illustrated for with miniatures of) Maori, Vikings, Aztecs and Gladiators; there are extra rules for Stone-Age, Heian Japanese and Iroquois. We're told that there are plans for future supplements that may cover Stone-Age cave wars, Modern-Day rioting/Gang warfare, and Polynesian Islanders. I'm surprised there's not mention of other aspects of the medieval period or fantasy.
The driving force of the game is Honour.
Honour could determine why one would go to war, how battle was conducted, what sorts of tactics (honourable and dishonourable) were used and finally who was the victor at the end.
Players are rewarded in honour for the things that they do in the battle. Honour determines who wins Tribal rather than the normal determinants of wargames (killing enemy/taking ground). In turn, honour is a dynamic part of the game - it can be won and lost during combat, the deeds of combatants can win or lose honour, players can spend honour to do 'dirty tricks' to win combats etc.
Live or die, win or lose the battle, Honour always determines the true victor!
What you get for your money
A 32-page watermarked pdf.
It's in full colour and nicely illustrated with line drawings and photographs mostly of Eureka Miniatures Maoris, but also their Aztecs and Wargames Foundry's Gladiators and Vikings.
Overall, the 'look of the thing' is good. It's in a two-column layout, the background isn't too intrusive and the balance of text-to-illustration is a good one. A particularly nice touch is that the back cover consists of the reference tables.
The contents are:-
Introduction and Requirements for Playing ..........................page 3 Building a Warband................................................................page 4 The Cards ...............................................................................page 5 Set Up – Turn Order – Activation .........................................page 6 Movement – Distances – Terrain............................................page 7 Combat ...................................................................................page 8 The Suits in Combat................................................................page 9 A Combat Example.................................................................page 10 Skills ......................................................................................page 11
Scenarios.................................................................................page 12 Optional Rules .......................................................................page 16 Historical Settings – Maori.....................................................page 18
Aztecs......................................................................................page 20
Vikings....................................................................................page 22
Gladiators........................................................... ....................page 24 Other periods – Iroquois – Heian Japan – Cave Wars ...........page 26 Reference Tables ....................................................................rear cover
From this you'll see that about half of the book consists of rules and about a third historical background.
Some people might find this space devoted to Maori, Aztec or Viking culture superfluous, and many may just skip it, but that is being churlish. Apart from the Viking or Gladiators perhaps, these backgrounds are likely to be new(ish) to the reader. In addition, the emphasis in the game on Honour lends a narrative element to it, which is only deepened by (what is after all only a little!) knowledge of the period. As the rules say
These backgrounds are, of course, entirely optional. The emphasis is to bring fun and flavour to the game by incorporating elements of real world Tribal culture and warfare from different historical eras.
Each of the historical section gives a very short context to the culture, some suggestions for further reading, details of where one might find miniatures and special rules. Even if one isn't playing a particular culture, it's worth reading about if only for the special rules - the example given is that the rule for use of a Maori Haka could be transformed into a Viking Warcry.
The optional rules include missile fire, dirty tricks and honour pools. Use of these would add to the complexity of the game and suit those who like more of a challenge!
There are four scenarios you can play in a variety of tribal settings.
Gameplay
It's important to note that these comments are from a quick read-through only. I've yet to play the rules.
The game mechanisms seem simple enough and quick to learn - a big selling point for me. The rules are clearly written and well explained. A sample turn is gone through point-by-point just to make things even clearer.
The requirements for play are:-
A 3ft by 3ft playing area (with plenty of scenery)
Two standard decks of playing cards
A turn counter
Counters for recording honour points awarded
Miniatures:-
A Chief
2-3 individual Heroes
3-4 units of 5 Warriors each
Each Warband includes a Chief and then normally one Hero for each unit of five Warriors. Chiefs and Heroes move and act individually, Warriors as a unit. The scenarios give details of how these Warbands can are set up (purchased using a set number of Honour points).
Chiefs can take six wounds before being removed, Heroes five, and Warriors one each. From this it can be seen that it is quite feasible (even encouraged from the Honour point of view!) for a Chief or Hero to take on a unit of five warriors.
Various skills (up to two for Chiefs, one for Heroes and one per group of five Warriors) can be purchased using Honour points - these skills vary from Tactician (one can re-position an enemy unit), to Throwing Weapons (an attack during a charge) to others which mitigate against the effects of cards played during combat.
Playing cards are used for everything from initiative, distance measurement, unit coherency, and resolving combat. The use of the cards in combat is demonstrated in the video.
The straightforward play of cards can be varied by a number of skills that can be purchased by expending Honour points.
Summary
Again I have to stress that I haven't actually played the game yet. This is based on spending an hour or so looking through the pdf.
Having said that, I'm impressed. Tribal looks as if it could be a simple-to-learn fun skirmish game. It would also appeal to those who have a horror of bending over a table with a tape measure and rolling dice!
The only quibble that occurs to me is that I would have liked to see a section on Solo Play - I'm going to have to play a few times to see how well a dummy hand works in the combat section.
Seven quid well spent I think! Now to find some suitable figures...
I know it's been quite here in April and I haven't been commenting on other's blogs - this is just a quick note to let you all know I'm still around.
I'd like to pretend I've been busy. I have posted over on Diplomatist Books (PLUG ALERT!!! And don't forget to tell your friends!), but the main reason has been endless distraction and online backgammon.
Gaming-wise?
I put some paint to brush about a week ago and will hopefully have something to share for the next Dr Who Wednesday.
I should have plug Diceni, but it crept up on me and I didn't realise that it was happening this weekend until Thursday! I don't think I'll make it tomorrow.
