TRIBAL is a fast-paced, skirmish wargame that is rapidly acquiring enthusiastic adherents. The rules (available as a PDF or attractively illustrated, 27-page booklet) are simple enough to be learned in less than an hour, yet offer an amazing variety of possibilities for play and adaptation. As its name implies, the game is mainly applicable to pre-gunpowder, tribal societies in which HONOUR and REPUTATION are the keys to winning, though adaptations are already available for the inclusion of primitive firearms. The innovative system of play uses only two decks of playing cards for both movement and combat resolution - no dice! I found this concept off-putting at first, as I don't generally like card games, but I decided to give it a try and soon became addicted. Go to battle with your preferred historical tribes, whether Maori, Native Americans, Zulus, Vikings or Anglo-Saxons, and experience the cut and thrust, dodges and parries as grizzled chieftains, redoubtable heroes and loyal warrior bands vie to estblish supremacy over neighbouring tribes. "Tribal - the Skirmish Combat Game" originated in Australia with a dedicated team of wargamers, game designers and artists. Until now, this has made the hard-copy rulebook fairly expensive due to shipping costs. However, moves are underway to open up two franchises for the UK & Europe and for Canada & the USA, so watch out for further updates!

A nice set of rules. Simple and easy to game. With 20 or so miniatures you have a nice evening.

I was introduced to Tribal through a Eureka Miniatures advertisement in late June. I was really impressed by the unique combat and movement methods that reduced outcome referrals to a poker-sized hand of cards! The fact that the authors also allowed for a wide range of periods of history to use with the rules made them all that much more exciting. My first game was a viking on viking encounter just to test out the game sequences. It worked great!!! The rules are easy to grasp, there is wide potential application across many eras for the rules and I appreciate that supplements will follow for specific periods.
Comparing price to value, this was a great buy!!! -Joe

For a fuller review see my blog - http://diplomatist2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/tribal-first-thoughts.html

What do you get for your money?

A full-colour 32-page watermarked pdf, 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. A printer-friendly version is also included.

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.

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. 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!

Overall I'm impressed with this and looking forward to further developments.

Great game wide open to future additions. Love the card based encounter system. Gives the players a wide range of options regarding execution of encounters with your enemies. Thought about only giving a 4-star rating due to the heavy ink cost of printing out the rules. Will award you 5 Hounor if you add a print-friendly version of the rules to this download. Eargerly looking at where you take this system. Particularly interested in potential application to urban gang war scenarions.