Prehistoric Settlement
May-June 2006
Overview
By Steve Barber the creator of the game
Set about 50,000 years B.C. in an age of hunter gatherers, and the last of the strange large mammals, such as Woolly Mammoths, Sabre-tooth Tigers and Giant Birds, the game is a mixture of board games and wargames and was a daunting task to create. It was easy all we had to do was make it simple and quick to play, whilst still blending in a level of complexity that would keep the players' interest alive. Well, I am sure that we have suceeded in doing just that. Using a mixture of Metal Miniatures, Resin Buildings and Cards and Counters, there is very little note taking and working out involved as the counters and cards remove this aspect, and the player is free to work on the most important aspect of the game strategy, and this is what the game is really about!
At the begining of the game all the players start with the same amount of pieces and the basic idea of the game is to grow your settlement faster than the other players, buying Figures and Buildings with game tokens as you go along, hopefully avoiding Natural Disasters and other unforseen incidents.The game can be played by 2 or 4 players and is for ages 14 to adult and is fun for families as well as boardgamers & wargamers.
A great deal of time and effort was put into the design of the game pieces, which are very detailed. The same figures are used for each different tribe, which are just painted differently. Spears & Shields are cast seperately, but come with the figures that they are intended for. The rules are well printed complete with a colour cover, and are packed with black & white illustrations. The game tokens are printed in colour, on white card.
To sum up, this was daunting but great fum to create, and to play-test, of which there were many games. There isn't a game like it on the market that I know of, and I know that those who buy a set are going to find it an appealing and tactical game. The more you play the game the faster it becomes and the more you will find that you have learnt since the last time you played it.
My Plan
This is really a simple project. The basic boxed set which I have has everything you need for a two-player game. I want to make the four-player version that's covered in the rules so I'm getting another starter set and some axemen which aren't included normally. I may make some terrain boards but I'll likely use an existing 4' x 4' table and place scenery items that I already have on it. However, making the terrain boards would be good fun so I'll see. I will need to get a volcano from somewhere too, maybe I'll make that.There's a fishing supplement for the basic game but it costs another £50.00 to buy enough pieces for four players so that will be a follow up project for later on, perhaps next year sometime. There's a further supplement too but that will wait a bit longer. The basic game and all the add-ons for it are available from Steve Barber Models of course.
I've decided on my different tribes, different from those suggested in the rules, and I've got special dice for them to use because I think it's fun. All the dice came from Advancing Hordes who do an excellent mail order service.
My Clans
Bear Clan 
Raven Clan 
Fish Clan 
Wolf Clan
Frog Clan which I want to do as an alternative but may wait until I have the fishing expansion.
All the pictures of the game components (except the dice) are from the Steve Barber website. They'll be replaced with pictures of my painted ones as we go.
Revised Plan and Costing
I have decided to include the fishing rules because they add more choices for the players on how they want to develope their tribes. They also allow me to use the impressive Carcharadon Megaldon (giant prehistoric shark) miniature that Steve Barber makes.
I've decided not to include the Shamans however. I'd like to because, again, the rules open up more choices for the players. Unfortunately the rules also remove the victory conditions from the basic game (build a Temple) but don't replace them with others. I want this to be a self-contained game and there needs to be a clear victory goal that everyone is working towards. I plan to ask about this though and maybe there'll be a way I can include these rules later.
Here is my revised buying plan and the total cost:
Full Settlement requirements
2 boxed sets. £100.00
1 pack Axe men (1 Axe man per tribe) 3 left over. £6.50
2 packs of Rafts (1 Raft and 2 Oarsmen per tribe) £17.00
2 packs of boats (1 boat and 1 fisherman per tribe) £13.00
2 pack shore Fishermen (3 Fisherman pre tribe) 2 left over £13.00
1 pack of Clubmen (2 per tribe) £6.50
2 pack of Civilians (1 of each Civilian per tribe) 2 Chieftains left over £13.00
1 Giant shark £8.00
1 Crocodile (not Steve Barber)
Total cost: £178.00
I already have one of the boxed sets, the axemen and a crocodile (which Steve Barber doesn't seem to make anyway) so my total cost for figures, will be £131.00 There will probably be a fairly large bill for the terrain too. Anyway, not bad for a four player game, here's what it breaks down into.
Each tribe may have:
(These are possible maximums, the combined totals exceed the maximum number of humans that the tribe can support.)
People
1 Chieftain
1 Axe man
3 Berry pickers
3 Builders
3 Flint miners
4Clubmen
2 Spearmen
2 Archers
2 Oars man (1raft)
1 Fisherman (coracle)
3 Fisherman (shore)
Resources
1 Temple or Burial mound
1 Warrior camp
1 Food store
2 tents
In addition to the above there will be a resource pool that everybody can use consisting of (in total):
12 Berry bushes
8 Flint mines
12 Deer
2 Wooly mamoths
2 Sabre-tooth tigers
1 Giant Shark
1 Giant terror bird and nest
1 Megatherium (giant Sloth)
1 Crocodile
One thing that has annoyed me with planning this project is the figure quantities in the packs. Seeing as how I'm using Steve Barber figures to play the game that they were designed for and I'm not using proxies I would expect the figure quantites to match the game requirements. You'll notice that I have some figures left over. These are figures I have to pay for but can't actually use because there are seven of them in a pack and the game requires an even number so that everyone is equal. The figures should either be available seperately or another should be added to the packs and the price increased if necessary.
The Terrain
I have decided to use hexes for the terrain and convert the movement and ranges to match. Settlement is basically a board game with figures anyway and I think the look will suit it as well as speed up a lot of areas of gameplay. The rules have a fairly inelegant system for resource placement at the beginning of the game and a similarly inelegant way of determining random direction. Hexes will make both of these much easier.
I have two choices for hexed terrain, both are more expensive than using what I already have (which is free of course) but I've got fixated on the idea now so off I go...Choice one was plastic hex terrain from Kallistra which looks very nice indeed.
However, to get what I need will cost £193.70 + P&P and I'll have to paint the sea hexes and make a volcano and lakes. Setting it up will be a pain as well. On the plus side, apart from the gorgeous look of it all, it stores away in a couple of very small boxes.
My other option is a hex cloth. I like the look of the Hotz Artwork felt mats. I can get a 6'x4' blue mat and a similarly sized green mat for about £50.00 inc P&P. These also look good and I can use my existing volcano and trees etc. I think I have settled on this option. There is a version of the Settlement game where the tribes start on islands. I think these mats will be perfect for that as you can see from the picture which shows the islands Eric Hotz has made for me. The hexes are 5" across (measured flat to flat as all hexes should be.)*****UPDATE*****
I don't normally do this, but here's the text of an email that I've just received about my order from Eric Hotz:
'Your order shipped today (May 5th, 2006) via Air Mail. Not sure how long it will take to reach you but you can probably start expecting the package to arrive by next Friday onward.
You are the first person to receive the island add-on. I had another request from someone in the USA, who apparently visited your website and saw your notice.
In the future I will be charging $4 per island, or $16 for a set of five. To ensure that the islands lay flat of the gaming surface, I silk screened in a fabric binder into the underside of the mat -- this gives the mat a more flexible surface that should not curl up from use. I tested these out, and they seem to work quite well. But this adds to the weight of the product and also the future cost.
I included ironing and cleaning instructions with your order, but these instructions really are intended for the mats themselves. Because your islands have been treated on both sides with a fabric binder, and since the underside was a fairly heavy application the fabric binder has saturated entirely through the product. This means if you have to iron out the island to get out any folds or creases, place a cloth (tea cloth?) over the island before ironing and only use a low heat.'
How about that? I got all that customer service for a lousy $12.00 order. What happens if you spend real money? Does he deliver them by hand? This really is exceptional. Why are you still reading this? Why aren't you buying your own set right now?
