Prehistoric Settlement Game Report
Thanks to an invitation to the Guildford Wargames club and a lift there and back from Mike Lewis of Black Hat Miniatures I managed to finally get a game of Steve Barber’s Prehistoric Settlement under my belt.
Although I have terrain cloths that allow for the archipelago version of the game which sounds a very interesting variant I decided to stick with the basic set up for our first try. Accordingly the two Hotz Artwork mats were laid out and the volcano and some trees were added. The trees are optional but I think they add interest to the setting.
The initial set up for each player consists of randomly deciding on placement of their resources and placing their first four figures in their corner of the board. Because I have gone with hexes rather than measuring during the game the placement differed from that in the rulebook. We rolled 2D6 and counted a number of hexes up the board equal to one die and a number across equal to the other to find the exact position of the resource item. This seemed to work well.
The opening turns were conducted simultaneously because I hadn’t read the rules properly; we took it in turns to roll the Natural Event roll. You are meant to each roll a D6 for initiative and go in that order; we did this later when tribes came into conflict as it was more important then. Early on in the game everyone is doing their own thing and it is much quicker to just get on with it and announce when you’ve done.
The Natural Event roll was a bit of a disappointment during the game, we had only one disaster, a plague early on, and everyone quickly recovered. A new set of deer also arrived mid game. We hunted the original herds of deer to extinction very quickly, mainly by inadvertently herding them towards the Fish Clan who then slaughtered them in their turn and feasted well on the remains.
Movement was easy with the hexes. Any move listed in the rules as up to six inches was one hex and anything up to twelve inches was two hexes. Missile fire was same hex for short range and into an adjoining hex for long range. This is not worth the cost of building missile troops and in future it will be same or adjacent hex for short range and two hexes for long range for archers. Spearmen will stay as we played them though as their ranges are shorter than bows.
Everybody’s food was generated by berry picking and fishing. Several fishermen met a grisly and untimely end in the jaws of a crocodile and one lucky boatman was devoured by the shark. Pretty soon everybody was generating more than enough flint and food for their needs.
The Fish Clan and The Black Bear Clan fell to bickering and much hilarity ensued as various key workers were clubbed to death and buildings destroyed. We discovered that cavemen are basically a spiteful lot and received an object lesson in how long running feuds develop in primitive societies.
While this was going on the Bear Clan took the opportunity to launch into their Temple building phase secure in the knowledge that relations with the neighbouring Wolf Clan were friendly. The building continued, quietly and steadily, one turn ahead of the Fish Clan’s temple build for several turns. The Fish Clan was tied up battling the ever-revengeful Black Bear Clan and couldn’t spare the manpower for a punitive raid into Bear Clan territory.
With only four turns to go the Black Bear Clan was angered by the culling of their flint miners by the Wolf Clan and switched their retaliatory attacks to them. The Wolf Clan was soon on the back foot and the Black Bears surged onwards into their camp.
Relieved of one annoying neighbour the Fish Clan steamed down the board determined to stop the Bear Clan’s Temple from reaching completion. The Bear Clan was waiting though, and the first wave of attackers was killed quickly.
The bear Clan smugly sat back, reinforced, and waited for their Temple to arrive. But they relaxed too soon. In a masterful move a remaining Fish Clan warrior destroyed an unguarded Bear Clan tent and, even though he was killed for his impertinence, he had done enough.
The rule is that if you lose a tent, (they govern how many people you can have in play), you must rebuild it immediately. This wasn’t a problem because the Bear Clan had three builders wandering about. However, only one building can be under construction at a time so work on the Temple halted for a turn. This put the Bear Clan Temple and the Fish Clan Temple on the same schedule, both would be completed next turn. It was down to the initiative roll on the final turn to see who would complete first and win the game.
The Bear Clan rolled a five and the Fish Clan rolled a six.
A victory to the Fish Clan.
Next time I….. er, that is, the Bear Clan will not be so careless.
All-in-all a thoroughly entertaining game that everyone enjoyed. It took us three hours to play but that involved looking up rules etc. By half way through everyone had grasped the rules and we were speeding along merrily.
