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"'Brazilwood War': WAB or WECW?" Topic


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Cacique Caribe24 Mar 2006 1:41 a.m. PST

Just curious . . .

link

Would the "Brazilwood War" be best served by using a WECW rules variant instead of a WAB supplement/variant?

CC

Cacique Caribe24 Mar 2006 1:57 a.m. PST

Interestingly, the "Brazilwood War" seems to take place mostly in the late 1500s, which coincides with the "Sea Dogs" period in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

CC

Skeptic24 Mar 2006 5:08 a.m. PST

Quite possibly. By the way, there were at least a couple of articles on the Tupi a few years ago in Wargames Illustrated.

Cheers,

Skeptic

Condottiere24 Mar 2006 6:37 a.m. PST

Neither. :)

Sapphon24 Mar 2006 6:44 a.m. PST

Can't rememebr correctly, but Wargames Illustrated had an article or two regarding this period. I believe that they were using Heart of Africa rules.

link

Halfdan24 Mar 2006 7:06 a.m. PST

You could use Heart of Africa rules or LOTR.

Not knowing the period well, was there any large (in WAB terms) battle were infantry/cavalry regiments took place or was it more skirmish actions?

George71rex24 Mar 2006 7:11 a.m. PST

Yeah, those were Chris Peers rules, if I remember. I think it's safe to say the terrain prevented the French and Portuguese from using pike blocks, but WECW does give you the arquebus, but not rules for using them in a tropical environment. WAB makes sense for the warbands of Tupi and other tribes, but the problem with using Warhammer with any Native Americans seems to be one of morale: most tribes (especialy in North America) were risk averse. They had lost most of their populations in plagues, so every member of a war party was needed for the economic survival of the tribe. But because blood fueds between tribes were (and still are) the leading cause of death among tribal males in Brasil, Indians would have been used as auxilaries by all factions in the period, looking to settle scores which have nothing to do with the whites.

George71rex24 Mar 2006 7:31 a.m. PST

Oh yeah! LOTR does let you use pikes in a skirmish (the most common fight in the Brazilwood War). Massed cavalry would have been rare as only the Northeast of Brasil (states like Ceara and Bahia) would have the terrain to allow cavalry to form up, but the war wasn't fought there because there were no Brazilwood trees. LOTR would take more research to put on than WAB or Heart of Africa, but that does seem like a good idea to develope. This is giving me something to think about…

Cacique Caribe24 Mar 2006 7:57 a.m. PST

As a matter of fact, sixteenth century Brazil is one of the many topics we are discussing in our group:
link

CC

Chupacabras24 Mar 2006 9:48 a.m. PST

As weird as it sounds, this supplement might provide some interesting ideas for jungle or rain forest warfare:

link

kingscarbine24 Mar 2006 10:37 a.m. PST

Actually most tribes prefered to fight in clearings, open spaces or behind palissades. The only ones I've read fought in small groups used stealth tactics and ambushed in forests were the Aimoré. It wasn't unusual to see 5000+ clashing in battle against each other or the Portuguese.

Don't know if this would be useful link

but this is a great place for ideas: link

Cacique Caribe25 Mar 2006 3:17 p.m. PST

I guess that many of the natives in the Caribbean basin fought differently, making more use of their dark body paint to blend with foliage, firing darts, arrows and other missiles from thick cover and blending again into the forest.

I think they realized early on that fighting Europeans out in the open was tantamount to suicide.

CC

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