paints brigs for the British fleet.
Natives of Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud – New Zealand), the Maori have a long tradition of inter-tribal conflicts going back hundreds of years. Armed with patu (clubs) and taiaha (spears) or tewhatewha (long-axes) fashioned out of wood, bone and (very rarely) pounamu (greenstone) – the warriors of different tribes engaged in seasonal close combat to fight over food, land, resources and mana (honor). With colonial settlement in the 19th Century, the Maori adapted quickly to the use of firearms. Nevertheless, it was hard to get your hands on a gun, powder or ammunition if you were a Maori – thus the use of traditional weapons continued well into the New Zealand Wars of the latter half of the 19th Century.
Man-slaying, says the Maori, is one of man's most important activities, it is the umanga kapukapu, or umanga nui (the great game); better to die weapon in-hand than by lingering sickness or old age.
– Elsdon Best, 1924
With Aramiha Harwood's guidance, Alan Marsh has sculpted an excellent range of Maori tribal warriors – capturing the attitude and spirit/mana of the Maori warriors. It is nice to see that they also represent a cross-section of the population in various body-weights and sizes! In these 28mm figures, we see a range of clothing and jewelry – detailed in the figures – piupiu (grass skirts), dogskin cloaks, feather cloaks, woven flax kilts, flax cloaks that served as armor, feathers that adorned the hair, necklaces with tiki and manaia on them. Finally, we have two musicians in the tribal group – one with a conch shell, the other twirling a pūrerehua (bull-roarer) to scare the enemy and to communicate with the spirits.
In this range of 28mm miniatures, we have: an elder chief, wearing a feather cloak; several elite warriors with flax/feather cloaks and kilts; two musicians (conch shell & bullroarer); four warriors with patu/clubs; and four warriors with spears/staves.
28mm Scale Waka
On an island country dotted with waterways, the canoes (waka) of the Maori offered the best opportunity to launch surprise attacks on enemy strongholds or villages. Hollowed from larger trees, typically Kauri, the Waka was covered in carvings – particularly the stern and prow panels. Streaking through the water, different-sized waka could hold as little as 20 men for a surprise raid, and up to a hundred warriors for a major campaign into enemy territory. With carvings designed by Aramiha, Battlefield Accessories provide an excellent 28mm-scale model to launch a Maori attack on the enemy.
Tribal the Skirmish Combat Game
To go with your tribe of Maori warriors, a gamer could try using Tribal – the skirmish combat rules. Tribal focuses on the small scale skirmishes – raids, ambushes, revenge and murder – that have been recorded in history through song, dance, saga and legend. In these tales, it is the prowess and Honor of the hero that is remembered – the lone warrior facing a band of foes and either triumphing in bloody hand-to-hand combat or dying with Honor intact.
Two interesting elements of Tribal:
- Honor drives the game – in the end determining who wins.
- Cards are used for measurement, unit consistency, activation, and combat! In the rules, there are notes on running Maori forces, as well as Vikings, Aztecs and Gladiators.
If you'd like a physical copy, order via Eureka Miniatures. PDF digital copies can be bought online via Wargame Vault.
More information about Tribal can be found here.