Review of Tribes

In the midst of moving I have misplaced my copy of this game. At least I hope that I have misplaced it, and not given two copies away to a friend who resides on a submarine for large portions of the year. What I remember follows:

This is a good game. The illustrations by Donna Barr are delightful, but not as much fun as in Lace & Steel. The rules aren't…won't knock your socks off in innovation or design (like one of those German games with all of the wooden pieces). What you have here is a game with a good solid design at a very reasonable price.

What is the game about? That's a good question. This game is about growing a prehistoric tribe. This isn't some grand simulation like Civilization, but its a small scale simulation revolving around the survival of a few people at the start of our history. You have to breed, while in the process deciding whether to be monogamous, or polygamous…your tribe gets to decide. You can stay in one area or move. Moving can be difficult, but staying can overhunt the area making it harder to get food. How many people go hunting or gathering? Not to mention how many stay behind to look after the kids, or craft containers for food that can take you through times of famine? There's a lot of decisions to make in this game. Decisions and variations that haunt the mind long after the playing is done. Have I said that this is a good game yet…not revolutionary, but a damn fine game! This is a good solid "B," and I highly recommend this as a wonderful learning simulation.

One caveat, there's a lot of stuff in here about mating. I didn't feel like explaining this to parents so I scotched using this for my youth group. Looks like they'll have to be happy playing Credo.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)