Tusk: Mammoth Hunting from 12,000 BC to 1914 AD

Tusk is a charming beer and pretzels he game of Mammoth hunting. Players control little bands of cavemen, and must coax, annoy, or terrify mammoths (and other beasties) into traps or off cliffs.

It uses a reaction system (so it can even work single-player). What makes its shine though, is that hunting parties cannot directly attack each other. Instead they have to arrange convenient accidents (brush fires!) or poach kills. They prey don't always cooperate either.

Despite it's silly theme, Tusk is well designed. Action points are limited, forcing players to consider their tactics. The unit types affect game play differently- thought must be given to party composition.

It's scaled for 15mm, and but works well in 28mm too.

My Own Tusk Setup
While I love 15mm, Tusk looks better I feel in 28mm. My favorite wargaming blog, Irrational Number Line Games, discovered some cheap, plastic, cavemen which they put to their own good use here.

There are TimMee figures, you can buy them 48 for $12 on Amazon. While you're browsing, take a look at what else TimMee does. They do some ridiculous and incredible shit, including a C-130 :) .

Next I needed prey. I didn't want to do mammoths - who cares about mammoths? Dinosaurs are way more awesome, and I had tons lying around after the Mechasaurus Rex project.
I used the big ones for "mammoths," and the little cute ones for hunting "dogs."

Next was terrain. I've been working on several 4x4 foot layouts for different environments:

- Mars / Red Planet
- Urban Warfare
- Desert
- Woodland

This needed woodland. We glued dirt to four, 2x2 foot squares, sprayed them in dark brown, and gave them a drybrush.

I love CDs - they're great bases for making terrain. I used a few to make some grey boulders, and kept aside a few others to make marsh; watering holes; and tar pits.

Trees I needed professional help with. I bought some from Pegasus Hobbies. The banana trees are excellent, and the palms really tie things together. They have a very Lost World / jungle feel.

The Completed Board
Will upload some action shots soon, as these are being taken to the next Geek Meet for their first game! For now, here are some teasers.