When we aren’t busy in the 40k universe, we also like to dabble in Warhammer Fantasy and Cubicle 7 (C7) has struck green gold with the release of Tribes & Tribulations: A Guide to Brutal Warlords, Warbands, and Monsters.
This supplement is created for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition (WFRP 4e), but could also be found to be a valuable supplement to any Greenskin players of The Old World (guilty) as well as anyone who just likes lore. Tribes & Tribulations (TnT) is not only an accrual of all previously provided Greenskin information for WFRP 4e, it also further expounds upon this cunningly brutal race.
TnT starts off as it should, describing the myriad races that make up the “Greenskins” tribes while also including some details on both Ogres and Trolls. While not specifically Greenskins, both Ogres and Trolls are often found with Greenskin armies in Warhammer tabletop, as well as the Total War Series, so this is a nod to lore accuracy across the IP that I respect from C7.
This supplement shines in the next few sections, with sections II through VII detailing different brutally cunning Greenskin tribes as well as a band of Ogre sellswords that can be included into your WFRP 4e game. What I appreciated here was the attention to specificity shared by C7, including not only the leaders of these groups but also the full tribe disposition. This included how the tribe move, march, rest, fight, and even details of how many Greenskins are in the tribe at given moments. Coupled with specific hooks for GMs to create their own encounters and one of each easy, medium, and hard pre-written encounters, these sections were impressive for what they gave you.
C7 also hit on the lore notes, with inclusions for each of the different warbands and groups from “Olde Weirde’s Incunabulum”. With short two page tales, these lore snippets were a refreshing way to give even more background and context to some of the different groups shared in this tome (and all GMs should read the entry under the Trolls…..for reasons). They even went so far as to include profiles for Skarsnik, Gorfang Rotgut, and in a nod to the focus of tying the many sources of lore together C7 included the art for the Goblin Shaman Gazbag, one of the leaders of the Bloody Sun Boyz that were introduced with EA Mythic’s Warhammer: Age of Reckoning MMO. It’s these details that made me happy while reading through this piece.
While there is a lot of great, especially as a Greenskin fan, there is one item that caused some contention among the WFRP community. As I read through this for the review, it was obvious that the entire second section for the “Cluster Eye Tribe” was information previously released as a purchasable PDF by C7. Perhaps if there is any knock to this tome, it’s that this section is entirely unchanged from the prior PDF, which led to the contention and online grumbles.
However, the very first sentence in the Cluster Eye PDF, under the “How to Use This Book” section states: “The Cluster-Eye Tribe is the first in a series of digital releases describing various tribes, warbands, and groups of roving troublemakers…” We reached out to Cubicle 7 to ask for their remarks, as I came to wonder if this book, Tribes & Tribulations, was replacing the promised PDFs of other tribes. I was pleased to quickly hear back from the production team with the following:
“We did initially intend to do additional PDFs like the Cluster Eye Tribe, but didn’t have specific plans for what they would be. The reception for the first PDF made us realise a book would probably go down well, so we decided to do one of those. It has taken a while, admittedly! We will be returning to the format of the original Cluster Eye PDF (a PDF detailing a ‘warband’ style group of NPCs) in the near future, and with quite a different subject than Orcs, Goblins, or Trolls. Watch this space!”
This response from C7 is very enlightening, and I for one am appreciative of the direction they went. As someone who loves the weight and feel of a physical book, knowing that this tome is en route is something I am personally appreciative of. It’s also nice to have a comprehensive tome of all of this content, rather than opening a half dozen PDFs.
Tribes & Tribulations gets two thumbs up from this GM, and is an excellent supplement for any WFRP GM. We’d like to thank the Cubicle 7 Team for providing us with this tome for our use and review, and you can pick up your copy at their webstore here.
Look for our Greenskin based WFRP one shot in the future, as we use this tome!
Disclaimers: Brad loves Greenskins and is very biased towards them. Product provided by Cubicle 7 for Dead Suns Company to review.
Purchase of this product through our referral link helps Cubicle 7 to support the continuation of these reviews.
We’ve recently learned that Padraig Murphy, WFRP Producer at Cubicle 7 loved this review. Thank you, Padraig!
Updated 11.14.24 – Referral Link and note from Padraig added.