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15mm Tongan Empire (Tu'i Tonga Empire), 10th-18th Centuries AD
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Starting around 900AD, the Tongans began to establish a great maritime empire in the midst of the decline of the Samoan Empire. They used their imperial navy to invade neighboring islands, as well as to trade and explore. The empire steadily expanded, but starting in the seventeenth century, the fusion of Tongan and Samoan cultures began to see the Samoans once again take the upper hand.
Because this was an island empire, the navy was of course critical to its expansion and maintenance. The Tongan Kalia was a huge double-hulled canoe that could be as long as a classical pentekonter and could carry 100 men on a long sea journey. In battle, Tongan warriors charged fiercely, hurling throwing clubs and spears on the way
into contact. As later European explorers learned, being subjected to this storm of missiles could be an exceptionally fatal experience, and many casualties were suffered on the way into contact. While the huge war clubs carried by the chiefs and the royalty were symbols of command, their primary use was as shields to protect the commanders from missile fire. This shower of missiles was launched while on the move, and, not stopping, the Tongan warriors then sought to barrel over the opposing force in hand-to-hand combat. I could find no evidence that Tongans used slings, as provided by the DBx army lists, but archery was an essential, if secondary, element of warfare. Once an island was conquered, stone fortresses were built for the garrison, and these could be substantial.
Army Notes. The baggage element we have made for the army is slave porters carrying bushels of hopa, similar to bananas but less sweet, actually rather potato-like. The Kalia is 50mm long (longer hull) and made in 1/600 scale, as is typical for naval elements in a 15mm army. They are provided with a couple of strips of tiny men if you want to use them, to make them look less like eerie ghost ships with no people on them. Hat's off to Steve Dean for doing a better job on these 1/600 scale men than I do on my 15s. The infantry are mounted on 40mm bases, and are positioned on the bases so that each pose is most visible in the image.
Please note a DBA boxed army is also available based on the 3.0 Polynesian (Tongan) list. DBA is a trademark of the Wargames Research Group.
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