Tongans

[FanatiChris]

So Khurasan Miniatures is teasing a forthcoming range of 15mm Tongans on their Facebook page. I always get excited when I see new obscure ranges and was perusing the Triumph! lists to see what they might look like on the table. Given the two Polynesian list options, I'm guessing Tonga would be classified as Central Polynesian for list purposes, along with the other western Polynesian groups that were their traditional enemies - Samoa, Tuvalu, Niue, and Wallis and Futuna in the 950-1500 CE period.

Looking at the Central Polynesian list, it is basically all Warband with 1-2 elements of Skirmishers. From what I know of imperial Tongan history, which I admit is limited, I wonder if the Tongans would merit their own list?

The Warband work fairly well for the To-a warriors who charged in with their heavy war clubs and were organized in tribal regiments called Kau Tau. The Skirmishers fit the role of the scouts, who were first to jump off their double-hulled catamarans at landing to scout out and harass the enemy. The Tongan's also had an elite imperial guard called the Hau who acted as shield bearers for the king and his attending nobles. In pitched battles, the Tongans also often deployed lower caste archers (levies or hired auxiliaries) as a reserve line for defensive or suppressing fire. These sound like they could be represented as Bow Levy with Shower shooting.

There's some support for list creators in THE WAR OF TONGA AND SAMOA AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME MALIETOA, by S. Ella in the The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 8, No. 4(32) (December, 1899), pp. 231-234 (4 pages)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20701549

[RogerCooper]

Wouldn't the majority of the forces consist of lower status individuals without much weapons training? I would expect some Rabble.

[David Kuijt]

So Khurasan Miniatures is teasing a forthcoming range of 15mm Tongans on their Facebook page. I always get excited when I see new obscure ranges and was perusing the Triumph! lists to see what they might look like on the table.

Me too!

Given the two Polynesian list options, I'm guessing Tonga would be classified as Central Polynesian for list purposes, along with the other western Polynesian groups that were their traditional enemies - Samoa, Tuvalu, Niue, and Wallis and Futuna in the 950-1500 CE period.

Pretty sure that's correct.

Looking at the Central Polynesian list, it is basically all Warband with 1-2 elements of Skirmishers. From what I know of imperial Tongan history, which I admit is limited, I wonder if the Tongans would merit their own list?

The Warband work fairly well for the To-a warriors who charged in with their heavy war clubs and were organized in tribal regiments called Kau Tau. The Skirmishers fit the role of the scouts, who were first to jump off their double-hulled catamarans at landing to scout out and harass the enemy. The Tongan's also had an elite imperial guard called the Hau who acted as shield bearers for the king and his attending nobles. In pitched battles, the Tongans also often deployed lower caste archers (levies or hired auxiliaries) as a reserve line for defensive or suppressing fire. These sound like they could be represented as Bow Levy with Shower shooting.

Love to have a Tongan list. Where does all this (above) come from, Chris? I read the 1899 article below, and it doesn't have anything like what you've described above.

There's some support for list creators in THE WAR OF TONGA AND SAMOA AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME MALIETOA, by S. Ella in the The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 8, No. 4(32) (December, 1899), pp. 231-234 (4 pages)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20701549

I'm afraid that article is useless. Except that it makes clear that wooden clubs are a primary weapon. In all other respects, useless for list creation. I was hoping it would be a primary source for all the army descriptive stuff you cite above, but nope.

[FanatiChris]

Khurasan has released their Tongan range. You can check it out at https://www.khurasanminiatures.com/tongan.html.

Will have to try to find what I was reading about Tongan warfare and see if it will meet David’s requirements for a list. If anyone has any relevant info, I’d encourage you to post.

To start, here is a JSTOR paper that talks about Polynesian bows/archery, which references Tongans in the introductory paragraph. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20701231.

A quick search finds lots of museum collections have webpages featuring bows used in Tonga and Fiji, they were apparently low status weapons and Europeans who tried to shoot them often broke them. After conquering Fiji, the Tongans often employed them to bulk out their armies. Easier to find if you search for kaufana or ngahau. Sample at https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collecti ... &ordinal=5

The Tongan souvenirs brought back by the Cook Expedition included a bow. https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objec ... ect-152020