Description

During the period of the Brazilian discovery, several indians tribes that inhabited there, possessed different cultural degrees. Many had already reached sedentarism while others still cultivated the nomadism and due to abundance of food, they didn't develop any pastoral culture. They lived mainly hunting and collecting, not having a writing system, being the oral transmission, the bases of history, but nevertheless they reached a high degree of cultural development. They possessed advanced knowledge of hygienic medicine and astronomy. They possessed a developed religious system and the society was patriarchal, based on the chief of the tribe and the warriors Council.

The Brazilian Indian, according to authors of the period, possessed enormous muscular strength, capable of carring his equivalent in weight great distances, with a high degree of physical resistance. They possessed a very developed tracking capacity, distinguishing sounds and smells of animals and people kilometers away, being capable to hide in the forest, using early camouflage technics, very advanced for the time.

The War

The indigenous wars had a kind of "permanent state in the time", simply motivated by revenge because of the arrested and devoured relatives by the enemy (anthropophagy was very common), or because of the kidnaping and possession of women of opposing tribes. There were no objective in the conquest of lands or resources, because these were abundant for all.On the deflagration of a campaign, the chief gathers with the council of the tribe to debate about the used strategy, and usually the medicine man, the spiritual leader of the tribe, like a shaman, does the forecasts of the campaign. Setting the day for the beginning of the hostilities, depending on the chief, the organization and preparations of the war, On the day of the beginning of the conflict this same chief, makes speeches to his warriors, some times for six long hours inciting them to the combat and elevating the morals.

Javaé is a wargame for 2 players, wich attempts to simulate the conflict between the Brazilian Indian tribes Ava-Canoeiro and Javae, in colonial time. The game contains 77 counters, a map, rule book and table sheet.