Thud is the loud noise made when you drop something heavy, or alternately, Thud is a board game based on the massively successful series of books by Terry Pratchett. Of the two, I think you will find the board game more interesting to read about.

Thud the board game came about from an idea thought up and kicked around by, game designer Trevor Truran, sculptor Bernard Pearson¹ and author of the Discworld novels, Terry Pratchett.

It's a strategy based game, which is very easy to learn but like all classic board games takes skill and much practise to master, if indeed you ever do. The game itself is based on an ancient Discworld fight between Dwarfs and Trolls called the Battle of Koom Valley, which Terry Pratchett has written a special historical note about, called cunningly 'Thud - a historical perspective', which is included with the game when you buy it².

After conversing with Bernard Pearson, and following his request, I have removed this section of the entry. The reason is thus, as stated by Mister Pearson,

'The only real clever thing about the game (my sculpting is cunning rather than clever) is the game plan itself. And dear old Trevor is really afraid it will hit the pirate market before we all have some of the huge investment back we have all put into the project.'

Maybe in the course of time, this entry can be completed, but at this moment in time, a description of the game cannot be given.

There are, at the moment of writing, four different styles of Thud set available to buy.

• The Gaming Edition - The everyday player’s set.
• Old Bone - The pieces have been made to look and feel like ancient bone.
• Polished Tusk - Antique game pieces, hand finished to make each set totally unique.
• The Limited Edition - Hand painted, with each piece being numbered and signed by the artist. There will be no more than 200 sets of these worldwide.

Each set of pieces comes with a board, either made of wood or leather. The wooden boards are hand carved, and so no two are completely the same, the Leather Board is printed ink squares on goat skin. The Gaming Edition Board measures 16.5 inches, whilst the other three game sets come with a board measuring 25 inches.

Each set varies in price, and this and many pictures of each of the sets can be found at the Thud website.

No one can predict how popular a new board game will become, whether it will end up a legend like chess or forgotten about with the passage of time like so many board games that, well, we have forgotten about. That it will be bought by the many Discworld collectors in the world there is no doubt, and maybe if given a chance, Thud will become a classic game in its own right. Having played it myself³ I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a game that requires a little thinking, and who has the time and patience to learn the strategy and skill that is required to master the game.

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¹ More commonly known as The Cunning Artificer
² You can also get a printed version from Bernard Pearson, via an address on the Thud website.
³ Losing quite often