Consider this an
admission of guilt. I, like many of you, have games that I haven't
played, the exact amount I'll not say, I haven't reached that stage
of acceptance yet. Let's just say there are a fair few. I thought I
could hide my problem, and for so long it was easy. But years of
getting parcels delivered at work, buying from a range of sources and
arranging secret rendezvous with underground plastic merchants and
lead dealers have taken their toll. I'm a broken man, the smell of a
new rulebook no longer has the same appeal. Now, rubbing unbroken
sprues on my bare flesh just fills me with shame.
Fortunately, I'm among
friends and through a small support group a solution has been
discovered. I need to get the games I've got, put them on a table and
play with them with real live other people. Easy.
Well, not quite. Some
of them are straightforward Boardgames, the majority are tabletop
games with models to assemble and paint, complicated rules to learn and willing opponents to find. That's where this challenge comes in.
Each month I intend to pick a game from the dungeon of shame, get the
components to a tabletop standard and table it with willing
opponents. I'll attempt to keep this site updated weekly with
progress reports and hopefully you readers can support me with
encouraging tips and friendly banter. More likely I'll read comments
like “Where's the elves you were doing for Kings of War” or “Pro
painted my arse”. Hopefully after each game I'll attain a zen-like
feeling of peace and completeness, or the very least a nice battle
report or a game review
First Monthly Challenge
– Muskets and Tomahawks
One of the first
tabletop games I purchased and abandoned without playing was Muskets
and Tomahawks by Studio Tomahawk which is based in North American
during the 18th century . By all accounts it's a great
game, I just got distracted by another game, saga I think. I've
picked up the rulebook a couple of times and flicked through it, the
rules seem easy to understand. It has an interesting card activation
mechanism and is played at a skirmish level. The most intriguing
aspect to me though, is that the games you play are story driven.
Each officer will have their own personalities generated and secret
objectives to complete. There are six game variations to try and
random events to add to the mayhem on the table, such as wild animals
interfering with carefully laid plans or buxom milk maids distracting
the troops.
I've attempted this
game many times as I've always wanted to play a black powder game and
loved movies such as Last of the Mohicans or The Patriot, always
though, the short attention span takes over and I end up bouncing
onto another game.
Originally I had
planned to attempt this game in 15mm, the call of the 28mm figure
pulled me back though. The smaller scales just don't feel the same
when rolled carefully between my fingers and down my back and so on.
The plan then is to
build a reasonable sized force for an American side and a British
side. I've a box of Perry's excellent British Infantry, Warlord Games
Woodland Indians and some Colonial Militia from Wargame Factory to
assemble and paint. I'm partly finished on the assembly, but have the
painting to start. Ideally I'm going to attempt to keep the models I
complete compatible for bigger games such as Warlord Games Black
Powder
Hopefully next week I
can update you on the painting, unit choice and rules observations.
In the meantime, What's your un-tabled game pile like? What do you
like to do with your lead? How am I Driving? Fancy a game of Muskets
and Tomahawk?
