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 18^th 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?