Muskets & Tomahawks 2nd Edition is almost here from Studio Tomahawk who many be aware of as a publisher of various historic games, for example Saga.

The first thing to note is that Muskets & Tomahawks has indeed taken Saga as an example. The first edition was a skirmish game set in the French Indian Wars, for second edition this has changed and now the rules themselves have received a subtitle, Skirmish Rules for the Age of Black Powder.

This is a big change, with Saga Studio Tomahawk has found a way to encourage people to play multiple periods and settings without having to learn a different set of rules for each one. Clearly they aim to achieve the same thing for the Little Wars fought with Black Powder.

To differentiate between the eras, fighting styles and nations supplemental books will be produced. The first of these that will launch alongside the rule book is Redcoats & Tomahawks, recreating the French and Indian Wars, the American War of Independence and the War of 1812.

The game will be largely recognisable to current players but it is not without some changes. The biggest of these is the change from d6 to the gem-like perfection of the d10. With successful rolls equaling or exceeding your statline the change to d10 was almost compulsory in their goal of changing this from a set of rules for a specific period into one that will be capable of covering a far broader range of nations and fighters.

By the way the dice range is read from 0-9 so having a bunch of zeroes staring up at you from the table will encourage you to form the same shape with your lips before flipping the table!

The forces on the tabletop are run via a card deck that can be bought, or can be downloaded from the web and allow greater variation between the books instead of solely being based on statlines. Cards are drawn and played from a shared deck, when you play a troop card all troops have the option to activate from your side.

However if you play a card that allows your opponents forces to move instead you gain command points, these can be spent in later turns in lieu of playing a card to achieve other actions in case you wish to hold back a card for later turns, or really need a specific unit to activate right now, then break out the CPs. Another nice feature are the "Clock" cards.

There are three of these in the deck and once the third has been drawn all discarded cards and the Clock cards are shuffled back into the deck. There is no turn limit in M&T instead the game ends when the objective is completed and the scenario ends.

You may have noticed the natives on this page, the painted ones will be coming from Northstar Military Figures in February but the two lovely fellows in the grey nip here will be Nickstarter exclusives.

Nickstarter is a preorder run by Northstar were they chuck extra things in depending on the amount of people who jump in on it. Current plans by Nick is to launch it from Monday 3rd, so if you're interested in Muskets & Tomahawks then it's worth keeping an eye on their site or signing up to the newsletter.

Death and honor are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not.