Tonight is Burns Night, celebrating the life and work of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. Around this time of year I love to play boardgames, especially by candlelight – when I was little we oftem got powercuts that would last for hours (and sometimes even days), and boardgames would be the entertainment of choice during these exciting times.

So I had an idea to make a boardgame where the time limit is dictated by the burning of a candle, and where the narrative of the game is borrowed from the Burns poem Tam O’Shanter. 

The poem is about a drunk chap – Tam – who encounters a gathering of witches and must flee on his trusty horse. The flow of the game will be pretty much the same, with the players picking up advantages and disadvantages as they move towards the dark gathering, and then a race to the finish once they have made the encounter.

So far, here is the start of the board I am making, and maybe I’ll start making some character pieces soon.