Our First (and Last) Game of Dreadfleet

My usual Dwarven opponent, the one that usually sinks my Thaniras Elven fleet, stopped by last night to try Dreadfleet.  We just played a trial game, the Dwarven ship proxied by his Iron Dwarf Dreadnought against the Shadewraithe which I had just started painting.  We started on opposite sides of the map, about 36 inches apart, and our respective ships closed, each opening broadside failing to scratch the other.  On the first turn both ships were pelted by a rain of sea snakes which were swept from the deck out of hand.

By turn 3 my Shadewraithe had pulled alongside the Dwarven ship and fired a volley which managed to damage some crew, but then the Dwarven ship moved into a stern raking position, and canonballs smashed the mizzenmast into so many splinters (corporeal or otherwise), reducing the speed of the Shadewraithe by several points.  Meanwhile, according to Fate, a Bone Hydra (represented by the beautiful yet unpainted merfolk) emerged from the waves and attacked the Shadwraithe.

The Shadewraithe's crew finally repelled the Bone Hydra which slipped back between the waves, but not before the Dwarven ship approached to ram the port side.  A brief action ensued with the Dwarven captain wounded by the Shadewraithe's Wraith-Captain, and the Shadewraithe managed to successfully escape jeoopardy and, the grappling hooks from the Dwarven ship slipping through the ghost ship, slowly started around the south side of the volcano island.  But the Dwarven ship took immediate action, repaired damage, and by turn 5 the two ships were again trading broadsides at point-blank range before a ferocious boarding action ensued.

We finally called the game, deciding we would have preferred to spend the hour playing Uncharted Seas.

On the positive side, both of us enjoyed playing on the sea mat, and we agreed it was equivalent to a twenty dollar value of the total cost.  Also, my opponent wanted to buy the Dwarven ship, still on the sprue, for ten bucks.   Despite the fragility of the models, compared to the certain heft of Spartan resin & metal ships, we determined each model worth 8-12 dollars just for the detail alone.  And the assortment of islands are cool, not to mention the measuring stick which I've been painting bleached bone white with brass highlighted inch numbers.  So, in the end, I feel the price was worth the ship models, islands, play mat, and the inspiration provided by the Fate & Damage cards to develop my own "perfect" tabletop naval game.

The new human imperial ships coming out for Uncharted Seas feature some topgallant sails... more sails all around.  Now it's time for me to begin learning how to rig model ships in earnest.

Thoughts on opening my new copy of Dreadfleet

"Wow!  This castle island will look great as a fortress for DW games."

 

"The black kraken will make an awesome proxy for the Blazing Sun mechanical squid, and it's just the right size!"

 

"The dragon models are perfect tokens for my dragon carrier ship for my Dragon Lords faction in US."

 

"These two ships will work great as heavy cruisers for my Imperial Human fleet in US."

 

"The Tomb Kings galley will fit right into my Bone Griffons fleet in US."

 

"This High Elven ship will work fine as an Elven merchant ship, if nothing else in US games."

 

"Wow, the shipwrecks are cool!  I need more shipwreck markers for Uncharted Seas!"

  

"I wonder if I can incorporate these great FATE and DAMAGE cards into Uncharted Seas?"

The Grand Alliance

Since I started tabletop wargaming with some passion two years ago I've had my eye on Games Workshop, specifically the Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and I even went so far as to sign up for a forum for players with a preference for Wood Elves, even tinkered with some Mantic elven spearmen figures in some Autumnal colors, but I never purchased any new GW products.

Until now.  When I saw the news of the Dreadfleet release I started looking for information on Man'O'War in a way I started looking for information on Battlefleet Gothic when I bought and started playing Battleship Galaxies two weeks ago (and BG was the first Hasbro game I've bought in decades).  Sure, I read the hype along with the skepticism, but critics of everything produced by GW remind me of the days when I was involved in the live rock music scene when I lived out on the West Coast with cool dudes talking about bands selling out because they got a record deal.  Dreadfleet caught my interest because it's a fantasy naval game, and I can't seem to get enough of those lately.

I bought a copy of Traflagar a few months ago, a bit late, but I was interested in how the system compared to Uncharted Seas as well as some other historical naval games I've played, like Wooden Ships & Iron Men or Flying Colours.  I suppose my used copy of Trafalgar was technically my first GW purchase, but with Dreadfleet my money when directly to GW through my FLGS.  And I felt justified by my purchase, especially after I opened the box.  Sure, there were an awful lot of skulls on those islands, but nothing a little flocking couldn't help, and the models certainly looked better in person than they did on the Beasts of War video I watched the previous week.  The scale was about right, and I saw no reason why I couldn't incorporate most of these ships, wrecks, and islands into my regular games of Uncharted Seas.

But the system, simple enough, really grabbed my attention with the FATE and DAMAGE cards.  Sure, Uncharted Seas is designed for fleet actions, fun and fast, but Dreadfleet looks like a game for a few big ships firing broadsides into each other at close range.  So, why not take the system for a spin?