Hey all! I know I've been away for a bit, been busy working on some secret projects I'm not really at liberty to discuss. Suffice to say, between said projects and everyday life this thing sort of got away from me for a bit.
I haven't done any in person gaming for a bit (thanks COVID!), and I've been horrid about getting anything painted. I'm working on my PRDF army, I've started working on some of my Godtear models (I managed to snag the limited edition metal models off eBay, so my collection sort of exploded) and I've got a giant bag of unbuilt plastics.
I did, however, manage to pop over to one of my favorite gaming shops (the ever lovely Demolition Games in Salt Lake City) and grab me something that had caught my fancy: Oak & Iron! So I bought me the starter, and I thought today I'd do a quick unboxing and give my two cents (for what two cents is worth in this economy).
Oak & Iron is an age of sail combat game by the good folks at Firelock Games who you may know as the makers of their other age of sail combat game Blood & Plunder. But whereas Blood & Plunder is about the individual soldiers fighting and infantry, Oak & Iron is all about those boats. I'd been looking around for a good age of sail naval game, and while I did take a look into Black Seas from Warlord Games, it didn't really tickle my fancy like Oak & Iron does. Mainly because I wanted pirates, and Black Seas is all about Napoleonic Wars battles (so it also omits the Dutch that this game features). I'm also still a bit mad at Warlord Games, so there's that.
Anyway, this starter box retails at $70 and you get quite a bit of stuff. A rulebook (that's already a tiny bit out of date), a game map, tokens, cards, dice and of course the models. So, let's take a closer look at everything in here, shall we?
We'll start with the rulebook. It's not super long, clocking in just under 30 pages total, but manages to pack a good amount of information.
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| Oops, just noticed this is upside down... |
Like all good games, the book is in glorious full color with plenty of pictures to provide examples of how rules work. I'm not going to really go into the rules here, I'll wait until I can at least play a game (thanks COVID!) before diving into that. Suffice to say, they share some similarities with X-Wing, and I mean that in the best way.
Now I mentioned that the rulebook is already sort of out of date, what do I mean by that? Well Firelock have released a Version 1.01 online, which mainly just adjusts some things and address some clarity issues. It's nothing worth getting worked up about, and newer copies of the box should have the new rules but just be aware. You can download the updated book as a PDF, and honestly the changes are small enough that they take up less than an entire page.
Next we have the map.
This sea map is the playing area, and it folds out to a 3x3 area. It's made of a nice, glossy, material that feels durable which is nice. I would like to, provided I get a chance to play this game a good amount, replace it with a nice neoprene mat in the future, but for the time being it should do the trick. The colors are nice and vibrant, too.
You also get a bunch of tokens on punchboards. You get four in total, with the first three being all terrain features to be used when playing.
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| Yes I could have taken pictures of each one, yes I'm feeling a bit lazy. |
Much like the map these are bright and vibrant, which from what I understand is what the Caribbean looks like (I've never been). They're good thick stock, and once punched out shouldn't take up too much space. My fog banks started popping out the moment I opened the box, but that's not a problem. Just be aware. These are also double sided, so you get plenty of versatility out of them.
The other punchboard you get is full of game tokens.
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| Still way less than your average game from Fantasy Flight. |
This one includes stuff such as the movement tools, range ruler, wind token, nationality tokens, wake and reload markers along with an assortment of other tokens for things like sail setting and boarding and so forth. Again, these are all on fairly thick card so they should hold up to play. Firelock also sells an acrylic set of tools which has the movement tools, range ruler and wind token if you want some added durability in those (again, if I can play enough I totally want a set).
Next we come to the cards.
Not including the ship stat cards or the nation cards outlining their special rules, you get 140 cards in this box set. That's a hefty number if you ask me. All the cards are made of a solid material, and I am happy to report no damage to any of mine that I can see. There are 39 initiative cards in this box, some generic and some faction specific, which should lead to plenty of combinations when playing to help keep things fresh. I wish the set up cards (the ones along the bottom in my picture) came with more options, but maybe that's for a future release?
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| That's not even all the cards... |
Speaking of future releases, Firelock offers a ton of options for cards if you want to expand. You can buy the Expansion Deck which is 50 cards: 11 new upgrades, 19 new generic admirals and then reprints of cards that had errata in the Version 1.01 update. It's not needed to play, as long as you have the errata sheet handy, but I'm debating picking one up. You can also buy digital card packs directly from Firelock's website. They have an admiral pack, an upgrade pack and an initiative pack. Each of these include new cards to add to your collection, but it does seem a bit odd to only do them in PDF. I guess a 37 card pack is too small to justify printing for them? Whatever the case, you have options. The Expansion Deck retails at $25, and the digital packs are $9 a pop.
Lastly, before we get to the ships themselves, you have the dice.
Now, Oak & Iron does use proprietary dice. I know a lot of people will bitch and moan endlessly about this, and while I did have a moment of "really, guys?" I don't mind it too much. You get six dice in the box, and I can't see any print issues with mine. Now six dice is should be plenty for using the models in this box, but if you want to expand to the bigger ships of the line and whatnot you'll want to buy an extra set of these guys. Some of those big boats can get absolutely insane with the number of dice they toss out.
Alright, shall we get to the boats?
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| I'm on a boat! |
You get six ships in this starter: A Light Galleon, a Fluyt (pronounced like flute), a Petite Frigate, a Corvette, a Brigatine and a Sloop. This is a pretty good mix of the smaller ships, with the Light Galleon being the biggest, and the Sloop being the smallest.
The models are cast in a brown plastic for the hulls, and the masts and sails are molded together in a creamy white. Assembly isn't hard, per se, but some of the connections can be tight and I'd be wary of trying to pull them apart too many times. I will admit that the Sloop is a right pain, and I couldn't figure out how to get that sail assembly together. Firelock offers plenty of downloads, but an assembly guide for that thing would be nice. Speaking of downloads, they offer a ship recognition guide which is pretty helpful since a fair number of these can look quite similar.
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| The Corvette. |
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| The mighty Light Galleon. |
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| Size comparison of the two. |
The detail on these is pretty solid. Nothing mind blowing if you're expecting something on par with some Games Workshop models, but crisp enough to feel right. The decks have individual planks, the hulls are lined with cannon ports, and the aftcastle on the bigger ships are nicely detailed.
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| Damn, lookit dat booty. |
You also get six identical, clear, bases. These have markings for wind arcs and also have a handy little slot in the back to put in a token to designate ships if you happen to be running multiples of a single class.
Speaking of getting multiple ships, if you want more of these particular models without buying a second starter box then you'll want to grab either the Gentlemen of Fortune (Sloop, Petite Frigate and Corvette) or the Merchant Men (Light Galleon, Brigatine and Fluyt). These ship expansions will run you $30 a pop, and get you three ships, bases, stat cards and the tokens needed to add them to your fleet.
You also get the stat cards for the six ships in this box, of course.
These cards are bigger than normal, which surprised me when I popped open the box. They're double sided, with the back showing off what the upgrades listed at the bottom of the cards do, but apparently that picture got lost in the void somehow. You do also get some little plastic clips that you can use to track hull and crew damage, but I opted to sleeve them for the sake of not risking damage to the cards. You can use any tarot sized sleeves, but I bought a pack of the ones made by Fantasy Flight Games.
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| Insert witty condom joke here. |
Lastly you get a neat little touch: six sheets of faction specific sticker flags.
These will let you mark your ships as being for a specific faction if you're so inclined, but you totally don't have to if you want to freedom to jump around between factions each game.
All in all this is a fairly solid set. You get a good amount of stuff, everything seems to be good quality and it's all packed in a way to ensure the components are in good shape when you open it up. I will admit that if you want to play you'll want to grab one, even if you already have a friend who has one. It's the only way to get the various cards in it (sans the updated ones in the Expansion Deck), which you're going to want. It's totally worth it, but I am always a little annoyed when a company does that. Still, despite that, this is a great set for what looks like a damn fun game. And if the cross-over rules with Blood & Plunder ever actually come out, that'll just add to the value (although they do have a campaign available).
Hopefully I'll get a chance to sit down and shoot some cannon in the near future, and once I do I'll be sure to give my review/first impressions.
Take care, stay safe, and remember: do what you want because a pirate is free, you are a pirate!
