Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Andrew_McGuire on September 02, 2020, 04:49:13 PM
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As opposed to Iron and Oak, Iron and Wine, Iron and Rust, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, Hearts of Oak, any old iron, etc? (OK, not all of those are games and some I just made up). It's been out a while, but all the so-called reviews on YouTube & BGG show is either the publisher's previews or people blathering about the Kickstarter. WSS promised a review, but I've not seen the new issue yet.
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That would interest me as well, as I am also considering getting the starter set.
Although I am currently trying to limit the projects I am working on, this game fascinated me. Luckily for my wallet I could not find a proper in depth review yet!
Well, they are getting my money anyway, as I am quite looking forward to the Blood & Plunder Kickstarter, but as the OP I would appreciate if someone could tell me of his experiences with Oak & Iron!
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I downloaded the free PDF of the basic rules. Looked Ok but not interesting enough to make Me buy them
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WSS reviewed one of the ship models in the last issue, which piqued my interest, and promised to review the game in the near future. The new issue has apparently only just come from the printer's, but this issue's 'Let's play' article is on Frostgrave II, so we may have to wait another couple of months at least.
The ship models appear pretty basic in the raw plastic, but unless this image is a Photoshop TM production, they're capable of achieving the desired impact:
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I’ve played quite a bit and enjoy them quite a lot! But I did write them so... : lol
Unfortunately, the game launching at the very start of the pandemic didn’t do us any favors in getting people playing it right away. Here are a couple unbiased reviews:
https://www.wargamer.com/reviews/oak-and-iron-firelock-games/
https://nodicenoglory.com/2020/04/27/setting-sail-with-oak-and-iron-battle-report/
I downloaded the free PDF of the basic rules. Looked Ok but not interesting enough to make Me buy them
The game is designed to be approachable by non-naval/non-historical gamers, yet still reward and encourage historical tactics and represent the period accurately. A great deal of what makes the game interesting, especially to veteran naval gamers, is found in the admiral, faction, and initiative cards. They represent battle planning, national doctrine, and signaling and using them properly can make or break your victory :)
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Thank you for those links. Those are the kind of articles I sought in vain.
Although the period is different, I'm also wondering how the game compares with Warlord's Black Seas, which is in a similar scale, and for which I've also found little useful commentary.
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I would love to try out these rules. Thank you for the info.
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Even though I am a complete landlubber, I do have acquired quite the love for anything specifically 18th Century / 19th Century and Age of Sail in general. The products from Firelock therefore seem right up my alley and they look fantastic.
@El Frantico:
Congratulations for creating these amazing things! Will you also ship new products to European retailers?
Unfortunately (or rather: fortunately, for the game!) Oak & Iron seems to be sold out in Germany! Sorry for typos, if there are any, I am actually on a historical ship for the night and typing on the tiniest of phones.
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PS: Great to hear that you will cover the American War for Independence with B&P eventually.
Do you have a similar long-term Strategy with Oak & Iron if I may ask?
Dare we say... sometime sometime...Trafalgar?
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Oak & Iron is actually sold out almost everywhere right now. We are expecting our restock in the middle of the month and it should find its way into the EU/UK sometime in October.
PS: Great to hear that you will cover the American War for Independence with B&P eventually.
Do you have a similar long-term Strategy with Oak & Iron if I may ask?
Absolutely. Early next year we will be releasing many new ships as well!
Dare we say... sometime sometime...Trafalgar?
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Further to the above, I note that Firestorm Games in the UK has several copies of the core set and four of the expansions currently in stock. I know from personal experience that their service is very fast and efficient - two recent orders have arrived within a couple of days.
https://www.firestormgames.co.uk/wargames-miniatures/oak--iron
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@El Frantico
Many thanks for the info! Always great to hear about long term
support for a game. Very interesting to see where the game will go!
@Andrew McGuire
Thanks! I usually order a lot from the UK (mostly stuff I can‘t buy at most places here, like a lot of the smaller metal mini manufacturers) but in this case I would probably wait for the German retail restock.
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Thank you for those links. Those are the kind of articles I sought in vain.
Although the period is different, I'm also wondering how the game compares with Warlord's Black Seas, which is in a similar scale, and for which I've also found little useful commentary.
I'd say the game is more complex than Black Seas; on the other hand the models are less detailed than the Black Seas ships. Black Seas is a great game but not a great simulation; it is also for a much later period than Oak & Iron. Black Seas is 1790 till 1815 whereas Oak & Iron is late 17th early 18th century.
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Pretty much my impression from my little reading. I quite like the look of the Black Seas vessels, and have partly built - as in laid down - one of the brigs that came with WI last year, without masts as yet as I don't know which ones to use and am wondering why they don't have sails, though one mainmast has a furled sail on the bottom spar(?). As a sailing ignoramus I also have no idea what the odd fork-like piece is for, or where it goes, which may be redundant as I've broken mine.
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The fork-like bits are the yards for the fore-and-aft sail which goes on the mizzen mast.
You can download sail templates and assembly instructions from the Warlord site
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Thanks for that.
P.S. Yards, mizzen, templates...no wonder I gave up reading the biography of Nelson after two chapters.
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Ahoy,
I managed to shoot some pictures of my new Oak & Iron table and my first four ships for some first little 20 P. games (maybe soon?!). I just played a little solo game for testing. Very promising. The rules were the reason i fell in love with this game late 2018. Now i can play it myself finally!
I like the look of the game very much.
It is my first historical Wargame and yes, there are more detailed (stunning) ship miniatures out there, but the simplicity of these O&I Miniatures pulled me in (would not like to do rigging). Besides of that the rules seem to be very good as i mentioned above.
Want to find players in Berlin (Germany; you don't need anything to play), but actually it's a bit difficult.
Painting them was a good experience overall and i had a reason to built islands. Yes please!
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/235161007_Bild-019-Gelnde-Tisch.jpg.4078aae6ba1f6df63a7392cd39c39942.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-043.jpg.59170f914518ebad4ef6aa750a88098c.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-036.jpg.450607d5d0ebb28b0d758dd5dd7b4fce.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-037-V2.jpg.11434c9b4035646edc75c95712a92d63.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-027.jpg.7a8b91b1df73264c63b73610fb696f03.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-038.jpg.27e9167ec33d6dd3ec20a90bd769c022.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-038.jpg.27e9167ec33d6dd3ec20a90bd769c022.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-026.jpg.f17d85b38a39b8a3d428ee1ffe171e76.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-031.jpg.5eaee53128646d55e3543380d36f37b9.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-040.jpg.f0b9774c1ec3147497d3e6a19d6c5700.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-014-Zusammen.jpg.e8bb638487db8144dadbaa39039d96da.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-033.jpg.168664cfb517897dd3ffaa55d4dd3a64.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-041.jpg.a21543ab35896da30b77814dfbd65e9a.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/1615005145_Bild-025-Gelnde.jpg.543acf83962005da907ebb04396716fd.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-007-Sloop-Karte.jpg.a54cf97a3cbd8ea057444779f07da7c1.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-046.jpg.56cae664c9717f223d3b7b3e6e06567c.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-047.jpg.282e2b4c8d24fd17fbdff917968c8f00.jpg)
Just for flair... or cheaters...
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_11/Bild-045.jpg.32e93db5c4100e405d5d71655c309043.jpg)
And it brought me to read very much about the Age of Sail (ok, many novels).
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2019_06/Bild001.jpg.58c83aec74bad2a129dda0a0b1be01f1.jpg)
Here you can find my original post, but in german:
https://www.tabletopwelt.de/index.php?/topic/139477-jans-sammelthema-nov-2020-oak-iron-erster-eintrag-ins-logbuch/&do=findComment&comment=5280074 (https://www.tabletopwelt.de/index.php?/topic/139477-jans-sammelthema-nov-2020-oak-iron-erster-eintrag-ins-logbuch/&do=findComment&comment=5280074)
I know a guy, who painted all of his ships in one evening with contrasts, so yes, it is accessible:
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_07/MVIMG_20200712_204157.jpg.502026aa1fddfd076393a65de3dbd8ac.jpg)
Cheers,
Jan
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I moved from Berlin to Hamburg a few years ago, so unfortunately I can't offer being interested in a demo game.
I still wanted to congratulate you on your fabulous looking ships and table and stuff! This is how I like to approach my games as well - a storm of obsession for a particular topic.
Having recently backed the "Blood & Plunder: Raise the Black" Kickstarter from Firelock Games (the guys who made Oak & Iron) I am already knee deep in literature about pirates and the 18th Century in general (good choice there watching Black Sails)!
Godspeed to your project and I hope you find players who appreciate your passionate approach!
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Hi Jan;
I saw your post and must ask...how did you paint your ships and sails??? They look absolutely fabulous!!! Any tips or tutorial assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Hitman
8)
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Thank you Historiker for you kind words!
"a storm of obsession for a particular topic" puts it in a nutshell, as the englisch speaking people would say, i guess (internet told me). :)
It's unfortunate that you just moved away. If covid things get better and you visit berlin again write to me.
Favourable winds for your B&P Project, too!
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Thank you Hitman!
They are my first ships, but i did paint miniatures before (28mm) and take my time for doing it. That's the whole secret. I wrote some short notes here:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=123300.msg1618845#msg1618845 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=123300.msg1618845#msg1618845)
Cheers,
Jan
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You make the game look exciting, and your painting of the ships is excellent, as others have said. I'd like to hear more about how the game plays, but with inspiring images such as these it's difficult to resist.
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Excellent work, Jan - thanks for sharing!
-Michael
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It happened...
After falling in love with Oak & Iron in 2018 (videoreport at MWG with Mike) and finally getting it in June 2020, finishing my table and first 4 ships in November 2020 (see post above) i got my first "2 Player Testgame" in.
CELEBRATION!
Due to Covid Shit and my little son at home, it was hard to find an opportunity.
It was a 20 Points beginnergame kind of like in the rulebook (but with formation rules) with a "Non-Wargamer" friend who likes the setting. The game went way to long, because we did not focus on one ship and are Noobs (of course), but we liked the game flow and the rules overall. I am realy happy and now have motivation to do (paint) some more ships.
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_03/Bild001.jpg.6167a8ead65d0d882c452cb145b1a7f2.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_03/Bild002.jpg.467874138f7947f0fe926611a4f4a017.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_03/Bild003.jpg.d4f58e1844fb88148ff056d2b500614d.jpg)
PS: My buddy did not manage it to roll a sail/skull (Skill check) with 25 dice (round after round and wasting 2 fortune points with no success). Bad luck! And it did go on. His sloop had the worst crew ever!
Fully drunk landlubbers... ;D
Greetings,
Jan
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I finished my Ships No. 5 & 6.
The Fluyt and Galleon.
Base Set finished.
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_04/Bild004.jpg.44ee57436a86d3a6177ef9c0a0ec09ee.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_04/Bild008.jpg.970ffcff05a1ab64b34dd0b6071212d3.jpg)
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_04/Bild007.jpg.fb24ac4c56f99fc8826fb9f77bfe6d8b.jpg)
My 6 painted ships:
(https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2021_04/Bild010.jpg.a843fb5d225e030e61150d26353443da.jpg)
Hopefully i'll get the chance to play my 2nd game soon?!
Jan