Sailing Uncharted Seas

My eagerly anticipated order from Maelstrom games arrived this morning.  I say eagerly awaited because it was something quite different than my usual purchase of late.

Having been somewhat less than enthused about the forthcoming 8th Edition WFB release from Games Workshop (thanks to the by and large ridiculous varation of rumours and the frothing at the mouth of certain individuals online about how "cool" all the big things are in it - and these same people being many of the ones who whined about the same things in 7th... aka the comp haters or those who ping certain army types and builds needlessly and without warrant).  Suffice to say whilst I have ordered the 8th Ed Rulebook, I am a little encouraged, but still not that enthused.  Anyway, as I was saying, I took the opportunity to look at some of the other game systems that have sprung up over the past few years.

I have collected and played other non-GW wargames in the past, the most notable and enjoyable two being Battletech (now known as "classic") and Warzone.  I thoroughly enjoyed both of them even though the latter never really gained much popularity over here.  And of course whilst some remnants of those games exist, they have pretty much fallen off the gaming scene.

Obviously I am venturing into Flames of War as well, but a Fantasy/SciFi element to wargaming is one of the things I really enjoy.  Having read Tolkiens "Lord of the Rings" about once a year since I was 8, and the Silmarillion nearly as often, I love the colour and wonder of Elves, Dwarves, and other assorted races.

40K was an option, but I simply don't like the game.  Love the background of it (much more so than the WFB background ironically), but the tanks on the large part look silly to my mind, and the whole conncept of the game just doesn't "do it" for me.  Granted the game has changed somewhat since I "had" to play it when working for GW as a red-shirt, but I've never liked it - and that hasn't changed.

I dabbled a little with Battlefleet Gothic and Man O War as well "back in the day", and after some nostalgic reminiscing with the lads on the saturday night at the motel over a few bourbons whilst down at Nicon recently, I got home and headed to Maelstrom.

Why was that my first stop?  Quite simply they are one of the best places online at present that stocks a wide range and variety of games, models, and gaming supplies from a large number of suppliers.  And with the free postage along with discounting and a strong NZ$ vs the UK$ (Could never figure out how to find the pound symbol on a computer keyboard) means that it for me is pretty much the #1 place to shop.

So I had a flick through what they had, and then had a flick through a couple of forums (WargamerAU, SthIsland Wargames, and a couple of others) to see what else people were playing.

This eventually led me to the Spartan Games website, which also contains an increasingly active forum discussing their games.  In particular two of them...  The newer "Firestorm Armada", and the earlier released "Uncharted Seas".

They both looked good.  Sounded like there was a reasonable amount of playtesting, there was obviously (from their website) some very good "gamer support" from the company in regards to downloads, FAQ's and other errata (although that being said there didn't appear to be much of a need for errata/FAQ from the company due to the rules apparently being quite simple and unarguable).

I did flick over to have a look at Warmachine, but it really doesn't grab me at all.  And I get the impression it appeals to those types who are or have been a little M:TG crazy - or powergaming types.  Which are kinda the same thing IMO - and those who have come across to WFB are often the loudest or most one-eyed when it comes to comp, and whom quite honestly I'd prefer not to play against.  (Historical stuffiness and poor models are another thing that put me off a gaming system - Which is why I disregarded the likes of Fog, and am still a little suspicious of FoW players...  Flames forum in particular has a lot of screaming when people post photos of "non-realisticly painted" models.  I thought it was a game?)

I digressed again didn't I?

My initial attraction was towards Firestorm Armada.  Spaceships are cool.  And I have been recently re-reading more sci-fi than I have fantasy.  But bearing in mind that obviously I'd like to have a few opponents to play the game against, that the lads are more fantasy rather than sci-fi minded, and the people I could possibly interest in a new game are also fantasy minded, I looked toward Uncharted Seas.

I was pleasantly suprised at the prices.  Enough so that not only did my initial purchase consist of a rulebook, but 3 starter fleets as well!  Yes.  I said 3.  After spending a while reading through the backgrounds of each race in the game, and perusing the Spartan Games forums on how each race played, I chose to get starter fleets for "Dragon Lords", "Bone Griffons", and the architypical human "Imperial Navy".  These particular fleets I think will suit my playing style, and I also liked the models.  Overlooking the fact that I am so used to GW styled fantasy, the models are in fact pretty good.  Could be a little better in some ways - but on the whole more than pretty enough.  I chose multiple fleets also because if I am seeking opponents to introduce to the game, then obviously I want some ships for them to use as well.  And the prices certainly enabled this option.

Don't get me wrong - I can't stand teaching or showing people how to do things.  But sometimes it is worth the effort.  Especially if there is some self interest involved.  And there is here.  I need people to play with/against!

The other clincher was that Uncharted Seas is already making an appearance tourney wise in Australia, so left open potential for a gaming trip over there for that.  Firestorm Armada has as yet to make an appearance in the same way that I am yet aware of.

So yes, the rulebook and starter fleets arrived this morning just as I got home from work. I couldn't resist the urge to open the box they came in and have a quick fondle, but was able to resist spending a couple of hours of sleep time reading the rulebook.

The rulebook is reasonably well set out.  It is written in a friendly and easy to understand manner, and has plenty of diagrams to explain the few more difficult aspects of the rules.  It is colourful, well spaced, and literally has pretty much everything you need to start playing even without models.  Spartan Games have supplied .pdf's of the counters etc on their website so that you don't need to cut up your rulebook (unless you want to), as well as other source material and rule updates that have yet to be printed in the rulebook (it looks like they update the rulebook occasionally and include the new rules/units/races etc).  The rulebook also comes with a "rules at a glance" sheet that is already laminated (much like GW used to do sometimes for WFB in the WD).

Oh, and the rules themselves fit into about 40 pages - including diagrams.

Don't worry though (it was a concern of mine), the rules are not THAT simplistic, and do seem to leave a fair range of tactical variation and competitiveness - random elements enhanced by dice of course, and also by a "card system" where you can play a certain number of cards a turn to alter game/unit features or statistics - which from the looks of it gives a skill use there as well (when to play what etc).  This is also how "magic" takes place in the game.  Unlike Man O War, in which magic effectively unbalanced the game, magic in Uncharted Seas is minimal - although some of the damage that can be done is quite horrific it is not game-changing but simply another tool in the arsenal.

There are more dice to be rolled in Uncharted Seas.  In a way.  You of course have less models on the board than you do with something like WFB or 40K, but each models has more dice to roll in certain situations.  A Bone Griffion battleship can, for example, roll 23 Attack Dice at Range Band 2.  Sound nasty?  Well it is, but it suffers at other ranges firing only 9 Attack Dice at Range Band 3 and a mere 1 at Range Band 4.

Sound like a foreign language?  I've only read the rulebook once I'm getting a reasonable gist of how it plays.

The models themselves are all resin and whitemetal.  I daresay that eventually Spartan may produce plastic models, but they have a good feel weightwise to them - and I've always liked that about metal models.  Flash was minimal, but being mostly on the metal sails did necessitate a little bit of work with the file.  There isn't that much assembly required, and some conversion is possible (different sail configurations and so on) if you so wish. Size isn't too bad either.  A Dragon Lord Battleship is about 15cm long, whilst the frigates are 3.5cm long.  I guess the new destroyers about to be released will be smaller than that, but then they are only destroyers!

Overall I was impressed by the models.  Look forward to getting round to painting them.  They do look like they will well suit the dipping method, but have a good amount of detail on them to be picked out as well.

I do have a little concern in regards to how well they will transport, being not your usual model shape/size, and the sails etc on some models are a little tricky to pin.  But my intent is to magnetise the bottom of the ships themselves so that will hopefully aid in transportation.

Self interest aside, I think the game is well worth a look - even if only as a random evening game with a few gaming mates.  Rules are simple, games appear to run in a good timeframe, models - and rules are cheaply priced (in comparison to other gaming systems if nothing else), and thanks to that thing called playtesting (SOME companies apparently still do it), is pretty well balanced as well.

Good work Spartan Games!