Firelock Games--Oak & Iron 1/600 Age of Sail Miniature Game

While attending Gen Con this year I wanted to track down the creators of Blood and Plunder (52mm game) to see what more they could tell me about a new game they have in development. Unfortunately, I never did find them in the vendor hall as I suspect they were located elsewhere? However, I did find this link with some description of what the game will entail and when a Kickstarter is likely to occur.

https://mustcontainminis.com/2018/07...n-preview.html

It also sounds like some preliminary Oak & Iron ship models they intended to bring to the show were destroyed by the airlines on a return visit from the UK. Sounds like a demo game on the Beasts of War website might occur soon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=JEVDnZjg0ls

I also swung by the Ares booth a couple of times and saw they had two Sails of Glory starter boxes on sale along with ships from every wave. No new information on upcoming products, but restock of some items as seen on their website were confirmed.

That the restock is confirmed is good news Jim.

Those small ships, however could fill a missing link in our system. Assuming that they are used as stand alones, the change in scale will not matter excepting to some of my coastline and harbour elements. I would like to design a set of movement cards sized up to the new scale, and effectively use the Sails rules along with the modifications to gunnery for smaller ships which have already been discussed on the anchorage. I'm sure that would help solve the problem of not being able to produce smaller ships at our present scale.
Rob.

Oak and Iron launches its Kickstarter next week. More information on the game and the Kickstarter can be found here.

https://www.firelockgames.com/oak-iron/

I'm fairly certain that Firelock Games will offer a retail version of the game if one isn't inclined to be a KS backer. Scale will be 1/600 and the miniatures will be molded colored plastic, but not pre-painted. I believe masts will be removable and the ship bases will be clear plastic or acrylic.

Of note from a historical perspective is this statement from Mike Tunez the game designer:

Quote:

---

Historic Period: This one is especially important I think. The game’s time frame covers the beginning of line of battle tactics in the mid 17th century all the way to the middle of the 18th century. This is a period where most of the major powers at sea where on relatively level footing and is a stretch of time that very few rulesets currently cover. Of course, the golden age of piracy (roughly 1660-1720) also falls into this period and as we all know, people love pirates! So the option to have some real historical pirates in the game is sure way to draw in people of all ages who would otherwise not be interested in a historical game.

---

There's a nice demo up on YouTube. See here if you've an hour or so to spare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=kwfkJRX2aZk

Cheers!

Looks like a fun beer and pretzels game.

Personally I think the ships are a little too goofy or simplistic, but there's no real good close up, so I might be wrong about that.

Thanks for the Heads up Jim.
Rob.

Looks like another potentially schizophrenic game as far as command and control is concerned as it talks about what admirals are doing yet all the initial releases (and from what I've seen , players primary interest) is in smaller level actions. but that could just be publishers hyperbole (not uncommon these days),.

The models look pretty good to me, although interesting that the brigantine doesn't have a gaff sail, the feature that defined the rig. Curiously though the Peter Pig one also misses this defining feature. I wonder why both made the same error, so many years apart? Although the models aren't painted it looks like they are using brown plastic for hulls and white for masts /sails so they won't look too bad out of the box. And they need a bit of assembly, which should make them easy to paint up before sticking together. I can see these doing quite well for small scale actions. I might well get a set just to see what they are like (I already have a horde of Peter Pig 1/450 small ships up to frigates which I'm not going to replace)

Hey guys! I'm the lead developer of this game, if anyone has any question I'd be happy to answer them. I do want to note that the game does indeed handle fleet actions. We've only showed some smaller squad level games in our videos because we only have handful of prototype models right now. I'm the process of getting a bunch more put together so I can showcase how the game plays at different sizes. The ability to play small squadrons of 3-6 ships or scale up to 15-20 ships grouped up into multiple squadrons is one of the features of the game I'm most proud of so far actually :)

Quick note on the brigantine, our brigantine does in fact have a gaff sail. Our corvette is a similar model, but with a course and topsail on the mainmast instead of the big gaff. In the 17th century both of those can technically be classified as a brigantine as naval terminology for small ships is all over this place during this period, which is probably why Peter Pig calls their a brigantine.

I'll leave you with a more up to date video showing some nicer painted models and more updated rules. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jfNG_aWOJ4

Welcome to the Anchorage, Mike, from here 'across The Pond' in the United Kingdom.

Ah, it looks then as though the model shown on the site as the brigantine is actually the corvette. It's shown correctly on the Kickstarter though :) I suspect I'll be dipping in at least for a starter set :happy:

Welcome to the Anchorage on behalf of all the sailors moored here Mike.
Thank you for explaining about your product for the members.
As a rule we draw the attention of game producers to our policy vis advertising.

https://sailsofglory.org/showthread....lory-Anchorage

As far as I am concerned you have not infringed our policy by merely acting as any ordinary member woul drawing our attention to a new product, but please make yourself aware of the above guidelines.
Rob.

I would say he's only answered questions and clarified uncertainties.

I thank you for that, Mike.

Will you go bigger in sizes?

I've only seen forth rates in the way of large ships for the regular navies. In 1720 there were many larger ships. Are there any plans for those?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TexaS

I would say he's only answered questions and clarified uncertainties.

---

Exactly Jonas.
Even so I have to draw Traders attention to Keith's rules for the site.
Rob.

Hi Mike and good to see you here, I look forward to seeing how this one developes.
Like DM I may indulge in the ks also.
Jonas if you check out the ks there are expamsions going upto 1st, 2nd and 3rd rates as well as 4th and 5th

Might also be worth noting that the project has been funded (over 200% I believe) with 26 days left in the campaign. I jumped in on day one. Cheers!

Thanks for the welcome and to those that have backed! I've read the rules and my only intention, as far as Oak & Iron goes, is to make myself available to answer any questions. Thanks again!

I watched Oak & Iron in action at the Firelock Games booth at the HMGS Fall in! convention this past weekend. I was actually buying into their 28mm pirate skirmish game Blood & Plunder, getting the Dutch starter box to play with my gaming group. I didn't have time to play a demo as I was busy game mastering several games during the show (WWII armor actions).

I was impressed by the ships and accessories. The ships look good painted. One aesthetic distinction from SoG ships is the clear base, a much better design. If I remember correctly I spoke with Mike who just posted in this thread. (Mike I am the guy from Delaware who sailed on the Kalmar Nyckel). They have paid attention to historical detail for both their games, more so than I thought when I first saw the Blood & Plunder game. One point to remember for us SoG players is that this is 17th century naval actions which is much different than a century or more later, especially early on prior to the first Anglo-Dutch war. For example I bought a Piet Heyn figure to lead my Dutch and his famous defeat of the Spanish silver fleet was in 1628. ( I have been to his tomb in Delft but that's another story!). One of the game tenants is to have special rules for each nationality or faction. For example naval factions can coordinate fire better than pirates.

I was on a don't buy into any new games regime, but alas I think that is over. :minis:

Jonas to address your question on the KS page there is a "Ships of the Line" expansion which includes the larger ships as well as a general navy expansion which includes 4th and 5th rates. Unlike SoG they also have a merchantmen expansion in the initial run which includes the famous 17th century Dutch fluyts. Important given the games tie in to pirates. I would recommend watching the YT video, which I did when I got home from the show this weekend. It is not a detailed sailing simulator but that is not the audience they are after either. Here is a link to the Ks:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...s/oak-and-iron

I saw both yt-videos and checked out the kickstarter. I'm1 also a Bood & Plunder backer and have Dutch and... was it French?...

I'm not that much into pirates, well kind of... ok I like pirates but I like navies more, and the navy versions of the game makes me buy a base game for pirates and then add ons to get the navies ending up costing quite a bit. I'll pass but I think it's quite interesting.

I've also backed this campaign. I didn't get in on the Sails of Glory kickstarter and have always regretted it.

The game play looks interesting and I really like the ability to use pirates or national ships. Their tie-in to link Oak and Iron games with Blood and Plunder ones in a campaign format is very interesting and has me considering getting into the latter at some future point. The recent update showing the 3D rendering of the third rate looks very nice! It sounds like they are still developing the final details for the ship models.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by El Frantico

Hey guys! I'm the lead developer of this game, if anyone has any question I'd be happy to answer them. I do want to note that the game does indeed handle fleet actions. We've only showed some smaller squad level games in our videos because we only have handful of prototype models right now. I'm the process of getting a bunch more put together so I can showcase how the game plays at different sizes. The ability to play small squadrons of 3-6 ships or scale up to 15-20 ships grouped up into multiple squadrons is one of the features of the game I'm most proud of so far actually :)

Quick note on the brigantine, our brigantine does in fact have a gaff sail. Our corvette is a similar model, but with a course and topsail on the mainmast instead of the big gaff. In the 17th century both of those can technically be classified as a brigantine as naval terminology for small ships is all over this place during this period, which is probably why Peter Pig calls their a brigantine.

I'll leave you with a more up to date video showing some nicer painted models and more updated rules. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jfNG_aWOJ4

---

Ahoy there El Frantico. As a player of B&P and a supporter of O&I glad to see you here

Good evening gentlemen!

Of course I am on board, too. ;)

Regards
Mo

Now that O&I has shipped, has any one given it a play yet? I haven't had chance myself, but am looking to get a game going. If anyone in the VA, MD, DC area wants to give it a try, or some SoG, let me know!

Still waiting for it to ship in the UK and EU

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JimBlkHwk

Now that O&I has shipped, has any one given it a play yet? I haven't had chance myself, but am looking to get a game going. If anyone in the VA, MD, DC area wants to give it a try, or some SoG, let me know!

---

I have my KS copy and picked up some extra ships (Men of War box) at Cold Wars last weekend. Several people wanted to play but in the end we didn't have time. Of course that show went on just before the restrictions on public events when into effect in PA. I was hoping to get in some games with my group in Delaware not at this point that is unlikely for awhile. More time to paint them!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by David Manley

Still waiting for it to ship in the UK and EU

---

David, I saw an update on KS from Mike at Firelock that they are putting the shipments to the UK&EU on a ship because they are no longer able to ship via air.

Yes, I saw that too. Gives me time to paint the 300-odd galleys I have for Salamis before they arrive :)

LOL - I haven't finished my Warlord Black Seas ships!

The O&I ships do lend themselves to a quick paint job.