Oak & Iron Solo Playthrough

So I’ve unboxed, looked at and painted ships then moved onto the rest of the contents, what’s left to do? That’s right! I hear what you’re saying: ‘PLAY THE GAME!’

Well in this socially distanced world it’s not feasible to be able to play a full game with another human being, but I make this promise (heroic stance - hands on hips, head pointed to the future) I will throw down with an opponent at the earliest opportunity! But until that time I hope you will be content with my playthrough in this homebrew solo scenario.

The rules to Oak and Iron lend themselves quite nicely to playing a solo game or two … perhaps even a campaign if one was to be written.

What adjustments did I make? Well, I had to forgo the fleet building portion, and decided that as the player I would always go first. This could be adapted to go either way to be fair but for me it was a coin-toss, and this way won out.

Secondly, I decided not to play initiative cards. This may not sit well with some, but I couldn’t justify picking cards for an AI opponent where I knew what they had. I could have picked blind, it’s true, but I wanted to have fun - not rewrite the whole system! I’m sure the guys at Firelock could give better guidance after all. I also reduced the playing size to be 2x3ft to narrow the field of engagement, and guarantee it was a bloody battle.

With these slight adjustments made, I decided the simplest way to run through the rules was to… well
Run the Gauntlet.

Scenario.

Captain Bernard has been pillaging his way through a small Island chain. The Royal Navy has despatched its fleet to find him and run him down.

Caught on a water-and-food-run in Lockdown Bay, you .. (Or Bernard) must make a dash from one end of the map to the other and escape into open sea.

The Royal Navy are fielding a Fluyt and Frigate, individually less powerful but collectively outgunning the Pirates’ Light Galleon.

I set up my playing area as above, with Bernard on the East trying to escape the incoming ships from the North. There was a S.SW wind and all to play for.

As you would expect there was nothing much happening on Turn 1, just manoeuvring of ships and getting into the routine. Then came Turn 2. Musket Range. This was not going to be devastating to our Capt Bernard, but it’s all about the scenario. He couldn’t afford to take damage or fatigue regularly, as the option for actions was limited. He knew it would have to be a few turns of ‘reload and fire’ to get through the first opponent, the Fluyt. Unfortunately, the Fluyt only had one objective too, to keep pouring the fire in and owing to range and angle he got the first broadside of the engagement, and it was pretty damaging.

Captain Bernard knew he could ignore the first 3 damage dice, so he was never going to be in ‘much’ danger of sinking … but would his crew keep up fighting long enough for him to get away? 

Intricate seamanship was required to manoeuvre the Galleon, not only into broadside position, but also to avoid turning into the wind. The Fluyt would just have to try and keep his guns lined up and up his rate of fire. Having no high sides to defend the crew, they were being whittled down, and getting fatigued. 

Ordinarily, Captain Bernard would take stock of the situation, rest his crew up, and try to regain some control, but after delivering yet another devastating broadside to knock the Fluyt out of the fight, he ran straight into the guns of the Frigate. The slow grinding of fatigue was starting to show, and getting out of this scrape would be a close-run thing. 

So, this is the state of play: Bernard is damaged, has suffered casualties, and is staring down the throat of a fully armed and, as yet, untouched Frigate… What is a boy to do?

If truth be told, a boy must manoeuvre.

He had to get upwind and behind, which involved some tricky, but successful, skill checks. And, dear reader, despite trying my absolute hardest, I failed miserably to capture the 3 turns which set him free. This may have been a break down in my own plan for the AI - I don’t know. It was fun and exciting with broadsides delivered, crew shots delivered - and taken - but in the end it all came down to the final dice rolls of the game.

If Bernard can put enough damage on the Frigate to knock him out he wins. If the Frigate fails to put in damage on Bernard, he wins. If the Frigate manages to roll at least 2 damage and knock off the last point of fatigue, well that might be a long stay in irons before a short drop on the hangman’s rope…

He made it! Just…
One more dice would have been the difference between victory and defeat.

Look, I’m not going to kid you, it’s far from the epic battle I want to show you. It’s nautical miles away from fleet manoeuvres, admirals’ orders, and making proper use of short, or full, sails. But it was still a bloody good game, and great fun.

So a partial conclusion to this Oak and Iron series would be this: It’s a great game. You get enough parts in the box for the game to be completely playable, including the sea mat. Believe it or not just having that is great, and really sold me, as all I needed to play was time to read the rules, and space to actually set up. I only needed to glue masts on one vessel (damn you, Sloop!) but other than that it was straight on the table, even when it was pointed out I had misplaced certain masts… no drama, I just popped them out, placed them correctly and moved on.

The rules flow logically: Move/Action, Attack, End Phase. There are flavoursome options for personalisation of your crew and initiative deck, Random Events, pretty much everything you want in a single box.

That’s the good stuff.

What would I have liked to see ? Mirrored fleets, for one. Straight from the box you are always going to have to mud-wrestle your opponent for the Light Galleon, and the poor old Sloop is going to be the unpopular kid left last when picking sides for football. But in fairness it’s a core box, not a two-player starter box, so just a bit of expectation management there.

Checking Firelock’s website, there are also add-ons - more ships (!), and something I always love to see: acrylic replacements for some of the cardboard elements, range ruler etc. I can’t wait to see how this game develops. I would also like to see more campaign scenarios to play through, as, even though there are several different options for setting up your game, there is no holding story. I would refer to a comment I made in a previous article that this is a great linking game, which may help bind a number of other games together. ie play Blood & Plunder for capturing booty etc but Oak & Iron to control sea lanes in a campaign setting.

I am devastated that, because of Lockdown, I cannot play this game fully - or indeed, completely show you this game being played. However, I absolutely promise, as The Mighty Thor is my witness, that I will make it happen.

Does this pass all the Paint All The Minis tests? Well, yes, I believe so. I could (and would) play this game often and not feel cheated. The initial outlay provides a straight-from-the-box experience that, owing to myriad customisable options, means that I can keep dipping my toe in time and time again. Play once … $75 … play 3 times … $25 (see how I simplified the numbers to avoid showing my embarrassing maths skills?)
It’s neatly stored and transported in the original box, and wont take more than a cup of coffee’s-worth in time to explain to a new player.

I’ve enjoyed the journey so far. I hope to keep on enjoying it for a while to come.