Dreadfleet Review

COMPONENTS

 The miniatures of the ships are elegantly worked out. The field - a large piece of fabric with an image of the ocean - also looks great and may be useful in other games. But the elements of the landscape are very thin and light and easily turn over if they are caught.

 The rulebook had a broken binding (although it was replaced), but otherwise there are no complaints about it. I like John Blanche's art, and the book has just a lot of his illustrations. The rules are clearly laid out, with one or two spreads under each section of the rules. Under the description of each ship and captain and the scenario too. The book has a table of contents, so it is not difficult to find the right place. The rules themselves take up about half of the book; the rest — lor and other.

 A ship's rudder helps turn ships around. The ruler is also very useful; it can be bent and fixed at an angle of 45 degrees. The white and one red die look kind of cheap compared to the other components. However, these are ordinary six-sided cubes, nothing more is required of them.

 There are several decks of cards in the game, as well as a card for each ship and for each order for each player. Apart from ships and orders, all the cards are quite small. They feel a bit subtle. Given their regular use, it is not a fact that they will last long...

BRIEFLY ABOUT THE RULES

 The rules are quite simple. There are no unusual innovations here that could surprise or surprise - which, in my opinion, is not lacking at all. The gameplay is based on cubes and several decks of cards. Very random, which balances the players in a sense: a less experienced player has a good chance of beating a more experienced one. On the other hand, depth suffers from this. If you're looking for a serious game, then Dreadfleet is not for you; if you're looking for a fun random battle, then the game might work for you.

 The move is divided into several phases:

 1) Status phase: for each long-playing effect (as a rule, one or more such effects are constantly present in the game, usually these are fate cards) dice are rolled. Depending on the result, something can happen.

 2) Fate phase: both players draw fates on the card, which are played immediately. Again, random effects, some with very serious consequences. In this phase, the direction and strength of the wind changes.

 3) Action phase: players take turns walking the ships - first I walk this, then you this, then I that, etc.

 4) Final phase: verification of winning conditions.

 The statuses phase at the beginning of the game is allowed quickly, but the longer the game lasts, the more cards accumulate, which must be checked each turn by rolling dice and activating the effects that have fallen.

 The fate phase activates random events that usually hurt one of the ships, but sometimes help.

  The main action takes place in the action phase. On your turn, you choose a ship, and then perform the following actions in order:

 1) Orders: large ships with named captains (5 on each side) can give orders. In this case, it is necessary to pass a command check (discard a result above a certain value on one D6). 3 of the 5 orders modify your movement, the 4th repairs the ship, and the 5th is a lookout of sorts (allows you to fire back if you're attacked).

 2) Movement: movements and turns. If the wind is in your face, you swim slower; if in the back, then faster. You can only return after moving a certain distance or more, depending on the type of ship. In general, the mechanics are typical of naval battle games.

 3) Volley: you can shoot from both sides in an arc of 90 degrees. You can continue firing even during boarding. Each ship has a specific shooting rate. During the shot, the corresponding number of dice is rolled. Depending on the distance to the target, successes can be considered 4+, 5+ or 6. +1 is also given for the first volley of the ship in the game and +1 for a shot to the nose or stern. Here are all the modifiers, except for the rare events on the fate cards. On a success, the target rolls dice for an armor save. For each failure, the map of losses is drawn. Usually they mean a small decrease in crew, speed, hull strength, and sometimes more unpleasant special or status effects hang over them. Damage cards remain under the ship until it is repaired or sunk.

 4) Boarding: upon collision with an enemy ship, the movement stops and you have to engage in a boarding skirmish. It begins with a duel between the captains: both roll dice in a number equal to their swordsmanship rating; 5+ is considered a success. Whoever has more successes wounds the opponent (or both are wounded in the event of a tie). After 4 wounds, the captain goes to the hospital bed. His ship will continue to operate, but he himself will cease to participate in the game.

 After the captains have had fun, it is the turn of their crews. The skirmish proceeds similarly, only instead of fencing - the number of the remaining crew. Moreover, the one who lost does not receive 1 loss card, but cards in the amount equal to the difference in results.

HOW WAS OUR FIRST PARTY

 In the first duel scenario, your ships start at opposite corners of the map, with islands in the middle. I immediately drew a sea monster fate card and placed it directly in front of my opponent's ship so that it could not avoid collision. Since he plays as Count Noctilis, he has a special ability to try to take control of the monster instead of giving orders. He passed the test and didn't have to fight the monster, but he couldn't do anything with it either. Small boats and all monsters are considered "support vessels": they have some special rules - in particular, they cannot break contact on their own in the event of a collision. As a result, the monster could not move, and the Reaver could not swim past or through it. He could try to break contact, but in that case I would move him close again because I could control him. In the end, the "Robber" got rid of him, killing him in the course of several boardings. Here, on the map of fate, another sea monster fell to me, which, naturally, took the place of the previous one.

 As my opponent dealt with them, moving an inch within a few moves, I had to cross the entire field to get within shooting range. Ah, the hard life of a sailor...

 As a result, the fight started almost at its starting location. I managed to successfully open fire on the nose and deal additional damage to his slightly monster-ridden ship. The Rogue killed the second monster and was finally ready to face me, but the forces were already clearly unequal: he had 7 damage cards, mine had 0. This scenario ends when one of the enemy ships has 8 damage. Although many fate cards rained down on me, all the damage was prevented by rescuers or repaired. The "robber" stayed only slightly above the waterline...

 After completing the scenario objective, we continued the game anyway: there's no point in cleaning up ships when you're just learning how to play. I got in his nose a few more times, but the main thing was that the fate card drawn allowed the support boat to be converted into a brander! Just a gift of some kind. I was preparing to lower her from the anchor, when the Robber crashed into my side, after which the boarding began. It was not possible to break contact before the end of the game for several reasons. In particular, because at first we got carried away with the boarding skirmish, and then there was not enough crew left. Now the Rogue was getting lucky, avoiding almost all the damage it should have received from fires and damage down to the waterline. My ship, on the other hand, was cracking before my eyes, and more than once there was only one loss card missing from sinking. The skirmish continued, both captains were disabled. In the end, I managed to sink the Rogue. By then we were so battered that both ships had what seemed to be 33 damage cards out of 55 in the game. I wonder if there will be enough loss cards for a full scale battle involving 8 ships.

IMPRESSION

 +Quite an interesting process.

 +Nice ship miniatures, especially if painted.

 +The box contains all the necessary components, nothing extraneous is needed. Even a plastic ruler came in handy.

 -The game takes up a lot of space. The map of the field in the unfolded form is 180 x 120 cm. Obviously, there is little space left for the rest - and this is despite the fact that they played with 2 ships out of 10. With 10, it will clearly be a tight fight. Moreover, the map cannot be laid out only partially, since the yellow fields along the borders determine the direction of the wind.

 - The wind is so changeable that it is almost impossible to plan ahead. Yes, this is another element of randomness.

 -Random events quickly get boring. The decks are small, and soon the cards will start repeating themselves over and over again.

 - The cards are quite fragile, and it is not a fact that they will not flutter if you play for a long time. Especially considering that according to the rules the decks will be scrolled and shuffled regularly. The more ships, the more often.

 +/- Basically, this is a wargame with miniatures (albeit contained in one box), and not a normal board.

 +/- Lots and lots of randomness. Experience is of some importance, but very often you will win and lose at the will of fate, which is a minus for some, and not for someone.

CONCLUSIONS

 In general, the game is not bad, but nothing more. Not sure if it's worth the price, and unlikely to attract collectors in the future.

 Whether it is worth painting the models is a controversial issue. This is not an easy job; given that all ships are different, painting them will take more time and effort than painting an entire fleet. On the other hand, a painted Dreadfleet will look many times better, and the process is probably interesting. All in all, I'm not going to sell my Dreadfleet just yet.