During the last couple of months of lockdown I have not done
any solo gaming, but I am now beginning to feel the need. I decided to get some
of those armies out of their boxes that have not seen the light of day for many
years. I started with my Man O’War fleets.
I first encountered GW’s Man O’War game when it first came
out in the early 1990’s, when I gamed in the Scimitar group in Coventry.
Another club member had contacts with GW and got its products early at a
discount rate. For a couple of years Man O’War proved a very popular game
within the club, providing many fun entertaining games, but I did not feel the
need to purchase my own copy of the game. About 10 years later, when I had
moved away, I spotted a copy of Man O’War and Plague Fleet on a B&B stall.
I bought them both for a very reasonable price and immediately painted up the
base set of ships. The models looked great and so, for the next couple of years
I searched all B&B stalls for more ships (I even dabbled on ebay, although
the prices were high!). I also got the Sea of Blood expansion. I soon found I
had sizable fleets (1,500 points+) for nearly all combatants (plus a second
Empire force that I painted as Pirate), plus all the flyers and sea monsters. I
was only missing Skaven, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Vikings. The lack of Skaven did
bother me, so when Uncharted Seas came out I re-modelled some vessels as Skaven
proxies (very pleased with them), plus I was able to mass an Undead fleet (which
was based on a GW article in a magazine). I must have spent a couple of hundred
pounds, but the models looked super, the game was great, and I reckon at today’s
prices, the collection could be sold for a couple of thousand! Over the years
since I have played many Man O’War games, but the fragility of the models tends
to make me cautious about using them down the club.
The first solo game I set up was Empire versus Bretonnians ,
a human galley against sail clash with no magic involved. The Empire focussed
on disabling the sail powered Bretonnians and the dice gods were with them.
Once the nimble Bretonnians were slowed down, their vessels became easy targets
for ramming and boarding.
Next I played using the two most un-seaworthy fleets i.e.
Orcs versus Skaven. Many Man O’War players tend to regard the rules to be ‘broken’
when using these forces. The Orc Big-chukka vessels are very ineffectual, as is
the Orc magic. I think both these problems can be easily fixed with house
rules, and also most Orc players fail to use patience in their tactics. The Orc
Hulks are the most powerful vessels but are slow; it is vital to hold the
smaller vessels in the fleet back until the Hulks get close, then unleash them!
The Skaven are just potty! An enemy just has to sit back a watch the Skaven
self-destruct; Warp Raiders blow up, Skaven Seers explode and the Doombringer
bell erupts destroying friend and foe alike! I have never seen the Skaven win,
but they lose spectacularly and because of this, I love using them!
I have really enjoyed reviving my interest in Man O’War and
plan to play more games with different fleets.
