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Dreadfleet Launches God Bless all who sail in her!
September 16, 2011 by brennon
So the wait is over, and GW have Just announced DREADFLEET a... wait for it... pirate game?!?! Ok to be fair its not really such a surprise but sometimes it's nice to just fein surprise especially at 12:45am.
Heres what they have to say:
Dreadfleet is a boxed game for two (or more) players that includes everything you need to make war on the turbulent seas of the Warhammer world. At your command are two fleets of ships - the Dreadfleet led by the Vampire Count Noctilus, aboard his gargantuan sea-hulk the Bloody Reaver; and the Grand Alliance commanded by the Pirate Captain Jaego Roth, who recently stole the Heldenhammer - the pride of the Imperial Fleet, and one of the largest galleons to ever sail the high seas.
OK... So what does it look like...
So while i try to get my head around the BIG question of ... WHY?
You guys can throw some comments below on your thoughts, and whether you think it's gonna be a fun game, which is all that really matters at the end of the day.
Well?
A company that's lost its way... or one whose heart is still in the right place?
Your faced with Warhammer Fantasy struggling the root cause of which could be any number of things - Lord of the Rings hurt it, The armies are so big it's just too expensive to start up, it's rules are awkward and antiquated, perhaps fantasy is just not in vogue - its probably a combination of a lot of factors.
Would you release a boxed game that's under the 'Fantasy Banner' that's got unrelated rules, unrelated models at a completely different scale, and set its distribution to be limited edition - so if it did become popular it wouldn't be available mmmmm
If it were me, I would have released Warhammer Quest and printed stat cards for every major beastie in the Warhammer range, and encouraged people to buy whatever models they liked knowing full well they don't need to collect the army because they can meet said beastie down a dungeon on a friday night.
Same scale, same models great stories and fun with mates = EPIC WIN!
But it's not up to me...
But perhaps this has nothing to do with fantasy, perhaps this is the design studio saying , 'let's do this... because we can!' and to be fair, you can't complain or fault that.
Maybe they just wanted to create somthing fun, and have it limited so people would value the product and not treat it like a commodity.
This is highly unlikely to set the Fantasy brand on fire, but if its fun some lucky gamers are going to enjoy this box of piratey goodness for years to come, while others will wish they had the opportunity.
If it was to help fantasy well that's most likely a FAIL
If the talented buggers in the design studio did this because they just bloody could... well that's gonna chalk up as an EPIC WIN in my book!
But then I always had a soft spot for pirates and erm... Megadeth 😉
Do you want a second opinion?
Then check out the blog of our pal @quirkworthy alias the mighty Jake Thornton!
He's posted his thoughts on Dreadfleet.
Take me to the Quirkworthy Blog!
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If it is fun, then the asking price is not too horrific considering the amount of gear in the box.
I don’t believe I heard that. £70? Good value? The ships are *TINY* you’re talking something smaller than 2d6 put together! As in HALF the length of my pinkie finger!
Value isn’t a word I’d use. It’s like an estate agent saying a room 8′ x 8′ is a ‘double bedroom’.
Beautiful? yes. Lovely? Yes, but a real announcement would be cutting both starter boxes to £50. I’d be over GW like a shot and have bought both.
GW put a size comparison in the blog; the ships are around twice the height of an average empire soldier/space marine dreadnaught height. they’re a decent size.
Half the lengthnof your pinkie finger?? I think you read wrong, mate…
Models look nice, that’s a good start. But then again GW models always look good so no change there. But is that enough to get me to buy this? No.
Like I was just saying to a friend of mine it is going to take something extremely special for me to look at this and say ”must have”. It’s not the same as Space Hulk which had a pre-existing game and therefore we knew it was going to be something to get.
This has one prequel, and that is a game that was not supported by GW in the long run. It came out of nowhere and for Sigmar’s sake why on Earth make this a limited release. It’s going to take a lot to try and sway people into picking this up with something like Spartan Games and their Uncharted Seas line coming out again this month (or next, can’t remember) with utterly revamped ships and a great/solid rules set.
Added to that, as much fun as the scenarios might be once the ones in the box have been done where is the growth? With something like Uncharted Seas at least there is a never ending potential within it.
I will be looking for this at Games Day and wanting to sit down and play this, or at least see some reviews. Won’t be picking this up until I know there is something worth getting into.
Oddly on another note when I was talking to my mate, I mentioned that if this had come out of Fantasy Flight Games I might have been more inclined to look into this as a product since they always produce quality games with quality rules. Games Workshop on the other hand don’t always do that…
Would be nice for the rules to be available in .pdf form so people could actually check to see if they liked the game before buying. If its a limited run what’s the harm. Since it’s a board game there is no way you can replicate it with your own proxies…but then again, that thinking never crosses GW’s mind.
We shall see….we shall see.
Fantasy Flight tend to support their boardgames with expansions too. (At least the successful ones!)
This is another Limited Edition, which makes sit up as a gamer and want one, but looking at it from my lofty industry seat, I can’t help but wonder what was the point?
But I’ll write about that shortly…
Limited Edition admittedly does have be usually sitting up and opening my ears to anything they have to say, its what got me to swing for Space Hulk and pick that up. But your right, there really seems little reason, rhyme or even sense to this release…
As has been pointed out by @cazboab there were plenty of other games they could have really made something out of…especially Blood Bowl.
Lets not kid ourselves here this is a cynical short term sales ploy to try and boost what have been flagging sales. Despite what the GW say things haven’t been going all that well for them of late and they’re hoping to emulate the one off shot in the arm the limited run of Space Hulk gave them. They don’t care about supporting WFB or anything else this is a purely short term cash fix and that means for us consumers its a short term product with no life in it. Its dead in the water before the ship launches if you’ll excuse the pun.
When I learned it is going to be a limited print run, that’ exactely what I thought; deadborn – you put it very nicely. With the set price, I’d want to look at it and see years of evolving adventure (even if with just a new model here and there). As it is, it’s an overpriced boardgame.
Interesting, how they’e pulled the original specialist line because it was too self-contained; you could get a BB team and stop there, a Mordheim gang, … then they publish Dreadfleet that obviously falls into the Specialist category and limit the profits they’ll receive on it from the get-go.
I’m not defending G-dub in anyway shape or form here, but I buy alot of board games. If you compare this, to say, the re-release of Titan a few years ago, which had no minis or expansions, the price tag is actually on par with other inflation. Titan was/is a great game that I get alot of enjoyment out of. My first thought when I saw Dreadfleet was the same as many of you, a limited run game that we might get an extra scenario or two worth of support for in White Dwarf.
I’ve thought about this for a few hours though, and since multiple races are represented in the box, maybe I can combine this with my Mighty Empires set and use it as another approach to a Fantasy Campaign. (Keep in mind, that “maybe” will probably be a LONG shot without having read any rules beforehand.) On the otherhand, maybe that is just the inner me hoping that there is still the small spark left in GW that wants to cater to us and not fatten their wallets.
@ collier79 (don’t know why I can’t reply under your post …);
I agree with you that when you look at the whole thing from a boardgame perspective, the price is comperable. It might have been my mistake to want this as a miniatures game, where it’s a standard to see more or less supported lines. The ammount of game pieces in the box is good for a boardgame, but from a miniature game perspective it’s a lot of filler; islands, measuring rod, sheep wheels, … stuff I could happily do without, if they’d use the plastic (resin?) on more minis instead. I suppose it all comes down to weather you like what you get in the box for the money. I’m afraid I don’t like enough of it and they’ve told me not to expect anything else down the line, because it’s a limited run.
Can’t believe I wrote sheep wheels … reminds me of that Monty sketch …
@lucas
I understand your point, and honestly, when I first saw pics of the game, I honestly thought GW had picked up rights to that pirate card game with the ships you assembled from cards and they were releasing a deluxe version. I’m with you though, this game offers nothing new in the way of innovation as far as presentation of board and mini’s, in fact, it looks to be about the same scale as the pirates card game. I’m afraid that the selling point for me will have to be game play and rules. Until I know more, this is on my no buy list.
@lucas
“I wrote sheep wheels”
It’s what you need to spin a good old Salty Sea Dog’s yarn! 😉
@collier79, I buy a lot of board games but I just don’t see this in the same bracket because that’s not what this is. Its a wargame in a box and as such it fails on so many levels as a wargame release that I just can’t contemplate purchasing it. Its not the price, its not even necessarily what’s in the box, its the fact that it doesn’t let you do what I’d normally do with a wargame and that’s choose a faction and the forces I want and buy into a system that I’ll be able to grow over many years. I’ve covered it in more detail on my blog:
http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/09/dreadfleet-im-trying-to-be-balanced.html
But that’s the crux of it for me.
Looks really nice. Might actually venture into GW Glasgow in the morning for a nosey, see if I can check it out and read the rules. Not as instantly desirable as Space Hulk deluxe was but if is similarly limited in numbers then I suppose I’ll have to invest in a copy, just so I don’t end up fruitlessly searching eBay in 10years time when Thin Warren is doing a piece about classic games for Discovery Home and Leisure and Beasts of War and reminds me I missed out on a great game.
Not much point popping in if they don’t have a demo copy for you to look at as it’s not out until the 1st of October
ive already stuck my knife into this elsewhere on BoW. Its looks great and hopefully its also fun. I wish them luck but @brennon makes many good points.
I think i shouldnt comment further as rant may happen…
Basic economics: you make more money by selling many products at a lower cost than you do sell deliberately limited quantities of a more expensive product.
Things we’d probably have put up with(and cleared your stocks in hours) as a limited release:
Necromunda
Bloodbowl
Gorkamorka
not this.
They really should put some backing behind bloodbowl, it’s still really popular despite GWs neglect. If they made a cheap box with a rulebook, pitch and sprue of equipment (gloves, balls, helmets and pads) you would be able to bodge together teams from the entire warhammer range while you waited for a specific races team to be released.
Im not a big fan of Blood bowl but it makes a lot of sense to redo that as its well loved and had a recent game (not so well loved by some). Man o war tweaked would make sense (no idea if that is what this new stuff is). Necromunda or Mordheim- the various board games, epic
the list goes ever on
Such as reducing the battleforces by £5 (they’ve proved they can sell at that rate) and then encouraging a discount?
If a reseller can price a Chimera at £16 and make a profit, why aren’t GW selling them for same or less? Heck, sell me four chimera for £60 and I’ll be tank happy all day!
On the upside, it’s prompted me to look at Dystopian wars if only to buy the rulebook and have a gander.
Oh. Thought it was out in the morning based on their new last minute announce then release policy. Better coming out in Oct, can stick it card now and actually pay it off next month when it arrives.
Looking at the pics the “Navigation Rod” looks interesting, a segmented Ruler thing for movement and turning as it doesn’t look like the board has a grid on it. Really would like a look at PDF of the rules too.
Looks like some nice models although I worry they might be made of bubbly-melticompound (Plastic Resin). Also, in usual GW methodology, the boxed set will be priced in an ok bracket but all the add ons would probably bankrupt the IMF.
It might also just be a rehash of man-O-War which was a good game but now looks a bit dated against slicker newcomers.
I see no point in it whatsoever.
The price is not right the models themselves cannot support the 70 pounds price tag and the whole concept is…. lets say not sound, he good pirates go to hunt down the evil pirates… yeah whatever.
If GW tries to hit another spacehulk thunder they missed all the spots, Spacehulk succeeded because it is one of their most renowned boardgames and a gateway that many of their now old veteran customers entered the “GW hobby” its mechanics were known and quite solid and everybody knew what to expect from it almost by hart, plus and this is not somethign to ignore the SH models were useful to their main games and many copies were sacrificed for the models.
Now this thing…. well they did right to hide all information about it until the very last moment….
This would have got more love from the bitter old timers if they’d called it “Man o’ War”, for sure.
im not old…im mature
Like a fine cheese eh @trebormills 😉
@warzan
a fine wine
disappointed you missed the play on words, hopefully youll get it this time 😉
Men grow character, Women grow old ^^.
When you win a game that would make you Victor Mature
Why do I feel a sudden urge to grab my coat?
I would have gone for this actually, but once it was stamped “Limited Edition” – it put me right off.
With your username why am I not surprised 😉
Will GW wonder about the day they almost caught him?
I’m actually glad to see GW branch out some and make something at least partially new (can’t quite call this man-o-war 2, but it has some influences).
It kind of misses the mark as an introductory product for fantasy by being in a different scale and limited edition. I could see it getting people into the warhammer background since those models have a lot of personality, but how many people will get to make that leap with the price, limited quantity, and it being marketed only toward existing customers?
I do want gw to make more board games like this that don’t just beg you to start their main line games, but enough with the limited editions already. If the company that makes it doesn’t think it’s good enough to keep on their shelves beyond release, why should we bother with it?
the real question is, will this get into the spacehulk situation where in a couple months time, you can sell the spare set you bought at release for enough to cover the cost of both sets?
By the reaction on message boards the interweb and all my friends… nope!!! 😀
I enjoyed Man O’ War back in the day and and if this is anything like it I will seriously consider getting it. It does seem like a really good deal even for the £70 price tag considering all the nice stuff you get included anyway.
One question though.. What the hell were Clan Moulder smoking though when they came up with that thing?! It looks like a blob fish. lol
Just buy a new Uncharted Seas fleet or two get the rules and bingo you’ll have a fantasy based Naval game with a future that you can bet will be supported unlike the latest GW cynical cash cow.
For $190 Aus Fark no…. sorry it looks beautiful but thats just to much for a 1 off system that wont have support, will consider my options… maybe if the pay gods are kind to me, but i think there are plenty of other sea games that are better value for money 🙂
I see no ships.
Didn’t really understand when the news broke and still don’t.
From what I read now I still don’t really see the point.
Looks okay but not looking that good value for money imho
will spend less than 70 squid to get up and running for Freebooters, and can use the minis for other systems too. Also could get future crews and expansions.
I don’t see that there is a lot of potential for variation in gameplay. Would be interested to hear what others think about it as I may well be wrong. Just looking at two fleets I can’t see what will offer a lot for keeping one interested after playing it a few times or through the scenarios (if any) and becoming totally becalmed.
Forgot to add a message from my cynical alter ego. Okay, my even more cynical alter ego
Interested that the release is this weekend with the Warpath announcements
Coincidence? Conspiracy? or am I simply cerebally constipated?
This message was brought to you by the letter C
Potentially the replay is for the fact that you can involve a group of friends put on a terrible pirate accent and drink sum rum then ask it all away. I am a busy parent of two and I love all in one games (my constant regret is loving my Eldar army but hating 40K). I loved Space Hulk and thought it was great value for money have played a tonne of games as it is easy to set up and take down. I can take it or leave it but for my $0.02(NZD) it is overall worth it.
No thanks. Doesn’t appeal to me like Space Hulk did (‘cos I’d played the original way back when). If I wanted to play fantasy naval battles then Uncharted Seas or Dystopian Wars are a better option. The models in this are nice enough, but I couldn’t use them for anything else. Also, at Aus$190 (about £125) it’s simply too expensive.
Exactly, Space, Warhammer Quest both have a huge place in my heart and for shear nostalgia value would have had me handing oodles of cash over. They’ve lost it for me. The company is now run by people who just don’t get the hobby and never will. Watching the GW right now is like watching an embarrassing uncle try to dance at a wedding!!! Its amusing for a while but gets really uncomfortable if you watch for too long…
*Space Hulk* Jesus I’ve got to stop writing on message boards when drunk or hung over…
Dear lord, that is one of the best posts I’ve read in a long while.
i have the old man of war game. They had plenty of rules and was supported by white dwarf today i would prefer to see these ship at 28mm scale or be a combo with warmaster.at least you could use you’re existing model to add to the game.
No comment, I’ll pass.
£70 for a game you’ll not be able to play in the store a fortnight after its released? no thanks. i want specialist games, but i want them supported by the company and i want them for approved play in the store.
looks pretty, but meh.
I was all over Space Hulk when it came out, even though I thought the Limited Edition was a bad idea.
This game? I was at least curious before, although the limited release was a definite downer for me. Now that I’ve seen it, would I buy it? Nah. The minis are too “GW”-ey and I’d rather buy Uncharted Seas and stick with a game that’s going to get more support.
The ships look like kids toys and that’s where the GW have been taking there product for years. I watched two kids in a local store stick two valkyries and then proceed to run around the store with them making flying noises… now sure we all might have done that in our own homes… but I looked on and watched and the store manager looked at me and said… ‘that’s the future of GW right there that is’ not too sure if he was joking around but I think there was a tinge of cynicism in his voice.
Surely better that than the close to tears expression of a child having saved and saved coppers and pennies only to find the price has bumped by a tenner?
For me the big question is why? This trap called limited edition never worked for me, and again, i was hoping for something else entirely, not a boardgame with minis and a fluff and history of warhammer that I cannot use with my warhammer game
Nice to see that atleast thetiming was right, thebsame weekend for Warpath, uh?
Still I would bet my money in something else than this pirate boardgame.
Pegasus has it own nice game with ships and stuff, maybe I will give a try with a different game of a different…
This thing, well IMHO would be much better if they released a revamped ManoWar…
I wouldn’t be so far to say Epic Fail, but it was fail… 🙁
“Epic Fail”?
They’re doing a revised version of Epic, too?
Now a re-release of titanicus would have been most welcome. 6 warlord titans, plastic terrain on a 4×4 board…. oh yes.
Sorry to be a negative-nancy, but it’s as unimpressive as I expected. Maybe I just shouldnt have high-expectations – but like 2009’s “mystery game” thing, the speculation was more exciting than what actually came out. For this, I was reading speculation on it being warmaster scale with crew models and it being a boarding-action game – which would of actually been pretty cool, but another fleet game like this seems redundant when Uncharted Seas exists – which has IMO better models anyway (not overcrowded with details piled on top of details piled on top of details ect), actual support and is affordable. Sorry, but I’ll pass. Flame On.
Have just watched the full Youtube trailer with an intro from Phil Kelly.
(Posted in the Trailer thread fwiw)
The mat looks good. Some of the individual ships are interesting.
I lespecially ike the look of the Chaos Dwarf steampunky mechanical Nautilus
However therein lies the rub for me. It looks out of place among sailing ships and the inclusion a vessel (singular) from all the races looks contrived, fluffwise, and incoherent on the table.
I know that won’t bother most people but I would rather two fleets, Empire and VC for example. This would have allowed for further fleets to be introduced over time.
The game still looks rather one dimensional which is still a big negative for me, Though it is unfair to judge from having only seen a ten minute video.
Overall I reckon it would have been better if GW had licenced it out so it could have been fully developed as a game as others have said.
The game looks good if a bit pricey. But that’s to expected from GW. Pretty much all that have been said about the limited release is true and don’t make much sense marketing wise. It’ll probably sell out in the end, but the game is lacking the hype of Space Hulk. And I have to say that in the end, I’m just not interrested in the concept. No matter how good the game will be. Let’s hope that the next fantasy related “surprise game” will Mordheim or Warhammer Quest.
Cash grab.Pure and simple.
So I am not a Warhammer Fantasy guy at all… Love to play 40K and starting to get into Infinity…. but I must say as soon as I saw this game I pre-ordered… why? Not because I have any interest in WHF, but because I was sucked into miniature wargames and the 40k world at a friends house after playing a nights worth of manowar and then 40K the next night.
FYI… Pirates are cooler than ninjas
It’s a stupid, pointless release – no matter how good the game/miniatures to release a GAME that needs PEOPLE to play it as a LIMITED release means you are LIMITING your PLAYER base from day one, does that sound like a recpe for success to you? Being GW no doubt they’ll claim it as a massive, hobby changing success no matter what happens but then they always do – mind you they say it’s in limited numbers but I can’t see anything that says how many, maybe they’re pulling an Aurelian and if it’s popular they’ll just make more …
misterq bad luck mate your getting charged £55 more then it cost from GW thats almost double
Yeah, well aware. 🙁 It’s like GW doesn’t think we can see the rest of the world prices from down here. 😛
Hmmm … any one else wondering if battle fleet gothic will get a make over after this?
The limited run and slim chance of expansion of the game are what will most likely keep me out of it. I could justify the price, if the box provided me with a solid basis to expand, but when I can get the rulebook and twice as many ships for Uncharted for the price … Pitty, I really like the kitchy ships in Dreadfleet (even if the chaosdwarf squid is a total rip-off of the DW Ika.
I think it’s great. The fact that GW have taken the risk and have produced a new game is certainly welcomed by me. How much this is just a rework of Man O War, I have no idea. I just hope this is the start of new things to come – i.e. more new games or rereleased (repackaged) older games.
My first thoughts wasn’t that this was part of the immediate Fantasy range but a separate game in it’s own right. To me, this is where the heart should be. They should be making a whole range of games. Otherwise why on earth call your brand ‘Games Workshop’ if you ever just make products for 2 game systems? Giving up titles like Horus Heresy and Talisman to Fantasy Flight Games was in my view a sign of weakness. Fantasy Flight Games are brilliant but what on earth was GW doing giving these titles up to its competition? A great games company like GW should be making and releasing those games itself.
You make a very valid point @nobbla
However GW’s best selling boardgame was actually one of the best selling boardgames in the world, and had a number of expansions. It wasn’t limited edition and it ‘actually’ did change the face of gaming.
Karma for anyone who can guess what it was 😉
Talisman?
it probably must be heroquest really many expansions and everybody knows it.
Hah, guess I’ll try Space Crusade then as we’re running out of possibilities. I liked Space Crusade more than Heroquest, am I alone in this? Surely a box full of dreadnoughts sold better than the Heroquest expansions?
Or is it Mousetrap? Ah, I remember Mousetrap fifth edition, where they nerfed the mice and put spikes and skulls on all the little ramps…
Yup it was Heroquest one of the best selling board games of all time, and the one that demonstrated the use of great fantasy minatures (and basically put citadel on the map)
15 Karma to @psychoticstorm for just being Aewsome
3 Karma to @lucas for having a go
5 Kamra to @daverichelieu for managing to get two great pieces of gaming history into one post!
DID YOU KNOW: That it was a chance find of Space Crusade in a charity shop for £1.50 4 years ago that actually led to the Beasts of War project getting of the ground?
I can’t forget it cos you got it a quid cheaper than my Heroquest!!!
lol
Thanks! 🙂 I should have known it’s Heroquest too, considering who issued the challenge! 😀
Wow I love how all of this looks. I love J. Bleanche art and you can feel it in here. Hope the game is good.
With prices that GW has I doubt that I will want to start new game from them.
This…isn’t Warhammer Quest *big sigh* 🙁
I won’t be getting it. I can’t fault the quality, I think it looks great – even with the pre-requisite skull islands – but I know nothing about the rules or mechanics, its re-playability or anything & I’m not going to step into a store to find out (which is what they’re counting on), am I just jaded? Probably… 🙂
I like the fact they’re doing something different, but given its a limited release without further support – I’m not sure as to the point (from there perspective – surely they’d have to make a lot of copies to make the project worthwhile – so how ‘limited’ is it? Even Space Hulk was knocking around my local game stores for months after its release and that’s GW’s best boardgame – next to Bloodbowl). GW easily has the capacity to rival Spartan if they did a ”balls deep” effort to create a new game system – but they haven’t & they won’t. I don’t even know if I want to play it – naval combat has never been of huge interest to me (wargaming wise). Give me an axe, a dungeon, some gribblies to bash & promises of treasure and I’m there. This just doesn’t quite do it for me & I have better (equally pointless) things to spend £70 on.
Oh well, maybe in another 2 years they’ll re-release Necromunda or something far more worthy of attention that would make them more money 🙂
“Give me an axe, a dungeon, some gribblies to bash & promises of treasure and I’m there.”
You can get both Dwarf Kings Holds and a dwarf on a drill for less than Dreadfleet… Just sayin.
nice to see GW are trying to milk the cash cow again with another “won’t be supported” pile O poop.
It does however have Pirate Zombies!!!! But sadly not enough to make me part with my hard earned cash.
If it had been Pirate Ninja Zombies that would be another story altogether………….
Try harder!
Huh, when I stumbled across this on the GW site at 1AM this morning I was under the impression there were two kinda coherent fleets in the box (beer not involved in this case, honest). Not too sure about the one-ship-per-army thing they have going on, as other people have pointed out. Looks messy. I do like the VC ghostship though.
I’ve got no love for GW these days, but on first glance of this product I was tempted, however I doubt I will go for it. I managed to miss manowar the first time round but liked the idea, also I tend to walk a line between board games and miniatures games for most of my hobbying, but £70 is a lot for a game that will have limited after market support also because its limited release you’re probably going to have to teach the game to everyone you play which takes some of the challenge out of the experience and with a rule book of nearly 100 pages could take a while.
In summary, its a bit of a shame really because its probably quite good, I just don’t want to spend that amount of money on a box that will sit on my shelf.
also I wonder how much the eBay price of this will be in 6 months because space hulk sits comfortably around the £200 mark but as others have said space hulk carries much more gravitas with the collectors.
OK, so having watched the full video, I think the game has a bit of expansion value to it.
Yes, it’s over priced but then it’s a limited product it seems with plastic parts, so you need to make back over the moulding costs (plastics not as cheap as Resin or Metal moulds to make, obviously.) But even with that in mind, it is overpriced by a bit.
However, I actually see a lot of potential for expansion here if GW went that way. YOuget 10 pirate models across two sides. It would be very easy to produce race specific expansions each with 5 character ships to match what is in the box set here. On top of that, you could release ‘rank and file’ ship packs for each faction too to allow larger battles.
Treat it like a LMG, not a wargame.
As far as I am concerned it has a lot of potential for expansion. I just dubious if GW will go that route. If they announced today there would be expansions like I have said, I would preorder a copy now.
As there is no indication of any expansions, I won’t be buying it.
Come on GW, surprise me in a good way for once.
Gavin.
Agree with what you said … unfortunately I see the limited print run as completely incompatible with expanding the system; some new hobbyists see the cool new ship expansion a year from now and you tell them; “You can buy them, but sorry, can’t use them, ’cause the base game for it was a limited run!”?
I agree it would be sad to see all that potential for expansion go to waste.
I’m really disappointed it wasn’t a 25th anniversary edition of Bloodbowl or another re-release of a Warhammer Fantasy introductory boardgame (Heroquest, Talisman, etc). If GW go their usual route then Dreadfleet won’t get any expansions for other fleets so it will quickly disappear from memory which won’t help resurrect WHF. Their strategy baffles me! If you’re releasing a limited edition then you’re aiming for the collectors market so why not use the Man O’ War name?
My cynicism is really reaching a tipping point with Games Workshop.
From the constant price rises, various rules issues, the dictatorial distribution issues, “Fine”Cast and the Auerlian fiasco, I find myself wondering if I want to spend any more money with a company that makes these kinds of decisions. And they’re not interested in anything anybody says, so you have to take action, hit them where it hurts, and stop buying their products.
However, if people take this course, it might hurt the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k settings, which is the serious issue and not anything anyone wants. Given how seriously Games Workshop takes the stewardship of the worlds they have created, you’d think they would be concerned this.
This will take the discussion somewhat off topic, but the reply system allows for that without hurting the main “thread” … ;
I never really understood people’s concerns about the future of 40k and WH settings; it’s not like either of them are a living, “organic” setting with a developing storyline that one wouldn’t wish for a potential third party to hurt.
Let’s imagine the worst case scenario; GW dies like a japanese dolphin. The fluff is out there, amost unchanged for the past 15 years or so. The minis are with very rare exceptions not that characteristic that they couldn’t be substituted with something else and in the unlikely event of GW going belly-up like that and leaving a void behind, be sure others will step in with space-knights and undead aegyptians minis. Rules are not a problem, there are tons of better ones out there, not even starting with the freely-available fan versions.
I hope this doesn’t come across as violent in any way, but people should start realising what BOW (especially Warren) are constantly telling us; it’s our hobby. We’re not obliged to support stuff we don’t like, not even (or especially) out of fear for the IP. Someone will always be out there, ready to stake their business for strong licenses, it’s our job to pick and choose who deivers. If you don’t like what GW does, don’t buy from them. They’ll either have to change their policies or let someone ese do it.
$135.00Can while in the States it’s $115.00US >< last time I checked aren't Canadians part of the Commonwealth, spread some colonial love GW. We can easily cross the border and buy in the USA so all is hurting your Canadian sales. The box/contents look good, I would buy it but the price (when you include taxes) is too much considering the rules sound complicated i.e. a pick-up game with the family/roommates will probably lead to confusion and I don't feel like starting a gaming group for a LIMITED edition game. I think I'll stick with settlers of catan for now for my boat fix.
Even Can$135 is better than the Australian price – and we’re still part of the Commonwealth too! 🙂
So we’ve gto 2 armies I couldn’t give a flying monkey about in a setting I can’t be arsed with. Released in a box set that’s overpriced and won’t be supported beyond the week it hits the shelves…
Think i’ll pass.
Of all the things that people would like them to re-release. They go and release something that nobody actually wanted in the first place.
popped into my local gw store today and was told that you would be able to play this game instore on day of release after that they wont be supporting it instore! my local gaming club will probs get a copy for the club but doubt i will get one of my own
I dunno.
I’m NO GW fanboy, heaven knows.
I’m getting this, though. It’s got everything I need for a fantasy naval game. I like naval gaming, but this takes it about as far as I want to go, all in one box. Hope the rules are simple enough for my kids to pick up.
Now as far as the price (it is a bit high, but like I said, for an all in one game FOR ME, I’ll do it) GW refusing to do expansions, games like Heroquest and Bloodbowl
laying on the shelf, I’m with everyone else on that. They are a very strange company….
Pity it is not Man O War 2
Just more crap for me to rummage through on ebay when trying to buy extra ships for my Man’o’war fleets. Terribly cartoony models. Mind you the video put me off. Phil Kelly just reminds me of a sinister Splinter from Teenage mutant ninja turtles.
To all the people saying I won’t buy this:
1. It has too many different models they should have released two forces
2. It is limited
3. Uncharted Seas is better
4. There are no expansions (kinda covered by the whole limited thing but some people struggle with this concept)
5. Its too much $$ (this also covers it’s too much $$ I can’t afford it)
If any of the above apply then maybe, maybe you have to consider this product is not aimed at you? I think its perfect for me pick up games with cool ships that look like mechanical squids around skull islands? I can pay this with my boy, my friends anytime anywhere what’s not to love?
What’s not to love is:
The price. It’s a lot of cash for a family box game
The fact that it is won’t have a lot of replayability (lol is that even a word?)
The fact that the models for most people won’t be used for anything else
That for the cash people can buy naval games that fulfil the criteria they want
It’s great that you can drop that sort of money on a box game and I genuinely wish you and your lad hours of fun.
Hang on! You can “pay this with your boy”?!! ??
Not sure we can condone selling of children to pay for games, as much as we love gaming, That is going too far! What sort of a parent are you? 😉
lol
Let’s see how long til it peters out … just like Space Hulk.
I agree, Warhammerquest was the way to go!!
They could have packed it with current plastics, as well as some exclusive plastics, and used it to get folks into the game.
It also would have been cool to add a method of conversion so you could use your Warhammerquest hero in a regular game of Warhammer!
Opportunity missed…..
I’d rather splash a little extra cash and get descent 2nd Ed that woudl get far more use than this, nice idea but I would have prefered to see quest, or mordhiem if they wanted to support fantasy
Descent is a different type of game … and the upcoming 2nd Ed. is considerably cheaper than Dreadfleet. But yeah: the limited edition release of this pretty much means it’s not going to see a lot of play.
Guys, I’ve been reading through a shedload of comments on this and other forums about Dreadfleet. A continual ‘reason’ for this games ‘inevitable fate’ seems to be the fact it’s limited edition, and that there’s no room for expansion. This thinking just doesn’t hold water for me, (no pun intended). This is a BOARD GAME, not some customisable massively pointed table-top affair. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of board games out there that do not require expansions to keep them alive. Monopoly, Cluedo, even the original Heroquest is still played by my mates unchanged! If the ruleset is good enough, people will come back to this time and time again. The minis are superb, and a challenge to paint IMHO. The mat looks great, and you get a helluva lot of stuff in there. For anyone concerned about the price tag, get a few buddies together and chip-in for it. Yes, I realise there are alternatives, (better or cheaper) on the market, but this is a WARHAMMER one, and that is why we all have such a keen interest in it. NOWHERE else are you going to find a Skaven fish-carcass ship, or a Tomb Kings battle barge. For some of you, obviously that is not enough, but there are plenty of pirate/naval battle fans out there who will lap this up. I hope it’s great. I want one. I am however gonna sit tight for a fortnight and see what the rules bring.
The issue is I can buy 3 board games for the same price as this game and they are more likely to be played by most people, plus more likely to be accepted by ladies than a minis based naval game. Without seeing the rules those 3 games might give me many more hours of play. Plus GW does like to make it easy for people to be haters.
I still think its a bit pricey and Im sure if its got a good game engine it will be a blast to play. I think the backlash is:
1) Limited edition (cynical cash grab?)
2) Naval game (US and historical games cheaper and maybe as good or better)
3) Its not XXXXX game
4) Haters gotta hate
5) Expensize (US slightly cheaper but way cheaper if you just buy one force)
6) Board game rather than expandable minis game
7) youtube fail
8) secrecy means we know nothing re this game- has GW not heard of BGG (see 9)
9) GW shut down content on BGG, hard to love a game with no info…see haters
ok I see the gods of fat fingers have been at work again, point 8 is a smilie fail and a new word expensive becomes word mash up fail
I feel GW is smoking something, with a great youtube/white dwarf/bgg/bow/bols/etc marketing push with pics, tips, demos etc we would all be drooling over this and saying take my money. Instead its secret project, utube fail, no info, ltd edition and looks expensive and therfore easy to hate on
I’ve got several problems with this release. Limited funds, guaranteed return in fun on my investment, and quality. I want the Drizz’t board game, I can’t paint any where near what GW in house does, and I have no idea how good this board game is. As sexy as all the recent Warhammer releases have been (best fantasy models on the market with out any doubt) there is always the question about rules so this game is just too much of a stretch for me for the price. $50 dollars less or pre painted like the pictures and it would be a different story.
Personally I was looking foward to this new ‘mystery’ box but was hoping that it would new versins of either be Warhammer Quest or Bloodbowl. I’m still a bit tempted but to be honest I think I would be better off waiting for Leviathans!
I am very dissapointed in the release of this game, GW could have done alot better with rereleasing other titles. i still have my man o’ war set and is still as good a game as it was then., I was hoping they would do warhammer quest as it would have made more sense and more player friendly instead of something where for the $100 you pay here for it and cannot even use the models in other games ( I.E. space hulk) Space hulk was a good set worth the money, but this i willl pass on and hope GW will do something better in the future.
Ok, ok…
I’m not the BIGGEST fan of the modern G-Dub, but the amount and virulence of the vitriolic venom aimed at Games Workshop over the last few pages is, frankly, staggering. It really reminds me of the ire raised against Jorge Lucas and Star Wars in it’s culture, scope within the community, and direction (which isn’t to say, obviously, that I either like or condone Lucas’s shenanigans, it’s just reminiscent in my view).
I, like many out there, first got into the hobby around ’90. Yes. Sigh. That long ago. Breaks have been taken here and there over in intervening 21 years, but I love the hobby, and I have GW to thank for thatblasting affection. Love it, heck: I like it! It’s something that isn’t mere nostalgia, but something which I genuinely enjoy doing, and have spent many an hour on.
Bear with me, here; I’m getting to Dread Fleet.
After watching the Turn 8 where Warhammer Quest was talked about in some dewy-eyed length, I went ahead and tracked down a copy of it on eBay, remembering fondly hours of…well, me characters dying 😉 Awesome. Recording it and getting my gaming group into it (many of whom had no idea what it was or where it came from), the question seems to keep coming up: why, oh why, don’t they redo this game!? It’s fun, fast, easy to learn, ridiculously expandable, and as has been said a number of times by now, can quickly and easily introduce a whole new wave of people to the teetering bulk that is the WHFB world.
And I join my voice to their collective enquiry.
Enter Dread Fleet. As a lot of people have wondered, is this an attempt at creating a window (doorway?) into the realm of Warhammer Fantasy? I believe that the definitive answer to that question is NO. If any game developers at GW wanted something like that (and common sense was on holiday at the time), they’d need to go no further then typing “Warhammer Skirmish” into a search engine to find the common voice of the modern gaming community, and would start work on rereleasing a “one-off” Mordheim or Warhammer Quest.
Is this an attempt to revitalize/reintroduce Man O’War? No. I love that game, but neither the scale, mechanics (except on the surface), or fluff/aesthetics look anything like that venerable bit of awesomesauce.
Did they do it just because they wanted to, they could, and they thought it’d be cool? Yes, I believe they did… partially. I believe that they did look at a different scale, and maybe thought about pirates, MoW, and Chaos Dwarfs, and thought “Hey, let’s do some thing awesome and different and unexpected… because it’s cool!”
Sure thing. I have no problem buying that.
However, I feel that a big chunk (maybe the biggest chunk) of the design/marketing and production philosophy for DF came from wanting to bite a piece of the naval game pie made so appetizing as of late by Spartan Games and elsewhere. Is this bad or wrong in some way? Heck no! Personally, I’m psyched to see GW doing something… anything!… that resembles non-25 to 28 mm company combat! Was the retinal behind it that they were missing out on Uncharted Seas/DystopianWars money? Absolutely. They look too similar to disregard it as a mere coincidence.
For the record, I HAVE bought a copy, just as soon as I could, because I’m a gamer. I know that if I wanted to “run” a dwarf squadron, I could make it happen (wait until eBay starts putting up ship+stat card auctions…), and the rules, whatever they may end up being, I guarantee you will not be beyond the pall of my ability to expand. Will it ever take the place of Dystopian Wars or Man O’War in our repertoire of naval games? I’m thinking no. Will I enjoy it, do the models (paint schemes aside) look awesome, am I thrilled GW did it?
Oh, yes. 😀
Why not just re-release Man o’ War? Clean up the rules, do a full color book with new art work and some new models.
Personally I was hoping for either Warhammer Quest or Blood Bowl.
Dont know if anyone has posted yet but some more info on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m1t5hYvCLo
Just what we need, another GW game that will be forgotten the moment they sell out.
The price is fucking stupid too, $190aud for a cloth mat, some mini’s that are useless in any other GW game, a few shitty card decks and some tokens… Space Hulk was only $165aud, I got more than $165 in mini’s that I can also use in 40k and a bunch of superb embossed card tiles that I can also use in 40k as sewers or another ship deck like in one of the IA Badab missions.
I think GW had the idea to micro-size these ships. My guess is they began as huge models, but because of what they’d have to charge, the decision was made to make them small and affordable. I say affordable because, for GW, 70£ for a COMPLETE game is a steal. What would be neat is some way to tie these ships into campaigns. The tiles were fun, and here’s hoping they release some special figures for this set (the vampire pirate or something).
Something different from Games Workshop and a complete game in a box (no extra books!) and I would say a nice release.
I think this game looks awesome… so I ordered it.
The minis are sweet, the mat looks really nice and there is a TON of stuff in the box.
I also think if a different company that doesn’t have the “money hungry” stigma GW has put this board game out, the it would be received with much fan fare.
You know, been thinking about it as it’s a game in a box. Not a wargame. It;s a stand alone game and there is nowt wrong with that.
So, have pre-ordered one for the Tor Gaming office.