Uncharted Seas

So anyone try this yet?

www.spartangames.co.uk/

It fills the old MoW nitch & its probably going
to be my next Money Pit.

Ok it is a rather straight rip of MoW (theme wise I
never got into MoW so how similar it plays is beyond me)
but for Fantasy Races it seems you can only do so much:unsure:

Your basic Dwarves,Orcs,Dragon Lords (AKA Dark Elves),Empire(Humans)
with Dark Ones (AKA Chaos Dwarves)& Elves coming plus an Undead fleet).
Its rather a Fantasy Age of Exploration Setting.

There is also an Unchartered Lands in the works as a Army/ Skirmish
game (well god knows I have enough figs ready to go for that) so
it really does look like a move into GW territory(oh & they have a Space
Ship Game also on the way).

That said the ship models are cool if not too orginal & the
price is right, a 10 ship fleet box is from $40-$25(and change,
depending on the Race & who you purchase it from;).All in
all it seems to have good production values & support,(plus you get to
roll buckets of dice:P -so whats not to love?

Anyone else checked this out?

OD

I saw this at the store this weekend. The packaging might be suspect as i saw lots of little broken pieces shifting around in the blister. Buyer beware.

Besides that, I hope they do well. The price does look right, but it also appears that you have to buy fleet cards and such extra. To get the complete game fleet/rulebook/cards it'll probably run you 100. Fortunately, you only need one blister of cards as they contain all the cards for all the fleets (I think) and one rulebook.

Tell us how it shakes out!

I've played this one a few times now. And I'm a big MoW fan so I've had my feet in both camps.

As is mentioned above, the current packing is a little suspect and some of the fleets do have a problem with shipping. Mainly here in the US as it goes overseas. Europe hasn't had as many problems. But the company is in the process of creating new packing since it has been a problem and the new packing should help in transport.

I'm usually not one to pimp my website on other sites, but I did a writeup detailing MoW and US so if you're wondering about any comparisons and you should be able to get a good feel for the rules:
http://www.drunkdwarves.com/?p=172

Overall it is a pretty good system. For a miniature game the price is fairly good. My personal preference is still MoW.

What you'll need to play is two starter sets and a rule book. The starter sets comes with the cards for the fleet so a starter set is pretty much needed. The starter sets are balanced so that will get you enough to start playing.

Overall though, like MoW it gives an interesting feel of Age of Sail combat, but not fully realistic. The rules are pretty simple for a miniature game and easy to pick up. I'll be honest and say that I haven't looked much at the new ships coming out so my experience is pretty much limited to the starter sets.

Hopefully that helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

LvT

LordVonTush wrote:

Hopefully that helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

LvT

I have a question, are there rules for ship facing? Is the front (or rear) of a ship harder to hit than it's sides either through to hit modifiers or a different to-hit number? I'm tempted to buy the rules and a couple fleets but the lack of some really basic naval rules would be a deal breaker. I've always wanted to play MoW, never had the chance, this new game looks pretty cool and I want to paint some minis.

Not really. There is a rule where if you're attacking a ship from the rear and their entire end of the ship is whithin the firing ship's firearc, then it is actually easier to cause damage. The justification being that there is more ship for the cannonball to hit as it goes aft to fore.

Normally when you attack a ship you roll a number of d6's and on a 4-5 you cause one success and on a 6 you cause two successes. You total the number of sucesses and compare it to two numbers the Damage Rating and the Critical Rating. Depending on what "level" you reach determined what damage and how much is done to the ship.
Attacking a ship completly from the target ship's rear makes it a 3+ to hit instead of a 4+.

If you're looking for a game with historical accuracy, this or MoW are not really it. Many miniature games bypass realism for easier rules and Uncharted Seas is no exception. It feels like you are sailing around with a fleet of ships, but it won't teach you a lick about naval combat or tactics or any sense of what the Age of Sail was really like.

One I've heard does a good job, but I've never played, is Close Action from Clash of Arms. Or if you want more of a fantasy/sci-fi Battlefleet Gothic may be worth looking into. I feel GW was hoping that it would fill the void MoW left. It also has more realistic targetting like you're asking about. It is an odd hybrid where stuff moves like an Age of Sail game, but has some sci-fi elements mixed in there. It is interesting but never caught on with my group.

Thanks for the clarification VonTush. I've done a lot of naval minis gaming (and space combat games) but nothing for the Age of Sail. I'm aware of Close Action and Wooden Ships and Iron Men but neither of them have dragon elf ships or dwarf ironclads. I'll have to find out what I can about the rest of the US rules, I am still tempted. Those minis look pretty nice.

Their website has a nice play summary which takes you thru a few turns. I think it also has a player aid where between the two you can get a feel for all the rules of the game except boarding actions.

The models are very nice indeed. If you haven't seen them in person, they are big. The Dragon Lord battleship is just shy of six inches. The average cruiser is about 3-4" or so and the frigates are about an inch and a half.

My major gripe with the game is one more of personal taste where they have a one-roll system. Where you roll a handful of dice and compare the sucesses to the Damage Rating and Critial Rating to determine damage. Personally I like the back and forth rolls where you have a To-Hit and a To-Save roll.

Other than that, it is a quick playing and easy to grasp game. A full game with the starters will take about 90 mins give or take. One major advantage it has over MoW is very limited record keeping where everything is done with counters next to the ship instead of ship logs.

LvT

The models are very nice indeed. If you haven't seen them in person, they are big. The Dragon Lord battleship is just shy of six inches. The average cruiser is about 3-4" or so and the frigates are about an inch and a half.

That is interesting because the minis seem to be very reasonably priced. Big, cheap, nicely-sculpted minis. Haven't seen them in person but they do look like they'd be a fun paint job.

They are resin so they do have some of the typical problems with that medium.

As mentioned, the packing has had some problems because they are fragile.
Also resin sometimes shrinks when drying so on some larger surfaces there is a little distortion or dimpling.
Lastly resin molds don't hold up as well as plastic or pewter so sometimes depending on the number of casts before some of the detail gets a little lost. Particurally with wooden planks and what not.

But resin is easier to work with and cheeper so the model prices are pretty reasonable.

The Dwarves I haven't heard or seen much problems with.
The Dragon Lords have a little bit of the dimpling and "old mould" problem.
The Orcs have tons of small little "pointy bits" so those tend to break easier.
I haven't had any personal experience with the Humans.

Also, don't drop them on a cement garage floor. My buddies Dragon Lord shatters into about 10 parts when he did that.

cement floor + miniatures = bad news

My 4 Starter Fleets arrived yesterday & 1 of each of the
new stuff(Dragon Carrier,Empire Troop Transport,ect.
arrived today.

The packing problem has been resolved with a plastic
clam shell & foam inserts.Every thing arrived in
perfect shape.A small bit of flash on 1 ship and
a very small dimple on the side of the Dragon Lord Battle Ship.

So I have a new painting project

OD