A SMALL BATTLE REPORT BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR

A 1v1v1 BATTLE REPORT (Sky Pirates vs. Imperial Humans vs. Shroud Mages

This is a battle I had the other day with three friends and we all used cards (more testing for SP cards). I was playing the Imperial Humans (IH) and it was a "basic" engagement with each side having a Battleship, 3 cruisers and 2 squadrons of 3 frigates. I was unable to take pictures (forgot to bring my camera and I have and "old school" movile phone with no cam), it also was an introductory game, and had to spend some time in explaining the game (The UCS is the best game to introduce ppl to other SG games)

So what follows is just a small description about how it went:

- The table was very long but had not enough widht. The SP and IH deployed on the short edges and the SM just entered the game through the middle of a long table edge by placing the models touching the edge. The center of the board had a lighthouse and some sand bars around it. There were some medium-sized islands closer to the short board edges.

- One of my friends "convinced" the other to deploy the SM Battleship closer to my newly painted IH batteship and crippled her with extreme lucky dice rolls -____- #

- To make things worse he summoned a reef in front of the lead hawk cruiser (or removed the illusion that was hidding teh reef to be more precise) while the squadron was sailing in line astern formation. In the end the "tailing" cruiser hit the reef an went out of formation, islated from the rest of the squadron. I had the Battleship close to the squadron but already spent the Admiral order to save the middle cruiser from colliding with reef (I had very bad die rolls I know)

- I returned the favor by changing the wind agains the SP and convinced the SM player to deploy the cruiser near the SP to trouble them.

- In the end the SM won the match. We thought (me and the SP player) that the SM player was going to be "sandwiched" between the two fleets (IH and SP) but in the end the SM player found a "target rich enviroment" played a lot of repair and protection cards and with very good dice rolls was the player that killed the most ships (two cruisers and a bunch of frigates whiele we just killed frigates, not to mention the crippling of my BB)

- The IH (me) was the fleet that got mauled the most (lost all frigates, one cruiser, BB crippled and the two suriviving cruisers were isolated from each other (I should have avoided the reef). T__T but we had a lot of fun :)

Hope you liked

Dan ^_^

MERRY XMAS AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Winter has come and the mad weather I was having in Spain changed radically, dropping from almost 20º C to 10ºC in a single evening, and caught me unprepared so I ended up having a very virulent form of a shore throat, and the next day my voice got affected too and was unable to say a word until the next two days. I finally have recovered (almost), but anyways I was unable to dedicate time to the blog,. specially when I had to look after my nephews last three days (who took over the computer lol)

Anyways Santa managed to hand me a little present for you to download: The Sky Pirates cards (#14-26) ) for sleeving them into some other Uncharted Seas card deck. The cards are Printer friendly (black and white) with no background or icons, but I have plans to make them look more professional when I find some time (and health) to use Photoshop.

The link is here and is lthe last updated iteration with some minor changes.

I hope you find them an use ;-)

Dan

FIRST BATTLESHIP FINISHED!!

I took me three days before updating the blog but it was for a good reason: Finally painted my the first of two Imperial Human Battleships!

Here are some pictures I took today, just after the finishing touches

Those festive days are making me difficult to updatoe the blog so in case I can´t update the blog, Have a very good Christmas time!!! ;)

BATTLESHIP PAINTING UPDATE

Hi there! My battleships are taking forever to get finished!

 Managed to paint the sails of both but i only will focus on one of them due to lack of time and, for a short game I just only need one Imperal Human battleship to be finished.

So this is how the BB is looking so far (sails painted):

I need this ship finished before the end of the year, and the monster Crocidon for an scenario I want to play with my friend.

Speaking of the Crocidon he is giving a helping jaw (or is it an unhelping jaw???)) What do you think? :-)

 

IMPERIAL HUMAN CARD DECK

While woriking on the making of the Sky Pirates card deck did some analisys on the Imperial Human (IH) card deck. I am not sure if I can name each card and write about what it does, so I will write abut them briefly:

The IH have 4 magic cards, 7 counter cards, and I think is the "typical deck" or reference deck for an UCS faction when comparing with others as the "race speficic cads" (cards 14 to 26) just expand the common cards (#1 to 13) in the deck. They just add the "sacrifice" cards that allow you lose crew or ship to cause more damage back to the enemy fleet.

There are 5 "attack" card, 4 "defensive" card and 4 "tactical":

- The Attack cards are those which increase AD, MD or just throw or re-roll any other kind of dice to inflict damage to hull, crew or improve a critical effect. in the IH deck we have cards #14, 16, 17, 19 and 20 wich add extra MD, AD, cause the exploding critical when a ship is sunk (a sacrificial card), improve a ramming attack and even a direct magical attack that causes 8 AD!

- The defensive cards (#18, 21, 22 and 24) heal crew, make a ship difficult to be hit and change a critical effect deal to your ships.

- The tactical cards (#15, 23, 25 and 26) change wind direction 1 or 2 steps, add extra movement, improve turning template.

We just need to throw in the common card deck with another wind direction changing card, several AD increas card, one that kill crew, the "tally ho!" card (dual activation) and the tricky card that changes a critical hit dealt but we will cover that later ;-

Dan ;-)

THE IMPERIAL HUMANS

"At the heart of this race is the Imperial State, the powerhouse of a vast empire. The Imperial Council, which sits at the core of the Imperial State, is controlled by five great Houses: the Arkos, Corvinus, Tepes, Váka and Dragutin.

With the expansion into The Uncharted Seas the Imperial Council now has its sights set on a place to grow its power base even more, with new races to destroy and resources to plunder. Most of the Imperial Navy fleets in this region of expansion are commanded by the Arkos, Tepes and Corvinus families.

Large fleets from these three houses have sailed forth to claim new territories: the Arkos looking to establish new trade routes, the Corvinus seek out new mysteries, and the Tepes hope to carve out a kingdom of their own to strengthen their position in the Old World."

(Introductory text saved from the Spartan Games forums before it gets deleted)


Hi there! As I am focused now on the Imperal Humans (or IH for short) I am making a small introductory entry for them. While painting the battleships I had a small accident and have to fix it before taking some pictures. The sails are almost done and the sea waving effects have to be painted yet. I hope to have some pictures ready for tomorrow.

The IHs are one of the best looking (and historical) fleets of the game, and they can employ several tactics because they multi-purpose nature. You can make board-control fleet or a pure firepower fleet (like my Tepes ships) but lets read about the IH tactics from the veterans: here are some interesting comments from tank0625 and Averaje Joe (saved from the SG forum)

Tank062
"IH fleet is good at everything but not great at one thing. They are "jack of all trades". Their achilles heel is the wind. As long as you plan for it, it isn't that big of deal.

What I like to do is form a historical looking battle line with flagship, BB and Heavy Cruisers. The ships are in the middle of my zone with their sides facing enemy. Then I put frigates in front of Flag and BB to screen them from cruisers.

I hold the rest of my frigates behind my battle line until later in the game. They are great for counter attack.

Put your destroyers and cruisers on your flanks.

You are making a box around your enemy. If he hits one of your flanks. The other flank tries to continue behind his fleet. With your main battle line you snake it closer to the enemy. Until you can cross their "T". Then send in the remaining frigates.

Hopefully that will help"

Average Joe
"1. Stay at RB3 as long as you can. (a no-brainer, I know) I recommend targeting your opponents cruisers.  The 8,9, and 10 AD that your capital squadrons roll can absolutely devastate an opposing CR6 squadron.

2. Do what you can to have the wind pointing in the direction you want when you can no longer keep the enemy at arms length.  When that happens sacrifice your expendable smalls and go head on with any solid boarding models you may have so that your best shooting models can zip past heading for that potent RB3 again.



Hopefully you had some decent early shooting.  Maybe get some fires going with your Kestrels if you have them in your fleet.  With some luck you'll have your opponent on his back foot towards the closing rounds and you can choose whatever closing strategy that suits the scenario."

Hope you fouind this entry interesting ;)

Dan

COMMENTS ABOUT THE SKY PIRATES (part 3)

Hi there!. Exams are over (last week has been the busiest week of the year for me) and I am back.I also had to look after my two little nephews for two days, so go figure...

First of all. I want to start with the "rescue" of all the work and effort I have put on the Sky Pirate Card deck, by copy- pasting them from the Spartan Games forum before it gets deleted.

SKY PIRATES STAR CARD DECK (cards 14-26)

Syntax:: Card number -  Card type (S,T,A and/or R) . CARD NAME: Card text -- card icons ( C=Creatrure, F=Fortification, MC=Magic card, CC=Counter Card)

14- S - KELPOR MARKSMANSHIP: Models in the Squadron can target an enemy model within Range Band 1 during the Combat Phase; Submarines, Flying or Submerged models CANNOT be targeted; Roll 1D6 for each targeting model. on a 5-6 the target loses 1 crew point (CP) -- F

15- T - UNEXPECTED REEF: Place a "Reef" terrain feature aanywhere on the board, except within 3" of an enemy model or over any other terrain feature.; The reef must be between 4" and 8" in lenghy /width to be valid.. The reef will stay on the board for the rest of the game and all rules regarding reefs do apply to it. -- CC

16- A - SPLINTER ROUNDS: Play after any Attack Dice (AD) are rolled; If the enemy model is damaged, then in addition to normal damage, the target will lose an extra crew point; If the enemy model takes a critical hit then in addition to normal damage, the target loses 2 extra crew point; Can be used with Linked Dire OR Split fire.-- -

17- T - SUMMON MIST. If  Mist rules are in effect, this card can be played to turn "Mist" into "Fog" and apply Fog rules instead ; If no Mist rules are in effect, then for the rest of this turn ANY Attack Dice (AD) rolls made against ANY target (friendly or not) within Range Bands 3 and 4 only hit on 5 or 6 -- M, CC

18- A,R - SULPHUR HANDBOMBS: Play on an enemy model when boarding it or being boarded; Any enemy melee attack rolls during that boarding action will reduce the to hit modifier by -1 (a roll of 4 becomes 3 and so on); Only NATURAL  roll of 6 counts as 2 hits and an additional roll on the opponent´s rolls; Melee dice rolled by other enemy models are not affected -- F, C

19- T-  PREDICTED WIND CHANGE: You may change the wind direction indicartor by 2 points in any direction; If card is played by both players  in the 1st Turn of a game, simply dice off using a D6 to see who affects the wind first; you may add or subtract 1 from your result -- -

20- A - SOUL SEARING: Play when prizing a model after a sucessfull boarding action; You can restore a number HP on the model that took the prize; The HP restored depends on the pirzed model: small 1 HP, Medium 2 HP, Large or Massive 3 HP; The HP restored cannot exceed the model's initial HP, and any exceeding HP are wasted and may not be used in other models -- M

21- S - SOUL PUSH: Play on an activating squadron and choose one of the following:  All models within a squadron can turn sharper by using a Template ones size smaller than it normally uses;  Has no effect on models that already use the small template. OR All models within the squadron increase their MOVE value by +1" -- CC

22-  T - SUMMON FOG:  If  "Mist" rules are in effect, this card can be played to turn "Mist" into "Fog" and apply Fog rules instead ; If no Mist rules are in effect, then for the rest of this turn ANY Attack Dice (AD) rolls made against ANY target (friendly or not) within Range Bands 2 and 4 only hit on 6 -- M

23- A - TRAPPING NETS: Play ONLY when INITIATING a boarding action with one of your non-creature models; Roll a dice depending on the current crew value of your ship:  3 or less: 1 dice, from 4 to 6 crew: 2 dice, 7 or more: 3 dice; The boarded ship loses 1 crew point on a roll of 4 or more. Natural results of sixes ARE NOT re-rolled and only count as one crew point being lost.-- CC

24- S - CARRIED BY THE WINDS: Choose one of the following: During the Movement Phase the squadron  ignores medium sized or smaller terrain features and the model counts as  Large models when determining LOS during the following Combat Phase. PR The model´s MOVE  value is increased by +2 until the end of the turn.-- M

25- T - WIND JAMMING: Play this card next to the wind direction indicator, then you may change the wind direction indicartor by 1 point in any direction; After the above mentioned wind change and as long as this card is in play the wind direction CANNOT be changed BY ANY means; Discard this card at the beginning of the next turn -- M

26- A - MASTER SLAUGHTERSMITH: Choose one of the following: Restore 2 crew points OR Repair 1 hull point. No value can exceed the starting values of the model.-- -

 

Cards In red have been revisited and correcter since the last playtest. Those cards are mostly getting effects from other factiom´s cards (one of them (Splinter rounds) is a direct copy from the common deck, except it doesn´t has the fortification icon) . The exceptions are the card that help you "summon" mist and fog which are already game rules, and the "Trapping Nets"card that has been mande more balanced.

In general Sky Pirates are good at boarding but not as good as other boarding-strong factions. Instead of getting bonuses to boarding, they use "pirate dirty tricks" to de-crew enemy ships before board them. The other card effects are about increasing the meaneuverability speed and the skimming abilities of their ships to their advantage. There is also room for their mastery of weather and wind control which is nearly undisputed with other factions, so as you can see I did my best to do a balanced and "fluffy" card deck for them.

Special mentions are, of course about the cards that summon mist and fog, and also the card that lets you place a piece of terrain (reef) in the board. I wrote to Spartan Neil about that, and had no answer yet, but I have to say I participated in the playtesting of the Uncharted Seas new magic system. I won´t write about how it worked until I get an answer from Neil, but I can write about some of the sky pirate spell effects, and they were related to the summoning of fog and sand bars. So those effects are actually very close to what the game designers had in mind for the game. During the playtesting I saw those effects a bit OP when using the new magic system, but I am finding them ideal for the STAR card system, because they are more balanced and only last 1 turn and you have to be lucky enough to get those cards in your hand ath the beginning of the game to do a noticeable effect (but still usefull for flanking maneuvers). If you achieve the feat of pulling one of them in the first or second turn you deserve to win (wise opposing players will keep a counter card for that) as those card will help the extremely short range of the sky pirate have on most ships (battleship and flagship being the exception, and ofcourse the cards will affect their range too)

Finally I will write about the strenghts and weaknesses of the cards.: as a strengh there are several cards with dual effects. The player has to choose between one or other, giving some versatility. The main weaknesses are about the turn cards: Sky Pirates have a lot of turn cards (you can only use one of those per turn), and just one reaction card (besides the ones in the "common" part of the card deck), so they need to discard and renew quickly the turn cards they are not using this or next turn to get the reaction and other more playable cards. Overall I think is OK because this mean the card itself is as "fast" as the Sky Pirates are.

And that´s all. next I will be painting the IH battleships and then will work hard on the SP card deck to make a printable PDF so yoiu can have your card SP deck ready quickly.. ;)

Changes in the blog

I think I can have people following this blog now.

I had to remove my blogger profille and have it replaced by my google profile. Sorry for the inconveniences but if it works you will know when I made a new entry and no longer need to check if it has something new

Next time I will be revisiting the Sky pirates and the cards I made for them. I will be having exams soon so I can´t dedicate to make new entries as much as I liked

Again, sorry for the inconveniences and I hope the changes help us all  ;-)

Danny

COMMENTS ABOUT SKY PIRATES (PART 2)

I dont really like how the Jacknife Destroyers final models differ so much from the rules. In fact I actually like the model completely matching the game stats. It is was supposed to be another airship (small size) maybe with sails (frigate sails) maybe even wings (for diving/ pitching down) with a torpedo launcher in the nose and some broadside guns. 

These where the original stats.

Expensive but very good. Has a powerufll torpedo attack (with unnecessary ship extra rules in its description because the Torpedo weapon already has its rules in the Uncharted seas basic rulebook). However what we got from Spartan Games whas totally different: The models represented in the picture below:

As you can see, there are no sails, so it is not dependant on the wind direction, it doesn´t has broadsides and doesn´t seem to have a crew higher than 1, plus I don´t think it can whistand a damage higher than 2 because is nimbler than a frigate. So, how can this model have the stats value shown above.. It´s magic? Is the pilot a powerfull mage that count as a three crew, can cast powerfull spells to the sides but not to the front and enchanted the flying machine to be as hard as a destroyer? As you can imagine the model looks soo wrong or odd to me when using those game stats. Many UCS players thought the same and purchased Dystopian wars blimps to replace them and have a model that actually matches the stats.

I also commented long ago in the Spartan Games instead of purchasing another model from a game that has a differente scale (half the size aproximately, probably less) I decided to make game stats (unofficial) to actually match the current model itself which still looks nice to me, so I got to something like that (based on the stats of the dwaf Belcher class submarine.

This model has to be playtested.
It has as a apecial rule:  It is NOT able to initiate any kind of boarding action (but can still be boarded)
and also
Cannot initiate a ram (but can still collide with terrain normally)
If aother flyer rams this model the owning player rolls a die:
1-3    No effect, the ram misses and it counts as it had not been declared.
4       The Jacknife takes one point of damage and rolls normally to damage the ramming model
5-6    The Jacnkinfe is automatically destroyed and rolls normally to damage the ramming model

(basically your roll a die on a 4+ you hit, and that hit can be a partial hit or a dircet hit, that breaks a wing, the tail etc.. and the model goes down)

With those rules the model is likely to be an alpha striker, because it can be easily destroyed by defensive fire unless the model being attacked can shoot it down (If the controlling player uses Range Band (RB) 1, making a dive-bombing). There is also the option of making an attack at RB 2 (no, dive-bombing, just a standard torpedo run,  and remember you can´t link their torpedoes) outside of defensive fire range but within cannon range.

Playtesting adjustments/comments

 The squadron size  has been set to four to "match" the number of units commonly on an aerial squadron, but as they are indipendent and cannot link don´t benefit much, besides making a combined attack like the card of the same name. It that probes too powerful the squad size maybe can be reduced back to 2-3. In the game I had befoere, the Sky pirates were severely out-activated by the dwarves, and having squadrons that small could have helped much.

If the model probes too weak, maybe the rule of capitals hitting them on 6+ and smalls hitting on 5+ (rams left as mentioned).
Another buff-up could be increasing the move value to 14" so they can stay more easily at a distance then using their speed to close quicly to the ccenter once the enemy fleet is too busy to attack them.
If still too weak combine both of them.

If the model probes too powerfull maybe the torpedo value can be just 5 at RB 1 or ber just  7 at RB 1 losing the AD at RB 2.

The model main weaknes is vulerability to crew-depleting effects and also to anti-flyer ships, airships and flying creatures. This  should not be changed.

The model expected main role is to remove blocking frigates or harass damaged or isloated cruisers/medims and letting the SP achieving small models superiorty by removing the enemy´s smalls)

And that´s all hope you liked :)

Dan

PS: if you purchased some DW to match the old stats, it is perfectly acceptable. The jacknife just has two versions with the same name (like the frigates and destroyers in Thaniras elves fleet)

COMMENTING THE SKY PIRATES (Part 1)

Sky Pirates Overview (rescueed from SG forum)

Kelpor; this is a name that is fast becoming a dreaded curse amongst the races who sail the Broad Blue. For it is the race-name of the creatures otherwise known as the ‘Sky Pirates’. Once such a rare sight as to be dismissed as the ravings of dockside tavern soaks, the threat of their great airships now casts a long shadow over the northern waters. Sea captains of all races bring back lurid tales of ships taken by the cloud-sailing horrors; of hulks smashed and burned down to their waterlines, with not a living soul left aboard. Others speak of friends and comrades lost, simply vanished along with their ships and crews after venturing into the chill waters of the Voskian and Usank Straits.

Exactly where the Kelpor come from is a complete mystery. Some say they dwell in the far northern wastelands, warring for territory and resources with the hardy Vosk. This is certainly a possibility, since Sky Pirate vessel sightings and reports of attacks are far more common in the waters around these coastlines than elsewhere

The Sky Pirate Tactics

As it has been said in the rulebook (if you just have the PDF you can still donwload their background from Spartan games blog) they are a fleet that uses weather to surprise and prey upon unsuspecting  foes.

Overall is a short-ranged fleet but composed of fast ships (above the average whico make up for the short range) with good boarding capabilites. The SP also offer the possibility of buiding a fleet completely made of aerial ships as it has a flying small, medium and large. The small is the Jacknife destroyer which is special but does not have further restrictions in standar games, The medium is the Sabre wich is a standard model and the large is the Tortuga supply platform, is another special (preventing you from having 50% of your aerial-excluisve fleet composed of Jacknifes) You can only have one per 500 points of MFV (Maximum Fleet Value). The last ship it is not a good place for your admiral (everyone can have LOS (Line of Sight) to it, and has an slightly better resistance to damage as a cruiser (and its a Cumbersome Flyer!). so it is recommend to play this kind of fleet just "for fun"(and don´t forget to include a mountain to hide your Tortuga! ;-D)

Large ships: Because the above, a regular SP fleet should include air and sea ships.And you will be placing your admiral in a Kopesh class battleship or a Naginata class flagship. You will notice these are your only "Long range" firing options. The damage of the Kopesh is average at RB 3 and 4 but slightly under the average at RB 1 or 2 compared to other faction´s battleship broadsides. The Naginata is slightly different. It has sub-par RB 4 attacks (just 3AD), but better "chaser" (fore) guns and much better RB 1 and 2 broadsides, plus is specially well eqqiped with MARs (Model Assigned Rules) to kill enemy crew and boarding defense. Both large ships have similar damage resistance (Naginata has one more Hull Point because is larger) but have the interesting option of "pop up" attacks. They ignore your medium ships for LOS but when fired against they just hide behind your cruiser screen. They also ignore terrain and are quite fast for a battleship, but they are not true flyers (to much of their advantage for LOS puposes)

So in conclusion,as you can guess the Kopesh is better equipped to be moving in circles delivering powerful salvoes at RB 3 or 2, and maybe snipping random frigate at RB 4 with broadsides, all while hidding behind your smaller ships. The Naginata is all about closing with the enemy fleet, crew killing on the approach and dishing out crippling salvoes at very close range (preferably at RB 1 wich makes her the ship wich deals the most AD within the fleet, including entire ship squadrons linked fire), only boarding when the game is about to end or the enemy ships have been stripped out of crew.

The last large ship is the Tortuga support platform. if you include it it is likely to be your first large to be shot down due to her very powerfull supporting abilities: first and foremost, the ability to repair your larges as they close in (is not automatic and uses to fail a lot but I can say is a must if you have a Naginata) and second the ability to link fire with ANY ship (at RBs 1-3) The ship is the only SP ship that ignores wind direction so it may have some rotor blades or the like.(this model was nerver released by Spartan games so you need to proxy it with another model with a large base or make one for you from scrach -for example by gluing two chakramms to the aft part of a Kopesh, making a flying catamaran).

Medium ships: The SPs have plenty of good medium models. The main one is the Sabre class airship (their iconic ship IMO) able to move in circles and good punch at RB 1-2 and is one of the fastest mediums in the game (the remaining others being owned by the elves lol). The Katara class cruiser is the sea-going verson of the Sabre, it comes in squadrons of  4. The ship is slightly slower but still very fast for their size. She lacks the hit-and run (fly-by attacks) made by the Sabre but she benefits from LOS so the class is the best option in a battle with lots LOS blocking terain. An undamaged Katara sqadron can also deliver a massive boarding attack of 24 crew. Nothing to sneeze at!. The only con is the range. If you close the enemy you will notice a severe lack damage-dealing until you get to RB 1, and sometime you will be thorn between colsing to the enemy or turning sideways to fire broadsides. The other mediums are the Yatagan class heavy cruisers and the Chackram assault cruiser. Those ships are serious & nasty stuff. The Yatagan is the only SP ship with a red ram rating and has.an armoured forecastle, and has slightly better guns than the Katara and Sabre, and more resistance but comes in squadrons of three. The Chackram like a flying Yatagan, but more focused on boarding than shooting.

So to resume the tactics for mediums: The Sabre is made for hit and run attacks (by making a fly-by attack to move to a closer RB then moving back to a more far away RB if you have a moutain to hide behind you are golden. The Katara should be closing or flanking around LOS bloking scenery to help reaching their optimal RB 1 firing.and try to board the enemy´s battleship. They also provide an extremely good defence versus flyers and can be used as a cover for your main large ships.. The Yatagan ins quite a versatile ship, she makes an even better screen for your larges, has good boarding vaulues, red ram rating to scare away mediums (is a boarding blocker)  and has good guns to sail through the middle of the enemy fleet, and has very good speed for her size). Finally the Chackram is like a Damocles' sword once it reach the RB 1 to the enemy fleet, making the opposing captain to make hard choices between setting the crew for anti-air defensive fire or man the main guns, specially if the ship are floating above their large ships ready to board. They can also make fly-by attacks at very close ranges (still quiite fast) but that is not their primary role.

Small ships: A good supply of small sized ships round up the SP fleet. The most basic is the Talwar frigate. and lastly we have a couple of destroyers: the Jacknife (a flying destroyer), and the Kirpan. The Talwar has typical frigate statsand  (suprisingly) has long range for an Sky Pirate ship of that size. She only has guns on the sides and one extra point of crew when compared to other frigates (but don´t use them to try assault teh large ship as they are likely to die in the resulting collision!). I am very thorn about the Jacknife model itself. It looks nimbler than a frigate, and has no broadsides (and likely a crew of 1)  but has the stats of a destroyer. I will be commenting this on the next part to see if we can fix it. Stats-wise is a ship designed to hunt and destroy smalls and medium ship with a powerfull torpedo attack (making it basically a mini-gunship) however there is a catch: the torpedo cannot link and has some other minor restrictions, but anyways this mean each ship within the squadron operates on her own (being flyer makes them independent) Note that you can still link your broadsides. (I prefer to convert any other dystopian wars blimp to match the stats provided in the rules). Finally we have the Kirpan destroyers. I am considering it a "light cruiser" more than a destroyer, because the powerull (but short ranged) guns they have in their sides. They also have what looks like a small trebuchet in their prow, but in practice it is just a regular frigate-damage-dealing weapon.(threat as innacurate light trebuchet). They also have an iron ram, so they can safely attempt to board under-crewed cruisers

To sumarize small ship tactics: Talwars are made just for typical frigate flanking maneuvers, trying to get within the rear of a ship and rake her with cannon fire.They can also be cheap screeners and blockers if required. The jacknife are "ship hunters" tasked mainly to remove those frigates or destroyers that stand in your way, but can also be used to hunt and destroy annoying mediums, like troop transports. They perform "surgical" strikes. Finally the Kirpan are quite versatile. As other destoyers they are usually tasked to destroy small ships, ensuring "Small ship superiority", but once they get to RB 1 they surprise the enemy with powerfull .cruiser-sized damage dealing. Boarding and flanking are also viable tactics for them. (if you rake a large with a destroyer you are golden)

... So the SP tactics in a nutshiell: flank or screen with frigates and cruisers. hide your larges behind that screen as close, then get to the adecuate RB for each ship and board when you have dealt enough damage, and don´t forget some hit and run attacks if you can affort them, and remove annoyances with Jacknifes..

And that´s all I hope you liked and proably next entry willl be about fixing the the Jacknife

Cheers ;)
.

CRUISERS READY!

Finally finished them! I started to paint them when I was in Liverpool in 2012, I left them nearly finished, but focused on other ships (and even spaceships!). The sails needed a repaint to match the new desing shown on the heavy cruisers, and once I came back to paint the Imperial Human ships it was just a matter of time to have the regular cruisers finished.

Unlike the rest of the ships the planks that make the decks of those cruisers were painted by hand, because at the time I started painting them I had no idea of the Army Painter DIP until a person in the Spartan Games forums told me about that (I think he was Awesomehotdude). So, go figure the ammount of work and patience those ships required. The Army Painter really really speeds up the process ande leaves a better finishing touch.

I also have magnetized the bases, (by cutting an A4 magnetized sticker) because those masts can be damaged if transported on a regular model case, So I only need some metallic cookie boxes to transport the fleet safely ;)

Finally I have uploaded all those pictures to the Spartan Games forum gallery, and plan to do the same on the Deviant Art website.

I have to admit I failed at painting the battleships before the 30th of  November but things are getting very busy, the English exams are coming, Winter is coming, relatives keep coming... you know ;-)

But I will try to keep this blog updated if not every day, at least every two days.

Dan

BEYOND THE UNCHARTED SEAS, SAILING INTO THE UNKNOWN

Sad news. As annnounced, today all models, books and gaming aids have been removed from the online store and thus it is not possible to get anytghing related to the game by ordinary means and will only be available on sites like e-bay. For the momment the SG forum section for the game is still on, and also the downloads section in spartan blog.

Anyways, I refuse to see this at the end of the game, I am positive wanting to always see the glass half-filled instead of half-empty. So I have been doing some "rescue" job in the SG forums and blog and have something prepared for you, just in case it "drops" from the site: a compilation of Spartan´s last "supplement" for the game: The Cauldron of Silence written by Craig Gallant. I just copy-pasted all material for the offical public forums and turned it into a PDF for you to keep enjoying the game:

 The Cauldron of Silence PDF

 I think a game doesn´t die because its makers drop it out of production, it dies when it gets forgotten by everyone, so the game it is all in our hands to keep it alive. Many of us have several fleets, so Why not lend one of those to a trusty friend and enjoy an evening or a weekend of gaming? It could also help playing some pirate or seaman´s song from the laptop and maybe enjoying films like "Pirates of the Caribbean", or "Master and Commander" (and maybe the beginning of Ben-Hur lol) at the end of the day? ;-) Being the game all in our hands means we can modify stuff and try that and test that other thing (something I will be doing in this blog for sure!) because we all know the game won´t be officially updated or changed in anyway unless we do it by ourselves.

Being said that, this is one last paragraph for those who purchased the game years ago: I hope we keep ejoying this game that had so much money, love and effort from us. We are (for good or ill) of a now unique and now a-difficult-to-obtain game.

Cheers

Dan

AT WORLD'S END

As I mentioned in the first entry of this blog today is the last day for this game to in the Spartan Games Forums and is scheduled to be removed from the online store making this game available only through e-bay or similar and maybe some stores until they ran out of existences.

I like this game a lot, my grandfather always wanted to be a sailor or a ship´s capitan but his dream was never accomplished. It seems I have inherited some of that love for the sea and fall in love with this game (and the old MOW), specially when the company placed the hardback rules on a free PDF. That was the day I started to collect the models. I remember I was in Liverpool that day and there were some players that already had a fleet so I couln´t help keep waiting anymore and purchased my first fleet: The Shroud Mages. I liked the ships for the rules and because their submarine. I played very few games while in Liverpool and also got the Imperial Humans (because they are the typical sailships, PLUS I wathced in TV the film "on stranger tides" (Pirates of the Caribbean foruth part) . Later I got my dwarves) easy to paint ships, changelling  and... lots of submarines). I really wanted to get Bone Griffons fleet too, but ressisted the temptation (I already had  3 fleets) later I joined the beta test crew for Uncharted Seas and purhcased a Sky Pirate because I felt It was because my efforts in playtesting the SP that made the rest of the models of the SPs get released. Finally I got the Thaniras Elves fleet because I liked it (I made my first post in the UCS forums asking about their playistile)  and one of my friends will surely love it. Last fleet could have get was the orc fleet, but 5 fleets are really enough and disliked the idea of orcs with gunpodwer technology (cannons and mortars) I think their ship should only have catapults, ballistas or trebuchets (huge catapults). The only gunpodwer "tech" maybe barrels or other contaiers filled with gundpodwer as seen in the Lord of the Rings during the assault of Helm's Deep (and it was possible because the help of a mage). The idea of getting orcs was mainly because Uncharted Seas is a fantasy game and I think any fantasy game worht its salt should have dwarves, elves and orcs.(and the ever-present humans). The other factions: dark elves, undead, evil dwarves, lizards, evil humans, demons, beastmen, etc... are secondary (IMO). Finally I made this blog with the name of the gates at the center east of the Old Conitnent in the Uncharted Seas (UCS) game world

Speaking of playtesting I have sent an e-mail to Neil to see if I can make public the content that was under playtesting (new magic system etc..) so we can work on Mods for the UCS. I´m still awaiting an answer rom him.

I also "rescued" some posts from the old forums about tactics for the factions that would be interesting to revisit when the forum for UCS goes offline.

Finally when I have time I will make the cards for the Sky pirates, post more battle reports and my progress on painting my fleets. Some models like the Imperial Human ships are too good to be left unpainted and forever forgotten in a dark corner of a basement (I think its like a sin lol)

And yes  the title of this entry is not a coincidence ;-)

Best wishes and see you around!  :)

Dan

SKY PIRATES VS IRON DWARVES BATTLE REPORT (PART 3)

AFTERMATH

SKY PIRATES

The Sky pirates' only surviving in this battle were just two Jacknife torpedo destroyers who returned to report the kar'tarneteg for their failure (and probably their souls won't be happy after this), but How was the Sky Pirate performance overall?:
 I think the main nistake was not incluiding other medium ships as the battle objectives punish you if you only incluide one model of each size. And for this battle, losing the katara cruiser squaron meant lose the game. Fortuantely cards helped in moving them away and stay untouched over a couple of turns but they went right into the Bellow's path, and the Kopesh could not deal with it on time. But lets see element by element performance:

CARD DECK: I think the deck worked well, most of the cards were the common ones, Others like Shoul push, Splinter rounds and Carrried by the winds, did what is expected for an official deck I also had unexpected Reef on hand at the end of the game that would have helped in blocking the chasing of the last katara if it had survived the bomb... but its turn card. Overall, a STAR card deck is quite random, sometimes you have the perfect combination and the perfect fleet postioning to play it making them to seem OP but most of the time you get card that would just help a bit a nothing more.

I divided the cards in attack, defensive and tactical. The first one increase the damage you deal, the secon one do the oposite, minimize the damage dealt. Both cards can be replicated by lucky or unlucky AD rolls with sixes or ones respectively so they are easily balanced (unles the effec is to kill a ship or crew outright of course) I Think as long as no attack card is as powerful as Full Broadside, or a defensive card can't rempari more than 3 HP they'll be fine. The tactical cards grant you extra speed, better turning template, change wind direction, reposition a ship, etc... these are the trickiset to use, can become OP if a special tactic is developed, but is complicated because unlike TAC cards, the STAR cards are random (more or its like playing a  trading card game like Magic, if you know what I mean) so overall as long as the deck has no insta-kill cards it iwll be OK. I'll revise it to polsih it more, but if there is an OP card, it still has a chance of not showing up through the game. I am pretty sure you have ran into a situation where all you repair cards were at the bottom of the deck and never showed up.

KOPESH BATTESHIP: This was the key for winning the game. Had the objective of destroying the airship, then board the flagship, ufortunately the sudden change of events (and the unexpected dwarf heroic decence) ruined her glory.

KATARA CRUISERS: They ran towards the cover of their destroyers and frigates by turning sharply once they got declared as "dwarf objective" (I should have included the Sabre Airships), this worked well at first, but unfortunately this placed them directly in the path of the airship. I think they should have better moving away from the airship, even if this meant taking damage and losing ore ship or two

KIRPAN: The destroyers are very good, Same firepower of a cruiser (but at shorter range) and iron ram. They destroyed most of the Mortis frigates and helped screening the cruisers, but after this they found themselves inte centre of the melee and got sunk in the crossfire. (as usual for most screens)
They did their job.

TALWAR: these frigates had to change plans mid-fight when the dwarf objective was revealed, so they rushed to protect the cruisers, dodged the submarines and I htink they put a point of damage on the flagship, but the key role was to stall the ddwarves for damaging the cruisers.

JACKNIFES: they sank frigates and damaged the troop transports (at the cost of one of them(, they are great, and did their job in destroying small ships and damaging mediums, but those mediums were the dwarf transports that proviided an excelent anti-ar defensive fire. As a side note I see those ships a bit odd, looking so fragile and small but having 3 HP and 3 Crew.... hmm  I will revisit those guy's stats one day. I like the ship looks to match their stat

Overall the fleet did well and could have won if the katara went the other way. As a fleet, the only problem it had was being out-activated by the dwarf fleet.


IRON DWARVES

Thanks to their actions in battle the waters around Karneia were safe again (at least for a time) and the supply lines can continue bringin ammunition, ships, meals and spares for the dwarf and human fleets coming from the old continent, advancing another step int the conquering of the Uncharted
Seas.

So, lets see what the ship did:


CHAINMAIL FLAGSHIP: I love this ship, this battle performed poorly, by missing long range fire. I was tempted to turn it around and use her broadsides, but a ship like this one needs to close the objectives. I think it sank a frigate, and tried to sink another two more by splitting fire (and failed). I consider it is all badluck but at least it became the place of teh epic fight at the end of the game. Sven died as an hero.

BELLOWS AIRSHIP: Saved the day by dropping the bomb on the las cruiser and double crit it ,sinking it and the priates did nothing with DF in return. What else can be said of this maginificent ship.

HAMMER CRUISERS: they started the battle with a slow crawl, thanks to their lead cruiser becoming dead in water. but later on they sank some small ships and put a point of damage on teh kelpor battlship I think

FRIGATES: they attempted the flank, then stop the cruisers by gettin on their way, but got al sank and only achieved putting a point of damage. Maybe their best move wast to stall those kataras a bit more.

SUBMARINES: They did a good job (at least by surviving the game) At first I was a bit dissapointed as the kraken failed to damage a frigate, and bellows did little damage in placing fires that were quickly put down. but later on, the kaken dealt massivee damage to destroyers and frigates, and some performed diving maneuvers, earning them a medal (NOTE: this battle  is the fisrt one I have where I have all my subs surviving., The Belcher could have been destroyed, but the pirates just destroyed the bluff token. lol. Anyways I am sure the submarine crew would grossly exagerate their actions in their next trip to a dwarf brewery :-)

ARMOURY TRANSPORTS: theese guys are beast at boarding, specially if well drilled, they priced ship after ship, easing dwarf victory. Pity the bomb caught them, but they earned the medals (postumal ) anyway. They also did a very good job in keeping those jacknifes awyay. THis is a dwarf must have.

Finaally I played some pirate music from youtube, that you may find useful for your games (specially if you play against yourself lol). here is one of those i tried:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5DZriO6PDg
 

SKY PIRATES VS IRON DWARVES BATTLE REPORT (PART 2)

TURN 1

Terrain layout: the piece of terrain with a lighthouse is a mountain, the other landmasses are  small and medium islands and there are a sandbank near  the SP deployment area.

This turn saw little action, as both fleets were short ranged (specially in the case of Sky pirates) and only the batteships attempted to shoot at the nearest ship without result. So basically this turn had "a maneuvering into position")

The submarines moved to intercept the small ships and the Katara cruisers rushed forward, while the frigates of both sides started a flanking maneuver.

TURN 2

This turn I realized I haven't rolled for the fleets' Field Orders. So I got for the Iron Dwarves the "Sink 50%  of enemy fleet and destroy all medium ships" The only medium ships on the SP side were the cruisers so I played the "Soul Push" card for them an choosed to have a smaller turning template so they made a sharp turn to hide near the mountain, then the destroyer came  round them to screen them.

The Sky Pirates got the "destroy all Large models"  so they basically need to shot down the Bellows airship and sink or capture the dwarf flaghsip (a mission a little harder)

The flagship played the "Extra Charge" card to try damagng the cruiser at a distance with rockets, but they were too far away and no damage was inflicted (I also got almost all ones, damn drunk dwarves! lol)

The first blood of the day was achieved by the "Lone wolf" Belcher submarine in the last activation of the turn, who surfaced and damaged a Katara a little with the magma guns and put a raging fire marker on it. However the crew was so excited because this and made the submarine to fail the panic dive maneuver.

TURN 3

Initiative went to the Dwarves who played the "Upeper Hand" card and the Belcher managed to safely submerge into the safety of the depths. However the Katara crew managed to put down the fire and the ship took no further harm. The Pirates attemnted to "Summon Mist" but the card was quickly cancelled by the dwaf anti-magic (however they had to discard the "Iron shod pointy end" card that coul have helped the kraken submarines)

This turn saw more action as both fleets were closing to "knife edge" range. The flagship placed a point of damaged and killed some crew on the decks of a Kirpan destroyer (lukily for the ship she was not entirely in the fore channel of the flagship) The destroyers themselves did their thing on two Mortis frigates who rapidly sank, but not before one of the destroyers was damage in the exchange of fire.

A Kraken submarine surfaced to ram one of the damaged Kirpans but failed, the other Kraken tried to do the same thing to the frigates, was too slow and the Talwars moved away, swichinig their flanking maneuver for a rejected flank tactic in order to help the cruisers.

Finally the Kopesh moved to damage the Belows and failed, but played the "Elite gunners" card (added to the effect of her gunnery officer) and blew up the boiler of the leading Hammer cruiser who became "dead in water"


TURN 4

This turn was the most fun and bloody of all. As I said both fleets were very short range (the ID emplyed very heavy shells for their guns, and the SP used screaming leahtery balefire shells packed with high explosive chemicals propelled by the magic infused on  the sigils on their guns. This meant both fleet sailing into Range Band 1 for their guns to be fully effective resulting into a mess of ships in the centre of the board..... and the Bellows kept closing into that mess!!

The maneuvering went into SP attempting desperately to screen their cruisers, first with frigates, then with destroyers to prevent the Well Drilled Armoury troop transports to board their cruisers (Should't the ID be fleeing from the SP board range instead the other way around?? ._. )

The ID attempted to remove anything that were in the way of their transport for them to board the cruisers. First they blasted some frigates, but the "hole" was filled with destroyers. One of them got their aft seriously rap... raked by a Kraken submarine (I am not sure if a ram attack can apply rake bouns, but the sub rolled a lot of sixes and it didn't matter anyways)

The ID also attempted to block the cruiser maneuvering with the surviving frigates, but one got torpedoed sunk by  a Jacknife, and the other was rammed, boarded and prized by a Katara. Meanwhile the other two Jacknifes torpedoed the lead dwarf troop transport, but one of them was "hard punded" by the Transport's defensive fire. Both torps hit home, one causing a critical and the other a minor impact on the ship's armor.

The Kopesh continued with the strategy of stripping the ID flaghsip of crew. In a latter turn it played the "Splinter rounds" Card but it achieved nothig. This turn it played the "Ball and grape" card (wich does the same as Spliner rounds) and killed some crew, achieving also a hard pouding result. She also damaged the Bellows with another critical. The dwarves played a lot of cards to repair most of the damage. Even the dwarf admiral had to intervene to help the cruisers to fully repair the damaged boiler  (repairng both, the "dead in water effect" and the HP with a card, it basically was to put the pieces back together lol)

In the last activation of the turn, the Armoury troop cruiser capitains relized the enemy destroyers were sinking, but not sinking fast enough for them to board their main objective, so they decided to board the destroyers instead, to speed up things a bit lol. Then the destoyers finally "sunk" xD


TURNS 5 "THE TURN OF THE BOMB"

This turn was a cleanup of the messing mess in the later turn lol. As you Could know, the Bellows airship carries a huge bomb in her belly, and was close enough to drop that think on the cruiser, so the cruisers themselves were setting their crew for Defensive Fire while the airship was projecting her menacing shadow over them, but first they needed to be weakened up before the bomb drops. (too much DF from them), So the transports rammed and boarded two of the Kataras, pricing them, the submarines surfaced to harass them, and I think even the flagship tried to hit them too (cant remember)

Somewhere in these last turns one of the Jacknifes were shot down (by the transports I think), the frigates of both sides where resting in the botom of the sea and the last of the Kirpan destroyers were sunk too thanks to the Hammer cruisers and a Kraken sub.

But the major blow coming from SP in Turn 5 was a critical hit  on the dwarf flagship (thanks to the card "Full Broadside" and having a Veteran Gunnery Officer) which hit the gun deck and destroyed most of the cannons in one side. The pirate battleship also positioned herself in a way the dwaf flagship can't avoid colliding with her, triggering a boarding action (the BB is a skimmer) and blew up one of the Armoury transports. The Kopesh couln't fire at the Bellows as the airship was flying too high and too close.

 Finnally the Chainmal and rammed the pirate battleship, ripping the gas bag of that side and liberating many of the souls inside (the ship got a movement crit)) and the boarding action took place
The crew of the pirate ship was untouched and the one in the dwarf ship was halved, but the fight was absolutely bloody. The pirates thought it was an easy fight, but soon they realized the dwaves stubbornly refused to die and they morale went down. In the end both crews killed each other (dwarves rolled a ton of sixes) turning both ships into derelicts (I use the 0 crew marker as a derelict marker)... Epic Fight!!

.. And finally the bomb dropped from the airship destroying the last surviving Katara cruiser (and also the Armoury transports, these dwarves died with honor), as this action made the Dwarves achiecing a Crushing Victory!

The weather was getting as Sven spotted a small lighting bolt streaked among the clouds he could see in the distance through the huge hole blasted across most of the starboard gun deck that destroyed many of the cannons and from which the pirates were pouring into the battered Silveraxe his flaghsip. 

The fight was getting bloody,  and  suddenly, Sven thougt the noise of the crew fighting around seemed to lesen a bit as one voice resounded changelling him. It was Kinvak Sin'Goviatar. The vile pirate admiral was grinning at him.
" You may have destroyed my cruisers and foiled my plans in the area but today I'm gunna have your soul for that!" Said Kinvak as he menacingly gazed at him with his single eye.

"I don't think so" answered Sven, and then both Admirals engaged in a vicious fight. That was the only one versus one fight, as the other fights were a signle dwarf versus two or three pirates. The dwarves refused to die and many killed several pirates before getting killed (many times by a backstab). 

Sven parried some more blows as he was getting cornered, then he let the fight take him upstairs from the main gundeck towards the half empty rocket battery. The pirate admiral was tiring specially after 
fighting upstairs, he seemed fatiged, then exausted, and Sven thought it was the time to finish the fight and break the morale of the pirates with the death of their leader. But just when he lowered his defenses to drop the finishing blow, he realized it was just a pirate dirty trick, Kinvak was bluffing and was he who delivered the killing blow on the veteran dwarf. Sven dropped his great hammer and fall down backwards. He spotted another dead dwarf within the rocket battery. It was Olaf that had been slain and was covered in blood.. Then Sven felt the pointy end of his enemy's sabre on his throath

"You have fought well, but the revenge IS MINE!!!  and I'll put your soul in a special container to torture it for this HAHAHA! " he laughed.

Sven grinned too 
"No, and you are coming with me to make a lil'trip into the hell" he said, and with one last effort draw his hand cannon to fire at the rocket ammo storage. The rockets blew up, inflicting minor damage to the ship, but, being loaded with specially engineerded fragmentative iron shards, they slaguthered all still living crew fighting across the decks, leaving no one alive.

SKY PIRATES VS IRON DWARVES BATTLE REPORT (PART 1)

A Battle near Karneia

Admiral Sven Ironhead was spotting the horizon with his spotting scope while standing on top of the Silveraxe's top deck a Chainmail class flaghsip, leading the rest of the dwarf fleet. The weather has been unwelcoming since they left Bolg: windy days and even a small storm. Even now the fleet was sailing against  the wind (unaffected). Sven thought they would have been in trouble if sailing by conventional sailships employed by the "lesser races".

Finally he spotted a small abandoned spotting tower on top of  a mountain and saw some movement. The Sky Pirates, also known as "Kelpor" under the command of Kinvak Sin'Guviatar, have been raiding dwarf and human supply lines and Sven thought he found the place from which they were stagging the raids: a small island near Gelfar settlement.

Sven folded his spotting scope and went inside the Silveraxe but not before giving one final sight to the magnificient Bellows class airship looming over the dwarf ironships.

"We found them! If we have spotted them, they have spotted us. All hands to the battlestations!! Sitgnal the submarines to submerge and advance!" Said Sven to Olaf Grindstone, the second-in-command of the fleet.

"Aye Sir!" Said Olaf and began to shout order through a complex pipe system across the ship.

Soon the Sky Pirates showed up in the horizon and both fleets clashed.


SKY PIRATES FLEET

1 Kopesh class battleship (with Veteran Gunnery Officer crew upgrade)
4 Katara class cruisers(with Master Signalman crew upgrade)
4 Talwar frigates
3 Kirpan destroyers
3 Jacknife torpedo bombers

NOTE: I am testing the Sky Pirates cads and used the Thaniras elves card decks with half of the cards having a small piece of paper with the SP card rules slipped inside their sleeves.


IRON DWARVES FLEET

1 Chainmail class flagship
1 Bellows class airship (with Veteran Gunnery Officer crew upgrade)
3 Hammer class cruisers
2 Armoury class troop ships (with Well Drilled crew upgrade)
4 Mortis frigates
2 Kraken class submarines
1 Belcher class submarine


... and this will continue in the next episode ;-) Who will win?  Don't miss it out!

BATTLESHIPS SHADED!!

Both Imperial Humans (IH) battleships have been shaded with the Army Painter DIP and now its time for them to wait until dried. Next are the cruisers. I repainted their sails to match the design of the rest of the fleet (I started painting those cruisers 3 years ago).

I  am also preparing a battle report I did yesteraday between the Sky Pirates and Iron Dwarves (Testing the new Sky Pirate deck I  made), so you may see it posted today or tomorrow (I hope)

Dan

WORKING ON THE SKY PIRATES DECK

Another one if the projects I have in mind is the making of a Sky Pirates Faction Card Deck. Already have the card texts and rules made, and will be playtesting them this week. After the playtest is made I will leave the deck available for download.

I am still wondering why Spartan Games didn´t do that by themselves, because I am sure making a faction lack of its own deck must have seriusly hampered the sales of the last release of the game: The (almost) full series of models of the Sky Pirate fleet. This will have made them to get good profits because the fleet itself has little material in metall (the fleet is practically resin)

More to come!! ;-)

A QUICK UPDATE

One of the furoms members (Overread)  has e-mailed Spartan Neil about the future of the game and what follows is the answer we (the UCS community) got

"
UPDATED INFO

An email from Niel regarding the Uncharted Seas line and the future plans for it :

"1) The older generation 1/600^th scale models are now being removed from our sales channel. So you are correct that shortly the models will no longer be available for sale from Spartan Games, and their moulds retired from use.

2) In the first part of 2016 we aim to release a ‘free to download’ version of a new set of fantasy naval rules that are targeted at gamers who have an existing collection of UCS models.

3) We have developed a new variant of UCS, but I can’t talk about unreleased product in any more detail other  to say we have worked on a new development project and we now need to plan a release schedule that is complimentary to the needs of our sales partners.

Sorry I can’t tell you any more than that, and I hope the above is helpful."

He also expressed his apologies in a further email for the oversight in not having this information mentioned here in the forums earlier and was under the impression that it had already been done by someone.


According to the current blog post, Products for Uncharted Seas will not longer be on sale after November 30th
"
------
So it seems we will have another naval combat game for the next year. What do you think?

NOTE: You proabaly know about this, but I am saving some important stuff from the Spartan Games forums to keep track of the events before the forum for UCS gets deleted

IMPERIAL HUMANS BACK TO THE DRY DOCK

The Imperial Humans have one of the best looking fleets within the factions of Uncharted Seas, not to mention is the most "historical-like" of them, very closely resembling the ships of "the Age of Sail", and rules-wise is one of the most balanced, because it has no real weaknesses besides being dependent on the wind direcion, as you can imagine. I have embarked myself on a little projet of painting the basic ships of the fleet before Christmas. The rules  stipulate you need at least one large ship of the line (the battleship) a squadron of cruisers (medium ships) and another squadron of small ships (frigates)  to be a valid an "operational" fleet. Do you think I could do it in time?

Here there is my Work-in-Progress fleet so far:

The Heavy Cruisers on the left do not count as they need the regular cruisers on the right to be included in the fleet. Already have paintted two squadrons of frigates, and need to finish the sails of the curissers and, I hope to finish both battleships (the centermost ships) before this month ends. They are almost ready for an Army Painter's quickshader (dark tone) wich works the best with those ships with that colour scheme. At some point I will post here a tutorial about how I based and painted the models, because the tutorial in Spartan Games' forum is very likely to be deleted. I think you will love it ;)

The monster and the destroyers trailing the rest of the fleet (plus the Sloop on the right hand side) are the extra challenge for me to paint them before the end of this year because I plan to play an scenario with a friend of mine that works in Canada with his boyfriend but comes back to Spain for Christmas and New Year holidays. I will lend him my Sky Pirate fleet (another fleet that you will see here soon) and I will be playing with (I hope) newly painted Imperial Human fleet, so he can try out the game. I hope he likes it because he loves elves and I have an elf fleet (still unassembled and unpainted) that I am looking forward to lend it to him (painted, hopefully) the next Summer holidays. Let's see what happens...

EIGHT DAYS BEFORE THE WORLD ENDS

Welcome to The Gate of Suns, a blog dedicated to the fantasy naval combat game 'UNCHARTED SEAS' the first miniature game created by the company Spartan Games. It has been a long journey since the game started in 2008 with the old sculpts of the ships, then, later on, a re-make of the sculpts employing 3D printers to make finely detailed ships models in 1:600 scale

The game saw a hardback edition for the rules in 2012, and later on a canpaing called 'The Cauldron of Silence' in Spartan Games' blog. I peronally got involved in the playtesting phase of a new magic and campaign system, and even the game saw the full release of  allmost all ships for the last faction of the game: The Sky Pirates who only had two models at the time of the already mentioned campaing 'The Cauldron of Silence'... And That was All. At some point Spartan Games decided to no longer support the game, and the models could only be bought from their online store until they ran out of stock, and feedback and announcements from the company about this game in the forums practically ended. There were also momments of  confusion amongst the Firestorm Armada players (other of the sucessful games of the company)  fearing the possibility of that game sharing the same fate (something that not happened, the game is still in good "health" and has recently seen a related game called 'Firestorm Planetfall')

Finally, the 21at of October 2015  the company finally announced the official date for the game to definitive ending, to much of the Uncharteds Seas community´s dwindling nubmers dismay.

This blog is all about keeping the game and hobby alive, by showcasing painted models, posting battle reports, commenting tactics and brewing some extra rules for the soon-to-be-defunct game..