Hoisting Anchor and getting started in Oak & Iron

By Mitch Reed

Now that conventions are making an appearance again it is time for those who were interested in to start collecting their ships and getting them to a nearby table. Over the last few months gaming admirals have been playing either online or when they get a chance versus a live opponent and many fans of the game have been tinkering with their lists and adjusting how they plan to play the game in the future. Since so few of us have had very much experience in live play, now is a perfect time for those who have yet played the game to get into it. Player’s will need the core box to play the game and if you plan to provide forces for another player then two core boxes will be needed. This is for the cards needed to play more so than the measuring tools, dice and tokens used to play the game. Getting two boxed also gives you a whopping 12 ships to start play with which should make for some great games. You can also get the cards from the core box individually via pdf delivery which means you will have to get them printed.

Another recommended purchase would be a nice playmat for the game. One beautiful Caribbean colored mat around 4’x4’ is all you will need to play the game in any of three sizes of games that are recommended to play the game. Two other purchases I would recommend is getting extra dice and picking up the expansion deck that are also available for the game. The expansion deck gives you some neat upgrades and some generic admirals that will be make your fleet building so much easier. As for the dice, all gamers know you can never have enough.
One thing that will be apparent is that Oak & Iron is easy to collect and play. The ships can be used for any of the five factions in the game and you do not have to get any terrain since the core box has all you will need. You will also find that the learning curve to play the game is short however, to master the game you will need to put in some work and tinker with your lists as you grow into the game.

Once you have your “sea legs” I would really recommend looking into expanding your fleet. I am a huge fan of battles between the big ships of the line. For this getting the box sets that give you the 1st through 6th rate ships is a must. If you want to play smaller point totals and recreate the skirmishes of some of the famous characters of the era, the other three box sets may be for you which contain some of the smaller and sleeker ships of the period.

Players new to the game should also not feel rushed to paint their ships to start playing, the ships come with a plastic brown hull and white sails that are simple to build and you can start playing right away. I have found that dice for painted ships do roll better in games.

Once you have collected all the ships you desire to play the next job is finding an opponent and playing the game. As stated, before the game is easy to learn and really recreates the naval action of period very well. I have found that during each game I learned a lot on which tactics work best and what the ships in my fleet can do. I have such a great time playing Oak & Iron and I am sure you will too.

For those of you who do not remember what was in the box sets, here is a brief rundown of them.
Core Box: All you need to play the game, six ships, cards, templates and dice. You need this box to play the game.
The rest of the boxes contain ships to grow your collection and have the models, bases and cards for all the ships in the box.
Blackbeard’s Revenge: This contains the Revenge and Queen Anne’s Revenge, two ships made famous by Blackbeard
Gentlemen of Fortune: Petit Frigate, Corvette and Sloop. For those who like the smaller and faster ships.
Merchant Men: Light Galleon, Fluyt and Brigantine. These ships usually carry the plunder you are searching for.

Men of War: 4th Rate Ship of Line, 5th Rate Frigate and the 6th Rate Frigate. These ships will be the ones you will get a lot of use out of, fast and strong and you can get a bunch of these ships on your list for most games.

Ships of the Line: 1st Rate Ship of Line, 2nd Rate Ship of Line and the 3rd Rate Ship of Line. These are the big ships that will make up your battle line as you bring your ships alongside those of your enemy.

Recently I was able to play a game of Oak & Iron with our very own “Triple-G” and we decided to play a 200-point game were we played with mostly 1st through 3rd rate ships. With four of these big ships per side we were able to get back into the game quickly and really enjoyed playing with the big ships. While they can take a lot of damaged, they also can dish out a lot of pain with their monster broadsides. As we wrapped up the game we both realized that with each list tweak we were able to learn something new about the game.

Now that life looks like it is returning back to normal, now is the time to get into Oak & Iron.