Oak & Iron: Pulling Into Port

By Tyler Stone
This weekend, my Kickstarter copy of newest game, pulled into dock at my front door. It was a long voyage, as Firelock Captain Mike attested on our podcast.

Issues with the initial castings, then shipping, and finally with customs, meant that the project didn’t quite make its projected ‘Christmas 2019’ delivery.

A lesser blogger might ask the leading question, “Was it worth the wait.” But this is no average blog, so I’m going to tell you up front: it absolutely was. With that out of the way, I’m going to answer your question instead – what’s in the box?

The short answer to that is: A LOT.  Underneath the gorgeous box art (is it weird to state how much I love that font?) is an overflowing treasure-trove of goodies. The box contains everything that 2 players need to play ‘Oak & Iron’. This is a departure from Firelock’s previous single player starters for ‘’ and ‘’. Spread out on the table, you can see lots of components, several decks of cards, and dice. They even managed to pack in a HUGE laminate ocean mat and punch-out island terrain!

The rulebook is a slim affair, more suited to a board game, or other tabletops like ‘X-Wing’ or ‘Blood Red Skies’. The book does include a quick-start guide, so it’s possible to get right into the action, right out of the box. They’ve also put a quick reference sheet right on the back of the book. However, this isn’t a “get you by” book by any means – it’s a glossy, full-color text filled with diagrams and high-quality photos of the game in action.

The number of cards shipped with this game is extensive. There are cards for all 5 factions that the game supports; the Dutch, English, French, Spanish and the Unaligned/Pirates. Named commanders are shown ____. The eagle-eyed historian might spot a few familiar names that are decidedly not from the 17th-century realm of ‘Blood & Plunder’. Is this a hint of things to come for B&P? We’ll have to wait and see (or you can check out Tales, and find out for yourself)

Aside from these famous captains, there are also decks of cards for settings, objectives, deployments, conditions, upgrades, and events. One thing that Firelock is always willing to change from game to game, is their Activation system. Oak & Iron uses unique ‘Initiative Cards’. There is a “master deck” of general initiative cards, and each faction mixes in characterful additions. For a better idea of how these work, check out my covering gameplay.

The game also comes with a massive sheet of punch-out elements. There are wake and smoke markers to denote activations, objective markers, fortune points, and movement templates. In the future, Firelock will be releasing higher quality movement templates. Those who backed the Kickstarter were able to grab a set of clear acrylics, but I’m uncertain if these are the same ones that will be coming to stores. Plastic smoke and wake templates are also on the horizon, although you could make your own. I’m quite partial to the cotton-and-LED options that some folks have been rigging together on the .

Additionally, the game comes with more than enough terrain to get you started. It wouldn’t be the Caribbean without those gorgeous sandy beaches, populated with sun-loungers and bottomless mojitos. The punch-outs are also two-sided so that you can have some fog if the chilly North Atlantic is more to your liking.

I know what you people really like though – I can already hear you: “That stuff is all well and good, but Tyler, where are the ships?!”
Don’t worry – I’ve got you covered.

You’ll have to forgive the nudity; I was writing this while everyone else has been frantically painting their fleet. If you want to see painted examples, I’m going to direct you back to the Facebook page where people are already posting glamour-shots of their handiwork. Nonetheless, the ships are more than serviceable right out of the box, with their brown hulls and their white sails. A few required some razor-work to clear some flash and get them to socket into the hulls. Otherwise, aside from than the un-pictured second jib sail on the sloop, you shouldn’t need any glue or hobby skills.

And that is the best thing about the ‘Oak & Iron’ starter: it’s ready to go, straight from the box. It has all the depth and strategy that Firelock Games is known for, but also has much more in common with your standard board game than any of their other offerings (well, except for their actual board game ‘’, I suppose).

I imagine that you will be able to find this on the shelves of local board game shops. I also believe that Mike has sent a few bottle-messages to mainstream companies like ‘Barnes & Noble’ about getting this on their shelves. This is a game for your “normie” friends. I even managed to press-gang my navigator, Jen, into learning to play the same day I unboxed it!