Uncharted Seas - Dwarf vs Orc

The curse of newly painted figures strikes again...

Having rushed the new fleet into action and with a shiny new Flagship I was feeling pretty confident for last Sunday's Uncharted Seas encounter. We pointed up the ships in our various fleets and the Orcs had enough to face off against the combined good and bad Dwarves...

I found myself entering the table with Dwarf allies to my right and the Orc fleet to my left.

Dane had certainly been busy since we had last played with plenty of capital ships and some pretty huge destroyers, all armed with front facing cannon.

Paul's Dwarf fleet steaming into action, but would they been fast enough to bail me out?

True to form the Orcs were soon charging into action, heading straight for my Flagship, armed with broadsides and turrets the Shroud Mage Flagship was soon knocking chunks out of the destroyers, who struggled to amass enough hits to cause any major damage.

Throw in some Frigates and the main Battleship who dropped anchor to fire a further broadside and I was feel pretty confident. Some might say a touch cocky....

As the main Dwarf fleet came into action, I formed my Cruisers into a firing line and set off aiming for the mass of Orc ships... It's here the fun stops... 

The lead Cruiser who had yet to fire a shot took a Critical hit blowing up!!!!!

The explosion damaged all the ships around it, causing major damage to two others Cruisers, fixing the rudder on the battleship who now could only head forwards.

Out of shot and in the same turn a badly damaged Orc Destroyer blew up, taking two of my Frigates with it...

Without support the Flagship found itself between numerous green boats and was soon turned to match wood as the hits mounted up...

None of the new ships lasted the night. The curse of newly painted minitures had struck again.

It was however a great game and nice to get the toys back on the table after quite a while.

Uncharted Seas..... Back from the depths...

These have been in the back of the cupboard for so long that they have been completely redesigned by Warcradle Studios when they acquired the rights from Spartan Games. Still it's nice to get this lot finished and be available for gaming even if they only come out once in a while.

First up a couple of Shroud Mages - Tormentor Class Heavy Cruisers.

According to the blurb. The Tormentor Class Heavy Cruiser is an aptly named piece of dark machinery. Its guaranteed extra speed, improved firepower and ramming ability over a standard cruiser make it a terror for any opposing commander to face.

I also finished the Flagship which is quite a beast, plenty of guns on the port and starboard sides and a couple of turrets for when you can't get the angle you need. 

Also off the production line are a couple of extra's from Peter Pig's ACW range, I figured these would come in handy for transports or prizes to be seized, they fitted the general theme of the Shroud Mages, I just need to create some stats for them.

Whilst moving stuff around I also came across these torpedo boats, which will come in handy again they are in need of a couple of house rules, but they took no time at all to paint and wash, once I had sculpted the bases.

They do look rather good when compared to the Flagship. I am really not sure how much staying power they will have on the table.

Given the time lag between painting the the first starter pack and the new batch I am pretty pleased with the colour match. I had to mix up a bronze colour to match the central boiler unit on the ships, the original Dwarf Bronze had long since dried up.... but the new mix came up rather well and a coat of Matt Varnish should tie them in perfectly.

Looking forward to tonight - Now all I need to do is find the rules....

Saturday paint desk - More from the cupboard of shame.

Next time I travel to a wargames show I am going on my own.... :-)

You know what's it like when you get to a certain age you start to talk about gaming systems of the past and fun encounters, you all admit 'I still have some of those' and so it begins.

In our case it was Uncharted Seas.... A fantasy fleet action in the age of Sail and Steam.
So this Sunday at the Wyverns see's us dusting off our fleets...

 
Whilst hunting these down I found a couple of extra's which never made it to the paint table, perfect for a weekend project to clear more from the cupboard of shame.

When I picked these up I have no idea, perhaps 6 years ago. The expanded fleet for the Shroud Mages and some Peter Pig ACW extra's for convoys and transports. 

Perfect as the weekend project to get them on the table for tomorrow night.

Uncharted Seas - Beware Croc's....

It must be two years since the Shroud Mages last took to the seas and it has to be said they performed as badly this time as in any other outing, or is it that the Orc's are their nemesis of the High seas?

Uncharted Seas from Spartan Games is one of those games you can throw on to the table in under 10 minutes, perfect for a club night or where time is limited.

 

The Imperator - Intruder Class Battleship sets sail for the Orc fleet.
I took the trouble to sculpt the base with Green stuff, I am really pleased with the result, it probably took longer to complete than the actual ship, but it also adds a little to the playing piece which stops it shifting on the table top.

We played the 1st Scenario from the rule book, which allowed each of use to use the full starter packs, of 6 Frigates, 3 Cruisers and a Battleship.

The Orc's rush straight in, all their fire power massed at the front, I had to turn to port to bring my more numerous guns to bear, by which time I was already taking hits.

Early exchanges saw both sides lose a Cruiser, but the Orc frigates were closing fast and the linked fire from the squadron was starting to really hurt, my own Frigates I had deployed too far out and were struggling to get into the action quickly enough.

Another Two Cruisers slip below the surface, this would be a battleship face off.

Finally my Frigates arrive on the seen only to see the battleship be sunk, the nasty little Orc row boats had succeeded in getting behind my Battleship and had inflicted a critical hit, jamming my steering and reducing my speed to next to nothing, with no guns in the aft and significant Hull points reducing my fire power the game was lost.

Aside from the loss - which must be now six games to nil, it was good to dust off the Dwarven fleet, somewhere in a box in the garage are 4 or 5 more ships, they may even make the project plan for next year although I may steer clear of flaming Orc's......