October release: "Dread Fleet" - Fantasy naval game (pics and content list page 15 and 16)

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Kroothawk**

Hi,

there were some rumours for several months that GW will release a second, one shot boxed game in autumn, like GW did with the Space Hulk rerelease two years ago. Nothing more was known for some time, until ghost21 and Harry spread hints that it would be a Fantasy naval game "but not Man'o'War".

The September WD issue now has posted this teaser pic for October, with the German text translating: "Wanted: Count Noctilus! If you have any useful information, please contact Jago Roth, captain of the 'Heldenhammer'".

Summary of rumours:
- Fantasy naval game in 10mm Warmaster scale
- 4 known fractions: Empire, Vampires, Orcs, High Elves, seem to be more (Dark Elves and Dwarfs?).
- box includes a lot of models.
- one shot release, all in one box, no supplements or further models.
- Name seems to be "Dread Fleet".
- More expensive than Space Hulk (>99$).

The scale led to some speculation, how much boarding action will be part of the game.

Here some more tidbits from Warseer:

CSE wrote:oh its coming, its so cool (n i shouldn't say but its actually an October release, has multiple armies ships in it)
(...)
Warmaster o war actually

Do you know if there will be more fleets than Empire and Undead? You said "multiple" ones earlier...

Yup there are more than just those 2
(...)
im certainly not disappointed the ship models especialy the orcs are ace

Doesn't Ulthuan have the largest fleet in the Warhammer World? One would think they would be an obvious choice. Empire, High Elves, Vampire Counts, OnG, two two most popular Order armies, two of the most popular Destruction armies, all four having very strong aesthetics.

I am sure that you won't be disappointed

Harry wrote:
Harry said Warmaster scale, so 10 mm.

I did and it is or near as makes no difference.
(...)
There is some Elfy love in there too.
T'was never just Empire and Vampire Counts that early rumour was incorrect.
(...)
It is just one box ... chock full of boaty goodness.

Harry wrote:Not sure how we got stuck on four fleets. I have heard about boats more than four armies.

Speculation? Sure, $99, like the Space Hulk box.

More than that.
(...)
Not all factions I don't imagine for one minute. But I have heard about more than four.

CSE wrote:strange as ive seen n held a skaven and orc boat..., it seems that the initial put fleets for every race has been boiled down to a mismatch of some dudes n a few rag tag pirates... i feel they've watched to many Disney movies....

the rules are great though, its realy easy fast paced game , something to be played within half an hour

Harry wrote:Why has everyone started calling this as a board game?

There has been no mention of a board.

This is still a miniature wargame to be played over a gaming table with dice, rulers and scenery .... isn't it? Unless someone knows different

Important clarification:

NatTreehouse wrote:OK as there seems to be some debate about what "fleets" are available try this for size.

The story is basically that the Empire get ticked off with Sartosan Vampire Pirates making off with their goods. So they assemble a dirty dozen/magnificent seven style possee to hunt them down. Each "side" (I would say fleet but that seems to be causing confuzion) has around seven models. So the "sides" are Empire v Vampires, but each "side" contains iconic examples of some other races boats.

The "Empire"side has a Dwarf, Elf, Bret, Witchhunter ship and some others.
The Vampires have assorted aquatic dead icons: Ghost Ship, Egyptian Death Barge, Davy Jonez locker etc.

So there isn't a Dwarf fleet, or the possibility to build one. There's a Dwarf boat. Same for elves, and Orcs and Skaven are right outa luck.

It is a two player game with a series of linked missions like SHulk, so you don't use all your ships in every game.

Scale isn't WM (1/300 scale, 10mm size of a foot figure), nor is it MoW. It's a size to allow the sculptors to make cool, individual boats. Like the cool individual terminators in Shulk.

Some years ago there was a plan to do 28mm Sartosan Vampire Pirates. That got canned. However the Vampire Models were made and John Blanche did a crap-load of concept art. That art has been re-used for some of this.

I heard it was out in Seaptember but that was some monts ago. Looks like it swapped with Ogretobre.

That's all I got,and I heard it all months ago from the mouth of a horse, so some of it may have changed.

Harry wrote:Thanks for this expansion on your earlier posts.
That helps un-muddy the waters a good bit.
The detail of your description seems very credible to me.

Certainly makes sense of why i have heard about boats for so many races but also that it was all in one box.

I have a couple of slight difficulties ...

It seems to me I have heard about boats for Orcs and Dark Elves so I am not sure where they fit in the picture....
.... unless that Empire fleet is a very dirty dozen indeed.

When you say it is not Warmaster scale ... is it your understanding that it is a bit smaller inbetween MoW and WM or a bit bigger than WM?
I heard it was 'as near as makes no difference'. You seem to be saying it is a good bit different?

Could be these snippets I have heard which seem to conflict with what you have said are wrong so I am not doubting what you say.

And a bit clarification on the possible release date:

Harry wrote:
BramGaunt wrote:Dunno if it has been said yet, but Preorders will start 17th of september.

I hadn't heard that.

BramGaunt wrote:Stores are inviting for a special presentation related to the wanted poster in WD, which is to take place at the 17th. Preorders for IT supposedly start the same day, after people know whats coming. That does not mean that it will be out the 24th.

I hadn't heard that ... sounds fun.... will there be cake? ... I didn't think they even got them in store till the week before release.
You think they are getting a pre release, 'presentation event copy' to show people?

PigeonSmythe wrote:It is being officially previewed at Gamesday.

Games Day UK Sunday is on 25th September and the item will be available to buy in stores from the Saturday after that which is Saturday 1st October. My black shirt has told me there are no advance orders for this.

This is closer to what I have heard.
and I have heard the same thing from different places too.

BUT

Maybe we are both right. It is possible that what I have heard is what is true for the 'general public' but each store gets a chance to reward its regular, full price paying, big spending, customers with an invitation and a chance to get their hands on a copy a week early the day it arrives in store.

vargojones wrote:So is this definitely a limited release?

Yes

BramGaunt wrote:My store gave me a personal invitation and explicitly told me what it was for. "Warhammer fantasy related release" they said. They did not say that the game (I lost) would be on display (or that it was a game at all, but it has to do with the wanted poster, so...) though
a presentation suggests it - most GWs have no projectors. I was very stunned about that aswell, I expected GamesDay UK to be the first preview.
(...)
Invitation doesn't mean it is invited guests only, they just hand out little cards with the dateon it, and are supposed to give one to everyone.

Frgt/10 wrote:this roughly lines up with what I've heard, in that 'something' will be available to buy at the Aus gamesday; which is on Oct 1st...

To get an idea of what a Warmaster scaled ship might look, here some old Forge World ships in Warmaster scale found by Captain Carstein over at Warseer:

Here a link that shows the old OOP Forge World Warmaster scale products:
http://web.archive.org/web/20031205091336/www.forgeworld.co.uk/acatalog/QUATERMASTERS_STORE_WARMASTER_18.html

I will try to keep this first post updated.

**kenshin620**

There she blows! Hoist the sails! Ready the guns!

Sounds very interesting!

Just curious, what was the scale of the original Man O War line?

**Kroothawk**

Tiny, someone said maybe 1:1200.

Here some info, but not about scale:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_O%27_War_%28game%29

Still, those metal boxes were absurdly expensive even then.

**RatBot**

I might've been interested enough to try this, and if I liked it enough, maybe even break my ban on GW products, because it's just a one-off stand-alone game with no expansions (basically it sounds like a board game without a board)... but only if there was a Skaven Fleet. It's too bad, there aren't a whole lot of Fantasy Naval games out there. Uncharted Seas is the only one I know of.

**Necros**

Can't wait to see it for reals.

I sure they will, but I hope they don't repeat the limitedness of Space Hulk where your FLGS will be lucky to get like 2 copies in...

**Da Boss**

Quest seemed like the better option for a stand alone game, but I guess there's less competition in the market for stand alone 10mm naval games?!

**The Dwarf Wolf**

Nice!!! I would love some ships... Its a shame it is GW, and it is "special release". I will not have money anyway...

**col. krazy kenny**

BIG DEAL,WOW a Naval game.

**Chibi Bodge-Battle**

The Dwarf Wolf wrote:Nice!!! I would love some ships... Its a shame it is GW, and it is "special release". I will not have money anyway...

Uncharted Seas?

There must be other systems available.

**RiTides**

I'm interested... let's see what it looks like!

**Tzeentchling9**

Very interesting. I'd love to start an Orc fleet(especially with the prospect of "improving" other races' ships to join my fleet), but unfortunately it does not seem like it will stick.

**mikhaila**

Necros wrote:Can't wait to see it for reals.

I sure they will, but I hope they don't repeat the limitedness of Space Hulk where your FLGS will be lucky to get like 2 copies in...

HA! Are you kidding? That's exactly what most FLGS are going to do.
-We aren't going to get any details from GW before we order it.
-We can't take any pre-orders.
-It will be at least a 100.00 game.
-Stores need the money to buy the stock they need for Christmas stock up, it can't get tied up in slow merchandise.
-All risk is on the FLGS. If it doesn't sell, we eat it.

Now, take that into account, and how do you think stores will order? I'm usually "RAH, RAH, GO GW GO!", but I'm getting pretty frustrated and upset about the new disinformation policy. I simply cannot order like I did on Space Hulk where I had 75 pre orders and got in 100 copies.

Seriously, If you guys want to get this game, and want to get it through your FLGS, you better pre order it through them, and put down a deposit so they know you're serious. Kicking back and not giving a pre-order will guarantee stores order very few, and that you'll be giving money direct to GW to get it when we can't get more.

**Breotan**

I also don't know how well this will do. At least with Space Hulk, you had the ability to use the figures for 40k if you got tired of the board game. I don't see that here, unless they think this will drive sales of Warmaster somehow.

**RiTides**

Yeah, the disinformation policy is... a bummer.

This month's white dwarf rocks, though... a shame they can't seem to keep 2 good things going at once...

**H.B.M.C.**

So they’re basically doing a slightly new version of... Man ... O...

*snoring noises*

... Ahh! Where am I? Oh. I’m still in this thread. Yeah, just thinking about that old Fantasy ship game puts me to sleep. I don't care that much about Fantasy, but even Storm of Magic was interesting, even if just from a curiosity perspective. A new Man'O'War? I've never been this disinterested in a GW release since... well since Plague Fleet came out.

**Snord**

I didn't get into Man o' War; whenever people talk about the glory days of WD and all the support they gave to non-core games, I think of games like Man o' War which got a lot of support but sank pretty much without a trace.

If the models for this new game look good, I may get it - and given the standard of their recent plastic models, I think it's a safe bet that the models will be good. My son has always liked ship battles, so I'd have an opponent. I'm surprised that (assuming the rumours are true) GW has chosen this route. A re-done Bloodbowl would seem to be a safer bet.

**chaos0xomega**

I'll wait for more details before I decide, but I'm tempted...

Honestly, I thought the pic you posted was suggesting a new Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast list, woulda preferred that, but this is just as good...

**Agamemnon2**

Not even remotely interested. I can't help wondering who GW is aiming this abortion of an idea at. Basically, anything else would have been preferable.

**spiraleddie**

Not to derail the thread but this one-of naval game could make a nice segue into the fabled new marine race for warhammer fantasy.
The Count Noctilus image conjures images of a marine style undead reminiscent of Davy Jones and crew from Pirates of the Caribbean.
You can imagine zombie pirates that utilise other marine sentient races like fish men.

**chaos0xomega**

spiraleddie wrote:Not to derail the thread but this one-of naval game could make a nice segue into the fabled new marine race for warhammer fantasy.
The Count Noctilus image conjures images of a marine style undead reminiscent of Davy Jones and crew from Pirates of the Caribbean.
You can imagine zombie pirates that utilise other marine sentient races like fish men.

See Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast. Was done already years ago...

**Aduro**

Given the big successes of Uncharted Seas and Dystopian Wars I'm not too surprised about GW following suit and putting out a naval game. If it was a new line like 40k or something I wouldn't care much at all because I own the aforementioned two games, but a one off game with four fleets will have me paying attention to see if it's worth it.

**Zid**

Aduro wrote:Given the big successes of Uncharted Seas and Dystopian Wars I'm not too surprised about GW following suit and putting out a naval game. If it was a new line like 40k or something I wouldn't care much at all because I own the aforementioned two games, but a one off game with four fleets will have me paying attention to see if it's worth it.

Mirrors my thoughts; Uncharted Seas is fun as hell to watch, never played a game tho... will be interesting to see

**marbo54**

I am interested to see what happens cause, GW model are amazing at the moment and have been stunning the past few months. But looking at the Warmaster range which awful.And it looks like GW struggled with 10mm models. So this should interesting. Also does anyone know if its going to be all plastic or plastic and some finecast?

**BrookM**

Chances are all plastic as with the Space Hulk limited release last(?) year.

**ceorron**

To quote myself from the old September Speculation topic.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/371485.page

ceorron wrote:I think I get it and it makes unusual reasoning but I think I may have made some sense of it.

GW takes a lot of it's inspiration from films. What has been one of the most popular films of recent years but Pirates of the Caribbean.

Think about it, the whole pirates thing done in warhammer, thats a strong theme to begin with.

Empire v vampire counts (aka undead skeleton) ala the first Pirates film. I know it is difficult to vision but that is my guess.

I have also heard a rumour saying that the enemy will rise this autumn (or something like that). People are thinking that refers to Necrons but could be refering to the undead aka vamps in the Man O War game.

So not only do I think this is right but my guess is that the box will contain Empire and Vampire Counts if this rumour is correct.

Just a bit of a hypothisis.

I even managed to predict right on the two main armies of Empire and Vampire Counts. I also give an explanation of why GW may be taking this approach a la the Pirates film. I will wait to see if this bears out.

**The Decapitator**

I was a little disappointed at first when I saw this, however on reflection, a one off game with some cool minis and hopefully a half decent ruleset could be a good laugh. Will make a change to play this when I don't fancy a full game of Fantasy/40k etc.

**UNCLEBADTOUCH**

I'll be honest unless they wow me with the miniature content I won't buy this. Space hulk works as a self contained board game, however with this sort of game I would rather invest in dystopian wars as it will get ongoing support where as this will be one shot and then dead in the water ( if you'll pardon the pun ) lol.

**Chibi Bodge-Battle**

UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote:I'll be honest unless they wow me with the miniature content I won't buy this. Space hulk works as a self contained board game, however with this sort of game I would rather invest in dystopian wars as it will get ongoing support where as this will be one shot and then dead in the water ( if you'll pardon the pun ) lol.

Except the other games aren't GW so don't actually exist.
Just incase some miss the cynicism:
/cynicism

**UNCLEBADTOUCH**

@chibi don't worry I'm well aware of the "imaginary other games manufacturer" joke, I'm ex GW staff lol

If only they had done something that everyone wanted and works well self contained, you know like warhammer quest maybe? Lol that I would have bought in an instant.

**spaceelf**

Space Hulk sold in part because the figs could be used in 40k. This game is only compatible with WarMaster, which was a real winner for GW.

I just do not know what GW is thinking. It seems they are doing all they can to generate interest in Fantasy with Storm of Magic and Warhammer Forge. I guess we will see the results when they release the financial statements. What seems to be happening is that lots of people are jumping ship and trying games like Dystopian Wars, Malifaux, Infinity, and Warmachine.