Oak & Iron is a game of naval combat, but also includes basic rules for going ashore and engaging in land combat via “Landing Parties”. Since it tends to be a minor aspect of the game, Landing Parties are often glossed over. This article introduces new scenarios that require the use of Landing Parties. It also offers some tips and strategies for using Landing Parties in your games.
Landing Party Rules & Gameplay
Before we dive in too far, let’s take a look at what a Landing Party is and how they work in the game. The following are the Core Rules for landing Parties (pg. 16):
Landing Party A ship that is not Shaken, has its Sail Setting set to Anchored, and is within Pistol Shot of an island or landmass may send a Landing Party ashore. To do so, place a Landing Party token anywhere on the island or landmass within Musket Shot of the ship. While ashore, the Landing Party may make Close Combat attacks against any other Landing Party token within Musket Shot of the token using the crew value of the ship that deployed it. If a ship with a Landing Party token ashore ever becomes Shaken or moves, the Landing Party token is immediately removed.
So what does that mean in practical terms for in-game play?
A Landing party is represented by a temporary token that is deployed from a ship onto an Island or Landmass. Their purpose is to complete some sort of objective that can’t be accomplished at sea such as capturing treasure.
Based on the rules ships must be at a full stop (aka Anchored) to deploy your Landing Party. As such, Landing Parties require multiple Crew Actions to deploy. At the start of a game, a ship that starts at Battle Sail which is its default sailing Speed. A ship can then use a “Change Sail Setting” Crew Action to adjust its speed. Going from Battle Sail to Minimal Sail requires a Crew Action. Then, it takes a second round to slow from Minimal Sail to an Anchored Sail Setting. Then once Anchored, you have to use a 3rd Crew Action to deploy a Landing Party. Unfortunately, there is a gap in the rules for how to deal with returning a Landing Party to the ship. This makes deploying a Landing Party a time-consuming and dangerous process.
Note: One would assume that since it took a full Crew Action to deploy the Landing Party, it takes a Crew Action to bring them back aboard the ship. However, it’s not 100% clear how it works as the only rules that move a Landing Party back to a ship are in the Setting/Scenario card, not in the core rules.
“Raid” Scenario
There is currently only a single Setting card (Raid) that involves a Landing Party to recover an objective token. This scenario requires a ship deploy a Landing Party to an island and then use a Crew Action to capture and move an objective token back to the ship.
The first few times I played this scenario I always seemed to lose as the Attacker. It takes a while to wrap your head around interacting with islands and landing parties. Especially when you’ve played a large number of sea battles focused on avoiding colliding with an island. We’ve compiled a few strategies and tips to help you in overcoming the learning curve later in this article.
3 New Scenarios involving Landing Parties
We at TimberAndSail.com think that a single scenario for Landing Parties, just isn’t enough. You can only play the same 6 scenarios that come with the game so many times before it gets a little stale. So, rather than just complain about the situation, we’ve come up with 3 new Scenario Settings to help you add some variety to your games.
“Raze” Scenario
The objective in this scenario is to set fire and burn down an objective on the island. The objective may be a small supply depot, barracks, base of operations, brothel, etc. However you want to spin the narrative of the scenario, something must BURN!!!
Break out the torches (or fire brigade buckets) and let’s play with fire!
“Escape” Scenario
A VIP of some sort must escape from the island and off the board before they can be killed or captured by enemy forces.
The Defender must use a Landing Party to recover the VIP and then successfully sail the rescue ship off the board before being sunk or captured by the Attacker.
“Delivery” Scenario
The Attacker must deliver an important shipment of medical supplies, alcohol, ambassadors, or some other “fun” objective. This turns the concept of the standard Landing Parties on its head. Instead of recovering an objective on an island, the Attacker must deliver an objective to an Island.
Landing Party Strategies
A Landing Party takes a large number of Crew Actions to deploy and recover. The longer it takes you to complete your landing action the more danger your party and the ship that deployed it are in.
Attacker Tips
- Deploy as close to the objective as possible during your initial deployment. The fewer moves you have to make to get in range the more rounds you have to complete the Objective and the faster you inflict Strike Points on your opponent.
- Take the Expert Topmen Ship Upgrade from the Oak & Iron EXPANSION DECK VOL.1. This card allows you to take a free “Change Sail Setting” Crew Action at any time. This can allow you to throw on the brakes and get to Anchored in a single round if you also use your standard Crew Action to lower your Sail Setting.
- Speed is your ally. Using initiative cards like Favorable Wind or Engage More Closely that give you speed boosts or Free moves helps you close the range quickly.
- Since you have to be Anchored, to deploy the Landing Party, you are a sitting duck for incoming enemy fire. Do your best to end your movement at an angle that allows you your best opportunity for potentially firing Broadsides at your enemies.
- If you can board an enemy ship with any of your other ships it can tie them up and keep them from being able to engage your Landing Party ship.
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Consider splitting your force and sending two ships towards the island to deploy a Landing Party. Once you get closer, go for the one that makes the most sense.
- Regardless of the size of the island or positioning of the objective, you only have to be in Pistol range of any part of the island to deploy your landing party. So don’t worry about getting super close to the token, just aim for the nearest edge of the island.
Prepare to be boarded!
- If you are playing the Spanish/Pirates (with Spanish) take the Repel Boarders Initiative Card to repel incoming attacks.
- Consider the Ship Upgrade Boarding Defenses which reduces the enemy’s Close Combat Attack by half (round down).
- Use your other ships to cutoff boarding angles and run interference
Defender Tips
- If you know that one ship is going to be the go-to ship for the Landing Party, engage it in a Boarding Action. Entangling the ship slows it down and they will have to waste their time Cutting Free, which also slows their Move to 1 for that round.
- Don’t get too focused on the ship deploying the Landing Party. Sometimes it is faster to drive the Attacker away by inflicting Strike Points via their other ships.
- Set up a blockade. Slow your ships down to minimal sail and set up a firing line to take out all incoming enemies.
- The more ships you have in your force the harder it is to break your defensive lines.
Pre-game Deployment Tips as the Defender
- When deploying your Island for the scenario put it as far away from the center of the board and the enemy as possible. Make them sail as long as possible to get to it to delay them access to Strike Points.
- Place the island to one side or the other, not the dead center. This potentially narrows the field of play and makes it more difficult for the enemy to approach the island from multiple angles.
- Place the island as far upwind (as close to the Wind Marker token) as possible. That forces the enemy to sail Windward to approach and thus slows their progress giving you the advantage of shooting them as they approach and possibly inflicting consequences from the scenario’s Turm limits.
- Deploy your ships as close to your deployment zone edge nearest the enemy’s deployment zone as possible. As the Defender, you get to deploy your ships first. The Attacker then has to deploy at least Cannon range away from your ships. You can use this option to push them further from the objective and force them to have to sail further and be in range of your guns longer.
We hope you enjoyed our suggestions and look forward to seeing your battle reports and hearing your feedback on how Landing Parties played out in your games. Check out our other great Oak & Iron scenarios. Hope to see you on the seas!