Oak & Iron Game Review: Core Box

Oak & Iron Board Game Overview

Game Description

Oak & Iron is a 1/600th scale miniatures game that focuses on naval combat during the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1750 AD). The game pits 2 or more players against each other in small fleet and squadron battles of sailing ships. It’s fast-paced and simple without a bunch of stuffy charts. The rules are simple and intuitive for novices and long-time gamers. Despite the simplicity of the rules the game has significant tactical depth and is a challenge for all skill levels. Oak & Iron is light enough for all players, but it stays true to its historical theme and incorporates a number of historical characters, ships & tactics of the period. The game has 5 factions, each with its own flavor and play style.

About the Game of Oak & Iron

What’s in the Game Box?

The Oak & Iron Core Box set is a complete game in a box and includes:

Oak & Iron Game Setup

The game comes with a 3’x3′ poster-sized game mat for play and 6 ships with all the cards, tokens, and terrain you need for a solid 2-player game. The game comes with the complete rulebook (you can download the latest PDF of the Oak & Iron ruleset for free at Firelock Games. It literally has EVERYTHING you need. No extra tape measure or anything.

Quick Start Setup Option

The game comes with a “Quick Start Setup” guide that picks your starting ships and initiative cards that let you jump into the game with minimal effort. It’s a great scenario to use as a demo for new players. The configuration is just the right size to teach the rules and get the basic mechanics down without having to go into the deeper aspects of them.

Normal Oak & Iron Game Setup

In a normal game, players agree on a game size that determines the points they can spend on configuring their forces. Based on the game size, players then spend points configuring their forces by purchasing ships, upgrades, and admirals/captains for their chosen factions.

Game Size Options

• PATROL (50pts) = A quick match of 2-4 Ships recreating battles between pirates, privateers, and coast guard Squadrons. Larger Ships of the Line are not allowed in these games.
  Game Length: 35-45 minute game
• SKIRMISH (100 pts) = 3 to 8 ships square off in minor battles between small naval Squadrons and/or larger privateer or pirate Squadrons. Game Length: 45-75 minutes
• ENGAGEMENT (200 pts) = 4-10 ships engaging in significant battles between naval Squadrons including the largest men of war sailing the seas! Game Length: 60-120 minutes

Historical Factions in Oak & Iron

The Oak & Iron Core Rules boxed set contains 5 primary nations or factions.

Once a game size is established, each player begins building their Squadron by choosing a Nation. Each Nation has its own unique abilities and bonuses that affect gameplay. Each faction has a card that lists its abilities for quick reference.

Admirals & Captains

Every National Faction has 3-5 Admirals & Captains based on historical leaders of the time. Additionally, the game offers a number of unaligned misc leaders that are available to all factions. Each Admiral/Captin card has a point cost and must be assigned to a ship.

• The Ship an Admiral is assigned to becomes the Squadron’s flagship.
• Each admiral card value is between 0 and 3; representing the admiral’s experience level.
• An Admiral’s value will be used to determine which player is the attacker or defender in a scenario and to break ties in certain situations.
• A player may also select one bonus Initiative Card per experience level of the Admiral.

Initiative Cards

Players each select their own small Initiative card deck (5-8 cards depending on Admiral level) that they will use during the game (we’ll cover the Initiative phase more below). The cards are chosen from a pool of 18 “generic” initiative cards available to all players and 5 specific to the player’s chosen Nation. The 5 unique Nation initiative cards are one of the ways the game adds some historical feel to the game. Each card has an ability based on historical documents and tactics or strategies that nation employed in their naval doctrines of the day.

Select Ships & Ship Upgrades

Players each choose ships, by points, that will make up their Squadrons. They may also select upgrades to the ship to give it additional special abilities or increase its movement or combat stats.

• There are 6 different ship types in the Core Rules and an additional 6 available in expansion packs. Firelock Games has announced that there are an additional 6 ships coming 2023.
• Ships have a Skill representing their sailing & fighting ability. The default Skill is 0. Each ship may purchase a Skill 1 or 2 as an upgrade. For each point of Skill a ship has, the ship may re-roll 1 die during Skill Tests and Attacks.
• Each ship has upgrades that are available to its type and a player may buy as many of them as they wish.
• Each ship may also purchase upgrades from a standard list available to all ships. However, it is limited to 1 commander card and up to 2 upgrade cards.
• The right side of each ship tracks Fatigue and Damage. Fatigue represents the crew’s morale and fitness for combat. If the ship reaches 0 remaining Fatigue is Shaken and can only Rally to recover. If Shaken during a boarding action it may be captured in the End Phase. When a Ship takes 7 Damage (10 if Stout) it is considered Crippled and suffers a reduced speed. If both the Fatigue and Damage tracks are full, the Ship is Out of Action for the rest of the game.

Oak & Iron Force Builder

A digital Force Builder is available for free on the Firelock Games website to help speed up building your ship squadrons.

Pre-Game Setup & Scenarios

Oak & Iron takes an interesting approach to determine the scenario and game setup. Every time you play the game, the setup is different.

Scenarios & Objectives

The game contains a card system of 4 small decks that generates scenarios (Fig 1). The use of decks randomly generates the starting board setting/terrain, objectives, deployment zones, and conditions. This system increases the replayability of the game by helping to keep it fresh and new. If you’d like still more variety, there is also an additional library of Oak & Iron game scenarios on TimberAndSail.com.

Terrain & Setting

Based on the Settings cards drawn during the pregame setup you will add a variety of terrain tiles to the gameboard. These provide various obstacles and barriers to movement. A high-level overview of each:

• Landmasses & Islands = These block lines of sight for attacks and cause ships to run aground during collisions.
• Rocks = Similar to islands they cause ships to run aground, but they do not block line of sight for ranged combat.
• Shoals = Shoals present a risk reward element. Ships may try to sail over them, but risk getting stuck and running aground.
• Fog = Reduces visibility and affects the accuracy of attacks.

For more information on Terrain in Oak & Iron, checkout our full guide and review with strategy and tactics in its placement.

Oak & Iron Gameplay Overview

The gameplay in Oak & Iron is breaks down into 4 main sections. I’ll touch on each of those briefly to give you the highlights of each.

Initiative Phase

At the start of the Initiative Phase, players will reveal their chosen initiative cards to determine which player goes first. Additionally, each player will also choose a new card for the following turn, before resolving the current round. This is an interesting element that forces players to plan ahead and “guess” what will be most beneficial in the next round. This is also an element that helps to represent the delays in signaling and issuing orders between ships during combat.

Each Initiative Card has a number value and a special ability. The player with the highest number goes first. In the event of a tie, a card from the Event Deck is drawn and resolved. The events can be things like fog, weather changes, wind shifts or commanders confusing their orders

Movement Phase

The movement in Oak & Iron is similar to that of X-Wing or Wings of Glory where your speed affects your turnability. However, unlike those games, where you lock-in movement and select a specific maneuver, you may adjust your heading depending on your speed. Your ship’s current facing relative to the wind (as shown in Fig 2) determines its base speed for the round. There are purchasable speed upgrades when building your fleets and a possible initiative card bonus that can affect the ship’s speed, but all ships have a maximum speed of 5.

Seamanship Actions

Once per round, each ship may take a “Seamanship Action” every round. These actions typically require a skill roll to succeed and skill level of the crew affects success. Seamanship Actions may do one of 3 things:

• Change Heading = a bonus turn using the Move 1 tool.
• Adjust Speed = Speed up or slow down by 1 for the round.
• Cut Free = If you are Entangled with another ship either by collision or boarding, you may cut yourself free.

Moving Your Ships

Players alternate moving one ship at a time using the same set of movement tools (Fig 3). All ship movement and turning occur with the same set of movement tools. If you move too slow or too fast (Move 1, 4, or 5) you can only make up to a 30° turn. If you move Speed 2 or 3 you can make up to a 45° turn. By default, ships can only make a single move and a single turn per round; partial turns are permitted. Some ships also have abilities or bonuses that allow them an additional turn/movement (such as Yare).

At the end of its movement, each ship places a Wake token at its stern to indicate that it has moved. Later during the combat phase, the Wake token is removed to indicate that its combat for the round is complete.

Using a Crew Action

In addition to its normal movement, a ship may take a Crew Action. Crew Actions can be used for a wide variety of things such as reloading cannons, rallying to restore morale, or repairing damage. Secondly, Crew Actions may change the ship’s sail setting and adjust its speed. Furthermore, a ship may attempt to free itself if it’s runaround on a shoal, rock, or island. Crew actions may use grapples to board enemy vessels. Man Sweeps and row or send a Landing Party to a nearby island to recover mission objectives. If a flagship vessel is in danger of sinking, admirals may transfer their flag to another ship. Crew Actions are a very simple mechanic that adds a lot of depth without complication.

Attack Phase

During the Attack Phase, players alternate making attacks, 1 ship at a time. After each ship has activated during the attack phase, it remove its Wake marker to indicate that it has attacked this phase. Ships may make take one of 3 attack types a Broadside, Partial Shot, or Close Combat/Boarding attack

Oak & Iron Ranged Combat

In Oak & Iron, there are two types of ranged attacks, Broadside and Partial Fire. Each ship has a Broadside and Partial (Crew) stat representing the number of dice they roll in the attack. Broadsides reflect cannon barrages from the side fire arcs of the ship and require Reload actions. They have a longer range and do more damage. Partial attacks include the use of small arms, swivel guns, and bow/stern chaser guns. In addition, Partial Shots have a 360° fire arc, but a shorter range (Musket distance). All ranged attacks in the game use the same range ruler. Ranged combat uses custom d8 dice with pictures on their face. The ruler shows pictures that reflect hits for each range band. Some ships’ upgrades and abilities can affect the success/failure of hits but overall ranged combat is simple and straightforward thereby keeping play fast and simple.

Oak & Iron Close Combat / Boarding Mechanics

The simple boarding mechanics of Oak & Iron allow a ship to grapple another vessel within “Yard Arm” distance (the width of the Range Ruler). After grappling, they may make a Close Combat attack equal to a Ship’s Crew Score + 3D8 +upgrades/faction bonuses. Boarding attacks the Fatigue of a ship (crew morale) and can lead to its surrender/capture.

For me, the boarding mechanics are a little weak as they offer the defending ship few options to defend itself. Opponents must either attempt to cut free or attack back on their own turn. Therefore, it can occasionally lead to one (or more) smaller ships swarming larger vessels in an attempt to capture them quickly. Because of this, it can be difficult for inexperienced players to know how to fend off incoming ships or avoid being boarded initially.

End Phase

During the End Phase of each round, players count their
current Strike Points and check to see if the game continues. Players earn Strike Points for ships that are Captured or Sunk and may earn additional Strike Points depending on the Scenario Objectice. Regardless of Strike Points, the game ends at the end of Turn 10.

When Ships are Out of Action due to damage they remain on the board until the End Phases. During this phase a roll determines if they sink beneath the waves or continue to remain as burning wreckage and obstacles on the board.

Both players now return their face up initiative cards to their hands and prep for the next round.

Oak & Iron Game Review Summary

To sum it all up, Oak & Iron is an EXCELLENT board game. If you have even a minor interest in pirates or naval combat in the “Golden Age of Pirates”, you don’t need to pass it up. Board games can often get stale over time and miniatures games are often complex or require a significant expense to buy in. Oak & Iron is the best of both worlds. The boxed set has a variety of gameplay without overly complex rules. If you don’t buy any of the expansions, it’s a solid game. But if you want to take it up a notch and turn it into a full-blown wargame, the expansion packs exist and buy-in overall is low compared to other miniatures games.

Pros & Cons List

Here’s a quick breakdown of what I enjoyed about the game and a few things that could use a bit of improvement.

Game Rating Breakdown

As part of this Oak & Iron game review, let’s do a quick summary breakdown of each core element of the game.

Conclusion

If you’re like me and enjoy the pirate genre and you can appreciate the historical aspects of the era, this is definitely a game you should check out. If you’re even marginally interested, you won’t be disappointed and I suggest you buy the Oak & Iron game today!

Additional Articles of Interest

• If you’d like to read the rules before you buy, we have the Oak & Iron Rulebook (PDF) & Glossary / Quick Reference Sheet available for download here.

• Check out our article comparing Oak & Iron vs. Black Seas and the differences in their rules and gameplay.
• Check out our Strategy & Tactics Guides for Oak & Iron.

Product Referral Links

• Oak & Iron Core Boxed Set on Firelock Games
• Oak & Iron Core Boxed Set on Amazon