1st Rate Ship: Ultimate Guide for Oak & Iron

Historical Background

The 1st Rate is the largest ship in the game. The rating system is one developed by the English Navy. They were defined as 80-100+ cannons and a crew of 850 men. Their extreme weight and displacement often limited their use in stormy or winter weather with choppy seas.

Although incredibly powerful, they were extremely expensive to build and maintain. Many sat in the harbor and were only activated during wartime. The Royal Navy built fewer than a couple dozen 1st Rate vessels during the 1650-1750 period setting for Oak & Iron. The same is true of Dutch First Charters and Spanish. The French built more First Ranks than any other navies in the timeframe. Unfortunately, the majority of them sunk, burned or were captured.

The sight of this ship on the horizon was impressive and frightening. They were not to be trifled with or engaged lightly. When it was able to align its guns on a target, splinters were guaranteed to fly.

1st Rate Ship of the Line – Oak & Iron Stat Card

1st Rate Ship Analysis

1st Rate Ship Overview & Tactics

This is the King Kong or Godzilla of the game. It is the largest and most powerful ship on the ocean. It has the highest raw firepower and durability. When it’s on the gameboard, your opponents will take notice.

This ship is built to be an extremely heavy hitter at range. When it brings its full broadside to bear at close range and the Weight of Fire ability kicks in, it has the potential to completely Cripple half the ships in the game in just a single salvo. Even against larger ships, this vessel can inflict solid damage. In an up-close brawl with other Ships of the Line, the one that shoots can often win the day.

Ship Upgrade Suggestions

If you take Additional Guns, stay in formation, and use the Effective Fire initiative card you are rolling 14 dice on a single Broadside shot. If you are playing the French and you use the Superior Firepower card, you can roll an insane 15-dice Broadside attack.

Additionally, this is the first ship to have a Fortitude of 4. Very High Freeboard is the best Fatigue management option in the game. Your opponent has to score 3 hits to inflict a single point of Fatigue. As such, this ship ties the 2nd Rate for the highest Durability in the game. Most games I’ve played with the 1st Rate have rarely resulted in the ship sinking from ranged Broadside damage. It either survives to the end of the game or is Captured via boarding actions. This means Stout isn’t a “must-have” upgrade unless you are playing a very large point game with a high number of other Ships of the Line.

Taking Additional Crew and Additional Guns is expensive but definitely worth the price to help defend your precious investment. If boarded, Additional Crew will help recover Fatigue or allow a counter board against the enemy ship. Additional Guns, just add one more die to your overwhelming ranged attacks and give you one more chance at a critical hit.

Swift and Weatherly are only 3 points and as slow and ponderous as the ship is, a 5% investment in their upgrades can definitely pay dividends and in my opinion should be taken almost every game.

Tactical Suggestions

With so many points in a single ship, you may want to take a couple of small ships like Sloops, Brigantine, or Corvettes just to add some Strike Points to your force. These smaller ships can grapple and Entangle your opponents to keep them from getting to board your 1st Rate and also locks them in place for your gunship to turn them into flotsam.

You will want to make sure to keep your Fatigue low, so Rally as often as possible. Pairing the ship with an Admiral that can remove two Fatigue per round, such as Michiel de Ruyter or Jean Bart, may be a good idea.

As the best way to take down this ship is to board it, you should prepare for that tactic with the Repel Boarders (Spanish) Initiative card and consider taking the Boarding Defenses ship upgrade.

If you get Entangled with another ship, don’t forget that if your cannons are loaded you can still make a single Broadside attack. Once Entangled you can no longer make Reloads via Crew Actions. But firing a Broadside at Pistol Range can inflict solid Damage and Fatigue against an unsuspecting opponent. If you were sly enough to also take the Reload initiative card it can allow you to repeat the close-range attack again.

During the movement phase, you want to move this ship as close to last as possible to be able to align shots on your targets. During the Attack Phase, you typically want to go first with this ship to inflict the most Damage and Fatigue before the enemy can attack back. If you are lucky you can Cripple or take a target Out of Action before they get to fire.

Product Referral Links

This ship is available in the Ships of the Line expansion pack for Oak & Iron