I made my own faction and want your opinion about the rules and Force Guide!

[MajorMcNicol]

Hey everyone - a good while ago there was a battle report of my testing some "mercenary or pirate" ships against Ruckdog's Prussians.  A lot has happened in the interim, but just recently I have finally gotten around to making 2.0 rules for the force (AND painting up the first wave of ships!).  I even finished mocking up a Force Guide in the style of the official Spartan ones. 

I would like your help and opinions about the ships and aeroplanes, rules, points, and force guide!

You can find the force guide for download here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_gsuBDmdvmLeTltUklGMm1aejg/edit?usp=sharing

You can find pictures of three of the ship classes all painted up on my blog here:
http://andygomez.wordpress.com/category/mercenaries-pirates/

Any thoughts, c&c, ideas, or proof reading are welcome!

(P.S. Yes, you can find the original playtest drafts for this list from a good long while ago in this same forum...)

[Last Rites]

Whoa...loads of respect for the conversions and to creating your own fleet!! Complete with corresponding stats ala the new 2.0 layout. Grand job, sir!

First off I have to say the ships look amazing. They scream pirate fleet, so can honestly say you nailed that one. Instantly i thought of a Mad Max type naval battle going on (Tho that may be bc i'm heavily anticipating the new film). Good choices on the models within the force to use, as they do well to compliment each other and the pirate doctrine. Will you be adding in other elements, or those from the Black Wolf fleet?

Very impressed that you went all out and completed a stat book identical to the ones produced by Spartan. How much have they been playtested? As this to me seems the only way to find a balance. The only thing I would say is to take a look at the points cost to each model compared to the MARs attached to them. Looking at the Italians and Ottomans, most fleets with high MAR counts tend to have higher points cost associated with them. Right now for a full list the pirates come in at 715, an included 20 models. Still i think a few play tested games will help sort this out.

...where on Earth did you find that terrain??! Its fantastic!!

[MajorMcNicol]

Thanks very much for the kind words, LR.  They are actually the first positive comments I have heard about the project from the DW community!

The conversions were all ideas I had well over a year ago - and they are pretty straightforward, too.  Thanks to the parts service, it wasn't too cheap!  I only recently painted them up.  I had the idea for orange, yellow, black in my head for some reason, and just went with it.  I am pretty pleased.  It certainly cuts a different picture on the table than my grey Russians! 

The rules in the Force Guide doc I made have been 100% NOT playtested, lol.  I agree - I should get to playtesting.  So far I have yet to find an opponent around these parts for DW, and I have not yet played a game of 2.0 either.  But I have been reading the new rulebook finally!

The units available to the CdZ are definitely low on points - and generally weak.  In terms of the models I have (but not the models I have painted), my CdZ fleet will be:

-1 Leviathan
-6 Pocket Cruisers
-3 Destroyers
-2 Combat Escorts
-10 Frigates
-6 Corvettes
-10 SAWs

So right now that works out to be 1010 points, with two SAS aces, but might have too high a percentage of small models (I'd have to double check).  So there's some good possibilities for playtesting sizes.  If they are only a force that does well in smaller games - not full scale fleet actions - I think I'd be OK with that.  It's just a "small" outfit after all.

Anyway, thanks again!  Let me know if you have any more thoughts.  It would be nice to add another Large or Massive model to the fleet as well, but I currently have no strong ideas about that...

About the terrain: it's easy!  PetSmart or PetCo, aquarium terrain.  I have amassed a decent collection for DW!

[Last Rites]

Yeah. I use to post to the Spartan forums, but found them a bit to harsh or muddled by side conversations. Easy to get lost while looking for information there. This site is much more friendly IMO.

Have you thought of making Terror Tactics more prevalent in the Pirate fleet? Seems fitting with them. That and perhaps the inclusion of tiny gunboat tokens from the Italians Parts service. Totally see them as a great addition for pirates! I don't see the Pirates as being to strong on the air power, as finding a suitable landing location would prove very difficult. Unless of course they were able to capture something. Which then brings to mind, would they have the bodies to man such a large vessel. Perhaps a mod to the Merchant carriers would work nicely. Especially in those liveries you're using!

Agreed on the force being more geared to smaller point levels. These are pirates after all and don't have full access to the larger machines of war out there. Like an up and coming version to the air heavy Eclipse Co. and BW fleets.

Thanks for a heads up on the pet store terrain. Seeing all the chat about Deep Wars on here, it still never clicked to look there for terrain. Currently we are trying to build a narrative for the seas around the Arabian Peninsula so that has been my focus on terrain styles lately.

[Ruckdog]

Glad to see your pirate faction re-surface, Major! I'll have to take a closer look at that fleet guide.

For those interested, here is a link to the battle report from the test game he and I played last year:
http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2013/06/02/pirate-attack/

Have the stats changed much since then? I can't remember what they were at the time, to be honest.

Also, I'm pretty much setteled now up here in NH. Let me know if you want to meet up sometime for a game!

[MajorMcNicol]

@ Last Rites - Terror Tactics is something I need to look into more, especially for some of the small, fast boarding ships.  Tiny ships might also be sweet!  Crocodile Submarines, Uccagore (sp?) torpedo boats, even Armed Trawlers might be cool to have as like a mass of small attack craft launched from some big ship.  Hmm.  Now I need to get working on that.   
You're right about the Apollo class carrier, too.  Or Merchantmen ships...  I better get painting so I can buy more resin!


@ Ruckdog - Good to hear from you!  I thought you were moving up to Maine?  NH is not too far away! What town/city are you in or close to? I don't have a car anymore (and glad - Massachusetts driving is unlike anywhere I've been in the US), but I bet we can arrange something sometime.  It'd be good to try out the 2.0 rules!
The stats are pretty much all new, but they probably aren't that different.  I started "from scratch" and based everything off the new 2.0 statistics, trying to consider different cruisers across the many fleets in order to develop the pocket cruiser stats, etc.  I have yet to playtest, however.  Let me know what you think of the Force Guide!

[Ruckdog]

I'm in Portsmouth, NH, so I'm probably only an hour or so away.

[CDR-G]

Like the Pirates. They would be great as a spoiler in in a scenario-- Surprise, pirates show up at the end to steal the goodies! Agree with Last Rites on force composition. Pirates are not  national power so won't have the same fleet structure. One large/massive is about right.. Adding the Q-Ship  and carrier from the Merchants (now "Operational AssetsP) would help with the mediums. Perhaps an Eclipse company air unit modified to be piratical for a limited air presence.

[MajorMcNicol]

All good ideas!  Maybe some kind of armed & armored blimp would be a natural extension, after all.

[Landlubber]

To echo some of the other comments--wow.  I'm having trouble thinking up scenarios, and you go and build your own faction.  I stand in awe of your creativity!

To go with the pirate theme--and maybe this is because I watched "Captain Phillips" not too long ago--maybe you should give some of the small ships the Sharpshooter MAR?  A way for them to try to clear the decks of opposing forces before they board.

I'm still learning 2.0--did you stick to all the normal MARs and commodore abilities, or did you make up your own?

Also--any fleet that includes combat escorts and super destroyers is OK in my book!

[MajorMcNicol]

Thanks!  It's been a project with a long gestation time though for sure.  Lol. 

Sharpshooters may be a good MAR to throw in there.  I will have to think more about which ship it could go on.  I do have some new vessel ideas (see later).

I, too, am still learning 2.0, but I did base all the rules and stats on the 2.0 system.  I definitely stuck to existing Commodore abilities and doctrines, although I did some "mix and match."  The language for all that should be pretty much a copy-paste job.

Here's a quick run down of the new units I am considering:

+ Support Carrier
-- Based on either the Chinese Federation carrier or the Apollo class operation asset, both in model and rule form
-- Basically a cruiser-sized flat top with 4 carrier points and squadrons of 1-2

+ Fighting/Recon Blimp
-- Based on either the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Gunnery Airship in rules, but the model based on the Iron Dwarves Bellows-class from Uncharted Seas
-- Basically a medium sky ship with spotter role, squadrons of 1-3

+ Small Attack Craft "Carrier"
-- Model based on Large Landing Barge somehow, stats based on Large Landing Barge
-- Carries a complement (Squadron Support) of generic tiny attack craft, which I envision being a motley mix of armed trawlers, Italian, Australian, Black Wolf tiny vessels

I'm a good way away putting money into building these, but I think they could be worthwhile additions.  I particularly think there should be at least one more Large Capital in the fleet, and maybe one aerial unit makes sense.

What do y'all think?

[Ruckdog]

New units sound pretty cool!

-The support CV sounds about right. It doesn't make sense to me that a pirate faction would have the resources/need to run a full-size fleet carrier.

-I think this seems reasonable. A lighter than air craft would be economical to run, making it attractive to pirates watching their bottom line! Plus, they need a way to find their next victim!

-Sooo...if you are going to base this off the large landing platform, I challenge you to think bigger. The thing is so huge, I think it would work better as a floating Pirate HQ/base, almost like the Pirate Dreadnought, of sorts. I think you can keep the small craft carrier idea, but it could also serve as your centerpiece model. Write some fluff for how it serves as a floating drydock for your smaller models, or the place where they keep their captured booty, that sort of thing.

[Last Rites]

I second Rucks challange. An always on the move floating city for pirates fits way way way to well. Like a floating vault. Where they dump off the booty, and rearm and supply.

Have to admit I'm working on a little project now, much in this same vein...

[MadDrB]

It took me some time to figure out where those destroyers came from, but I finally realized you used the top half of the Covenant battleships with French masts--awesome!  They look quite new to my eyes--the masts certainly changed the profile.  And together with the landing craft (I like the addition of those Japanese turrets), I didn't associate them with the CoA in the least.  Congrats on some simple yet effective conversions.

Great background fluff for the faction as well.  And, like the others, I'm impressed with the guide.  I look forward to seeing what kind of larger carrier model you add to the force.

[MajorMcNicol]

Thanks guys!  Kind words all around.  I have not had much of a chance to work on this lately, but I hope to!  I have frigates, corvettes, and the large in the force guide all ready to paint up - as well as some TFTs ---- I mean SAWs.  I am going to have to keep thinking about the large carrier.  I like all the suggestions, however...