Description
Man O' War is the game of Raging Sea Battles in the Warhammer World. As an admiral of an ocean-going war fleet you must command your ships - which can be either squadrons of Ships of the Line or heavily armored Men O' War, in the battle for supremacy of the high seas.
High above the waves, the crew of the Dwarf War Balloon watched aghast as the water churned around the Dreadnought far below. A Black Leviathan, all fangs and claws, erupted from the waves, bellowing in rage as it tore into the stricken vessel again and again.
Plague Fleet Expansion:
The first of two expansion sets for Man O' War, Plague Fleet brings the chaos fleets into play: Nurgle, Tzeentch and the rest.
Expands:
Man O' War
[From the game manual]
Beyond the icy seas of Kislev and the Sea of Claws lies the dark Realm of Chaos. It is here that resides a greater danger than any posed by the mortal enemies of the nations of the Known World. Within the Chaos Wastes nature itself has become corrupted and the very earth rebels against what it has become; in this wild and dangerous place the trees moan in eldritch voices and the rocks scream their hate at a dark and uncaring sky.
The seas of this inhuman realm are the most dangerous and deadly waters of the Known World. From deep within the Seas of Chaos sail forth the Plague fleets of Chaos, waging constant war and carrying the fatal taint of Chaos across the globe. They are perhaps the ultimate enemy and greatest threat to the ocean-going warfleets of the Known World.
The following pages contain new rules and Fleet Lists for the Fleets of Chaos, including Khorne Bloodships, Hellships of Slaanesh, Great Winged Terrors of Tzeentch, Plagueships of Nurgle, Deathgalleys, and details of the Skaven and Chaos Dwarf fleets. Plague Fleet also introduces Chaos Sorcerers, dark Wizards who draw on the power of the Warp to wreak hideous destruction on the enemy ships.
Plaguefleet's full contents list is as follows:
1 X 72 Page Rulebook (You’re reading it!)
1 X Chaos Magic Deck (32 Cards)
1 X Skaven Magic Deck (8 Cards)
1 X Chaos Reward Deck (32 Cards)
7 X Chaos Terrain Pieces
1 X Scatter Dice
1 X Artillery Dice
1 X Poisoned Wind Template (Green Circle)
1 X Howling Insanity Template (Lightning Circle)
1 X Vortex Template
1 X Great Leveller Template (Large, Orange Circle)
1 X Wind of Chaos Template (Purple Circle)
1 X Warpfire Thrower Template
1 X Nurgle Slime Trail Template
2 X Clan Eshin Plagueburner Templates
1 X Hawkship Turn Template
40 X Ship Templates
2 X Range Rulers
1 X Chaos Sorcerer Template
1 X Skaven Grey Seer Template
36 X Wound Counters
24 X Grey Seer Warpstone Counters
11 X Great Bell Counters
15 X Energy of Tzeentch Counters
104 X Skaven Crew Counters
5 X Skaven Assassin Counters
10 X Skaven Rat-Ogre Counters
1 X Chaos Sorcerer Power Counter
4 X Death Frenzy Counters
4 X Crawling Flesh Counters
4 X Curse of the Horned One Counters
1 X Warlock Champion Counter
1 X Warlock Master Counter
1 X Skaven Warlord Counter
1 X Grey Seer Counter
1 X Chaos Lord Counter
1 X Chaos Dwarf Battlelord Counter
1 X Chaos Sorcerer Counter
12 X Nurgle's Rot Counters
12 X Pink Horror Counters
40 X Chaos Experience Counters
218 X Chaos Crew Counters
Sea of Blood Expansion:
Sea of Blood contains new rules to be used in conjunction with the Man O' War game and the Plague Fleet supplement.
SEA MONSTERS:
The Triton, Sea Elemental, Kraken, Sea Dragon, Megaladon, Promethean, Black Leviathan, Gargantuan and Behemoth rise to the surface to vent their fury against the fleets of the known world.
FLYERS:
Bretonnian Pegasus Riders, Dwarf Gyrocopters and War Balloons, Elf Dragon Riders and War Eagles, Imperial Griffon Riders, Orc Wyvern Riders, Dark Elf Manticore Lords, Chaos Dwarf Taurus Riders, and Lords of Change fill the smoke-laden skies above the battle.
Sea of Blood also contains rules for: Allies, Imperial Hell-hammers, Ironfists, Norse Raiders and Dwarf Dreadnoughts.
CONTENTS:
1 x Rulebook
9 x Sea Monster Templates
14 x Flying Creature Templates
6 x Aircraft Templates
18 x Anti-flier Armament
33 x Norse Crew Counters
26 x Wound Counters
3 x Ironfist Templates
46 x Ship Templates
SEA OF BLOOD IS NOT A COMPLETE GAME. YOU WILL NEED A COPY OF THE MAN O' WAR GAME TO USE THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOX.
Expands:
Man O' War
Players choose fleets from the multitude of races of the Warhammer world. Every ship is represented by a template showing individual areas, each with a description of the items (masts, cannons etc.) in those areas - as well as the damage that they can take before being destroyed. Each location has a value that must be rolled to hit that area when attacked, along with another value that can be rolled by the defending player to possibly prevent any damage that might occur. Ships are classified as Ship of the Line (SOL) - which are designed to move as a group of three (each moving and fighting to completion before continuing on with the next ship in the squadron), a Man O' War (MOW)- which are single ships that are much larger, more powerful and crewed by larger numbers than a single SOL classed ship, or finally as an Independent (IND) - which are used individually like a Man O' War but are more in line in strength and abilities to that of a Ship of the Line.
At the beginning of each turn, players determine Initiative by each rolling a die which determines either who will go 1st in each phase - if the numbers are different, or how the wind direction changes if they both roll the same number. If the wind changes, the initiative roll and resolution is repeated until one player wins the die roll.
Players then conduct the Magic Phase with each Admiral having his Wizard make one spell attempt if desired. If a spell is successful, the other player can try and dispel that cast spell if they have a corresponding type of magic to make the attempt.
Next comes the Battle phase which is based on the previously determined initiative roll and players alternate between phases of Movement/Combat, each choosing a single MOW, IND or SOL Squadron and then conducting movement and making attacks before passing the turn sequence back to their opponent. This process continues until all ships have moved on both sides. Once that has occurred, the turn is over and a series of quick turn ending/record keeping events occurs before moving to the next turn. Game play continues for a predetermined time or until one side is destroyed, surrenders or flees the battlefield.
There were two separate expansions to the main game. The first was Plaguefleet which added rules and templates for the Chaos fleets of Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle (collectively known as a Plaguefleet), the Skaven and finally the Chaos Dwarfs. This expansion effectively doubled the number of available fleets for the game. This expansion also included color templates for the original 6 races as well (Imperial, Bretonnian, Dwarf, High Elf, Dark Elf and Orc).
The 2nd expansion Sea of Blood mainly introduced new rules for Airpower, Sea Monsters & Beasts and Allies as well as new ships for the Dwarfs and Imperial fleets. The inclusion of the Norse fleet wrapped up the content for this expansion.
Finally, complete rules for an Undead fleet - as well as some expansion rules for a few of the other races, were included in several of the issues of Game Workshop's Citadel Journal magazine.
A wide variety of miniatures were produced to represent the many ships detailed in the main game and expansion sets but no miniatures were ever officially made for the Undead fleet. Assembling and painting the miniatures gave the game a feeling of being "collectible" as well as being a hobby in itself. Many players have created customized ships and new ships (and even complete fleets) including rules, ships templates and completed miniatures. The largest collection of these creations is housed at the Yahoo group Sea of Claws.