Firstly: “History: Man O’ War is one of the oldest non-core games released by Games Workshop.”
With respect, you are mistaken. MoW was preceded, I believe, by Talisman, DungeonQuest, Blood Bowl, Chainsaw Warrior, Dark Future, Adeptus Titanicus, Advanced HeroQuest, Mighty Empires, Advanced Space Crusade, Space Marine, Space Fleet, Space Hulk, Confrontation, Battle For Armageddon, Doom Of The Eldar, The Horus Heresy and Tyranid Attack.
It was followed by original games Mordheim, Gorkamorka, Inquisitor & Warmaster, semi-original games Necromunda (successor to Confrontation), Titan Legions (successor to Adeptus Titanicus), Epic 40k (successor to both Space Marine and Titan Legions), Warhammer Quest (successor to Adv. HeroQuest) & Battlefleet Gothic (successor to Space Fleet) and by new editions of Blood Bowl, Talisman and Space Hulk.
To put it another way, GW was developing its own games (as opposed to just publishing other people’s) at least as early as Talisman in 1983. And last released a new game (as far as I can see from a quick BGG search) in 2001 (Inquisitor). MoW, released in 1993, falls pretty close to the middle of the pack, and a lot of the games after it were based (albeit sometimes rather loosely) on earlier games.
Wow. I just realised that it’s been ten years since GW realeased a new game. It seems like they were trotting out at least one a year back when I started playing.
Secondly: It should be noted that the ‘lighter tone’ and many of the ‘tongue-in-cheek’ elements you mentiioned weren’t far removed from the Warhammer of the time. Although some of the stuff in Plague Fleet, particularly, was just plain silly (particularly the Hellslicer and complete lack of thought that went into the Skaven fleet: a Censeer Bearer on water, a Warpfire Thrower on water and a Screaming Bell on water).
Oh, and while you’re right that the Empire was generally more technologically advanced, the gap wasn’t nearly as great back then. While Bretonnians may not have had the Empire’s handguns, steam tanks and volley guns, they didn’t lose their cannons until the 5th Ed Warhammer Army Book in ’96. (I guess they just forgot how to make gunpowder one day, kind of like the entire 40k Imperium forgot that the Legion Of The Damned are the plague-crazed survivors of the Fire Hawks, and Squats, Zoats and Fimir forgot to continue existing)
Otherwise, nice article. Beautiful models. Thank you particularly for your tips on making sails. I mostly play dwarves, so this isn’t something I’ve had a lot of experience with in the past, but I’ll definitely be shopping for some canvas paper before I start on my Bretonnian fleet. Is there any chance of some higher resolution photos to show off the effect? If not here then perhaps dropped into the photo section at the Sea Of Claws or Board Game Geek?
To solve the problem with ship templates I’ve been using Managarmr’s template pages (in the files section of the Sea Of Claws), but I’ve recently downloaded the playing card sized templates from http://www.headlesshollow.com. Haven’t got them printed off yet, but they look fantastic and I’m looking forward to trying them out.
Nice writeup. Would love to see your opinions on using the new Dreadfleet stuff in Man O’ War. Oh, and Dark Future?
Wargaming Workshop 
5 replies on “Man O’ War”
Hi,
Could you tell me the base sizes of the unofficial guidelines, or where I can found it?
Thank you,
Dieter Wax
You can get them from the Sea of Claws yahoo group (files/New Rules Idea Folder)
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/theseaofclaws/files/NEW%20RULES%20IDEA%20FOLDER/
Thank you,
Dieter Wax
Firstly: “History: Man O’ War is one of the oldest non-core games released by Games Workshop.”
With respect, you are mistaken. MoW was preceded, I believe, by Talisman, DungeonQuest, Blood Bowl, Chainsaw Warrior, Dark Future, Adeptus Titanicus, Advanced HeroQuest, Mighty Empires, Advanced Space Crusade, Space Marine, Space Fleet, Space Hulk, Confrontation, Battle For Armageddon, Doom Of The Eldar, The Horus Heresy and Tyranid Attack.
It was followed by original games Mordheim, Gorkamorka, Inquisitor & Warmaster, semi-original games Necromunda (successor to Confrontation), Titan Legions (successor to Adeptus Titanicus), Epic 40k (successor to both Space Marine and Titan Legions), Warhammer Quest (successor to Adv. HeroQuest) & Battlefleet Gothic (successor to Space Fleet) and by new editions of Blood Bowl, Talisman and Space Hulk.
To put it another way, GW was developing its own games (as opposed to just publishing other people’s) at least as early as Talisman in 1983. And last released a new game (as far as I can see from a quick BGG search) in 2001 (Inquisitor). MoW, released in 1993, falls pretty close to the middle of the pack, and a lot of the games after it were based (albeit sometimes rather loosely) on earlier games.
Wow. I just realised that it’s been ten years since GW realeased a new game. It seems like they were trotting out at least one a year back when I started playing.
Secondly: It should be noted that the ‘lighter tone’ and many of the ‘tongue-in-cheek’ elements you mentiioned weren’t far removed from the Warhammer of the time. Although some of the stuff in Plague Fleet, particularly, was just plain silly (particularly the Hellslicer and complete lack of thought that went into the Skaven fleet: a Censeer Bearer on water, a Warpfire Thrower on water and a Screaming Bell on water).
Oh, and while you’re right that the Empire was generally more technologically advanced, the gap wasn’t nearly as great back then. While Bretonnians may not have had the Empire’s handguns, steam tanks and volley guns, they didn’t lose their cannons until the 5th Ed Warhammer Army Book in ’96. (I guess they just forgot how to make gunpowder one day, kind of like the entire 40k Imperium forgot that the Legion Of The Damned are the plague-crazed survivors of the Fire Hawks, and Squats, Zoats and Fimir forgot to continue existing)
Otherwise, nice article. Beautiful models. Thank you particularly for your tips on making sails. I mostly play dwarves, so this isn’t something I’ve had a lot of experience with in the past, but I’ll definitely be shopping for some canvas paper before I start on my Bretonnian fleet. Is there any chance of some higher resolution photos to show off the effect? If not here then perhaps dropped into the photo section at the Sea Of Claws or Board Game Geek?
To solve the problem with ship templates I’ve been using Managarmr’s template pages (in the files section of the Sea Of Claws), but I’ve recently downloaded the playing card sized templates from http://www.headlesshollow.com. Haven’t got them printed off yet, but they look fantastic and I’m looking forward to trying them out.
Nice writeup. Would love to see your opinions on using the new Dreadfleet stuff in Man O’ War. Oh, and Dark Future?
Really wish MOW would make a comeback.