Game description from the publisher:
For two bleak decades the Undead reavers of Count Noctilus have plagued the oceans of the world. After each raid, the Dreadfleet disappears into its lair as quickly and silently as it appeared, far from the reach of Man. And yet there remains hope. Captain Jaego Roth of the Heldenhammer has vowed to hunt down and destroy Count Noctilus and his Undead captains once and for all. With him sail the most notorious and cunning of the pirate lords of Sartosa, each borne to battle upon a giant warship bristling with cannons, organ guns and bolt throwers. At the stroke of midnight on Geheimnisnacht, most forsaken of nights, the Heldenhammer and her companions sail into the realm of undeath known as the Galleon's Graveyard. One by one, Count Noctilus and his vile allies move in to stop them.
Dreadfleet is a boxed game for two (or more) players that includes everything you need to make war on the turbulent seas of the Warhammer world. At your command are two fleets of ships: the Dreadfleet led by the Vampire Count Noctilus, aboard his gargantuan sea-hulk the Bloody Reaver; and the Grand Alliance commanded by the Pirate Captain Jaego Roth, who recently stole the Heldenhammer – the pride of the Imperial Fleet, and one of the largest galleons to ever sail the high seas.
As your ships engage in furious battle, it's down to you, the fleet captain, to make important split-second decisions. Do you bring all guns to bear on the closest enemy warship, or do you sail into position for a furious broadside? What happens when the warship catches fire, or worse, the powder kegs ignite? Exactly how much punishment can your warship take before it sinks without a trace? Are those Undead seagulls or flying piranha fish? And, when all else fails, do you have the courage to ram your foe, board their ship, and engage them in a duel to the death?
- Storing the game in a pirate's chest and using a holo atlas book for cards enhances the theme.
- Naval combat
- Pirate
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- do you buy toys for your toys in other words do you purchase or make some enhancements to upgrade the components that come with your game just to bring that something extra to the gameplay
- so i borrowed some petri dishes and radioactive labeling tape to give my pandemic game some more character
- having physical treasures or keys adds more weight to how the story might be told
- we also recently picked up i dark overlord and to show who the overlord was i got out my black cape
- i went to a windshield shop and i got them to cut out a custom sized piece of plexiglass which i could then lay over top of the board once all the trains on there
- i have my dreadfleet game in a pirate's chest and use a holo atlas book for the cards to go in
- listen no one said the upgrades had to be expensive
- as 3d printers become more and more mainstream and more affordable don't you just think this is going to dominate how board game prototypes are made
- i have replaced the paper money in most of my games with poker chips for they are more solid and make a nice clinking sound
- my only guilty pleasure is my dice tower i hate dice that roll on the floor
- if our dice roll off the table onto the floor we always re-roll them even if the dice land on the table but they're on top of a token and they're just slightly slanted we re-roll those as well if it's not flat we take it back that's our smith's rule
- i found some actual game of thrones souvenirs which would normally be way too expensive but they were 50 off i couldn't resist
- fish tank gravel
- i went on board gay geek and i found the file that lets you play sort of the game from the ghostbusters theme
- they all will they're the ones i will use for playing relic
- i designed my own pitches
- i found painted figs.com
- when you take damage in the game you will be inflicting pain to your victim so you put a little pin in there where you take damage
- i totally saw yours and copied your idea
- damn dice box now they won't go all over the place
References (from this video)
- ambitious concept and strong visual design
- great models and theme
- not as durable in the long term; support waned
- ship-to-ship battles with a dark fantasy twist
- Naval fantasy on a grim sea
- scenario-driven battles
- Dreadfleet vs Dead Zone
- Armada
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Ship-scale combat — board-based naval engagements with cards/markers
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- rules are temporary models forever.
- print-on-demand is a great system—upload new versions and iterate.
- expansion will be a free PDF download that will have solo and co-op play with six scenarios.