Black Seas – Master & Commander Starter Set

Warlord Games is establishing itself as a major player in the world of naval wargaming. It started with Cruel Seas, which covers the coastal battles of World War II at a scale of 1:300, and has expanded to include the Age of Sail with Black Seas, which is also at a scale of 1:700 and accompanies Black Powder.

What better way to introduce someone to these new systems than with a proper starter set? They did just that with Strike Fast, Strike Hard! for Cruel Seas, and have now done the same with Master & Commander for Black Seas.

This box can be used as a two-player starter kit or as a large starter fleet for one player, as the ships are generic and can be used by any nation. The set includes the 96-page rulebook, nine vessels and lots of gaming material, which we will take a closer look at below. The Master & Commander starter set has an RRP of £59.

As with most Warlord Games products, especially the Bolt Action books, it comes with a pre-order/direct customer miniature. It is a Sea Wolf. You might have expected the Master & Commander miniature, but Warlord Games already included one with the Black Powder II rulebook.

This boxed set contains everything you need to play, including miniatures and terrain. This is very generous for the price.

• A4 softback 96 page rulebook
• 6 x Plastic Brigs
• 3 x Plastic Frigates
• 1 x A0 double-sided battle mat (the same as in Cruel Seas)
• Three die-cut punchboards, double-sided and full colour (islands, sandbars, rulers, game tokens, etc)
• Ship data cards for the vessels
• Wake markers
• Yarn for the masts and rigging
• Cotton wad
• Flags for British and French vessels
• Set of game dice (D10 and D6)

Additional material such as wake markers or data cards is included in the boxes and blisters of further expansions or supplements you buy, such as the fleet sets or resin ships.

The full-colour rulebook takes time to explain each topic. While Cruel Seas covered a split between basic and extended rulesets, Black Seas is to be seen as a whole. I liked the overview of ships and the explanation of the different types. This is especially helpful if you're new to the Age of Sail or naval wargaming, as it helps you to get your bearings. The rulebook covers quite a lot of scenarios, including the final and most dominant battle of that era: the Battle of Trafalgar. Black Seas is designed for smaller-scale battles, but this is an exception, where you can play with a large fleet.

There are three double-sided card boards, with markers and terrain. You'll find islands and beaches, as well as rules and tokens to help you keep track of your fleet's status.

You will also find a gaming poster, instructions for frigates and brigs, data cards for the different ships and 6- and 10-sided dice in various colours. The different colours help you to keep track of the vessels' different armaments, enabling you to roll them all at once and maintain a certain pace within the game. The roll of yarn is used to rig the masts and sails — this optional step allows you to further upgrade the appearance of your vessels. To keep track of damage or make the barrage more visible, a piece of cotton is included to represent smoke on the battlefield.

The Master & Commander set includes flags for the French and British navies; the other boxes usually cover all four nations. There is also a small sheet of translucent plastic with the shrouds printed on it.

The Black Seas starter kit includes a large A0-sized gaming poster measuring 84 by 119 cm (roughly 33.5 by 47.5 inches) which is printed on both sides. There is a darker sea and a bluer sea variant of the same motif. It also features a central wind rose and a few lines that divide the gaming area into sectors.

As for additional material for the ships themselves, there are sails in different colours that can be used with the kit. There are also flags and shrouds, wake makers and ship data cards. The sails come in different sizes to fit the two types of ship: brigs and frigates, which are available in light and dark designs.

The wake markers differ from those in Cruel Seas, but serve the same purpose of keeping track of the ships' speed (light sails, battle sails and full sails). They are also double-sided with light and dark blue tones. The ship cards cover the size, hit points, weaponry, speed and turn radius of the different vessels. The last picture shows the wake markers and chits in use.

The sprues contain enough parts to build six brigs and three frigates. We have covered the construction of these models in our review of the flotilla boxes, so we will not repeat the content here, but will provide a link to the review. Each brig sprue contains two ships; the frigates, or 5th-rate vessels, come one per sprue.

As mentioned, you can either split these ships into two smaller fleets or use them as a solid starter army.

To give you an idea of scale, I've included the third rates as well, showing the 1:700 sailing ships alongside the modern 1:300 ships. There is also a side-by-side shot of the smallest plastic brig, frigate and third rate ships.

Conclusion

The Age of Sail is, of course, not new to wargaming. This era has already seen multiple rule sets in the past, including Trafalgar by Warhammer Historical, as well as miniatures from multiple companies for this kind of battle. However, these are usually metal or resin kits in a smaller scale, such as 1:1200. The only other game so far to provide plastic vessels is Sails of Glory, but the starter kit is almost twice the price of Black Seas, and the ships are 1:1000 scale. There is also the crowdfunded Oak & Iron, which is 1:600 scale.

For many, plastic is a huge selling point. These kits appeal to many people, as they are easy for beginners to build and easier to handle than resin and pewter. Those who want more sophisticated models can go even further and use yarn and sails to achieve an incredible level of detail. Combined with the much easier availability of the Warlord Games product range, this makes the Age of Sail/Black Seas far more accessible than any other naval miniature game (perhaps with the exception of WizKids' Pirates of the Spanish Main).

This is a key selling point for many. You can get the whole game from one source if you want to. Nobody is stopping you from using Black Seas miniatures with Trafalgar rules or using Black Seas rules with smaller-scale ships.

Black Seas is of high quality: you get well-made gaming materials, from the full-colour book to the plastic kits. The accessories, like the gaming poster, are a bit basic compared to the mousepad gaming mats of other games, but for just shy of £60 you get quite a lot to begin with, rather than something that you then have to add to in order to play a game or two.

Black Seas Seas is a brand of Warlord Games.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.