New Sails of Glory Ship Packs to Hit the Stores, Starting February 9th

Just posted on the Sails of Glory Facebook Page:

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Four new Sails of Glory Ship Packs - featuring the two first Spanish vessels in the game, and two new English ships - are now shipping to distributors and will hit the shelves in North American stores on February 9th. They are expected to be available in Europe and other regions in the following weeks.

The four Ship Packs present new ships in the classes featured in the first wave of releases: 32-guns Concorde Class frigates, 74-guns Temeraire class ships-of-the-line, 32-guns Amazon Class frigates and 74-guns Bellona/Elisabeth Class ships-of-the-line.

The first Spanish ships are the Concorde Class frigate "Sirena 1793" and the Temeraire class "Argonauta 1806". The new packs also present two new British ships - the Amazon class frigate "HMS Orpheus 1780" and the Edgar class ship of the line "HMS Zealous 1785". Each pack includes, in addition to the pre-painted and assembled ship model, special base with gaming stats, a ship log and a specific deck of maneuver cards. The ship base, ship card and ship log are printed on two sides, with the game data of a second ship of the same class and nationality printed on the back.

Besides the new ships release, all first wave Ship Packs were reprinted, together with the Sails of Glory Starter Set.

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I wondered why MM had obviously received new stock of wave 1 ships, but the Spaniards were still marked preorder. I guess they have them too, but are waiting until the date set by Ares.

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Originally Posted by fredmiracle

I wondered why MM had obviously received new stock of wave 1 ships, but the Spaniards were still marked preorder. I guess they have them too, but are waiting until the date set by Ares.

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I think you're exactly right. I'm actually wondering just how long the Wave 1 repaints have been sitting in the Fort Wayne, IN warehouse? I'd hazard a guess that it's been some time, but Ares was hoping to send out the Victory and Constitution first.

With the dock workers strike and impending gridlock at the Los Angeles Port there's really no telling when those special ships will make it to the warehouse? From what I read yesterday there are now 20 full container ships sitting in the harbor waiting to unload! :shock:

The thing I find funny is that we were already USING the port situation as the excuse for why it was February and no shipments from Indiana yet. :dazed:

Miniature Market used to ship out preorders so you would get them on the day they officially released. But I think they quit due to bullying of game companies, on the fear something might arrive a day early. Anyway I haven't received any shipping notices yet...

If you compare the releases to x-wing which is in the same boat (figuratively or perhaps literally lol) upon wave 5's release in late november wave 6 still hasn't arrived yet since the turnover of the boat is something like 3-4 months I think the timeline coincides with ares original announcement for victory/constitution they just haven't gotten there heads around it accuracy wise like FFG has for setting dates.

I would guess most of you have seen this header on KS #78,


"Update #78 Feb 5 2015 Container delivery schedule bumped forward 2 weeks!"

If it was bumped forward, we should have received them last week.:question:lol

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Originally Posted by fredmiracle

The thing I find funny is that we were already USING the port situation as the excuse for why it was February and no shipments from Indiana yet. :dazed:

Miniature Market used to ship out preorders so you would get them on the day they officially released. But I think they quit due to bullying of game companies, on the fear something might arrive a day early. Anyway I haven't received any shipping notices yet...

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Ironically I have a preorder with Miniature Market right now for the new Wave 1 repaints, but they wont ship that part out until the next wave of X-Wings arrives, which I preordered at the same time. That's MM's policy to ship only completed orders and I don't fault them for that. I wonder if Keith and the Anchorage store will get them after the 9th, or if he has them now and cannot ship until the 9th?

It's intriguing to watch how distribution and vendor restocking works, but I can see where this would drive a FLGS absolutely batty!

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Originally Posted by Gunner

I would guess most of you have seen this header on KS #78,


"Update #78 Feb 5 2015 Container delivery schedule bumped forward 2 weeks!"

If it was bumped forward, we should have received them last week.:question:lol

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Yeah, so what's up with that?!? :wink:

I am debating about purchasing these. I have to admit I am pretty torn. Given the low probability of ever running large games, I don't know if I want more of the same, even if different paints. For some reason, having many of the same planes in WoG seems different to me than many of the same ships in SoG. Not quite sure why that is. Maybe the personalness of the planes - i.e. one pilot - makes them feel more distinctive.

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Originally Posted by 7eat51

Maybe the personalness of the planes - i.e. one pilot - makes them feel more distinctive.

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But you are ERIC, CAPTAIN, MASTER of the ship.:Arrrr:
No matter what flag you sail under.

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Originally Posted by Gunner

But you are ERIC, CAPTAIN, MASTER of the ship.:Arrrr:
No matter what flag you sail under.

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You got me there, Ed.

I fear the solo campaign might see me as Eric the Captured or Eric the Wounded. The AI does a good job of dishing out a pounding.

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Originally Posted by 7eat51

I am debating about purchasing these. I have to admit I am pretty torn. Given the low probability of ever running large games, I don't know if I want more of the same, even if different paints. For some reason, having many of the same planes in WoG seems different to me than many of the same ships in SoG. Not quite sure why that is. Maybe the personalness of the planes - i.e. one pilot - makes them feel more distinctive.

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We have talked about making the ships more distinctive without changing too much of their historisity. Using captain and crew cards is part of that, but maybe every ship needs a distinctive identity trait rolled and added to the captains at the beginning of a game? After all HM Sloop Sophie was not the same ship under Jack Aubrey as it was under the previous captain (all fiction I know). This doesn't have to overdone, but being captain, master of the ship like Ed says could be tweaked for play value?

Ultimately, Jim, what I desire is a broader range of ship types, both for looks and capabilities. If I were not planning on running games, I probably would be fine the ships required to play our solo campaigns, for example. But with running games, I want greater variety of scenarios for a group of six players, the typical max I am able to muster for a two-hour game session.

I like the idea of customizing the 74s, for example, via abilities, but in the end, I could have generic 74s and be fine once the game begins. I love the aesthetics of the different paint schemes, but unlike WoG, the differences with SoG disappear once the first card is played. Looking down on the top of a wing, the color differences are noticeable. To see that with SoG, you almost have to be eye level with the table. Your pirates, of course, are another matter. :envy:

I do like the Captain and crew ability deck. Giving cards to the British when fighting the French or Spanish or giving them to anyone who fights the Ottomans add historical realism to the game.:beer:

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Originally Posted by 7eat51

Ultimately, Jim, what I desire is a broader range of ship types, both for looks and capabilities. If I were not planning on running games, I probably would be fine the ships required to play our solo campaigns, for example. But with running games, I want greater variety of scenarios for a group of six players, the typical max I am able to muster for a two-hour game session.

I like the idea of customizing the 74s, for example, via abilities, but in the end, I could have generic 74s and be fine once the game begins. I love the aesthetics of the different paint schemes, but unlike WoG, the differences with SoG disappear once the first card is played. Looking down on the top of a wing, the color differences are noticeable. To see that with SoG, you almost have to be eye level with the table. Your pirates, of course, are another matter. :envy:

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Well, then Ares needs to produce some ship bling to make them more distinctive on the table! (I can't believe I just suggested that, but it might address some of what you're talking about?).

Right now, when I turn around, I have the two ships from the first solo mission sitting on the blue Ares mat. They actually look quite nice, but it is difficult from the standing view to see a lot of distinction. I could have fifty different paints of the same class, and I think they would simply blend. As such, and especially given the folks with whole I play, I could use nation-nuetral ships for any nation desired for a scenario and be fine. Hence, I am unsure if I want more of the same of a given class, especially given I won't be running large games, e.g. more than a dozen ships, and that, most likely, only at Origins. As individual ships, I like the look of them; as game pieces, I question whether I need more. Given limited funds, I am at the place where I rather purchase other gaming items than more, 74s, for example, unless the 74s were someway distinctive from the 2-foot rule. Does this make sense?

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Originally Posted by 7eat51

.....but it is difficult from the standing view to see a lot of distinction....

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Sounds pretty realistic to me :happy:

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Originally Posted by 7eat51

As individual ships, I like the look of them; as game pieces, I question whether I need more. Given limited funds, I am at the place where I rather purchase other gaming items than more, 74s, for example, unless the 74s were someway distinctive from the 2-foot rule. Does this make sense?

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I completely agree with your sentiment, Eric. I like the idea of collecting specific historical ships well enough. But if I'm only going to be using a couple of 74's at a time, I'd rather just have a couple of models and a bunch of cards. The fact that each model can already be played as at least two different ships doesn't help.

Sure it's realistic, as David says. But so is my wallet :moneygone: I need to have some incentive to purchase instead of just proxying.

While I can understand why some don't see the need for more than a couple ships of each class, there are so many things that can be done to a ship. Change the color of the hull, strakes or different shades of sail weathering, adding shot holes in the sails etc. Anything to keep from being bored by from using the same ship over and over, not to mention making it easy to keep track of your ship/ships on larger games. But I guess that's why there's Coke & Pepsi or Sam Adams & Guinness:beer:.

And if we all bought only one or two, Ares would discontinue the line because of the lack of business.

So, with everything that's just been mentioned in the last several posts why is Ares bothering to do repaints at all? If the original SoG players aren't going to purchase the new ships because they're not distinctively different and Ares isn't going to release new ship sculpts (64s, 80s, merchant ships, etc.) fast enough or at all the game is going to stagnate and likely fail in the long term.

I can see new players coming in and purchasing the repainted ships especially if they're new nations, but it would seem they'll end up in the same boat pretty quickly. Whether or not it's a question of cost or variations on a ship theme they'll not likely purchase a ship that's just another French or British 74.

Kind of a bummer to be thinking this way, but these posts (plus some other predictions) don't make me feel all that confident in the future of Sails of Glory at the moment.

Jim, I am just one person. I tend to buy the complete releases of WoG, the aforementioned reason making them worthwhile to me. I will buy complete releases and possibly duplicates of SoG when they are different sculpts so I have the game-play variety. My philosophy might not be representative of others.

For me, it comes down to incentive. If the ships look or act distinct enough, or if they are packaged with other goodies (like HMS Victory and Constitution), or if other supplementary material is released that requires more ships (e.g. large fleet rules), I'm sure I can be swayed to buy more :)

A straight-up repaint doesn't do much for me. The main benefit I can see to those is just to get fresh inventory onto store shelves. If the LGS is out of the wave 1 ships, at least you can still pick up a repaint.

The most interesting use of repaints that I've seen was with the Combat Zone supplements released briefly for Axis & Allies minis. The LGS would buy the supplement which contained new maps and scenarios to be used for a tournament or campaign. It also included a repainted miniature that could be used as a prize. So in that case, owning a repainted miniature was also something prestigious, making them quite desirable pieces.

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Originally Posted by Gunner

And if we all bought only one or two, Ares would discontinue the line because of the lack of business.

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Other manufacturers have managed to sell shedloads of AoS ships over the years. And I'm currently chatting to the authors of a soon-to-be-released set of rules suggesting that they include Ares pre-paints in their directory of available models to use with their rules. I guess there would be more of an incentive to "buy early and buy often" if there was a fleet action version of the rules that played as fast as WGF or something similar. TBH thats what I hoped SGN was going to be initially

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Originally Posted by David Manley

Other manufacturers have managed to sell shedloads of AoS ships over the years. And I'm currently chatting to the authors of a soon-to-be-released set of rules suggesting that they include Ares pre-paints in their directory of available models to use with their rules. I guess there would be more of an incentive to "buy early and buy often" if there was a fleet action version of the rules that played as fast as WGF or something similar. TBH thats what I hoped SGN was going to be initially

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I hope your input pays off and they include the 1/1000 scale in their initial set of rules. Please let us know when the rules are published, especially if they include fleet actions for the SoG ships. :beer:

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Originally Posted by Gunner

I hope your input pays off and they include the 1/1000 scale in their initial set of rules. Please let us know when the rules are published, especially if they include fleet actions for the SoG ships. :beer:

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^ I'll second that, especially if Ares is reluctant to offer their own fleet action version for the SoG line.

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Originally Posted by David Manley

I guess there would be more of an incentive to "buy early and buy often" if there was a fleet action version of the rules that played as fast as WGF or something similar. TBH thats what I hoped SGN was going to be initially

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David, perhaps we should take the bull by the horns and try to pitch something like that to Ares--you've got the math, I'm processing the OrBats, between us we should be able to put something together that'd work.

The rub is, would Ares see fit to BUY it? (My mother pointed out, when I mentioned that someday I wanted to pitch something with a paycheck attached, "Why pay for what they can get for free?" This is why on my campaign project I drop teases, I let folks preview parts of it, but if Ares wants the Full Meal Deal then they can pay my collaborators and me for it on that one.)

For "fleet action" levels, there's something like Bombat's _Admiral_. Try to imagine "Trafalgar in a Hour"....

has anyone gotten theres yet? I ordered from the aerodrome and I don't think its shipped even yet.

I think Keith mentioned he should get his reprints by the end of the week. If so, he'll be shipping next week.

We hope the new ship packs will come to Spain at the end of this month. The Argonauta 1806 / Héroe 1808 pack can be used to represent the french ship of the line "Heros". It was part of the french fleet in Trafalgar and captured by spanish in 1808 at Cádiz. After that it was renamed as "Héroe" by the spaniards.

Mine are in a truck, supposed to get here on Monday :rum::minis:

I was playing around with the new Wave 1 repaints this afternoon; trying to work with the solo rules from Richard and testing some other stuff. So I took some close ups of the four new ships and thought folks might like to see them? I only took one of each. I really do like the paint job on the Argonaut, but the Sirena is just OK in my mind. I was surprised to see no boats on the Orpheus, but the Zealous looks quite nice with that red ensign. One other thing I have to mention is the new protective packaging is exceptionally well done. It snugs down nicely on all the ships and I think you'd have to crush the box or shoot it out of a cannon to do significant damage to the contents. Cheers!

Argonaut
Attachment 12979

Sirena
Attachment 12980

HMS Zealous
Attachment 12981

HMS Orpheus
Attachment 12982

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Originally Posted by Nightmoss

I was surprised to see no boats on the Orpheus

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that's consistent with the other Amazon models though, right?

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Originally Posted by fredmiracle

that's consistent with the other Amazon models though, right?

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Yes, it is. It just caught me by surprise, which is rather silly because this was the sculpt I used for the Black Pearl?!? :dazed:

Thank you for the pics, Jim.

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Originally Posted by Nightmoss

One other thing I have to mention is the new protective packaging is exceptionally well done. It snugs down nicely on all the ships

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That's nice to know.