Our Fantasy Naval Battle Game

Orksies Sink!

Using the Games Workshop Man O War game rules

This game was our club's introduction to this truly hillarious game. Man O War is a long out-of-print Games Workshop game. Our game-master was John Switzer who has been patiently accumulating these gaming pieces and painting them over a number of years. The game was played on July 19, 2008 in The Dragon's Lair" in Pearl Mississippi.

Jim Pitts and Ed Sansing took the photos and wrote most of the commentary below. I who was the Ork commander (Orks and water really do not mix!), am merely adding some Orksie comments. As we were setting up, I was drawn to the brightly painted and bizzarly designed Ork forces. Just before the game started, the game-master, John Switzer, leaned over to me and confided "The Orks always lose - everybody hates you!" In the name of all that is green and Orkie, he was right - Jay Stribling.


Photo by Ed Sansing

A close up of Ed Sansing's Elvish squadron


Photo by Ed Sansing

John Switzer finishes setting up. Clockwise around the table starting at the Closest edge are the players.

Ed Sansing (not shown , taking the photo) - Elves
Phil Young (seated) - Elves
Jim Pitts (seated) - Dwarf
Bill Hamilton (seated) - Dwarf
Jay Stribling (seated) - Orc
John Switzer (standing) - The Game-master
Tim Latham (seated) - Bretonnia
Sean Pitts (standing, facing away) - Bretonnia
Josh Switzer (just an arm) - Empire
John Switzer Jr. (just a sleeve) - Empire
Fred Diamond (not shown) commanded the Pirates in the middle of the sea.


Photo by Ed Sansing

A close up of Josh & John, jr.'s squadrons


Photo by Ed Sansing

Most sides had air support of some type. The Elven flyers were called Warhawks. In this image, three Elven Warhawks fly toward some of the pirates


Photo by Ed Sansing

The Empire squadrons move out sailing towards the pirates in the middle of the table.


Photo by Ed Sansing

The Bretonnians (on the left) move towards the Orcs. Bretonnians are under sail. The Orcs have a variety of self-propulsion systems, so they are independant of the wind speed and direction.


Photo by Ed Sansing

About turn 2, Empire ships on the left, Elves on the far edge, Dwarves on the right edge. There are three groups of pirates (square rigged ships) in the middle


Photo by Ed Sansing

Three flying dragons from the Empire attack one of Ed Sansing's ships


Photo by Ed Sansing

Ed's largest ship, which has ramming capabilities, attacks one of John Switzer's Empire ships. Note the sea monster, which looks like a giant shark, and is controlled by the Elves. It is attacking another Empire ship.


Photo by Ed Sansing

Both Tim Latham's and Sean Pitts' Bretionnians attack Jay Stribling's Orcs. Poor Orksies! No one likes us.


Photo by Ed Sansing

Ed's large Elf ship has been destroyed by the Empire's dragon riders, but the sea monster is still trying to make a meal of the Empire ship.


Photo by Ed Sansing

The Orc and Bretionnian melee is joined by some of Fred's pirates and Bill's Dwarves.


Photo by Ed Sansing

Jim Pitts' Dwarves fight with Phil's Elves. Note that the air support for the Dwarves (a mechanically adept race) takes the form of tiny helicopters.


Photo by Jim Pitts

The Dwarf fleet led by Jim Pitts moves forward. The dwarves are also independant of wind, having mastered either steam or internal combustion.


Photo by Jim Pitts

The Elf fleet of Phil Young.


Photo by Jim Pitts

Part of the pirate fleet - the Viking dragon ship and three long ships.

Want to see more?

Continue to Part 2 of our MAN O WAR Game

Return to the Master list of Photos and Games

Return to the Jackson Gamers' homepage


Angelfire - Free Home Pages
Free Web Building Help
Angelfire HTML Library
htmlGEAR - free polls, guestbooks, and more!

Thank you for visiting The Jackson Gamers' pages at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again!