Ironclads of Ferrosia: Action off the Zephyros Coast.

Captain Arden Voss gripped the brass rail as the first shells screamed overhead. A heartbeat later the ship shuddered, deck plates buckling as something heavy struck home.

“Impact port side!” someone shouted. “Minor penetration — armour holding!”

“Keep her steady!” Voss barked. “Return fire, now! Main batteries, target their lead ship!”

The bridge filled with smoke as warning klaxons wailed. Officers shouted ranges and bearings over one another while runners darted between stations, boots slipping on vibrating steel. Through the forward viewports, muzzle flashes bloomed in the haze — distant, then frighteningly close.

“Fighters in the air, sir! Multiple contacts inbound!”

“Flak Vent Arrays, engage!” Voss snapped. “Do not let them get past the screen!”

Another hit rocked the battleship, harder this time. Lights flickered as the deck lurched beneath them.

“Flooding reported on the lower gun deck!”

“Seal it off. Damage control teams forward — now!”

A new report cut through the noise, sharp and urgent.

“Sir, possible submersible contacts moving to engage the formation!”

Voss’s jaw tightened. “Signal the escorts. Break formation if you have to — hunt those subs!”

The great ship’s guns thundered again, the sound deafening. Somewhere out in the smoke, the enemy guns were doing the same, and Voss knew the battle would come down to steel, fire… and how long his battleship could endure.

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I managed to get a couple of games in yesterday; the second one (technically the third of the day) was a quick battle using my Ironclads of Ferrosia rules. I didn’t have a lot of time, so the aim was simple: get two fleets on the table, roll some dice, and see what happened.

For the Valtoris Imperium, the fleet consisted of a Citadel-class battleship, an Aegis-class cruiser, a Sentinel-class destroyer, and three Onslaught-class frigates, coming in at 2,850 points. Facing them was a Zephyros Coalition force built around a Tempest-class battleship, supported by a Revenant-class assault carrier (with only four flights of fighters), a Corsair cruiser, a Zephyr frigate, and two Aurora-class submersibles, for a total of 3,263 points.

As I was playing solo and in a hurry, I shuffled and dealt out three Special Ship Cards and one Force Special Card to each side. I’ve found that a bit of randomness here speeds things up and stops me unconsciously picking the “better” options for one fleet over the other.

The game would be a straightforward meeting engagement — nothing fancy or complicated, just two fleets closing and seeing who broke first.

Turn one was largely positional. Both fleets pushed forward to close the range, exchanging a few long-range shots that failed to do much damage. The Zephyros carrier launched two flights of fighters, immediately presenting a potential problem for the Valtoris fleet. At the same time, the two Aurora submersibles slipped beneath the surface, another looming threat that would soon demand attention.

Things picked up quickly in turn two. As the range closed, more shots began to hit home. Two Valtoris frigates took fire from the heavy guns of the Zephyros battleship and cruiser, but both managed to stay afloat. The carrier launched two more flights of fighters, and at this point the pressure was really starting to build — fighters in numbers can be extremely dangerous in Ironclads of Ferrosia.

In turn three, one of the Valtoris frigates used a ship card to deploy smoke, attempting to block line of sight to the fleet’s larger ships. It helped, but not enough. Another Valtoris frigate strayed too close to a battleship broadside and paid the price, taking a punishing salvo and sinking. Lesson learned: don’t get too close to a battleship’s guns.

The Zephyros submersibles then made their presence felt, launching torpedoes at both the Valtoris cruiser and battleship. With little room to manoeuvre, neither ship could evade, and both were rocked by explosions as the torpedoes struck home.

By turn four, things were going badly for the Valtoris fleet. Another frigate was lost to a combination of fighter attacks and fire from the carrier. The Valtoris destroyer attempted to move into a better position, but poor placement and movement earlier in the game meant it was largely out of the fight when it came to dealing with the submersibles. The Valtoris cruiser did manage to hit one of the Aurora subs, but the damage inflicted was minimal.

The battle reached its climax as the two battleships closed to close range. All batteries fired, and the exchange was brutal. When the guns finally fell silent, both ships were burning heavily. The Zephyros cruiser then moved in to add its own fire to the Valtoris battleship, tipping the balance even further.

At that point, the Valtoris commander issued the order for all remaining ships to disengage and return to port.

The battle ended as a victory for the Zephyros Coalition.

Despite Zephyros having the advantage of fighters and submersibles, the battle remained surprisingly close right up until the heavy ships engaged at close range. Although both battleships inflicted severe damage on one another and set fires across their decks, the Valtoris battleship was under far greater overall threat. The Valtoris escorts struggled throughout the game — even when they hit, they often failed to penetrate Zephyros lighter armour.

While the dice didn’t help, the loss wasn’t down to luck alone. Placing the Valtoris destroyer on the wrong side of the table early on limited its ability to counter the submersibles, and later manoeuvres only made the situation worse. A few poor decisions and sub-optimal positioning definitely worked against the Imperium fleet.

With better shooting from the Valtoris escorts, the outcome could have been very different, and there was a real chance they might have squeezed out a victory. This time, though, it wasn’t to be — maybe next time.

Come on over to my Discord server and chat about Ironclads of Ferrosia or any of my other games, you can find the link under the Community tab on this site.