Cruel Seas - Warlord Games goes Postal - err Coastal

So I was at Warlord Games Open day on Saturday (22nd September). This was my second year at the event, and truth be told this time it seemed slightly less busy, however I assume it being held on the same day as the nearby and new Derby convention ChillCon contributed to the fairly muted atmosphere.

I was there to do some Blood Red Skies, and in theory Warlord were pushing their Black Powder 2 release, Strontium Dog etc, but the main interest for me and most of the others I spoke to was my first look at Cruel Seas.

Cruel Seas is Warlord's entry into WW2 naval wargaming - and they're doing it with something of a bang. The game revolves around Coastal Forces - shorthand for Motor Torpedo Boats and the like. They were running demo's but as I was busy elsewhere I missed them sadly, so I cant comment on game play, but I can comment on the models, which were stunning.

Clearly inspired by the phrase "Go Big or Go Home" Warlord have went for 1:300 scale for their models. That's twice the size of the older Skytrex "Narrow Seas" range. For example an S Boat is almost 12 cm long.  I missed getting a game, but I did acquire a couple of test sprues, one German, one British, and they are VERY nice indeed. Each sprue contains 2 boats. The British one has a Vosper 73 ft MTB (beloved of Airfix) and a 72 ft. the German has two different S Boats (sorry, I don't know which they are). As with all test sprues there are issues - some sink holes and I think the S-Boats are missing some guns, but the overall level of detail and proportions look excellent, and the whole point of test shots is to highlight problems before they happen so they can be fixed.

Warlord are planning at least 6 "Fleets" - UK, USA, Germany, Italy, Soviets and Japan. Each will get a selection of ships, with the majority being in resin but at least the S Boats and Vospers being plastic - possibly the PT boats too. The fleets all are very well developed - no sign of the "one model a side" approach taken with Blood Red Skies, there seems to be half a dozen models for each faction increasing in size up to Corvette size. That p*ssed me off a bit as a BRS player - we've had to wait a year for any real  expansion, but it is clear where Warlord have been prioritising. Sour grapes aside, the models look bloody good.

Release date is being mooted as December, so something very much to look forward to for Christmas