Is Dreadfleet Games Workshop WORST Game EVER? - Warhammer Wednesday WK5

[@sleeplessknight99]

I managed a GW store around the time Dreadfleet came out. I remember the call from the regional manager or Director for Growth (DFG) as we called them back then, as it was quickly changed from Director of Growth as the upper management didn't want us calling our boss the "DOG." LOL Anyways, as I was saying, I got the call from the DFG announcing Dreadfleet and how we were going to sell it. It was literally a week before release and internet rumors were abound of a pirate ship game that everyone was hyping up to be a Man-o-war revival. Dispelling the internet rumors, I was told it was going to be a stand alone board game. Breaking our store tradition of demoing the games, I was told that we were NOT to open up a copy of the game to demo for the public. Because of how well Space Hulk sold, we were going to sell Dreadfleet purely based on the strength of it being Games Workshop product, which obviously means it's quality and people will flock to the store to buy it.... just because! I could have told my boss what a terrible idea that was at the time but there was a toxic yes-man culture prevailing at GW at the time and I didn't want to get on the black-list to get fired for speaking out. Basically, GW was really full of themselves and did not understand the reasons why they were successful. Our store received a release party kit to celebrate the release of Dreadfleet. It was a box packed with pirate themed dollar store decorations, balloons, and cheap pirate halloween costumes. We were instructed to decorate the store in the tacky decorations, wear the pirate costumes, and go out into the hallway out in the mall to talk like a pirate and tell people to come into the store to buy Dreadfleet. Knowing that not demoing the game was a recipe for disaster, I broke the rules and got one of the staff to demo the game with his personal copy of the game, built, but unpainted. We sold it for what it was, a stand alone one off board game with very random gameplay. But we tried to have fun with it. And that was very much in line with one of our previous manager meetings were we were instructed to bring "fun" back into our stores. Surprisingly, we were one of the top selling stores however, everywhere else, Dreadfleet bombed. After two weeks this disaster, I got a call from the DFG congratulating me on my Dreadfleet numbers and informing me that we were changing the policy on demoing the game in store, and that I should crack open a copy of the game, build it, and demo it unpainted. They were getting pretty desperate to sell this thing. Months and months later, the game was recalled from the store and we boxed up remaining copies of the game and sent them back to the head office at Memphis Tennessee. Not long after sending them back, I was flown out for a manager meeting at the head office and we had a tour of the warehouse and North American manufacturing facilities. Of note, they showed us the injection moulding machines and this wood-chipper that was meant to recycle miscasts and feed the plastic back into the injection moulding machines. Nearby the wood-chipper I did notice this GIANT cardboard vat propped up on multiple pallets that was filled over the brim with sprues. The cardboard was labed in thick sharpie, "do not inventory." And I noticed that all those sprues were Dreadfleet sprues, waiting to be fed into the wood-chipper, to be turned into something more useful.

[@David13579]

Damn

[@C64_Mat]

Genuine question: Do you employ someone to dust everywhere? Because there's no way I could be cleaning around those shelves with all the models 😄

[@Jpow5734]

There are ways you can reduce dust such as air purifiers but even then you would still have to clean every few weeks or months

[@TheGUNdalf]

That was also my first thought as I saw those shelves 😂

[@davidbirding420]

A part of me thinks that the madman actually cleans every shelve by himself or asks one of his buds to come and help for a bit

[@ActionJacksonForever]

Part of my job is dusting very expensive times that go on sale, it’s not that serious. Just don’t be an idiot and knock something over

[@Fantasy089]

Is it so difficult to believe that he has a Mexican maid who cleans his house and also the shelves carefully?

[@scarletcroc3821]

I played this game a lot with my brother and we always had a blast. It’s already a pretty cool game just based on the models and lore alone. I mean undead skaven inside of a rotting leviathan like beast turned into a ship with warp cannons? That’s just awesome.Hell, Count Noctilus has been reused for Total War Warhammer 2

[@shmekelfreckles8157]

Aranessa too

[@scarletcroc3821]

@@shmekelfreckles8157 Oh yeah, forgot about her. Half of the vampire coast legendary lords come from Dreadfleet then

[@jordinagel1184]

@@scarletcroc3821not to mention that another of the Dreadfleet lords instead makes an appearance in the Lore of the Deep (Vangheist’s revenge)

[@Philosophical24]

The music and audio in the background was very immersive and appreciated while using headphones

[@kevinkorenke3569]

Ah Dreadfleet. great minis, awful pricing. The rules weren't that bad. GW greedy pricing and being a one-off killed any enthusiasm. This was Ships of wood, men of steel as opposed to the fun of Manowar.

[@iPlaySEGA]

Please review LOTR GOLLUM! WE REALLY want to hear you guys RANT! 😂

[@cthulhu4lyfe]

I still have this in the box and never put it all together. I still want to get it on the table and play it!

[@davidk6269]

Space Hulk is my favorite GW board game so far. ; )

[@Tigerheart01]

CAVEAT: Posted this before video started. I REALLY liked Dreadfleet. I would play it all the time at the local shop where the ONLY copy the store could get belonged to the owner. But he would let us play it all the time. We would often split into teams and each player take one ship. Had a blast.

[@kinagrill]

I managed to snatch a copy once from a local store where it was literally 'announcement' that copies had arrived. I never understood that 'it did not sell' with how damn hard it was to get a hold of a copy.

[@nicholassmith7984]

@@kinagrill I think the main reason it didn't sell is that it wasn't compatible with any other system. Space Hulk sold well in-part because there were some amazing Blood Angel and Genestealer models that players could add to their 40k collections. Even nowadays, smaller games sell for the miniatures, rather than the games themselves.

[@AlienDrone_22]

Joe, you guys need to play and review the new LOTR: Gollum game. That would make my whole week. ❤

[@eviljoshy3402]

"Sold so poorly GW pulled it from the shelves" Wow, I did not know that. I heard the game sold poorly but not to that degree. The only time I heard of it was when I was watching lore videos for Total Wars Vampire Coast dlc.

[@alexandermaldonado7219]

Need that classic Angry Joe tear Down on Gollum.

[@sekiro5091]

Aj said on stream that he's going on vacation. And he will have to skip gollum.

[@HiiSenpai]

But it's friday? 🤔

[@scomen]

Man I love your battle reports. I've watched a lot of them and yours are top notch. Helps you guys love the same franchises I do. Keep up the great work!

[@zachburns8214]

In my mind this is actually one of GW's most underrated games ever. It's fantastically well designed. Unfortunately it came out in 2011 which was the absolute peak of GW shoving its head up it's ar$e. Price rises, fine-cast BS, picking fights with online distributors, lack of community engagement other than hostility. GW was so paranoid of leaks that they didn't advertise this game at all. Just one week POOF here's a boxed game with no hype or info! Please buy it!!!!! Surprisingly it didn't sell well. There was also the initial reaction of disappointment that it was close to Man-o-War but wasn't actually Man-o-War and that made a lot of people sad. By the time word of mouth spread that "Hey, this is actually pretty decent", GW had pulled the copies from the shelves. Shocking that people didn't jump on an expensive box without knowing anything about it, with no build up, info or hype, and from a company that people were increasingly skeptical towards at the time.

[@AngryJoeShow]

There's no way that bloated fate deck and phase is great game design. It slows the game to a crawl and it's far too random! I wanted to like it. I really did.

[@benhenderson8952]

Loving this new board game channel on KZbin

[@q.marcus7535]

Joe is going "overboard" with the FX for these videos XD

[@VotePedroNo1]

Have a go at the old GW 80's classics. The nostalgic vibes would kick off big time if you had one off session with Dark Future or Advanced HeroQuest.

[@nemarsde]

Advanced HeroQuest was a solid gold classic, and is surprisingly elegant even by modern standards.

[@squeethemog213]

I really dig these vids guys. Thanks for the fun :D

[@Lycan3303]

6 to 12 inches is medium ;)

[@Darkgun231]

Oh, hey, I still have my copy. Not bad, but really needed better support.

[@k1ngofmex1cans66]

Love your show bro

[@avengercannon]

The ships are realistically difficult to sink lol

[@MT-rh3bq]

I have it, we tried to play it the first time then after that cut down a lot of the rules to make it faster. I think its worth getting for the miniatures alone cuz of how cool they are. But honestly its probably better to just make up your own rules.

[@vegashawk4066]

Loving the effects Joe, really adds to the scenarios 👏👏👏

[@RanHarasaki]

it really does

[@phaolo6]

True, but the sounds are too loud compared to the voices

[@zovni]

I've always had a massive disconnect with the GW crowd over how "horrible" dreadfleet was and this video illustrates the attitude perfectly. I mean, I'm sorry but can anyone say with a straight face that they do not play GW games for dice-chucking randomness? Wan'o War wasn't exactly chess either, and I fully remember all the spell bullshit phase in it particularly breaking the game in multiple ways... Anyways, this is a fine game. There are other far more interesting scenarios (you have objective markers and auxiliary ships in there for those Joe) And it's a precious collector's item nowadays.

[@Solus749]

interesting haven't seen that game before, doesn't look like something that would be claimed to be the worst

[@goatforcemcgoat8233]

Would love to see you try Adeptus Titanicus!

[@AngryJoeShow]

I got a copy! But need to paint it!

[@georgielee1619]

Gorkamorka next!

[@mathusala0]

Shoutout to Kings of War: Armada

[@TheDeliciousMystery]

I remember this being pulled off local stores really fast. Which was honestly a bit odd. The game was famously broken but rules are paper and that can be fixed in errata and people were eager to see Man'o'war get a revival and it was like it vanished overnight and this was long before Cursed City style packaging problems. Personally if i was to recommend an out of print game id go with Mordheim. A skirmish game set in a warhammer city hit by a comet inspired by Y2K hysteria that shut down in 2005 but thanks to websites like broheim archiving everything and the rise of social media -and the 2018 videogame- its objectively more popular now than its ever been and its like a more story focussed Necromunda and well worth a look.

[@MitchellTF]

You keep using "Worst game ever" and you keep discovering "Oh no! Even deeper hole!" Have you seen LOTR: Gollum?

[@Fuzzycat16]

is it a table top game?

[@Ohyikes99]

@@Fuzzycat16 it’s a new game from Daedalic Entertainment. Apparently, the dev apologized for the games performance out of launch.

[@tempestvenator9809]

Poor Joe has ran into a lot of bad games this year.

[@Fuzzycat16]

@@Ohyikes99 i know. but this is about table top not about a video game. Also Redfall is worse so....

[@blakearius]

Stupid pointless comparison.

[@Cenot4ph]

Warhammer Wednesday on Friday

[@achaerna.6662]

I like the idea of using this to decide things. This is the GWENT of a real game, used to settle a dispute. If the system is unique and standalone enough, it becomes a really complex coin to toss.

[@ariskobalt6325]

thats a quite impressive video right there AJ!

[@PSGameStation]

Speaking of games where are your board games AJ? I remember a video about the minatures for Street Fighter but after that silence. Where are MK and DB ones? Still happening or canceled?

[@mikex3908]

Fingers crossed 10th edition removes Primaris Marines because those ruined 40K.

[@tempestvenator9809]

They've somewhat removed the divide between Firstborn and Primaris, though there does still seem to be a holdout trying to keep pushing Primaris down our throats (New Sternguard seem very Primaris.)

[@Andrew-yl7lm]

​@@tempestvenator9809 removed the divide then removed sternguard and basic dreadnoughts 😂

[@tempestvenator9809]

@@Andrew-yl7lm At least we have the Ironclad and Venerable Dreadnought. But yeah I REALLY hate Primaris Simps who keep on justifying the systemic replacement of firstborn in 40k for the sake of "progressing the narrative." And this is coming from someone with a Primaris Army.

[@The_Blackshield]

Yes. Yes it is. Nobody asked for it, nobody wanted it. Nice models, but it was a one off that never went anywhere. They could have used it to launch a whole new game, but didn't. There were copies still on the shelf of my local gaming store for three years until the shop closed.

[@-Markus-]

Dreadfleet is fun! Dont look for anything else, but if you just want a silly stupid fun time, it works every time!

[@benfrench3542]

Mordheim is Games Workshop’s best game

[@TheOneTrueBeard]

My subwoofer was going wild during this video! No idea why

[@tastefulavenger]

Glad to see aranessa saltspite outside of the DLC for total warhammer

[@CrispyMyth]

Dreadfleet has a great presentation but much too random (even for GW). I got a copy when it was reduced to (iirc) $60 just to clear out lingering copies, so I'm not disappointed. The models are great, the terrain is great and the cloth "board" is amazing. There are modified rules the community has come up with to reduce the randomness.

[@Pejamas47]

Can’t wait to see some 10th edition content from AJS

[@Darkgun231]

The only character from this game to survive was Saltspite as part of the Necro-Pirates in Warhammer Total War 2. Pretty neat.

[@cashcleaner]

Offering it up as a standalone naval combat game with no possibility of expansion just really beggars belief. This is like the anti-BFG. If there's one thing I know, people who get into naval-themed tabletop gaming want to build FLEETS.

[@ArticulatedSnake]

i got a copy of dread fleet and actually loved it back in the day

[@kinagrill]

Playing through the scenarios is hella enjoyable if Grand Alliance player keeps winning because that would be the 'canonical' thing. I used to do so with my dad a lot, and it was just so enjoyable to play this with him, move ships, get freaking front-figure hammered into smithereens, etc. Cuz I loved playing the badbuys in the game cuz even if I lost,I enjoyed the fact that the 'good guys' won and continued the story.

[@nicholassmith7984]

I read the Novella that came out for the game, and the Grand Alliance actually gets trashed. That said, the Dreadfleet does too.

[@beatbonjon1384]

Iv never played these table top games but Lv to watching them

[@6O8gamer07]

It’s a massive rabbit hole once you finally take the plunge. If you’re looking for a ship game like this that’s current and really good, Mantic Games Armada is excellent. Good prices imo and very fun gameplay. Also great models.

[@getmegreek]

Hey Joe! Want to play Zombie Board Game?!

[@JLH111176]

I saw this play once at my LGS then never saw it again

[@KzintiCV]

Makes me want to play the Man O' War on PC. I know that is also a bad game but it's one of those bad games I like to play occasionally.

[@REALzackychan]

We all have one of those. One of my guilty pleasures is Devil May Cry 2 cuz it was my first ps2 game ever. Later I found out it was the worst game in the franchise and only took 4 months to develop

[@shotwell25]

​@@REALzackychan DMC 2 took over a year to make, but yeah it was still terrible. Was development in around 16 months

[@REALzackychan]

@@shotwell25 look that story up again you wrong. Partially right as a whole but final dev did all the work

[@shotwell25]

@@REALzackychan one guy does not make a game in 4 months. He changed the direction of the game last minute and lead it to the finish line. It does not mean the *entire* game was made in 4 months. It was already mostly done.

[@REALzackychan]

@@shotwell25 well he did. Try to discredit the development all you want. It was unplayable and completely different from what you see. A new team had to pick up the pieces and make a fully functional playable game in 4 months. Gtfo

[@wlavis]

Loved this game! I remember when it came out and It only didn't sell due to miniatures not being compatible in any way with 40k or Fantasy and the fact it was standalone.

[@jcapo5]

So any word on the mortal kombat board game.....street fighter is still one of my favorite tabletop games ever

[@angrymexikan9493]

Jasco the company that helped them make the SF game got bought, its still not confirmed if the new owners are interested in the MK game so for now everything has stoped, the game itself is mostly finished tho

[@DDVargas1983]

I used to work at my local FLGS and we had this game sitting on our shelf for years until the owner closed up shop. IIRC, he just took the only copy we got of this game home.

[@heinzmiser7047]

luthar harkon has better lore than any primark. I stand my ground

[@DrunkenCameraBeard]

Well they did make age of sigmar

[@Nightstalker93O]

I appreciate the editing i.e. adding the cannons etc. to make it a bit more interesting.

[@slaaneshgod]

I actually enjoy dreadfleet myself and some of the models were really nice. They have definitely made worse games. Just like blood bowl everything is far too random. Except blood bowl is still fun even if I wish it was less random.

[@Eurodance_Groove]

Why you used the miniature of the Sea Serpent to represent the Sra Giant ? You say the game is bad without even knowing the game and the rules themselves!!!

[@davidshaw123451001]

Never heard anyone call this a bad game

[@xCriticalStrikex]

Every games workshop game is bad, its just a question of how bad. lets see.

[@joelludvigsson5645]

I LOVE YOU JOE

[@3ggh3ad]

NEVER PLAYED DREADFLEET, hoped it would have been BFG for warhammer fantasy

[@homerco213]

Come play, Warhammer Online: Return of Reckoning. I'm playing squig herder tonight. If enough gits get stuck in then maybe GW will do the unthinkable, and revive a cherished discontinued MMO! Ha, just messing with you of course. The game is great, but GW displays a disturbing lack of faith.

[@Eurodance_Groove]

I disagree... Dreadfleet is one of the best american boardgames ever... Why you say it is bad? The unique downside of this game is that the campaign has only 12 / 15 missions to play and the other game sessions you have to invent the new lore and battles by yourself. And the bad quality of the game manual...

[@lunatantric6060]

I got 4 boxes.....two still in shrink wrap....

[@sleeplessknight99]

But... why?

[@lunatantric6060]

@@sleeplessknight99 Got it when it came out..lol. Then they had a huge sale for 5 buck a copy and bought 10...then sold 6 for about 180 each (their was a time it was expensive and sought after). Now have four....I used the ships for another game and the cloth sea boards are actually great for naval games.

[@nickudeschini4812]

We all remember Talisman...

[@BlainFlorist]

Count Noctilus he is fun to play in Warhammer 3

[@johnalbright1175]

If you want to play the best out of print warhammer games you should look into epic battles which is smaller 40k with massive armies just the models are a little hard to find

[@solidghost4525]

Joe. Can you make a good pirate game please. Thanks.

[@channel-7848]

Love the tabletop game reviews

[@davidk6269]

David K Joe, may I suggest that you break this video down into two separate videos? One entitled: "Dreadfleet is an awesome 9.3 game!!!!" and the other entitled: "Dreadfleet is Unplayable!" I mean, what could possible go wrong? ; )

[@Eurodance_Groove]

If you say this game mechanics are "clunky", try to go and play Terra Mystica, and then turn back to me and have the guts to repeat that thesis again... If you have the courage to do so !!! Lol lol

[@UstraMage]

man id love to play a game with you guys!

[@chaosrex1487]

Did they play standard AoS on their warhammer wednesdays yet or no?

[@wayneturner9399]

Marvel snap!! Joe, just about to press button on High Everlutionary.. Crazy!!! 😊

[@WynnCharmer]

Kinda want this just for the minis

[@a3vus]

I could take on 6 guys at once

[@Spawn3X5]

Bukkake ? 🤗

[@Eurodance_Groove]

This game is not cluncky or not balanced... It is a game with american mechanics... If you do not like dice or randomness, to play games with euro/german mechanics games...

[@CouchPatatoe]

the dread fleet fun in ttwar 3

[@phaolo6]

10:11 that scared the hell out of me! The sound effects are too loud compared to the voices 🔊😖

[@greedpadilla1072]

Love the content boss pleas if you could help us shed light on 🐌snail games banning and playing with investors money they are so corrupt plea dud 🐌🐌🐌🐌plea

[@YoJimBoHugabaJoe]

cant be more boring than the base w40k version of talismen,you couldnt even attack and troll other players which was the best thing about the talismen game

[@dicnar]

Do a MANO WAR game :D Or Battlefleet Gothic. Those are two of my favorite games! And YEs. All that is good from dreadfleet is miniatures & terrain.

[@davidhylton7528]

This looks cool

[@kickit6235]

Big fan Joe

[@Cherb123456]

Cool! Thanks!

[@jl.4563]

It's still an interesting concept,..what do you think you can do to improve it.

[@deleonfrancis60]

time for epic

[@kasrasadrehashemi174]

No it warhammer friday😂

[@davidk6269]

It may be a terrible game, but at least it's expensive! LOL

[@TheCypher19]

IDC how bad the game is, the minis are top tier

[@kitcarpo4745]

I collected 3.5 of these games, about $60 each. Prime shelf spot. Never did play, but most of my games are like that.

[@nasir6r996]

No,Joe. It isn't. Shut up lol

[@AngryJoeShow]

Lol. It is to me

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

I once went in a games workshop once thinking it was a place that Sells video games. Some funny acting guy who works There was asking what was i doing Here so i just left.

[@crashbandicoot761]

👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@landlockedcroat1554]

dont get old joe

[@dazta6738]

Its pretty bad ey 😆

[@ZennZennster]

Les goooo