Warlord Games has a new format of game out that is built off their Age of Sail classic Black Seas. Brig Regatta uses their plastic brig sprues from the base set of Black Seas for a light, quick racing game…
…not the deepest naval game on the market, but I think this is an excellent move by Warlord for two reasons.
First, this is a great use of their existing assets as a publisher, and judging by the publicity images, there was not a large investment put into the production. This looks like nothing but upside for them as a low cost, low effort way to get more ships onto customers’ and stores’ tables quickly.
Second, the Black Seas activation system is excellent, and while I think no other derived games will ever rise to the level of Armada, having more Black Seas games in the market is a good onramp to get more players into other richer naval systems.
Third, the value in this box is huge, with the brig sprues priced at a level that matches Warlord’s yearly sprue sale, and speaking of sails, this set apparently includes variant sail types beyond their two standard beige and gray sails from the base sets. I cannot see any reason why a Black Seas player would not pick up a set of Brig Regatta to bulk up their existing fleets.
Overall, this is a definite homerun for Warlord, far beyond their Black Seas releases from last year, and I hope to see more entry point repacks from them… 3rd Rate Race in 2026?
https://us.warlordgames.com/products/black-seas-brig-regatta
