The two fleets
Every hull on the board can be lost — including the one you command from.
Ironsound is fought over by two rival powers. Each is built around a command ship that builds, deploys, and repairs, and each fields one airborne and one amphibious unit alongside an unmanned interceptor.
Ironfleet
Fights under iron, storm, and tide.
Command ship
SS Dreadnought
A mobile fortress, shipyard, and command center in one hull — it builds, repairs, and deploys everything you field.
Airborne
Stormvane
Deploys from the command ship to strike and screen.
Amphibious
Tideram
Establishes and holds a base on contested ground.
Interceptor
Whirlvane
Unmanned, flown from a Defense Command Center.
Cinderfleet
Fights by fire and cinder.
Command ship
SS Pyrehulk
The Cinderfleet's answer to the Dreadnought — a burning hulk that pushes its front forward island by island.
Airborne
Cinderhawk
Deploys from the command ship to strike and screen.
Amphibious
Seatorch
Establishes and holds a base on contested ground.
Interceptor
Ashwasp
Unmanned, flown from a Defense Command Center.
Side by side
Mirrored, not identical
The two fleets fill the same roles with different hardware — and different temperaments.
| Role | Ironfleet | Cinderfleet |
|---|---|---|
| Command ship | SS Dreadnought | SS Pyrehulk |
| Airborne | Stormvane | Cinderhawk |
| Amphibious | Tideram | Seatorch |
| Interceptor | Whirlvane | Ashwasp |
| Creed | Fights under iron, storm, and tide. | Fights by fire and cinder. |
The structure that fights back
Defense Command Center
The one structure that fights on its own initiative — and the clearest expression of how supply works in Ironsound.
Armament
Sea-facing launchers and ground-to-air missiles, plus a squadron of Whirlvanes — small clockwork interceptors with no one aboard, held aloft on the spark-gap link running from the center's own relay mast.
Single damage object
The complex takes damage as one object. The squadron flies at full strength right up until the whole center comes down at once — no gradual decline to read off, which makes deciding when to commit genuinely tense.
Finite supply
Losses are only replaced while its owner holds both a Factory and a Resource centre on the same supply network. Sever either and the squadron is a wasting asset.
Cinderfleet equivalent
The Ashwasp fills the same role on the opposing side.