Battle “Ships” of the Deep

Don’t let Behemoth get you!

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 6th, 2016

85 Points

This is my entry to El Cazador’s Battleship Fleet Challenge.

I managed to come up with this fleet very quickly. I think it was because El Cazador DID allow the use of the Limit keyword, unlike in the previous incarnation of the challenge. I had desired to use Davy Jones in my Odd fleet, so when I saw that we could use Limit stuff, my mind shifted to the other copier, Behemoth. As a 5-masted “battleship”, Behemoth is often considered the best sea monster in the game due to its versatility and the option of copying the captain keyword. However, I’m going to use him for something more sinister, as you’ll soon see… 

Maxehebel is a proxy for Namazu from Return to Savage Shores:

Namazu
RtSS-003, Rare
Cursed
Points: 15
Masts: 4 (Sea Serpent)
Cargo: 2
Move: S
Cannons: 3S-3S-3S-3S
Ability: Sea Monster. Give this sea monster a shoot action. A wave S wide and 2L long leaves the sea monster in one direction. Up to 2 masts of every ship in the path of the wave are eliminated. Eliminate one of this sea monster’s masts.

Flavor: Old sailors shiver at the mention of Namazu. Few who have survived its tidal attacks can return to the sea, so paralyzing are the nightmares of the memory.

That takes care of the 4 master. The 3 master was actually the final ship to be added, and at that point I really needed a gold runner lol. The Fiddler’s Green was originally the gold runner, equipped with a helmsman and explorer, but then I realized I could get the best Cursed ship in existence for just a point more. I’m in the helmsman>explorer crowd, especially when not playing by the standard setup rules. The extra speed allows the Grinder to move a very fast S+L+S, and she’s capable of being a bit of a hybrid if needed. Her secondary ability could help her raid any enemy gold runners with high value coins, and said runners will be less likely to fight back in the face of her effective cannons. If you prefer explorers, that would allow an oarsman on another ship or possibly an equipment aboard the Serpent’s Fang. The Grinder packs a punch, and I thought it was fitting to swap her in for the Fiddler’s Green (which happens to be one of my favorite Cursed ships), because it’s the Battleship Fleet Challenge after all! 

For the 3 masted submarine, it was an easy pick. Staying faction-pure, the Locker is a support ship. She carries the Hag of Tortuga and her +L sea monster speed bonus as well as a helmsman.

The final ship was another easy pick – the Serpent’s Fang is the only ship in the game with the +L sea monster speed bonus ability built-in. It also happens to be a longship, and the perfect support gunship in this fleet.

At this point it may become obvious what my nefarious plan is. On the first turn, Behemoth and Namazu dive underwater and move at incredible speeds of L+L+L and S+L+L respectively due to the double bonuses. The Serpent’s Fang and (submerged) Locker follow at L+S, taking care to stay behind the monsters. Then, at the perfect opportunity, both come flying to the surface! Namazu unleashes a massive tidal wave upon the opposing ships!! Behemoth copies Namazu’s ability and a second tidal wave is unleashed!! 

The enemy fleet could be in tatters at this point, but why stop there?   Your opponent might be able to do some good harm to either or both of the monsters, but eventually your turn will come up once again. If both sea monsters are still alive, time for another double wave attack!! I checked with woelf, and he said that Namazu’s ability hits everything in the path of the wave, even stuff that is submerged or ghostly. The Locker could do submerged ramming, while the Serpent’s Fang has some considerable firepower of her own, with 4 shots at 3L. Now the possibilities become even scarier… beyond Behemoth simply copying the captain keyword (which might be the best option depending on the situation), imagine if Behemoth copies the Longship keyword!  That’s up to 10 shots at 2S, similar to the Zeus firing a full broadside with a world hater aboard!!

Even in a worst-case scenario, the sea monsters could possibly retreat if a second wave attack isn’t practical – the +L bonuses give them a lot of speed and flexibility, and using the bonuses to catch, ram, and then pin enemy ships in place becomes an option as well. It’s unlikely, but Behemoth could even copy the +L ability to give Namazu a speed of up to S+L+L+L or copy the Locker’s ability, making her a bigger threat when boarding. Either way, Behemoth’s flexibility is very important to this fleet, so I’d make sure the first strike was devastating. I won’t even go into the potential enemy abilities Behemoth could copy, but there’s probably some that would be rather effective to use!

In a longer fight, the Grinder’s 2L guns and the Locker’s potential immunity to enemy fleets (while submerged) become more important, because it’s likely that at least one monster and the Serpent’s Fang will fall. Also, fleets are required to have a 3 masted sub for this challenge, but 3/5 of this fleet can submerge to avoid the ramming, while the Grinder can move her full speed no matter what. Finally, the Serpent’s Fang has 2 open cargo spaces and the Locker can submerge, so this fleet could potentially do some extra gold running in a pinch.

Curse of Davy Jones was added to make things even more nasty for my opponents, especially if Behemoth manages to copy the Longship keyword. Plague is another great option, partly because this fleet doesn’t rely on crew as much as most of the other Battleship fleets likely will. Even if Grinder found the Plague, she has the base move to catch enemy ships to give it to them, and the Serpent’s Fang is the only ship to worry about with Plague since the Locker can just submerge if needed.

Let me know what you think of the fleet! Comment and vote, and thanks to El Cazador for running the challenge – this is one of my favorite challenge fleets I’ve submitted! 

Fleet page at Miniature Trading