Originally published to Miniature Trading on November 15th, 2014
I’ve managed to acquire a bunch of Barbary Corsair ships recently, and now I have all but the Jackal’s Teeth. I have been making some 100 point fleets for each faction other than the Mercenaries (since they didn’t get any new stuff as of yet). The rules I made for myself was to limit each faction so that only NEW ships and named crew would be used.
The Corsairs were the first faction since I decided to go in semi-opposite order to change things up. My usual hierarchy of factions (based on history and my collection) is: 1. English 2. French 3. Spanish 4. Pirates 5. Americans 6. Cursed 7. Barbary Corsairs 8. Jade Rebellion 9. Vikings 10. Mercenaries. I purposely avoided using the best game pieces that each faction received, since I know I’ll use them eventually. Also, 100 points is an ideal total to try out things you’ve never used before and to try to take advantage of some of the pricier and more gimmicky combos out there!
The Fire Djinn was the first ship selected. She is the perfect ship for Barbarossa because of her S-boarding capabilities. Add a helmsman and you’ve got 25 points, a quarter of your fleet. She’ll sail (and row) around at S+S+S shooting, boarding, and stealing enemy crew. Her guns aren’t the best, but the fact that there are four of them partially makes up for the lack of quality.
The Crescent Moon is the perfect ship with which to steal gold. With her large cargo hold and fast base move, she is the most ideal 4 masted galley the Corsairs have to run treasure with. However, when you play as one of the lesser factions, you have to think outside the box. The Crescent Moon has John Ward and a helmsman, which will help her RAM and BOARD enemy ships as much as possible. With S+L+S speed, she’ll hunt down enemy gold runners. Her size and built-in reroll will win her most boarding parties against smaller treasure runners.
Ward is a crew you don’t see often, but he is perfect for sneaking an extra treasure aboard the Crescent Moon. In an ideal situation, the Moon will take two coins from an enemy treasure, and then sail off to loot one more coin from another ship, in which case she doesn’t need to win the boarding party because of Ward’s ability.
The Splendor is another fun ship (the Corsairs are awesome if you didn’t already know!). Similar in nature but faster than the Cursed Blade, she will be stealing gold from enemy runners just like the Crescent Moon. Her smaller size and lower speed make having a captain a big bonus, and therefore Wesley is perfect for the ship. The Splendor can shoot at an enemy runner to soften her up, and then ram, board and steal. Between the +1 to boarding rolls and the Splendor’s ability, she’ll sail away with two treasures.
The Gallows is the cheapest support gunship the Corsairs have with multiple rank-2 guns, and here she is equipped with a captain to bring the fight to the enemy. With so many points on the ocean, she’ll have much to attack. The Gallows can assist the three boarding ships or slow down enemy gunships.
The Majestic carries a very costly ability that is best used in larger games. With three captains and eight overall ships, she is an interesting addition to this fleet. Again, this fleet is meant to combine gimmicky/fun aspects of the game while still remaining competitive. The Majestic’s speed will allow her to assist multiple ships at different times throughout the game, and hopefully multiple ships on the same turn. The Fire Djinn, Splendor, and Gallows will love having her around to assist them. If at all possible, at least two of those three ships may try to stick together with the Majestic at the beginning of the game to devastate the opponent. Also, the more ships there are around the Majestic, the more protected she is. With just one mast, she needs to be careful about letting an opponent ram her into oblivion.
With 16 points left in the fleet, I thought about adding one more ship with some crew. However, I decided to go with 3 uncrewed ships instead, as the points worked out perfectly. The Marrakesh, Whisper, and Dervish will all run gold. The Marrakesh has decent durability with her 3 masts, the Whisper sails out at S+L+S, grabs two coins, and comes back at S+L, and the Dervish is the cheapest Corsair ship.
I had a lot of fun making this fleet! I hope to someday try it out against the other 100 point fleets I made for the other factions. In the meantime, comment and vote!
Originally published to Miniature Trading on November 11th, 2014
Just a quick fleet I thought up now that I have USS Kettering. This is a 40 point fleet that is meant to be played in a deathmatch. You can find my video explanation here:
The Kettering has a built in canceller, a world-hater to boost her cannons to 2L (which shoot twice each for 6 total shots), and the standard captain. She’s towing the Minuteman to give her even more firepower. With the flotilla this combination gives you 10 total shots, all of which have at least L range, and some of which have S+S or L+L range.
The Algeciras is the perfect support gunship, and here she has a captain as well as a flotilla of her own, the Armada. The Armada is a cargo-wrecking beast with S+S range. This 15 point
combo gives you 6 more shots with the possibility to take out multiple crew and/or equipment in one turn. I put the oarsman on the Algeciras because there’s no room for equipment on either ship and because it’s more likely the Algeciras will get dismasted. If she can still move for an extra turn or two the Armada isn’t totally immobile.
Since both ships move at S+L they can stick together and support each other. The Kettering’s canceler is the only measure of defence, but it’s still valuable. The guns are numerous (up to 16 shots per turn) and effective.
Thanks for reading; comment and vote!
Edit (12/21/14): This fleet is now 2-1. The original battle report can be found here.
Edit: After losing in the first round of VASSAL Tournament #2, this fleet’s record is now 3-3.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on October 27th, 2014
When I made my Miniature Englishmen fleet, I found so many different ships that I wanted to use that I was inspired to make another one!
The flagship for this fleet is HMS Regent, a one-masted longship from the Frozen North. I also considered HMS Bartlesville, but decided to go with the extra speed and better ability.
The Regent will sail up close to enemy ships and hit them with her doubled 2L cannon. Between her ability and enhanced S+S+S speed, she should function reasonably well as a gunship. However, she is very dependent on her ability to protect her. If an enemy rams and boards the Regent, this fleet will be in bad shape. However, these fleets were “small fry” (thanks lord_denton!) theme fleets and not meant to be super-competitive. Also, this fleet isn’t as good as the first version. With that said, the Regent could chase down enemy treasure runners since she’s fast, so maybe it would be better if she didn’t engage any enemy gunships.
The Comet is the second gunship, though she’s more of a hybrid. She needs a helmsman to boost her speed to L+S, but since it would be a shame to waste her 2L guns, Hermione Gold comes aboard to combine the captain ability with the helmsman ability. Her built-in explorer ability makes her a hybrid, although she only has one cargo space. She can pick and choose which island to explore, aiming to get the highest value coin possible. Other than that, she’ll mostly function as a gunship, backing up the Regent if she needs help and/or escorting the treasure runners.
The treasure runners were much harder to decide on. I wanted to use the Patagonia since she’s cheap and has plenty of cargo space. With a helmsman she moves S+S with room for two coins. She also carries Bratley, who normally would go on the Regent, but she didn’t have space. He can’t go on the Comet either, since I want to make use of her explorer ability. The Patagonia’s job is to hit the nearest island or two and avoid combat.
The second runner was much harder to choose. I originally wanted to go with HMS Swiftsure because of her speed and L-immunity, which would fit well with the ability of the Regent. However, I only had 15 points when you consider Bratley, and this would run it up to 46 points. Alternatively, you could swap the Bartlesville in for the Regent to save a point and use the Swiftsure.
In the end, I decided to go with a classic, HMS Rye. I wasn’t aware of her until sometime in 2013, and she immediately went on my want list. I have acquired her and now she is a staple. The Rye combines a built-in canceller with blazing S+S+S speed, so although she has no explorer and only 2 cargo spaces, she can zip out and back without being harmed by an opponent’s gunship with a captain. The problem becomes when your opponent rams her or comes with 2 gunships. She also functions well as an escort for a large gunship in higher point games.
The UT’s are designed to help the Comet find a high-value coin (which becomes more likely since the UT’s drive up the average value of a coin you put into the treasure mix). Forged Papers may help the Rye and Patagonia explore islands further away from your HI, and if the Rye finds Homemade Flag, she becomes just about invincible against enemy shoot actions.
So there you have it! This fleet is very fragile and not as competitive as the first “Miniature Englishmen” fleet. It’s more for fun and could be very frustrating if your opponent can’t deal with the Regent’s S-immunity and the Rye’s canceller.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on October 27th, 2014
With all of the big bad ships that comprise the English faction, their smaller ships don’t get as much attention as they deserve. I randomly thought of the idea for this fleet, and I immediately had a few ideas. All of the ships in this fleet have 1 or 2 masts, and I was tempted to make the fleet bigger since there are so many different options one could choose.
The Bilge is essentially the flagship. Chances are the last time you saw the Bilge, she was sitting at a home island being used by Lord Mycron to give a huge gunship two actions per turn. However, don’t disrespect the Bilge because of her past, for she is one of the best one masters in the entire game, let alone in the English faction.
Here the Bilge is the flagship for this fleet of little ships. She is equipped as well as a one master can be, with a base move of L+S and a captain to allow her to move-and-shoot with her 2L cannon. She can survive 3 hits before becoming derelict, and as long as one of her shell panels remains, she can’t be boarded. This protects her valuable crew, among them the 0LR +5 Bratley.
Since the Bilge has a fast base move (especially for the English), she is the ideal ship to tow a flotilla, and here she has the Gibraltar in tow to increase her firepower to effectively that of a five master, with extra range to boot! Between the gun ranks and ranges, this little combo will be quite nasty indeed.
Backing up the Bilge is the Cumberland, one of the four fantastic English 2 masters from the Crimson Coast. She carries a captain and helmsman, giving you two accurate guns moving at L+S for 10 points, with room for two treasures if the opportunity presents itself.
For treasure, I decided to pack in 3 ships for 19 points, with HMS Snipe being the most expensive. I’m not a fan of her ability and I have not used a ship with that ability in a real game yet. She is certainly a gamble, but even without the bonus +L she moves at S+S speed, which isn’t as slow as plenty of other ships with that ability. Theoretically, she’ll be moving S+S+L 50% of the time, which should make up for her lack of cargo space and not having an explorer. I would not normally use a ship like the Snipe, but I wanted to make this fleet a bit different and take a risk.
The Antelope and the Sea Tiger are empty, fast, and cheap treasure runners. They move at S+L and S+S+S, giving all three runners different speeds. This is interesting since they’ll be going out at different rates, which might impact which islands they hit. Although all three runners are fragile, they can carry 6 coins total and move at reasonable speeds. Also, most 40 point fleets don’t have more than 2 runners, let alone 5 ships total.
I don’t really like Natives, but they are nasty and none of the runners have any crew aboard.
Hope you like the fleet! I think it would be reasonably competitive; obviously any large fast gunship would be able to hit this fleet quickly, but between the durability of the Bilge and the fact that there are 5 little ships to chase down, this fleet should win some games.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on October 26th, 2014
I’ve managed to acquire both the Hai Peng and Captain Jack Sparrow, and although I won’t be able to use them for a little while, I read up on them in anticipation of using them in games. This fleet is designed to be used in a standard 2 player game featuring 6 islands, with 4 of them wild. Edit: Check out how this fleet did in VASSAL Tournament #2!
This fleet was inspired by a combination of fleets, reviews, and comments that I’ve looked at recently. First off, darrin’s review of the Hai Peng introduced me to the concept of using her in conjunction with Captain Jack.
I first read darrin’s review and got excited about the possibilities that this combo opened up. I would highly recommend reading the review as it’s very insightful and well-explained. Only recently did I see that he already had made a fleet that is somewhat similar to this one. Perhaps all of the cool combos for this game HAVE already been thought of, but we’ll see.
I think that the Universal Pirate Shipping fleet (along with the second version) is probably more practical and effective than this particular fleet, but I was relieved to see that his idea wasn’t exactly the same as my own.
In creating this fleet, I was also influenced by a recent fleet that discussed using forts to block enemy movement. Lastly, this old review shed further light on Captain Jack.
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So what do we have here? The strategy is quite simple: build a fort on all four wild islands. From there, the Hai Peng can transfer treasure back home, dropping off oarsmen when her cargo gets too low. Since Captain Jack links to all Pirate ships, the Hai Peng has two spaces available for gold.
Mycron sacrifices the Patagonia each turn so that the Hai Peng can move S+L+S+L+S+L+S+L.
The Lezard holds the oarsmen: the Pirate ones fill up her cargo space, but the French one doesn’t take up space. She can “explore” or move away and re-dock at your HI every turn, bringing in a coin from the Hai Peng.
The Banshee’s Cry is there to help the Hai Peng ferry gold home once the forts are set up. She also has oarsmen in case the Hai Peng needs more once the others are distributed around the islands. (This could lead to a funny sight – the Hai Peng running around incredibly fast with forts of one fleet occupying every single wild island, with a lonesome unsuspecting oarsman in each fort!)
The Banshee’s Cry can be swapped out for Becalmed, which would help you get the jump on your opponent. You can effectively freeze most or all of their ships right from the start, which should prevent the Hai Peng from getting hit by an enemy gunship when she is in the enemy’s part of the sea. You’d also have an extra point, which you could use on an extra oarsman to sit on your HI (that the Lezard would load) or the Jolly Mon.
The Patagonia brings two more potential forts into play. Ramsgate is especially fun with that L+L cannon, which will let you interfere with shipping routes and shoot at ships who are shooting at your other forts at a neighbouring island.
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Turn 1:
1. Use Mycron to move the Hai Peng S+L+S+L+S+L+S+L to the island closest to your opponent’s HI.
2. Explore, using Captain Jack to trade the treasure for an oarsman from the Lezard.
3. Unload the coin on the Lezard at your HI.
4. Send the Banshee’s Cry out towards the nearest wild islands.
5. Build a fort using the traded treasure (Dead Man’s Point with a 3 or Paradis de la Mer with a 4).
Turn 2:
1. Use Mycron to move the Hai Peng twice. You should be able to explore two islands, dropping off unneeded oarsmen as you go along.
2. Trade and unload the treasure from the islands using the Lezard.
3. At this point the Banshee’s Cry should be able to either reach the second-closest island to your own HI, which has already been explored by the Hai Peng. At the very least she can hit the island closest to your HI, docking at it.
4. Build two forts (The Devil’s Maw and Ramsgate should be priorities, but whatever you have gold for is fine).
Turn 3:
1. Use Mycron to move the Hai Peng twice, building a fort on the last island and beginning the process of bringing gold home, whether you want to trade it or sail it.
2. Use the Banshee’s Cry to ferry gold home.
Once you have 16 gold you win. Your opponent’s treasure runners will be completely useless until their gunship(s) destroy at least one fort, which could take a while if they pick on Paradis de la Mer. Either way “your gold” is protected for at least a turn each, if not much longer. The extreme speed of both the Hai Peng and Banshee’s Cry lets you ferry gold home in a hurry. Also keep in mind that the Hai Peng should have 2 open spaces once you dump any extra oarsmen (she can keep one), and the Banshee’s Cry will have all 4 open if you dump her second oarsman. The Cry should concentrate on the closer islands while the Hai Peng sails for the more distant ones, potentially even the furthest one. Since you’ll have explored all the islands and the gold is already in your forts, you’ll know exactly where to go with your ships. The Hai Peng can zip in and out of any island in one turn: she can dock at an island S+L+S+L away, load 2 coins, and then sail S+L+S+L away from harm. If she needs it at any point, Mycron can give the Cry an extra action.
Why the Lezard and therefore the French forts? Simple. Paradis de la Mer is the most durable fort by far. Set it up on the furthest wild island, the one closest to your opponent’s HI. Therefore it will be a pest to them for a while, and they may not be able to destroy it. They will have to sail to further islands to destroy the other forts in order to get treasure, in which case the Hai Peng and Banshee’s Cry will have enough time to ferry/trade gold home. L’Intrepide and Le Pique were considered because of their extra speed and large-enough cargo holds, but the Lezard saves a point, which is essential for a fleet like this.
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Obviously this fleet is extremely fragile and entirely dependent on the island setup and the Hai Peng. You’ll only have 3 masts out there at any given point during the game, none of which possess good cannon ranks. If an enemy gunship gets to the Hai Peng, you’ll probably lose. The Banshee’s Cry is relatively expendable, but still important for getting gold to your HI.
When you place the islands, keep in mind that you’ll want to have the home islands as far apart as possible. Hopefully your opponent won’t see your fleet, and the home islands will be as far apart as possible. If they are close together, you may have to build a fort on a near island and on a far one, depending on the setup and who goes first.
Treasure may be the biggest issue. I didn’t have points for a combo like the one in the Universal Pirate Shipping fleet, where a +1/+2 crew is used to increase the value of the gold. The Lezard doesn’t have room for this (hello, L’Intrepide), but in a higher point game this would be great to have. If the furthest island only has 1’s and 2’s, you’ll either have to re-explore the next turn or go to the next island. This is where Becalmed would be useful, buying you an extra turn. When selecting treasure coins, you could gamble and put some 3’s and 4’s into the mix.
Unique treasures like Missionary and Wolves will cripple this fleet in a hurry. This is why I’ve included the UT’s. They’ll let you see danger in advance and/or eliminate treasures you don’t like.
This fleet is basically a gimmick fleet – build four forts on all four wild islands on the first 2 or 3 turns. All gimmicky fleets have serious flaws, and the nature of the gimmick makes this fleet quite risky. However, I love gimmick fleets and this combo sounds too fun not to try out!
Edit (1/1/2015): This fleet was involved in a series!
I’d like to make some edits to this fleet based on the games it was in, to make it better.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on July 19th, 2014
This is my fleet for the Sealed Pack Fleet Challenge. A big thanks to lord_denton for all the time and effort he put in to run this great challenge!
I was quite satisfied with my packs as I got a few generic crew, some good ships to work with, and multiple options for named crew from the same factions as some of the ships. The only issue I saw was how to fit more than two ships into the 40 point total. Although I had to leave out some things I wanted to include, I think that this is the best fleet that I could put together.
USS Overton is my flagship and the primary gunship of the fleet. With a captain and helmsman, she becomes a dangerous foe, and even more so with her guns enhanced to 2L, 1L, and 2L against non-Americans. Plus, Wayne Nolan gives her a second die roll for whatever she needs it for, making it quite possible that she’ll hit all three times during a shoot action.
The Belle Etoile was one of the original ships in my collection, but unfortunately she was one of three ships to be lost and/or destroyed back in the day. Since then I’ve acquired a new one and now she’s been selected to serve in this fleet. Due to only having one captain (on the Overton) she only is equipped with a helmsman, but perhaps that is all for the better, because she will function as a kind of hybrid ship. Between her speed (enhanced to S+L+S), average cannons, and very valuable cargo-wrecking ability, she is ready for combat, and that might be her main occupation, depending on what the enemy fleet looks like. However, with that speed and 4 cargo spaces available, she can also run gold rather effectively. Everything will depend on what the enemy is doing, what the gold situation looks like, and whether or not the Overton or the Martillo de Dios are in trouble and need assistance.
The Martillo de Dios functions as the designated treasure runner. Although she’s not carrying crew and only has two masts, the Martillo makes up for this with her speed (S+L) and relatively low point cost. With three spaces available for gold, she’ll grab the best coins from an island and race home.
Although it’s one of my least favourite UT’s to encounter, I threw in Natives because it’s quite likely that my opponents will have treasure runners with crew on them, while the Martillo doesn’t have any. The Belle has her helmsman, but she’d only have to wait one turn.
As I see it, the biggest weaknesses of this fleet lie in its speed (all ships but one move at S+L) and gold-gathering ability. The Martillo doesn’t have an explorer (I didn’t pull any from my packs, plus the point limit is already full), and the Belle Etoile will be pressed to run double-duty throughout the game.
The strength of this fleet is its numbers (three ships that all have at least 2 masts) and firepower. The Overton’s guns are very accurate and the Belle’s guns are extremely destructive.
Why I didn’t use the other stuff I got in my packs:
RV:
012 Coral
134 Cannoneer (American)
The Coral was going to be in the fleet for a long time. She was originally going to be the main treasure runner instead of the Martillo de Dios. For some reason I thought I had two captains when in fact I only had one. In this way, I swapped out the imaginary captain that I wanted on the Belle Etoile and replaced him with the Cursed helmsman from my DJC pack. This lowered the point total to 39, letting me swap in the Martillo for the Coral.
Let me explain my reasoning behind this: I know that the Coral is a bit flashier than the Martillo, since she’s a pirate ship and she has the ability that doesn’t let her be shot at while docked. However, I see the Martillo as the better ship, and the better fit for this fleet. Although the Coral can’t be shot at while docked, she can be rammed. When an enemy ship rams a one master, the one master almost always loses her mast (unless the roll is a 1). This takes the one master out of the game, she can be easily sunk soon thereafter, and the enemy is not pinned. All from one move action from any enemy ship. With two masts, you still have a chance once one of them is gone (not to mention that now the enemy needs to roll a 3 on the ram). Also, for this fleet, if I had went with the Coral, I’d still have an extra point left. As you’ll see from the following game pieces I left out, there were a few things I could have done with it, but nothing as significant as upgrading my main treasure runner.
I didn’t have room to fit a cannoneer into the 40 point limit.
BC:
049 HMS Durham
066 El Toro
070 Don Rafael Y de Teresa
Some of these were considered for quite a while. As the English are my favourite faction to play, when I first got my packs I figured I’d get the Durham in there somehow. However, as I explained above, I wanted the Martillo de Dios rather than the Coral as my treasure runner. I could have used the Durham instead of the Overton, and then switched the Coral (or HMS Discovery, which I’ll discuss later) in for the Martillo. This issue with the Durham got more complicated when I realized I had made the mistake of thinking I had two captains when I only had one. The original setup wouldn’t work, because the Durham with a captain (18 points) and the Belle Etoile with a captain (16 points) comes to 34 points, not enough (6) to add a treasure runner (minimum 7 points). However, when I realized that the Belle would only have a helmsman aboard, then I also realized that I could use the Durham instead of the Overton and swap the Coral in for the Martillo. This decision might decide how successful my fleet is in the tournament.
I decided to go with the Overton. First off, Wayne Nolan is the only named crew I used in the fleet. With all of the named crew that I pulled, it seems like I should use at least one of them! Plus, his reroll ability is very valuable not only for gun rolls, but also potential ramming and boarding attempts. The Durham’s ability gives her +1 to her boarding rolls, but that really doesn’t add much at all. I kind of feel like it should have been a +2 from the beginning. A reroll of a boarding attempt can change everything (not to mention that in this case it doesn’t cost anything). As for the guns, the Overton effectively has two 2L’s and one 1L. This is about as good as guns get, and she has the reroll up to once per shoot action. The Durham has all short range guns, two 2’s and two 3’s. Overall, a pretty similar armament. However, I’d rather have the longer ranges and the rank-1 gun than the two 3S’s. In my experience, 3S guns aren’t worth much of anything, but that’s coming from someone with a history of bad dice luck. On the other hand, a 1L cannon is the best gun money can buy in this game. Lastly, I’ve played the English a lot, and I actually have the Durham in my collection. I’ve never been a big player of the Americans, and I don’t own the Overton. I felt like changing things up a bit.
The Toro is a solid two masted gunship, but she is too slow and expensive for what I wanted to do. With the Overton I get an extra cannon (a 1L cannon at that!) and more durability. One of the big reasons that I wanted to use the Toro was because of my plethora of Spanish named crew, none of which would have served me well by crewing the Martillo de Dios.
I’ve never really used doctor crew and I don’t find them to be worth 5 points, so Teresa was the one easy “no” from this pack.
SCS:
054 HMS Discovery
069 Almirante Carlos Pavon y Miranda
071 Padre Francisco/Rolling Fog
I used the Overton and the American helmsman from this pack, and the rest of the pack was decent as well. The Discovery was considered next to the Coral as to my main treasure runner. All three (including the Martillo de Dios) are close in quality, but I think I would put the Discovery at the bottom. The Discovery would add a little bit of speed while losing a cargo space. In the end, I would go with the Coral in order to haul more gold because she would be my only true treasure runner, and because of her defensive ability.
Miranda was the toughest crew to not include. He’s a captain/reroll crew for 6 points. In order to use him, I would have to use the Toro, as the Martillo de Dios is more of a treasure runner. However, in this way, the Toro would end up costing me 20 points, since the Toro needs a helmsman just to move L+S (12 for the Toro, 6 for Miranda, and 2 for the helmsman).
I didn’t think of using Francisco since I already couldn’t afford to include him, let alone using an extra point since he costs three. However, I see how valuable he could be in a challenge like this, since if you didn’t get a helmsman, you could use him to get one from outside of the game. Similarly, I couldn’t spare a point to include Rolling Fog, which would have just been a random addition anyway.
DJC:
092 Dark Fox
124 Cannoneer (English)
074 Jacques, Duc de Valois / Don Osvaldo Guillen
The Dark Fox isn’t a particularly good ship, and using a quarter of my build total on a fragile ship with one cargo didn’t make any sense.
As with my other cannoneer, I couldn’t really fit him anywhere.
Jacques would have been a decent addition to the Belle, especially if I had put one of the cannoneers on her to make her a true gunship. As mentioned, the points weren’t there for such a luxury.
Guillen was the second-best Spanish crew I got after Miranda. He’s a 7 point captain + S-boarder. The Toro would have been his ship, but the Toro probably wouldn’t have won too many boarding parties with two masts. In the end, the Toro wasn’t used anyway.
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Here’s my strategy for the game between myself and Woelf.
First off, the Martillo de Dios will head to either Dog or Monkey Island, whichever one is closer, based on which home island I end up with. She’ll simply take the best gold and head right back home. After that, she’ll most likely go back out to the next-nearest wild island that still has gold on it. She will try to avoid contact with the enemy fleet, with the exception of ramming the Carthage if possible (more on that soon!).
The Overton is my designated gunship, and she wants to take out woelf’s runners, the San Jose and the Carthage. The Belle Etoile is also going to start the game in a combat role, unless for some reason none of woelf’s ships go to Cutlass Cove, in which case the Belle will grab 4 coins from there and bring them home. Both the Overton and the Belle are faster than the scary Santo Columba, unless woelf pulls a fast one and grabs a helmsman instead of Luis Zuan, in which case hopefully I’d get the first shot since then he wouldn’t have a captain. However, since both of my ships are faster than the Columba, they will try to avoid her early on in the game, instead targeting the two smaller ships.
The Belle especially should be able to evade the Columba. The Belle’s first mission of the game is to sink the Carthage without being hit in return. With her speed and size she should be able to ram off the one mast of the Carthage. From there the Carthage can still row at S speed, so the Belle will have to shoot to finish her off. After that, the Belle will either run gold and/or assist the Overton, whichever is more convenient and makes more sense.
The Overton is going to have to make a choice of whether to hit the San Jose or the Columba. With L+S and a captain, she can easily take down the San Jose if the Columba isn’t close by. However, if the Overton has an opportunity to get the first shot on the Columba, TAKE IT! With the accurate guns and Nolan’s reroll, there’s a good chance the Columba will lose at least two masts. From there the Overton would finish her off. If the Overton can’t get the first shot on the Columba she can hit the San Jose first. If the Overton dismasts or sinks the San Jose before the Columba is even in action, the Overton can then either assist the Belle if she’s having trouble, or try to maneuver and get the first shot on the Columba.
In the case that things go wrong and the Overton is sunk, the Belle should try to get as much gold home as possible rather than trying to engage the Columba.
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My final pulls: Pirates of the Revolution Pack
053 La Belle Etoile
012 Coral
134 Cannoneer (American)
115 Captain (French)
106 Natives
Pirates of the Barbary Coast Pack
049 HMS Durham
066 El Toro
070 Don Rafael Y de Teresa
096 Wayne Nolan
Pirates of the South China Seas Pack
092 USS Overton
054 HMS Discovery
069 Almirante Carlos Pavon y Miranda
120 Helmsman (American)
071 Padre Francisco/Rolling Fog
Pirates of Davy Jones’ Curse Pack
092 Dark Fox
070 El Martillo de Dios
124 Cannoneer (English)
074 Jacques, Duc de Valois / Don Osvaldo Guillen
121 Helmsman (Cursed)
I drafted a fleet with two core ships in mind: a very good gunship and a very good treasure runner. Most of my original collection from back in the day was from the first three sets, which are still my favourites. Plus, I felt it was appropriate for such a classic supership like the Titan to go in the first round (even more appropriate if the Banshee’s Cry was the first overall pick).
HMS Titan is one of the most famous ships in the game, and here she will serve as the flagship of yet another fleet. She is equipped with a captain and helmsman to turn her into a lethal beast. In addition, I used the extra few points I had at the end of the draft to add Stinkpot Shot, which is one of the more underrated pieces in Pirates. It only costs one point and gives you the opportunity to cancel the entire complement of an opposing ship, rather than just one ability like a standard 5 point canceller. Even if you miss, you still have 4 rank-2 cannons left with which to pulverize the enemy! The oarsman is insurance for Bratley, or potential sac fodder (for either ship ). Bratley brings a certain pirate aboard my second ship. I wanted to get a reroller for the extra action, but the points weren’t convenient to spend (and the Limit keyword stopped me from getting another 0LR).
The second ship is another classic, the Neptune’s Hoard. Between her good base move, 5 cargo spaces, treasure-runner-friendly ability and above-average durability, she was one of the best treasure runners available in the draft. When you add a helmsman and explorer, she gets even better. Add the legendary sac Captain Blackheart and an oarsman, and you’ve got a monster.
Saccing the oarsman on the first turn, she’ll zoom S+L+S+S+L+S out to an island. From there she can take some coins home, possibly saccing the explorer to move twice once again. After this, she could either go out for another treasure run, harass enemy runners, or assist the Titan. As noted previously, the extra oarsman on the Titan could come in handy as extra sac fodder.
Ramsgate was a late-round pick that will be built for strategic purposes if the opportunity presents itself.
So there you have it: a two-ship fleet that packs a solid punch in both facets of the game. The usual weaknesses are there: too much invested in too little ships, only one treasure runner, susceptibility to cancellers, etc. However, this fleet still has enough to give most 40 point fleets a run for their money!
This fleet is interesting and a bit unique in that it (to a degree) combines the two most popular “old school” tactics: trying to give as many actions as possible to one ship (before that was illegal) and Norvegia (saccing for extreme speed and building forts to win without bringing gold home, also illegal). Although these strategies are obsolete in today’s game, their methods of complete domination are still applicable and can be quite effective.
Here’s the order in which my picks went, if you’re wondering. I made sure to get the ships I wanted first, and I knew that I would have a good shot at getting a 0LR +5 crew and a pirate sac captain, whichever ones were still available. From there it was smooth sailing with the necessary generic crew and filler points.
-HMS Titan (SM-041)
-Neptune’s Hoard (Rev-002)
-Administrator Scott Bratley (CC-046A)
-Captain Blackheart (SM/PC-002)
=Captain[English] (SMU-103)
=Helmsman[English] (SMU-110)
=Helmsman[Pirate] (SMU-108 )
=Explorer[Pirate] (SMU-116)
-Stinkpot Shot (F&S-108 )
=Oarsman[English] (SM EC-OA)
=Oarsman[Pirate] (SM PC-OA)
-Ramsgate (RV-038 ) [fort]
-Lawrence (BC 056) [not used]
Thanks to Woelf for running the Draft Challenge, thanks to all the participants, and thank you for reading and voting!
Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 9th, 2013
“A group of shipwrecked pirates stole a ship to escape their island prison, not realizing it was a secret Cursed vessel. Taking it to Captain Mysion’s pirate “kingdom”, they received a hero’s welcome.”
“The self-proclaimed King of Pirates is either a genius or a buffoon, depending on which side you are on. Though many of his actions are inexplicable, they seem to work out for him in the end. And when it’s all said and done he lords over the only defensive pirate haven in the world.”
Captain Mysion – An Epic Pirate
Ever since I read the flavour text for Captain Mysion’s ROTF release, I’ve been intrigued by him as a character in our favourite CSG. Characters like Fantasma, Jack Hawkins, Calico Cat, Blackheart, Barbossa, and Captain Jack Sparrow have ruled over the seas as Pirate lords and appeared numerous times throughout the expansions. However, none of their exploits are quite as grand as those of Mysion. Not even “Emperor” Blackheart can claim to have an entire kingdom, or “defensive haven”. Mysion doesn’t even make an appearance until later in the series, first appearing in MI, yet he obviously had some kind of back story before the events of this set. We don’t know how he built his pirate kingdom, but we do know that he had substantial power up until his last appearance in F&S.
This Pirate Empire fleet is loosely based on Mysion’s given flavour text (I don’t have access to the flavour text of his MI version, but I recall it being similarly arrogant and anti-mercenary). This is my attempt at re-creating his kingdom, his defensive haven for all things Pirate. I would have made this fleet bigger, but between the fact that most people aren’t willing to comment and vote on fleets over 100 points and the fact that the Pirates can fit tons of stuff into a build with any point limit, I kept it to 100. There are treasure runners, gunships, and hybrids. It showcases the best of the best that the Pirates have, and why they are regarded as the best faction. I imagine that if a player used this fleet as designed, they would be able to create their own “pirate empire”.
The Ships and Crew
The Revenant is the flagship of Mission’s Pirate Empire fleet, especially since the “self-proclaimed King of Pirates” is aboard. She will sail through the carnage inflicting massive damage upon the enemy while using Parley to remain relatively unharmed. The helmsman gives her respectable speed while the oarsman gives her a crew defence.*
The Darkhawk II will be a hybrid ship, ready to run gold or fight (or both) at a moment’s notice. She still has 5 spaces for treasure (or 4 considering the ability, still enough to empty an island). She also moves at L+S, and has good enough cannons to take out any opposing treasure runners heading for her islands. Jack Hawkins makes her more effective in a fight to the death for essentially just one extra point.
The third ship, the Neptune’s Hoard, is another classic pirate ship, harking back to the days of old Norvegia. She’ll zip out at S+L+S+S+L+S on the first turn and return back almost as quickly, possibly trading away any bad treasures she finds. She could keep them just for Parley, especially if the opposing fleet(s) look gun-heavy.
The Eagle was actually the last ship picked for this fleet. For just 14 points, you get a four master with good guns moving L+S with 3 cargo spaces left over. Not a bad deal at all, she’s one of the more underrated ships the pirates have.
The last three ships are the bread and butter treasure runners (does that rhyme?) that make this fleet lethal, if not very predictably. I don’t think there’s any further explanation needed.
For the most part, I don’t like using events, and I wanted this fleet to be a bit more realistic, as if there really was a pirate kingdom back in the 17th or early 18th century.
This is the fleet as it stands now. I may change it. I definitely need to playtest it at some point. Probably the biggest weaknesses would be a lack of speed (no extra actions) in the gunships and a vulnerability to a simple canceller on an enemy gunship. Also, since the “pirate kingdom” is described as a defensive haven, there would probably be more gunships, maybe even big slow ones to guard the harbour. Can woelf or anyone else familiar with the flavour text from Wizkids elaborate on the text?
The only issue with adding more would be that either the points would exceed 100, or the treasure runners would have to be cut out, giving it a strictly deathmatch approach. What do you guys think I should do with it?
*What are people’s thoughts on describing generic crew and their functions on a ship in a fleet? I usually give a description of the entire complement of crew on each ship, at least mentioning the less important ones. Most readers will know that L speed isn’t good enough, and that the oarsman is just there to protect against crew-killers. Just wondering if I should still include this much detail in my fleet descriptions.
Thanks for reading; comment and vote! If you want to see a much more massive Pirate Empire in a real game, check out this record-breaking fleet from my Command the Oceans game:
Originally published to Miniature Trading on August 4th, 2013
Woelf recently submitted a fleet that was out of the ordinary and quite unlikely indeed. With that in mind, I’ve thought about creating a truly unbeatable fleet. Not only is it hard to obtain (every game piece is either an SE, LE, SR, or PR), but also hard to beat.
The Nox is proxying as the Blue Heron-only one of which is supposed to exist. The crew on her aren’t really in the fleet (since the Heron costs 14 points), it’s just that the Nox looks strikingly similar.
This fleet is powerful, packing a whopping 11 ships into the 40 point limit. It’s got treasure runners and fighters, and a PR crew-killing fort to boot. The Dungeon will induce Fear before the Deuce kills you with her Ghost Captain. If you ever manage to sink my ships or kill my crew, I can find Abandoned Crew and reincarnate myself with the Resurrection Codex.
How do you beat this standard 40 point setup? Good luck, for if you win, you’ll receive a bust of the infamous Fantasma.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on August 4th, 2013
This is my third (and therefore illegal) entry into nematode66’s Attack of the Clones Fleet Challenge. This is not an official entry, and it shouldn’t be considered for this Challenge. This was the last idea I had for the Challenge, so here it is. (Corsair entry, American entry)
I’ve always thought that 6 masted junks were majestic and impressive, and I haven’t made a Jade fleet until now.
The fleet’s strategy is pretty simple: the Grand Path shoots enemies to the bottom with her 6 1S guns, moving L+S+L+S theoretically two-thirds of the time, upon which Divers can be flipped to recover the sunken gold.
The Grand Wind sails out at S+S+S+S speed with the help of a sac captain who can also make her job easier by trading away the lowest value coins.
Thanks to nematode66 for running the Challenge, please comment and vote on my Clones of the South China Sea fleet!
However, these fleets were “small fry” (thanks lord_denton!) theme fleets and not meant to be super-competitive. Also, this fleet isn’t as good as the first version. With that said, the Regent could chase down enemy treasure runners since she’s fast, so maybe it would be better if she didn’t engage any enemy gunships.
Chances are the last time you saw the Bilge, she was sitting at a home island being used by 
). Bratley brings a certain pirate aboard my second ship. 
I wanted to get a reroller for the extra action, but the points weren’t convenient to spend (and the Limit keyword stopped me from getting another 0LR).
