French Empire

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 20th, 2015

This fleet was inspired by xerecs’ idea.

The French presented an interesting dilemma since many of their extra action crew come from CC, RV, and BC, which aren’t allowed in this scenario.

This fleet is unique compared to some of the other fleets designed for this scenario; this one is designed to be very difficult and annoying to deal with, while also being able to stop other fleets that have unique advantages.

The Bonaparte should come as no surprise. With a canceller, chain shot, Schooner keyword and reroller, the Bonaparte is annoying at best and almost unhittable at worst.

The Delacroix is one of my favourite ships from FN and the only 5 master in the fleet. She’s obviously capable of doing a lot of damage, but her reverse captain ability fits perfectly with the addition of smokepot shot. With such an equipment, she can become essentially invulnerable after shooting. Also, the smokebank could provide temporary cover for another French ship.

The Tepant is close to invincible with Eternal and an oarsman aboard. She continues the theme of this fleet being very difficult to deal with.

The Epee isn’t one of the better French gunships, but in this scenario she carries Barbinais and an oarsman to maximize her effectiveness. As she loses masts, her cannons will continue to fire (at 2L,3L,3L,2L) until she sinks.

The Rocher Noir is a fast gunship capable of dealing with an annoying possibility.

The Bonne Chance is one of OE’s gems, and here the gunship is towing a flotilla for 7 extra cannons at 22 total points.

Last but not least, the Lion sits at the HI to compensate for the fleet’s lack of extra action potential. I originally had Capitaine Arazure on the Delacroix, but I wanted to include smokepot shot and the Bonne Chance. Deleflote will provide extra actions to different ships as they need them, especially the Bonaparte, Delacroix, and Epee.

Thanks to xerecs for the idea, and feel free to comment and vote!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

English Empire

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 20th, 2015

140 Points

This English Empire fleet was inspired by xerecs’ idea.

The English are my favourite faction, but with both cancellers and numerous other pieces unavailable, I had to think outside the box a little bit. Also, the English 0LR +5 wasn’t available either.

To purposely make things even more difficult for myself, I decided to only use ships from POTC, though I could use anything from SCS to SS.

The Endeavour is loaded with SAT+reroll, while Portland protects the crew. Beckett will also be rerolled, meaning that Gunn will be very busy! Beckett becomes more valuable in games like this where his ability is more affordable and more flexible with additional ships.

The Dauntless has a standard crew setup, but also has fire shot and stinkpot shot (a personal favourite of mine) to dole out extra damage. Between her powerful guns and nice ability, she’s a nice complement to the Endeavour.

Keeping with the POTC theme, Norrington joins the Interceptor, which may be the first ship to shoot moving at L+L+S in the early game. Norrington makes it more likely that Exploding Shot will find its mark, which could cause opponents problems if it hits early on.

The Phoenix is a great sniper ship that can hit on a 5 or 6 here thanks to HGold. Even at close range she’s got 4 guns shooting at 2L.

I originally had the HMS Hyena instead of the Victor, but the Hyena is perhaps slightly overused and the Victor has slightly better cannons. In addition, the Victor can repair herself if need be.

The Success is an underrated ship that can do some surprising damage through her ability and guns. Her total point cost of 14 takes up just 10% of the build total, making her an underrated asset.

Thanks to xerecs for the idea, and feel free to comment and vote on this English Empire fleet!

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Ultimate Speed Fleet

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 12th, 2015

105 Points

Unlike a lot of my other fleets, this fleet is designed to win at all costs. It’s cheesy and overpowered, but it’s fast and effective.

The San Cristobal (SC) is the expected flagship. With de Alva’s link, she’s got three cargo spaces available, which she can use to get gold from an island or enemy ship. Diaz provides the fantastic canceller ability, making the Cristobal a fast force to be reckoned with. Her max speed is S+S+L+S+S+S+L+S. The SC plays a dual role here; the only way to win is to get the most gold, and therefore this fleet is based on getting treasure. The SC has the speed to hit almost any target on the sea on any given turn. Mycron (big surprise!) will make sure she can move if de Alva doesn’t give the EA. The SC acts as a deterrent and possible gold runner. If she explores, she’ll explore one of the most distant islands.

Next we have the Hai Peng. CJS links, so the HP still has 2 cargo spaces available, which she might not even need with CJS’s ability. Similar to UPS and HPFF, the Hai Peng will work with the Intrepide to teleport gold home to build forts. Ideally, Mycron will give the HP an extra action on the first turn of the game, and the HP will be able to build Paradis de la Mer on the wild island closest to your opponent’s HI. Think about it: imagine having by far the most difficult fort to destroy sitting on your doorstep before you’ve even moved your fleet!

The Intrepide sits at home waiting for the Hai Peng’s gold to flow in. Aristide bumps up the value and you can start building forts. Again, build forts on the furthest islands to protect the gold and then work your way backwards. If the HI’s are close together, build a fort on the nearest contested island to establish dominance of the area (which you may already have with the SC). When you run out of oarsmen to feed CJS, the Hai Peng can grab two coins and sail away at L+S+L+S, possibly doubled by Mycron. Also, once the oarsmen are gone the Intrepide can run gold herself, with 2 spaces and Aristide’s bonus still available.

The Banshee’s Cry (surprise!) can explore the nearest wild island, which is why she has an explorer rather than a helmsman. The BC could also tow the Doombox if something happens to the Raven.

The Raven/Doombox combo is fast and deadly. With a captain on the Raven, the combo moves S+S+S and shoots 2 cannons at 2S and 4 at 3S+S. However, similar to the SC, the fleet’s goal is to win above all else, so the explorer lets the Raven take a few coins quickly. The captain could also be substituted for something like Divers, Raft, and another oarsman for the Intrepide, or even 3 oarsmen if you want Mycron to focus on the Hai Peng and building forts.

The Patagonia joins the Intrepide at your HI, where Mycron gives this fleet a lot of flexibility. Even without extra actions this fleet is very fast, but with de Alva and Mycron doubling speeds, it’s a very competitive fleet.

I’m not a fan of events, but this fleet is made for pure brutality and winning effectiveness. Becalmed should be played on the first turn to freeze as many ships of the enemy fleet as possible, giving the Hai Peng more time to build as many forts as possible. Hidden Cove would also likely be played early in the game to give the HP or SC a head start on the first turn. It could be saved for later in a pinch if the SC or other ship needed a boost.

I figured I’d find the UT’s before my opponent between the SC, HP, and forts.

There you have it! One of the most effective fleets I’ve ever submitted. Hope you liked it! Be sure to comment and vote!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Ship Stealing Fleet

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 12th, 2015

This fleet is designed to steal all of your opponent’s ships, and then use them yourself. There are ways to make this work better, such as negative UT’s and putting a lot of gold on islands so the game will last longer.

This is a gimmick fleet, but I tried to make it as relevant as possible if things don’t work out. It just so happens that all of the ships with the necessary ability are Pirate and American, but I had to throw Commander Temple in there at the end for nostalgia, not to mention the perfect EA combo with the Europa, also from the first set.

The Harbinger is inevitably the flagship, and she’s decked out to be purely efficient. She has enough oarsmen to be a force. The Harbinger can go after the opponent’s largest ships. She’ll also act as a way to dismast enemy ships and then leave them there for other ships to teleport home, since the Harbinger should always be on the front lines. The Harbinger is the best boarder to take out enemy oarsmen that prevent dereliction, so she’s very important to this fleet.

El Dorado only has 2 cargo spaces, but she’ll likely tag team with the Harbinger and bring any derelicts home. With three masts and reasonably serviceable guns, she can ram and board any ships that the Harbinger can’t dismast, and then go from there. With one cargo space open, she also has the option of stealthily grabbing the highest value coin from an island or stealing a treasure from an opponent not worth teleporting home.

As I mentioned above, I tried to make this fleet as relevant as possible despite its gimmicky nature, hence the Philadelphia’s explorer. She actually makes for a decent treasure runner, and she won’t be able to assist the Harbinger with a couple of 5S cannons. That being said, capturing ships is still important, so the Philadelphia could abandon her trading routes at any time to go after a fresh derelict.

Unlike the Philadelphia, the New Orleans actually has offensive capability. She also has enough cargo space and a high enough point cost to accommodate a nice crew combo. The captain and helmsman let her move S+S+S and attack enemy ships. While the Harbinger and Dorado go after the bigger ships, the New Orleans will probably work on her own, hitting the enemy gold runners. With a well-timed 6 from Preble (enhanced by Nolan’s free reroll!), the New Orleans could dismast and teleport a gold runner in one turn! This would be a great way of getting gold home quickly, since the derelict would immediately dock at the HI and unload her gold. Lastly, a “fleet admiral” crew (like Preble) was something I really wanted to include in this fleet. The Pirates don’t have a 0LR reroller, but the New Orleans is perfect for the combo. Extra actions are key for this fleet since you can’t explore a derelict immediately after ramming. Preble can give EA’s to the Dorado and Philadelphia as well to increase the speed and stealth with which this fleet steals ships!

The Europa/Temple combo is a classic, and like I said before, that EA can come in very handy. It will also help the fragile Europa get out of trouble, which she’ll probably be in. The Europa is probably the least important ship in this fleet, but she works perfectly to include Temple (the only crew ship stealer) and add another weapon.

When I saw the fleet at 89 points, I wanted to include one more ship. I was looking for a ship that could fight and grab gold. However, it would have to be a cheap ship with minimal crew. The Hound is perfect to round this fleet out to 100 points. She has a captain and explorer, able to fight when necessary and grab a few coins. At the beginning of the game, she’ll probably leave her captain behind and take 3 coins from a nearby wild island. Afterwards, she’ll pick up the captain and go off in search of enemies and/or more gold. The Hound adds another flexible ship to this fleet, and keeps the Pirate/American/English theme. Last but not least, her ability complements the fleet perfectly as well. Seeing what treasures your opponent has can determine which ships the stealers will go after.

I included Neptune’s Figurehead for two reasons: I don’t want to sink my opponent’s ships, so once I capture them, the UT will be mine; and if one of my ships finds it, one of the fragile ship stealers could remain in the game longer. Rum and Natives will slow down my opponent’s ships, which will allow the ship stealers more time to get to them and take out their masts while not affecting my gold runners for very long. Dead Man’s Chest serves a dual purpose: this fleet has no way to counter submersibles, and with so many ships joining my fleet I may acquire it even if my opponent loads it first (plus my opponent can’t benefit from using it against my fleet). Wet Gunpowder can prevent my opponent from returning fire against my ship stealers, while my gold runners either don’t want to shoot or (in the case of the Hound) won’t be far from the HI where they can repair.

The forts are not really a priority, but they could help if my ships need to repair.

Thanks for reading; comment and vote!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Gold Stealing Fleet

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 12th, 2015

This is a fleet that tries to steal as much gold from your opponent as possible. The idea is to let your opponents explore while using the UT’s to your advantage, and then strike the gold runners.

Le Pluton is an underrated ship from South China Seas, which is perhaps the reason no one talks about her. Between her S-board ability, Leander Arnaud, and Dumas’ reroll, the Pluton is a fantastic ship to steal with. She can also double as a gunship/gold runner hybrid if she’s too slow or there aren’t any targets.

The Descharges has long been one of my favourite ships. The ships is packed with great stats, which lets her play a variety of roles. Here she’s another treasure raider, with captain and S-board just like the Pluton. With three cargo spaces available, she can take a lot of gold, even if that means exploring an island.

The way I have the Albany set up is one of my all-time favourite crew arrangements for any ship in the game. It’s truly perfect. To use the Albany’s ability, you’ll want as many cargo spaces free as possible. Stern combines three abilities into one crew, and all three are extremely relevant to what the Albany will be doing. The captain ability can help soften up or dismast enemy treasure runners before the Albany easily wins the boarding party. The +1 to boarding rolls means the Albany will almost always win against most gold runners. Lastly, the extra action capabilities will allow the Albany to catch enemy treasure runners, which might not be possible even with the mandatory helmsman. Nolan makes the setup even more ideal, linking to Stern and providing a free reroll for either the extra action or the boarding attempt. In conclusion, the Albany is set up quite well to do anything. Even if she doesn’t get the chance to raid any gold runners, she’s a formidable gunship in her own right, with so many abilities at her disposal in addition to her powerful guns.

Last but not least, the Prince of Chichester is one of the absolute best 2 masters in the game and another one of those “packed” ships. With the captain and helmsman abilities, she doubles (triples?) as a gunship, gold runner, and gold stealer. Peter Miles (a very unique crew) allows the ship to take treasure without necessarily winning a boarding party.

This is kind of a gimmick fleet, but with so many good guns, captains on every ship, and lots of cargo spaces available, I think this fleet could do well even if it can’t steal gold. Thanks for reading; comment and vote!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Crew Recycling 2.0

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 11th, 2015

I experimented with a strategy I call “crew recycling” a while back, and battle reports can be found here and here.

This is yet another “gimmick” fleet of mine, and this is the second and much larger version. If you’re wondering what crew recycling is, check out Captain Davy Jones and Wraith. The entire idea is to eliminate as many crew as possible, and then roll 6’s to take control of them. The crew can then assist the two flagships in eliminating the other player’s fleet. It’s a rather evil tactic. 

The Flying Dutchman may not have the most accurate cannons, but she has 5 of them and a huge boarding advantage: she boards like a 6 master, kills all crew when successful, and has reroll and a sacrificial oarsman just for good measure! In addition, Fear could help once in a while. In addition to the boatload of crew abilities, the Dutchman can turn ghostly and can’t sink, making her a perfect and almost invincible flagship.

It was TOUGH to get the Cristal’s crew to work out. First of all I had to figure out a way to get the Cursed Wraith aboard, but the Inquisitor was perfect with his Black Mark keyword. Originally I had a similar setup, but then I realized that Black Mark increases the overall cost of the crew’s points to 17, while the ship costs 16. Then, to compensate for the extra point, I put Luis Zuan aboard, but then realized he was hostile to Pirates (plus he would have to be Cursed). After that, I saw that the Cristal had enough cargo space (especially with the Inquisitor’s link) to load another crew, and Edmund fits perfectly to lower the cost down to 14 overall, then back up to 15 with Black Mark. Whew!

However, it was worth it, since the Cristal is extremely dangerous. She is a potent offensive and defensive threat, and she’ll concentrate on attacking and boarding enemy ships to kill all their crew. She doesn’t have eternal, oarsman, and +1 to boarding rolls like the Dutchman, but she makes for a perfect (considering the Inquisition) co-flagship in this fleet.

The third ship is incredibly brutal. El Rosal is an underrated schooner from the Frozen North, and she’s got two crew aboard to help this fleet’s goal of getting the dead to DJ and Wraith: Castilla and Kian Ng. The first hit will eliminate 2 crew, and every hit thereafter will eliminate one. The Rosal also has the reverse captain ability and enough speed to tow one of the best flotillas in the game: the Armada.

It’s always fun to think about putting crew on a flotilla, and the Armada shines in this regard with her high cost of 9 points. The first crew is Bianco, who lets Castro come aboard and give the ship SAT capabilities, which will allow the ship to shoot twice per turn! Next, Vaccaro links to Castro, so he doesn’t need his own cargo space. In this way, his reroll provides a perfect complement to the SAT roll, and if the SAT roll is successful the first time, his reroll can be used to re-fire one of the deadly cannons!

All told, when the Rosal and Armada come to town, up to THIRTEEN crew (13!) will be eliminated, which means that DJ and Wraith will be VERY busy rolling for 6’s!

The Royal James is a classic schooner from one of the best sets, and she carries above average stats in every category. With Chevalle and a captain, the RJ can cut through enemies and ferry more bodies to DJ and Wraith to recycle. Just like the Rosal, her first hit will eliminate two crew (if no treasure on the enemy ship of course). 

After reviewing the Rules Thread, I decided to add a kraken to complement Davy Jones, with his “target” ability. However, this kraken is more to fill out the points and be intimidating than anything else. The +S bonus will help and makes this fleet very fitting given the theme. The kraken can suction off the faces of enemy crew, upon which they are eliminated by the other ships and “repurposed” or recycled for use in Davy Jones’ fleet!  Wow, this fleet is even more evil and sadistic than I realized. 

This Crew Recycling fleet is meant to be a gimmick fleet, and it would do better in a deathmatch. I had a lot of fun making it!
Thanks for reading; I’d love to see some comments and votes!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Fog Hopping and Smoke Dropping

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 10th, 2015

I’ve already got a fog hopping fleet, but with my recent acquisition of the Mist Walker, I wanted to make another one using only things from my actual collection. Therefore this isn’t the best fog-hopping fleet, but it’s a fun one that I may actually try out.

The Mist Walker will create chaos popping in and out of fog. She can also help pin ships in place until the Skin Flayer appears.

The Nimcha and Sea Serpent break from the Cursed theme, but they were recruited to create even more fog. With reverse captain abilities, they can easily hide after “dropping” a smokebank. Their priorities will be on the Hangman’s Joke and the Skin Flayer.

The Hangman’s Joke is one of the fleet’s only chances of getting gold. In a standard game, this fleet wouldn’t do so well – it’s one of my various “gimmick” fleets. The Joke carries Grim the Savage, who can raid an enemy home island for two treasures in this case. The Sea Serpent (since she’s faster with the helmsman) can create smoke near the enemy HI, and then the Joke will do her raid, escaping via another smokebank near her own HI created by the Nimcha. If something goes wrong, the Sea Serpent should still be able to escape, and her speed and cannons make her ideal for harassing enemy treasure runners when she’s not busy being a smoke escort.

The Sea Hag is deadly. She’ll come and go with the fog and smoke, killing all who oppose the Cursed!

The Skin Flayer idea just came to me recently. With copier Davy Jones aboard, the Skin Flayer can surprise opponents by copying the fog-hopping ability! It could be epic to see DJ revealed the turn after the Skin Flayer enters a fog bank, and then pops out and attacks your opponent all at once! Also, the Skin Flayer carries some great crew, so when she does emerge from the fog, there will be tons of carnage and slashing!

The Needle is a support ship, likely to distract an opponent and possibly raid their gold runners if she can corner one of them.

I didn’t tally the points up as I was creating this fleet, so when I suddenly saw 154, I just put in the Jolly Mon/0LR +5 combo to keep it at 150 points. However, I may change things at some point; a more conservative crew setup (which would also be better for gold running) on the Sea Hag and Hangman’s Joke would bring the points down a bit.

Witch’s Brew is perfect for this fleet, and since it doesn’t take up cargo space, a ship like the Sea Hag or Skin Flayer can steal it from an opponent. Either way, it probably won’t benefit your opponent too much, since if they create a smoke bank, one of your ships will pop out of it and attack them!  

Lost can be used to place even more fog! Ammunition can be used to bring in another smokepot shot, which would give you three total, which is a good amount of smoke potential with all of the other fog already out there!

Lastly, Eye of Insanity will be used to copy copier Davy Jones (what?) and give the Nimcha or Sea Serpent the ability to fog hop! It’s flexible, so it could also be used to copy other crew if needed.

Thanks for reading! I know this fleet is gimmicky, so vote accordingly!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Small Fry Rebellion

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 10th, 2015

This is one of my “backup” fleets in brettb45’s “Small Fry” Fleet Challenge! Thanks to all who participated and to brettb45 for running the challenge. It was great fun to think about all of the possibilities. This is likely more practical than my original fleet. My other ideas for this challenge can be found here, here, here, and here.

This fleet used the Jade Rebellion, which we didn’t really see in the challenge. Everybody probably thinks of the Baochuan and 6 masted junks, but they have good small ships too.

The Sea Phoenix is the flagship: she can move and shoot at L+S with 2 cargo spaces open for stealing gold or picking it up from wild islands. She can attack the main enemy gunship or raid treasure runners once they’ve picked up gold.

The Noble Swan is my short-range fighter. Carrying Li Quin, this ship has a 2S cannon and is invulnerable to ramming. With the Turtle Ship keyword added in, Quin should be relatively safe. The Swan has good defense and can assist whatever ships need help.

The Proud Tortoise is the long-range fighter, with immunity to enemy L-range cannons and a 2L cannon of her own. She has a cargo space open, which will hopefully fill up with gold whether she explores early in the game or takes it from an enemy. Just like the Swan, the Tortoise is a support ship than can team up with either or both other gunships or escort the Tiger’s Breath.

The Tiger’s Breath is the main gold runner, with S+S+S speed and 3 spaces available. She’s also a 2 master with 3S cannons, which is more defense and offense than opponents may be expecting from a gold runner in this challenge. With three gunships available, she’ll likely have an escort.

I really like this Small Fry Rebellion fleet. It was fun to make a Small Fry fleet with one of the minor factions! The weaknesses lie in multi-action gunships and Odin’s Revenge, not to mention submarines.

Thanks for reading; comment and vote!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Small Fry – Boarders

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 10th, 2015

This is one of my “backup” fleets in brettb45’s “Small Fry” Fleet Challenge! Thanks to all who participated and to brettb45 for running the challenge. It was great fun to think about all of the possibilities. This was one of the last fleets I came up with, but it’s likely more practical than my original fleet. My other ideas for this challenge can be found here, here, and here. Also, the Devil’s Maw isn’t included in the fleet cost, so the real total is 45.

This is a boarding based fleet, which is normally tough to pull off with “small fry” ships. However, Jonah and Cannibal King allow for a reasonably good boarding strategy despite the nature of the Fleet Challenge.

The Bloody Jewel carries a full crew complement, which includes Bonny Peel and Genny’s Red Rampage, which makes the Jewel a scary opponent indeed. Her cannons can soften up a target for Bonny, and there should be a boarding advantage as she takes aim at enemy crew. Once a few crew are captured, the Bloody Jewel will return home to deposit them. Forgetting about Bonny’s built-in captain, I originally also had a captain on the Jewel. I was going to take it out for the Banshee’s Cry, but instead I decided to go with Calico Cat, which could let the Jewel capture two crew in one turn!

The second ship is the Cannibal King, which is one of my favourite ships to put Hammersmith on. He gives the Cannibal King (like the Jewel) the captain ability to hit targets before they’re boarded, and move fast enough to catch some of the runners in the other fleets for this challenge. The oarsman provides nice insurance.

With the Jolly Mon and Hag coming into the fleet, it opened up space for the Rover and Mermaid to run treasure, since this fleet doesn’t have any true gold runners. They’re weak, but three extra ships for 5 points is a lot better than keeping the fleet at 2 ships for 40 points. Additionally, I still could edit the Cry back in for Calico since I’m using cheesy tactics (0LR +5, tiny fast gold runners) anyway, which would give a considerable boost to the treasure running capability of this fleet, but severely decrease the “creativity” score.

Thanks for reading; comment and vote!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading

Ultimate Zone Control

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 10th, 2015

I’m in the process of editing this fleet. Please comment any thoughts you have!

Here it is: an exercise and experiment in “zone control”. The idea is to control as much of the sea as possible as quickly as possible through lines of fire everywhere. The keys are forts on islands, flotillas left in key places, and the sniping ability.

The Hai Peng/Captain Jack Sparrow combo is the best way to build forts quickly, as demonstrated in fleets like these.

The Hai Peng will move out at L+S+L+S, which should let it reach an island. It’s likely that I would want to sac the oarsman on the first turn in order to reach a further island. That way I can build a fort closer to my opponent’s HI, beginning the theme of controlling the sea through lines of fire. With treasure swapping, the Paradox can trade away another oarsman and then re-dock the coin, which will hopefully be at least a 3 since the Hai Peng will take the highest coin available from the wild island. Ramsgate and Paradis de la Mer are the highest fort priorities, and Ramsgate is perhaps the most fitting single game piece in this theme of zone control. The Hai Peng can then keep saccing the Paradox’s remaining oarsmen and build more forts, blanketing the sea with lines of fire and doubling as a way to protect the gold. The third oarsman on the Paradox would start the game on the HI.

One of my first ships from DJC, the Selkie has long been one of my favourite Pirate ships. She gives you good firepower and decent cargo for a low price. With Bruce Grey aboard, her L+L sniping will hit on a 5 or 6, making her a perfect weapon for this fleet.

The Selkie’s partner in crime is the Freedom’s Hand, towing the Doombox. The Hand doesn’t have the same range or bonus that the Selkie has, but she can still snipe and hit accurately at short range. The Doombox flotilla could be dropped off to maximize the amount of zone control. Other ships such as El Tejon don’t have the speed necessary to tow a flotilla.

In order to get Ramsgate in there, I had to have an English ship, which I wanted anyway so I could include the Gibraltar flotilla, my favourite flotilla and one of the best firepower deals in the game. I thought about HMS Gibraltar (which would be ironic given the flotilla’s name), but this fleet was lacking any larger ships and the Victor costs the same amount of points with a captain aboard, not to mention she has a much greater overall firing arc, which is what this fleet is all about. The Victor will tow the Gibraltar around, repairing at sea when necessary. Also, this fleet has some fragile ships, but the presence of so many forts could help me in that regard with repairing.

For the French, Le Pique is fast, cheap, and a viable treasure runner. She’ll help out gathering gold for forts and towing around the Mont Blanc for defense, or to drop it off somewhere. In addition, the Pique just happens to have the sniping ability as well, making her an even more perfect choice!

I added the Coeur combo with the marines to help expand my zone of control. The idea is to slingshot the Hai Peng, where a treasure can be traded to the Coeur (who unloads it to possibly build a fort) for a marine, who is then stationed on the island. S range from an island is easily avoided, so it would help if the islands were close together for the setup.

I still don’t have any SS islands, but I added the Great Turtles as a way to adapt to your opponent’s strategy. It would be very interesting to see a fort (especially Ramsgate) moving around and increasing your overall firing range. I liked the thought of Bad Maps, but with the Hai Peng flying around it’s unlikely that your opponent will find it first. If you find it, your opponent could yank a fort out of place, while the original island setup (with reasonably equal distances between islands) would likely be more optimal.

The UT’s were included to protect my ships and bump up the overall value of the coins I contribute, although everyone I usually play with just uses random amounts anyway (and usually only gold from one person’s collection so we don’t mix our gold).

This fleet is open to revision, even more so than most of my fleets. I really wanted to include a crew like Roberto Santana or Thomas Gunn, but for now I want to limit it to 100 points. A flexible crew like that becomes more valuable in bigger games, and Santana would work well on the Neptuno, another piece I would have liked to include in this fleet. However, the Neptuno and associated crew would cost more than I want to pay for a single ship in this fleet (outside of the Hai Peng), and I want this fleet to be about lots of “zones” and overall zone control rather than a big bad 5 master.

Thanks for reading! Please comment – I really appreciate the feedback!

Fleet page at Miniature Trading