HMS Grand Temple Fleet

Originally published to Miniature Trading on August 21st, 2011

In my 500 point game and my recent cumulative game (treasure is spent along the way), my HMS Grand Temple (acquired in the summer of 2011) was atrocious in play, being easily sunk in both games without barely touching my opponent. I was very disappointed with the performances, but since she has great stats and people on here rave about her like she’s a saint, I decided to give her one more chance to prove her greatness. And has she proved me wrong so far!

The main reason I am posting this fleet is because it has been very successful. 29-13, as of 2/17/2017 (and 15-0 before that). This fleet was designed with just fighting in mind, so it is safe to call it a deathmatch fleet. The help she has consists of the HMS London with captain and helmsman, who are let onboard by Administrator Scott Bratley (the backup ship used to be HMS Meresman). The Temple is decked out with OE Calico Cat and OE Lord Thomas Gunn, as well as a helmsman.

The strategy is obvious and fun, but it has worked so far. I stay out of range of all enemy gunships and wait for an extra action from Cat. This is speeded up quite a lot by Gunn, who provides reroll (2/3 EA’s instead of 1/3), and the necessary captain ability. Cat also gives me world-hater, so that two of my guns (S-range) hit 4/6 times, and the L-range guns hit 5/6 times (twos hit  ). The Temple waits till the enemies are close enough, then moves 6S suddenly and swoops in and is able to dismast almost any ship (Harbinger was sunk in one broadside) unlucky enough to be there.

The London is the backup (now that I have acquired her), with 4 guns that hit 2/3 of the time. Before I strike, I position her to somewhat block the lines of fire to the Temple.

The first fleet that was mauled was a fleet with Enterprise, Recreant, and Ladron (with captains, +5 crew). The second fleet, with the Longshanks, Recreant, and Silverback, fell even quicker. Then I destroyed a fleet with the SM Harbinger and SM Sea Nymph. The fourth fleet I don’t remember what ships I used. The last fleet, a swarm fleet with 10 ships, was blown out of the water (I could take out 3-4 ships per turn). All these fleets faced the HMS Grand Temple fleet in a series of three 40 point deathmatches, and all lost. I may not test this fleet again soon, so she goes on hiatus with an undefeated 15-0 record.

Edit: Just added a few nasty UT’s if I run this fleet in a regular game (not deathmatch).

Edit: Fleet’s record is now 18-6, read comment below.

Edit: Switched out Griffin for Lord Thomas Gunn, and made the helmsman English, so a canceler wouldn’t be able to cancel all three crew at once by cancelling the Temple’s ship ability.

Edit (1/6/13): Switched out HMS Meresman for the London, thanks to the suggestion by relvar99. This dramatically improves the potential of the backup ship to aid the Temple, as the firepower more than doubles with twice the quantity (4 guns vs. 2) and added quality (rank-2’s with 2 being L-range). I will test this improved version of the fleet, possibly next month.

Edit (2/2/13): Another series of three games had this fleet facing an all-treasure fleet consisting of the Tiger’s Eye, La Dijon, Le Bon Marin, Le Coeur du Lion, Coral, and Rover. It was no contest, with the GT fleet winning all three times in dominating fashion.

The final three games pitted the GT fleet against the Pirate fleet with the Darkhawk II, Raven, and Bonnie Liz. This fleet was harder for the Grand Temple and the London to defeat, but the English still won all three games. In addition, there was no English bias involved, as I even made the English HI extra-far-away from the rest of the islands for the last game, to give the Pirates a head start running gold.

This brings the record of this fleet to 24-6, and it appears that the GT fleet is only to be defeated by fleets utilizing defensive abilities or cancellers  .

Edit (2/3/13): Today three games were played: 40 point deathmatches between the HMS Grand Temple fleet and the Acorazado fleet. It was the first time the GT fleet faced the Acorazado fleet with the London instead of the Meresman, so I expected the English to do better than before. They didn’t. El Acorazado won all three games, and never lost more than two masts in any one game. Now this fleet is 24-9.

Edit (2/20/13): This fleet beat Norvegia in all three games. The GT was able to crush the treasure runners before they got back home. The devastating UT’s helped a bunch, but the English still won the third game despite not using the UT’s. The fleet’s record is now 27-9.

Edit (1/20/17): After losing in the second round in VASSAL Tournament #2, this fleet’s record is now 29-13 for a .690 winning percentage. At 42 games it’s my most-tested fleet, and not many fleets out there have been put to the test like this one has.

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