HMS Grand Temple v 3.0

Originally published to Miniature Trading on December 16th, 2014

This is yet another fleet with HMS Grand Temple after the first one and this one.

This fleet is generally designed for combat only. With the right UT’s it can still be successful in a regular game. However, this can be considered a deathmatch fleet.

Here I wanted to see what possibilities there were to put a sac crew on the GT. The English only have Mercer, but he takes up a valuable cargo space with just one ability. The GT only has 3 spaces so she’s not exactly the ideal gunship to use a sac crew with. Captain Blackheart is too typical and makes it hard to get the world hater ability. However, The Headhunter is perfect. He gives the GT world-hating and the necessary sac ability.

HGold comes aboard to give the GT the standard captain and helmsman, leaving one cargo space open. Two oarsmen come aboard for the Headhunter to eat. The ideal sac gunship generally has at least 3 sac crew but with the GT we have a lack of sufficient cargo space. However, this setup is still very dangerous, fast, and effective. Instead of relying on the SAT/EA rolls we have two guaranteed double actions whenever we want to use them.

In this setup the GT comes in at 28 total points, slightly less than the other two fleets. I’ve added the powerful Oxford as the second gunship. She’s similar to the London but slightly faster, plus we can afford a 12 point ship here unlike the first GT fleet. I also considered the HMS Bolingbroke, HMS Hyena and HMS Nautilus. I went with the Oxford for the extra firepower and because I realized I could afford to go higher than 10 points.

Bratley comes aboard in order to get the captain and helmsman on the Oxford. I would’ve loved to put some kind of shot equipment on the Oxford or use Divers as in the second GT fleet, but with S+L speed the Oxford would actually be going considerably slower than the GT and therefore not as able to support her as well. The helmsman gives her a nice boost that should keep the ships relatively even unless the GT sacs both oarsmen on back-to-back turns.

All in all, you have two very fast and effective gunships, one of which has sac capabilities. The UT’s were again added to make this fleet viable against standard fleets with treasure runners. In that sort of game it would be ideal for the GT to use her 6S speed to slam the enemy gold runners on the first or second turn. Even if an opposing gunship gets to the GT she has 6 masts, more than most gunships. Even if she sinks, the Oxford has a good chance of cleaning up the scraps and finishing the game.

Thanks for reading; comment and vote!

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