Lipstick on a Pig Fleet Challenge – Vikings Entry

Originally published to Miniature Trading on March 28th, 2013

This is my first entry for volt’s Lipstick on a Pig Fleet Challenge.

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This is my first Viking fleet, and it’s safe to say that it’s an odd first Viking fleet, at that  . I don’t own any Viking ships yet, but I figured that this Challenge was a good time to delve into what they have a bit.

The main flagship is the Wodin, who has appeared in 5 other fleets so far here at MT. She carries a hefty 18 point price tag for a little 2 master, but she backs it up with her abilities, lots of cargo space to complement those abilities, and solid cannons. Oh wait, I should be talking about what’s bad about the pieces, not the good stuff  … never done that before  .

Let’s see: she’s only got L speed, costs 9 points per mast, and has an ability that is directly in conflict with her low number of masts. That’s why she has a helmsman and a shipwright on her. Her ability doesn’t look fitting at first glance, but you can make it more effective: Deux’s (11 fleets) reroll gives you a second chance at boarding if your first roll doesn’t work out. Her captain status, combined with the Longship keyword, makes the Wodin a potent offensive force. The stinkpot specialist is one of Pirates’ most underrated pieces, and provides a nice boost. You should be able to do some damage before you board, which will make the boarding process much easier. Valgard (2 fleets) is there to keep the other crew in the fight, because without them, the Wodin won’t be very effective. Also, I’ve never used a doctor crew, and maybe never will again . The shipwright will hopefully keep masts up, which the Wodin needs for her boarding rolls. In the end, you’ll bring home some expensive crew to be turned into gold  .

The gold runner is the Freya. This is her first fleet! You can see why she hasn’t seen any action yet, with a high point cost of 14 and slow base move of S. However, she also has a large cargo hold and a neat ability, just like the Wodin. I decided to play around with her crew ability, hiring the extremely expensive PR version of Ralph David to make the Freya ghostly. This is the first fleet he’s been in. For 8 points, the Freya will be able to more easily evade enemy ships, as well as islands and terrain.

The Pirate helmsman makes her speed manageable at S+S. Now all she needs is an explorer, but to change things up, it’s the most unique explorer of them all, Scrye the Explorer. After the crew are added, the Freya still has room for 2 treasure coins, more than enough to win every game  . All in all, for 25 points we have a rare Viking game piece, a promo American, a Pirate crew numbered GT-003, and an English crew numbered PP-375-C, all on one ship! That should make for some kind of bonus  .

St. Pierre has been used in some fleets, but it’s not a very good fort, and since the Vikings have access to it, I decided to throw it into the mix.

Death’s Doll hasn’t been used in a fleet yet, either (other than a canceled user’s private fleet), so that thing should make the game more interesting:

The Aztec Medallion has only been used in one other fleet, and since this fleet won’t be bringing home a ton of gold (at least not the conventional way), it’s a solid fit.

Savage Natives hasn’t been in a fleet yet, and these natives are so savage that they affect the Cursed, unlike the Cursed Natives.

Runes of Power hasn’t been in any fleets, and I figured that most of my opponents wouldn’t be too thrilled to have their abilities cancelled in order to shoot twice with a gold runner.

This is also the first fleet that Bloody Gold has been a part of, and this version affects Spaniards  .

I threw in a 0 point treasure just to try to make this fleet as unique and weird as possible.

Thanks to volt for running the Lipstick on a Pig Challenge, thanks for reading, and please comment and vote! 

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