Monsters, Hoists, and Canoes!

Originally published to Miniature Trading on September 7th, 2015

This is a fleet I created on paper in the late winter/early spring of 2015. I created it based on the “traveling collection” (~48 ships total, with about 8 ships each from the Big 6) I had at the time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to play the fleet back then, but it looks like I may be able to test it out relatively soon. As a result, here it is!

There are two main aspects: a (mostly) Cursed Sea Monster attack using +L speed bonuses, and a good set of diverse treasure running using mostly game pieces from Savage Shores.

The Serpent’s Fang is one of the best and most unique longships in the game, and I was lucky enough to receive one as a gift from trox for doing so many Battle Reports! It’s also one of the better looking ships. Very cool overall. With Fantasma, a helmsman, and two oarsmen aboard, the Serpent’s Fang will be able to move L+S+L+S multiple times throughout the game, which will be important to stay up to speed with the sea monsters.

Between the high point total, the large number of +L sea monster bonuses the Cursed have, and the slow speed of sea monsters in general, it was a fun idea to add another bonus in the form of the Nightmare, with the Sargasso Nightmare fittingly on board. Between that, the captain and helmsman (S+S+S speed) and Ghost Ship, the Nightmare isn’t a foe to be laughed at. It’s also a good thing that she’s more durable than the Serpent’s Fang, although between the two of them (especially with the Fang’s sac potential and Longship keyword) they have some firepower. However, they’re still the support ships, at least for the early part of the game when the sea monsters are fighting on the front lines.

Calypsos, Tiamat, and Champ will all move out in formation together, just ahead of the Fang and Nightmare. They’ll move L+L+L and S+S+L+L (  ) on the first turn and hopefully on other turns once the +L bonus ships catch up and are within L. Since sea monsters are fragile and can’t carry captains, it’s imperative that they go into a mad frenzy and stun the opponent with speed and aggression. They’ll soften up the enemy’s fleet very early in the game, leaving the actual gunships to do some cleanup. With the two bonuses, the sea monster assault should be able to hit the opponent’s fleet on turn 2 at the latest, meaning that it’s possible this entire 5-piece squadron will slam into the enemy fleet before they even get to any islands. Chaos will result, with Champ and Calypsos hopefully winning boarding parties to utilize their nasty abilities. Between the fact that there’s 13 total segments to remove and the relatively good cannons (nothing less than rank-3), opponents will have a tough time taking out all three threats before the support ships get there and the sea monsters start shooting back. In general, the early game could be very chaotic and deadly for both fleets. Sea monsters are inherently fragile and overpriced for their value, so this attack is based on speed, surprise, and a numbers advantage.

For the treasure runners, I wanted to keep the overall Cursed theme, but I added the Buscador since I wanted to use a hoist, and keep in mind this is from the selection of my limited traveling collection. The Celestine and Master Scribe were chosen for two reasons: make the sea monster squadron go even faster through trade currents, and help out the treasure runners so they can get gold quickly in case the initial attack goes badly.

The underrated Buscador has 5 cargo spaces left after adding crew, and with luck she’ll move very quickly at L+S+L+S or L+S+S with trade currents. With her possible early jump, she can use her hoist to transfer some gold to the other runners, the Sea Monkey and Cursed native canoes.

The Sea Monkey is one of the best Cursed ships in the game and one of their only true hybrid ships. She was the only spot for the chieftain, but she’ll be far from the front lines of fighting, especially in the early game. Her reverse captain ability and decent guns allow her to be the most capable fighting ship of the gold runners. The native canoes are to be used as treasure runners, especially in the early going. The Buscador can help them out with the hoist keyword, cutting down on their speed drawback, which will also be helped by trade currents. However, with enough trade currents they could reach a battle relatively quickly at S+S+S and provide some support. I will say that I find their ability borderline impossible to pull off, but they should serve this fleet well either way for just 9 points.

Thanks for reading; comment and vote!

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