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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on March 14th, 2015
This is my entry into 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.
The fleet you see here was actually my first idea for the challenge. I’ve always been intrigued by the thought of using a crew like Jonah on a small ship with lots of cargo. This is usually impractical for various reasons, but this challenge has a theme of using small ships. What better way to showcase my idea!
Naturally I wanted to look and see if this fleet (or something very similar using the same ship) had been submitted before, but despite the Prince of Chichester being one of the absolute best two masters in the game (and arguably one of the overall better ships of any size or faction), she’s only appeared in 2 fleets! (Perhaps because she’s from SCS, one of my favourite sets, and people usually go for the typical big English gunships, but I was surprised nonetheless.)
What do we have here? Why is there only one ship? I thought this was the Small Fry challenge? What is a7xfanben playing at? Does he think he can win by fielding a fleet that only contains a single little ship?
This is a single-ship fleet for 40 points. No ten master, just the Prince of Chichester and one of the more insane and (for Pirates CSG at least) slightly complicated crew combos there is.
It starts with the basic captain and helmsman provided by Thomas Gunn. As you’ll see later, I absolutely had to combine these abilities and risk losing both of them at once because of the cargo limitations (yes I’m filling up all five spaces!). With that, the Prince (or PoC) moves S+S+S with the move-and-shoot, a great start for a ship with fantastic cannons and one of the best abilities in the entire game.
Next we add Brother Virgil, who will allow a certain crew aboard.
For the next crew, I had to get Robinson. There’s no small ship that costs enough points to pull this off, so he’s a necessary evil (sorry Robinson!). I know all about the drawback of his ability, but this is one of my patented “gimmick” fleets, so I’m well aware of the problems the fleet has. Between the ability of the Prince and what you’ll see next, I don’t think we’ll have a hard time avoiding getting hit.
Who’s next? Why, ALL-POWERFUL DAVY JONES, of course!!
Adding Brother Virgil allows Cursed crew to function on the Prince, and Robinson lets him serve on a ship other than the Flying Dutchman, Divine Dragon, Guichuan, and Delusion for once.
If you don’t know about Davy, read up. He’ll give the Prince a double action 5/6 times, allowing the ship to move S+S+S+S+S+S+S+S (8S, more on that later) and move-and-shoot twice!! This will allow the Prince to move anywhere on the ocean, almost every turn. On the rare 6, you can move an enemy ship closer to the Prince, or force them onto terrain (like Sargasso Seas for this challenge!), etc. Also, if there are any 2 segmented submarines out there, although DJ can’t force them to the surface, he can make them ram their comrades while submerged, which can increase the potential damage he’ll cause.
Rounding out the crew is LE Griffin. I also considered Major Peter Sharpe to give the ship an extra cannon, but I decided against it for multiple reasons. For one, I’d have 2 points left over, and I think events are cheap and borderline unsportsmanlike. Griffin gets me to exactly 40, which is amazing considering the build limit and the one-ship theme of this fleet (27 points of crew!). Also, Marines can’t be given additional shoots through Davy Jones, so I’d only get 5 shots per turn, not 6. In the end, Griffin is more valuable since he adds another +S to my move (essentially adding +S+S!), not to mention the awesome cannon bonus that I still love to have on my gunships. That bonus makes them 1S guns in this case, which is almost as good as it gets, especially considering that the Prince wants to fight at close range because of her ability.
quote from brettb45:
-One Unique Treasure can be included.
And last but not least, my ace in the hole: Odin’s Revenge! This is one of the biggest keys to this entire fleet. With just one UT allowed, the choice was incredibly easy. With so many small ships running around, there will undoubtedly be some 1 masters to put out of commission! Due to the nature of this challenge, I think that any savvy Pirates player should be hesitant to use many 1 masters in their fleet, albeit for just this reason. I find this unfortunate, but perhaps someone can flip Jailhouse Dog to save the day for their fleet of tiny ships! (Anybody know how a little dog can stop a lightning strike from a god? )
When Odin’s Revenge hits (quite possibly early in the game with so many small fast ships sailing around), chaos will result. Any one masters will have a lot of trouble doing much of anything. 2 masters will be reduced to just one mast, leaving them fragile and weak. The Prince will also feel the hurt, but she’ll be moving at 8S with 2 1S shots available, which should be enough to dismast two ships or sink one (or sink two 1 masters now that I think about it). Canoes will be a problem since they won’t be affected, but if the Prince can take out 2 per turn I like my chances of stopping them from getting home.
Obviously, this fleet has a huge weakness: there’s no cargo space to get gold with! True, but this is a gimmick fleet and I didn’t have any points left over. I wanted to maximize the value of the gimmick (and how massively dangerous the Prince is in this game of only small ships), rather than dumping Griffin to get some lame empty runner like HMS Discovery. I didn’t want to cop out. I went all-in, and if that’s the downfall of this fleet, so be it. I’ve said it multiple times: I don’t care about winning games much anymore. I just want to have fun, try new combos, new game pieces I’ve never used, and crazy gimmicks. That holds true for this fleet challenge as well. I do feel that the extra 2S movement per turn and cannon bonus will help out the Prince a lot, possibly enough to sink or derelict everything in sight since she has such a long effective range.
That being said, in a 2 player game (which would be optimal for multiple reasons, since in a 4+ player game it will literally be impossible to sink everything before some coins get home) this fleet could do well with sinking runners and getting half the gold. Priority will be on getting the Prince near my opponent’s runners while trying to avoid or overwhelm (with speed and flipping DJ/Griffin at the right time) their gunships so I can sink everything in sight! Odin’s Revenge will help soften every ship in play, making them even weaker for my devastating attack.
Finally, as the creator of the Battle Reports thread (current version) and the player of over 200 games, naturally I’ve already tried out this fleet and written a report on it.
Thanks to all who participated in the challenge, and thanks to brettb45 for running it! Comment and vote!
Originally published to Miniature Trading on March 14th, 2015
This is a quick fleet I made up to try and win by stealing gold rather than collecting it. The goal is to use the different abilities to know exactly where all of the highest value coins are, and then steal them to win with just a few coins. Due to the unique treasures, this fleet would use two 7’s and a 1 in addition to the 5 UT’s in order to contribute the correct amount of gold. This fleet is meant to be played in a standard game with preferably two players.
It’s rather depressing how fast point totals escalate when you try to use the non-standard crew – Devereaux and Yeshaji Angria are all but unplayable in a 40 point game. The Matuku and Angria come to 20 points, so they can be swapped out to make this a 40 point fleet.
The fleet waits for the opponent to find gold, and then using their abilities and UT’s will then steal the two 7’s and another coin that is worth at least 2 gold. The fleet is well-prepared to do such a thing. From the beginning of the game, the Raven’s Neck, Lucky, Devereaux and Yeshaji will all be scouring the board for the high value coins. Once they find them they will act to take them and end the game quickly.
The Raven’s Neck is ready to shoot and board, with Skyme the Monkey letting her take three coins instead of 1. Without Lucky she would have 4 spaces available, which is likely to be the entire cargo hold of the enemy ship.
The Raven is the speedster and has the primary duty of raiding the enemy’s home island. She can get in and out quickly. The Raven can also raid enemy ships if need be. Her ability lets her get away after the ram and board and she even has good cannons for defence. With 3 cargo available she could even raid the enemy HI for multiple turns if it’s deserted.
The Matuku is set up exactly the same as the Raven, but has slightly slower speed and a more useful ability. She is a hybrid between the Raven’s Neck and the Raven – she can either HI raid or take treasure from an enemy ship either by ramming and boarding or using the Schooner keyword. She will have to transfer any stolen gold to the other ships since she can’t dock; however she is still a cool addition to this fleet between her ability and the lack of usage that Yeshaji Angria has experienced.
The UT’s are huge for this fleet. It would be amazing if the opponent found Maps of Alexandria or Pirate Globe very early in the game. From there this fleet could potentially steal the right gold and win the game before their opponent even gets gold back to their HI!
Shipping Charts and Marksman’s Map won’t help the enemy since this fleet won’t have any gold aboard ships that they haven’t stolen. Enemy of the State slows down enemy treasure runners and forces them to stay at sea with their precious gold, leaving them vulnerable to the dangerous raiders.
I’m not really satisfied with this fleet yet and I really wish I could have a very similar setup for 40 points. I could ditch the expensive crew and Matuku and go with more ships that can randomly take treasure, but I wanted to have the “omniscient” factor to be a part of this fleet, as well as HI raiding in addition to stealing from actual ships. Again, the point is to identify the 3 coins that are needed to win, steal them however they can be stolen, and then run home to victory.
Thanks for reading; comment and vote! Do you think that Knowledge is Power in Pirates CSG, or is this just kind of a weak fleet for 60 points?
Originally published to Miniature Trading on March 14th, 2015
You may have seen my post about HI raiders. After playing around with the concept a bit, I have decided to create a fleet that hasn’t really been done before. If you’re already familiar with the game pieces, you may want to skip right to the Strategy section.
There are only four other fleets that have the Maui’s Fishhook in them, and none of them have her set up like I do here in this fleet. Lady Kamaile is a tough crew to use in general, but I think I have found a great spot for her. She is key because she links to the MF, unlike Brother Virgil. Kamaile lets Grim come on board, and he is the essential crew I really wanted to use in this fleet. The helmsman is necessary to boost the MF’s speed to an acceptable level. Also keep in mind that due to the nature of using HI raiders, I’ve included the 10 point Patagonia/Mycron combo for speed and flexibility. This gives the MF a potential speed of L+S+L+S when she needs it. The oarsman prevents the MF from becoming derelict, not allowing her to be captured, which is important for the second part of the strategy.
Since Kamaile links, the MF still has three cargo spaces left over once the crew come aboard. This is good since there are HI raiding abilities that let you take one or two treasures at a time, so naturally we want to maximize the utilization of Grim’s unique wording, as he is the only crew in the game with his ability. Lady Kamaile not only (essentially) doesn’t take up any valuable cargo space, she also provides the MF with another ability that will be VERY helpful for this fleet. With L+S+L+S speed during the first few turns, the MF will jump out in front of the rest of the fleet and mark as many islands as explored as possible. This makes exploring much easier for my other ships, including the American native canoes if the MF can reach their island fast enough.
The second ship is the Spanish hoist Buscador. With a helmsman she moves L+S. Master Bianco gives her and any other Spanish ships +1 cargo spaces and makes it impossible for opponent’s to take treasure from the Buscador. Fernando Sanchez isn’t Grim the Savage, but with the multi-segment move action provided by the helmsman, the Buscador can move away and redock to keep taking gold from an enemy home island. She has 6 cargo spaces available. Unfortunately the Buscador’s point limit is full and we can’t add an oarsman to prevent capture.
By now you may have guessed that the third ship is the American hoist – the Frontier. The Frontier is the fastest hoist and also has the biggest cargo hold. In this fleet she moves S+S+S with 6 cargo spaces available. Her large point cost and cargo hold make her a good spot for the Tribal Chieftain. As with the other two hoists, the Frontier has the Secret Hold keyword, which will be a good defence in such a high point and high risk strategy. The oarsman prevents capture, which is great for later in the game.
The American native canoes are another key element in this fleet. For just 10 points, 5 additional ships that move S+L come into play. They have the most cargo capacity of all the native canoes, and even have good guns and a nifty ability that should help this fleet out in numerous ways.
This fleet is a combination of the English, Spanish, and American factions, but with the Canoes and support ships I wanted to keep it to mostly an American/Spanish feel. The Peacock fits the bill quite well, with blazing speed and effective cannons to support the other ships. She is carrying a captain and smokepot shot. When possible, she will harass enemy treasure runners and block any big gunships from attacking the important hoists. However, she will try to stay out of trouble until the MF steals gold with Grim the Savage. At that point she becomes an important member of the team, as she will provide a layer of smoke that the other ships will possibly use to make their getaway. If they don’t need the smoke, the Peacock could even try “smoking out” one side of an enemy HI by putting a fog bank nearly touching the island, blocking the opposing fleet from getting to the other ships. She can also run a suicide mission to slow down ships giving chase.
The Sea Serpent is another support ship that will do the same things as the Peacock. However, she is even more useful as a getaway ship since the reverse captain ability allows her to duck into the fog with any other ships. She also has an extra cargo space if the hoists run out of helper ships to dump gold on.
I don’t like including La Monarca, but she is a nice choice of support ship in this fleet. With a helmsman and Master Bianco’s bonus, her cargo hold remains large at 4 available spaces. Between Lady Kamaile and the prevalence of the Hoist keyword throughout this fleet, the Monarca shouldn’t need an explorer. She will probably use her ability more than once throughout the game, especially later on when things get chaotic and hoists try to dump gold on her. In this case the Cargo Master is very useful because it allows the Monarca to potentially still have cargo spaces open even after exploring an island.
The Patagonia/Mycron combo is popular for a reason: it works. Unfortunately, with the dangers and risks of home island raiding, the MF really won’t get by moving just L+S. When that speed is doubled, however, Grim could be flipped at the perfect moment and the MF could pull off a successful raid. The probability of this fleet working the way it’s supposed to dramatically increase with Mycron in the fleet. Also, since it’s over 100 points, the 10 point combo doesn’t take up a huge percentage of the build total. Lastly, since there are plenty of ships to choose from, Mycron’s flexibility is much higher than in a smaller game. He will mainly focus on the MF, but any other ships (even a canoe!) that need him could get major help from time to time. Your opponent won’t know what ships they should chase because they won’t know which one will have it’s speed doubled on the next turn!
Strategy:
There are two strategies that this fleet employs: the first is getting a ton of gold extremely quickly, and the second involves raiding enemy home islands. “Islands” because this fleet would probably be better and more interesting in a multiplayer game, especially with whirlpools and lots of wild islands.
Part 1:
On the first turn, Mycron sacs the Patagonia to move the MF L+S+L+S, which should be enough to reach the nearby island where the native canoes are docked. Using the hoist keyword (or Lady Kamaile I suppose) will allow the canoes to move away and redock, emptying the island.
The rest of the ships sail out, with the Monarca looking to dock on the second turn at an island the Kamaile has marked as explored. Mycron will have to use his best judgment to determine which ship should get an extra action.
The canoes return home, likely giving this fleet an early gold advantage. With this gold the fleet can build at least one fort. Keeping the second part of the strategy in mind, build the fort on an island that is in line with an opponent HI. Ramsgate would work nicely, as the 2L gun could help keep opponent’s at bay and hit them before they can get to the fort. Other forts could be built to confuse the enemy as to where you will deposit your gold after you raid their HI (remember that gold in forts counts towards victory at the end).
Because of Grim and Fernando Sanchez, this fleet isn’t designed to get treasure that isn’t on “their” nearby islands (let your opponent run gold without interference). The canoes, Monarca, Buscador and Frontier work together to get as much gold home as possible from the islands neighboring their HI. I think this would be rather magnificent to see, due to the sheer amount of abilities in play at once. Due to her doubled speed, the MF would have explored most or all of the nearby islands with Kamaile. The Buscador and Frontier could easily “hoist” the treasure to the nearby Monarca and canoes, who would then speed home (which is right close by). The canoes’ ability could interact to form a chain (like volt’s Chain of Fools fleet that won the Gimmick Challenge) reaching out from the home island. The Monarca’s ability would boost her overall speed even higher (already at S+S+S+S), especially if she was given treasure by a hoist or the canoes. If there were any good unique treasures that would be useful to the hoists (or the Peacock/Sea Serpent) later in the game, they could easily be transferred using the hoist keyword and/or passing them along the formations of native canoes. Basically, between the fast base moves, huge cargo holds, numerous ships, and transfer combos available between the canoes and hoists, there would be a lot of treasure accumulating on the home island in a hurry!
Part 2:
Once the nearby gold has been unloaded at home, this fleet gets serious about it’s core mission: steal enemy gold and don’t let them take it back.
Grim is the biggest key. Since he can take as much gold as the MF can hold, the MF can move L+S+L+S and take up to 3 treasure coins from an enemy home island. This is where the hoist keyword comes in. Unfortunately, since stealing from an enemy HI isn’t considered an explore action, the hoist keyword can only transfer gold to one ship, rather than any friendly ships that the hoist can reach. However, the combo still works quite well, especially when the other parts are involved.
The native canoes would do well to follow the MF and use their ability to take gold from her. From there, they can transport the gold down the line as long as they can form. High-value coins would go the farthest, although if there weren’t many canoes present, the MF’s Secret Hold would do a good job protecting the precious gold for the immediate future.
The Buscador has Fernando Sanchez to help out Grim. The Buscador moves the same speed as MF, but the speed isn’t likely to be doubled since the MF is more important to this fleet. This makes the Buscador the most expendable hoist since the Frontier is faster and holds the chieftain. The Buscador could even be a decoy, raiding the HI on one side before the MF swoops in on the other side, distracting the enemy. The Buscador could also protect the MF from approaching gunships with her length, docking right next to the MF and sharing in the pillaging. Her ability fits this strategy PERFECTLY since the Buscador will likely be a target (especially if she’s protecting the MF), allowing her an extra S boost to jump out of harm’s way and get the gold on the run.
The Monarca wouldn’t want to miss out, as her fast speed (the fastest ship in the fleet) makes her ideal for making a getaway with stolen loot. If the hoists give it to her, she’ll even get the +S bonus, making it very difficult for your opponent to catch your ships as they run off with the gold!
The Peacock can slow down enemy ships and/or provide fog cover for her allies. Any of the ships involved in the raid(s) can easily duck into a fog bank, then scatter on the next turn since they would probably roll differently. The Sea Serpent will do the same thing as the Peacock, but since she has the reverse captain ability, she can duck into the fog to protect herself. Doing it again on the next turn, your raiders could be just about invulnerable for as long as you want them to be. The captain gives the Serpent some nice flexibility too, as she can either move and shoot or shoot and move. The Peacock and Sea Serpent are great support ships in this fleet, able to create smoke cover for the raiders and simultaneously slow down the opponents giving chase. They are quick and small, so they shouldn’t get in the way of the more important ships, not to mention that the Peacock can’t be pinned and can rotate on her stern.
The whole idea is to create as much confusion as possible. That’s why it’s so key that both of the HI raiders are crew rather than obvious ship abilities. They will remain hidden until the last moment, and then strike with great speed and agility. Up to four treasures can be taken per turn, and if the canoes and Frontier can take the gold off the raiders (a great aspect of this fleet), they could go back for more on the next turn.
All the while ships are taking and receiving (via the canoes/hoists/explore actions) gold as your opponent angrily turns his ships around. This is where you can have a little fun. Once you’ve emptied their HI or taken as much gold as you wanted, anything is possible. Your ships could scatter in opposite directions, with multiple hoists, canoes, and the Monarca sailing in different directions, making your opponent choose which ships to chase. Hoists could trade treasure back and forth each turn, cycling the gold through the fleet and making it difficult to know where the gold will be next. Mycron will double the speed of one of your ships per turn, adding even more randomness into the equation. Ships will be ducking into smokebanks and hopefully fog banks, not to mention whirlpools as well. Hoists have nothing to fear because of their Secret Holds and oarsmen who prevent capture. If your opponent can only sink you to get their treasure back, you stand to gain more than them because at least some of your ships will slip through to freedom. It’s all about getting in and out as fast as possible, creating chaos and confusion as ships scatter, shoot, duck into fog, and run for their lives!
Once you get into your territory, the forts will be waiting to receive the gold. If you can make it back to your own HI, all the better. Since ships will probably be right behind you, it would be amusing to deposit the gold in a fort (especially Ramsgate) and then turn around and fight as they are pummeled by the fort’s guns. Either way, between all the transfers going back and forth, the protection of the fort (both of the gold and from the fort’s guns), and the Secret Holds, a lot of your gold should make it back safely into your treasure chests.
I didn’t want to use events but they’re mostly just to fill out the points. Rolling Fog is seldom used but could help this fleet escape if placed on a fog bank near your opponent’s home island. That’s another little strategy play – if you use terrain try to put some fog around your opponent’s home island, without it seeming too purposeful. Becalmed would be a perfect event for the beginning of the inevitable chase. Freeze at least one of their ships for an entire turn and it’s more likely that you’ll succeed in the robbery.
I included a few UT’s to help this fleet out a little bit. This fleet probably won’t be sinking any ships, so Neptune’s Figurehead should only benefit me (though not necessarily in a multiplayer game). Poseidon’s Breath could help ships escape the chase – especially the hoists since they have so much cargo. Protection from Davy Jones is fun one that could let ships remain unharmed while escaping via whirlpools. It would be even more fun if someone brought Calypso to the action. Relics is another stalling tactic, with a similar effect to Becalmed during a chase. I wanted to include Wine, but since it doesn’t stay face down I didn’t want it to give away the strategy before Grim and Fernando are revealed. I included Witch’s Brew just for fun, in case the support ships aren’t around later in the game. Sunken Treasure was included because I figured that either this fleet would find it and bring it back very early on, or I could steal the gold it produces later in the game!
There were other game pieces considered. I wanted to use the American Cargo Master to give the Peacock and Sea Serpent more cargo space to have gold, but the Frontier would be at 18 points of crew and those ships are the offensive ships in the first place. Other options were considered as well (nothing major), but this is how the fleet looks right now. I may change it at some point but I really like it.
So there you have it! I know that 150 point fleets could have anything in them, and this fleet is still mostly a gimmick fleet focused on combining hoists with HI raiders. However, I think this fleet could do very well. Gold is the key to winning games, and this fleet has the speed and cargo capacity to get a TON of treasure. Even without raiding any enemies, this fleet has the potential to win just based on it’s gold running capacity alone. When combined with the two support smokeships, the numerous ability combinations, and the relative durability of the hoists, the fleet looks pretty solid as a whole.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on March 9th, 2015
Title is a play on All Your Base. One of my favorite fleet descriptions.
This is a gimmick fleet. This is not serious at all. The idea is to control your opponent’s crew and use their crew against them to win. In a regular game this fleet would have almost no chance of winning. The fleet is meant for fun and to use game pieces that never see usage.
I know that the Golden Medusa has 16 points of crew aboard, but between using the link effectively to reroll Nemo’s boarding attack and the fact that Nemo is a bit overpriced I’ve decided to just go with the setup anyway. Captain Nemo, when combined with Lady Baptiste’s reroll, should be the most effective way of capturing enemy crew, which is why the Golden Medusa is the flagship of this fleet. I considered other ships but the Golden Medusa is an excellent ship whose ability protects Nemo from being killed in failed boarding actions.
The second ship is HMS Swallow, who has Myngs and Owen aboard to double her S+L+S speed. The captain ability will help soften her targets up to help limit the damage from return fire. Chain Shot is where she could really use Owen’s reroll. Using Chain Shot (and the chainshot specialists) is essential because to use crew like Atkinson you must give up the ship’s action for the turn, which makes the crew functionally useless since your opponent can sail out of range. If they’re hit with a chainshot, however, they’ll be frozen in place and ripe to be possessed (lol) by Atkinson, who will have rerolling help from Owen.
The Executioner is just like the Swallow, except with no SAT and no reroll for the chainshot or the “possess” crew, in this case Papa Doc (poor Cursed and their lack of named crew). The Executioner is another excellent choice for this fleet. Similar to the Swallow, she has abnormally high speed for a ship of her size, and her ability helps soften her targets and improve the chances of the chainshot working.
The Locker was a tough choice. I wanted to include the Fiddler’s Green since she’s the ONLY Cursed ship (not sea monster, which can’t carry Edward Low) or crew with the rerolling ability. I went with the Locker because she can stay submerged while Edward Low tries to possess crew. Eddie probably won’t roll many sixes so I gave him some chainshot to play around with if he wants to risk coming to the surface.
The Rook’s Folly is the final possessing ship. She even has the ability built-in, making her even scarier than the other ships! Sammy (what a scary name!) will try to induce FEAR in order to stop ships in their tracks by rolling even more sixes, something this fleet really needs a lot of. Even rolling a 5 would help since it would cancel enemy helmsmen. In addition to Sammy we have a helmsman to make the Rook sail at S+S+S and a chainshot specialist that probably won’t hit very often with such poor cannons.
Since this fleet needs to catch and overtake enemy ships in order to nab their precious crew (hopefully your opponent will bring a ton of high cost named crew), the Celestine was added to boost the overall speed of the fleet and add to its diverse nature (English, Pirates, Cursed, Mercenary and French). The Celestine will pump out trade currents like some kind of crazy mad demon on crack.
Let me know what you think of this wacky fleet idea!
(Perhaps because she’s from SCS, one of my favourite sets, and people usually go for the typical big English gunships, but I was surprised nonetheless.)
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