6 gold bonuses at 20 points

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

20 Points

Simple but hopefully effective. At such a low build total, there will only be so much an opponent can throw at these ships. The key is that the canoes start at an island – by the time any enemy gunships can get going, the canoes can be on their way home. If there’s any gold left on their island, the Alquimista can pick it up since the island has already been explored. If all goes well you’ll have an extra 7 gold after one big trip, which could be enough to tip the scale in your favor. Just watch out, because a lost boarding party or a fast gunship targeting the canoes could spell doom.

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Jade Rebellion Fun

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

100 Points

This is a fleet I planned to play as part of a 9 fleet 100 point game, with single faction fleets from all but the Mercenaries. The theme of the endeavor was mostly SCS stuff, but more broadly speaking it was a game and fleets inspired by the glut of acquisitions that happened in late 2014 and January 2015 for my collection. Unfortunately it’s unlikely the game will happen, since it was convenient at the time but not anymore (I just missed out on playing it back then for some chance reason).

It’s a bit of an odd JR fleet, with the GT as the only dedicated gunship. The Sea Wind will likely escort the Sea Tiger to and from islands, using proximity to make her guns more serviceable. The fleet is a bit of a swarm, capable of getting gold decently well without many crew. The Admiral Yi is a strange choice for the third captain, but with these fleets I wanted to do things out of the ordinary and not use many of the popular ships. She would likely tag along with the GT or Sea Wind to trigger her own cannon bonus.  Hopefully someday I’ll have some Jade Rebellion fun with this fleet!

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Ben’s Favorite Pirates

The Selkie is fun and underrated.

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

45 Points

This is nostalgic and just a personal fleet of stuff I like in the Pirate faction. Only Hammersmith and Gallows weren’t in my original collection from 2005-2006, and I got Gallows early in 2011 when I came back from hiatus.

The Selkie is the main gunship and has decent potential speed and firepower. The Cursed Blade was the subject of my first review, and has a decent crew setup to let her be a hybrid raiding ship. The Carrion Crow could use a captain but I didn’t have points, so she’s a backup hybrid and will hopefully either get some gold or score a few hits. It was very difficult to choose between the Lightning and the Coral.

The UT’s were chosen as some of the first ones I ever had.

Snipers Unite!

USS Atlanta in action (7/3/2016)

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

65 Points

This is a fun fleet for a 60 point game. It’s defensive in nature, using the sniping ability to chip away at enemies while getting gold and engaging at close range when optimal.

The Atlanta is the flagship, as I originally didn’t want to use the typical Neptuno here. They have different roles in this fleet – the Atlanta is the main gunship and the Neptuno is the only designated treasure runner, and was added last because the point total got out of hand quickly lol. The Atlanta may leave fire shot at home in order to pick up a coin somewhere, but she’s a capable gunship at long or extra long range.

The Coeur is actually one of my favorite French ships, and vastly underrated because of the OE version. One of the better support gunships you’ll find, the Coeur’s 2L guns are very accurate and can hit at L+L range as well. Stinkpot shot is also vastly underrated, and here it will be used on enemy ships to knock out their helmsmen and any other abilities that could pose problems, such as double action crew that would normally let them get the jump on the Atlanta or Neptuno. The Coeur is the “guardian angel” of this fleet, though it’s unlikely she’ll be as effective in that role as I would like her to be, what with how poorly I roll during shoot actions. 

The Serpiente is the least effective ship in the fleet, but serves as a scout ship that can dish out some damage or pick up a coin. Indeed, she is the fleet’s secondary gold runner, so she might have to drop her captain at some point if the gold race isn’t going well.

The Neptuno has a crew setup that makes her a hybrid. 4 spaces for gold, S+S+S speed, and all three of the basic generic crew abilities. She provides another great sniping option, as this fleet totals a full dozen L+L range sniper cannons.

The Eye of Insanity is actually the Eye of Maru from Return to Savage Shores:
When this ship is given a shoot action you may double the range of one of her cannons.

Power Cannons could make for an interesting situation:

This fleet has a lot of major weaknesses; the biggest might just be how unlikely it is that 6’s will be rolled. XD It’s a defensive and somewhat timid approach, but a new look at making fleets once in a while helps to keep things interesting.

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Fire Squadron Allied Attack!

The Bombardier sets the Paul Revere ablaze during Economy Edition!

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

200 Points

This is more a collection of combos than an actual fleet. It’s meant to strictly maximize how many enemy ships burn to the waterline, and wouldn’t do well at all in a competitive deathmatch setting. Most of it was inspired by my Economy Edition game.

The Bombardier is the flagship, and the only ship here capable of setting up to 4 fires in one broadside. Some cargo wizardry with Ismail and Gunn is required to make it work, but it turns out to be a pretty nasty setup. Every single cannon will be blasting fire.

The second ship is a little slow, but the Conquerant will receive extra actions between her ability and Godiva rerolling it. Arathiel doesn’t have much to sac, but the ship has the potential for up to 3 fires created.

The Grand Vainqueur is a terrible bombardier compared to the others, but her crew setup makes her pretty dangerous.

Dumas is a proxy for Lady Roimata from Return to Savage Shores:

Lady Roimata
RtSS-043, Super Rare
French
Points: 6
Link: Fetu
Ability: Captain. Once per turn before you give this ship an action, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship can be given the same action twice.

The cannoneer ability should help start as many fires as possible.

The Salient is a fun switchblade, and here she’s set up quite well. Her guns are 2L x4, and 2 of them will be firing equipment pieces each turn at that long range. Her blades make her a boarding problem for opponents, and she should be able to wreak some fiery havoc.

HGold combines the captain+helmsman abilities into one cargo space to allow the now-standard 3x fire weapons to come aboard.

I originally left the fleet at that, but of course the Gallows is the perfect ship for this theme: enough cargo to hold all 3 fire weapons with a captain and helmsman, L-range cannons to take advantage of the equipment, and great cannon ranks to start as many fires as possible. In fact, with this configuration, the Gallows is all or nothing. She will be starting fires on enemy ships or on herself!

At 191 points, I quickly brainstormed how I could possibly get another good fire ship in there. The Pique is perfect – no need for a helmsman, easily fits a captain and fire shot aboard, and can hit effectively at 2S with the equipment or take potshots at S+S range until the major help arrives.

Once again, more of a theme fleet than a practical 200 point deathmatch fleet, but certainly some “fire” for thought if you’d like to try out one or more of these combos someday.

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When The Dutchman Attacks

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

45 Points

I like the 001 version of the Flying Dutchman because her high point cost and large cargo hold let you put a lot of great named crew aboard. Besides, who doesn’t like that combo of abilities? 

The premise is relatively simple: Calypso creates whirlpools, and the FD is immune to them when teleporting. Cat’s SAT (along with Calypso if needed) is augmented by Griffin’s reroll, and lets the ship go into a whirlpool and come out shooting on the same turn. Home island and wild island placement is important; the closer everything is, the better. Lucky the Parrot looks for which enemy ships have the most or best gold aboard. The FD pursues and sinks them. Lucky and the oarsman help with lost boarding parties, and the oarsman makes Eternal more effective.

This fleet could work at 39 points, but since most people expect some kind of treasure running ability, I went the ultra-cheap/ultra-cheesy route and got the tried and true Jolly Mon/Hag + BC + Mermaid combo. Sorry. XD

This is mostly about the Dutchman combo though. It would be fun, though I have doubts about how long it would last heh. Anyway, let me know if you like the fleet!  Where will you be when the Dutchman attacks??

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Gold Capture Pirates

The Fleur de la Mort

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 22nd, 2017

80 Points

This isn’t the most practical fleet out there, but it takes advantage of the Pirates’ abundance of gold-capture crew.

Barstow leads the Foresight as the fleet’s largest ship. I love this combo, with 4 abilities combined into two crew, along with a link so the Foresight retains a whopping 5 open cargo spaces! Between the explorer ability and Barstow’s captures, the Foresight should be good at helping your gold score. The oarsman is perfect, just fitting under the ship’s point cap space, not taking up cargo space, and protecting both of the essential crew.

The Fleur de la Mort is also filled to the brim on points, but this ship doesn’t have any cargo space open. The main attack ship, the Fleur has SAT with reroll to go along with L+S speed and rank-3 cannons. Her and her lady crew will attempt to capture as many enemy crew as possible.

I almost left this fleet at 55 points with no oarsman on the Fleur, but then I realized I could easily hit 80 with a simple combo to finish things off. The Queen Anne’s Revenge and Blackbeard! With the link, the QAR has 3 spaces left over for gold, and plays a hybrid role similar to the Foresight.

This fleet could probably do fairly well, since it has 3 ships that are all focused on getting gold. Two of them can get lots of gold in two different ways, while the third has double action potential. Hope you like it!

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Cursed Switchblade Assault!!!!

The Skin Flayer in action during Command the Oceans. (click for battle report)

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 21st, 2017

156 Points

Gimmick time!! Here I go again! XD

This is the RtSS version of Papa Doc:

Papa Doc
RtSS-028b, Common
Cursed
Points: 8
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. Once per turn, one crew or ship within S of this ship can’t use its ability that turn.

Flavor: When Duc de Valois failed to deliver Josephine Godiva, Papa Doc turned all his wrath on France. With news of Godiva in the Polynesian triangle, he has begun stopping ships to find her. His luck is doubled by having her so close to the very altar where he plans to sacrifice her.

Strategy? Tactics?

DIE, DIE, DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Combos with the Saber

The Saber slashing the Nova Scotia in an epic 2015 game. (click for battle report)

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 21st, 2017

174 Points

This is probably my favorite Saber combo so far, but here are the others I’ve come up with.

Setup #1
This is the only one without double actions of any kind. I don’t like paying for S board on a crew, but it lets the Saber board 3 different ways – blade strikes, S boarding, and regular ram+board. Nemo takes as many crew hostage as possible while Dumas can reroll one of the boards.

Setup #2
This one might be the most incredible actually. Somehow it has the most crew (6 total), but it fits within a 40 point limit! Therefore you could use it in a standard game if you wanted to heh. It should be pretty effective – Arathiel can sac up to two oarsmen before Nemo needs to be successful nabbing crew. Once he gets going (try to capture a canceller), Arathiel can sacrifice his “recruits” to the greater good of Imperial France.  In addition, once one of the oarsmen dies you’ll even have a cargo space open, though it probably won’t be needed. I literally added Godiva just because there was no reason not to, unless you used this combo in a fleet with a 0LR +5 crew. She can help with boarding though, since the Saber will be doing a ton of that.

Setup #3
This setup is very similar to #2, but trades SAC for EA. The reroll is better utilized for Dupuy, and you could alternately use Capitaine Gaston de St. Croix if you wanted. I like the SAC setup better because the cycle of Nemo capturing and Arathiel saccing is just evil, effective, and downright scary. It’s also very practical because normally you’d run out of crew to sac, but with Nemo you won’t run out nearly as fast. Here the double actions don’t cost points outside of the build total, but missing one could really hurt.

Setup #4
This is the evil Cursed setup. Dumas is a great French crew for their larger ships, and he’s especially good on the Saber, as evidenced by this setup and that other fleet linked above. In this one he allows Moody to come aboard, who gives the captain and crew massacre abilities. While we’re at it, why not go fully evil and get a Cursed crew to go with Moody? The legendary Fantasma provides the ship with the useful Eternal keyword, and the not-so-useful (but appropriately costed at least in this case) Fear keyword. The real fun is the SAT though, which Dumas provides a nice reroll for. Unfortunately, this setup is hanging by a thread, as I barely was able to work around the double Loyal keyword shenanigans. The helmsman is Cursed instead of French to satisfy Fantasma, while I added a Pirate oarsman just to keep Moody less moody. (luckily the oarsman takes up no space and just barely fits into the point cap space) As a result, a canceller or stinkpot shot could really take this fleet apart, but it might be the most fun setup of the 4 even if it isn’t as practical as #2.

I made this fleet based on the order the setups appeared on my written version. You can tell I was getting better and more sinister as I thought up more and more combos! Feel free to comment your favorite Saber setups. I myself am now intrigued by an American setup, so I’ll probably just edit more combos into here as I figure them out.

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Ultimate Saber Attack Combo!!

Originally published to Miniature Trading on June 21st, 2017

45 Points

I have not seen this attempted yet. I have 5 different Saber builds written down, and this is probably the best one.

Details:
L+S speed
Double actions with EA, happening somewhat often due to reroll
Blade attacks coming left and right (port and starboard!)
+1 to boards
Losing boarding parties is irrelevant due to Decatur
Captain + helmsman: check
Peel steals all enemy crew she comes across so no need for gold running! XD

Obviously this fleet is very susceptible to fast gold fleets, cancellers, or an enemy getting the first strike. However, it might be the Ultimate Saber Attack Combo I’ve come up with thus far, especially since it has gold capability through Peel.

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