General description:
La Magnifique is a French ship-of-the-line from the Crimson Coast pack. Its cost is generous for her power, her guns are very good, and her cargo is an unsung hero which puts this ship in the top tier of battleships even after all this time. It is my favorite battleship to use both in standard games and deathmatches.
Uses:
6 cargo might actually make it a decent cargo runner with a helmsman and explorer. But I'd laugh at anyone who tried that. The cargo here isn't meant for treasure, it's meant for CREW. Her purpose here is to destroy everything an opponent tries to throw at her with her broadsides and help from the exceptional French crew.
Strategies and game play:
Attack. Her speed isn't great, so as soon as the game starts you'll need to head for an island close to the enemy's home base. This ship will get pricey in a 40-pt match so if you do decide to use her (which is possible but not necessarily recommended.) the tactic will simply be blow everything up. You may want to try blockading the enemy home island itself and destroy ships as they return. If so, your opponent may try to bring in an attack ship to force La Magnifique to leave. If so, it releases possible pressure on your runners and the enemy ship will most likely be sunk next turn.
Combos with other miniatures:
This is the crucial section. Remember, Magnifique has SIX cargo. To put that in perspective, the Flying Dutchman and the Constitution, two quintessential deathmatch flagships, have only four. For a deathmatch, add Capitane Gaston de St Croix a firepot specialist, Capitane Arathiel, a cannoneer, shipwright, Philippe du Brissac, and at least 2 oarsmen. Here's the result:
Total points: The crew takes up 13 points in the context of the ship, but as a whole in the fleet you have 37. (PdB's ability doesn't apply to the fleet as a whole, just the ship.)
Now you have a ship that could move L+L to catch a ship, blow it up with a single broadsides, kill an oarsman, and blow another ship up provided there's one in range. Alternatively, you could move L, place a firepot on one ship (using cannoneer to try again if the firepot misses on the first try) Shoot another ship with a friepot, kill an oarsman, and broadsides a third ship. The possibilities are endless. If a broadsides misses, kill a crew or roll a 5 or 6 to try again. If she takes fire, the shipwright will repair and if you're in desperate need to repair, St. Croix may allow a second repair and you could SAC for a third.
Additionally, you may switch St. Croix for Gentil de la Barbinais to give a +1 roll to cannons. (NOTE: Doesn't apply to broadsides.) Now for 13/36 points you've got a slower ship with rank-2 cannons. So instead of hitting half the time with firepots, you hit 2/3 of the time. The math should work out to a 13% chance at hitting with all five cannons if fired seperately, and around a 45% chance of hitting with at least four. Some more math reveals then there is a 20% chance of hitting two ships four or more times if you SAC. Think about that for a moment. A one in five shot at crippling two five master's in one turn. Or bring Zeus down to two masts. Also crippling because of the shipwright and Arathiel working in tandem.
While 17 points isn't too much so that it begins to severely interfere with your points total, the French do have Le Superbe (which should be noted for being my second favorite flagship.) It's a point less, faster, but has slightly less cargo and vulnerable to This ship can't be hit by L-range cannons type ships. Le Soleil Royal Is considerably cheaper at 13 pts, so it's more playable in a standard game but La Magnifique takes the edge in a deathmatch. The French have no shortage of ships of the line, with La Gaule and La Ville de Paris providing competition as well, however, La Magnifique is the only ship of these with 6 cargo.
In a 40 point game, give her a helmsman, captain, and becalmed to catch runners. Also employ Divers to catch all the gold from a ship you sink. 25 pts.
Ways to counteract it:
Two ways to defeat her. Broadsides her first or use mermaids. Because of the huge threat of the latter I'd recommend favor of the gods as an addition to your deathmatch fleet. Bringing you to 40 out of 100 points.
Strengths/Pros:
Good guns.
Powerful guns.
Great cargo.
Weaknesses/Cons:
Crew dependent(?)
Subpar speed.
Artwork and aesthetics:
She looks nice and dark but realistic. 7/10
Overall rating:
Deathmatch: 10/10
Standard:7/10
It is still after all this time, my favorite battleship.
Modified on June 22, 2012 03:36 pm
Rating
Current score for this Miniature Review, based on 11 votes:
When you reference other crew and ships (watch out, shameless plug), try including a url reference to them like this.
One section that might be useful is how she stacks up against the other French 5 masters, of which there are some great ships. Personally I like the two from Revolution, the speedy Le Superbe and the cheap crew killer Le Soleil Royal. The French are not lacking in the 5 masted powerhouse department.
A few typos? There is no CC version of Amiral Gaston de St. Croix (but there is a Capitaine version, the Amiral version is from BC), one is a SAT 5d6 and the other a double fleet action 6d6. Arathiel is a SAC captain. Seems a bit of overkill to have both SAC and SAT on the same ship, plus it necessitates the need to Philippe du Brissac to fit the crew.
The action limit for any ships is two, but this statement implies a third.
quote from captainhawkins:
and you could SAC for a third.
Under the ways to counteract, a canceller works wonders against just about everybody and should be mentioned. Like the HMS Swallow (a ship I like as well) the 50/50 broadsides is tenuous. Hard to justify its inclusion without some help like a re-roller. In fact, one option for this ships would be the SAT + a re-roller like Godiva or Lenoir, and skip the double action (or vice versa). Plus the French have a captain/reroller in Jordan Dumas which really helps on BA attacks.
Regardless of the extra actions, I think a helmsman is a must for this ship. You cannot rely on SAT 5d6 crew (even with a reroller), and you have only so may crew fodder to fit to give L+L actions. In fact Arathiel + helmsman + as many oarsmen that will fit is a decent build for this ship given her large cargo hold. L+S+L+S guaranteed more than a few times. Ouch.
Even though she is a fighting ship, with such a large cargo, if the chance presents itself, she can grab a gold here or there.
All in all a sold review. Aesthetically, include some links, a section comparing her other French ships, and maybe some other options in the combos section like which treasure runners in a 40 point match, support ships, other crew combos, etc.. will help.
Good enthusiasm - it's very clear that you like this ship!
As far as the details go, Relvar covered the main points pretty well.
Just a couple extra notes:
quote from relvar99:
The action limit for any ships is two, but this statement implies a third.
quote from captainhawkins:
and you could SAC for a third.
The two action limit rule had been a house rule for most players for a very long time and even made its way into the Pirate Code eventually, but it didn't get into the published rulebook until Savage Shores.
Having a SAT and a SAC together on a ship gives you a bit more flexibility in how and when you get those extra actions (if the roll fails you can still eat a crew), but once you've gained an action from one of them the other becomes useless.
quote:
Like the HMS Swallow (a ship I like as well) the 50/50 broadsides is tenuous. Hard to justify its inclusion without some help like a re-roller. In fact, one option for this ships would be the SAT + a re-roller like Godiva or Lenoir, and skip the double action (or vice versa). Plus the French have a captain/reroller in Jordan Dumas which really helps on BA attacks.
Broadsides can't be rerolled.
"No other abilities..."
However, having a reroller in place to use with a SAT crew is still a good idea because it increases the odds of getting that second action to slightly better than 50/50 - which you could use to make a second Broadsides.
Okay. Added a comparison section, links, and fixed the typo on St. Croix's name. Thanks for that advice. One last question, I'm seeing the abbreviation SAT with St. Croix... I know what his ability is but can't figure out what SAT stands for. I've only seen SAC before. Second Attempt maybe?
Subject: Good analysis - it's good to hear spirited discussion Posted: February 25, 2012 05:35 pm
I haven't used this French 5 mast ship yet - I lilke better odds for a broadsides attack when I roll for one (especially as it can't be rerolled) It must be very satisfying to be able to take 6 masts should it succeed tho
I used Le Soleil Royale in my last game loaded with crew to wreak devastation and annihilation on my opponents (but lost because it was a gold grabbing game, not a deathmatch) so it was a satisfying game. My ships were all just too slow and were playing catch-up and mopping up the worst treasure when they finally got to the islands.
It got a little messy when the firepot specialist was brought into the discussion. It would probably be better to just leave him out and concentrate on using Magnifique's Broadsides ability.
Congrats on MotW - it still sounds a little like three actions per turn are being discussed, but it's still a good review and probably deserves time on the home page.
It brings back fond memories for me, though, as I remember once sinking La Magnifique with HMS Goliath, which then somehow went on to sink La Superbe - 'twas a glorious day for the Royal Navy!
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