Miniature Trading

This is an entry for cabinboy88's "Mini" Fleet Challenge, refer to this post for details:

http://www.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=3808///

As I learned from previous challenges, there are a couple ships that are extremely hard to kill:

A submarine with a canceler on board.

A ship with the Eternal keyword and no way to cancel/capture it.

So, normally I'd go with the Mercs because they have two cancelers available: Mobilis and Christian Fiore. But I wanted a Marine on the sub so it could shoot with relative impunity, which meant I had to find a two-masted submarine in a faction that had a Marine... so those Darned Yankees it is.

I would have loved to use the sturdy USS Mercury (one of the better subs in the game), but she had too many masts. Fortunately, the USS Lamon can step in, and a Marine and Canceler just barely fit. No room for a helmsman, but that's ok, with a ship almost immune to shooting in a deathmatch game, we can afford to be slow.

I also wanted something Eternal, and fortunately the Americans have two very cheap Eternal crew. Ever since I pulled the USS Maryland in a Frozen North pack, I've always wanted to use her in a fleet, and this seemed like a good opportunity. If anyone else deploys a submarine, then the USS Maryland should make a nice sub-hunter, especially with the USS Lamon alongside. If I can't cancel the Submarine keyword with Diamond Nelson Turner, then I can try ramming to eliminate one mast and one crew. Jonathan Haraden might not be necessary, but the reroll should help make sure a boarding roll doesn't go badly, or make sure one of those cannons hit. The oarsman is to prevent capture, or fodder if I do lose a boarding roll. (Originally I had Montana Mays on board with just Ralph David, but I thought this might be vulnerable to two rams or another USS Maryland/Villalobos).

Possible Problems:

Speed. This isn't the slowest fleet on the water, but it certainly isn't the fastest, either. Both ships are S+S, and I didn't quite have the cargo space or points to put in helmsmen. Still, with a deathmatch scenario, my opponent will eventually have to come to me or spend the entire game running away. Since most ships in this challenge will be one- or two-masters, I expect to see a lot of very fast small ships that can stay out of my range. But you can't win that way... if my opponent won't engage, then hopefully I can eventually herd him into a corner.

Double Cancelers. The best way to deal with a Submarine+Canceler is to have more cancelers than the other guy. An ability that allows you to shoot at submerged ships also helps. Fear can also work, with a little luck. My best strategy her is to pair up both ships and hope that Diamond Nelson Turner and the USS Maryland's ramming ability can neutralize the threat.

Crew-Killers. I originally had Montana Mays on the USS Maryland to prevent crew from being eliminated, but I didn't have space for an oarsman and was worried about the ship getting captured as a derelict. So the Maryland is vulnerable to an "eliminate one crew/cargo" ability, or a "pin and eliminate one crew" such as Captain Jack Hawkins or another USS Maryland. My best hope here is to keep the USS Lamon close and cancel the ability before it can hurt me.

Events. I'm not too worried about Mermaids, since one of my ships will always be submerged and the other is Eternal. There are two other events that could give me some trouble, however... Foul Winds is a great way to ding up a ship you don't want to get close to, such as a submarine with a Marine and canceler on board, or a ship that eliminates a mast and crew when it rams. Duel could be used against William Eaton or Diamond Nelson Turner to take the teeth out of the USS Lamon, but their point costs might be high enough to survive. It would be particularly devastating against Ralph David, since his point cost is so low. At 5 points, however, it's not an event you see used all that much.