This challenge is another cool idea from Darrin:
http://www.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=3864///
For this challenge I decided to make use of the speedy Calim and the new option for sea creature's with cargo space to be able to use equipment. So Calim loads up with a Soul Mark which will protect him from being fired upon by all the other Cursed nation and an Exploding Shot to help deal with any non-Cursed sea creatures he may have to contend with. Against the cursed he'll be especially effective, possibly eliminating 2 masts with his initial attack while still retaining the Soul Mark protection. If a quick kill is necessary, he could then "shoot" with all 5 tentacles on the next turn, losing the Soul Mark, but hopefully sinking the enemy ship. Otherwise, he could always just ram and board his defenseless victim again on the next turn. Oh, and cancellers can't stop this tactic, since they don't work against equipment. 
Since Calim would have trouble with a really big opponent, against 6 or 10 masters, I'd swap the exploding shot to Grinder during set up. Then after Calim has the junk pinned, Grinder can approach to within L range, out of range of any L cannons on the junk (all of the big Cursed junks have at least one end with only S cannons), and fire away, hopefully setting fire to the junk as well as blowing a few masts off. Once enough masts were gone, Calim could handle the big ship on its own.
Against non-Cursed sea creatures, Calim will have to be careful, remaining submerged as much as possible and mostly stalling to allow my treasure runners to gather as much gold while unmolested as possible.
The Cursed aren't real strong on treasure runners, so I went with the Black Mark crew, Jacques, Duc de Valois to allow Le Bon Marin, arguably the second best treasure runner in the whole pirates game, into our little challenge. Since the extra point for using Black Mark only counts against a ship total, not the build total for the game, everything still fits. Grinder is my other runner, with good cargo capacity, great cannons, and the ability to continue to move at top speed even with no masts left!
With no crew to worry about (I'd actually like Jacques to be eliminated- more cargo space on Le Bon Marin, and see below), I loaded up on crew killing/nullifying UTs. With my speedy runners, I'm hoping I get to the Kraken Gong first. If my opponent has a kraken, it's great protection, but if I get it and roll a 6, I can bring a kraken of my own in! (I suppose that roll is one reason to hope Jacques survives for a bit, at least. )
I included the Paradis de La Mer in hopes of Jacques being eliminated, most likely by Missionary or Plague, but I'd be happy with other means as long as Le Bon Marin survived them. (Unlikely I know, but I love this Fort!)
Oh, and there is really no need for any Mermaids protection with almost no crew in the fleet.
Miniature Trading
