I orginally posted this at wizkid's forum. I though I would drag it here and see what you think of it.

"I ran across a thread a few days back (either here or psrealms) talking winning via the "Once player has no moving ships, game is over and most treasure wins" rule in a 1v1 game.

This got me thinking. So far I've only played a couple of times with a very casual group, but I think this might work with them, and MAYBE in a better group.

Carrion Crow 4

Le Bon Marin 6
-Helmsman 2

Events:
Mermaids
Becalmed
(couldn't see that comming could you?)

Treasures
6x 2
1 x 1
Neptunes Trident
Explosives

The idea of this is to get the 'Marin to and from an island as quick as possible, load up 3 treasure. Meanwhile use the 'Crow as a shield (not a very good one, but still slows down an opp), then hustle back to your home, then pick a fight with anything you have left and basically just MAKE them shoot at you. There is a really good chance your opp. will figure it out and just play thier own game, but hopefully by then you've demasted the Crow by just rolling 1's, leaving you with the Marin to hopefully running into a reef or somthing of that matter. I've toyed with the idea of using a fort in case my oppenent isn't blowing me up, you know get him to get to the fort and then cruise in to block the shots and make him ram me, shoot at me, etc.

I know this is a crazy idea, but could this ever work? (Maybe under lab supervision, and in a vaccum ;-) )"

There ya go. I'm prepared for the flames.

Hmmm, well, it's a very interesting idea that'd be just great if you could pull it off. My only question would be if you could get them to shoot your ships before they get any gold back to their island.

Good choices for Unique treasure there. Using explosives will winstant rid you of one ship, and using the Trident with Le Bon Marin (the one likely to pick it up) will cause it to become derelict. Hmmm, say, I wonder if you could use the tidal wave on JUST your own ships...if you could then you could instantly end the game with some luck (in picking it up of course, both ships would be derelicted even if the Crow was in perfect condition), plus you'd leave your enemy dazed and confused.

If you haven't done it already, I suggest using some reefs. I know 1-masters are imune to reef damage, but it could be used to take out a half-dead Crow, and I'm sure there's a situation that could leave your opponent trying to get through a narrow pass between reefs but your ship would be in the way, encouraging them to derelict/sink it.

Just out of curiousity, how many points is the game you're playing? Looks to me like 30 but I can't be sure. Anyway if you have the points for it, you may want to consider putting a captain, and maybe even another crew of some kind on the Carrion Crow. The reason being that if you play aginst someone with Mermaids right now your only mermaid target will be your treasure runner, and you'll want it to get its treasure ASAP so you can wreck yourself before they get their own treasure. If you put a captain on the Crow, not only will it be able to start trying to roll 1s on its cannons more quickly, but it will alleviate Mermaids pressure from Le Bon Marin.

Just some things to think about. All in all it's a good fleet with an interesting concept that I'd like to see in action. Good luck, and may the seas be on your side!

It's an intersting idea, but it will only work if your opponent isn't paying much attention to the game. If they are, they won't get suckered into blasting your only remaining ship if there is any chance that you could have more gold.

If you plan to use a Reef to kill Le Bon Marin you're going to be at it for a *very* long time, since it's impossible to roll less than 1 for the reef rating. (Single-mast ships are effectively immune to reefs.) You'd be better off taking a much larger ship so the reef can actually cause it some damage. There are quite a few 4- and 5-mast ships with S+S speed or better, and your opponent will be much less likely to notice how far under the build limit you are sitting. A 20-point (or less) fleet in a 30 or 40 point game looks way too suspicious - they'll know you're up to something, even if they aren't sure what that "something" is at first.

The same applies to Carrion Crow, because the odds are pretty slim that you will roll the 1's you need, at least in time for it to matter. If you really want to stick with that ship instead of taking something larger, add a cannoneer -- even if you do reroll a 1, you still lose the mast.

I definatly am going with woelf on this matter except that a nice weak slow ship with bad cannons(amity or roanoke perhaps) is a juicy target also add in the lady provost for treasure running the cannons are horrible so again an opponent attacking it would be likely

Just my two cents

The great Fuzzball

Oh, I really like the idea of the captain and cannoneer on the 'Crow.

I set this up for a 40 pnt game, but I realized with only 2 ships, it probably wouldn't get that far.

I would like to give it a try with those other ships, but I don't have either of those.

Heck right now I would like to try it period. Haven't been able to get together and play with my buddies. I hope it doesnt' turn out like my last MTG deck that was concieved on a crazy idea. UGG so far that has been a total bomb.

Oh and thanks for the feedback! Very valued, I assure you.

I was able to try it out tonight. My oppenent figured it out right away. I picked a bad island for home, but I was still able to get some gold super quick with the 'Marin. I got the Crow knocked out super quick becuase my oppenent was using some ship that allowed for stealing of home isle treasure and I used it for defense. I was able to harrass him enough with the Marin I blocked his ship in port so he rammed me in hopes of not rolling enough, but alas, too low.

It was a sketchy win for sure, so I think this will go down in the "what was I thinking?" pile