Miniature Trading

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.