Video MaruCam! [All 3 Finished Videos in First Post]

I found a Japanese tanker that matched up pretty closely, that I believe is it. I'll see if I can find it again.

 

Huh, I had a Mehoshi Maru...kinda. I found the plans on here and built the hull only. Sheeted it in 1/8 balsa instead of 1/16 and it made an awesome target/gun testing ship. Really... isn't that all a transport really is anyway in this hobby?

After we were done using it for a target we lit it on fire and let it burn its self to the waterline and sink in the middle of my parent's pond. I figure that was a better death then a garbage can for a ship.

I keep wanting to build another to actually use, it was a cool ship.

 

In the Ausbg, merchants ARE the game.
You can't score points without merchants, and the protecting and attacking of merchants puts the skills of the warship skippers to a real test.
No "death or glory" stuff, but tactics, skill and guile.
If you sail recklessly and get sunk, not only your merchants will pay the price.
This makes ships like Mehosi Maru a very valuable assest to a team.

 

I really like the idea of an all or nothing game. Convoy makes its run then the defending team wins. Convoy is destroyed attacking team wins. Warship sinks don't matter damage doesn't matter. The convoy is the game.

 

I love the AusBG's scoring system. It places the game's emphasis on a strategic objective (getting the transports through) rather than a simple tactical objective (sink the other guy). This opens up so many more paths to victory. If the other team has the biggest, baddest battleship in the club, all you have to do is distract it while your transports sneak past. If the other team has a squadron of torpedo-boats, you could launch more transports than they have torpedo-boats, or form a tight box formation around a couple transports, or blockade their port so they cannot return to port for reloading. Just as appealing to me, the lack of points for damaging and sinking warships means you can be push your ship to its limits without fear that you'll lose the game because of massive sink points.

The only problem with the AusBG method, if we want it in the WWCC, is the absurd difficulty of sinking some of the transports. The original Mehoshi Maru, built by the current club president when he re-joined the club in 2004, is easily sinkable but more recently built ships like the Silverfishes and Willie Maykett are far harder to take down. Their small size and maneuverability combined with the WWCC's outlet-based pump rules makes them virtually unsinkable, barring mechanical failure. I almost regret ever building them. I'd love to try the AusBG scoring system once we figure out either how to score the midget transports fairly, or how to hunt the pesky things.

 

See, I love that idea. There are soooo many differant ways we could play, but we dont'. I'd love to see some more objective based games out there. "Sink the Bismark".. pick one big bad ship and have the object be to protect or destroy that ship and that ship alone. Points don't matter, sinks don't matter. The outcome is based on saving or killing the "Bismark".

Convoy boats open up so many objective based games. Have ALL the convoy boats on one side. That side has to have the convoy make there laps around the markers like normal, only they are the objective. Not scoring points. If the convoy is destroyed in x amount of time, or say a percentage of the convoy is destroyed. Attacking force wins. If x percentage of convoy survives, defending force wins. It would be a lot of fun beucase without worrying about sinks or damage the warships would be free do let themselves get pounded on a lot more to protect the convoy.

Hum, maybe a "Samar" battle. All the big ships on one side, all the small boats on one team. Go for 15 minutes and see who comes out on top?