The Captain's Logbook

Another of the new ship types in Pirates of the Cursed Seas:Rise of the Fiends is the Scorpion ship. These (mostly) Cursed ships come outfitted with a huge blade on the bow that can be lower to strike another ship. If it hits, a mast is removed from the target.

Here’s the keyword description:

“A ship with this keyword has a movable ‘blade’ that can slash at your enemies. After a Scorpion ship has completed a Move or Shoot action, if you can move her blade so that it touches a target opposing ship, the target is immediately attacked as free action.

If the attack hits, eliminate a mast from the target (no ability can prevent this). The target is pinned (even sea creatures can be pinned by this ability) and can be boarded (sea creatures still cannot be boarded), but this ship is not pinned. This blade functions even when this ship is derelict.

If a Scorpion ship rams a target on a turn, she can’t also use her scorpion blade that turn.”

Interesting stuff. I can see these ships becoming a valuable part of gunfleets. Let’s take a look at new ships and see if they are worth the points.

First up is the first of the Cursed’s terrible new ships, the Scorpion. At 15pts, it’s pricey for a 3 master, and it only moves S. Average #3 long guns don’t help. But, besides having the Scorpion keyword, this ship is also Eternal. That means that if this ship is sunk, whether by terrain or enemy action, this ship will appear back at your Home Island. She keeps all of her crew, but any gold on board is divided normally. The Scorpion has 4 cargo spaces, so I guess you could put a Helmsman on to speed her up. Another thought is to put a sacrifice crew and some Oarsmen, but 4 cargo is probably not enough for that.

Next up in the Cursed fleet is the Bloody Blade. Like all of the other Scorpion ships, she has 3 masts. At 16pts, she is a little more expensive than the Scorpion, but she is faster with a base move of L, and she has 1 long #2 cannon. Unfortunately, her rear cannon is only a short #3. Hopefully, you aren’t planning on running from a fight with this ship.

The Bloody Blade‘s special ability is “This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn as long as she has all of her masts,” which may be useful. It really depends on what crew you in her 3 cargo spaces.

The Pestilence is the next Cursed ship. At 17pts, it’s most expensive Scorpion ship in the set. Unfortunately, it has pretty mediocre stats, and it’s “Fear” special ability is laughable. This ship has a move of L, 3 cargo spaces, 2 #3 long and 1 #4 short cannons. With those stats, if you had to use this ship, you could crew her with El Fantasma (for a shoot then move), a Helmsman and a Smokepot Specialist. Wait for a target to get near, then hit them and duck into the fog cloud.

The last Cursed Scorpion ship is the Scythe. It’s cheaper at only 15pts, and is moves S+S, which is better. And, it gets a “+1 to boarding rolls.” But it’s average short #3 cannons really hurt it in the aggressiveness department. the Scythe has 3 cargo spaces.

So far, all of the Scorpion ships have been Cursed, but there is one ship for the Pirates, the super rare Crusher. According to rumors “A group of shipwrecked pirates stole a ship to escape their island prison, not realizing it was a secret Cursed vessel. Taking it to Captain Mysion’s pirate “kingdom,” they received a hero’s welcome.” It’s cheap at just 12pts, moves L, and has 4 cargo spaces. It’s guns are only a pair of long #3s and a single short #3.

Overall, Scorpion ships are nice for the “automatic” mast removal feature, but are expensive. If you luck out and pull the super rare Crusher, use it, but otherwise you are probably better off with a different gunship.