Masts: 2 (rating: 2 / 5)
Cargo: 5 (rating: 3.5 / 5)
Moves: S+L (rating: 4 / 5)
Guns : 3L, 3S (rating: 2.3 / 5)
Hit %: 100 (S), 50 (L)
Ability: American ships get +1 to their cannon rolls
against this ship.
Okay, now here's a ship I really like. I'm not alone
in this; I usually play 4-player games, and almost
every battle has at least one Bloody Jewel in
someone's fleet. Sometimes two players each bring
one.
What's the big deal? Just this: the Bloody Jewel is
one of the best little gold ships in the game. She
has all the speed she needs, big cargo holds, and a
nice low price. Her ability doesn't hold her back,
because gold ships aren't supposed to get shot at by
anybody. You can add an Explorer if you want, for
really fast turnaround time on gold cruises, or you
can send her out with no crew. She really doesn't
need help.
What's more, you can give her a Captain and use her
as a combination gold ship and secondary fighter.
She can sink or chase off enemy gold ships and still
have plenty of cargo space free for treasure. That
kind of flexibility for 6 points is close to unheard
of. As a pure secondary fighter, you'd be better off
with the Longshanks (same cost and speed, plus
another 3S cannon).
But as a pure gold ship, the Bloody Jewel has few
equals. Buy her and turn her loose.
American ships get +1 to their cannon rolls against
this ship.
The third ship of "Bloody Week" is much better than
the first two. The Bloody Jewel is a staple treasure
runner for the Pirate faction. 5 cargo with good
speed for 6 points? Sign me up.
The Bloody Jewel was a nice little treasure runner
right when it came out, and it has only gotten
better with age due to the general slow down of
ships (see the post by Cadet Captain Mike on the
forum for a breakdown of this) and the fact that in
the latest sets usable ships under 7 points are few
and far between. Had the Bloody Jewel been in PaOE,
it would probably be considered the best treasure
runner in the set - but in Revolutions, it's no
better than 4th. So how to rate it?
Well, its advantages as a treasure ship are obvious,
cheap cost, nice speed, and big cargo space with
only a minor drawback. Crew it up with some
combination of Helmsman and Explorer and start
bringing in the gold.
However, it can also be used to make a nice little
combo ship if you wanted to go that route - add a
Captain and a Helmsman and you have an L+S+S
movement ship with a pair of decent cannons that can
still clear all of the decent treasures from a wild
island. You're gonna want to stay away from gunships,
but enemy treasure runners will certainly think
twice about approaching an area where the Bloody
Jewel is working.
As for the ability being a drawback, I'd have to
say, "not really." Any American gunship will be able
to destroy the Jewel even without the +1 - we're
talking about 2 masted ship here. I suppose that the
+1 might allow an American goldship with crummy
cannons to score some hits on the Jewel that
otherwise wouldn't happen, but this is so
situational that I'm not going to worry about it.
If you're running a pirate fleet and plan on
gathering gold, give this one serious consideration
if it's in your collection - and if it's not, get
one, it's a common!
For its time it's a solid 3.75
Nowadays it would be a 4.5
