Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Moves: S+S
Guns : 3L, 3L, 3L
Hit %: 150 (S), 150 (L)
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls
against English ships.
If this ship had come out in the early days of the
Pirates game, she would have been written off as a
very ordinary ship. Times have changed, and what was
once ordinary is now above average.
Any time you can get a ship to move faster than L
without a Helmsman, you're onto something good. The
Black Mongoose has decent speed, reasonable cargo
for a ten-point ship, and cannons that don't stink.
She can't carry enough gold to make a treasure
runner of her, so she'll need a fighting crew - a
Captain at least, and a Helmsman if you want her to
catch enemy gold ships (and stay away from enemy
gunships). If you wanted to max her out, you could
add Bruce Grey and make her cannons into 1L vs the
English and 2L against anyone else who isn't a
Pirate, but 19 points sail-away cost is too high for
this ship.
The Black Mongoose isn't extraordinary, but she's
better than at least half the Pirate ships that have
come out lately. If your collection doesn't include
older, better ships like the Royal James or
Executioner, and you need a low-priced fighter, you
could do worse than this one.
