Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.
3 is average.
5 is the highest rating.
Date Reviewed - 04.01.08
Cadet-Captain Mike
Name: HMS Royal Shaft (English)
Card: SM #401 (Unlikely)
Points: 27
Masts: 7
Cargo: 6
Moves: S
Guns : 5S,5S,5L,5L,5L,5S,2S
Hit %: 383 (S), 150 (L)
Ability: Once per turn, roll a die. If it falls off
the table, hits a ship, or knocks a treasure off an
island, eliminate this ship from the game.
This remarkable ship was a promotional piece for a
WizKids convention that was canceled by Nemesio
Diaz. As a result, she is extraordinarily rare.
That's a shame, because there are a few English
fanatics out there who would love to bring this
brute to the table if they could.
She has one good cannon and six not-so-good ones,
and huge cargo holds.
Her speed is low, but it's realistic for something
this big. Her ability, which I'd love to see more
often, is aimed at those Pirates players who lob the
dice without regard for the havoc they cause. With
her deep holds and high cost, you can fill her with
useful crew. For maximum mayhem, I'd suggest Ken
Wang Cho, Sir Jeremy Rothschild, Sir Watkins Defoe,
and James Cook. Maybe a Captain, too, if fighting is
your goal.
You could run gold with this ship; no enemy would
dare mess with her. Or you could go out ramming and
boarding; you'd win almost every boarding action, if
you could catch the enemy first. But with seven
cannons, this ship should be used for fighting;
she'd be almost as effective as the legendary Maman
Brigitte. If you have the good luck to find her, and
if you can afford her sky-high point cost, by all
means use her, and give all your enemies the Royal
Shaft.
When I saw this ship's picture, I thought it was a
joke, but to prove it was real, photos of it from
several perspectives were included with the list of
reviews. Looked like promotional materials to me.
This unusual and amazing ship has seven masts! Not
as great as a 10-mast junk but far better than your
average ship. Unfortunately, the cannons are not
great at all: three 5S, three 5L, and a 2S. I'd say
it was meant for flight and not fight, but its speed
is a mere S. It has a disappointing 6 cargo spaces,
but at least you can boost the speed and firepower a
little. Its ability is one of those detrimental
powers that cheap boats have, which is surprising
considering this is a horrendous 27 points!
Get this card only if you're a serious collector.
It's ugly and almost totally useless in every way.
I give the HMS Royal Shaft a 1/5.
Vladsimpaler
From what I recall, only several of the HMS Royal
Shafts were ever made, I think that they were
supposed to be Prize Support for PotSM, but were
never really produced. It was mostly in part due to
to the fact that a lot of fans complained about the
mass errors they made with it.
Here, we review this little known ship in Pirates
history!
HMS Royal Shaft, 27 points, English
Masts: 7
Cargo: 6
Speed: S
Cannons: 2S 5S 5L 5L 5L 5S 2S
Abilities: Once per turn, roll a die. If it falls
off the table, hits a ship, or knocks a treasure off
an island, eliminate this ship from the game.
I don't remember the flavor text, but it was pretty
funny. Something about the English trying to make
the Titan into a super monster (even though it
already was) but the shipwrights failed miserably,
and the English were left with this huge ship that
was pretty terrible and hulking.
Let's see...why would you use this? It's huge,
that's one thing. If you use the MI Hermoine Gold on
it, then its cannons become rank 4 and 1. So we have
that fixed up. You will also want to include a
helmsman.
Also, if you include something like Brother Virgil,
then you could have all sorts of cool crew on this
ship. Carbon Charlie, a rarely used English crew,
could see some use on this ship. The RotF Trevor van
Tyne would be cool, too. But really. Why use this
ship? It's terrible, and I can see why WK never
really produced these. I think that when they
decided to not make this ship an LE, they actually
listened to the fans. Too bad that it doesn't really
happen anymore.
Oh well.
Actually, why not just pay 3 points more for the
Guichuan? The Guichuan has no negative effects.
I give this ship a 1/5. Not as bad as the Maman
Brigitte, but I'm sure that 2 of them vs. one of
this would give this ship a run for its money.
