La Ebro is an unexceptional, unexciting ship. Or, if
you prefer, she's a solid, predictable warship.
Whether "the glass is half empty or half full"
depends on what you're looking for.
If you want a gold ship, forget it; the speed and
cargo aren't there.
If you want a fighter, there are better ships out
there. That's not to say there's anything wrong with
La Ebro. Her cannons are good enough for nearly any
task, and her Broadside has a 50/50 chance of
hitting.
Her cargo is adequate for a fighter - she can hold a
Captain and a Helmsman, which she needs, and one
other crew. She's big enough to justify a named
crew, and if you want to go that route, I'd suggest
replacing the Captain with one of the three Spanish
crew that combine a move/shoot with an S-board. Keep
that third cargo space open for gold if you win a
boarding action.
La Ebro won't knock anyone's socks off. But she's a
competent combat ship for a fair price. If she were
in my collection, I'd definitely give her a try.
Masts: 4
Cargo: 3
Move: L
Cannons: 2S, 3L, 3L, 2S
Ability: Broadsides Attack
Flavor Text: Capitan Renaldo is a scholar as well as
a sailor in the Spanish Navy, and has studied
history as closely as he has studied technology.
Instead of giving a usual introduction to this
review, I'm just going to jump right into the depth
of my opinions. La Ebro is a pseudo-large ship,
standing somewhat bulky at four masts. Her move is
just average, and her cargo is nothing to be pleased
about. She has a pretty good set of cannons, guns
that can deal a very reasonable amount of damage.
But her ability, Broadsides, is one of the deadliest
fighting abilities in the game. So La Ebro can now
blow most ships to smithereens if awarded good die
rolls. Using her poor cargo, you're going to need to
stick a helmsman on her to make her speed S+L. After
you do that, I advise a captain, since having a
captain is a mandatory asset to any fighter. You now
have one cargo space left, but her price is up to an
almost intolerable 19 points. 19 points is a lot to
pay for a four-master, but with a helmsman and a
captain, La Ebro becomes a pretty good fighting
vessel. But due to her lack of cargo, average speed,
and high point cost, I can only grant her a 3.25/5
RATING: 3.25/5
Bailey
La
Ebro (Spanish)
Masts: 4
Cargo: 3
Points: 14
Move:
L
Cannons: 2S, 3L, 3L, 2S
Ability: Broadsides Attack.
Flavor Text: Capitan Renaldo is a scholar as
well as a sailor in the Spanish Navy, and has
studied history as closely as he has studied
technology.
To start
off the new week, we have a big, powerful
Spanish fighting ship. It has 3 cargo, which is
just enough for a good fighter, and a typical,
slow-but-not-too-slow fighter move. Its cannons
are above average, and it can hit any ship, no
matter the ability. So what about this ship
drives its value way, way down? The point cost
and ability. It costs too much and the ability
just isn't strong enough on this ship to use to
the maximum expectations of a fighting ship.
Broadsides
Attack is a good ability, there's no doubt about
it. However, you have to be within S of your
opponent to hit, and You have to roll higher
than your highest cannon. That means that
there's a 50% chance that you'll hit, and the
other 50% you become a sitting duck for the
opponent. Most of the time, though, that's
a chance people will take.
14 points
is a lot to pay for a ship that might very well
get squashed without doing any damage, plus the
almost necessary 3 for the captain and 2 for the
helmsman. This ship is hard to use, but when you
figure out how to use it correctly, it can be a
hell of a ship. I give it slightly above-average
marks, because it is a slightly above-average
fighting ship.
