Name:    HMS Galapagos (England)
Card:    SC #048 (Uncommon)
Points:  15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Moves: S
Guns : 3L,2L,2L,3L
Hit %: 233 (S), 233 (L)
Ability: Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she has all of her masts.
 
How shall I review this ship? Do I consider her drop-dead slow, with an ability that can speed her up at the beginning of the game? Or do I consider her speedy, with an ability that makes her slow down once she takes damage?
 
Either way, she has good cannons and cargo. If you use her for treasure, she probably won't lose a mast, so she can fly around pretty quickly, right? Remember, there are other ways to lose a mast than battle damage
-- reefs, whirlpools, and ramming come to mind. And 15 points is a lot for a gold ship of her caliber; HMS Hound has the same speed and cargo for only seven points. If you use her for fighting, she'll slow down drastically as soon as she takes a hit. What to do?
 
Here's what I'd do. I'd crew her for fighting, with a Captain, a Shipwright, Commodore Rhys Griffin Owen (hostage reroller), and Sir Christopher Myngs (SAT). If she took damage, I'd use the Shipwright to repair her, possibly fixing two masts in one turn if Myngs cooperates.
Myngs can also give the Galapagos a dual move/shoot, which could take out most enemies before they can shoot back. Owen's reroll raises Myngs'
odds to fifty/fifty, or you can use him as a substitute Cannoneer.
That's eight points for crew, but if you treat this ship as your flagship, it might be worth it.
 
Of course, your fifteen points could get you HMS Grand Temple, one of the best values in the game for fighting ships. Aside from that underpriced death-dealer, though, HMS Galapagos is the best fifteen-pointer in the Royal Navy.
 
Goldship rating: 3.9 / 5
Gun Ship rating: 3.6 / 5
Boarding rating: 3.5 / 5
Value for points: 3.5 / 5

Name: HMS Galapagos
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Speed: S
Firepower: 3L, 2L, 2L, 3L
Cost: 15pts
Ability: Schooner; This ship gets + to her base move if she has all of her masts.
 
The next ship up for 15pt week is an English Schooner. Her stats are fine, she’ll make a good all purpose ship. Capable of a bit of gold running and fighting. But there are a few points.
 
The first is her ability, while she’ll make a fine all purpose ship that’ll suit most of your needs. Most of your time will be spent keeping her serviceable. Shipwright, helmsman maybe for back-up, etc... Because if you lose so much as one mast your speed drops from a reasonable S+L, to a miserable S. That in turn means more crew, more cost and that’ll push her towards the twenty point bracket. And that brings us to the next problem.
 
 The cost, if you gave her S+L base move, hence eliminating her negative ability. With all the rest of the abilities (excluding the schooner keyword). She’ll cost less than 12pts. So were the 15pts came from is beyond me. There are numerous English four mast ships with near on the same stats that are better value. But if you are willing to swallow her high price tag then she should serve you quite well in all areas.
 
The costs;
Masts: 2pts
Cargo: 2pts
Speed: 1.4pts
Guns: 4.33pts
Ability: 5.3pts
 
Gunship rating: 3.5/5
Gold ship rating: 3/5
Support rating: 3.5/5
Value rating: 0.5/5