Name:    Death Wind (Cursed)

Card:    OE #010 (Common)

Points:  11

Masts: 3

Cargo: 4

Moves: S

Guns : 3L,3L,4L

Hit %: 133 (S), 133 (L)

Ability: Junk. Once per turn, this ship may randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches.

S-Move Week kicks off with a Cursed ship that's slow, focused on boarding, and somewhat overpriced. In other words, it's a typical Cursed ship.

This faction has, on average, the slowest ships in the game. (The Vikings are actually a bit slower, but that's due to some limited-edition tortoises that will never see action on a game table.) This makes them very hard to play as a single-faction fleet, and the Death Wind is a prime example. Her cargo is good enough, and while her cannons are nothing to write home about, the Junk ability partly offsets this. But to use her ability, she has to catch something with gold on it, and even with a Helmsman on board, that won't be easy.

A better idea might be to crew her with Captain and Helmsman. Send her out as a raider. She may not be able to overtake much, but if she sails for a blocking position between the wild islands and the enemy home, the gold ships will have to come to her. Her guns are good enough to cripple most gold runners, and she can also try for a ram and a coin-steal.

The trouble is, even the Cursed have ships in the same class as the Death Wind that are either faster (Clear Wind, Fiddler's Green) or noticeably better (Guinee). We won't even talk about how much better you could do for eleven points with other factions. This is just a so-so ship, made worse by her slowness.

Goldship rating: 2.3 / 5

Gun Ship rating: 1.9 / 5

Boarding rating: 2.5 / 5

Value for points: 2.4 / 5