General description:
I pulled USS Stephens just before a single-pack, sealed game. Unfortunately not from the booster I was supposed to use! Grrr!! Five masts, good cannons, captain AND reverse-captain all in one, and it had to stay aside while I played with two common three masts... My opponent teased me during the whole match...
Well, this is a gunship indeed! One of the few ships to be feared as they are, built and played; a bit slow perhaps, but this is game balance for you...
What’s more, if your house rules allow the move-shoot-move combo (technically captain and reverse-captain abilities can’t be combined), this becomes a real beast!
One more thing: at first this seems a very expensive ship, and 20 points is expensive indeed, but the only crew I know of that gives the same abilities is Benito De Soto, a pirate that costs 9 points! In theory you get the rest of the ship for 11 points, and that would be a real bargain!
Uses:
This a gunship, to be used “as is” in a standard game or manned in a high point match.
Strategies and game play:
If I were to play this ship in a standard game, I’d put an helmsman if I really wanted some speed, and forget about all the problems about your crew being killed, stolen, or mermaided.
Fight, escort my treasure runners, and since nobody likes to waste four cargo spaces, ram, shoot (with the captain ability and a bit of care for the ramming angle you can shoot all you have on your prey) and board what’s left.
Combos with other miniatures:
The best crews I can think of for USS Stephens are Captain Montana Mays and Wayne Nolan. For 7 points you get an extra action 66% the times (extra action from Montana combined with reroll from Wayne) and a +1 bonus on boarding rolls. All this for a single cargo space. This way we could give USS Stephens a full move action and a full shoot action, creating a funny move-shoot-shoot-move combo! If I really felt evil I would have made it move-shoot-shoot-move-ram-board (supposing there’s still something to ram after 10 shots..)
This for “only” 27 points, plus the omnipresent Helmsman. What’s more, since the extra action comes at the beginning of your turn, there’s no need to change tactics in mid-movement if we don’t get it!
A very good alternative to Montana is also Commander Steven Decatur: for the same price we have a protection on our crew! This way we can board safely (though without that +1 bonus) and no worry about crew or cargo killers!
Ways to counteract it:
Like for many five masts ships, one of the best tactics to deal with this thug is pinning it bow to bow with something immune at S-range, then shoot (possibly a firepot).
Otherwise, use speed, and stay far away!
Strengths/Pros:
Great built in abilities;
Good cannons;
Since it can be played without crew, it can be immune to Mermaids, that’s much for a gunship!
Enough cargo to do a lot of boarding!
Weaknesses/Cons:
High point cost;
Like most five mast it’s on the slow side...
Artwork and aesthetics:
Let’s face it: it’s awful.
Red-blue-yellow hull, dirty green-grey sails with purple and orange designs... This is Harlequin’s ship! It makes you think at Wizkids they hired a colour-blind artist...
It’s ugly, very ugly. I myself play it with masts hired from another ship, usually HMS Swallow: the sails are plain white, and the cannons are almost identical, you just have to remember the middle one is 2L instead of 3L. This way the ship becomes almost decent...
Overall rating:
9+/10 for the ship, but less than zero for the design…
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