General description:
While the subtitle was a joke, the Virtuous Wind is not. Besides the British, only the Spanish imo came off with the best Junks. In fact, when SCS came out, a thread devoted to the JR tactics called the Virtuous Wind (which I will abbreviate for the sake of the review) one of the best JR ships. And it still is, even though it lost a little bit of speed. (It replaced S+L with S+S, which is not great, but still good.) It is also one of the most heavily armed out of all of the HI raiders, having all rank 2, L range cannons. Also, it has a cargo of 5, which is also very good. Being able to raid a home island, and defend yourself, is a task that most HI raiders fail at. The VW, in this case, excels in both areas. And although it is is fairly expensive at 14 points, the VW can easily make up for it with stolen coins and sunken ships.
If you couldn't tell already, the Virtuous Wind is easily in my top 10, or even top 5, of favorite Spanish ships to use.
Uses:
The Virtuous Wind practically embodies the Spanish, being a jack of all trades. It can treasure run (more accurately steal), and fights very well. Like I said before, the VW is a jack of all trades, and should be used as such. To only use it for one or the other is a waste. If I wanted a pure fighter, I'd pull out the Santo Colomba or something like that. If I wanted a treasure stealer, I'd...nevermind. I'd probably go with this ship. But ignoring that slight problem, the VW should be used to tick off your opponent.
Strategies and game play:
In terms of strategy, the most effective position for this ship is near the enemy HI. In fact, at least half of the time you should be within S+S+S range of it. Why S+S+S? Because that's how fast this ship can move with a helmsman. Talk about convenient. The other half of the time should be spent ferrying stolen gold back to your home island. This is not the most ideal thing to be doing, but this can be fixed. And I will talk about that in the combos section. Anyway, with the VW's high hold, much gold can be stolen. But not all of that should be just for gold! I will get onto that later.
The great part about stealing gold and shooting your enemy with rank 2 guns is the huge amount of pressure it puts on your enemy. It's like the Zerg rush from Starcraft, an enemy on your doorstep frustrating your efforts to keep your guys safe is obnoxiously hard, especially when the opponent is good. And that is where the Virtuous Wind excels, is in putting pressure on your opponent.
Combos with other miniatures:
First of all, a good ship to use with the VW is the SM La Resolucion, which allows you to keep stealing gold without missing a beat- the La Resolucion will take your stolen gold, and since the Resolucion has all rank 2 and 3 guns, ferrying gold to your HI has never been easier!
My favorite combo as of RotF has been this:
Virtuous Wind, 14 [28]
Luis Zuan, 2
Helmsman, 2
Horacio Linares, 2
Zheng Li Kwan, 5
Oarsman x2, 2
Although I can put out 2 extra actions reliably, any more and it starts to hurt in the pocketbook, if you get the expression. Before RotF, I had to make do with one oarsman and a normal captain. As you could tell, Zuan makes this so much flippin' easier to do, it's not funny. I told you he was a Spanish staple!
The combo posted above is probably the best. However, one could remove Linares and Kwan, and replace it with Master Bianco, or even Dominic Freda from RotF. Either one is a good pick. Joaquin Vega is not too bad if you want survivability, and Nemesio Diaz should not be counted out either, especially if you want protection vs. ships like the Tiger's Eye.
Ways to counteract it:
All normal ship-killing methods apply.
Ships that can't be hit by L range cannons will RIP this ship apart. No joke.
Don't focus a lot on treasure running, the VW will then become an overpriced fighting ship.
Strengths/Pros:
Jack-of-all-trades
Fast HI raider
All rank 2 cannons
Good cargo, good speed
Is Spanish (I had to put this in here for kicks.) 
Can tick off your opponent if used correctly
Weaknesses/Cons:
Jack-of-all-trades
Can be overpriced if not used correctly
14 points for 3 masts
Has all L range cannons
Won't last too long in a firefight
Artwork and aesthetics:
I love the look of junks, you can imagine my joy when I saw that Spain had received the Virtuous Wind. It is more simple than the other ones, but I really like the look of it. I mean, look at the Sea Serpent. U-G-L-Y.
Overall rating:
I give the Virtuous Wind an 8.5/10.
If it had a mix of S and L cannons, and had the original speed, it would have been much higher up. But I'm not complaining. At least, not a lot. This ship is one of the best the Spanish have to offer, in my opinion.
I hope you enjoyed my review on yet another Spanish ship! Because you're going to see more!
Miniature Trading
