Miniature Trading

General description:
This is my favorite pirate ship for collecting treasure, and the first ship I traded for. It's an ultra-rare, so good luck finding one for yourself! Mine is from the unlimited series, but both are identical in every way.

Uses:
The Star of Siam has little use other than running treasure. With a base move of 3S and a cargo hold of four, it's ideal for this purpose. And because it's a galley, it has a chance to limp back to home port should it come under fire and become derelict. At a cost of eight points, you'd be hard pressed to find a comparable ship with similar abilities.

Strategies and game play:
If you're playing a pirate or mixed-nation fleet, the Star can provide effective treasure collection for a minimum number of points. This is extremely useful in a standard 40 point match. Usage is straight-forward: grab as many treasure coins as you can with the Star, while escorting it or distracting enemy units with your gun ships. Do not directly engage enemy units with the Star if at all possible. Both it's cannons are short range, and quite weak (3S and 5S).

Combos with other miniatures:
This ship works great with many types of crew. An explorer or helmsman can enhance the Star's already great stats. Or a crew that can grant additional actions (such as Calico Cat) can also be used to great effect. I do advise that you assign only one crew to the Star in order to leave sufficient cargo space, but if you're using a second treasure ship you may be able to get away with that...

Darrin has suggested assigning Captain Jack Sparrow to the Star. Since he links to any pirate ship he won't take up any valuable cargo space, and he has a nifty ability to swap crewmen for a treasure coin from the island he's exploring. Captain Jack also has the move and shoot ability which could be helpful when and if the Star is attacked.

Ways to counteract it:
Should you find yourself sitting across the table from a player who's fielding the Star of Siam, make sure you don't underestimate it's speed. It's capable of up to 4S each turn if it has a helmsman, so you'll need to either find a way to destroy it ASAP or ensure that you're collecting gold as quickly as it is. Remember that the Star is a galley, so rendering it derelict won't be sufficient to prevent it from getting home and unloading it's cargo. If you get a chance, move/shoot/ram it with your flagship at the first opportunity and take it out of the game.

Strengths/Pros:
Low point cost vs. abilities
Great base movement
Good cargo hold limit
'Galley' keyword

Weaknesses/Cons:
Weak, short range cannons
Ultra-rare means ultra-hard to obtain

Artwork and aesthetics:
This is one of the nicer looking ships I've seen, especially compared to some of the more boring ship designs that have been released. There's nothing that directly relates to the name or abilities of the ship in the art design, but the colors and motif work well enough. A star icon instead of the jolly roger symbols on the sails would've been cool, but oh well...

Overall rating:
My overall rating for The Star of Siam is 8.7 out of 10.