Name:    Calypsos (Cursed)

Card:    DJC #003 (Rare)

Points:  15

Masts: 5

Cargo: 5

Moves: L

Guns : 2S,2S,2S,2S,2S

Hit %: 333 (S), 0 (L)

Ability: Sea Monster. If this sea monster succeeds at a boarding party, you may choose two crew, two treasure, or one crew and one treasure, instead of only one crew or treasure.

Let's have another Davy Jones' Curse week (we haven't had one in a while), and we'll start with one of the better sea monsters in that release.

Calypsos has first-rate "cannons," better than nearly any other sea monster. It also has a killer ability for boarding, and with five arms, it will win most boarding actions. Add a hefty "cargo hold" for stolen gold, and this beast can throw a scare into even the biggest gold ship.

That's the sea monster's natural prey, of course; you don't want to take on a fighting ship and risk damage that can't be repaired, unless you absolutely have to. Even the price tag is reasonable.

The only thing not to like here is speed. This critter is just too slow to catch gold ships, or much of anything else. It would be worth putting the Sargasso Nightmare on a cheap ship and chasing Calypsos around, just to speed it up. Otherwise, your best play is to head for a gold-rich island and wait for the enemy to come to you. If you scare him off and he doesn't oblige, then your gold ships get a clean shot at that island, and the sea monster has earned his keep without firing a shot.

With a bit more speed, Calypsos would be even more deadly than my favorite monster, Calim.  But if Calypsos had S+S+S speed like Calim did, it would cost a lot more than 15 points. This oversized calamari is a fair value for its cost, and it has a lot of potential for wreaking havoc. Fun!

Goldship rating: 2.1 / 5

Gun Ship rating: 3.7 / 5

Boarding rating: 4.1 / 5

Value for points: 3.0 / 5