Pirates of the Revolution – La Santa Isabella

Name: La Santa Isabella

Set: POR

Card #s: 040

Type: Ship

Cost: 13 Points

Faction: Spanish

Masts: 4

Cargo: 6

Cannons 3S, 3S, 3S, 3S

Movement 1S+ 1L

Ability: “Schooner. One of this ship's treasures is worth +2 gold when unloaded at your home island. “

Flavor Text: “With her gilded hull and polished cannons, La Santa Isabel is a throwback to the days when Spain ruled the seas. Now, she is reduced to trading between the colonies and Spain.”

Hard-core Spanish players are really ticked off at WizKids right about now.  Why?  Players are mad because in the latest expansion, Pirates of the Revolution, the Spanish got the shaft.  In a full expansion, the Spanish got only FOUR new ships, ONE new named crew, and ONE new fort.  Of course, they were well represented in the first two expansions, and if you look at the total numbers of ships per faction, the Spanish are right at the same place that every other faction is at, with the exception of Pirates, who have about twice as many choices available to them. 

So most Spanish players are really worried that the Spanish will get hosed again in the upcoming Barbary Coast set, but I don’t think we have much to worry about.  The backlash from this set has been pretty strong, so for the next set I would imagine that the English would get the short end of the stick.  This is just my speculation though.

This week I thought we’d look at some Spanish pieces, but I wanted to mix it up a little.  We’ll look at one piece from each set, AND they won’t all be rares either.  The nice thing about this game is that even the common and uncommon pieces are game worthy.  Today’s vessel is the “La Santa Isabella”, which is somewhat near and dear to my heart, as she shares her name with my wife’s six-month-old kitten (who we also call “Psycho and Crack Baby, though that’s a story for another time).  She’s definitely a treasure hauler; because each time she pulls into port to unload her treasure she gets an additional +2 to one piece (which, by the way, is the same ability that the Pirate Genny Gallows has).  You may not think that’s much, but load her up with some treasure specific crew and you’re well in business.  One might put a Bianco’s Hauler’s on board, which allows her to unload treasure as long as your ship is within 1S of your homeport.  I would also definitely load her with an Explorer and a Helmsman leaving you with 3 cargo slots, but also giving you S+S+L movement.  Don’t forget, she’s a schooner too, giving her that maximum maneuverability.

The nice thing about this ship is that she isn’t totally defenseless either.  Four cannons with a natural 50% ability to hit from S range isn’t anything to sneeze at.  She won’t make a good gunboat, but that wasn’t what she was designed for.

Uncommons in Pirates are worth anywhere between $1 and $3 depending on which ship it is, and what it’s ability is.  This one is well within that range, so there’s no auction review necessary.

My Ratings:

Playability 3 of 5

Collectability 2 of 5