I've had the Peacock in my collection for years, but
I've never used her. I'm not sure why; maybe I get
distracted by the Americans'
excellent four- and five-masted warriors. But this
is a good small warrior with a lot of potential.
With two good cannons and high speed, she'll make a
good back-up fighter that can get to the action in a
hurry. With her speed and her ability, she can catch
small enemy gold ships, ram and board them, and then
run away with whatever she stole. She can even serve
as a gold ship. Yes, two cargo is pretty scanty for
gold, but the Americans have so few gold runners
that they sometimes have to take what they can get.
In this case, you get maxed-out speed for a
single-digit price tag, which isn't bad at all. It's
a hair faster than the Rattlesnake with a Helmsman,
but that combo costs two points less and has four
cargo free.
So unless you don't have the Rattlesnake (and I
think everybody does), you're better off using the
Peacock aggressively, either as a small gunner or as
a harasser of enemy gold runners.
If this ship weren't a Schooner, I would say for
sure that it would be a better fighter than a gold
runner, but it's an old-style Schooner with the
masts that block each other.
Powers: In addition to the Schooner keyword, the
Peacock cannot be pinned. This power combo is great
if you plan to do a lot of ramming, but the Peacock
is a 2-mast boat; there's not a lot of boats it
should be ramming.
Cargo Space: 2 spaces is good for a fighting ship,
bad for a gold runner. Peacock can move quickly
enough to make gold running viable though.
Masts: The Peacock has two 2S guns, which is why I
almost consider her to be a good fighter, but
they're old Schooner masts and block each other from
shooting to one side.
Base Move: S+S+S, same as the rest of the week.
Point Value: There's not a lot going for the Peacock
to justify the nine point price tag. She can kind of
gold run and kind of fight, but isn't more than
average at either.
