Epic Seas Cursed – Halloween 2026 Mega Pack!
Pirates CSG Mega Pack for October 2026
Here are the game pieces for the Epic Seas Cursed Mega Pack, released starting in October 2026 for subscribers of my Buccaneer’s Booty Box!
I was excited when I saw my subscribers voted for a new fantasy Cursed release, given the Halloween holiday at the end of October.
I’m stoked to have checked a lot of boxes for this one:
-Epic crazy capital ship with huge cost and wild gimmicky nature
-Multiple sea creatures!
-Multiple game pieces that are capable of weaponizing terrain, one of my favorite concepts in Pirates and something I’m employing a ton in CG4 (the biggest Pirates game ever played).
-Two original ship types that are new to the relaunch (1 Mast Galley and Turtle Ship)
-The return of Cursed voodoo playing a role in the game’s story
-Typically gimmicky Cursed stuff, but still with some gold hauling capabilities on the smaller ships
-Various Cursed-style abilities such as Sea Monster, Fear, Hydra, Fog Hopper, global possession, plus all the wild new abilities
-Named crew that will really augment their ranks
-Apocalyptic and horrifying flavor text to take the game to a more Epic level – a “living” ship, summoning ancient beasts from mythology, mind control, a ghostly apparition, extermination and torture.
Call of the Sea
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 001
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 27
Masts: 5
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2L-4S-3L-4S-2L
Ability: When you give this ship a move action and can draw a straight line (that does not cross a game piece, terrain, or islands) from this ship’s bow to a whirlpool, you may move this ship into that whirlpool as the move action; she must exit at a different whirlpool. This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls when within S of a whirlpool. Once per turn, you may choose a sea creature within S of this ship; this turn, that sea creature gets +L to its base move and +1 to its cannon rolls.
Link: Valmung
Flavor text: One of the most “possessed” ships to ever sail, the Call of the Sea is rumored to be a living, sentient being. Her decks moan as she speeds to destinations no mortal man would dare pursue. When the ocean is in turmoil, the ship thrives. Ever since Valmung assumed command of the ship and her few crew, the ship has taken on a special role: summoning demons of the deep to carry out Cursed deeds.
Total insanity! Given the plethora of exciting 3-card Cursed ships/creatures in my Epic Seas fantasy set, it was a tough choice to pick just one as the flagship of this release. I really wanted it to be a 5 masted ship or a 6 masted junk, but this one “called” to me the most for a variety of reasons – it would be the one game piece in the release to cost 20+ points, it weaponizes terrain, it has a spooky theme fitting for Halloween, and the artwork would go hard since it’s a ship borne from the depths of seaside hell…. Plus, The Cursed got very few 5 masted sailing ships in the original sets, so this makes up for that a bit.
Her crazy set of abilities drive the majority of the massive point cost, as they should. The first ability is probably the most powerful, as it potentially lets the ship zoom any distance across the table into a whirlpool. Of course, the sheer amount of stuff in the way will make it somewhat situational, possibly incentivizing the controller of this ship to place islands and terrain relatively far apart during the Setup phase. It will also be key to consider the order of operations on your turn when using it – if you’re able to move a friendly ship out of the “line to whirl”, or possibly sink an enemy ship that’s in the way first/etc. Most of these game pieces were originally created sometime around 2017-2019, but the “must exit at a different whirlpool” part was added after I selected this ship in September. This is to prevent the ship from simply warping over to a whirlpool right next to an enemy ship, then not even using it and blasting away with Captain/etc. I want the ship to stick to her theme and only get called to the sea when she’ll actually utilize the whirlpools. In theory, with a double action available, she could zip into one whirlpool, then take her second and final action of the turn at the other whirlpool.
That tactic pairs perfectly with her second ability, which could be used for cannons, boarding, EA/SAT rolls, etc. An interesting idea I thought of was gambling on an EA crew – you could wait until after exiting the second whirlpool to roll, thus getting +1 to the roll which would then succeed on a 4-6. Big risk though if there are enemy ships waiting on the other side of the second whirlpool, unless you had some kind of Admiral’s Action/Lord Mycron/etc to back it up.
Her final ability functions as a sea creature cheerleader – notably not limited to just Sea Monsters, nor to just friendly creatures. That ability might pair well with her linked crew you can see below, who I envision potentially jumping from the CotS to a friendly sea creature and back as the game goes on. I’ll admit, the biggest problem with this release is probably that the ability text barely fits on the cards!
I haven’t made fantasy ship artwork in quite a while, I think not since the first Cursed Mega Pack from fall 2024. At first it was slightly intimidating since it differs so much from historically accurate ship art, but once I finished one of the 1 masters I really went gung ho and enjoyed it as expected. Call of the Sea is certainly one of the most unique ships I’ve made, and the art is no exception. I outlined my artwork priorities for the ship prior to getting started:
Sails: radial gradient with light middle, green/gray outside, heavy texturing + holes. Hull: dark blue as dominant color plus purple and gray swirl/texture pattern, decent armament with possible color variation of guns/gunports. Stern gallery/etc could have light blue highlights. Decks: dark brown middle, blue outside, light blue plank lines.
Overall I’m happy with how it turned out. I really wanted to emphasize the “born from the sea” nature of the ship with a lot of blue and purple. The biggest priorities for specifics were the hull texturing and look, and the tattered and worn sails. The hull texture is a mysterious mass of swirls, coupled with a blue-purple gradient and only a bit of the actual wood showing through in light blue and dark blue streaks. Purple lanterns at the bow, both on hull and forecastle. She’s got a substantial armament, purposely a bit asymmetrical with some of the cannon placements. Purple-tipped gunport lids, and some double and triple cannon ports to change it up from the typical historical stuff I’ve done.
The sails are a bit reminiscent of the movie Flying Dutchman, but with their own shapes and deep-sea white/green/gray gradient. I may have gone a little overboard with the electric blue outline around the masts, but I think it accentuates the strange and ethereal look I was going for. I also like how it reminds me of bioluminescence, which I was amazed at when I saw it in person years ago near San Diego.
The numbers reset starting from 001 for this release because Epic Seas is a very different set than Age of Sail (my historical set that most of the Mega Packs come from). (the Cursed Mega Pack released for Friday the 13th in 2024 has high numbers because I was doing it differently back then, but since then I’ve realized I should just go sequentially in order for physically released game pieces)
Lerna
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 002
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 18
Masts: 6
Cargo: 1
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 5S-4S-3S-4S-5S-3S
Ability: Sea Monster. Hydra. Fear. At the beginning of each of your turns, eliminate one crew from a ship within S of this sea creature.
Flavor text: Leave it to The Cursed to animate horrors so profound that legends have been written about them. This foul creature has such a virulent scent that living things perish in its mere presence. However, The Cursed have had trouble controlling the beast and its poisonous fumes – something that could change if Valmung teams up with The Necromancer.
Hydra: A hydra is a type of sea monster. The following abilities are specific to hydras and override the Sea Monster keyword: Measure a hydra’s movement from the middle head slot on its base. Hydras may move and shoot using the same move action. A hydra may be given repair actions at sea or at any island, including while it is submerged.
The Lernaean Hydra is finally here in full! A different version of Lerna was playtested in my “Concept Testing Game” from 9/14/24. The beast from Greek mythology has changed somewhat significantly since then. I wanted the new ability to be as thematic and lore-accurate as possible, so it will affect friendly ships as well (likely only if there are no enemy ships to choose from). It has Fear, as it guarded an entrance to the underworld and required Hercules himself to slay it. One of the great and horrid creatures from the ancient world… this was one of the few game pieces created for this release that I designed this decade, rather than in the 2010s when I made the majority of my Epic Seas set (so far).
I think the speed should really help it affect games a bit, compared to the slower base moves of Pyrannus and Mušmaḫḫū (the other hydras come to life for the relaunch). The cargo space would allow Valmung to come aboard. A submerged strategy could be nasty in an enemy formation, since both Fear and the deadly scent ability would work while underwater. It’s a toxic menace with staying power! I love name-dropping crew/ships/characters in flavor text, which works perfectly for the last sentence because The Necromancer is one of several Cursed named crew in my Epic Seas set that may have some kind of “summoning” role in the Cursed quest to annihilate human life….
I’ve always associated the color purple with The Cursed faction. I also associate it with the poison type from Pokemon, so it felt natural to go wild with purple for Lerna’s artwork. All of its maws are emitting the poisonous breath and horrific scent. I wanted the gaping mouths to be more hideous and intimidating on this one compared to my past hydras, with a tongue behind the huge teeth. The water around it is being poisoned as well, with the frothing water around the segments turning purple. The body shadow is a slightly different shape from the other hydras. Scales are still present on the segments (similar to Pyrannus), but I added a new cracked glass texture to the overall dark gradient to make it more unique as well.
Apophis
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 003
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 3
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L-2L-2L-1S
Ability: Sea Monster. Once per round of turns, eliminate one cargo from a ship or fort within L of this sea creature (you choose what the cargo is eliminated from, the controller of the game piece chooses which cargo is eliminated).
Flavor text: Reborn and thus summoned by the combined powers of the Demon King and Kalfu, this enormous beast has battled with Ra himself. His movements are said to create earthquakes and thunderstorms. Also known as The Lord of Chaos, the legions of Cursed fiends are excited to see what havoc he can wreak on the established powers of the world….
The release very nearly featured one sea creature instead of two. Early in the game piece selection process, I was heavily debating what combination of ship types and cards to go with. I was close to including the Molten Dream as a 3 mast frigate, with her linked crew the Skag Host. However, I decided to knock Immamou from a 3 master to a 1 masted turtle ship, which freed up a card. I also did some pretty inspiring research on various serpentine beasts, which is when I found Apophis from Egyptian mythology. Given the incredible lore behind it, the scary and nasty nature of a Halloween-themed release, and focusing on the Cursed faction, I decided I really should go with two sea creatures for this Mega Pack. 🙂 So now the Cursed get their first new sea serpent of my Pirates CSG Relaunch, in addition to their second hydra!
Apophis is “the ancient Egyptian deity of chaos”, and fought the sun-god Ra on a daily basis (!). I could have gone way overboard with this one, but wanted to keep things semi-reasonable and playable in 60 point games haha! The Cursed have grown far more powerful than they were in the days of Ocean’s Edge and Savage Shores/etc. Their ranks have grown immensely, and now they have characters that can literally summon evil gods of empires past to do their bidding. O_O A combination of hellish demons, new malevolent deities, and an absolute hostile takeover of voodoo magicians have enabled them to resurrect ancient legends in their quest for an eternal Cursed Age.
The ability is perfect for its underworld earthquakes and as an “Eater of Souls”. Originally it wiped out a cargo from anything within L, but then I realized you could whittle away at an enemy’s home island treasure which would be broken, especially for a game piece that can submerge. The point costs for my new sea creatures like this one and Lerna are based on being able to use them with Captain built-in to the Sea Monster keyword, as it appears in my New Master Keyword List. The ability can only be used once per round, which for errata purposes I define as a round of turns starting from the first player and ending with the last player (not measured from the controller’s turn until their next turn). This could be used as an interrupt, triggered on an opponent’s turn. For a beast of this magnitude and eminence, I wanted the segment firepower high, with even a rank-1 added on the tail to make it more formidable.
As this is essentially a historical sea creature from mythology, I wanted to be as faithful to the ancient Egyptian references as possible. I find it amazing that we have good-quality paintings to see exactly how the serpent was depicted, so I wanted to pay homage to that. A final touch was a little bit of watercolor and battle damage texturing to make it slightly less basic. Overall I’m stoked to see what kind of havoc that The Lord of Chaos can cause in your games!
Spiral Chaos
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 004
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 12
Masts: 1
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3L
Ability: Once during your turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, move any ship within L of a whirlpool into that whirlpool; you may choose the exit location of the ship. This ship can move through whirlpools without losing masts or cargo.
Flavor text: This sloop’s small crew complement has traveled on most of the world’s mysterious whirlpools. They have combined that knowledge with an ancient relic to force enemy ships to take the plunge.
Oh boy… this is one of my favorite Cursed game pieces I’ve ever designed, and just so on-brand for the Cursed and their chaotic gimmicky nature. It was the first game piece chosen for the release – it was on my radar even before the October poll options went live for subscribers, partly because my Cursed fleet is using her in CG4.
I know that “Mind Control” is a touchy topic with some players because it messes with player agency, but if any faction should have access to that kind of weaponry, it’s inarguably The Cursed. This one is absolutely diabolical – you get sucked in. 😂 The concept is just so funny to me! It’s almost like the whirlpool has a mind of its own, or is growing larger to swallow up whole ships that thought they were safe. In reality it’s the mysterious crew of this little sloop that is able to “force enemy ships to take the plunge”. 😂 In the right situations it’s a very powerful ability, hence being limited to a 33% chance and only during the controller’s turns. You could even use it on friendly ships, but the most fun possibilities are using it to force an enemy ship to wind up somewhere unfavorable… possibly right next to a hostile Cursed warship! It could also pair extremely well with the Cursed L-movers… since it’s a ship ability that will be face up from the start of the game, enemy players will likely try to stay more than L away from whirlpools. However, with enough luck from an L-mover or similar ability, they might have to stay L+L or more away which could be rather difficult and disruptive.
The ship also has the “Protection from Davy Jones” UT ability, which feels like it could be on a decent amount of Cursed ships. She’s got good basic stats too, so will possibly run gold or assist a flotilla when she’s not weaponizing whirlpools from afar… naturally her cost had to be quite high for a 1 master in order to justify the chaos she might create.
The artwork was always going to be wild for this one. Whirlpools on the sails, big purple theming, and wave patterns on the hull to emphasize the shifting waters theme of her abilities. It’s fun to make Cursed stuff once in a while, since it’s the perfect reason to go overboard both in terms of gameplay and artwork!
Wisp
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 005
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 7
Masts: 1
Cargo: 2
Base Move: S+S+S
Cannons: 5S
Ability: Galley. If this ship ends her turn in a fog bank, on her next turn she can use her move action to move out of any other fog bank in play.
Flavor text: The Wisp has achieved something almost no other Cursed vessel has: status as a respectable vessel whose crew can be reasoned with. She comes and goes as a shadow, and is one of the smallest galleys ever built. Although her crew are not as murderous as those on other Cursed ships, they still serve “The One”.
The second game piece chosen for inclusion in this release! Wisp was a priority from the start as well, both to have a “ghostly” type of thing in the Halloween product, and to augment the Cursed gold running/support capabilities a bit. I absolutely love the Fog Hopper ability, and it’s about time the Cursed got one that’s both fast and cheap. It’s another way they can weaponize terrain, though here it probably won’t be in an offensive role unless she picks up the Plague UT/etc. She’s also a good option to tow a flotilla. Minimal space for crew, so I think my default role would be as an empty gold runner that fog hops as often as possible. Players using this release in games will want to think carefully about their terrain choices during Setup – both their number proposal of terrain each player will place, and eventually the quantity of each type they place once a number per player is established.
For the artwork, I made her nearly monochrome. The sail has some transparency, showing the mast behind it. The water below the ghostly oars has some otherworldly texture to it. Wisps of smoke flow around the oars – some above, and some below. The hull and deck have bone-colored elements and a smoky watercolor texture, emphasizing how elusive the ship is.
Immamou
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 006
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 8
Masts: 1
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S
Cannons: 5L
Ability: Turtle Ship. Whenever any crew is eliminated, roll a d6; on a result of 6, assign the crew to this ship. Its nationality changes to match the nationality of this ship and it becomes linked to this ship.
Link: Agwe Arroyo
Flavor text: The Immamou is the ship that carries the dead to Guinee – the afterlife. However, now that her captain has been brainwashed into Cursed control, those expired souls have a new chance at life… but only if they serve evil.
When I made this ship some years ago she was a 3 master. However, I changed it to a turtle ship in order to fit another card of sea creature into the release, and to add another original ship type. This makes two “new” ship types for the relaunch, as 1 masted galley and turtle ship make their returns. With a trio of 1 masters, I was able to fit 6 ships and 4 crew into the release. I love variety, so adding the new types was a bit of extra work but worth it to avoid having them all be sloops (Wisp was always a galley, and going to stay that way). This way, each of the 6 ships/creatures is a different type!
The entire concept behind my inclusion of The Cursed using voodoo was indeed inspired by Papa Doc, George Washington LeBeaux and their stories (plus the game-breaking Altar of the Loa UT, and the involvement of Jacques and Godiva). I think it was one of the coolest and most intriguing/evil/mysterious flavor text themes in any of the original sets. Now, The Cursed have taken it to a horrific extreme. Not only have they figured out how to work with the Loa themselves, they’ve used their powers to corrupt and control many of them…. No offense is meant to Haitian religion or anything else… it’s just a logical continuation of the fictional storyline and how The Cursed have become powerful enough to corrupt entities and even deities to serve their wicked ways….
Finally on to the ship – turtle ship was partly chosen as the ship type because it is almost coffin-like, and hence fitting for carrying dead souls to the afterlife. Her “global possession” ability is perfect for trapping the would-be dead in a living prison, forced to serve Cursed masters. It’s a bit of a typical Cursed ship – slow, gimmicky, and not conventionally “good” like the best gold runners or gunships. However, I wanted her cost to be fair, and I think she can shine as a near-HI (home island) gold hauler with a helmsman aboard. That would bring her to 10 points, at S+S with 3 spaces still open. Her linked crew (Reroll) can come aboard without cargo loss to help possess more souls, potentially allowing the ship to function as more than just a gold hauler at some point in the game if the possessed have good enough abilities. The Code entry on page 23 is a must-read for anyone using this ability… I think one of the more underrated potential tactics with it is using it to occasionally deny an enemy the SAT/EA…. (which at the opportune moment could be devastating)
The artwork is intentionally wacky. I consulted some colorful paintings and artifacts based on the historical lore, which is where the graphics on the hull and panels come from. A few oars are missing, or too close together as the possessed (or Cursed zombie) crew have trouble with their rowing duties. Newly colored main cannon on deck, along with a few spears and swivel guns. Sail colors and part of the hull color-matched to the unique references I could find.
Maoritheel The Exalted One
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 007
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 8
Ability: Captain. Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given an extra action.
Link: Deicide
Flavor text: Often mistaken for The Devil himself, Maoritheel has a stately elegance and aura around him that most of the Cursed lack. He has become one of the leaders of the new Cursed apocalyptic movement. Speaking little, he goes about his world-ending business in a calculating but grandiose way.
This guy will be a huge help to The Cursed as a faction. He links to a 10 master; Deicide basically means god killer. He represents the latest evolution of The Cursed faction, and a continuation seen in the Berserk Overlord/etc from the first Cursed Mega Pack. They are going for total world domination, human extinction, and an eternity of evil on the seas. Thus they will be equipped to carry out this task. Maoritheel is one of the few “conventionally great” game pieces in this release; more thoughts on that topic are at the bottom of this post.
Valmung
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 008
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 6
Ability: Eternal. Cannoneer. This crew can be assigned to and use their abilities on game pieces with the Sea Monster keyword.
Link: Call of the Sea
Flavor text: Valmung is a tall creature with a raspy voice who can expel smoke from gill-like holes in his face. He came up as a “serpent rider” and has nursed at least one beast of the sea back to full health.
Valmung was the first named crew chosen for the release, mostly due to his link to the capital ship. He combines a few good abilities into one cargo space, and thus would pair well with Call of the Sea. Assigning him there would leave her regular 3 cargo spaces open and still 21 points in the cap space, allowing for a lot of other wild stuff to come aboard. Alternatively, he can help out a Sea Monster – be it Lerna, Apophis, or any of the original Cursed Sea Monsters that have cargo. It’s a little wild to me that in the original sets the Americans received more crew with Eternal (2 overall) than The Cursed, whose only original crew with it is RotF El Fantasma. Valmung gives them a great option for ships, and really opens up some interesting Eternal possibilities on Sea Monsters.
Fiendslave
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 009
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 6
Ability: Once per turn, you may eliminate one of this ship’s cargo to give her an extra action.
Link: Harvester, Slaves of the Devil
Flavor text: An ungodly figure who stands over 8 feet tall, this demon has been sent to the high seas by a mysterious entity that even The Cursed themselves are in the dark about. His cargo is merely the subsistence necessary to keep his powerful warship en route. Spurring the Harvester on to new heights of power, his end goal is the extermination of all life not ruled by his master.
Probably one of the most iconic named crew in the set when I first revealed batches of it at Miniature Trading last decade….
The Fiendslave is disgusting: gameplay, flavor and art are all horrific. His linked ship the Harvester is a really crazy switchblade, but ships with moving parts might not work well with laser cut styrene, so I don’t know if she’ll arrive in the game anytime soon.
The ability is incredibly good, and absolutely perfect for a major Cursed named crew – sacrificing crew, gold, equipment, and even UT’s (especially negative ones!) to fuel Cursed carnage! If the original Sac ability was undercosted at 2 points and is really worth 4-5 in gameplay (at a minimum), this certainly had to be at least 6.
I was stoked to find public domain artwork that was near-perfect for what I had in mind. An absolutely massive diabolical fiend just munching on someone’s leg! From the “Compendium Of Demonology and Magic”.
Agwe Arroyo
Set: Pirates of the Epic Seas
Release: Halloween 2026 (October 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 010
Nationality: The Cursed
Point Cost: 3
Ability: Once per turn, you may reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result.
Link: Immamou
Flavor text: One of the many Loa who have been recruited to the Cursed cause by the Divine Summoner, the Archangel Fiend, and Baron Kriminel. His mind has been completely corrupted. Now the souls he used to ferry to the afterlife are revived to fuel Cursed legions committing torture and genocide.
Finally, we reach the last game piece of the release. He’s the most basic of them all, but fittingly “magical” for the voodoo crew. The Cursed have turned him evil (various other Epic Seas Cursed crew name dropped in the flavor text, hopefully as a preview). He pairs exceptionally well with many of these other game pieces – Immamou, Call of the Sea, Spiral Chaos and Maoritheel would all love to team up with him.
Overall that’s a good note to end these writeups on – there’s a lot of synergy in this release. Spiral Chaos could pair well with Call of the Sea, yanking enemy ships into a whirlpool that CotS will suddenly emerge from. The creatures can cause mass death together, even while submerged. When they surface, Valmung might be riding one of them to make it even more of a threat. While enemies are distracted by the whirlpool chaos, Wisp can augment the terrain game by gathering treasure in far-off places accessible by fog. I think Cursed players will be pretty happy with the variety of new and old gimmicks available to them, plus the major augmentation of Cursed named crew ranks.
~~~~~
Originally I thought this release would have at least some theming around cannibalism and/or burning victims to death, but went in the directions of Terrain as a Weapon (TaaW), sea creatures, apparitions, extermination and voodoo instead (mostly based on gameplay preferences from the pool of Epic Seas game pieces I was selecting from). I absolutely love doing the historical releases and trying to make them as accurate as possible to what happened back then, but a fantasy release really allows me to flex some creativity and completely branch off from needing to stick to historicity all the time. It was quite fun to make!
I’m a decently big believer in factional identities and established strengths – Pirates should be awesome in general as they are the name of the game, England should win some wars, Spanish should have deep cargo holds, etc. Thus the Cursed stay wild and unique, with gimmicky powers that other factions simply don’t have access to. I don’t think the Cursed need some huge boost in the form of amazing conventional gold runners or powerful simple warships. When they win, I like when it rides on the back of their craziness and evil – weaponizing terrain and unique abilities/game elements, massacring crew, mind control, etc. There’s a way to add game pieces to the established sets that helps a poorly-optimized faction win games, without compromising what they represent thematically. I’ve tried to do that here.
Unique factions are one of the strong thematic elements of this game, so generally I like it to stay that way. Some exceptions are fine on occasion (as seen on a few of the named crew here), but that’s generally my outlook on the topic, and why I don’t try to suddenly “fix” a crappy faction by just homogenizing their options in a boring way.
Now you can join The Apocalypse Movement… so all can perish….