Now this one is tough.  I had to consult my Top 10 Gunships Ranking thread (which may need revision) to check some stuff out… but here we’re ranking them overall as ships, not just purely as gunships. Otherwise my list would follow that one more.

My rankings:
1. Le Bonaparte 
stupid thing  I’m so biased against this trash that I really have a hard time even acknowledging it. 
2. Blackwatch / HMS Gallows 
-Blackwatch has a slight edge in being a pure gunship, Gallows gets the edge for hybrid use.
3. USS Kettering 
-Hmmm. Not sure if this should be higher on this list AND my best gunships list… the durability is still too much of an issue though I think.
4. Le Superbe 
-No surprise considering my gunships list. Better cannons, cargo and ability than Deliverance. Tough choice though!
5. Deliverance 
-I think you’ve become too obsessed with LE Griffin. 
6. Divine Dragon 
-Basically 6 rank-3 cannons with a fantastic link and plenty of cargo and speed for a ship like this. With the lack of Cursed world haters, I don’t see the need to try and make her cannons any better. I have seen this thing dominate various campaigns and situations, though I might be biased due to that history and the crew setups I usually put aboard. (such as Davy Jones … )
7. HMS Dauntless / El Cristal del Obispo 
-(Dauntless) I need that firepower haha. Gets overshadowed by the Endeavour a bit, but a very good gunship.
The Cristal is nice and has underrated potential as a hybrid. I can imagine Luis Zuan / Dominic Freda /helmsman/oarsman in a largish game… oof.
8. Harbinger 
-I wouldn’t blame someone for putting this as high as 6. Overshadowed by the original, and as a result one of the most underrated Pirate ships out there I would say.
9. La Ville de Paris 
-LOVE the ship, I mean come on! XD Yay Wizkids for that. But really, this is supposed to be a mostly objective ranking of the best ships at this cost, and speed matters a LOT. Reminds me of my thematically favorite ship, HMS Lord Algernon . Realistic and cool, just not perfect for gameplay.
10. USS Mercury 
-No disagreement here, especially with my “personal” difference on 2L vs 3S guns. (3S have been my nemesis many times in the past…)
In a strange way, the Nautilus’ great ability isn’t always that useful to her. A lot of times I’ve seen her just underwater for ramming, and as an escort for larger ships in big games. I feel like when you go after either of these, you go after them hard. As in, with multiple cancellers. XD This is often necessary just to deal with them. As a result, with enough cancelling the difference between abilities can be somewhat (literally) negated.

Nautilus would be my #11.

Other Honorable Mentions? El Rosal , Terror , Poor Adams 

Honestly the Rook’s Folly is a pretty bad ship. I’d rather just use the Death’s Angel. 

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. HMS Grand Temple 

2. San Cristobal 

3. Santa Ana 

4. Intrepid 

The rest of this feels like a tossup.

5. Bonhomme Richard 

6. Akua Lapu 

7. Loki’s Revenge 

8. Golden Medusa 

9. White Rose 

10. Revenant / USS Constitution 

Just missed: Ghost Walker , HMS Durham 

Nubian Prince is not nearly as effective as the Bonaparte, thankfully. She can be more of a nuisance than a ship that is actually effective at doing things. That said, she could jump to #4 if I face her again. Not sure how to rank her properly. Just such a horrid ability.

Other honorable mentions not seen in this thread yet:
Huginn 
La Charlemagne 
Lady’s Scorn 
Paul Revere

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. La Victoire 
2. Diamond Strike 
3. Virtuous Wind (+ Spanish version, kind of)
4. Fool’s Hope 
5. HMS Apollo 
6. HMS Victoria / Le Dauphin Royal / La Tartessos 
7. HMS Interceptor 
8. Buscador 
9. HMS Morning Star 
10. Santo Columba 

Other Honorable Mentions? Juggernaut , Julius Caesar , La Gaule , La Sirviente , Monaque , Morning Star , Neptune , Red Curse , Tasmanian Devil , Foresight , La Ebro , Hephaestus , Le Marseillais , etc.

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. Darkhawk II 
2. Native Canoes 
-Sickeningly good compared to the other canoes, including the ones from RtSS I think (still need to use those more). 10 cargo for 10 points, spread out on 5 ships that move S+L and can chain their ability for maximum logistics perfection and evasion? Arguably should be #1. In huge games they would take the top spot since you can have as many as you have gold for, which gets crazy in a hurry.
3. HMS Dover 
4. Raven 
5. HMS Nautilus 
6. Le Triton 
-Boom! One of the most underrated ships of all time and one of my all time favorites! Awesome! Could make a case for as high as #4 too.
7. La Bonne Chance 
8. HMS Phoenix 
-Love this one, but the speeds of the above are tough to ignore. #’s 4-8 could be put in most orders and it would still look good though.
9. East Wind / East Wind 
10. L’Eroica or USS James Madison 
-L’Eroica is a bit of a wacky pick here, but underrated. SAT on a gold runner can be great especially in big games when you make multiple trips to the same island(s), and she even links to a free reroller! This could easily be changed with the first few of the just missed category though.
-I had the JM as the first ship of the next section, but it’s mostly a tossup of game type/size. The longer the game goes, the more likely it is that SAT will provide more value than the extra S speed and spying ability. (though both ships would probably have a helmsman too, though the JM is one of my favorite places to put the American chieftain)

Just missed: Le Courageux , Mourning Star (I’ve used her before and it’s difficult to get anything done or succeed in any way. Incredibly short striking range with S+S total speed (that’s difficult/impractical to improve) and S range guns), HMS Lord Walpole , Wicked Kareen , Sea Rat 

Other honorable mentions: USS Lenox , Boston , Le St. Michel , Devil Ray , HMS Rickets , Pioneer , Saratoga , Splendor 

El Paso is an honorable mention for me but only makes this list if it was limited to campaign/huge games. Fragile and lackluster for a canceller, not great in games at or under 100 points.

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. Libellule 
2. Native Canoes 
3. Morning Star 
4. Eagle 
5. HMS Hyena 
6. HMS Victor 
7. Adventure 
8. El San Jose 
9. Golden Peacock 
10. Recreant / HMS Bolingbroke / HMS Wycliffe / El Leon / Selkie / Windjammer / USS Emerald 
Pick your poison: I would contend that basically ALL of these are underrated. Ladron and Revenge lose out to Recreant though due to less fitting/less useful abilities.

I HATE to leave the cancellers off this list, but they’re so easy to dismast with a ram and even capture quickly (though you should have helmsman+oarsman on both if possible). In huge games they’d get bumped to the 10th spot but they are certainly specialty pieces, more so than stuff like the Kettering and crew cancellers which are more like staples.

Just missed (along with those in the #10 spot XD): Half Moon, Ballista, Sea Crane, Fortune, Caledonia, Tiger’s Breath, Swift

Honorable Mentions not mentioned yet:
L’Amazone , Minerva , Muerta de la Corona , Cursed Native Canoes (for gold running), Sea Phoenix 
-I could mention more haha – so many good ships at this cost! The Sea Tigers/Lions can’t hold a candle to the above haha.

Original thread on Miniature Trading9

1. La Monarca 
2. Bonnie Liz 
-An utter toss-up, but I feel this ship’s slightly better firepower, cargo, and crew selection give her a tiny edge over the SoS.
3. Star of Siam 
4. Executioner 
I’ll take the better durability, far better firepower, and far better ability over the extra S the Artesien provides.
5. El San Francisco 
6. L’Artesien 
7. Morocco 
8. La Dijon 
9. HMS Alexander 
10. Royal James 

Just missed: USS Maryland , La Habana , El Tirador , HMS Resistance , El San Salvador 

Most underrated among this class? In my opinion, Cutlass and Salem . (among others XD)

Other honorable mentions not mentioned yet:
El Corazon del Mar , HMS Plantagenet , La Baionnette , Shamrock , St. Joan , USS Valley Forge , Xi’an , Yarbrough’s Revenge 

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. HMS Hound 
-Extremely capable. Hybrid potential. I can’t find a better ship at this price.

2. Carolina 
-Tough to beat the cargo, durability, and speed for the cost.

3. HMS Trepassey 

4. Honu Iki 

5. Le Coeur de Lion / El Tejon 

6. La Belle Poule / Lynx 
-9 points for 3 open spaces moving L+S. Nothing remarkable for the French but not bad. Or, S+S+S on the way out for 7 points, three coins at S+S on the way back.

7. Divine Dragon 

8. Splinter 
-Surprised I don’t have her higher, but there are a bunch of solidly effective ships for this cost.

9. La Reconquistador 

10. Bonny Kate 
-Never liked this one, it has just bothered me for some reason. I suppose I underrate it but I find her very boring. Solid case to be made that she shouldn’t make the Top 10… hmmm.

Just missed:
Coral 
Le Republicain 
-One of the most underrated support gunships out there.

Other Honorable Mentions not seen in thread yet:
Proud Tortoise 
El Villalobos 
-Trades any accuracy for speed, but these ships aren’t likely to be shooting much if at all.
La Serpiente 
-Direct downgrade of this Coeur, but still playable.
La Anunciada 
-Speed is great, and you can make her more dangerous with Kian Ng + Captain towing Armada .
HMS Disraeli 

Most underrated at this cost in my opinion: Republicain, Splinter, Dolphin , La Reconquistador 

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. Bloody Jewel
Compared to the Bon Marin: More cargo, more durability, more and better cannons.
2. Bon Marin
3. Longshanks
4. Griffin
5. Dragon/Queen of Sheba
6. Winds of Vengeance/Agha’s Whip
7. Marrakesh 
-Somewhat boring empty gold runner, but durability can really matter.
8. Bilge
9. Princess 
-Poor man’s Longshanks. There’s a solid argument for putting her at around #7, especially if you use Hammersmith .
10. Annapolis

(11) Francesca

Just missed:

A lot! XD Difficult to exclude La Rosario , Glorious Treasure , Widowmaker , Whisper , Sea Tiger , Lizard’s Sting .

Noble Swan is a good turtle ship, but still a 1 masted gunship without much gold running potential.

Honestly the Meresman and Sea King have not done well for me, and are not particularly good ships at all. HMS Ram is a better gunship most of the time, and even Beast’s Belly has the potential to do more damage in a game.

Original thread on Miniature Trading

1. Intrepide
-I’ll take the extra mast and cargo space for the same cost over the Pique.

2. Pique
-I’ve never had much success with 1 masted gunships, so this is better off as an empty gold runner. Intrepide is just more valuable and useful IMO.

3. Rattlesnake
4. Cumberland
-Very close here, but the Rattlesnake will often be better as a gold runner than the Cumberland will be as a potential hybrid. Pretty much tied though.

5. Treachery/Chico
I like the Treachery better, but neither is all that great.

6. Fancy
-Empty gold runner and/or flotilla tug are solid uses here.

7. Jeux
-Simple, decent value for points.

8. USS Destiny
-Just not as good as Fancy.

9. Picador
-I understand she’s not bad, I’ve just never really liked this ship at all. Can’t excel at anything, and the few times I’ve used her she’s done awful.

10. Rochefort
-Could make a case for this ship being #8 or 9. In fact these bottom 4 are almost interchangeable. Kind of underrated, but often best left near the home island for short gold trips and spying enthusiastically. (this one can look at crew and not just coins, so it can be a pretty solid ability)

Original thread at Miniature Trading

1. Davy Jones 

2. El Fantasma 

This version of Fantasma is more effective for his cost, but Davy Jones’ capability to change games by himself and rolling 6’s in huge games gives him a slight edge.

3. Davy Jones 

So many things you can do with him… really should be used on a 10 master, but from there it gets crazy real quick.

4. El Fantasma 

Awesome! RtSS Papa Doc would probably share this spot if he was more “real”.

5. Master Scribe 

I do like using him on the Pestilence, especially since the Cursed can just put generic navigators on the Nightmare if they want. Do both, and you might be able to fix the Cursed need for speed.

6. Sammy the Skull 

7. Sammy the Skull 

8. El Fantasma 

9. The Headhunter 

Sure it’s crazy, but Fear+AA+Hoard/Massacre for just 7 points? Definitely a good deal. I know you’re supposed to spend 37 points (or 42+…) when using him, but you might as well put him on a big ship even without the restriction. For all the talk about the Guichuan, her captain goes unnoticed at times.

10. Cavendish / Tabatha McWarren 

Tough to pick for the last spot here. I like Wraith, but I’ve found his ability somewhat disappointing even in huge games.

El Fantasma just missed for me; there’s not much point in using him over the other versions, but still a decent crew. That’s part of the reason I like Fantasma so much in general – pretty much all versions of him are playable (including the Pirate ones).

“Screaming” Mimi / Tabitha McWarren are pretty decent in larger games and/or games with lots of players. Speaking of L, the L boosters ( Sargasso Nightmare / Hag of Tortuga ) are underrated and a solid way to fix the sea monster speed problem. Though all 4 of those crew are geared towards “gimmicky fun” than “win at all costs”.

Dishonorable mentions? Pretty much all the rest… 

If you’d like to see some serious quantity and quality of Cursed named crew, check out my custom set on the 4th tab. I’m about to add some more, and suffice it to say that many of the Cursed crew I’ve made are more interesting and useful than many of the ones Wizkids came up with. It’s actually incredibly easy to come up with all sorts of nasty Cursed named crew, so it’s almost shocking that Wizkids couldn’t do a better job than just “here’s another Fantasma” and then run out of ideas.  I’ll never be the biggest supporter of the Cursed, but man could they have been bigger, cooler, better, and so much more. Luckily Xerecs and I (and others) are working all the time to overcorrect that, for better or worse. 

Original thread on Miniature Trading