Blackbeard

Raid merchant ships across a hex map and retire rich before the navy, the Commissioner or your own crew gets you.

Designer: Richard H. Berg
Published by: The Avalon Hill Game Co
Editions by: Descartes Editeur

Blackbeard, a 1991 game, drops you into the Golden Age of Piracy around the turn of the eighteenth century. You play one or more pirates hunting merchant ships along the trade routes, with prizes that range from near-worthless supplies to the fabulous Spanish and Mogul treasure ships. Your goal is to amass a fortune and retire before a King's Commissioner tracks you down, a warship stumbles across you, or your own crew cuts your throat. Luck, skill and cunning all play a part, and the rules openly warn that random happenstance is built into the simulation. A long, dice-driven hex-map adventure for one to four, with a solo mode for pirates who prefer their own company.

Golden Age of Piracy on a hex mapPrizes from supplies to treasure shipsPlayable solo or with up to four

Who it's for

You have a long evening free and want a dice-heavy pirate adventure that accepts luck as part of the story, solo or with friends.

Not for you if…

You want tight control and low variance. The rules themselves warn that luck and random events shape the voyage.

Vibe's take

Swashbuckling and unpredictable. Dice hand out fortune and ruin in equal measure, and the long game keeps you looking nervously over your shoulder.