The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Good ol' Avalon Hill may be gone (or at least a part of Hasbro, which is both good and bad), but they've still a decent library of discontinued games floating about. Blackbeard, a game of piracy released towards the end of their individual existence, is indicative of the company's line in its final years, and can still be found in the company backstock or at a few retailers.

Blackbeard is set in the golden age of piracy of the 17th century. Two to four players control up to three different historical pirates, taking prizes, raiding ports, dodging pirate hunters and warships, and debauching and reveling. The goal: Rack up 100 notariety points (earned by your pirate's nefarious feats) or retire with the more cash than anyone else.

The board (or, more accurately, boards) represent the top pirate haunts: the Carribean, Alantic off the North American coast, the gold coast and West Indian ocean (But no Spice Islands? tsk, tsk). The board is also typical Avalon Hill: little hexes over the sea spaces, with unmarked land, except for the odd port. Unused portions of the board list the usual dizzying array of modifiers, charts, tracks and rule abbreviations.

The chits (If it's an AH game, there's gonna be chits) are big enough to handle but small enough to mishandle. The ship counters are large(r) and easily used, but the blizzard of number and track counters are tiny, and digit counters to keep track of money is annoying, but necessary (You can't do it with Monopoly money, and keeping track on paper is more confusing than you think.) The Ship Logs, which keep track of your pirate's haul, condition and personal stats, are adequate, but swiching ships means taking off all those little counters and moving them to a new log. Bothersome, at best.

Cards are at the spine of the action. Each Pirate is represented by thier own likeness, ratings (including "Cunning" "Duel" and "Cruelty") and mini-biography (Francis L'Olonais was the best.) The action cards, which determine the order of turn, amount of prize captured and other events. It's also the presenter of the main problem with the game.

Turns are not taken in the same order as in most games. The card draw randomly determines which player goes next. While this may allow a player to get out of Dodge quickly when a king's commissioner is in the area, It also will inevitably force some players to wait...and wait...and wait between turns; a big no-no for keeping interest.

The game rules are thorough, and brief, but reveal another deadly sin of the game: the victory conditions require lots of time spent tracking down ships, taking a prize, heading to port to sell, lather, rinse, repeat. Such repetition also can make the game seem more work than it's worth. The loss of a up-and-coming pirate and the sudden moving of merchants leads to furstration. Certainly frustation is a vital element in a game, but often a player will lose interest when his best hope for victory is dashed on the threshold, leaving him to rebuild again by following the same repetitious pattern.

Not that it can't be fun. Bad pirate impersonations will make your table look like a Treasure Island casting call, and ganging up on the guy in the lead is a board game tradition. The game strategy plays fast and loose with history (Thomas Tew would never attack the English...but he can here!), but tips its hat well enough. If you can take the occasional plummet, then Blackbeard will make for a good game...not a great game, a good game.

Blackbeard John Bratt
Item type: Strategy game Product Name: Blackbeard Author: Avalon Hill Company/Publisher: Avalon Hill Line: SKU: Cost: $35 Page count: n/a ISBN: Ratings: Style 4 (Classy and well done) Substance 3 (Average) Review type: Playtest Review	Good ol' Avalon Hill may be gone (or at least a part of Hasbro, which is both good and bad), but they've still a decent library of discontinued games floating about. Blackbeard, a game of piracy released towards the end of their individual existence, is indicative of the company's line in its final years, and can still be found in the company backstock or at a few retailers. Blackbeard is set in the golden age of piracy of the 17th century. Two to four players control up to three different historical pirates, taking prizes, raiding ports, dodging pirate hunters and warships, and debauching and reveling. The goal: Rack up 100 notariety points (earned by your pirate's nefarious feats) or retire with the more cash than anyone else. The board (or, more accurately, boards) represent the top pirate haunts: the Carribean, Alantic off the North American coast, the gold coast and West Indian ocean (But no Spice Islands? tsk, tsk). The board is also typical Avalon Hill: little hexes over the sea spaces, with unmarked land, except for the odd port. Unused portions of the board list the usual dizzying array of modifiers, charts, tracks and rule abbreviations. The chits (If it's an AH game, there's gonna be chits) are big enough to handle but small enough to mishandle. The ship counters are large(r) and easily used, but the blizzard of number and track counters are tiny, and digit counters to keep track of money is annoying, but necessary (You can't do it with Monopoly money, and keeping track on paper is more confusing than you think.) The Ship Logs, which keep track of your pirate's haul, condition and personal stats, are adequate, but swiching ships means taking off all those little counters and moving them to a new log. Bothersome, at best. Cards are at the spine of the action. Each Pirate is represented by thier own likeness, ratings (including "Cunning" "Duel" and "Cruelty") and mini-biography (Francis L'Olonais was the best.) The action cards, which determine the order of turn, amount of prize captured and other events. It's also the presenter of the main problem with the game. Turns are not taken in the same order as in most games. The card draw randomly determines which player goes next. While this may allow a player to get out of Dodge quickly when a king's commissioner is in the area, It also will inevitably force some players to wait...and wait...and wait between turns; a big no-no for keeping interest. The game rules are thorough, and brief, but reveal another deadly sin of the game: the victory conditions require lots of time spent tracking down ships, taking a prize, heading to port to sell, lather, rinse, repeat. Such repetition also can make the game seem more work than it's worth. The loss of a up-and-coming pirate and the sudden moving of merchants leads to furstration. Certainly frustation is a vital element in a game, but often a player will lose interest when his best hope for victory is dashed on the threshold, leaving him to rebuild again by following the same repetitious pattern. Not that it can't be fun. Bad pirate impersonations will make your table look like a Treasure Island casting call, and ganging up on the guy in the lead is a board game tradition. The game strategy plays fast and loose with history (Thomas Tew would never attack the English...but he can here!), but tips its hat well enough. If you can take the occasional plummet, then Blackbeard will make for a good game...not a great game, a good game.