Tips & Strategies (6)
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Blackbeard - Tips & Strategies

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Tips & Strategies (6)

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10
USA
I play blue
El Dorado
Guardian Angel
Stargazer1 {Avid Gamer}
Feb 19th, 2017| Strategy
“Keep a Pirate in Hand”

Always keep at least 1 pirate in your hand. This pirate should preferably have a high Duel stat and low Initiative & Ability stats. This pirate will be available for use when you draw a Piratical Ambition card. A pirate with a low Initiative and/or Ability stat won’t be able to accomplish much if he is Deployed on the map. However, if he wins a duel, he’ll instantly grab a ship with hopefully full cargo holds!

Gamer Avatar
10
USA
I play blue
El Dorado
Guardian Angel
Stargazer1 {Avid Gamer}
Feb 19th, 2017| Strategy
“Know When to Retire”

A pirate that has accumulated a decent Net Worth and Notoriety should be retired before he has to face a King’s Commissioner (KC). KCs arrive on a 3D6 roll less than a pirate’s Notoriety. A KC is very difficult to evade and difficult to defeat in combat. If a pirate is killed then a player only gets half Victory Points (VPs) for a pirate’s Notoriety and gets no VPs for his Net Worth. Unless your pirate is sailing brigantine armed with heavy guns, you should start thinking of retiring a pirate once he has accumulated 10 Notoriety and a Net Worth of at least 2000 Doubloons. This pirate is worth 40 VPs upon retiring, only 10 VPs if he is killed.

Gamer Avatar
10
USA
I play blue
El Dorado
Guardian Angel
Stargazer1 {Avid Gamer}
Feb 19th, 2017| Strategy
“Torture or Ransom?”

This is a tough question. However a good rule of thumb is to torture Hostages with high Information and low Value and ransom Hostages with low Information and high Value. Generally, the higher the Hostage value the greater the Victory Point return by ransom.

Of course if your crew morale is in the tank, then always torture the Hostage.

Gamer Avatar
10
USA
I play blue
El Dorado
Guardian Angel
Stargazer1 {Avid Gamer}
Feb 19th, 2017| Rule
“Give the Warships some Punch”

There is an optional rule which gives a +2 modifier to Warships and King’s Commissioners (KCs) in combat. I highly recommend using the +2 modifiers for the Warships because otherwise they are easy to defeat. I also recommend waiting to apply the +2 modifier to the KCs until you’ve played a couple of games. KCs are much tougher to defeat but even so, after a few plays, you’ll need to toughen them up too.

Gamer Avatar
10
USA
I play blue
El Dorado
Guardian Angel
Stargazer1 {Avid Gamer}
Feb 19th, 2017| Rule
“Adjustment for Higher Player Counts”

Blackbeard does not scale well with 4 or 5 players. I recommend making the following adjustments for higher player counts:

1. A card played for Action Points gives 1 AP above the printed value. For example: a Debauchery & Revelry card normally gives 2 APs since its printed value is 2, but would give 3 APs in a 4 or 5 player game. There’s a lot of Anti-Pirate Players out there in a 4 or 5 player game. With an extra action, you might actually be able to accomplish something during your Pirate Turn.

2. Play the Long Game instead of the Standard game. In a 4 or 5 player game the Event Deck will be depleted quickly, setting off the end game timing mechanism prematurely. Playing the Long Game will give players a bit more time to accomplish something without significantly increasing game length. This recommendation is especially needed if you have a group of players that is not shy about playing Anti-Pirate Actions.

Gamer Avatar
10
USA
I play blue
El Dorado
Guardian Angel
Stargazer1 {Avid Gamer}
Feb 19th, 2017| Rule
“Adjust Notoriety”

I’ve always felt that the emphasis is on Notoriety in Blackbeard. And Notoriety is handed out like candy. It seems as though a pirate’s Net Worth is equally important for a pirate to survive after retiring. In addition, lots of Notoriety will also bring King’s Commissioners (KCs) into the game quicker too. KCs have some of the more complex, confusing rules in the game and tend to bog game play down a bit.

I propose to cut the reward for notoriety in half. Anytime a pirate is awarded Notoriety, he gains half the amount (rounded up) instead of the normal amount. This will put more emphasis on Net Worth and delay KCs from entering the game.

As an alternative, when retiring a pirate, a player would receive 1 VP for every Notoriety point instead of 2 for 1. A player would receive VPs equal to half (rounded up) the pirate’s Notoriety if he was killed. This will shift the emphasis a bit to Net Worth but keep the play of KCs as normal.

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