Blackbeard

Terror and boarding: thin the enemy crew, then take the ship.

History in brief

Edward Teach (also recorded as Thatch) is the most famous pirate of the age, yet almost nothing about him is documented before 1716, when he appears at Nassau as one of Benjamin Hornigold’s men. In November 1717 his company captured the French slave ship La Concorde, which he renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge. In May 1718 he blockaded Charles Town, South Carolina, for about a week, and that summer he accepted a pardon in North Carolina. He went back to raiding, and on 22 November 1718 he was killed at Ocracoke Inlet in a fight with a force led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy.

The famous image of smoking fuses under his hat comes mostly from the 1724 General History of the Pyrates. Whether or not every detail is true, a fearsome reputation often made merchant crews surrender without a fight, and the game builds his kit around that idea.

Full history: Edward Teach (Blackbeard).

In the game

• Captain HP: 78
• Crew: 34
• Style: Intimidation and boarding
• Passive: Terror: enemy crews start boarding with 8% fewer men.
• Captain’s order, Lit Fuses: enemy Weak 1, enemy crew -8%, gain 4 Block. (every 4 turns)

Starting deck (10 cards)

• 2× Broadside (Gun, 2 energy): Fire the guns: 6 damage to the hull.
• 2× Swivel Gun (Gun, 1 energy): Light gun: 3 damage to the hull. No powder.
• 2× Tack Hard (Sail, 1 energy): Gain 7 Block.
• 2× Cutlasses (Crew, 1 energy): Your boarders kill 6 enemy crew.
• 1× Fearsome Reputation (Crew, 1 energy): Enemy crew loses 10% of its number and is Weak 1.
• 1× Lit Fuses in the Beard (Signature, 1 energy): Blackbeard: gain 5 Block; enemy Weak 1.

Card values are the base, unupgraded numbers before ship upgrades and captain bonuses.

Tips

• Board, don’t sink. Terror cuts every enemy crew by 8% before boarding starts, so your Cutlasses finish crews faster than his guns finish hulls.
• Stack the fear. Fearsome Reputation takes another 10% of the enemy crew and makes them Weak. Play it early in a boarding, before you trade blows.
• Time your Weak. Weak means the enemy deals 25% less damage. Fire the Lit Fuses order, or play Lit Fuses in the Beard, on the turn the enemy shows its biggest attack.

Other captains: Bellamy · Vane · Bonny & Read · Rackham. New to the game? See How to Play and the glossary.

More from the wiki

• Characters & Historical Figures – Pirate captains, Crown officials and the people of Nassau’s waterfront.
• Places & Sea Lanes – Nassau and New Providence, the Bahamas, and the wider Caribbean.
• Factions & Politics – The balance of power, Nassau’s pressures, and the history of 1716–18.
• Ships, Stores & Crew – Vessels, cargo, provisions and shipboard roles.
• Nassau City Ledger – Buildings, civic projects, resources and threats.
• World Threads – Historical pressures, expeditions and trade ventures.
• The Windward Passage – A naval briefing on the passage between Cuba and Hispaniola.
• Period Glossary – Over thirty period words for ships, ship work, officers, money, shot and pirate life.
• Charts – The New Providence harbour chart and the Bahamas & Florida Straits chart.
• Benjamin Hornigold – The founding captain of the Nassau pirate haven who became its hunter.
• Edward Teach (Blackbeard) – The most notorious captain of the age, from Hornigold’s sloop to Ocracoke.
• Charles Vane – The hard-liner who refused the pardon and fired his way out of Nassau.
• Calico Jack, Anne Bonny & Mary Read – Rackham’s short command and the two women tried for piracy in Jamaica in 1720.
• Woodes Rogers – Circumnavigator, privateer and the governor sent to end the pirate republic.
• The King’s Pardon of 1717 – The proclamation that split Nassau’s captains between a clean slate and the gallows.
• The 1715 Treasure Fleet – The hurricane that wrecked Spain’s silver fleet and filled Nassau with pirates.
• Ship Types of the Pirate Era – Periaguas, sloops, brigantines, snows and frigates: what pirates sailed and why.
• Pirate Articles & Life at Sea – Elected captains, written articles, shares of plunder and daily life aboard.
• Nassau’s Trade & Economy – How plunder became provisions: fences, smugglers, salt, wrecking and coin.
• Golden Age Timeline – Key dates from 1713 to 1726, from the treasure-fleet wreck to the last great hangings.
• Playing Black Sam Bellamy – Crew and plunder: the toughest start and the richest voyages.
• Playing Charles Vane – Aggressive gunnery: the hardest-hitting and most fragile captain.
• Playing Anne Bonny & Mary Read – Hand-to-hand and duels: win the fight on the enemy deck.
• Playing Calico Jack Rackham – Speed and evasion: pick your fights and outsail the rest.

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