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. Unused portions of the board list the usual dizzying array of modifiers, charts, tracks and rule abbreviations. 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.
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. Such repetition also can make the game seem more work than it's worth.