"...the explicit ad hominem pseudo-rebuttal along with it..."

I shoulod point out that, without discussing whether the remark in question was appropriate, in good or bad taste, or whatever, it was not, stricfly speaking, 'ad hominem,', as it did not refer to any one person's personality or characteristics

A literary observation, nothing more,

As I said (above, i think) and many times elsewhere . . . not everybody likes everything, and their reasons for doing so, or not, are often personal,and, for them, most applicable, even if they do not seem to be cogent to anyone else.

I hopethis does not become a tangential thread on this file . . .probably my fault if it does.

RHB

My copy should arrive any day now. We'll certainly get a review posted at GameShark as soon as possible, although Tom did a helluva job with this one. I have the old version and can't wait to see how it's evolved.

I'd love to see a review comparing this to the old one. I'd also like to see a review done on the solitaire version of the game, or discussing strategy and replayability.

Yeah I plan on focusing on solo play at first. I do that with a lot of Richard's games (MoI, GboA). After I get a good feel for what's going on I'll take it to the group, all of whom are dying to play something with a pirate theme that isn't called Pirate's Cove.

I feel compelled to speak up... I think Kingdaddy's comments were providing insight to the game contrary to someone else's, and that does not constitute "whining", and I didn't think labeling them as whining was fair at all. They helped me to understand the game and were nowhere near "whining".

Nobody likes to be labeled a whiner and I think that term should be used judiciously.

I also appreciated Kingdaddy's comments on the game. I want to know as much about a game as I can before I purchase it. Sometimes there are games that I know I would like, but my game group would not. I have games sitting on my shelf b/c I don't have people to play them. I don't need more, so I appreciate hearing about a game's weaknesses (or perceived weaknesses, whatever you want to call them).

And kudos to the OP for a very entertaining and extremely well-presented review.

"I think Kingdaddy's comments were providing insight to the game contrary to someone else's, and that does not constitute "whining", and I didn't think labeling them as whining was fair at all..."

My impression is/was that the designation of whining was applied not to the comment, per se, but to the general view by some (many?) members on BGG who perceive dierolls as luck and randomness in game results as unreal, or whatever. It referred to a general view, not a specific one (altho, ion context, tit probably was specific, too).

While I have railed against such a view fairly often, my opinions thereof apply when such a complaint is applied to a game that purports to be a simulation of events (as BLACKBEARD does). Any simulation, even one that is only a partial simulation, should take into account the major effect Chaos - the fact that Nothing goes as planned - has on events.

However, when it comes to games which may be themed but have little to do with anything that happens or happened, or how they happened, in what we call Reality, or History - say, COLOSSEUM or CARCASSONE or VINCI or most rail games or anything similar - the appearance of randomness may not be a felicitous mechanic, especially for those who enjoy games where planning and process are a major opart of the enjoyment.

Criticising a historical simulation because it contains randomness is like complaining your taco doesn't taste like a creme brule.

In any case, people like what they like . . .

RHB

That makes it sound a spiritual cousin of Pax Romana in that respect, Neil. And I love that game, as you know.

I did think Kingdaddy was complaining about die rolls. That's how he came over. Don't mean to offend him, but there you go. I can take his none liking of some things, but die rolls have their place in some themes and piracy is clearly one of them. By heavens it would be boring if we only ever played stuff like Caylus (much as I like it).I really wish some BBG-ers would stop having a downer on dice rolls. Look, some things just have an element of randomness - war is one of them. It's just the way it is, so let's not worry about it.

My game was posted today and I look forward to playing it.

I know there are various scenarios, but what the average length of play for a 4 player game?

Ha. Good stuff.

Richard! You've just given me my next million dollar idea! Hazel Nut Tacos! Who could resist!

MB

They already have them in Hungary (and in similar climes) . . . they're called palascintas [sp?], and covered with chocolate they're deadly.

RHB

Richard,
No need to defend your game to me (if that's what you were doing). The level of randomness in your game is not an issue with me.

I do think the comment was aimed at calling Kingdaddy a whiner and lumping him in with others when I don't think he was whining. Calling him such was flippant and irresponsible in my opinion. He was offering a different opinion, and that seems to be the point of message boards afterall.

Good luck with your game.

I guess the following statement wasn't clear enough:



'Nuff said from me about this issue. After I play Blackbeard a couple more times, I might write my own review.

Great review, nice use of graphics and, best of all, short paragraphs! Makes it easy to read. Good effort to analyse the game so well after just one play! BUT:



What's with the euro complex? AT fans consistently throw in a good euro-bashing comment in their reviews. Why? I can't remember reading a euro review that references that fact that "this is a euro and not some borefest AT full of buckets of dice and a folder of charts". Why not let your review of the games mechanics speak for themselves? We can work out that it's a simulation by ourselves. We don't need AT freaks' snide comments to tell us.

Anyway, I'm always interested in remakes of classic games. I really like the CDG concept for this - a very good mechanic for sim games. I think we'll see more classics use the CDG mechanics with its multi-use of events and op points.

I'm specifically referencing another pirate game that came out where you voted on what way the wind blew, etc. I wasn't making some general comment about eurogames, just making fun of the part-euro part-not sad-attempted-theme style of game like the aforementioned pirate game where you vote on wind direction. Are we to the point on this site where criticizing a bad game for being "half-assed" gets people on your case?

Well, as you can play this solo, that shouldn't be a problem in this case

Thanks Tom for a great review! That's the best one that I've read in a while. I just got my copy of Blackbeard last week and I love it! It's a great game!

"No need to defend your game to me (if that's what you were doing)."

No, that's not what I was doing . . .and I rarely, if ever reswpond directly to reviews of my games in terms of content, unless they get somethign factually wrong. After all, everyone is entitled to their opinions, especially if they back those opinions with Whys.

I was referring (in rem) to the general feeling amongst many gamers concerning what Luck is . . .

And, as I keep saying, I stand firmly behind everyone's right to rave, rant, shine, whine, huzzah or grouse . . . as long as they say WHY. It does make for interesting reading, and is part of the Fun of these gameboards.

Hope y'all have fun with BLACKBEARD - or any other game - this weekend. Hope to see some of you at Monstercon in Phoenix in 3 weeks . . .

RHB

Yes. Flippancy must be destroyed - name the game and specifically tell us why it is half-assed. Bidding for the direction of the wind isn't such a bad mechanic, though it sounds a bit laborious. I played [GAMEID=12495Fire & Axe] and playing a rune card to change the wind bonus seems just as abstract, yet I wouldn't call the game half-assed.

What I think you're getting at is euro games with kick-ass themes but euro mechanics are lame. I played [GAMEID=27173Vikings ]directly after F&A and I actually DID think it was half-assed, not because it was a euro, but because of the complete lack of viking theme: no rape, no pillage, not even any drunken name calling. Some nice mechanics, but a misleading theme.

4GG is not a bad award. and don't call my boat a ship

Thanks for the review. After playing the game last night and reading this review today, it solidified why this type of game is not for me.

IMHO, a rich simulation like this is much better when done on a computer that tracks all of the bookkeeping and DR look-up table stuff for you. I don't understand why someone would enjoy doing these menial tasks by hand and try to play the game at the same time, but I guess that could be part of the fun for them.

Well, I don't think Blackbeard is that complex, but anyway, with a computer game you don't get the tactile feeling and social interaction (when playing with other people, of course) you get with a board game.

-Jorge

I don't think it is complex either. But it seems every action you take involves rolling dice and a lookup-table. Computer games are much better at this. Perhaps with Microsoft Surface or similar technology this part can be automated, yet you can retain the "face to face" aspect.



Online games are pretty good on skype or teamspeak. But I guess 70% of human communication is body language so a lot gets lost even with voice chat. It's just that online games seem to be much more convenient.

Yarrr!! Pax Romana, rum, pillaging and scurvy? I think I smell a new game to expand my collection with!

After having taking a trip around the Caribbean with the new version of Blackbeard, myself, I agree that it is an excellent simulation.

The goal is not to provide a perfectly balanced game, but a feeling of what it must have been like to captain a pirate ship...the risk taking, the life of crime, the swings of outrageous fortune...

Those who would dis it because of luck are probably the same ones who would bitch about people drawing out a gutshot straight on the river in hold 'em. A pirate's life, like many lives of high crime, seemed to be one of gambling...and so, sometimes lady luck shines and sometimes she crushes you like a bug.

Yo ho ho. A pirate's life for me.

Cheers,
Tom