It’s time to take a look at the new Blood & Plunder Blackbeard miniature! This dynamic mini comes in the new Blackbeard vs. Maynard 2 Player Two Player Starter Set for Blood & Plunder.

Blackbeard Miniature

This mini comes in 9 pieces with some small variations in pose possible in arm, hand & weapon positioning.

I think this Blackbeard miniature captures a bit of “romance” and drama of the Golden Age of Piracy while still being firmly based in history. With a glorious mane of hair and a thick, braided beard, Blackbeard rushes forward with pistol and sword drawn, eager to intimidate his enemies with a show of wildness and ferocity!

Edward “Blackbeard” Teach earned himself a lasting place of honor in the annals of piracy over his short career. His name and has probably grown larger than life in modern perception.

Blackbeard’s History

Active as a pirate captain between 1716 and 1718, Blackbeard had a colorful career. He was promoted to captain a prize vessel by Hornigold, then demoted, then took command again after Hornigold was pardoned. One of Blackbeard’s most notable accomplishments was capturing the sizeable La Concorde which he fitted out with 40 guns, making a more dangerous ship that most pirates could boast.

In some sort of cooperation with Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard eventually amassed a small fleet of vessels around his Queen Anne’s Revenge before breaking up his sizeable crew after (possibly purposely) wrecking his flagship. He blockaded Charles Town harbor for a time in 1718, a bold and high profile move for a pirate captain.

Blackbeard seemed to have settled down for a short time, even taking a pardon from Governor Eden of North Carolina. But in a matter of months he was back to his pirate ways!

On hearing of Blackbeard’s return to piracy, Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Virginia, personally financed two sloops to hunt Blackbeard down. Led by Leiutenant Robert Maynard, and utilizing good intel gathered from captured pirates, the expedition eventually tracked Blackbeard to Ocracoke Island.

The two pirate hunting sloops closed with Blackbeard and were savagely raked with grapeshot before being boarded by Blackbeard’s small crew. But the pirates had bitten off more than they could chew! On being boarded, Maynard’s crew rushed out of the (relative) safety of below decks and engage in a bitter battle with the desperate pirates. According to Johnson’s record, Blackbeard suffered no less than 5 bullet and 20 swords wounds before being defeated. Blackbeard’s head was mounted to the bowsprit as the bloodied but successful pirate hunters returned to Virginia.

Blackbeard’s Appearance

Most of our descriptions of Blackbeard come from Johnson’s A General History of Pyrates, and is not 100% reliable, but limited sources corroborate his fearsome appearance. He is recorded as a “tall man with a very black beard that he wore very long.” Johnson describes him as “such a figure that imagination cannot form the idea of a fury from hell to look more frightful.”

Being a shrewd pirate, Blackbeard leveraged reputation and bravado to take prizes, rather than immediately resorting to messy and expensive violence.

So our Heroe, Captain Teach, assumed the Cognomen of Black-beard, from that large Quantity of Hair, which, like a frightful Meteor, covered his whole Face, and frightened America more than any Comet that has appeared there a long Time. This Beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant Length; as to Breadth, it came up to his Eyes; he was accustomed to twist it with Ribbons, in small Tails, after the Manner of our Ramilies Wiggs, and turn them about his Ears.

Johnson, 1724

Assembling Blackbeard

This mini is a delight to assemble and paint. Assembly is easy with 9 separate pieces for torso, both legs, both arms, face, hair, and both hands. Legs and pieces of the head fit together tightly, and arms and hands have some room for positioning.

I built my Blackbeard with pistol slightly above horizontal as if he is just leveling it to fire. I also angled the right hand so the sword is at an angle, making the miniature take up more space and appear more imposing (I hope). It’s an aggressive pose to be sure!

I attached the brace of pistols differently than everyone else’s Blackbeards I’ve seen so far, and I’m not sure if one way is “more correct” or not.

Painting Blackbeard

Everyone else was giving Blackbeard a red coat (with some historical evidence), so I decided to go a different rout and give him a brown coat. Pirates didn’t always wear outlandish clothes! I trimmed the coat with black and gave him an off-white waistcoat.

The primary paint colors I used for this model were:

• GW Cadian Fleshtone/Reikland Fleshshade/Kislev Flesh/Flayed-One Flesh for all skin areas
• Vallejo German Grey/Nuln Oil for hair, shoes, and cuffs, highlighted with German Grey with increasing amounts of GW Administratum Grey
• GW Thondia Brown (new favorite brown) as base color for the coat.
• GW Morghast Bone for waiscoat
• GW Ushabti Bone for the trousers
• Army Painter Dark Wood Speed Paint for pistols
• Vallejo Steel/Duraluminium for pistols and sword metallics
• Vallejo Brass/Game Color Glorious Gold for buttons and pistol butts
• GW Mephiston Red/Carroburg Crimson/Evil Sunz Scarlet/Wild Rider Red for the sash
• GW Agrax Earthshade as a wash over all brown tones
• Vallejo matte varnish spray over the entire mini
• GW ‘Ardcoat thinned with water to give the cuffs a velvety sheen
• GW Typhus Corrosion technical paint for dirt on trousers
• Vallejo Ivory and White for necktie, “socks,” and shirt sleeves

Red works really well on this coat as well.

Blackbeard in Blood & Plunder

Blackbeard is a key part of the new two player starter set and he is an impressive commander! At 32 points, he’s on the higher end of commanders in Blood & Plunder, but still considerably less than Piet Heyn or Henry Morgan. He boasts the normal legendary 3 Command Points but has a pretty standard 12″ Command Range. He’s obviously armed with a Brace of Pistols

He has a whole bunch of special rules, mostly focusing on making him a solid leader in boarding actions. His special rules include:

• Bold
• Terror
• Cold Blooded
• Tough
• God’s Blessing or the Devil’s Luck.

You can find a more detailed breakdown of his rules and how one might play Blackbeard in this preview article from a while back.

In addition to all those special rules, Blackbeard can bring a lot a tricked out ship! If he invests in a 6th Rate Frigate with at least 20 guns (a heavy investment for a pirate!), it can get some unusual gun upgrades, and a bunch of free ship upgrades that let him move really fast!

You can also play young Teach as a Fighting Man Character in Blood & Plunder, in either a British or Pirate force in a Sea Dog unit. For 10 points, he adds Bold, Cold Blooded and Tough to his unit in addition to gaining one Command Point with a 3″ range.

Force Lists for Blackbeard

Blackbeard comes in the new starter box, but he’s a bit “more commander” than you need for the small introductory game. In a <150 point force, it’s very unusual to spend >30 points on a Commander. But its fun to play the big guy in your first games!

Here is the starter game force that features Blackbeard.

The rulebook in the Starter Box contains a full Ocracoke historical scenario matching this list up against Maynard’s crew.

Blackbeard is a little more at home in a larger force. Here is a list you can make with all the models from the starter box (except Maynard).

And if you want to go for the fully armed 6th Rate Frigate to get all those perks on the Queen Anne’s Revenge, you need to move up to the 300/400 point range. Here’s a full 400 point force in the 6th Rate that should strike fear into the heart of the Governor of South Carolina!

Final Thoughts on Blackbeard

It’s awesome to finally have Blackbeard in Blood & Plunder! His model does not disappoint and he’s a very fun commander on the table! Time to break him out of that massive starter box, build up his crew, and let him strike terror into the hearts of your opponents!

Right now this Blackbeard model is only available in the Blackbeard vs. Maynard 2 Player Starter Box for Blood & Plunder. This box is a great introduction to the game and provides huge savings! Firelock is taking preorders for this set now (February 2023). Just to be clear, the  Pirates of Legend box of pirate commanders does not include this miniature.

Article and paint job by Joseph Forster (except where noted)

Suggested Additional Reading

• Check out the legendary Stede Bonnet, Charles Vane, and Amaro Pargo miniature showcase articles.
• Check out the Golden Age Pirate Faction here.
• Check out our other painting related articles here on Blood & Pigment.
• Check out a detailed look at the Pirates of Legend sprue in this Raise the Black Sprue guide.
• Check out this guide to assembling the new multi-part plastic models from Raise the Black.
• Read more about Blackbeard in this preview article.
• Check out the glorious 6th Rate Frigate that can serve as The Queen Anne’s Revenge here.

Related Products

• Blood & Plunder Blackbeard vs. Maynard 2 Player Starter Box (Contains Blackbeard, 2 ships, and 24 crew models)
• The Pirates of Legend box (Contains more pirate legends)
• 6th Rate Frigate (Queen Anne’s Revenge)
• Blood & Plunder: Raise the Black Expansion (contains the rules for Blackbeard and his factions)
• A General History of Pyrates by Charles Johnston