At Wez's Games Day on the weekends I saw something really cool. Crisjohn has bought a board game version of the Pirates Tabletop trading card game!
It uses the same plastic ships as the collectable card game, and has a really nice vinyl tablecloth board to spread on the table with all the islands on it. It also includes enough ships for four teams, with everyone potentially equal depending on what combination they use of the available sets.
It isn't compatible with the Trading card version however, as all the ships are slower, designed for the smaller board/cloth which is also not very usable by the trading card game as the islands are too close together.
All the same, it is a good way for somebody who likes the trading card game to get four sets of equal ships and a nice board to play on.
What also helps makes it very attractive are the Sea Serpent and Kracken that come with every set, that are compatible with the trading card version.
Cheers Mark Sander http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates:_Quest_For_Davy_Jones'_Gold