By Joseph Forster I'm working on creating some scenarios designed around some of the great 4Ground terrain made for Blood & Plunder and here is a quick report on a game testing one of these scenarios. This is a 100 point amphibious battle centered around the Wooden Port Set from 4Ground, played against my friend, … Continue reading Battle Report: Supply Raid – Kalinago vs Spanish Militia
By Guy Rheuark This is the fifth battle in the The Buccaneer's Companion Vol. I. It has been a long campaign for the brave Spanish defenders. We defended against the English buccaneers in Portobello, killing them to almost a man. They retaliated and took one of our ships, in what is now known as The … Continue reading Battle Report: Buccaneer’s Companion Scenario V – La Serena
By Joseph Forster Cannons are an exciting part of historical naval warfare and they will be central to many games of Blood & Plunder. In this article we will be looking at how cannons function in the game and going over some tactics that will help you get the most out of your big guns. … Continue reading Strategies and Tactics in Blood & Plunder: Cannons and Artillery
By Dan Carlson “The French were the first to singe the Spanish beard in the New World. The English, under Queen Elizabeth, were to set the beard aflame. But it is the Dutch in the early seventeenth century who truly scourge the whispered Spaniard from head to toe.”- pg 102 from Blood and Plunder: No … Continue reading The Dutch Nationality and Factions
By Joseph Forster Blood & Pigment is two years old! This last year has been exciting and we've grown a lot here at Blood & Pigment. Over the past year the blog got 71,756 visits with the Getting Started with Blood & Plunder and the 2020 Photo Contest posts being the most popular. We hosted … Continue reading Blood & Pigment Blog Update and YouTube Launch
Here's another fort report! This one was fast and brutal with less finesse or nuance. This was a 300 point game played with my friend Bryan and our local game store, Geeks & Games in Oregon City. The Forces I've had a lot of experience playing Spanish in the fort recently so this time I … Continue reading Battle Report: Storm the Fort – Dutch Privateers vs English Caribbean Militia
By Guy Rheuark After learning to play Blood & Plunder and buying your first miniatures there are a wealth of strategies and tactics that not only make each game exciting moment to moment, but let you carry lessons you learn from one game to the next. Gameplay isn’t the only way to learn, though. You … Continue reading Strategies and Tactics in Blood & Plunder: Playing the Game
By Joseph Forster We've reviewed the entire Port of Plunder line of 4Ground products here and now we're looking at a newer kit that Firelock doesn't event stock yet (I believe and hope they plan to). This is the Wooden Port Set and it contains two small warehouses, one large open walled warehouse and a … Continue reading 4Ground Wooden Port Set
The Raise the Black Kickstarter is in its final hours! Back it now if you haven't already! Up your pledge just a little to grab an extra box of militia, natives, regulars or cavalry! As of now (3 hours to go), the campaign still needs $15k to fund the plastic cavalry box. We want this … Continue reading Raise the Black Final Hours!
Here's a brief battle report on my first game using the 6th Rate Frigate. I've been playing through the Buccaneer's Companion campaign with my friend Guy but we took an intermission to get this beautiful ship to the table. I've had it finished for a couple months and I needed to try it! The ForcesI … Continue reading Battle Report: Escort at Sea – English Royal Navy vs Brethren of the Coast
The Raise the Black Kickstarter will be wrapping up in a few days and we wanted to celebrate by giving away a 6th Rate Frigate! This beautiful ship closely represents the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's famous Frigate that he used as his flagship during 1717-1718. The fast Sloop found in Raise the Black is ideal … Continue reading The Queen Anne’s Revenge – Double 6th Rate Frigate Giveaway!
Today we're proud to offer some fun optional rules for using the Casualty Markers for Blood & Plunder! These rules are not-at-all official and are purely fan made, but they might add some spice to your games and give you a reason to paint up those dead guys that have been hanging around your painting … Continue reading Tokens of the Dead – Fan-Made Casualty Marker Rules
By Joseph Forster I'm back with some more of 4Ground's amazing Ports of Plunder terrain series. I recently wrote on the Hovel set and the Port Houses set and now I'm taking a look at the docks and some of the other portside accessories. Here I have a setup using the Large Dock Bundle, the … Continue reading 4Ground Ports of Plunder Docks, Crane and Barrels
By Liam Taylor It could be said that the great warships of the English Royal Navy in the latter half of the 17th and through to the 18th century might be characterized by the Lion. The Lion stands proudly as the figurehead on Albion’s warships throughout the period, its looming muscular power threatening to smash and tear its … Continue reading Leopards of the Seas – Bermuda Sloops in the Golden Age of Piracy
By Joseph Forster The English Caribbean Militia is a hardy and aggressive faction that gives the English player in Blood in Plunder solid options for fighting on land and even venturing out to sea if necessary. This faction was originally published in the core rule book but has since been updated in No Peace Beyond … Continue reading Faction Overview – English Caribbean Militia
How I Stopped Making Horrible Messes and Learned to Love the Render PowderI've been working on a lot of 4Ground terrain lately and I wanted to share some technique and tips that I've picked up along the way. Much of the Ports of Plunder line of product comes with a "Render Powder" that has to … Continue reading 4Ground Render Powder
Ships are huge part of Blood & Plunder but they can be an intimidating hobby project, especially if you're new to miniature gaming or don't have a lot of painting experience. With resin hulls and wood and elastic rigging pieces, they aren't your standard Games Workshop gaming miniature. This painting guide is my attempt at … Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Painting and Rigging a Bark
Ahoy there! Cap’n Dan is back to bring you a Blood and Pigment Exclusive Sneak Peek at one of the Commanders and Factions coming in the next big expansion for Blood and Plunder: Raise the Black! We are going to be looking at the most famous pirate in history: Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and his unique … Continue reading Raise the Black Preview – Edward “Blackbeard” Teach
By Joseph Forster The English Buccaneers lead by Sharp, Hawkins, and "Zombie" Coxon have raided Portobello, tangled with the Guarda Costas, and stormed the Spanish fort at Santa Maria. The English have set their sights on Panama but they await reinforcements. The Spanish armadilla has spotted the English Buccaneers and has sent a fleet of … Continue reading Battle Report: Buccaneer’s Companion Scenario IV – The Battle of Perico
By Guy Rheuark Ships are one of the most striking things about Blood & Plunder. Being able to play out an epic duel between two captains, brought to life on a tabletop, is one of the things that brings people into this hobby and this game. The ships serve the purpose of a grand centerpiece … Continue reading How to Paint and Rig a Sloop
We got to release an exclusive set of Beta Rules for the Palisade Fort (and some other fortifications) and we want to celebrate by giving away a complete 8-piece fort kit! All you need to do to get your name in the pool is drop a comment either on this post on this blog or … Continue reading Palisade Fort Giveaway!
By Joseph Forster Here are rules for the Palisade Fort! We have an exclusive pre release ruleset at Blood & Pigment! Liam Taylor and I have been working on these rules for Firelock Games on and off for months now and I'm excited to offer the Blood & Plunder community this fortifications supplement now. This … Continue reading Fortification Supplement Beta Release
I've finished building another set of 4Ground buildings from their Port of Plunder series and I couldn't be happier. I started with the Hovel set and they were fairly simple and a good first experience for me. This set of 3 Colonial Port Houses was more complex and took more time, but building on the … Continue reading 4Ground Ports of Plunder Colonial Houses Set
By Bryan Longoria If you’re new to Blood and Plunder you may not know about the exclusive figures floating around out there. Here’s a quick round up of exclusive miniatures to date. Howard Pyle The Howard Pyle exclusive miniature was the 35k stretch goal from the original Blood and Plunder Kickstarter. It’s the perfect miniature to use … Continue reading Blood and Plunder Exclusives and Special Releases
October is coming! The Raise the Black Kickstarter campaign is now less than a month away! Included in that Kickstarter is a brand new ship, the Bermuda Sloop. The Must Contain Minis blog recently did a spoiler article on this new ship and it looks beautiful! We now have spoilers for the full stats (subject … Continue reading Bermuda Sloop Hot Takes
By Joseph Forster Firelock Games recently partnered with 4Ground to create a whole new line of Port of Plunder terrain and buildings for 28mm games set in the Caribbean. The folks at 4Ground very kindly sent me a selection of these products and I've been working away at building them up and I'm very pleased! … Continue reading 4Ground Terrain – Port of Plunder Hovels
A Hitherto Undiscovered Description of the Battle of El Real Santa Maria, Where in the Well Trained Spanish Militia Fought Against the Vagaries of the English Buccaneers and their Traitorous Allies By Guy Rheuark This is a battle report for the third battle of the Buccaneer’s Companion Vol. I, a free expansion that Firelock Games … Continue reading Battle Report: The Buccaneer’s Companion Scenario III – The Battle of El Real Santa Maria
Here's a new scenario! I've had the privilege to help with some of the play testing for some of the new product coming out from Firelock Games and this scenario was a lot of fun and I wanted to share it with the community. Like anything that is unreleased, this scenario is still a work … Continue reading New Scenario Preview – Ambush!
By Guy Rheuark Expeditionary Forces are military groups European powers would gather and send to other countries. Often a mix of professional soldiers, militia, and mercenaries, the practice of forming these groups by the French carried on into the 20th century. In Blood & Plunder, the French Expeditionary Forces faction is the closest thing the … Continue reading Faction Overview – French Expeditionary Forces
There's a giveaway but first some updates and blog news. Blood & Pigment has been growing! We now have 3 semi regular writing contributors (Dan, Guy and Joseph) and we've recently taken on Bryan as a new and valuable member of the crew. He brings some more online savvy, graphics and video and excellent photography … Continue reading Blog News & Marker Dice Facebook Giveaway
This was a solo game testing out a new scenario from the upcoming Queen Anne's War expansion. This scenario is still a work in progress and feedback is still relevant and helpful at this point (August/September 2020) so please chime in if you have any thoughts! For this solo game I basically of used the … Continue reading Solo Battle Report: Capture the Settlement – Northeastern Woodland Tribes vs North American English Militia
This is the second game in the set of 6 historical scenarios released by Firelock Games as an Organized Play kit in the first quarter of 2020. You can find a battle report on the first scenario here. I'm playing this campaign with my friend Guy who will be contributing Battle Reports on some of … Continue reading Battle Report: The Buccaneer’s Companion Scenario II – The Navio de Aviso
By Guy Rheuark A Record of the Brave Spanish Militia of Portobello Fighting the Cruel English Buccaneers I had an opportunity to start a play through part of The Buccaneers Companion, Firelock Games 2020 organized play expansion with Joseph Forster. It is exciting to play as the Spanish in this campaign. Historically they lost every … Continue reading Battle Report: The Buccaneer’s Companion Scenario I – Portobello
Like so many painters, I've been experimenting with GW's Contrast line of paints over the past several months. I've had mixed results and I've seen a wide variety of results out there in the hobby world. I have a lot to learn about how to use these new paints but I've got to a point … Continue reading Indian Fighters – Contrast vs Standard Paints
By Guy Rhueark After learning to play Blood & Plunder and buying your first miniatures there are a wealth of strategies and tactics that not only make each game exciting moment to moment, but let you carry lessons you learn from one game to the next. Gameplay isn’t the only way to learn, though. You … Continue reading Strategies and Tactics in Blood & Plunder: Deciding What to Bring to War and Making a List
I have an epic battle report for you today! This was a 400 point amphibious game using a large wooden palisade fort manned with cannons and plenty of Spanish muskets vs the French Navy in a Corvette and the massive Galleon with my friend, Guy Reuark as admiral. I've been working on play testing rules … Continue reading Battle Report: Amphibious Raze – French Royal Navy vs Spanish Tercios
The Galleon is the largest ship (currently) available to use in Blood & Plunder and it is truly a beast! At 26" long and 24" tall, it truly dominates a gaming table and intimidates its opponents. It is by far the toughest and most heavily armed ship in Blood & Plunder but it is also … Continue reading Ship Overview – The Galleon
I've been working away on my 6th Rate Frigate for a couple months now and I finally got it finished (almost). It was a big project but noticeably less work than the mighty Galleon. Here's some pictures of the finished ship along with a few tips and things I learned while making it.It's a beautiful … Continue reading Completed 6th Rate Frigate
With my 6th Rate Frigate finished I can apart getting some of the newest models painted up. The models from the latest batch of Firestarters are awesome/ great dynamic poses, distinctive style to their gear and dress and fine detail for painting. In an effort to get models painted and to the table, I've been … Continue reading Completed Indian Fighters
I finally played a French faction! Here's a quick 200 point battle report pitting my French led by Francois L'Olonnais against my friend Bryan's Portuguese led by Francisco Dias Velho. The Forces I chose to play the Flibustier Nau, Francois L'Olonnais's personal force. This faction is a much more limited version of the French Buccaneers … Continue reading Battle Report: Land Escort – Flibustier Nau vs Portuguese Bandeirantes
I have another battle report for you and this was a fun one! Here we have a 200 point land game testing the massive 65 model Spanish Horde vs a 32 model Native force led by legendary King Golden Cap. I played the Natives as Attacker in the Breakthrough scenario vs my friend Guy Rheuark … Continue reading Battle Report: Land Breakthrough – Golden Island Tribe vs Spanish Militia
The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society hosted an online convention over the July 24-26 weekend and I was able to participate in an interview with Mike Tunez and the Tales of the Sail guys from the No Dice No Glory team. Our specific task during the interview was to ask Mike Tunez what we can expect … Continue reading Blood & Plunder Spoilers from Cyber Wars Interview
Here's a 100 point battle report. It's been a while since I played a 100 point, and even longer since I played a small game like this at sea. This is a 100 point naval game using the Plunder scenario, played with friend (and blog contributor) Guy Rheuark. This was the first game in a … Continue reading Battle Report: Sea Plunder – Brethren of the Coast vs Dutch Navy
Thanks to everyone who participated in the photo contest hosted here on Blood & Pigment over May and June. I got a lot of great entries and it was very difficult narrowing it down to just a few winners! 25 people participated by sending a total of 131 entries! I selected a first, second and … Continue reading 2020 Blood & Plunder Photo Contest Results
By Guy Rheuark In Blood & Plunder each nationality has certain distinctives that make it interesting and unique. Joseph Forester has been writing a series of articles that look at distinctives of individual factions (there are several factions within each nationality i.e Spanish Militia are very different from Spanish Corsairs) and those articles get into … Continue reading The French Nationality and Factions
It's been a full three months since I got a play a game with a real live opponent! My local game store was able to open up a few of their gaming tables recently and I met up with my friend Guy to play his 200 point game. Both of us had fresh forces to … Continue reading Battle Report: Amphibious Escort – Black Caribs vs French Caribbean Troupe à Cheval
The 2020 Photo Contest is nearing a close here on June 30. It's been great so far! I've got a lot of good submissions but I would still happy to get more! You have a chance to win some awesome historical coins that were being used during this Golden Age of Piracy. If you're still … Continue reading Blood & Plunder Photo Contest Update – Ends June 30th
I've been doing a few games with the Palisade Fort recently and in this solitaire game, I test it in an amphibious scenario where it has to go up against a ship that can bring more cannons to bear on it. I increased the game size to 250 and used a much larger version of … Continue reading Solitaire Battle Report – English Buccaneers vs Spanish Miltia
I'm back with another COVID solo game. Firelock Games sent me some fort bastions to run through some play test games and here's my first game using them. These bastions are basically enlarged and fortified corners for the Palisade Fort and give platforms and clear fields of fire for artillery inside the fort. As it … Continue reading Solitaire Battle Report – English Buccaneers vs Portuguese-Brazilian Tercios
New Proposed Native Characters for Blood & PlunderBy Guy Rheuark I recently started playing the native nationality in Blood & Plunder and found that they offer a very different and fun way to play. As a historical gamer, playing the natives also inclined me to research the natives of the period, how they lived, dressed … Continue reading The Need for New Characters for Natives
It's been hard to get games in over the past couple months. It's been good to see people get a lot more painting done while being locked away at home but I still hunger for that that occasional dose of real gaming! Firelock Games has quickly put together an excellent set of solitaire rules to … Continue reading Solitaire Battle Report – Westo Natives vs Dutch Navy
By Dan Carlson & Joseph Forster Are you sick and tired of playing with English or French Units? Does you nemesis at you local game store play the Spanish so well it infuriates you? Those Advanced Maneuvers chipping away your rigging like shots at a Tortuga Tavern? If any of theses apply to you, I … Continue reading Faction Overview – Dutch Privateers
How to Make Piers for Blood & Plunder the Easy (Slow) Way By Guy Rheuark With a full third of the game scenarios being amphibious, it is important to have places ships can dock. While you might think your sloop can just belly up to a sandbar, drop anchor, and throw grapples, it cannot. Any … Continue reading Terrain Building: How to Make 28mm Piers
I haven't been able to actually play a real game of Blood & Plunder for several weeks now so I set up a solo game using the Palisade Fort for a second time. Last game was 100 points but I upped it to 200 for this game. At 200 points the fort takes up a … Continue reading Solo Battle Report – Caribbean Tribes vs English Caribbean Militia
I picked up another piece of terrain from Gale Force Nine's Battlefield in a Box series. This piece isn't as good of value at a MSRP of $35, but it's a very nice piece that gives you some instant interest on your battlefield. It's nice to have some variation in elevation and for some reason … Continue reading Easy Terrain – Large Rocky Hill
The Palisade Fort popped up on the Firelock Games website a while back and I just finished getting it painted. The official rules for this fort haven't been released yet but they're in beta testing and should be out soon! The Palisade Fort set comes with 4 corners, 3 straight sections and one gate (it … Continue reading Completed Palisade Fort & Test Battle Report
How do you store and transport your miniatures? Many Blood & Plunder players have been in war gaming way longer than I have but I've noticed there's a good number of players (including myself) that don't have much if any miniature game experience. One of the things I've noticed veteran miniature gamers always have is … Continue reading Miniature Storage and Transport
My friend Guy recently finished up his Galleon so we decided to get crazy and try a 1000 point game using the Army Scale rules. Each of us built a force consisting of 3 companies totaling 1000 points. The last game I played with the Galleon was at 300 points and it was not nearly … Continue reading Battle Report – 1000 Point Galleon Duel
By Dan Carlson Ahoy there mateys! Cap’n Dan is back for another article! Here, I will be going over the newest ship in the Firelock Lineup (as of March 2020): The 6th Rate Frigate! As Blood and Plunder’s very first Rated Ship, its quite a doozy! SpeedThe 6th Rate is essentially an upgraded Light Frigate. … Continue reading Ship Overview – 6th Rate Frigate
This was my first game with the Galleon! At 300 points, the Galleon wasn't maxed out by any means, but it gave me a good feel for how to use it in standard sized sea games. The Forces At 300 points, both my friend Bryan and I were able to take some powerful commanders in … Continue reading Battle Report – Armada de Barlovento vs Flibustiers de Graff
Characters are a fun part of Blood & Plunder and it's always good to find a miniature to play the part. Firelock made a nice pack of minis to cover several of the special characters made available in No Peace Beyond the Line but it only has minis for 4 of the many characters you … Continue reading Spiritual Leader Models
Terrain is an important part of Blood & Plunder and it's something I can't manage to stop collecting! A nice variety of terrain options makes your games interesting and fresh. You can make a lot of your terrain and making something yourself makes your gaming table unique. You can often save some money making it … Continue reading Easy Terrain – Large Pine Wood
Firelock Games has recently released several pieces of resin terrain and I'm starting to get some painted up. This is a quick review and painting tutorial for the Farmed Field piece that sells for $10.00. The painted example on the website looks fine. It looks like they primed and then brushed on a coat of … Continue reading Firelock Terrain – Farmed Field
In Blood & Plunder each nationality has certain distinctives that make it interesting and unique. I’ve been writing a series of articles that look at distinctives of individual factions (there are several factions within each nationality i.e Spanish Militia are very different than Spanish Corsairs) and those articles get into the nitty-gritty details of units, abilities, and strategies. This … Continue reading The Unaligned “Nationality” and Factions
I've been meaning to get some of these elite English soldiers painted up for a long time. I finally finished a set! This English unit uses the French Milice de Caraibes models since they have the same set of equipment. As an English player the fact that a 4 point French Militia model has the … Continue reading Completed Veteran Freebooters
In Blood & Plunder each nationality has certain distinctives that make it interesting and unique. I've been writing a series of articles that look at distinctives of individual factions (there are several factions within each nationality i.e Spanish Militia are very different than Spanish Corsairs) and those articles get into the nitty-gritty details of units, abilities, and strategies. … Continue reading The Spanish Nationality and Factions
In Blood & Plunder each nationality has certain distinctives that make it interesting and unique. I've been writing a series of articles that look at distinctives of individual factions (there are several factions within each nationality i.e English Buccaneers are very different than English Caribbean Militia) and those get into the nitty-gritty details of units, abilities, and strategies. … Continue reading The English Nationality and Factions
I had a chance to fight another battle with my Logwood Cutters force. This was my experiment using them at sea and it turned out to be a very entertaining game with my friend Kevin. The Forces I used basically the same set of troops I used on land in my last battle report, merely … Continue reading Battle Report – Logwood Cutters vs Pirate Hunters
I just finished up another set of Dutch Zeelieden. I don't have a full Dutch faction painted yet but these sailors are some of the best in the game and they can be used in so many seagoing factions. I haven't done a lot of painting over the last month but I did manage to … Continue reading Completed Zeelieden
I've been wanting to get some more experience with some of the Unaligned factions and I recently got to play this land game using the Logwood Cutters faction vs my friend Kevin playing the English Caribbean Militia for the first time. My local game store, Geeks & Games in Oregon City hosted us for this … Continue reading Battle Report – Logwood Cutters vs English Caribbean Militia
The Logwood Cutters faction is basically the land-based "piratey" unaligned faction in Blood & Plunder. This faction is primarily a shooting faction with strong ranged models with Buccaneer Guns as core units and a variety of sailor and elite marksmen as support units. Firelock's website description of the Logwood Cutters reads: Logwood cutters were rough … Continue reading Faction Overview – Logwood Cutters
Wargamers are always on the lookout for terrain! I recently discovered a couple products from Wizkids that impressed me and I thought I would share them here. Wizkids has been producing massive amounts of miniatures over the past few years and they've recently started releasing some fun terrain elements as well. I've bought some of … Continue reading Easy Terrain – Wizkids Homestead
By Guy Rheuark Based on Saint-Domingue and a smattering of other islands, France controlled some of the most wealthy sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The people who lived in these towns were well acquainted with defending themselves from the Spanish. It is in these towns the Boucaniers retired and thrived, lured by the French crown … Continue reading Faction Overview – French Caribbean Militia
A couple people asked me for some details on the the paints I used on my Galleon so I'm putting together a "rough guide" for painting this big ship. This isn't a super detailed guide since I didn't take notes or appropriate pictures as I worked on it over the last few months but I … Continue reading Galleon Painting Guide
This game was a test game for a new scenario coming out in the next rule book that will be covering more 18th century forces and scenarios. This was a casual 200 point land game with my friend Guy. The Forces I've been playing English in our current campaign so I took this chance to … Continue reading Battle a Report – Spanish Tercios vs. French Caribbean Militia
Here's a simple guide for building a longboat with a fore-and-aft rig. https://youtu.be/FUO4eNN0q6o
Here's a video guide by Guy on how to clean up and prepare metal models for painting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfGdMUFduco&feature=youtu.be