Tartana Ship Stat Card

Here is a copy of the Tartana ship stat card, front and back, for your reference. If you wish to save and print it, each side should be 4″ x 6″. We recommend using a rigid card sleeve for your ship stat card, allowing you to use erasable markers to track damage, critical hits, and reloads during gameplay.

Speed and Maneuverability

Sailing Strategy & Tactics Suggestions

• The Tartana uses Lateen Rig which means you can’t attempt the Box Haul maneuver but with a turn of 4″ and no windward penalty, you probably won’t be want to Box Haul anyway!
• With fairly few hitpoints, you’ll want to make best use of your maneuverability and try to stay out of cannon arch of opposing ships.
• You can pay a couple points to give the Tartana Sweeps 3″ if you want to give up a little speed for more maneuverability. That could be a nice option for Spanish Corsairs since they would move that up to 4″.

Firepower

Using Cannons and Swivel Guns with the Tartana

Like the Sloop, the Tartana has all of its cannons on one deck, eliminating the need for the Broadside! Special Rule. This frees up any of the Standard Commanders to bring a different rule like Inspiring.

The rear deck can be a bit tricky to bring to bear, but it is possible to fire off the cannons and then tuck them away to avoid incoming fire.

Combining Grapeshot with the Swivel Guns is another way to deal damage without relying solely on the cannons. If you opt to take Broadside! you can combine the 3 Swivels and 2 Medium Guns for a total of 17 dice aimed at a single deck, which can wreak havoc on boats or put some hurt on the enemy’s gun deck.

Durability

This is a fragile ship. With 4 Fortitude and Integrity it’s just as vulnerable as the Bark, Privateer Sloop and Corvette. It doesn’t take more than a couple broadsides to completely ruin a ship like this. You can mitigate this weakness a little by using the Dutch Navy, or even William Kidd (probably not the best idea) to give the Tartana Heavily Built.

At 200 points or less, you shouldn’t be seeing too many but above 200 points, you’ll likely have to do some careful sailing to keep out of trouble. If you’re planning on bringing a smaller ship like this to a larger match, a carpenter might be a worthwhile investment.

6 hits on a fresh Tartana mean you get a Critical Hit and 7 would give you a Strike Point!

Ship Durability Stats

Rigging

• Fortitude: 3
• Integrity: 5

Hull

• Fortitude: 4
• Integrity: 4

Capacity

The deck sizes are great on the Tartana! The decks are roughly equal. The forward deck can hold up to 21 models in the front and the back can hold up to 18 along with 4 Light Cannons. That number might be increased by 1 to 3 if you remove the cannons.

The back deck on the Sloop always feels small and crowded, especially if you plan to man all 4 Swivels. The larger deck here feels much more flexible. I think you can comfortably man both the cannons and swivels with a single unit of 8-10 cannon crew and still have room for a decent unit of fighting men as well.

Other Considerations

The Tartana has some practical advantages over some of the other ships in the game.

1. It’s cheaper than a Sloop yet very comparable in the table. At $49 MSRP, it’s $10 less than a Sloop and it can fill most of the same roles in your games.
2. It’s easy to paint and assemble. This is a fairly plane ship which means you can paint it up in just a couple hours. As with with most small ships, it likely wouldn’t have had cannon port hatches which brings down your assembly time as well.
3. I’m game terms this is a fragile ship, but the model itself is fairly compact and sturdy which makes it great for transporting to and from your local game store. The masks are short and sturdy when compared with the Sloop and most of the other ships in the game.
4. Lots of people use the Sloop so you should be different and use the Tartana! It’s a pretty little ship and you know you need one!

Traits and Special Rules

Like the Sloop, the Tartana only has a few traits which makes them easy to remember and makes the Tartana easy to use.

Easy to Handle

Easy to Handle: This ship’s Sail Setting may be changed using a Standard action instead of a Dedicated action.

This trait makes the Tartana a breeze to use in Amphibious games or should you run aground and need to reduce sail quickly. It makes the Tartana adaptable and easy to handle (pun intended).

Lateen Rig

Lateen Rig: This ship may not perform the Box Haul Advanced Maneuver.

Box Hauling is an Advanced Maneuver that allows a ship to move 3″ backwards. Not being able to do this isn’t a huge deal, as it is situational at best.

Generic Upgrade Options for the Ship

The Raise the Black expansion book adds a number of new “generic” upgrades available to any ship in the game. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

Anti Grappling Measures (3 pts)

A unit attempting to Grapple a ship with this equipment receives a +2 penalty to the Grappling Test.

The Anti Grappling Measures have no effect on a Grappling test from a ship that is either 1) a boat (any size 1 ship), or 2) if the skids of the two ships are within 5” of each other. (For clarity a unit making a Grappling action must still occupy a section within 3” of their target.)

This upgrade on a Tartana can be a pain for your opponent if you maneuver correctly. Since the Tartana is so nimble, you can keep your skids 5″ away fairly easily. While not a “Must-take” it canc ertainly help.

Freshly Careened Hull (4 pts)

A ship with this Trait may take a single move immediately after being deployed – the ship itself being moved at its starting Sail Setting and speed (with usual modifiers for wind speed/direction). Additional Sails, the Swift Trait and any Sailing Master abilities are not applied to this move.

This upgrade is a must have if you are planning on boarding or trying to close to mid-range with muskets. That extra 4″ move after deployment gets you closer to your intended target, making your job much easier.

Sweeps(3) (2 pts)

May move up to 3” under oars while sails are set at speed 0” and the Sweeps are crewed.

Sweeps 3 is a solid upgrade, being able to move upwind directly can be maddening to your opponent. As always with Sweeps, if you play as Spanish Corsairs, it adds another 1″ to the movement, meaning the Tartana can move 4″ with no regards to the wind!

Combat Strategy & Tactics Suggestions

Choosing an Overall Strategy

• The Tartana is better suited for Small Arms and Boarding lists instead of brawling with cannons. While this isn’t a bad thing, its good to keep in mind that the ship cannot take much punishment and should play accordingly.
  • Great Guns – Part 1 = focuses on Cannons and or swivels
  • Fast Boarding – Pt 2 = closing quickly and boarding
  • Small Arms – Pt 3 = muskets and guns

General Tips and Suggestions

• I like to put a large group of dangerous cannon crew like Marins or Enter Ploeg up in the front on the swivels along with some men with muskets. You can chase down your enemy, harass them with heavy Swivel and musket fire then board as soon as possible.
• The front deck is usually where you want to put your best muskets. With the 4 swivels in the front, the Tartana feels like an aggressive ship. The Sloop excels at running and blasting the pursuing ship with swivels and turning for a broadside when appropriate but the Tartana feels like it’s strongest when it’s front deck is pointed towards the battle. That windward value of 0″ further reinforces its strength as an aggressive ship.
• I think the Tartana excels in the 100-200 point range at sea. You can put a decent crew, a couple swivels and some light cannons all on it for 100 points. But you can also fill it out with a better commander, full crew and more artillery and have a nice 200 points ship as well. Above 200 points, I would be reticent to take a Tartana because your opponent could easily have enough cannons to sink you in a couple shots.

Blood & Plunder Force Builder – Tartana Lists

As mentioned previously, 200 points is really the limit of the Tartana due to its fragility. However, this isn’t a bad thing! 200 points is large enough to handle all manner of lists and tactics, so you can still have loads of fun! Here is a variety of lists for the Tartana, but as always do what works best for you!

• English Pirate Hunter 100 Point
• English Pirate Hunter 200 Point
• Tough Spanish Armada 200 Point
• English Buccaneers 200 Point
• English Snipers and Swivels 200 Points
• Pirates with Jean Hamlyn 200 Points
• Brethren of the Coast with Monbars the Exterminator 200 Points
• Dutch Navy Heavily Built 150 Points
• Spanish Corsairs Aggressive Sweeps 200 Points

Tartana Video Review

Joseph and Guy covered the Tartana on the YouTube Channel in the early days of the blog, and is worth checking out!

Check out all our other ship reviews, painting guides, rigging guides and ship stats on our Ultimate Guide to Blood & Plunder Ships page.

Conclusion

The Tartana is a fine little ship! In many ways it’s similar to a Sloop but I find it slightly better for offensive play styles while the Sloop is better at defensive play.

It’s fragility is its weakness so be cautious when facing anyone with real cannon power. You’ll need to suppress the cannon crew or you’ll be blown to pieces!

How do you use your Tartana? I’d be happy to hear about your experiences with this ship!

Check out all our other ship reviews, painting guides, rigging guides and ship stats on our Ultimate Guide to Blood & Plunder Ships page.

Product Recommendations

• Tartana Ship from Firelock Games
• Raise the Black Expansion Book for the Post 1700 Ship Upgrades

Additional Content Suggestions:

• Tartana Ship Overview on YouTube
• Ultimate Guide to Blood & Plunder Ships
• Sea Force Building Tactics:
  • Great Guns – Blood & Plunder Sea Tactics Part 1
  • Fast Boarding – Blood & Plunder Sea Force Building Pt 2
  • Small Arms – Blood & Plunder Sea Tactics Pt 3
  • Low Profile Boats – Blood & Plunder Sea Tactics Pt 4