Fluyt Ship Stat Card

Here is a copy of the Fluyt 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

• While neither Whip Staffed or Easy to Handle technically make the Fluyt more maneuverable, they both make the Fluyt slightly more efficient, leaving more actions to fight which is always helpful.
• I think one of the strengths of the Fluyt is that you can handle this rather large ship with a fairly small crew. The Whipstaff trait plays into this theme. Usually you get a -1″ turn penalty if you don’t have a unit on the back deck, manning the tiller/rudder. This doesn’t often come up, but it won’t ever come up for this ship and that’s good because you need that 3″ turn to keep in the game!
• The Easy to Handle trait lets you use standard actions to change the sail settings rather than dedicated actions. This can be extremely helpful, although you are still limited to changing your sail setting no more than once per activation.
• Avoid sailing upwind if you can. If you anticipate this may be needed, bringing a Sailing Master and/or taking the Streamlined Hull Upgrade will help it hurt less.

Firepower

Using Cannons and Swivel Guns with the Fluyt

The spread of 2/2/2 cannons isn’t my favorite but it can be effective.

• The Bad. You have to devote three units to man your guns and you don’t have that higher hitting power of 3 cannons together. They aren’t as powerful. If you want to up your chance of getting effective Critical Hits on your enemy, you’ll need to bring an effective commander with Broadside and 2 Command Points.
• The Good: you can man it with a smaller crew and your cannon power is spread out so the enemy can’t focus on your main (or only) cannon deck. You have a wide and evenly spread arch of fire.

Durability

The Fluyt has the same 4/6 durability that you find on the Brigantine and while that’s very “decent” but isn’t as impressive as the 5/6 you find in the Light Frigate which is comparable in size.

For such a large ship, it feels a little fragile compared to other ships. The Sloop is 4/5 so the Fluyt only has 3 more hitpoints than this light ship or 6 more than small ships like the Bark or Tartana. It does have the option to be Heavily Built which can help a good bit vs moderately sized ships but you still don’t want to go toe-to-toe in a cannon duel with a Frigate.

The Pinked Stern trait helps with durability a little bit as it makes raking shots a little less painful. Still, a raking shot is not something you want to seek out!

There’s a historical Spanish commander that grants his Fluyt (or Galleon) an upgraded version of the Heavily Built trait for free. Mateo Perez de Garay and his San Pablo are an excellent way to use the Fluyt within the Armada de Barlovento faction.

Ship Durability Stats

Rigging:

• Fortitude: 3
• Integrity: 6

Hull:

• Fortitude: 4
• Integrity: 6

Capacity

The Fluyt can hold a lot of men! With 2 large decks, a moderately sized back deck, plus the Poop Deck subsection and options for Fighting Tops, you can fit up to 73 models on this ship. The front deck can hold up to 21 models and another 4 in a 2-point Fighting Top if you like. I typically fill this deck with a lot of sailors to man the 4 Swivel Guns and possibly the 2 cannon ports. I find the front deck gets hit most by small arms fire in combat so I have a hard time putting more expensive models up there because of the high casualty rate.

The mid deck can hold up to 25 models with 4 Light Guns on board. There are no Swivel Ports here so I find this a good place to put a unit of unassigned sailors or a unit of Militia/Regulars along with the gun crew if you running cannons. You also have the option of paying for that Fighting Top for another 4 models in the rigging.

The main back deck can house up to 15 models and it can put another 7 in the Poop Deck subsection. You can basically fill this deck with gun crew as well if you want to man the cannons and the 2 Swivel Guns. The Poop Deck is a fun place to put a few elite snipers because if you’re fighting a smaller ship like a Bark, your snipers might apply the +1 Save penalty for being 2″ higher than the target!

Traits and Special Rules

The Fluyt comes with several traits that add to its flavor as a low maintenance vessel.

Pinked Stern

Pinked Stern: Raking shots against this ship’s Stern do not apply the -1 penalty to the ship’s current Fortitude value.

Pinked Stern is a passive trait that makes Stern Rakes hurt less. You may not sustain as much damage as other ships, but don’t be reckless!

Whipstaff

Whipstaff: This ship does not suffer the usual turning penalty for having no units in the rearmost deck.

This is a fantastic trait! This prevents you from ever having to worry about keeping a unit on the rear deck. This means your opponent cannot ever stop your ship from turning by de-populating your rear deck.

Chasers

Chasers: Chasers are Cannons that face either forward out of the Bow, or out back from the Stern of the ship. If cannons are placed in the Chasers gun ports, they fire in the direction they face, with the width of the Bow (or Stern) as their Arc of Fire

Chasers are rarely ever used. Theoretically, being at full Fortitude at your Stern may make it seem like it would be a good idea to utilize Chasers, its still not worth it.

Easy to Handle

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

Easy to Handle makes the Fluyt, well, easy to handle! Adjusting sails is a breeze and doesn’t take up a unit’s entire turn!

Poop Deck

Poop Deck: This subsection is a small area within the ship’s rearmost deck. It holds a maximum of 7 models, and follows the rules for subsections as described on p. 185.

This just outlines how to use the small deck right behind the 3rd Deck. Note that the Poop Deck section has to specifically targeted, and will not take saves from the deck in front of it.

Generic Upgrades 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.

Additional Sails (6pts)

With a stronger or more advanced rig, ships were able to carry extra canvas (for example Topgallants or Topgallant Royals, extra stay sails, or studding sails). However, in any kind of significant breeze this could make handling the ship difficult, and make the vessel less effective as a gun platform as the
deck would roll and heel steeply. The crew on a ship with this Trait may set or remove the Additional Sails
with a Change Sail action, rolling two dice and selecting the lowest (mark the Additional Sails with a token or note on the ship card on the mainmast section). A ship may choose to begin the game with an Additional Sail token already on its card.
While the Additional Sails are set the following rules apply:

• If the ship has the Additional Sails set and is at its highest Sail
  Setting, the ship gains the “Swift” trait to a maximum move of
  6” per ship activation.
• If the ship has the Additional Sails set, any Change Sail,
  Advanced Maneuver or Grapple actions made by the
  crew must roll two dice and select the lowest result.
• If the ship has the Additional Sails set, units assigned to
  Cannons receive a +2 to hit penalty on their initial to hit roll
  when firing; all other ranged weapons receive a +1 to hit penalty.
• If the ship has the Additional Sails set, any enemy targeting the
  rigging of the ship with cannons is not restricted to one Lucky
  Hit per shooting test, but will cause a Lucky Hit on each
  natural 10 rolled.
• If a mast is lost due to critical damage, the Additional Sails Trait
  is lost and any Additional Sails tokens are immediately removed.

While using Additional Sails with the Privateer Fluyt sounds good on paper, you need to remember that any amount of boarding coming from your Fluyt is going to be a dedicated climb action. This makes boarding much more difficult. They make hitting with Cannons and Small Arms much more difficult as well.

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 is great for the Fluyt! Being boarded is already difficult due to the aforementioned dedicated climb action. This makes it even more difficult to get ahold of you, making your opponent have to go through more actions to get onto your Fluyt.

Fighting Tops (2) (2pts each)

Models may be placed in subsections in a ship’s Rigging. Each Fighting Top holds a maximum of 4 models, and follows the rules for subsections as described on p. 185.

The ability to hold 8 more models on the ship can be good, and it best utilized with a small team of 4 models in charge of repairs and gaining extra cards.

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.

Since the Fluyt is not an ideal boarding craft, Freshly Careened hull has limited uses for early game movements to reduce range penalties on cannons and small arms. Outside of that niche, its good to avoid.

Heavily Built

Models may be placed in subsections in a ship’s Rigging. Each Fighting Top holds a maximum of 4 models, and follows the rules for subsections as described on p. 185.

This is an auto-include regardless of the tactics you use. Ignoring the first point of damage from artillery is always a good thing!

Improved Rig (Post 1700 Factions) (4pts)

A ship with this Trait gains +1 to its Top Speed characteristic. (Note this is Top Speed, not its actual Sail Setting values, making it mainly useful with a Sailing Master, or in an increased wind, etc,)

Improved Rig is a way to get some extra speed if you feel you need it. Stacking the top speed with a Sailing Master can give a bit of oomph. I don’t believe its required, but its another tool in the shed.

Ship’s Wheel (post 1700 factions) (2 pts)

-1 bonus to Sailing Tests when attempting Advanced Maneuvers

This is a good tool to have if you are familiar with Advanced Maneuvers. This will make Tacking, Box Hauling, and Wearing super easy.

Streamlined Hull (post 1700 factions) (3 pts)

While at her highest sail setting, a ship with this trait may decrease her windward penalty by 1” (to a minimum of 0”) in one of her three activations per turn, but permanently increases its Draft value by 1. This may not be used in the same activation as the Sailing Master ability if the crew has it.

Using this trait with a Sailing Master will make going upwind much easier at a cost of an increased chance of running aground. If playing a non-aggressive faction, this could definitely come in handy!

Ship Variations

In the No Peace Beyond the Line Expansion Book, the Fluyt has 1 alternate rig you can choose to use on the same hull: the Privateer Fluyt!

Privateer Fluyt

The Privateer Fluyt increases the top speed of the ship to 5″ but it doesn’t actually give it a 5″ sail setting so you have to have an entire unit devoted to that Swift rule (per the 2019 errata) to get that extra speed and only while going downwind. I would be tempted to use this version if the Windward penalty was reduced to -1″ instead of -2″.

The durability goes down from 4/6 to 4/5 which is equal to the Sloop which I would probably rather use unless I needed to dump a ton of men into a sea game.

Combat Strategy & Tactics Suggestions

Choosing an Overall Strategy

• In my opinion there isn’t a lot of roles that the Fluyt fulfills better than an alternate ship but it can be used to decent effect in many instances. We have a multiple Sea Battle tactics articles to help make your decision:
  • 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 & Suggestions

• One role that I think it fills really well is an auxiliary cannon ship in a larger multi-ship battle. You can load a Fluyt with a basic commander, 6 pairs of Light cannons and a skeleton crew for just a little more than 100 points. You can slowly sail (the Fluyt’s specialty) the gunship around the periphery and shoot those cannons as quickly as possible while a melee ship goes in to do the dirty work.
• With Heavily Built, plenty of swivels and fighting tops, I think it makes a better defensive ship that it does an aggressive ship. If you’re on the offense, most other ships can head upwind and put distance between them and you. Don’t try to use the Fluyt as a boarding party platform because you may never get a chance to board.
• While you can build it fairly cheap with a small crew, it’s also OK to just fill it up and sail it into combat with guns bristling! You don’t even have to focus on cannons. Or you could do cheap light cannons with grapeshot along with lots of muskets on deck and in the fighting tops and maximum swivel guns. You can pour out a lot of lead!
• The Fluyt is also a great attention grabber at demos game sessions are you local game store. People will stop and look at any ship that’s nicely painted and rigged but these bigger ships really get people’s attention.
• Being a merchant style of ship, my local group has used the Fluyt as an objective ship for various scenarios.

Blood & Plunder Force Builder – Fluyt Lists

English Navy Bare Bones Gun Ship 100 Point Force

Spanish Armada de Barlovento 200 Point Force

English Navy Medium Cannon 200 Point Force

Pirate Sniping 200 Point Force

Diego the Mulatto Pirate 300 Point Force

Spanish Armada de Barlovento with de Garay 350 Point Force

Kidd’s Privateers 350 Point Force

Piet Heyn’s 350 Point Force

Fluyt Video Review

In the video below you can see the Fluyt used as a 300 point pirate ship under the command of Jean Hamlyn.

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

Final Thoughts

I have to say I don’t believe the Fluyt is the most competitive or powerful ship in the game but it’s a beautiful and impressive ship and I’m glad I have it in my fleet. It suffers from the “not a Light Frigate” syndrome.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a first purchase, partly because it isn’t the strongest and partly because it’s very expensive to buy. But if you’re playing the Dutch where it naturally finds its home, or if you just like the look of this ship, go for it! It will be a glorious ship in your fleet!

I would like to hear about other players’ experiences with the Fluyt. How do you usually set it up? How have you found the power level?

Thanks for reading!

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

Product Suggestions

• Fluyt Ship from Firelock Games
• No Peace Beyond the Line Expansion where the Fluyt was introduced
• Raise the Black Expansion for the Generic Ship Upgrades

Additional Content Suggestions

• Brigantine Video Review 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