By Joseph Forster

Thank you to everyone who entered characters in our commander/character contest! We got lots of fun and interesting entries and I discovered some new names through this as well!

It was very difficult picking winners but it had to be done. We have selected 3 winners to receive the contest prize of a complete set of the Blood & Plunder legendary commander models.

Here are the winning entries!

Christopher Myngs – 32

May Lead: Royal Navy, English Buccaneers or Brethren of the Coast
Main Weapon: Brace of Pistols and Standard Melee Weapons.
Sidearm: None
Command Range: 16”
Command Points: 3
Special Rules: Broadside, Commodore, Very Inspiring and Unorthodox Force
Unorthodox Force: when commanding or English Buccaneers or Brethren of the Coast. Myngs Force’s may include English Musketeers.

Myngs began his career as a naval officer serving in the First Anglo Dutch War. Later he commanded the Frigate Marston Moor he set sail for the Jamaica Station. In 1658 he returned to Jamaica as naval commander acting as a commerce raider in the Anglo Spanish War. Her he commanded a fleet of Buccaneers including Henry Morgan and others. Here Myngs developed a reputation for cruelty. His sharing half the spoils with the Buccaneers of the 1659 raid got him arrested for embezzlement and he was returned to England.
He was retained in his position, and under Charles II he was returned to Jamaica as commander of the Jamaica Station in 1662. He had secret orders to disrupt Spanish trade even though England and Spain were at Peace. He employed the Buccaneers again this time with the support of the Governor of Jamaica Thomas Hickman-Windsor who fired a large number of soldiers to fill Myngs command. In 1663 he led a great raid on Campeche. Under his leadership were Captains Henry Morgan, Edward Mansvelt and Abraham Blauvelt. Myngs was wounded and turned command over Mansvelt and returned to England a year later. The pirates plundered a total of 150,000 Spanish pieces of eight.
Myngs recovered and served out his life as a Vice Admiral against the Dutch in the Second Dutch Anglo War and was killed in the Four Days’ Battle.

Designed by Steven Scrivner

Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin – 6

Advisor
Faction Restrictions: French Buccaneers, Brethren of the coast, Chasseurs, Morgan’s Buccaneers, Flibustiers Nau.
Unit Restrictions:  Cannot join a unit with the “Quick”, “Scouts” or “Skirmishers” rule.
Main Weapon: None
Sidearm : None
Special Rules: None
Extra Abilities: Once per turn, all failed save tests of a friendly unit within 4” can be rerolled.

Exquemelin was a French surgeon who came to “West India” because he was Protestant (and France was Catholic). He worked as a surgeon on several French buccaneer ships.

He also participated in many of Henry Morgan’s raids. He wrote a famous book relating his adventures “Histoire des aventuriers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes”. Many histories we know now regarding the 17th century buccaneers (like Francois L’Olonnais, Monbars the Exterminator, Alexandre Bras-de-Fer etc) were reported by him. He finished his life quietly in the Netherlands (where he published his book).

Design notes : Many ship crew had a surgeon on board, and there was a surgeon present in most of the city. In case of battle, the surgeon was present on the battlefield to heal the wounded. Exquemelin is a good example of these surgeons, he was present in many battles.

Designed by Jean Leroy

Preston Jackson also submitted a generic Surgeon character that I’m excited about releasing!

Pierre le Picard – 30 points

May lead: French Buccaneers or Brethren of the Coast
Main Weapon: Brace of Pistols or Bucaneer Gun and Standard Melee Weapon
Sidearm : None
Command Range: 12″
Command Points: 2
Special Rules: Lucky, God’s Blessing or the Devil’s Luck
Extra Abilities: Cheat Death is modified in this way.
If his unit is destroyed or routed, he can join any other friendly unit within 8″ without having to spend a Fortune Point.

Pierre le Picard had a very long career, he saw many battles and served under François L’Olonnais and Henry Morgan’s command. He took part to the expeditions on Panama and Maracaibo. He was also there during the expedition in the South Sea in 1685 where at some point he lead 50 Enfants Perdus into victory. Le Picard crossed the Isthmus of Darien again with 260 men, chased by 1.000 Spanish. He sacked the city of Segovia in 1687 and finally retired in 1690.

Designed by Jean-Noel Reyne

Honorable Mentions

There were so many good entries and I couldn’t resist sharing a couple more here.

Oliver Kahler entered selections from a very promising looking campaign project focusing on Grammont’s raid on Matanzas near St Augustine in the 1680’s. All the commanders were well-researched and balanced and included Spanish characters (which always wins points with me).

Jacques Diego, the Quartermaster – 15

May Lead: French Buccaneers
Main Weapon: Brace of Pistols or Buccaneer Gun and Standard Melee Weapon
Sidearm: None or Pistol (Only if armed with a Buccaneer Gun)
Command Range: 12″
Command Points: 2
Special Rules: Brawlers, Tough, Cunning
He is sometimes cited as Brigaut’s own quartermaster, which would make him one of the highest-ranked pirates thought to have been a black African (as opposed to “mulatto” or mixed-race) pirate.

Raphael Kamphius entered a notable pirate as well which looks really good!

Rock Brazilian – 25

May Lead: Dutch Privateers, Dutch Caribbean Militia, Pirates
Main Weapon: Brace of pistols and standard melee weapons
Sidearm: –
Command Range: 20”
Command Points: 3
Special Rules: Commodore, Tough Guerilla Commander, Local Knowledge, God’s Blessing or the Devil’s Luck
Mutual Hatred: This Commander cannot give Command Points to Buccaneers
Unorthodox Force:  A force led by this commander may take English Militia and Warrior Musketeers as core units.

There are many, many more excellent submissions as well which we will be sharing in a forthcoming pdf of all the entries.

The overall quality of submissions was very high and it was a delight looking through and reading about the various pirates, leaders and characters. There was a high percentage of very powerful commanders with 3 Command Points and many of the commanders seemed pretty cheap for how strong they appeared. It appears everyone likes their favorite pirate to be great value in the game!

It was very difficult selecting winners. I took game balance, fun design and interesting personalities heavily into account while selecting winners. I felt many should have won but I had to pick 3!

The rest of the entries will be released as soon as I can get them all published in a pdf.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry and congratulations to Steven, Jean and Jean-Noel!