The Summer of Plunder had a huge first week! We had more than 130 entries from over 60 different players over the first week. It’s been very exciting to see people trying the game for the first time, sharing the game with others, and just getting games on the table! Lots of great looking games happening around the world.
If you’re just jumping into the campaign, you can find all the basic rules, prizes and information on the Campaign Home Page here on this blog. The other important page is the game entry form which can be found here.
Nation Report
Here’s the national standings after a week of war:
England and Spain have been battling for the top spot all week. The French were a solid third until the Pirates got a huge surge mid way through the week and now even the Dutch are beating them out for fourth place. The Natives have less than half the score of the leaders, but have a chance of not being last place!
Individual Report
As far as individual standings, Jason Klotz (of Timber and Sail) has taken an early lead and David Nye & Dexter Heide are vying for second place. 61 players have submitted a total of 130 games netting 277 campaign points.
Weekly Photo Prize Winner
It was a hard task selecting a winner from the 300+ photos of the week. I selected this shot by Mike Tyler as the best picture of the week.
Every week we’re giving away a pack of these 3 (unpainted) organized play miniatures along with 6 exclusive commander cards to whoever submits the best photo. Congrats Mike Tyler!
You can enjoy a separate post of many of the photos submitted this last week in this Week 1 Photo Highlights post.
Oak & Iron Update
Jason Klotz, who recently built the Timber & Sail website (please check it out if you haven’t) offered to boost our Oak & Iron support so we have added extra prizes and tweaked objectives so those bonus points are available to Oak & Iron players every week. You can find more info on all that in this post.
There may be an upcoming update from Timber & Sail regarding this next week’s objective very soon so watch for that on Timber and Sail.
Weekly Objectives
The vast majority of players accomplished our first weekly objective and many extra campaign points were earned. I hope people enjoyed playing small 50 point games. I find those small games to be tense in a different way as every roll of the dice is so crucial. Fortune Points can really turn the tide when the failure or success of one attack or save roll can decide the game. I think playing those smaller games let people play more games which got the campaign numbers off to a good start as well.
Week 2 Objective
This week is Bark Wars week! The Bark is a lowly vessel but it still deserves a little love. If you include a Bark in your Blood & Plunder force this week, you’ll be awarded an additional point for you and your nation. Oak & Iron players will be awarded the extra point if they include a Sloop in their fleet. If your Blood & Plunder faction doesn’t allow for Barks (Natives, Expeditionary Forces etc), including a Piragua, or capturing a Bark will fulfill the objective. Don’t forget you get bonus points for teaching new players as well (any game where you’re providing substantial coaching to a newer player).
Picture by Dexter Heide
National Objectives
There are other national objectives with prizes offered by your national commanders. Check your nation’s propaganda… ahem, I mean news update below, or the master list of current objectives at the very end of this (lengthy) post.
Several national objectives were fulfilled last week and commanders will be contacting players to send them loot!
And now some words of encouragement from some of our national commanders!
Spain
Unfortunately, Tomás de Mullane “El Queso” had to bow out as Spanish Commander so Guy Rheuark has stepped up to lead the mighty Spanish empire
¡Buenas Tardes!
I would like to introduce myself. I am Martín Antonio Álvarez de Sotomayor y Soto-Flores “Buen Tipo”. By the power of the King I have taken control of the Spanish war efforts in New Spain. This has been a successful transition of power, and very few needed to be executed!
To begin, the effort of all Loyal Subjects of Spain has been overwhelming! To show Humility, I must attribute this to Tomás de Mullane “El Queso”, and to you, the brave Soldiers of New Spain.
Even with that effort, we are not winning. Heretical England is my main concern. We must not concern ourselves with the puppies nipping at our heels, but instead these would be usurpers!
To that goal, I would like to commission a multitude of barks to become a flotilla of fearsome Armadillos. I ask you to use any barks you may have to patrol our waters in the coming week. I have also asked that our Admirals of Oak & Iron use sloops to corner the opponent. This show of force will help us continue to demonstrate our rightful place to the world.
As a final note, I will be rewarding the Spanish Player, or Spanish Ally, who is able to take a picture of the highest number of their own units that are in Melee in the coming months. A strong attack is half the battle won.
Martín Antonio Álvarez de Sotomayor y Soto-Flores “Buen Tipo”
England
France
Message was intercepted by the Guarda Costas.
The Dutch Republic
Message was sold to the Spanish and never reached its destination.
Native American
Too long it had taken to reach the nearest settler village. He imagined them sleeping soundly in their timber homes, ignorant of the wolves that stalked ever closer – day by day, night by night.
Tradesmen and outlaws. who held no love for the great powers of the lands beyond the sea, brought news of the glorious efforts of The People of the Southern lands; their arrows continued to find their mark in the swamps and jungles where the white men fell great trees and dug through the hills and mountains for riches.
His own people had proved slow to rouse, but he knew they did not lack for skill or courage – they awaited a sign, for a great warrior to show them the way to victory over the invaders.
Black Kettle could not know if he was the warrior they sought, but he and his war chiefs chased Destiny with the fervor of a pack on the hunt.
And only blood would slake their thirst.
**We’ve reached the end of the first week of the Blood and Plunder/Oak and Iron global campaign! I want to thank all of my native players for their efforts – I know that playing Natives can be demanding and leave you a bit disadvantaged, especially at sea, but your victories will feel that much more rewarding when you bloody the noses of the European factions.
I’d also like to thank those Minor Powers players who’ve declared for the Natives. Your contributions are helping to keep the natives competitive in a campaign dominated by the major European nations. In recognition of your efforts, any Minor Power player who declares for the Natives will be included in the drawing for any bonus prizes. Even if you don’t plan on fielding a native only force, the Fire on the Frontier expansion has introduced a number of lists that mix native units in with colonial forces, and many of these bonus prizes will serve as starting points for those who wish to try out those mixed-nation forces.
With all the prizes and giveaways, there’s no better time to check out or get back into Blood and Plunder and Oak and Iron. I look forward to hearing about everyone’s games and seeing the photos of your efforts. Natives, let’s test the mettle of these European powers!**
Pirates
Alright my beautiful buccaneers, charming corsairs, and piliferous pirates, week one was a resounding success! However, the battle is not yet over! As of this writing, we are playing third fiddle to the evil Spanish and perfidious English! We cannot allow them to have the seas uncontested! I would implore all able bodied sailors to careen their barks and get ready to take some prizes during this week’s objective: BARK WARS! Test your mettle against our enemies by outwitting them in the most humble of our seagoing vessels. With the Dastardly Dutch still in our wake, we will need to make sure we stay ahead of Van Meter and his ridiculous wooden shoes (did anybody tell him that clogs are not proper seagoing attire?). Per usual, I will like to remind everybody that whomever plays the most games this month will be rewarded with a 4-man sprue of their choice, so keep on playing! As always, keep those dice ready and the wind at your back mateys!!!!!
Scottish
The Scottish are doing quite well so far. We have currently contributed 9 points to the campaign! If we can quadruple that in the next two weeks (i.e., at the end of week 3, have 36 or more total points from Scottish players), a random Scottish player will be rewarded with a prize!
Below are some images from a fellow Scotsman! Joe Pelfrey played against some Logwood Cutters and has some nicely painted Scottish miniatures! That’s great! And we’d love to see more, so, the next three players who play as Scottish and feature something Scottish in their games (painted Scotsmen, Scottish flags on ships, or something else creative) will also receive prizes (pictures required, of course)!
From Joe Pelfrey
From Joe Pelfrey
Lastly, the first quest has been completed. Jason Klotz routed some English cavalry (seen below) and was able to take their leftover horses and thus will be receiving a B&P cavalry pack!
From Jason Klotz
That’s all for this week! Be on the lookout for more quests in the next update and keep playing the Scottish!
Finally, we usually include a batch of photos submitted during the week, but this post is getting long enough and we had a ton of photos so I’m opting to just make a separate post with a bunch of the pics from the kickoff week. You can enjoy those photos here.
Current National Objectives
You can earn extra prizes from you National Commanders by fulfilling these extra objectives. Please make sure to mention them in the “Comments” section of the entry form if appropriate.
- Spanish
- Most Spanish points at end of campaign- Painted Spanish commander
- Photos of most units in melee – Mystery Prize
- English
- Most English points at end of campaign- Painted English commander
- Best painted army at end of campaign – spike defenses piece of terrain
- Most games at end of campaign – custom built and painted wigwam
- French
- Most French points at end of campaign- Painted French commander of your choice (please vote for favorite French commander model)
- Dutch
- Most Dutch points at end of campaign- Painted Dutch commander
- Any Dutch player who is able to sink, capture, or burn a Spanish vessel will be sent reinforcements, as a token of appreciation for their bravery and service to the Republic.
- Native American
- Most Native points at end of campaign- Painted Native commander
- Pirates
- Most Pirate points at end of campaign- Painted Pirate commander.
- Most games played at the end of every month – Blister of models of player’s choice.
- Scottish
- The next three players who play as Scottish and feature something Scottish in their games (painted Scotsmen, Scottish flags on ships, or something else creative) will also receive prizes (pictures required, of course)!
- Score enough points from Scottish games in the next two weeks, and a random Scottish player will receive a prize.
- Most Scottish points at end of campaign- Painted Scottish commander customized and with choice of clan colours.
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