Welcome to the week 7 update on the Summer of Plunder campaign for Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron. With 6 weeks completed, we’re moving into the middle weeks of the event. So far 118 players have logged well over 700 games in this campaign.
A follow up post will be released on Wednesday with more of the photos from this past week’s games.
Nation Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCQyZZPbwK4
Spain, Spain, Spain, Spain!
Spain is dominating! At 323 points, they are a full 50 points ahead of the second place nation! England has pulled back into second place at 273, France is in 3rd place at 258 and the Pirates are now in 4th. The alliance with the Minor Powers helped the Native Americans out a lot, but they are still solidly in last place with 132 points.
The Scottish didn’t gain a lot this week and they currently stand at 23 games
Individual Report
Chris Asche has kept his top place for another week and the top 5 players remain unchanged. Luckily, the top 5 players have been playing primarily for different nations.
Chris is playing for the French, Jason primarily for the Dutch, David for Spain, Terry for England, David D for Natives & England. Twan van Tilborg has emerged as the Pirates’ Hero player, but he has yet to pull into the top 5. These top “hero level” players are looking likely to receive the end of campaign rewards from the national commanders! But there’s still a good 7 weeks left, so there could still be upsets.
Week 6 Objective Report – Extra Portion of Fortune
Photo from Terry Abbot
This week’s objective was to use (or start with) 4 or more Fortune Points. Again, most players accomplished the weekly objective. I saw several players use Henry Morgan and Piet Heyn with the God’s Blessing or the Devil’s Luck ability. Beyond that, it looks like people use the Spiritual Leader a lot again this week.
I added a bit to the campaign entry form to keep track of how many Fortune Points were used, but I was slightly disappointed no one got over 4. No Laurens de Graff abuse of Felicitous! No stacking of French Priests to start with 5-6 Fortune! I was hoping for more rules abuse!
Week 7 Objective – Fire on the Frontier Scenarios
This next week’s objective is a little trickier and you probably won’t want to try to fulfill it every game you play (if you’re able to play more than once per week). This week you get a bonus point if you play a scenario from the new Fire on the Frontier expansion book. Released in both PDF and physical print earlier this year, Fire on the Frontier covers two late 17th century wars in North America, King Philip’s and King William’s War.
Fire on the Frontier contains 2 standard scenarios, and then 4 historical scenarios as well, representing actually engagements
Scenario lists
- Historical
- Great Swamp Fight (coming soon to YouTube)
- The Sudbury Fight
- The Siege of Pemaquid
- The Battle of Hudson’s Bay
- Standard Scenarios
- Total War
- Ambush
There is an older preview of the Ambush scenario here on the blog and you can watch a full ambush battle on our YouTube channel here.
You can see a battle report video of the Battle of Hudson’s Bay here.
If you haven’t picked up the book yet and would like to know more about it, you can find several articles and videos on it here.
Some of these scenarios are more complex and the historical scenarios can ask for a lot of models, but they can all be modified to fit your collection at some level. I would like to recommend the Ambush scenario as a fun scenario that anyone can pick up and play with a standard list, collection and set of terrain. That scenario always makes a good story.
For Oak & Iron players, Jason Klotz has worked up a Battle of Hudson’s Bay scenario for this game as well. You can find that scenario with accompanying admiral rules here on Timber ad Sail. You can also fulfill the objective by using a Landing Party.
Look Forward to Week 8 – Oak and Iron
Speaking of Oak & Iron, next week is all about the Tiny Wars! If you haven’t tried Oak & Iron, you should! If you order a core set now, you should have it ready to go by next week. Everything you need to play is in the box. I know it’s in-stock at Firelock Games and it’s available from your favorite game retailer as well. All Oak & Iron games will receive the bonus point next week.
In an effort to not leave the Native American players out of our objective goals next week, Jason Klotz has cooked up a Native American faction and produced both cards and miniature designs you can custom order through Thingiverse. You can find all the info here or at the bottom of this post.
Photo from Matthew Doerr
Weekly Photo Prize Winner
This week’s photo prize goes to David Nye. I loved this photo of a raid on a port with so many ships in the frame. Lots of great photos this week. Look for a post with more photos later in the week.
Photo from David Nye
A set of the Organized Play minis and cards are given out each week to the player with the best submitted photo.
End Campaign Objectives – Painted Commander
Don’t forget there’s lots of prizes to be earned at the end of the campaign as well. One of those prizes will go to the player with the best painted commander in the photos submitted. Tyler Stone is cooking up a very interesting prize for this one. I’m collecting images of commanders as they come in, so make sure to get a good shot of that fancy commander in your force.
Photo from Gary Basham
Custom Commander Cards
Our project to create legal, custom commander cards representing your illustrious national leaders is almost finished! Cards are being printed and will be delivered to commanders soon. These commander cards will be used as small prizes for various objectives or achievements.
Here’s a preview of our promotional Dutch Commander card, featuring Glenn Van Meter:
Commander Reports
Now, here are the important messages from your beloved commanders.
Spain
¡Buenas Tardes!
I have been occupied the last few weeks, but I am pleasantly surprised at Spain’s current world standing. It surprises me though that the other Nations have not sent me letters of congratulations and surrendered all of their illegal new world holdings.
I have prepared prizes for two stalwart Spanish conquistadors, and will be sending them off soon. I am also preparing two new prizes for the month of July:
Blood & Plunder: Play two or more Spanish ships in one game in July. A randomly chosen winner will get a set of handmade shoals.
Oak & Iron: Play two or more Spanish ships that have Spanish sticker flags on them. A randomly chosen winner will get a set of handmade Oak & Iron islands.
Happy Hunting
Photo from David Nye
Current Spanish Objectives
- Most Spanish points at end of campaign- Painted Spanish commander.
- Command two or more ships at once in Blood & Plunder in July- Set of handmade shoals.
- Command two or more Spanish flagged ships (using the stickers) in July- Set of handmade Oak & Iron islands.
England
Commanders of England,
English Commanders we are holding on to second position and are ready to retake the Lead! This week is “Frontier Wars” as the English are one of the main players in this rule set, we will have a fantastic opportunity to bank extra points over the Spanish! Just a reminder that the Commander that plays the most matches as the English faction will win a painted Benjamin Church Model! Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
Current English Objectives
- Most English points at end of campaign- Painted English commander
- Best painted army at end of campaign – spike defenses
- Most games at end of campaign – wigwam
- Most games played as an English commander during week 7 “Frontier Wars” – painted Benjamin Church model.
- Most games played as an English commander during week 10 “Upgrade the Flagship”- painted Bark rigged with sails and a flag.
- Best English Spirit- Will win 4ground Ports of Plunder Medium Dock Bundle! This commander has to complete most of their matches as the English faction. I am also looking for pics of your matches, videos of sea shanties dressing up in your best English attire etc. Have a lot of fun and be creative! When you post something just tag me in it! I will be picking a winner at the end of the second last week of campaign week 13
Photo from Dexter Heide
France
Soldiers of New France – this week, the spotlight is upon you! We have been defending our position in third place – narrowly ahead of the Pirates, narrowly behind the English. This week, the war moves to the Frontier. The Natives have been crushed, it is time for the English to taste French steel!
Captains, rally your Coureur des Bois, and your Native Allies – the Frontier is our theater, and we will show the world that we will not back down from a fight! As we speak, d’Iberville is sailing to the mouth of the Hudson, and no Englishman will stand in his way. Play the Oak & Iron scenario, claim the weekly objective for France, and earn progress towards the extra monthly reward.
De la bouche de nos canons!
For July, current French Objectives
- Games for France! Weekly objectives for France! A prize will be sent to the player who records the most points for France
- There is also a prize (and title!) up for grabs to whichever player claims the most Oak & Iron games for France!
Photo from Andy Hodges
Netherlands
Men of the Republic,
It seems that my missive last week did not make it to you. Regardless, in my travels I was able to take a small Spanish fort in the name of the Republic, weakening the Spanish hold on the new world. It will be very helpful for us as we are currently set to overtake the pirates, and any stone fort will surely be more than they can bear. We continue to stay close to the French and English as well. We will surely overtake them with a few more games reported. In the meantime, continue to take their shipping from them. If we can deny them the water their empires will shrink.
Deo Ducente Nil Nocet
Governor Jan Van Meteren
Current Dutch Objectives
- Most Dutch points at end of campaign- Painted Dutch commander
- Sink or capture Any Nationality ship this week – reinforcement model
Photo from Nicholas Basham
Native American
Black Kettle was unavailable for comment. He’s been fine tuning his force for total domination at Historicon.
Current Native American Objectives
- Most Native points at end of campaign- Painted Native commander
- A random player who logs games against the French (noted in the comments section of the submission form) will win a bonus prize (each participant can only qualify once).
Photo from Nathan Brown
Pirates
Attention my wonderful piratical and illegal sea salvage experts! We are approaching week 7 and we are still behind the Spanish! We need to up the pressure and assert ourselves or soon we will find ourselves overrun by the governed! Luckily, this week should be an easy one for us! We simply need to play a scenario from the Fire on the Frontier Expansion Book! It doesn’t matter which one, just know that just for playing the scenario you will score for this week’s objective!
Photo from Jason Klotz
For this week, I have acquired beautiful Jolly Roger flag from a Spanish prisoner named Guy for a ship of my fleet! (A sample provided in the picture below) The first pirate player to submit a picture of his/her Boarding Party (Enter Ploeg, Forlorn Hope, or Les Enfant Perdue) successfully boarding an enemy vessel with the Charge action will receive said flag! Be sure to tell me how the boarding action went!l, and mention you are aiming for the flag in your description! There may be more opportunities to get more swag on the horizon, so keep your eyes peeled!
Your boisterous Leader
-The Boyar
Current Pirate Objectives
- Most Pirate points at end of campaign- Painted Pirate commander
- At the end of each month, the pirate with the most played games will receive a 4 man blister
- First player to send a picture of a boarding party (Enter Ploeg, Forlorn Hope, or Les Enfant Perdue) successfully completing a boarding action will win a Jolly Roger Flag for one do their Blood and Plunder Ships
Scottish
Not much progress this week, we had one Scottish entry (pictured below, courtesy of David Dzwonek, very nice house). Maybe that means we need more prizes/quests, so let’s see some Scottish taunting (bait an enemy unit into charging you and stop them with a defensive attack)! The prize for this will be some models of taunting highlanders. Remember to take pictures of and mention that you completed the quest so your glorious Scottish achievements can be shared with the community.
The Native support mission seems to have been pretty successful so far! This week, all three European minor factions were played (Danish, Scottish, and Swedish)! All three were played by David Dzwonek so he will be getting a blister of natives to start off his collection!
The Native support mission is still active, so get those unaligned games in and recruit some natives!
Photo from Brian Baird
Oak & Iron – Natives
The upcoming Week 8 of the Summer of Plunder features a weekly objective of playing games of Oak & Iron. One unfortunate consequence of that, is the lack of a Natives faction to be able to play in Oak & Iron. As O&I is primarily a naval skirmish game, the Natives aren’t featured in the core rules because of their lack of heavy warships and ocean going vessels.
However, TimberAndSail.com has put together a new project that converts the two main ships of the Native faction in Blood & Plunder for use in Oak & Iron. The project features two new ship types, faction specific rules, a full set of initiative cards and Admirals making it a fully playable faction. In addition to the stats and rules to play, they have also provided free STL files for those of you with 3D printers to be able to download and print your own Native boats!
Check out their project and get more info here:
https://timberandsail.com/factions-natives/
