Intro
Another great week of piratey gaming! With another 115 (ish) entries, campaign participation held steady through the 12th week. We’re up to about 1400 games logged in the campaign. Lots of games with fortifications this week.
Photo from Daniel Loych
Nation Report
Photo from David Nye
Spain and England traded spots several times again this week, but somehow Spain expanded its lead by the end of the week.
The Dutch gained a little more on the front runners, shrinking their deficit by a few points. Pirates seem to have lost motivation and are slowly joining the Natives in the backwaters. The Boyar better watch out. I hear Pirates like to munity when they don’t get results….
Individual Report
Jason Klotz has kept the top spot again! It looks like he was busy demoing at Nashcon over the weekend.
English champion Terry Abbott has pulled into 2nd place and David Nye is in a close 3rd. The curve has smoothed considerably since the first weeks of the campaign. You now need 30+ points to be in the top 30.
Photo from Jason Klotz
Week 12 Objective Report – Fortifications
Photo from Garrett Swader
Again, we had very high participation in the weekly objective. It was awesome to see people trying out fortifications.
Breastworks were one of the most commonly used fortifications, followed by the Stone Tower Fort. There was a lot of variety in the models used for various fortifications in the photos that were submitted. I hope everyone had a good time!
Photo from Gregory Padilla
There were Palisade Forts, Watch Towers, Square Towers, Round Towers, Matanzas Forts, Garrison Houses, Blockhouses, Breastworks, Fortified Houses, and Gun Emplacements!
Photo from Andy Hodges
I think every fortification in the game was represented in entries this week.
Photo from Nathan Brown
Several players accomplished the impressive Oak & Iron objective of playing a 200+ point game as well. Pictures of these games were impressive! Look at all those big ships!
Photo from Matthew Doerr
I promised a prize of 10 gold Fortune Coins to the player who accomplished the weekly objective the most times last week and that prize goes out to Matthew Doerr this week! Congrats and may this gold bring you good fortune!
Week 13 Objective – Undying Pirate
This next week’s objective is kind of weird, but I hope it will foster a very aggressive style of play and some epic stories. This week you score a bonus point if your commander “Cheats Death” by spending a Fortune Point to jump from a destroyed unit to another friendly unit within 8”.
This is not typically something you want to do in a game, but I get the feeling it’s something that people forget about doing sometimes so I wanted to feature it in the campaign.
Photo from Garrett Swader
So, go get your commander killed. But only Disney style. I want to point out some weird things you can do when you resurrect your commander with the Cheat Death ability. First, you can be really aggressive and charge in with a heavy commander and try to make a mess of your enemy’s formation and plans. Playing carefully with your commander is usually prudent, but if you keep the Fortune Point to Cheat Death and keep a unit close enough, it could throw your opponent off balance.
The other delightfully wicked thing you can do with the Cheat Death ability is activate your Commander twice. “Wut,” you say? As far as I can tell, if the unit you jump that “dead” Commander to has not activated yet, nothing stops you from using those Commander Points again! Cheaty McCheaterton! It doesn’t always work as sometimes that unit has already activated or all your units have already received Commander Points. But it can be a nasty surprise to do a big turn with your Commander, the Commander’s unit gets wiped out, the Commander jumps, then responds with another big turn of Command Actions! Diabolical! Might be maybe that should be illegal, but I can’t find anything that stops it right now.
Photo from Nicholas Basham
The objective for Oak & Iron players is a little easier: you must have at least one ship take both a Rally and a Repair action over the course of a game. Stay in the game!
Photo from Jason Klotz
Weekly Photo Prize Winner
This week’s photo prize goes out to Gregory Padilla for this awesome shot of a fort battery firing on approaching pirate boats. He has set up some incredible tables over the course of this campaign! You can see some of his full spreads in some of his posts on the big Blood & Plunder: Buccaneering Across the Spanish Main Facebook group.
The weekly photo prize is a set of the 3 Organized Play exclusive minis and a set of the 6 commander cards for the Pacific Adventure. No one can win this prize more than once during the campaign.
Reminder of End Campaign Objectives
The campaign is almost over, so check out all those end of campaign goals. The Grand Prize of a Galleon or 6th Rate Frigate with a set of Seamon’s Quality Sails will go out to a random player from the winning nation. Right now it looks like a Spanish or English player will be getting that prize, so you should play at least one game for both of those nations to give yourself a shot at that big prize. That’s a good $400-$600 value!
On the other end of the spectrum, a player from the losing nation will get a fully painted Stone Tower Fort. This is a trick to get everyone to play for the Natives this week! They are solidly in the last place, but I suppose if everyone played a few games for them this week, the Natives could rise again!
Commander Reports
Now, here are a few important messages from your commanders.
Spain
¡Hola!
With the end of the campaign fastly approaching, I want to salute the brave soldiers of New Spain that have pushed us this far. I am not surprised that we have come this far, for I never doubted the Spanish resolve.
As time wears on, I am looking for more Spanish commanders to join our fight. Encourage your friends, enemies, and family to fight for Spain, and beat the English. With a fight this close, every game you play counts.
To help this cause I am now going to give to different players a prize for playing a game during the Sunrise or Sunset, and photographing something to represent the scenario. I hope to see all your photographs.
-Bueno Tipo
Photo from Fernando Arteaga
Current Spanish Objectives
- Most Spanish points at end of campaign- Painted Spanish commander
- Play a game that takes place during Sunrise or Sunset, and photograph that with your miniatures (bonus points for using an actual sunrise/sunset)- two random winners get a Spanish Blister at the end of the campaign.
England
English commanders! Keep Pouring it on! We only have two more weeks two go! The finish line is in sight and glory awaits us on the other side! The enemies are all around and they will not stop their quest, to do whatever they can to ensure England doesn’t achieve its goal! of total domination of the New World! We must make sure they never achieve what they Seek! Let’s give them nothing! And take everything from them!
Reminder for this week’s challenge you need to have your Commander cheat death to achieve extra points! As well I will be awarding the 4ground Ports of plunder medium dock bundle for the player that achieves the most English spirit!!
For England, For Home and for the Prize! We got this!!
- 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 Jayden King
France
Look for an update from the French Commander next week.
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!
- Most French points at end of campaign- Painted French commander of your choice (please vote for favorite French commander model)
Photo from Brendan D
Netherlands
Look for an update from the Dutch Commander next week.
Current Dutch Objectives
- Most Dutch points at end of campaign- Painted Dutch commander
- Sink or capture Any Nationality ship this week – reinforcement models
- A prize (civilian characters set) to the Dutch player who completes the weekly objective Support the Merchants (play at an FLGS) the most times – even if you already got a prize for capturing a ship!
Photo from Nicholas Basham
Native American
Look for an update from the Native Commander next week.
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 Evan Hodges
Pirates
Ahoy there Pirates!
The gap widens between us and the major powers! While I’d normally never suggest placing your commanders in harm’s way, this week is about guts! We NEED to at least beat out the snarky French, lest we become nothing but a footnote in history! I am currently on the run, being pursued by Governor Tipo’s flotilla with stores running low! If we can pass the French I have a chance at getting out of this alive!
Your boisterous, endangered leader,
The Boyar of the Brethren
Photo from Gary Basham
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
Scottish
We have slowed down too much! Only one game was played this week and one last week. This week’s game, seen below, was by Jayden King.
We aren’t too far behind the natives! If the Scottish were a separate faction (i.e., no points given to other factions), we’d be in dead last (adjusted scores can be seen below), but we can still come in second to last if we try! Remember, everyone who plays as Scottish will get a promo card, so get to it! As an added bonus, if we end up beating the Natives, the player who played the most Scottish will get a blister of his/her choice or a longboat, so if there’s a unit you’ve been eyeing to get, you can earn it by playing a lot of Scottish! Good luck! Currently, nobody has a large lead on most Scottish games played, so anyone can earn this prize if they play enough.
Nobody allied with natives this week, so there is no prize to be given for that objective. Last week the prize was claimed by David Dzwonek, so he will be getting a native blister prize.
Current Scottish Objectives
Most Scottish points at end of campaign – Painted Scottish commander (customized and with choice of clan colours)
Most Scottish points at end of campaign if we beat the Natives – Choice of blister or longboat
Play as the Scottish and get a promo card!
Play a game as Scottish and take a picture with cool Scottish miniatures/ship flags (or other Scottish gameplay components) and win a Scottish deck of playing cards (2/5 left)
Current Unaligned Objectives
Player with most unaligned (not pirates) games that choose natives for the points each week will receive a blister pack of native reinforcements
Outro
Have a good week! There’s this week and next left in the campaign, so stack up those points! I expect to see lots of Commanders dying this week. Don’t forget, This is a good chance to get some good shots of your Commander models as well for the “Best Painted Commander” objective.
Happy gaming!
Photo from Joseph Forster
End of Campaign Prizes
At the end of the campaign (and maybe some throughout the summer), more than $1000 in prizes will be awarded! Prizes will include:
- Grand Prize – Random Player of Winning Faction
- Your choice of a Galleon or 6th Rate Frigate with a set of Seamon’s Quality Sails
- Most Notorious Pirate – Single Player with the Most Campaign Points
- A $100 Firelock Games Coupon Code
- Tiny Captain – Most Oak & Iron Games Logged
- A Ships of the Line box of Oak & Iron Ships and a set of deluxe movement templates
- Pirate Journalist – Most Game Photos Submitted
- Your choice of a Benerson Little book, possibly/hopefully signed by the author
- Resilient Commander – Random Player from the Losing Nation
- Hardened Mercenary – Player who has played under the most flags (factions as tie-breaker)
- Set of 3 Genuine 17th Century Fortune Coins
- National Hero – Players who have Logged the Most Games in Each Nation
- National Commander Mini hand painted by your nation’s Commander
- Press Ganger – Most New Players Taught
- 2022 Noob of the Year – Random Player Who Started Playing Blood & Plunder in 2022
- A Two Player Starter Set from the Raise the Black Kickstarter (delivered as soon as it’s available).
- Hoist Your Colors – Best Painted Minis in Photos
- Set of Size 0 & 00 Winsor & Newton Series 7 Brushes
- Pyratical Portraiture – Best Painted Commander Mini in Photos
- 28mm WIP portrait of your nation’s commander
- Land Worth Fighting For – Best Looking Table
- Stone Walls handmade by Dexter Heide
- Merchant Escort – Most games at FLGS
- Docks handmade made by Dexter Heide
- Merchant Escort – Most games at FLGS
- Docks handmade made by Dexter Heide
- “Dispatch Ship Captain” – Most “Oak & Iron” battle reports uploaded to https://gallery.timberandsail.comAn Oak & Iron “Gentlemen of Fortune” boxed set
- “News from the Front” – A random player who submits at least one battle report (4+ pictures and 100 words) to https://gallery.timberandsail.com. Each additional battle report adds 1 additional chance to win.
- A set of 12 custom-painted, 3D printed wake tokens for the game.
- “Letters to Home” – A random player who submits at least one new image https://gallery.timberandsail.com.
- A set of 12 custom-painted, 3D printed wake tokens for the game.
- More may be announced!