Intro
We have finally come to the last week! The Summer of Plunder is coming to a close and an epic summer it has been. Entries were up to around 120 games this week, bringing the total to around 1,500 games logged in this campaign so far. Spain and England still struggle for the top spot and the Dutch are still almost within striking range.
This is the last week. The campaign will end next Monday night (you get one extra bonus day) so get your games in. Try to snipe those end game prizes. Next week’s update will be a little later than usual as we process the end-of-campaign data and determine winners etc. This campaign has been an amazing experience and we’d like to thank everyone who has participated!
Nation Report
Spain and England have battled hard for the top spot throughout this campaign. Spain has once again retained the top spot, finally widening their lead a little to a full 10 points. The Spanish have sure been tenacious through this campaign.
Every nation added a good number of points, but the Dutch haven’t made any progress catching up to the leaders and the French and Pirates continue to lose a little ground. Natives are still faithfully holding down the last place.
Faction Report
Spanish Militia is still by far and away the most played faction. Brethren of the Coast come in at #2 and I find it crazy that the Oak & Iron Dutch have worked their way up to the 3rd most played “faction” in this campaign.
We still have 3 factions left to play before the end and they are all the French Legendary factions. L’Olonnais, De Graff, and Iberville have all been neglected. But this is the week for the Legendary Commander so let’s see if we can fill those last gaps this week!
Individual Report
Jason Klotz maintained and even widened his lead this week. He’s played for every nation, logging the most games for the Dutch, but considerable points for both the Pirates and French as well. Jason (of Timber and Sail) is on track to win several prizes at the end of the campaign! You now need 70 points to be in the top 10 and at least 32 points to make it into the top 30 players.
Week 13 Objective Report – Undying Pirate
The objective over this past week was to save your commander with the Cheat Death ability. Apparently putting your commander in harm’s way wasn’t too popular because not a lot of people claimed that objective. I hope it helped players consider other options and tactics and generated some good story moments that will be remembered.
On the other hand, accomplishing the objective this week was really easy in the Oak & Iron world were most every game had accomplished the goal (repair your ship at least once).
Week 14 Objective – Men of Legend
This should be a fun one! This week you will earn the objective bonus points if you use a Legendary commander in your force. Here’s our current list of Legendary Commanders:
- Pardal
- Corso
- Kidd
- Morgan
- Church
- De Graff
- L’Olonnais
- Iberville
- Heyn
- King Philip
- King Golden Cap
That only gives the Dutch one option, but it’s a good option! Everyone else has 2-3 options of commanders to choose from.
You don’t have to use the special legendary minis to score the points if you don’t have one. Just use a standard model with the legendary commander’s rules. You don’t have to use a Legendary Faction either (but you might as well!), just the legendary Commander.
You might think that you can’t use a 30+ point legendary commander to good advantage in the size of games you like/currently play. But that’s no excuse! If you both play your legendary commander, it will balance out. And sometimes he will add more to your force than you might think.
If it makes you feel better, you can say “the commander is free” and then just build a normal 100-200 point force, then add that big commander on top. The historical commanders are a super cool and interesting part of the game and you’re really missing out if you don’t give them a try!
Right now Morgan has been the best represented legendary commander in this campaign.
For Oak and Iron, you need to use a level 3 Admiral (or level 2 if your faction doesn’t have a level 3).
Weekly Photo Prize Winner
This week’s photo prize goes out to Fernando Arteaga for this image of cavalry riding through a caribbean port town. Nicely painted minis, good field of focus, and you can even see an objective token there on the left.
The weekly prize for best photo is the set of 3 exclusives minis from the Organized Play kit along with the 6 commander cards.
Reminder of End Campaign Objectives
There’s a lot of prizes to be claimed and this is the last week to look them over! Here’s the full list.
- 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
- “Dispatch Ship Captain” – Most “Oak & Iron” battle reports uploaded to https://gallery.timberandsail.com
- An 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.
Commander Reports
Now, here are the important messages from your beloved commanders.
Spain
Look for an update from the Spanish commander in the final week’s update.
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!
This is it! The Final week has arrived! We have put ourselves in an excellent position to take this whole thing!! We are going to need all the help we can muster to finally show who truly is the master of the New World! The Spanish are going to pull out all the stops this week to win! We need to show them it will not be enough to hold back the avalanche that’s about to bury them!
This week you will need to include a legendary commander in your force to achieve the extra points! I feel this is a more achievable goal which will allow us to put up a lot of points!
I want to Shout out Terry Abbott for being the big winner of last week’s Prize of a 4ground ports of plunder Medium Dock bundle! There are still many prizes up for grabs! Make sure you check that list!
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
- 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
France
Look for an update from the Spanish commander in the final week’s update.
Current French Objectives
- Most French points at end of campaign- Painted French commander of your choice (please vote for favorite French commander model)
- Most O&I games claimed for France – Gentlemen of Fortune boxed set
Netherlands
Dutch Players, we’ve got an uphill battle to steal first place, but that’s been true the entire campaign. We’ve come back from second to last and passed both the Pirates and the French, and are within striking distance of the English and Spanish. Piet Heyn himself will be at the forefront of our squadrons this week, ready to serve defeat to all those who oppose the Republic. We can come out victorious if we can commit and close the gap with the leading powers!
Current Dutch Objectives
- Most Dutch points at end of campaign- Painted Dutch commander
- Sink or capture Any Nationality ship this week – reinforcement models
Native American
Look for an update from the Native commander in the final week’s update.
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).
Pirates
Ahoy there Pirates!
If anybody has any last ditch, crazy ideas, now would be the time to implement them! Our island is in ruins, being fought over by Spain and England. Several prominent captains have been captured and put in gibbets right outside hollowed out shells of the same taverns we once frequented. Our native allies have felt the brunt of the conquest as well, being driven further into the interior. This week, we need to summon the aid of Legendary Commanders and hope we are able to turn the tide against us! I have escaped Governor Tipo’s men, for while they are shoddy sailors they are persistent. This cove shall be a sanctuary while I prepare the rest of our fleet in an attempt to take back our island that we hold so dear. Get out there my beautiful Buccaneers, for if it’s our time to go out in a blaze of glory then let’s make a show if it!
Your boisterous, endangered, and hopeful leader
The Boyar of the Brethren
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
Look for an update from the Scottish commander in the final week’s update.
Here’s a friendly reminder to keep playing Scottish!
Current Scottish Objectives
- Most Scottish points at end of campaign – Painted Scottish commander (customized and with choice of clan colours)
- 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
Enjoy your last week of the Summer of Plunder campaign! We’ll see you in the final update sometime next week. Get those games in!