Stede Bonnet is an entertaining and puzzling character. In Blood & Plunder, he’s not very competent, but he’s brave and won’t back down from a fight. This miniature comes from the Pirates of Legend set of multi-part plastic miniatures, part of the Raise the Black Kickstarter.

For this Stede Bonnet miniature paintjob, I based my color scheme and paint job on this portrait by Thomas Kelly Pauley, well known historical portrait artist.

I went towards the blue shade of gray to make him look a little fancier (actually I miscalculated my shade of gray, but ended up liking it).

During one of Bonnet’s bolder moments in 1717, he engaged a Spanish Man-of-War and it didn’t go well for him. He managed to get half of his crew killed or wounded and suffer a severe head wound before disengaging.

So I gave miniature Stede a bloody bandaged head (GW Blood for the Blood God). It didn’t come out that great, but I used a glaze to give him some 5 o’clock shadow. Adds to the wounded and crazed look.

I went conservative on Bpnnet’s colors in general, using a Vallejo German Gray for his paints, shoes, hat and jacket trim and Spectrum Blue from the AK paint line for his main jacket color (highlighted by adding off white). I was tempted to go bright with the feathers on his hat, but I assumed Bonnet would have some sense of good taste, so went with GW Screaming Skull, highlighted up to an brighter white.

For hair and belt leathers, I used Army Painter Hardened Leather (Speed Paint).

I used Vallejo Brass and Polished Gold for the sword hilt, pistol butts and hat binding.

And my favorite metallics, Valley Metal Color Steel and Duraluminio for the sword, pistols, belt buckls and coat buttons. I used Agrax Earthshade for a wash over all the Brass, and Nuln Oil over all the steel.

For the skin, I used the GW series of flesh tones.

Bonnet built and outfitted his ship with his own money, but his independence didn’t last that long. Proving himself more bold than skilled or prudent, he ended up playing second fiddle to Blackbeard on his own ship, the Revenge.

I’m still lobbying for the Bonnet model in his dressing gown. That could be the Character version of Bonnet. A dazed and useless character, walking the decks of Blackbeard’s ship in his nighty!

Stede Bonnet is actually a pretty fun choice as a Pirate Captain in the Raise the Black expansion for Blood & Plunder. He can only lead the Golden Age Pirates (check out our new Golden Age Pirates faction review here), costs 15 points, and has a pitiful single Command Point that he can use on units up to 8″ away (usually sufficient on a ship). But where Bonnet shines is his special rules. He has the coveted Motivated rule, allowing him to give two actions to the unit he uses his single command point on. This is a real game changer, as you can possible give a unit 5 actions in a turn (assuming 2 on Bonnet’s activation and 3 on it’s own). This can let you do crazy things like fire small arms or swivels twice per turn, or shoot cannons every single turn. He also has the Indomitable rule (too dumb to quit) and the Resilient rule (too dumb to quit). So he gets to remove a Fatigue at the start of his activation every turn and apply a bonus to any Strike Tests he has to take.

Bonnet also has the High Standing rule, but that general doesn’t do anything on a ship unless there’s a fancy objective or some abnormal character attached to his unit. Not a massive penalty to worry about.

Being a cheap commander, Stede Bonnet can be a great choice for a smaller crew on a Sloop or other small ship.

Here’s a 100 point force in a Balandra that features Bonnet, some pirates on Swivel Guns and some Jamaican Privateers with long guns.

Bonnet could easily be used up to the 200 point level, using the fun new Characters found in Raise the Black (and old standbys in NPBtL) that are available to the pirates.

Final Thoughts

This Stede Bonnet model was a delight to assemble and paint. You can find this model in the Pirates of Legend box. This box includes 10 unique sculpts of historical pirates and commanders. If you like to play pirates at all in Blood & Plunder, you owe it to yourself to get this box! Even if you don’t plan to play Bonnet, Rackham, or Vane, these unique models made great generic commander or character models in your force. They are not very customizable (unlike the Sailor/Soldier/Militia/Cavalry box sets), the sculpts are solid, they go together easily and cleanly, and they paint up even easier than the original line of metal Blood & Plunder minis.

That’s in for Stede Bonnet! He’s a colorful character, and I’m sure everyone will have a good time painting him up in his bloodied finery and playing him in all his bold foolishness!\

Suggested Additional Reading

• Read all about Bonnet’s home faction in this Golden Age Pirates faction review
• Check out Blackbeard in this Edward Teach preview article.
• Check out our other painting related article here on Blood & Pigment.
• Check out a detailed look at the Pirates of Legend sprue in this Raise the Black Sprue guide.
• Check out this guide to assembling the new multi-part plastic models from Raise the Black.
• Read some history on Stede Bonnet (by Benerson Little) in this original RtB spoiler from 2020.

Related Products

• The Pirates of Legend box (Contains Bonnet)
• Blood & Plunder Blackbeard vs. Maynard 2 Player Starter Box (Contains Blackbeard, 2 ships, and 24 crew models)
• 18th Century Sloop Kit (for the Revenge)