Intro

Welcome to the 6th update for the 2023 Summer of Plunder. We had another 152 games entered, saw the Spanish maintain their lead, saw some dramatic shake-ups on the campaign map, finished a significant campaign event, and we Raised the Black!

Week 6 Nation Report

Who’s winning? Spain is winning by all accounts! Things can still change, but Spanish players continue to dominate and do well defending their domain on the campaign map.  Spain got so close to winning last year, and even the year before, so it would be cool to see them win. But it’s not over until the last die is rolled!

These were the gains for the week:

• Spain 119
• English 46
• French 32
• Dutch 43
• Native Americans 19
• Pirates 63

Spain again doubled the nearest competitor!

Let’s see how the commanders have managed those points in the map of the Caribbean.

Somehow Spain wasn’t attacked again this week, and their total points rose to 891! The Dutch and Pirates spent a large amount of points in attacking this week. And the Natives took a royal beating this week!

National Battle Reports for Week 6

This section outlines the changes on the campaign map and is a narrative of the battles that happen at a larger scale.

Attack 1 Charleston – England Defeats Spain

In Charleston, a decisive battle unfolded between Spanish and English forces. Thunderous cannon fire filled the air as both sides fought for control of the strategic port. With their eyes focused elsewhere and garrison troops deployed throughout the region, the Spanish in Charleston were undersupplied and outnumbered.  When the smoke cleared the English proved victorious.  (Spain 45 to English 71)

Attack 2 Costa de Mosquitos – Natives Lose to Pirates

In the largely untamed Costa de Mosquitos, yet another battle between indigenous natives and Pirates occurs. The conflicts started early in morning just an hour after daybreak.  The fisherman had only just set out to begin their day’s work when a fleet of sloops slipped past the rocks and began bombarding the helpless fisherman.  The shelling continued into costal huts.  Driving the natives into the dense jungle, the pirates begin raiding the villages.  This cycle continued along the coast for many days.  Their resolve broken, the Natives are driven west in search of safety.    (Pirates 130 to Natives 104)

Attack 3 Fort Norhooka – English defeat the Natives

In the Fort Noorhooka region, the animosity among the Natives and English boils to a head. The sounds of war cries and the clash of weapons are heard again.  While both sides fought tenaciously to protect their interests. The English invaders secure a narrow victory solidifying their presence in the Fort Noorhooka region and leaving an indelible mark in the region.  (England 77 vs Natives 74)

Attack 4 St Thomas – Dutch defeat Pirates

The Dutch forces routed from Curaçao sail north to claim a new settlement.  Knowing there was a small base of operations in St Thomas under the domain of the Pirates, this was thought to be a perfect destination.  With some basic docks and storage facilities in place it allowed for a jump start in settling, but also allowed opportunities for revenge.   Thinking the Dutch were on their heals from attacks prior the pirates were not on full alert and melted quickly under the assault.  (Dutch 180 to Pirates 45)

Attack 5 St Vincent – Natives lose to Pirates

Hoping to disrupt supply lines and prey upon the trade ships of South America, the Pirates establish a beachhead on the island of St. Vincent.  The local residents are greatly displeased with the invaders.   Summoning tribes from around the island the Natives band together to drive the brigands and thieves from their land.  Despite their harassing raids and ambushes, the Pirates remain resolute.  Angered by the raids, the Pirates embark on a scorched earth campaign raiding villages and setting them aflame as they scour the island for signs of resistance.  The Natives flee and hide.   Their homes may be burning, but their hearts also burn with white hot anger.  This conflict is no doubt far from over.   (Pirates 132 to Natives 109).

Summary of Changes:

1. Spanish take Martinique from France
2. Natives lose Costa de Mosquitos to Pirates
3. English defeat the Natives in Fort Norhooka
4. Pirates fall to the Dutch in St Thomas
5. Pirates claim St Vincent from the Natives

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Week 6 Raid Report

Each commander has the option of launching a “Raid” against another nation. The result is randomly determined with a simple die roll.

• Dutch – Raid Pirates, result 5
  The raid was a draw.
• English – Raid Natives, result 1
  In the woods near Boston, English patrols attempt to track down and raid the Native villages in the region to restore the goods lost in recent attacks.  Their efforts failed.  Several patrols failed to return.  Wiped out to a man, the plan backfired and instead left powder and muskets in the hands of their enemies.
  The English suffer-5 VP and the Natives gain +5 VP.
• French – Raid Natives, result 7
  Captain Brendan D leads raiding parties from Port Royal into the Norridgewock woods.  He returns with pelts and artifacts that will fetch a pretty price in Paris.
  The Natives suffer -5 VP and the French gain +5 VP.
• Natives – no raid.
• Pirates – Raid Dutch, result 2
  Enraged at the Native resistance in St Vincent, Charles Sherrange leads multiple raids into Native villages.   Unfortunately, his men became too bloodthirsty and quick to wield the torches. Little of value was recovered and the supplies and ammo expended were costly.  The Pirates suffer – 3 VP.  No Effect on Defender.
• Spanish – no raid

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Week 6 Faction Report

There are a lot of factions to enjoy in Blood & Plunder. Here are the most played and the least played faction for each nation so far.

1. Spain
   1. Spanish Militia 48 (+21 Reformed Spanish Militia)
   2. No Spanish factions remain unplayed! Spanish domination!
2. England
   1. British Royal Navy  (20)
   2. Church’s Raiders, New England Privateers, New England Militia & New England Village Garrison have not been played yet.
3. French
   1. French Buccaneers (35)
   2. Flibustiers Nau is the only French faction to not hit the table..
4. Dutch
   1. The RTB (31) and NPBtL(15) versions of the Dutch Caribbean Militia lead the way when combined, followed by the Oak & Iron Dutch Faction at 36
   2. All Dutch factions have been played, but the Dutch Marine and Heyns Commissievaarders are least played at 4 plays each
5. Native American
   1. Yamasee and Caribbean Tribes tie for most plays at 10 each
   2. Chickasaw, Darien, King Philip’s Alliance, New England Tribes, Tuscarora, Westo and the RtB version of the Southeastern and Northeastern Tribes have not been played yet.
6. Pirates
   1. The Flying Gang leads the pack at 64
   2. All Pirate factions have been played but the Logwood Cutters bring up the rear with 4 plays
7. Unaligned and Minor Powers
   1. Miskito Zambo have the most plays at 35
   2. Factions unplayed include, Black Caribs and Brandenburg Privateers

The English and the Native Americans have the most unplayed factions so far. Let’s see if we can collectively get each faction to the table again this year during the campaign!

Individual Report

There’s a $100 gift card prize for the player who earns the most points over the course of the whole campaign.Tyler Carlson has a decisive lead right now with an incredible 254 points after 101 games.

Matthew Doerr is in second place with 181 points. Matthew and Tyler lead in the “Recruiting” category as well with Tyler having taught games to 22 people and Matthew having taught games to 14 players. Way to go guys! That’s how we grow the community!

Matthew Doerr and Zeph Garcia-Reyes lead the FLGS Supporters category with 25 and 18 games played at their stores.

Oak & Iron Update

There were 17 Oak & Iron games reported this week.

As an added incentive to play Oak & Iron this week, one random Oak & Iron entry this week will receive a copy of the new English 3rd Rate Frigate!

Week 6 Objective Report – Raise the Black!

The objective of the week was to play a scenario from Raise the Black.

• Total War – 3
• The Storm – 4
• Listless – 3
• Hostage Raid – 8
• Chase’s End 2
• Capture the Settlement – 11
• Beached Ship – 5
• Ambush – 7
• A Wanted Man – 12
• Capture the Surgeon – 0

The only Raise the Black scenario to not be played was Capture the Surgeon, an amphibious scenario. Let’s see if we can get that last scenario played this week! Capture the Surgeon is a strange Amphibious scenario that requires both players to start at sea and race to land.

Week 7 Objective – Fire & Smoke!

This should be an explosive week of the campaign! The objective for Blood & Plunder players this week is to use Fire and/or Smoke in your game.

There’s a variety of ways this could come into play in a game:

1. Critical Damage
2. Torches/Light Fire
3. Firepots
4. Stink Pots

The primary and most reliable way to introduce Fire or Smoke to your game is through explosives. Please check out this recent article on Blood & Pigment for a full look at Explosives in Blood and Plunder.

Most sea-going factions have easy access to Explosives through their sailor units, or even easier access through the veteran class units in Raise the Black (Vizcainos, Able Seamen, Marins Basque, and Roundsmen). The new Army factions also have easy access through the Grenadier units, but the older army and militia factions can add explosives to the various soldier units as well.

Some of the militia and frontier forces, along with the Natives factions will have to use Torches instead of Explosives.

At sea, explosives can be useful in pretty much any scenario. In land games, you may need to select your scenario a little more carefully to make them useful. The Raze scenario from No Peace Beyond the Line is clearly a good choice, as is the Total War scenario from Raise the Black.

For Oak & Iron, the objective is to use a Fireship your game. Fireship can be terrifying in Oak & Iron, but they can also do a lot of nothing if you aren’t careful. So be aggressive! Have fun sending fiery infernos straight at your enemy’s largest ships and watch them panic!

TimberAndSail.com also has a great Fireship Tactics Guide you should check out!

Week 8 Objective – Indian Allies

Looking ahead to next week’s objective, you’ll get a bonus point if you include a Native unit in your force. All nations have various factions that can include Native units as Support units. Some factions like the British Raiders, French Raiders, La Florida Spanish Militia, and some Buccaneer Commanders like Monbars the Exterminator can include Natives as Core units in the Force. In general, Native units have good Shoot Saves and lots of advantageous rules for land games. They can function as great scouts, fatigue generators, or advance elements in many different styles of armies in Blood & Plunder.

If you don’t have any Native units yet, you should grab a few minis to add some spice to your standard forces, and grab those objective points next week!

This is one objective you noble few Natives players have an advantage in. You got it made!

Weekly Campaign Prizes

Each week we have two regular prizes to give away. First, one of all the entries of the week will receive a custom made chest objective token from Tyler Stone, one of our campaign sponsors from Dead Man’s Chest blog. Secondly, each week one of the photos submitted during the week will be selected to receive an awesome reproduction piece of eight from St. Augustine Mint. This prize can only be won once during the campaign for each player.

Weekly Random Drawing

This week’s winner for the random drawing is Dan P. and his amphibious entry.

Check out that gun emplacement defending the ship in the Beached Ship scenario!

Looks like Pirates fighting Pirates over plunder on the beach.

Weekly Photo Prize Winner

This week’s photo winner goes to David Manley for this epic shot of a big fleet battle starting with a massive broadside!

David has been consistently entering games that look very epic! Great to see a good sized group regularly playing together.

Great pictures at land and sea!

Campaign Sponsor Spotlight – Seamons’ Quality Sails

We have a long list of generous sponsors for this campaign, donating lots of the great prizes that players will receive over the course of this event. This week we’d like to thank Mary Seamons from Seamons’ Quality Sails. Mary (mother of Pigment author Guy Rheuark) is a lifelong quilter who has applied her skills to making stunning sails for Blood & Plunder ships.

You can see some of her sails here on this Brigantine:

Here on this Heavy Bark:

And here on this Balandra and Bermuda Sloop:

Seamons’ Quality Sails donated a set of the darker, worn Balandra sails for the Great Pirate Paint off contest and a second set for the Summer of Plunder contest. Check the section below for the winner of a set of these deluxe sails!

If you’re interested, you can read more about, and even reserve a set of sails, here on our Seamons’ Quality Sails page. They are a luxury item that takes hours of careful handcrafting to complete, and their price refects that, but they’re the best on the market!

Rescue the Prince of…Yellow!

We had good participation in the RESCUE event over the past couple weeks. George Hellmer was drawn as the winner, winning everlasting glory (and a nice block of 30 points) for France, and a set of Seamons’ Quality Sails for the Balandra (pictured above). You can read the event report here.

Commander Reports

Now, here are the important messages from your beloved commanders.

Spain

¡Saludos desde la Habana!

        We are on the brink of victory, but, my Friends, do not forget last year’s campaign and how we were taken down at the end. Keep fighting hard and keep generating points to the cause! Do not let up, be ruthless!

The challenge that started last week is still on. Catholicism: Whoever plays the most games with a mission priest or spiritual leader in their force will receive a sailor sprue! Please indicate that your list had a priest by checking the “completed a national objective” box (this really helps me sort through entries). The Spanish spirit contest is also still on for another week. Santiago: Show off your Spanish spirit (in picture form). Break out your best models and terrain, and show me the most Spanish picture ever! Winner will receive a replica 17th century dice bag! Winners will be announced next week!

Last week’s Trivia question was What year did the Spanish Franco attack on Charleston SC take place, during Queen Anne’s war? The answer was 1706! Congrats to all who got it correct, I will contact you for your prize. This week the question is: What is the oldest state capitol in the US? Hint: this is the Spanish update.

-Gerardo de Guale

Current Spanish Objectives

• Catholicism: Whoever plays the most games with a mission priest or spiritual leader in their force will receive a sailor sprue! Please indicate that your list had a priest by checking the “completed a national objective” box (this really helps me sort through entries).
• Santiago: Show off your Spanish spirit (in picture form). Break out your best models and terrain, and show me the most Spanish picture ever! Winner will receive a replica 17th century dice bag!
• Trivia Question: What is the oldest state capitol in the US? Put the answer in the comments of your submission.

England

Tobacco Coaste Secured

Heathen and Spaniard Slain

Britons Prossper in ye New World       

Ye noble Briton now controls vast swathes of ye american coast. The region south of Virginia has now been formally incorporated as ye colony of Carolina in honour of ye late King Charles II. His daughter, Queen Mary sought to honour her father and his efforts to rebuild ye English monarchy in ye wake of ye tyrant Cromwell. Ye new colony is accepting new settlers to clear the land once belonging to ye savage and Spaniard.

Those enemys in our most close proximity lack substantial fortifications of stone. With ye castle of St. Augustine captured the Spaniard’s primary fortifications on our borders consist of edifices of wood and earth. Admiral Hyde recommends the use of ye powder and torch the capture and destruction of such obstacles. He has already seen fit to arm both the sailors of his fleet and those Marines under the command ashore with iron grenades and incendiary weaponry. Local militias are advised to follow similar procedure.

Tobacco farms are to be established wherever profitable in ye newly acquired arable land, particularly in ye good Carolina clay-rich soil and in ye similarly productive Virginian soil. Laborers are to be imported as needed and acquired from ye savage.

Current English Objective:

• Complete the “Keep your eyes peeled” global challenge to be entered to win this week’s prize, a plastic Soldier Sprue. Every entry will count as one “ticket” in the raffle.
• Additionally, any player who emails in a picture of their painted Regulars or Musketeers will be sent a copy of this year’s English commander cards. (bandpcampaign@gmail.com Subject: Soldier)
• Finally, Congratulations to Evan Botkin for winning last week’s prize! An email has already been sent out but if for some reason it doesn’t reach you, please contact us.

France

Captains of France, it is time to burn it all down! We need to go out and take cities while also defending our fortifications from enemy landing parties. Send in a detailed report where you defended against an enemy amphibious assault or one where you raided an enemy city in an amphibious attack As enemies lands be sure to burn their vessels and as you go out and raid be sure to burn their fortifications and homes. Our enemies are brutal so we must be fiercer..Remember that there are rewards at the conclusion of this campaign for the captain who brings the most new sailors to our cause. Continue to recruit new captains who will also log victories for France!

I can see our victory on the horizon, we must now have the clear vision to sail to it!

-Capitaine Albatros

Current French Objectives

• This week’s objective is A Detailed Amphibious Report: My favorite battle report submitted that details an amphibious game will win a prize package of a terrain objective piece, and commander card. Remember that the campaign wide objective!
• Every French game and completed objective will be entered into a drawing for a painted bark during the last week of the campaign.
• Most French new players recruited by the end of the campaign will win a painted French commander.

Netherlands

Landgenoten,

We had another great week full of fighting. We spend some well earned points in capturing the Island of St. Thomas from the Pirates. It seems like a good place to grow sugar. It also means making Rum. We got rid of all the infested whorehouses. We did not lose any of our ports, so it is a great week for us.

It would help a lot if we can keep the participation in player games up. It gives us more VP’s to spend in the tactical game. And therefore be able to keep up with the other big nations.

Hartelijke groet,

Maarten “kielhaler” de Kruif

Current Dutch Objectives

• Most Dutch points at end of campaign- Painted Dutch commander
• Board Any Nationality ship this week – Commander Card
• Raffle for a Militia sprue

Native American

Disaster has struck, this week we were beset on all sides and lost Costa de Mosquitos, Fort Norhooka, and St. Vincent.  As we get closer to endgame the European invaders are looking for easy conquests and unfortunately we don’t have enough active tribesmen to hold them off.  We must hold onto our remaining lands and stave off these attackers.  

Current Native American Objectives

• To encourage more tribes to get involved in the fight, one random Natives player that did NOT use Yamasee (the most popular faction so far) will get an unidentified prize.

Pirates

Captains, we’ve put a nice gap from all other factions, minus the Spanish. Continue playing and logging in your games. This past week we added a couple of new players to the cause. We still have a nice core of regular Pirate captains playing games. Hopefully your schedule allows you to play more than one game. I’m fortunate to have couple of grown men sons which love the game and have made time to come over and play a few games.  

This past week I was looking for a Pirate standard bearer carrying pirate colors…didn’t see any. I did see a lot of “Raise the Black” in games which warms the heart. Keep waiving our banner, which ever color that may be…and take no prisoners!

Just a reminder, the Pirate faction had established a base of operation via FaceBook headed up by my First Mate Dan aka Sir Admiral Pirate Bastard. Dan will be out for the next week, so please convey your thoughts and requests though the FB chat.  Also I’m always available for direct contact. I try to check the chat about a couple of times a day. Remember our Attacks and Defenses will be communicated there along with other insider information. Come join the chat!

Pirate Commander Thoughts

This past week called for playing a scenario from the Raise the Black rulebook.  Also, I had planned to play the Timber and Sail scenario for Oak & Iron, but that didn’t pan out. I hope to play that one sometime this campaign window. Curious what the most popular scenario played this past week? I know we played out the “Beached Ship” one a couple of times. That’s was tough scenario on how the attacker chose to attack the beach without getting blown up. My son and I played this one twice, swapping out attacker/defender roles. Good stuff!

Pic from Greg Flynn

Current Pirate Objectives

• Captains, as mentioned before, I didn’t see any Pirate standard bears carrying our colors, other than the coupe of guys in our games. With that being said, I’m going to give this one another round for this week.  So for this week’s Pirate Objective, add a “Standard Bearer” character to your Pirate force…he must be waiving a pirate flag of sort. You can easily add a small flag to a crew member by adding one to an existing boarding pike or spear. I have several figures which carries a flag by cutting out the hands from their weapons and adding in a small piece of brass wire or similar…a very easy modification you can do to the plastic sets. For the lead figures, you may require a Dremel tool with a small drill bit. For your efforts you will be award much needed reinforcements (a plastic sprue from the Sailors Box) in their efforts to control our area of operations. Looking forward to what you have. So get them pictures in and Raise the Black! Oh, and have fun too!
• Avast me Hearties – I’ve decided to add in an additional Special Pirate Objective which will continue to run through the end of the campaign. For the most Games played I have a 3D printed bust of a Pirate Captain, which may/or may not resemble the man himself – Blackbeard! Along with the bust will be a custom name plate with your name on it for the Pirate Captain which has logged in the most games for the Summer of Plunder 2023.
• Remember, to earn a Special Commanders Card from me, Don Gregorio “Redmist” de Padilla, Pirate Commander, you will need to play and log in a game each week of the campaign.

Final Thoughts

Another fun week of gaming! The Natives took a real big hit this week in the national standing. I’m eager to see of people will tackle the Spanish empire and try to take off some bites, or play conservatively during these last weeks.

Take note that due to increased player participation, we increased the value of the locations this past week (and the rest of the campaign), so captured territory will be that much more important.

Make sure to check out that article on explosives this week!

Watch for another Campaign event to pop up soon, mixing things up a little again!