Firelock Games released a wide range of 28mm scale plastic pirate miniatures kits at the start of 2023. These multi-part miniatures allow players to customize their forces to have a wide variety of unique weapons and styles. Gone are the days of cookie-cutter forces with units having the same 4 models in the same 4 static poses. Now, with minimal effort you can create a wide variety of uniqueness to your forces.

Honestly, I wasn’t initially excited at all about the shift from metal to plastic miniatures. I’m an old-school gamer and love the weight and feel of a metal mini on the game table. Plastic feels “cheap” and toy-ish. And with the complexity of the kits and based on other games, I knew it would be more work and add to my busy schedule. However, my love for Blood & Plunder and the detailed miniatures convinced me to suck it up and support the Kickstarter campaign. After receiving and having now assembled around 150 miniatures, my perspective changed. In fact, I found it to be a fun and creative outlet to make custom pieces, some based on movie/tv characters or historical art.

I’ve shared a number of custom minis I’ve built over the past few months to Facebook & Discord, but I’ve been repeatedly asked to compile those into a single article to have a central hub for others to reference my “recipes” for building the kits.

Table of Contents

1. Long John Silver
2. Benjamin Hornigold Commander
3. Hal Gates from Black Sails
4. Billy Bones from Black Sails
5. Henry Jennings Commander
6. Governor Woodes Rogers
7. Converting 2-Handed Militia Minis to 1-Handed
8. Cannon Crew from Militia & Sailors Models
9. Cannon Crew from a Box of Plunder
10. Box of Plunder Casualty Marker … Resurrection
11. Drummers
12. Swedish Commander – Sven Svensson Skute
13. Mounted Militia Commander
14. Kitbashed Maroon Miniatures
15. Sailing Master
16. Expert Scout
17. Canoe Assault Expert
18. Kitbashed Carpenter from a Sailor Miniature

Kitbashed Miniature Long John Silver

Full Article with more details: How to Make an Easy Long John Silver Blood & Plunder Mini.

Benjamin Hornigold inspired by Black Sails

Full article on the character and how to build the custom miniature:

Benjamin Hornigold: Notorious Pirate & Privateer of the Caribbean

Hal Gates – Quartermaster from Black Sails

This is an extremely simple kitbashed miniature. You can build it with a single sprue from the starter box, but it involves parts from 3 different Sailor models

• Body = Sailor F1
• Head = Sailor P14
• Left Arm = Sailor C4
• Left Hand = Sailor P46 (for mine, I used a hand I cut from a casualty marker in the plunder box, because I’d already used my P46)
• Right Arm = Sailor D2
• Right Hand = P39

Billy Bones from Black Sails

Billy Bones kitbash miniature recipe:

• Native Body F1 cut in half for torso
• Native left arm F11
• Native Right arm A5
• Native Head G19
• Metal Euro Sailor lower torso

Henry Jennings Commander Miniature

This model was inspired by the character from “The Lost Pirate Kingdom” is a six-part historical documentary series available on Netflix.  You can read the full article with the recipe for the character: How To Make A Custom Mini for Henry Jennings in Blood & Plunder
This one was a fun one to make. And if you think the book is too big, take a second look at the concept art compared to the size of the hand/torso of the actor. If you want a smaller log book, go for it!

Governor Woodes Rogers from Black Sails

Easily one of my favorite mini kitbashes yet (even if you think the cup is too big).

• Body – Soldier E7
• Right Arm – Soldier F9, cut at the wrist and tweak the shoulder
• Right Hand – Cavalry B10 – cut off the hand and a bit above and below the lance to use it as the wine cup stem
• Left Arm – Soldier E5
• Left Hand – Sailor hand pistol
• Head – Sailor with a ponytail from the Box of Plunder
• Wine cup – I cut as thin a layer as I could for the bottom and then a thicker piece for the top and drilled out the top to be a cup.

Converting a Two-Handed Plastic Militia Miniature to a One-Handed Model

The Militia boxed kit has 100% of the models with both hands on their muskets. Throw in a few shoulder and arm cuts or mix and match the extra Sailor arms to create totally new models!

Cannon Crew from Militia & Sailors Models

Militia Boxed Set arms D4 and E1 both have open palms. So… if you take Militia body D6 or E3/E4 and swap the arms with the extras from the Sailors you can put a one-handed musket and melee weapon of choice and still build a militia unit. But then you can use the arms D4 and E1 to make Cannon Crew. Roll some clay into a ball and you have an instant cannon crew. You can also pair them with the cannonballs from the Box of Plunder or “roll your own”.

Cannon Crew from a Box of Plunder

Using the Box of Plunder you can combine the bit with the Sailors and or Militia minis to make a new cannon crew with a little more variety and flexibility.

If you got the Kickstarter Box of Plunder and use the B1 or C1 Sailor body you can position an arm with the linstick in a way that looks like he is lighting a cannon.

I call this one my Tusken Raider Cannon Crew member. I cut the ramrod stick to make it work for a double overhand taunt or a primal victory cry.

Box of Plunder Casualty Marker … Resurrection

The Box of Plunder has several casualty markers included on the Sprue. With some work you can turn them back into living units.

Drummers from the Box of Plunder

The Box of Plunder that comes with the Kickstarter Captain and Admiral level pledges has a 4 part drum that can be used to convert a model into a Musician or new Drummer Boy Character model.

Swedish Commander – Sven Svensson Skute

Sven is a lesser-known Commander available to the Dutch and Swedish forces.

• He has “Brace of Pistols or Firelock Musket” and I couldn’t decide … so I gave him both.
• Pose – he has Aggressive Commander and after reading up on him he seems like the kind of guy to lead from the front. So I wanted him charging wild-eyed into battle.
• Before I got very far in the process (once the right leg was attached, but before the arms were attached) I hit the left leg with a heat gun for 3-4 seconds and pressed the mini against the base so it angled his ankle and gave the mini in a more forward-leaning pose on a single foot.

Recipe:

• Body – Militia E3
• Left Arm – Sailor E5
• Right Arm – Sailor B2
• Pistols – Sailor Pistol P33 or P34
• Head – Militia E8
• Hat – Militia G10
• Musket – Militia, I trimmed the hands and wick off one of the spare Matchlock muskets from the

Sven Svensson Skute as a “Mounted Militia Commander”

And because historically he was also a mounted commander I built this version of him as part of a challenge to recreate the discontinued “Mounted Militia Commander”. The base is a default Cavalry box and add in arms and head/hat from the Militia kits.

A Whole Host of Maroon Kitbashed Miniatures

Here are a batch of kitbashes/mods for a new MAROONS force. Who says all Native archers have to be half-naked? I used some Sailors and Militia armed with bows for use as Warrior Archers for my Maroons. If shave a little off the native heads and African scalps you can slap some of those extra hats you have in the bits box on and you can add some variety. This is a prime example of how easily you can create LOTS of nice variety in your forces with the new plastic mini kits.

Joseph has a FANTASTIC article on the Maroons faction: The Maroons – Blood & Plunder Faction Review

This is a perfect example of how vastly different a mini can look with only different arms and a different head.

A Maroon with a new Expert Evade ability…. hehe…

Not technically a Kitbash, but good-natured fun!

Paul Pickles photoshopped Jeff Woodman’s head onto a model during a Summer of Plunder 2022 game entry. So … I turned him into my Expert Sailing Master using the Raise the Black sailor model kit!

Expert Scout – Fighting Man Character

This might be one of my favorite mods/kitbashes from the Natives. I saw him kneeling and wanted to try to get a musket in his hand resting on the ground. But with the length angle of the left arms available, I just wasn’t able to get ANY musket in any set to reach.

So, I opted to cut his chest/shoulder/right arm/wrist/musket to get it to rest on his right thigh. Definitely feels like an organic pose that could happen in real life as a scout checking the ground for tracks.

Used a sailor musket p47 for the right hand and a pointing Sailor hand p46 for the left.

Canoe Assault Expert

With the weekly objective of Sweeps for the Summer of Plunder, I decided to try my hand at crafting a Canoe Assult Expert for the Natives.
Recipe:

• Body is D
• Left Arm is from F5; Slice the shoulder to change the angle. Had to slit the wrist to rotate the hand.
• The right arm is A5; I sliced up the shoulder on the body and upper arm to angle it. I also cut a wedge out of the elbow to change the angle.
• Drill the hands out of a Sailor Pikeman and angle the hands accordingly
• The Paddle is a cut-up sprue for the shaft and a carved coffee stirrer for the flat part.

…and of course, there are plenty of cracks I didn’t see till primed and then was too over it to care…

Kitbashed Carpenter from a Sailor Miniature

The Carpenter is a fighting man Character that can help keep your ships afloat and buildings in working order. Be sure to read our full Carpenter tips and & tricks article for ideas in using him, building a custom mini and strategies for list building.

Recipe:

• Body – Sailor C1
• Head – Sailor P19
• Hat – Milita G2 (cut the head and hat a bit to make it fit)
• Left Arm – not sure it was in the bits box… I think Sailor A2 or F3
• Right Arm – Maybe Sailor A3 or F2
• Mallet – custom from Sailor P40
• Wedge – custom from Militia F6 Matchlock Musket
• Boards on the base = chunks of a coffee stirrer

Kitbashed Hidalgo Character from a Sailor & Militia Miniature

The Hidalgo is a good model for the Spanish and Portuguese that helps your unit engage in Melee and hopefully avoid some incoming hits.

This mini is not a “cheap” one to make with the default formula. You have to have 4 different boxed sets to make it. I had enough leftover bits from my other minis it wasn’t too big of a stretch for me.

Recipe:

• Body – Sailor B1
• Head – Cavalry B12
• Hat – Militia G11 or G2
• Left Arm – Soldier A5 or F5
• Left Hand = P42. I cut the longer forearm into multiple sections to get an angled wrist and then reattached the hand to try to get the angle right.
• Right Arm – Militia A8 or A3
• Right Hand – Cavalry B7 “I think”… I drilled out the spear from a leftover in my bits box.

Conclusion

Wow. You made it! Are you tired of scrolling and waiting for things to load yet? Hope you enjoyed the gallery of minis and they help give you some ideas and inspiration for building your own minis. If you have some kitbashes and custom minis you’d like to share with the community, we’d love to see them and possibly add them to our site. Feel free to use our Contact Us form or email them for review.

Article written by Jason Klotz

Additional Content Suggestions

• Tips and Tricks for Assembling Raise the Black Plastic Miniatures
• Complete Guide to Raise the Black Plastic Miniature Sprues
• Building 24 Unique Blood & Plunder Sailors