What Are Blood & Plunder Card Sets?

Firelock Games currently sells 3 different sets of stat cards, or “Unit and Character Card Sets” for Blood & Plunder, each corresponding to a major Blood & Plunder Publication:

• Blood & Plunder Unit & Character Set
• No Peace Beyond the Line Unit & Character Card Set
• Raise the Black Unit Card Deck

Each set is unique, but generally, they contain cards with stats for Units, Commanders, Factions, and some Characters and Upgrades that might have rules you would want to quickly reference during a game.

These card packs are not necessary to play Blood & Plunder, but they are a deluxe accessory. Many people rely on the compact printout from the free online Blood & Plunder Force Builder website and it accomplishes a similar function.

Types of Blood & Plunder Stat Cards

Let’s look at the various types of cards included in the card packs, then we’ll look at what is included in each pack.

Unit Stat Cards

The number one item in these card packs is unit stat cards. Each Unit in Blood & Plunder has a unique set of stats, equipment and special rules.

The front side of a Blood & Plunder Unit Card includes:

• The unit’s name
• An image of 4 models representing the unit
• The basic cost per model (given at the top right of the card in a round red wax seal)
• The unit’s Experience level
• The unit’s weapons and equipment
• The 5 unit’s basic stats (Fight Skill, Fight Save, Shoot Skill, Shoot Save, & Resolve)
• The unit’s Special Rules

The back side of the unit card includes:

• Full definitions of all the unit’s Special rules:

Commander Stat Cards

Commanders are central to your Blood & Plunder Force and each of these cards packs includes lots of stat cards for Commander, both “generic” and “historic” or “unique.”

Commanders are attached to units in Blood & Plunder and they adopt the stats of the unit they are attached to, but they also have some stats of their own, and they usually bring along some more Special Rules.

The front of a Commander Card includes:

• Name or Title
• Cost
• The type of Commander (Historic, Legendary or Skill Level if a generic)
• Weapons
• Number of Command Points
• Command Range
• Special Rules

The back of a Commander Card includes:

• Full definitions of the Commander’s Special Rules.

Faction Stat Cards

Most of these cards packs have cards that present all relevant information for the Factions in their associated Blood & Plunder book.

Blood & Plunder Faction Stats Cards include:

• Faction Name
• Faction Nationality
• Faction Rules
• List of Core Units for the Faction
• List of Support Units for the Faction
• Force Options
• List of Commanders that the Faction can employ

Upgrade Cards

One Blood & Plunder stat deck includes some helpful weapons & upgrades cards. These cards can help remind of a weapon upgrade you’ve applied to a unit, or simply help you remember how a certain weapon works.

Information on these cards varies, but usually contains an image of a weapons and some explanation on how the relevant weapon works.

How Blood & Plunder Stat Cards are Organized and Sold

Blood & Plunder Stat Card Packs are sold in large cards deck sets that correspond to Blood & Plunder Books. But, to limit the size of the card pack and prevent duplication, the pack only includes cards from the new material in the book, and doesn’t includes everything that is in the book. For example, the basic English Sailor Unit, the “Sea Dog” is present and used in the Core Rule Book, and the No Peace Beyond the Line expansion and the Raise the Black expansion. But the Sea Dog Unit Card is only present in the core Blood & Plunder Unit & Character Set. Each set builds on what came before. This can be confusing! Especially if you’re just getting into the game.

As a basic rule of thumb, you’ll want to buy them in publication order: Core, No Peace Beyond the Line, then the Raise the Black set. But that might not be the right choice for you, depending on what you’re wanting to play first and how you’re approaching the game! So read on to get the details on what’s included in each of these card packs.

Blood & Plunder Character & Unit Cards Set (Core Set)

This set of cards includes cards for all the Units, Commanders and Factions found in the original Blood & Plunder Rule Book, and the “Revised Core Rulebook” published in 2023. You should probably start with this card deck (if you can find a copy). It’s perfect if you’re starting with the 17th century Factions from the Core/Revised Rulebook, but it is also foundational for even many of the 18th century factions if you have jumped into the game with the Blackbeard vs. Maynard starter set and the Raise the Black expansion book.

Now to make this a little more complicated, there are two versions of this base card pack. The original version had alternate cards for each “version” of the various units. For example, there are Inexperienced and Veteran cards for Trained units that allow a upgrade or downgrade. If a unit allows a Special Rule swap, there are alternate cards that represent that swap.

The card pack has been updated and simplified so there is only one card per unit instead of several.

Core Set Contents

The following is the breakdown of the cards included in the current core set card pack:

• 18 Unit Cards
• 13 Faction Cards
• 27 Standard Commander Cards
• 16 Historic Commander Cards
• 3 Legendary Commander Cards

Unfortunately, there are a couple of errors to watch for in one printing of these cards.

Errors we’ve identified include:

• Iron Arm French Commander incorrectly costed at 30pts instead of 20pts
• Engages incorrectly costed at 3pts instead of 4pts
• Freebooters incorrectly have the Drilled Special Rule on their card instead of the Fast Reload Special Rule
• Marineros are incorrectly labeled as Inexperienced instead of Trained

Hopefully these errors will be corrected when reprinted.

This version of the core set stats cards is the smallest pack, but it is essential for most people since it includes the various Militia and Sailor cards for each nation. If you plan to play Dutch or Native American exclusively, you don’t need this pack. All cards in this pack are either Spanish, English or French.

No Peace Beyond the Line Character and Unit Card Pack

This set of cards has been out of print for a long time, but it’s finally back (as of March 2024)! Grab it now! This is a huge card pack to accompany a huge expansion. No Peace Beyond the Line opened up the game in a huge way, and this card pack is proof.

This expansion added a bunch of new Units, Commanders, and Factions for the existing Spanish, English and French Factions, but it also added Dutch, Native American and Unaligned Factions. All those new Commanders, Units, and Factions are included in this pack. But it’s important to remember that none of the units that are found in the Core set card pack are included in this No Peace Beyond the Line card pack! This builds on the the previous set.

This pack includes a couple unique and useful card types not found in the other card packs. There is a small set of “Unit Options” cards that either represent a weapon added to a unit, a weapon swapped on a unit, or even some equipment that can be added to a unit. These are super handy to help you remember what options you’ve included for units in your force.

No Peace Beyond the Line Cards – Second Printing

The card set for No Peace Beyond the Line was reprinted in the Spring of 2024 and is currently available (at long last!). This second printing includes some cost adjustments, including cost adjustments to:

• All cavalry units
• All Legendary Commanders
• A handful of Historical Commanders

This reprint has also focused in on Unit and Commander cards and does not include Faction cards or the previously mentioned Upgrade Cards.

Instead of the original 192 cards, this pack now contains 114 cards but the price has also been reduced from $45 to $36.

No Peace Beyond the Line Set Contents

The second printing of the No Peace Beyond the Line Unit & Character Card Set Contains:

• 5 Legendary Commander Cards
• 34 Historical Commander Cards
• 36 Generic Commander Cards
• 41 Unit Cards

There are a couple lingering errors on the cards but just two that bear mentioning:

• King Oldman’s cost was increased from 20 to 30, but somehow that wasn’t corrected on his card in this pack
• King Golden Cap is missing the Great Warrior Special Rule on his card

No Peace Beyond the Line Cards Contents

Raise the Black Unit & Character Card Set

The card set published along with the Raise the Black expansion book is another thick pack of cards but there’s a couple important things to know about it.

1. It only contains Commanders & Units (and a couple Characters). No Faction cards
2. The card size is slightly wider than the previously released sets.
3. Contains very useful “Standard Commander” Cards

Again, this card set builds upon the cards that were previously published. It doesn’t contains any Units or Commanders previously published, but only the new material from this book. It doesn’t contain a lot of “standby” units like your sailors (Marineros, Sea Dogs, Marins etc), or basic Militia units. You’ll want those standard, meat and potatoes units but you need to get the core set of Uni

The unique thing in this card set is the “Standard Commanders” for each nation. These are customizable commanders! Each nation has a set of Untested, Experienced and Seasoned Commanders as in previous packs, but you get to choose which Special Rules these Commanders can take. Each nation has a List of available Special Rules you can choose from. The Untested Commander doesn’t get any Special Rules, the Experienced Commander gets 1, and the Seasoned Commander gets 2.

These Commander cards are slightly different than your standard Commander Card. Instead of having the Commander’s Rules on the front and the definitions on the back, the front of the card tells you how many rules you are allowed and the back of the card gives you the list of rules to pick from. There is the disadvantage of not having the definition of all those rules on the card.

The Raise the Black card set is very helpful if you plan on exploring the early 18th Century factions in the Raise the Black expansion book.

This card set includes Commanders and Units for each nation but it really brings the proper “Pirates” into their own. If you just want to play straight up 18th century Pirates like Blackbeard, Rackham, Bonny, and Stede Bonnet, this is really the best pack to start with (and possibly the only pack you’ll need!).

Raise the Black Card Set Contents

• 33 Unit Cards
• 24 Standard Commander Cards
• 42 Historical Commander Cards
• 11 Legendary Commander Cards
• 2 Character Cards

Limited Run Buccaneer’s Companion Card Set

This isn’t a standard product, but it does come with a little card pack so we’ll touch on it here. The Buccaneer’s Companion Organized Play Kit contained a set of 6 unique Commander Cards.

All the Commanders are focused on the English Buccaneers and the Brethren of the Coast Factions. Some of these Commanders are pretty solid, but some are terrible! This set of cards is a little hard to find and the accompanying 3 exclusive minis are even harder to find! But the Commanders (and Character versions of the Commanders) are all available on the online Force Builder.

Protective Card Sleeves for Blood & Plunder Cards

Unit and commander cards are not cheap, so you may want to protect your investment further with card sleeves. If you attend gaming conventions, run lots of demos, or just want to extend the life of the cards, you will want to consider protective sleeves for the cards. There is a wide variety of card sleeves out there and their quality and attributes vary. We have a full breakdown of sleeve sizes and our top recommendation in the article Blood & Plunder: Protective Card Sleeve Sizes.

Final Thoughts on Blood & Plunder Cards Sets

The Blood & Plunder stat cards are a helpful accessory to the game. Some people really love them and count them as essential while others are happy to save some money and use the handy print out from the online Force Builder. If you run demos, these stat cards are particularly helpful since the unit’s stats are easy to see and interpret, the image helps a new player identify units, and all the Special Rules for a unit are written out on the back of the card.

Remember that each card pack builds on the previous card pack, so it is recommended that you buy the Base set first, then the No Peace Beyond the Line set, then the Raise the Black set (if they are all available!).

There will likely be a Fire on the Frontier card pack coming out “soon” and there is even a rumor of repackaging the cards so you can buy all of the cards for one Nation in one pack, instead of purchasing by Expansion. Firelock is exploring options for Print on Demand as well, which might allow more granular options for different card sets. There are lots of good developments within Firelock Games right now and making these stats cards more available is a priority! Watch for updates!

Additional Content Suggestions

• Blood & Plunder: Protective Card Sleeve Sizes
• New to the game? Find out What Should I Buy After the Blood & Plunder Starter Box?

Related Products

• Blood & Plunder Unit & Character Card Set (core set)
• No Peace Beyond the Line Unit & Character Card Set
• Raise the Black Unit & Character Card Set