This year the Summer of Plunder will be held Sun., June 2nd – Sat., Aug 2th, 2024.   Every game you play counts as a “vote” to help control a campaign map of the Caribbean and Americas.  Each week the votes are used to determine the outcomes of conflicts and determine which nation owns control of areas of the map.  At the end of the 9 weeks, prizes will be awarded both to the overall winners, national winners, and randomly among all participants.

How Does it Work?

TLDR Quick Summary:

1. Play Games.  Take at least 1 pic.
2. Submit your entry and vote for the Campaign Map Location where you want to log your game.
3. Weekly results from player votes & commander decisions change control on the map.
4. Win prizes weekly and grand prizes at the end.

Full Summary Version:

• Rather than just playing a single game of Blood & Plunder or Oak & Iron, each week there will be a new optional objective to earn bonus points or chances for prizes.
• Players submit a quick entry online logging their game
  • When submitting your entry you can pick a location on the Campaign Map to as a “vote” for where your conflict took place.  If your nation owns the Location, you are helping to defend that Location.  If an enemy controls the Location then you are helping to Attack.
  • You must include at least 1 picture with your entry.
  • Each entry earns you 1 “raffle ticket” for prize giveaways every week and at the end of the campaign. You can earn extra tickets for additional objectives and activities.
• Periodically there may be Optional bonus objectives or special news events announced by the campaign organizers (e.g. last year there was a Pandemic and Earthquake related event)
• There will be prizes… LOTS of prizes… which is the “Plunder” part of the Summer of Plunder

What is Different from Last Year?

• We’ve introduced some major changes to the scoring system that prevent the runaway leader issues we had last year (for more details see Scoring).
• The Attack/Defend mechanics for the campaign map have been changed (for more details see Combat).
  • Players now have the majority of influence for success on where to Attack/Defend rather than the Commanders.
  • Success and failure is no longer based on the number of games played to prevent a “play to win” situation.
• Commanders now have new actions such as Trade, Raid, Tribute and Cede (for more details see Campaign System).
• The Campaign Map is back with a few changes.
  • Some of the locations have been moved.  The Natives had more locations last year for balancing purposes.
  • This year all nations will start with a Capital City and 3 other Locations.
• A new Discord server will be available to all players with separate chat channels per nation for all your plotting and scheming (more info on the new Discord server)
• Unlike previous years there are no individual nation-specific objectives every week.
  • Instead, Week 3 and Week 9 will be set aside for Commanders to create a custom objective of their choice.  
  • The other seven weeks all players will have the same objectives.   
  • These national objectives will have the opportunity to earn bonus prizes rather.

How Much Does It Cost?

Zero doubloons!  Entry into the Summer of Plunder is completely free!  You can play as little or as much as you want and it only costs your time.

*Note:  Some local events or tournaments may have an entry fee for local prizes, hosting expenses etc.  These costs are up to the local event hosts and not associated with BloodandPigment.com.

Joining a Nation and National Commanders

Your games help direct the decisions for the Nation you represent. The Summer of Plunder is a global Campaign, but you can play for any represented nationality in Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron, including Spain, Britain, France, The Netherlands, Native American Tribes, and Pirates. You can play as a privateer or mercenary, generating votes for more than one nation, but sticking with one is recommended. Each nation has a Commander guiding efforts and providing updates and PRIZES.

Each Nation is essentially a global “team” of players their entries will be aggregated to determine where that nation Attacks or Defends on the campaign map.

This year we have setup a new special Summer of Plunder Discord server for Players and Commanders to coordinate their activities and hang out.

You can join our Summer of Plunder Discord here: https://discord.gg/kX99wp7BSc

National Commanders

Each Nation will be led by a Commander and Lt. Commander.  These leaders have been selected from members of the community based on their knowledge, past support, and level of effort to promote the games of Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron. 

At the start of every week, the Commanders will provide a short fun narrative or video to promote and encourage participation for their nation.   Commanders will also be responsible for directing the military operations for their nation.   They will post suggestions in the Discord server and help players decide where to attack or help bolster the defenses of locations already controlled.

Meet the Commanders!

Below are the national commanders for this year. Choose your allegiance (or lack thereof) wisely! These fine gentlemen will be helping to organize players and lead the discussions on Discord. They will also have the power to help direct some of the activities and actions the nations do on a weekly basis. These folks are an amazing group of volunteers who are donating their time to the greater community.

Logo	Nation	Commander	Lt. Commander
	Dutch	Matthew Doerr	Maarten de Kruif
	English	Jayden King	Erich Goebel
	French	Andy Hodges	Tyler Stone
	Natives	Bartosz Nowicki	David Boern
	Pirates	Dan Carlson	Gregory Padilla
	Spanish	Garrett Swader	Josh Shivak

Campaign Directors

Joseph Forster and Jason Klotz will be the primary directors for the campaign.   Both are members of the BloodAndPigment.com team and long time players of Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron. They will be managing campaign entries, updating the campaign map, assisting commanders, maintaining weekly news updates and sorting a bajillion emails and photos. If you have questions or issues with the campaign, these guys should be the ones to help get the answer.

Summer of Plunder 2024 – Weekly Objectives Schedule

Each week will feature a new objective for you to earn a bonus vote.   These objectives are designed to help you learn new areas of the game or explore rules you may not use on a regular basis.

Blood & Plunder Weekly Objectives

• Week 1 – 6/2-8 –  “Scouting Party”
  Play a 50-75 point game.  This is a great opportunity to play a demo or learn to play game and welcome new players to the game
• Week 2 – 6/9-15 – “There’s a Storm a Brewin’”
  Play a game in any theater starting at a +2 on Weather Table
• Week 3 – 6/16-22 – Special National Objectives
  These will vary by Nation as determined by the National Commanders
• Week 4 – 6/23-29 – “Dangerous Waters” 
  Play a Sea game with 2 or more shoals on the board
• Week 5 – 6/30-7/6 – Local Help
  Use a Hostage/Advisor Character in your force (These are different than Fighting Man Characters)
• Week 6 – 7/7-13 – “The Quick and the Dead”
  Play a Land or Amphibious game with at least one Unit with the Quick or Skirmishers attribute. OR
  Play a Sea game and use the Swift or Sailing Master special rule.
• Week 7 – 7/14-20  “The More the Merrier!”
  Play a game with 3+ players.
• Week 8 – 7/21-27 – “Run out the Guns!”
  If playing Land or Amphibious game, include at least 1 Cannon in your Game. If playing at Sea, include at least 6 Cannons in your game.
• Week 9 – 7/28-8/3 – “Down the Home Stretch!”
  National Objectives (On Commanders)

Oak & Iron Weekly Objectives

• Week 1 – 6/2-8 – “Scouting Party”
  Play a 25-50 point game.  This is a great opportunity to play a demo or learn to play game and welcome new players to the game
• Week 2 – 6/9-15 – “There’s a Storm A Brewin’”
  Rough Seas Event Card (Rough Seas Event Card at the start of the game)
• Week 3 – 6/16-22 – National objectives
  (On commanders)
• Week 4 – 6/23-29 – “Dangerous Waters”  
  After selecting the terrain pool as normal add +2 shoals to terrain at the start of the game deployment process
• Week 5 – 6/30-7/6 – “But You Have Heard of Me….”
  Your force MUST include a named admirals (e.g. no generic admirals)
• Week 6 – 7/7-13 – “The Quick and the Dead”
  At least 50% of the ships in your Squadron MUST have Swift or Fast.  The “Gusts” event card is in play the entire game (draw additional events as normal).
• Week 7 – 7/14-20 – “Dueling Convoys”
  Play the Dueling Convoys custom scenario on TimberAndSail.com.
• Week 8 – 7/21-27- “Run Out the Guns!”
  Play a game with ZERO” Fortitude 1” ships and at least 1 ship with Fortitude 3 or 4.
• Week 9 – 7/28-8/3 – National Objectives
  (On Commanders)

Where Do You Play?

Wherever you want!  At home, a local club, a neighborhood game store, a gaming convention, school, your local pub, on a boat, underground, in space.  The choice is yours.

If you play in a public venue (not a private home or club) you can earn 1 bonus point.   Points count as “raffle tickets” for prizes and bonus votes for where a nation should Attack or Defend

How to Submit Your Game Entries

As you participated in the Summer of Plunder global campaign you need to submit an entry for each of your Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron games.

• Every player must submit their own entry
• Each entry earns 1 raffle ticket
• Check the Weekly Objectives to earn bonus votes
• Teaching new players and playing games in games stores and public spaces earns bonus entries.

Submit your games with entry form here

Campaign System Overview for Summer of Plunder 2024

We’ve crafted a unique campaign map, blending an 18th-Century historical map with Google Maps functionality, allowing seamless navigation and exploration.

• The map contains 36 Locations important to the time period of the game.
  • Every Nation starts with 4 Locations ( a Capital city and 3 others)
  • 12 Unaligned locations may be captured by any nation
• Weekly, players play and submit their chosen map location for their vote, which auto-assigns as attack or defense, depending on their nation’s ownership status.
  • Each Blood & Plunder or Oak & Iron game counts as 1 vote.
  • If a game fulfills the weekly objective it gets 1 bonus vote.
  • If the game occurred at a local game store, convention or public venue (Not a closed group get-together) you get 1 bonus vote.
  • 2 bonus votes for recruiting a player that has NEVER played Blood & Plunder or Oak & Iron in the past (limit one bonus per game system, per player)
• Each week votes are tallied to resolve combat.   The top-voted outcomes resolve on a sliding scale:
  • The top vote gives 3 pts (Attack or Defense); 2nd gives 2 pts, and both the 3rd and 4th place vote give 1 pt each.
  • This gives EVERY nation the same # of actions REGARDLESS of the # of players or games submitted.   (In case of insufficient votes or multiple ties, organizers will select the location based on past week’s trends.).  
• Playing multiple times weekly no longer skews nation points. While more games may amplify player impact, they don’t directly decide conflict winners.
• Commanders wield unique actions to impact combat or accrue points for their nation (see Commander Actions).

Commander Actions  

Each week National Commanders will submit 3 Actions per week in a for their nation. These votes happen in a secret, blind method. Each Commander has their own entry process that links to a center hub where the Campaign Organizers are the only people with the true big picture view. This creates “fog of war” effect that forces commanders to work with players and adds a layer of historical flare.

Available Commander Actions

Each week, commanders can pick any 3 of the following Actions (duplicate actions may also be selected).

• ATTACK: Select an enemy  Location and add 1 point to the attack total from player votes
• DEFEND:  Select a friendly Location and add 1 point to the defense total from player votes
• RAID: Select an enemy Nation to Raid.  This action will be resolved with a random die roll transferring a -1 to 3 overall Victory Points to/from the enemy. 

• TRADE:  Earns a flat 1 Victory Points. Doesn’t help you gain/lose territories, but is a slow build on your nation’s overall points.
• TRIBUTE:  Transfer up to 3 Victory Points from your nation to another nation.  This can be used as a way to facilitate alliances.  (E.g. Spain offers to give the French 2 Victory Points to not raid their Location for 3 weeks and instead raid the Dutch)
• CEDE:  Permanently transfer ownership of a location to another Nation. (only 1 per Week).  Again this is purely for alliance purposes.

Summer of Plunder Campaign Map Level Combat Rules

The following is a summary of how combat works on the campaign map.

Attacking/Defending Locations

• At the end of each week, all votes will be accumulated and used to resolve the outcome of a conflict.
• All Locations have basic Defense of 1.   Capitals have a base Defense of 3.
• To capture a location an Attack must allocate more points to than the Defenders have in Defense.   Any ties go to the Defender. 
  Example:   The Natives attack the English location of Boston with an Attack strength of 3.   The English add 1 pt of Defense to the Location for 2 pts total.   The Natives captured Boston 3 to 2.
• If there are ties among multiple winning Attackers, that location switches to Unaligned for the week, and future attacks will have to determine a new winner.
  Example:  England and France both attack with 3 Pts against the Dutch defense of 2.  The Dutch are defeated but there is a tie among Attackers.  The Location becomes Unaligned.
• After all combat is resolved, each nation will earn 1 pt per Location and 2 pts per Capital that they control.  Points are accumulated over the 9 weeks to determine the overall national winner.

Sample Turn Resolution

This is a slice of an example turn that outlines the results for combat in Havana based on an attack from the Pirates.

Results:

• The Spanish repel the Pirates and maintain control of Havana (…for now)!
• Raid roll result is a 6. The English lose 1 Victory Point and Spain gains 1 Victory Point.
• Spain gains 1 Victory Point for Trading.

Scoring & Campaign Victory Conditions

• At the end of each week, each Nation will score one Victory Point (VP) per standard location and 2 VP per Capital city they control.  
• Some Commander Actions can also earn points for the nation (Trade, Raid or Tribute).
• Victory Points accumulate per week toward a final overall total.  
• The Nation with the most points at the end of the campaign wins.

Example:   During the second Week, the Spanish end the round controlling the capital, plus 4 other locations, netting them 6 points. They also launched a moderately successful raid against the Dutch, stealing 1 point. Their total points for the round would be 7, added to the 6 points they received during the Week 1 their total points for the campaign so far is 13.

Campaign Map Overview

The campaign is tracked on an online dynamic map. Each nation starts with 4 home locations. Each game you log can help defend a held location or attack an enemy or neutral location. Weekly tallies determine territories held or lost. Check the Blood & Pigment website weekly for details on how that combat is resolved!

View the full-size Campaign Map here: https://timberandsail.com/maps/campaign-map.html

Logo	Nation	Capital	Additional Locations
	Dutch	Curaçao	Aruba Guyana Saint Eustatius
	English	Jamaica	Antigua Boston New York
	French	Quebec	Martinique Petit Goave Port Royal
	Natives	Apalachee	Costa de Mosquitos Onondaga Palmares
	Pirates	Nassau	Rhode Island St Thomas Tortuga
	Spanish	Havana	Cartegena Panama St Augustine, FL
	Unaligned	n/a	Campeche Cayman Isles Charleston, SC Fort Noorhooka Missisquoi Natchez Norridgewock San Juan Santo Domingo St Vincent Trinidad Vera Cruz

Organized Play Kits

One other exciting element we’ve added to the campaign this year in partnership with Firelock Games is an Organized Play Kit. This is a packet of tools for local games stores and Firelock Games Quartermasters (demo team members) can order to help run games.

The kit contains:

• Campaign poster with basic info and dates
• Instructions and scenario packet
• 13 exclusive new Blood & Plunder minis
• 24 exclusive alternate art/layout stat cards for Blood & Plunder (6 units)
• 4 exclusive Oak & Iron Commander Cards (2 Commanders)
• 4 Fortune Token coins (early orders will receive at least one deluxe token)

Check out this article to learn more about the Organized Play Kits

Preview of some of the Organized play kit contents:

Summer of Plunder Prize List

Once again, we have a whole galleon full of plunder to send out to players over the course of the campaign. We have a couple of sponsors who have donated some great prizes (Firelock Games, TABLEWAR, Things from the Basement, Feldherr, Benerson Little, Captain Morrow, Seamon’s Quality Sails, Timber & Sail, and The Plunder Den) and we’ve been collecting a horde of valuables over the course of the year to use as prizes. We have so much stuff to give away it’s hard to figure out criteria for giving them all out!

There will be some prizes sent out each week, some prizes linked to certain objectives over the course of the campaign, and some prizes handed out at the very end of the campaign. Hold on to your butts! Here are the prize details!

Repeating Weekly Prizes

Every week we will be giving out two small repeating prizes. No one can win each one of these prizes more than once during the campaign.

Repeating weekly prizes include:

• Best Photo – Set of Blood & Plunder Activated Tokens
• Weekly Objective – Random player who accomplishes the weekly objective will receive a fancy metal Fortune Coin
• Random Weekly Participant – Blister of 4 Blood & Plunder Minis, or Oak & Iron Ship

Unique Weekly Prizes

In addition to the repeating prizes, we have a unique prize to award to a participating player in each week of the campaign.

• Week 1 – Plunder Sprue from RtB Kickstarter
• Week 2 – Alternate Rig Ship Card Pack
• Week 3 – Sea Rover’s Practice Book
• Week 4 – Blood & Plunder Gun Emplacement
• Week 5 – The Buccaneer’s Realm Book
• Week 6 – Deluxe Activation Deck
• Week 7 – Pirate Ghosts and Buried Treasure Book
• Week 8 – Plunder Storage Box
• Week 9 – Blood & Plunder Stone Tower Fort

TBD Prizes

Some prizes we’re just going to give out and random points during the campaign! The major part of this category is reinforcements sent out to new players (started playing in 2024).

• New Player (week 1-3) – Resin Bark & Minis OR Oak & Iron Ships
• New Player (week 4-6) – Resin Barco Luengo & Minis OR Oak & Iron Ships
• New Player (week 7-9) – Resin Sloop & Minis OR Oak & Iron Ships
• Photo of Tournament at a FLGS – Package of Player Accessories
• Epic Multiplayer Sea Game – Sloop of War Book
• “Improvised” Terrain – Hand-Crafted Terrain Piece from Dexter from The Plunder Den
• Native American Bonus – Some Native Themed prizes (Canoes, arrowhead fortune tokens, native minis) for players playing Native Factions

End of Campaign Prizes

And finally, we have the big END OF CAMPAIGN prizes. These prizes and categories include:

• 6th Rate Frigate – Grand Prize to Member of Nation that Wins the Campaign
• Tablewar F.A.T. Mat Caribbean Shorelines 4’x3′ – Random Player of Oak & Iron
• Oak & Iron Expansion – Random Player of Oak & Iron Games
• Feldherr Mini Case – Player who taught the most new players
• Blood & Plunder Fluyt – Player who played most games at FLGS
• Golden Age of Piracy Book – Best Battle Report submitted
• Authentic Letter of Marque – Player with the Most Campaign Paints
• Authentic Letter of Pardon – Player who Played for Most Nations
• Deluxe Red Rulebook – (Random) Player who used at least 7 Factions within their Nation
• Limited Edition Black Balandra Sails from Seamons’ Quality Sails – (Random) Quartermaster that runs all 3 events from the Organized Play Kit

National Prizes

The Commanders of each nation will also be awarding prizes to their players, specifically for accomplishing national objectives in weeks 3 and 9.

All told we’re planning to send out over $3,000 of prizes over the course of the 2024 Summer of Plunder Campaign! If you participate this year, you’re pretty likely to get some loot!

Prize Support Campaign Sponsors

This campaign wouldn’t have such a massive list of prizes without a great team of sponsors. We would like to thank each of them for their contribution and encourage you to say, “thank you” to them for supporting this event.

Our Sponsors

• Firelock Games – The maker of the great games we play during the Summer of Plunder.
• Feldherr – A premier foam carrying case company with a wide variety of bases, boxes, and cases designed with a massive range of custom foam trays for nearly every miniatures game under the sun. You can win one of their cases.
• TABLEWAR – Maker of gaming table mats, miniature carry trays, and magnetic cases. They have sponsored a 4’x3′ gaming mat.
• Benerson Little – an American author, primarily of non-fiction, focusing on piracy and privateering in the 17th to early 18th centuries. As a long time consultant for Firelock Games, he sponsored multiple signed books.
• Seamon’s Quality Sails – Makers of the most gorgeous sails available for Blood & Plunder (we may be a little biased…). They have graciously donated a set of black sails for the 18th-century plastic sloop
• Timber & Sail – An Oak & Iron focused fansite and long-time supporter of the game and the Summer of Plunder
• The Plunder Den – A YouTube channel and Facebook group run by the great Dexter Heide. The content specializes in building great wargaming terrain for Blood & Plunder, Blood & Valor, Blood & Crown,s and a host of other great games.
• Shipwrecked with Captain Morrow – A content creator and author specializing in the area of piracy. He offered a copy of his book, a replica letter of marque, and a letter of pardon.
• Things from the Basement – They specialize MDF miniatures wargaming terrain, accessories, and supplies. Their card and dice storage cases are featured as prizes.

If you would like to join this great team of sponsors, we’d love to add you to the list! Please use our Contact Us page to get in touch.

Conclusion

We are really looking forward to this year’s Summer of Plunder event! We hope you enjoy the changes and improvements we’ve made. Be sure you join our Summer of Plunder Discord server and engage with the community and your commanders. If you haven’t selected a nation yet, watch for more calls to action from the commanders and info for national objectives and bonus prize options.

Thanks for stopping by and would love your help to make the 2024 Summer of Plunder the best community campaign yet! So spread the word and recruit some friends and new players and lets grow this awesome community together.

Additional Content Suggestions

• Summer of Plunder Entry Form
• Campaign Map for Summer of Plunder 2024
• Summer of Plunder 2024 Organized Play Kit Details