Intro
Summer is warming up and so is the 5th annual Summer of Plunder! During the past week, we have blown past the total number of games logged last year in the entire campaign. With over 1,300 games logged from players around the globe. So lets get into the Week 6 Player Update & Prize Winners – 2024 Summer of Plunder!
The race remains tight with 3 of the 6 nations (Dutch, English & Spanish) all within 1 point of each other. The French are quickly moving up with some bold attacks. The Pirates and Natives, while they have been hit hard, could still come back into the top spots during these last 3 weeks of the campaign.
Check the Week 6 Campaign Map & Objective Update for more details on national standings, recent attacks, and points earned and lost.
- Intro
- Week 6 Objective – The Quick and the Dead
- Week 7 Objective – The More the Merrier
- Week 6 Player Report for Oak & Iron
- Best Photo of the Week
- Random Player who Accomplished the Weekly Objective
- Random Entry for Week 6
- Prize of the Week – Deluxe Activation Deck
- New Player Big Prize Package!
- Featured Player – Richard Naco
- Spain – Week 6 Commander Update
- England – Week 6 Commander Update
- France – Week 6 Commander Update
- The Netherlands – Week 6 Commander Update
- The Native Americans – Week 6 Commander Update
- The Pirates – Week 6 Commander Update
- Final Thoughts on Summer of Plunder Week 6
- Additional Recommended Reading
Campaign Numbers & Stats
Instead of looking at numbers and stats (which I love to do and which we will do again next week!), let’s jump straight into some pictures, winners, and messages from our Commanders!
Week 6 Objective – The Quick and the Dead
This past week’s scenario asked players to include some slippery units or ships in their forces. Cavalry, Natives, or a Local Guide character were all good ways to accomplish this goal on land, and ships with the Swift trait helped accomplish the goal at sea. You can find some more stats and info on the Week 6 Objective in the Map and Objective Update for the week. We’ll just include some additional images of players following this objective here.
Week 7 Objective – The More the Merrier
This week’s objective might be more difficult for some of us, but hopefully, it will result in some really great games. To fulfill the objective in Week 7 (July 14-20) you need to play a larger, multiplayer game of 3+ players. These larger games can be tons of fun and create some great game experiences. There are some great ideas and suggestions for running multiplayer games in the Map & Objective update so go read that! Check your Organized Play scenario booklet as well, as two of those scenarios are specifically designed for 3+ players!
A WANTED MAN! – Special Campaign Event
Make sure to check out the special event running until Friday this week. If you play the A Wanted Man scenario from Raise the Black expansion, you’ll be entered to win a prize from Tyler over at The Dead Man’s Chest blog and earn a campaign point for your nation. With campaign points as close as they are, that one point could change the course of the campaign! Check out all the details in this post:
Week 6 Player Report for Oak & Iron
Oak & Iron might be a smaller scale but it’s an important part of this campaign! There have been 113 games of Oak & Iron logged so far during this campaign with Dutch and French receiving the most plays so far.
Weekly Campaign Prizes!
OK, it’s time to start handing out plunder! This is one of the best parts of the community event and what helps make the event so great. Don’t forget to check out the full list of prizes for the Summer of Plunder campaign.
Best Photo of the Week
This week’s prize for Photo of the Week goes out to Ryan Peterson. Ryan’s painting efforts have earned a bucketful of prizes in our yearly Great Pirate Paint Off contests, and it’s on full display here as well.
This shot of some pirate-looking characters fighting amid some ruins drips with theme and story.
Thank you everyone for sharing your pictures every week. The work, care, and talent that goes into minis, terrain, and photography are some of the things that make this community awesome!
Ryan will get a set of English (or any nationality) Activated Tokens from our Pigment shop.
There were plenty of great pics! Below are some runner-ups.
Random Player Who Accomplished the Weekly Objective
Each week a random player who accomplishes the weekly objective will be selected at random among qualifying entries. The winner will receive a fancy metal Fortune Coin.
And the random winner here is Daniel Reynolds!
It looks like Daniel used some cavalry to fulfill the “Quick and the Dead” objective in his mixed English force this week. Watch out for a big article all about cavalry dropping sometime this week on Blood & Pigment (likely Tuesday)!
Daniel will be receiving a deluxe Fortune Coin in the form of an 8 reale coin. These historically accurate reproductions are made by the St. Augustine Mint in Eugene, OR.
We love “fancy coins” as Fortune Tokens and have several options in our shop. We recently added some new English coins, so be sure to check them out if you need some more bling in your games.
Random Entry for Week 6
Our random draw from the entire week’s worth of entries will receive some free minis! Either a pack of 4 Blood & Plunder minis of the nationality they are playing, any two commanders of their nationality, or an Oak & Iron Ship.
This week’s random winner goes to Martin Sheaffer, playing for the Pirates this year.
Martin has been playing Blood & Plunder for a good long time with Pigment member Dan Carlson in the Fort Worth area. He had played for Spain this year, but apparently, Dan’s bottomless charisma carried the entire TX club into the Pirate fleet this year!
Martin will receive a free pack of miniatures and indicated he would like a set of the new Corsarios. His true Spanish colors are showing!
Prize of the Week – Deluxe Activation Deck
In addition to our recurring prizes each week, we have a unique prize for each week. This week we’re giving away a copy of the deluxe activation deck from the Raise the Black Kickstarter. Drawn at random from ALL entries from Week 6, Marc Hardenack was drawn as the winner!
Marc has been playing a lot of games and submitting some amazing pictures! With full story narratives, each entry from Marc is a delight. Enjoy some of these additional shots from Marc’s games (just from this week!)
New Player Big Prize Package!
We always set aside a large portion of our prize support budget to award some big prize packages to new players throughout the campaign. Wargaming can be an expensive hobby (no denying it), and we want to welcome and encourage new players getting into the hobby.
We randomly draw names from those who indicated they started playing Blood & Plunder (or Oak & Iron) in this calendar year on the campaign entry form. For this, our second New Player Prize Package, we’re giving away a Barco Luengo and 4 packs of new resin minis ($142 value).
This week’s New Player Prize Package goes out to Benjamin Barber. Benjamin has logged a couple games for the English this year.
Featured Player – Richard Naco
Richard Naco has been submitting lots of games from the “Winter of Plunder” from the southern hemisphere! Located in Australia, Richard has been hosting and demoing Blood & Plunder games every week and building a community of enthusiastic players in an impressive manner!
Richard and his wife Norma (who remains the B&P champion of the house) submitted the very first entry of the campaign, having a bit of a time zone advantage on most of the world!
It appears Richard has spent the last year fine-tuning a master play to conquer all of Australia with a love of Blood & Plunder and he’s now implementing it very nicely. With beautifully painted armies, immersive battle boards, deluxe accessories (Richard is our favorite customer at the Pigment shop), and an infectious love of the game (all clothed in Blood & Pigment “REMEMBER JAMAICA” shirt), it appears Richard is an unstoppable force in his local gaming scene. We’ve seen many campaign entries come in from players starting to play Blood & Plunder in Australia this year.
The PlunderDome in Australia is now in competition with the Plunder Den in Canada for the hottest Blood & Plunder destination!
Richard will be hosting Blood & Plunder games at the MOAB convention (Mother Of A Battles) in Sydney this October, reaching a much wider audience!
One motivated commander can build a community from the ground up and Richard is doing it! Look him up if you’re in the Southeastern part of Australia and want to play some awesome games of Blood & Plunder.
Commander Reports
Now, here are some important messages from your beloved commanders. Each week our 6 volunteers will donate a bit of time to add some narrative flavor to the game and pass on some information regarding their nation’s goals. If you haven’t yet joined, the best way to interact with the commanders and players in your nation is to join our Summer of Plunder Discord server. This is different than the main Firelock Games Discord server. It’s a fun community to hang out with and there is a lot of plotting and planning going on in secret channels that only players of a nation can see.
Spain – Week 6 Commander Update
¡Saludos desde la Habana!
Brave soldados, couriers have been bringing me good news from the Frontier. Our missionaries are spreading our catholic faith across the new world.
We have brought ourselves near to the front of the pack. Only a few weeks remain, we must not waver and continue to be ruthless in our pursuit of victory.
I have recently sent out fresh powder supplies to those who have shown themselves to have reputación. Be on the lookout for my supply ships on the horizon.
England – Week 6 Commander Update
Treacherous Assaultes by Spanniard
Natche’s Coloney Recovverd
St. Thomas Captured by Naval Squadron
Numerous attackes reported in good English settlements throughout ye Indies. Spanishe soldiers marched upon English garrrisones at ye Cayman Isles, Onondaga, and Port Royal. Many women and childrenne were murdered by ye heretical soldiery in ye name of the incestuous Spanish monarch. Learned soarces claime ye Spaniarde seeks to wipe goode pious Englishmen from all creation so ye Pope mighte forgive ye Spanish for their sloth and cowardice. Ye English peoples in Ammerica seeke recompense in bloode and silver for ye lost landes and innocentes. Diplomacye is of no avail as ye Spaniarde is not capable of learning ye kings English.
Ye English Squadron sailed to ye shore of ye formerly abandoned Natche’s Colony and wrested ye territorey from ye savage once more. Many score of indian were killt and ye English forces carried off greate quantitys of plundere for trade in ye European markets. Commander James Monson led the expedition with supporte ashore by Leuitenante Roger Dodger VIII. Reportes from Natche’s claime ye savage prowled ye coaste in captured European vessels and met ye English squadron on open water. Despyte ye savage attempts, English forces sweeped ye foe asside withe little efforte.
St Thomas
A force of Englishe vessels sailed to ye harbor of St. Tomas and tooke ye settlemente from ye Spanish garrison. Ye naval officer, Captain “Rook” Russel led ye operation with ye assistance of Commander Blessinge. The two men led ye force in ye capture of ye towne. Ye English jack now flyes atop ye castle at ye mouthe of the harbor to St. Thomas. Ye attacke marks ye first blowe againste ye perfidious enemye in the newley joined Anglo-Spanishe war. Furthere aggresionn is expected to follow.
English Bonus Prize Award
Finally, on a less silly note. MARC RUSSELL is the second English raffle prize winner! He’s one of two so far to make it to the rank of Captain and it is a rank well earned. Mr. Russell, you should receive an email shortly containing the details of your prize. Congratulations!
One English prize remains; it is not too late to seek it out. Raffle entries are determined by games played and rank achieved in our English discord community. Please join us today and take on a commission with his Majesty’s Royal Navy.
France – Week 6 Commander Update
My fellow countrymen, we continue to be the most ambitious, cunning, and brave captains in this campaign. Not only do we hold our capitol, not only did we take a second, but we have now bagged our third. We are the only nation to take a single other capitol, let alone two! We have made history, now we just need to ensure that we’re the ones to write it.
Despite our prizes we must not become complacent. Total victory is in our sights and national tensions are sure to be at a fever pitch given our recent success. We’ll crack open a barrel of this pirate rum but we also need to keep a sharp weather eye out for reprisals.
Keep strategizing in the discord, invite new friends to play (and convince them to play for France), and keep on top of the weekly objectives. We can do this!
-Cheveliar Tanwyn
The Netherlands – Week 6 Commander Update
Landgenoten,
Our campaign against the pirates is like chasing ghosts! As soon as we chase them out of one location those crafty devils reappear in another!
But fear not… despite our game of cat and mouse we have managed to regain lost territory and new ground! Unfortunately, our distraction has cost us.
We were the envy of Europe… our coffers full and our budding empire the mightiest in the New World! But, while we selflessly, and might I add soley, tried to stamp out the pirate menace, benefitting ALL nations, the other decided to do more against our interests and secure for themselves wealth and prestige!
Sadly, I must report our might has fallen to second best….. this will not stand!
We must regroup and muster all our strength to reclaim our rightful spot in the world.
Clean your weapons well and stand ready…. Soft power has failed…. Now our enemies will know our resolve and steel!
- Matthew “Salty” Doerr
Commander of the
Nederlands West Indies
The Native Americans – Week 6 Commander Update
We increased our territories this week. And yet, the pressure to keep our lands safe from Europeans is greater than ever. Those of you who fought defending Boston know exactly what I mean. We feed from our enemies’ fear!
Every week we meet together to discuss our strategy for the coming week. And every week we come to a clear conclusion. This week is no different. I am eager to put our plan in motion.
White Chief – Red Chief. Where are we going to strike?
Photos by Jason Klotz
Native Prize GiveAway
This week the winner of our weekly giveaway is:
William Keith Oakley Jr
Who will receive a unit blister of elite Pnieses! Congrats!
All prizes to be sent at the end of the campaign!
The Pirates – Week 6 Commander Update
A word from the Boyar:
My fellow captains, with all our raiding and gains, we got caught short…we lost Nassau! I know…damn those sneaky Frenchmen! Could it be Woodes Rogers was working with the Frenchies…Don’t know. Now’s not the time to waiver, but to hold strong and regain our capital. More guidance will be relayed in the Pirate Discord chat.
Quartermaster’s report from Second-in-Commander, Greg Padilla
Captains, as we continue on our campaign adventure, we’re still behind the English in points. Our points reflect we’re about 30 points behind the English in “Total Games Played”, but 15 points from total points. We can easily close that gap if not pass that by chalking up more game objectives, teaching new players or playing a game at your local game store. This upcoming week, I’ll be at Historicon and hope to jump into a B&P game…which is more points too.
Speaking of points, our top five point leaders (Jakub Karaś, konrad łabędzki, 963yug_taht, peter Johnson and battlebrotherguy) are leading the way in games being played…that’s a great job representing the “Black”!
Pirate Photos and Terrain
I wanted to give you all some good feedback on your pictures. As I scroll through the many pictures, there are a lot of good ones with your game and models showcasing your gameplay. In the pictures, I notice a nice mix of terrain creation…namely 3D printed stuff. I too have all those cool models from Iain Lovercraft’s “Rum and Razing” and the “Treasure Island” sets. There are lots of good stuff in those files for both on land and on sea.
I did notice some rigging action going on some of the ships…nice! I love rigging on the ships, especially doing some proper ratlines. There are some discussions of how much is too much when rigging your ships. Well, I take rigging to the point if I can get my big hands onto the deck to place/remove models. Let’s talk about what to use for rigging. Firelock games adds in their elastic string for rigging in their ship models. This is nice especially if you don’t know where to start on what to use for rigging string.
Initially for me the elastic string was a blessing as it would flex when I stuck my hand onto the deck, then retracted back. After a few years, all the elastic has died…and now the rigging sags. Not sure what has caused that…maybe the temperature where I store my ships…dunno. I have another model ship builder buddy who recommended using “waxed string”. It’s easy to find, like Hobby Lobby and fairly inexpensive. This is a BIG plus when you tie up ratlines. Oh, I learned how to tie ratlines from a YouTube video. Good luck on your next rigging adventure.
Join the Discord!
Keep those lines of communication open and flowing as our Captain Dan aka Boyar of the Brethren, post updates and additional information in the Discord Pirate chat channel.
This past week called for playing a scenario again from the Raise the Black rulebook called, “A Wanted Man”…then Blood & Pigment added a special scenario addition. How did you fare in this past week’s objectives? I played two games, my favorite “Raze” with both my son.
As we start Week 7, the objective, “The More the Merrier”, has us dial up our games to have more players playing in your games. This is a great opportunity to test out the Multiplayer option listed in No Peace Beyond the Line, section 13.2. I’ve tried the various versions and all have their good/bad outcomes depending on how many players are in your game. A BIG thing to remember about hosting multiplayer games is don’t have players sit around doing anything while other players are taking their turn. This can lead to a not-so-pleasant gameplay. I like the “Captains Variant”, especially if you don’t have a lot of models. This allows you to give each player on each side a group of models to control their fate. After you’re comfortable with the style, then dial up to the Commandant Variant.
Finally, get your games in, raise the Black and most of all…have fun!
Hello again, it looks like the rallying call worked! We have seen a large increase in the number of games played with unaligned factions, and now the previously unplayed factions have each been played! We are already at 1 game for the Black Caribs, and 4 games for both the Swedish Militia and Miskito Zambo! Great work!
Of the 3 quests introduced last week, only one has been completed so far. Daniel Wray successfully repelled a charge from Lanceros, pictured below. I like the use of 1st edition Heroscape dice as markers!
This means the other two quests introduced last week are still open! Make sure when you submit them to note that you completed the quest, and try to take pictures of and describe the in-game event. If I missed an entry feel free to ping me in the Discord group.
I have repeated the tasks below for easier access:
- Black Caribs (win a burned terrain piece)
- Play the Amphibius Raze scenario with the Black Caribs as the attackers and successfully burn down at least one objective building.
- Miskito Zambo (win a unit blister)
- Option 1: As the attacker use the night visibility faction ability to your advantage and destroy an enemy unit before they are able to fire upon you (such as a charge from out of range followed by fighting and winning over possibly multiple turns, as long as the enemy doesn’t fire a shot)
- Option 2: As the defender, destroy a hidden enemy (by negating the hidden rule) from over 12” away.
- Play as any of Black Caribs, Miskito Zambo, or Swedish Militia throughout the campaign (win a promo Unaligned Commander Card)
More Pictures! So Many Pictures!
Final Thoughts on Summer of Plunder Week 6
The competition remains tight! The games look awesome! It looks like everyone is getting some great games in this year! We’ve already passed up all previous years as far as the number of games logged during this event so 2024 is officially the BIGGEST Summer of Plunder yet!
Get out there! Play some fun games with friends. Make some new friends while you try to crush their army coming at you. Explore some history. Support your game store. Buy some awesome minis from Firelock Games. Enjoy your Summer of Plunder!
No one likes asking or being asked for money and we rarely do it… so we’ll keep it short and sweet. Even with prize sponsors, we send a VERY LARGE portion of our annual budget on prize support and promoting this event. Shipping the $3000+ in goodies is over $1000 alone! So if you are in a position to help, we’d be extremely thankful for a one-time or monthly gift on our Patreon. Patreon is easier than writing out commissions for Privateers. Less messy! Thanks for helping us grow this great community we love.
Three more weeks of this campaign! Enjoy your plundering!
