Intro

Commander Reports

Now, here are final messages from our national commanders.

Spain – Final Commander Update

¡Saludos desde la Habana!

What a ride! We Spaniards fought hard and overcame a slow start after we decided to swing big and attempt to claim a capital early on. There were some setbacks, but we did manage to claw our way into 2nd place back in Weeks 6 and 7, with a collection of land that was rich and bountiful. It seemed like we were on track to fulfill Pope Alexander VI’s proclamation which gave Spain the right to all of the Western World. Perhaps the lands were too fruitful, for the eyes and greed of the other nations set upon us! The sacking we suffered stripped us of our hard-fought territories. In this final week of battle, our raids on the English and Pirate forces blunted their ambitions and kept them from winning the campaign.

A Final Word of Congratulations

I’d like to take a moment and really congratulate our soldados who have spent these last few months with Garrett and myself. I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions and list sharing in the Discord channel. This campaign also marks the end of our glorious General Garrett Swader stewardship of Spain. Garrett led Spain to victory in 2023 and saw us through the turbulent 2024 campaign! Thank you Garrett! 

Before Garrett set sail back for Spain, he left us with a trivia question.

What was the original Spanish name of Jamaica?

–Santiago

Those who answered it correctly can potentially see some Spanish prizes headed your way!

This campaign is not just a testament to our strength and strategy, but to the unity and courage that bind us as one. We have defended the honor of Spain and ensured the safety of our people. Let us rejoice in this moment, for it is a beacon of hope and a promise of future triumphs.

I look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

Viva España!

-Josh Shivak

Garrett Swader, Commanding, and Josh Shivak, 2nd in Command

England – Final Commander Update

Ende of Hostilityes in Indies & Amerrica
Spannishe Holdyngs Destroyte
Dutche Supremacy Remaines in Contest

Ye moste perfidious Spanishe war of aggressione now drawes to ye finality. Ye majority of Englishe regular forces have been recalled to ye home islandes as ye Germane aggressione threatenes war on ye continente. Most of ye Europeane armies similar, prepare for ye next olde worlde war. Those heathen natives have maintained muche of ye godless wilderness for continued waste and pagan rituals. Ye Europeane colonyes neede much repare and improvement but maintaine varyed footholds on ye Americcan shores.

Ye major nationes maintain positiones of powerre but ye Spanish empire hath been shattered in ye conflicte. Those moste foule papiste devils now hide in ye jungles and scramble to repaire ye defenses. Ye treasurre fleetes doth nott dare to saile with ye waters so infestted withe pyrates. 

Those meagre Dutche republicannes now holde ye moste prominent positione in ye Indies but swarminge pyrates hathe made any governmente actionne a riske to those few assets still available to ye colonial governors. Ye savage stille prowles ye countrieside and privateers bothe Englsihe and French hunte Dutche shipping, and yet, the Lowlanderes now holde ye tenuous control of ye bountiful American regiones. Huzzah to ye fellow protestantes! Know now that our kindred religiosity does not protecte ye any further than the value of ye cargoes might entice.

It has been my absolute pleasure to lead you this summer. Know that it was one of my favorite experiences this year and I look forward to the next Summer of Plunder. I only regret that I could not do more for you and the other players. 

With that said, our final English winner was DUTCH ADAMS! Congratulations Dutch! I’ll be emailing you shortly with details.

~Jayden King, Commanding, and Erich Geobel, 2nd in Command

France – Final Commander Update

My fellow countrymen I am proud to say we have tied for second place.

We had ups and downs this campaign as we fought a highly aggressive war. Our record of ending the campaign with 3 capitols is not one which will be broken easily. We kept our alliances, we gave the fight to our enemies, and in as close a finish as I have ever seen we tied for second place.

Well done everyone!

I have to give a special shout out to Tyler Stone who was instrumental to the French strategy. We spent a lot of time discussing tactics together and he was vital for crunching numbers and politicking with the other nations. This was his fourth year contributing to French leadership and I could not be more grateful for his help.

I would also like to congratulate the prize winners for the French-specific battle report prizes. Christofer P, William D, Kyle A, and Brandon D congratulations on winning! I will be reaching out to you for addresses and getting you your plunder soon.

It has been an honor to be the Commander of France for the past two years. I love this game and have been appreciative to find friends in this community. Whether or not I return in the future is yet to be decided. But I know France will always be a force to be reckoned with.

“France is great because she is France.” — Victor Hugo

Andy Hodges, Commanding, and Tyler Stone, 2nd in Command

The Netherlands – Final Commander Update

Landgenoten,

Break out the beer! We are finished! It is with great honor that I come to you all with the news of Victory!!!!!

That’s right! Through it all we managed to hold on in the end and winus OUR. FIRST. SUMMER. OF. PLUNDER!!!!!

It has been a long and eventful campaign season…. and from the start, we dictated the flow of the campaign. Of the 9 weeks, we only trailed another nation once (and that was on a technicality of a bonus point awarded for the special event)!

Not saying we were better…. But we were better. We didn’t need bonus points to contest the standings! *Ahem* Pirates….

But, I definitely have more gray hairs than when this all started!

I think this picture sums it up perfectly!

Young mercenary Georgia shows her frustration. I feel you Georgia, we have all been there…

Some of you might remember young Georgia. She played an active part in many national campaigns this year and, by the sounds of it has quite the prize haul coming her way! Georgia, we will watch your Plunder career with great interest! Congrats on your winnings, and a GIANT THANK YOU for helping the Dutch to victory!

Georgia is a great example of what I feel like this summer’s campaign was about…. Growth, camaraderie, and new blood. By all accounts, we have achieved that! As a nation, our contributors taught Blood and Plunder or Oak and Iron to an amazing 65 people! Here are our top recruiters!

1. The mysterious “Barnacle” – 6 players
2. Bradley Meloy – 6 players
3. Hans Sprenkle – 5 players

Great job everyone!

Top Dutch Performers

In addition, I have NEVER seen the Dutch so well represented. 51 contributors! 369 games! That’s insane! As such here are the top 3 Dutch point earners:

1. Michael Paul – played a total of 45 games (an average of 5 a week) for 108 points! WELL DONE!
2. Our mysterious “Barnacle” – 28 games for 66 points
3. Hans Sprenkle – 17 games for 53 points

Well done guys!

And as is customary…. For being the top point earner for the Dutch, Michael Paul is the winner of a custom commander painted by yours truly! (Sadly I am still finishing it up so a photo is not YET available)

I am incredibly proud and humbled to have had all of you contribute this year. Can’t say enough.

It has been an honor to serve as your commander and I look forward to next year!

Alas, I guess that about wraps my final message.

Now go forth…. Celebrate! Brag to your favorite enemies (in good fun of course), and I’ll see you all next year!

• Matthew “Salty” Doerr Commander of the (VICTORIOUS) Nederlands West Indies
• Maarten de Kruif, 2nd in Command

The Native Americans – Final Commander Update

Whoa, where do I begin?

The Summer of Plunder is over, and it feels like it launched yesterday… 

It was a great honor to act as the Native commander. I came into it with little experience with new system playtests, but nothing could prepare me for the real-time politics specific to the campaign. There were a lot of emotions involved until the breaking point in week 5 when I understood who I was as a commander. Thanks to you, Native players, we continued being relevant to the last moment, with week 9 being our best to date! 

We had a chance to win it all, and we were not far off… What is important to us, however, is that we keep our lands secured from European intrusion and with this in mind, we will enter next year’s tournament. 

Some of my favorite moments were the weekend, post-result strategy discussions! I always liked to hear what everyone had to say and there were plenty of great ideas coming through them. We were a coalition of Sachems, who, once decided on targets, focused on delivering our plan. We have learned plenty as we went along. Lessons that we could carry on to draw from next year and beyond.

Personally, hearing players say that it was the most fun they had participating in the SoP, and seeing new players getting engaged in the game made it all worthwhile. I will be coming back to play for Natives next year and I hope to see some of you with us.

Photos from the Native Players

I love posting your photos guys! 

I am missing the Summer of Plunder already! 

Until next year brothers and sisters!
And before I finish… The final winner of our weekly National prize is Elisabeth Hardenack, who took some cool pictures this week, and who will receive a box of Pnieses!

• Bartosz Nowicki, Commander
• David Boeren, 2nd in Command

The Pirates – Final Commander Update

A word from the Boyar:

Pirates, Buccaneers, Corsairs, Professional Naval Salvagers, and all other manner of Sea Rovers, this Summer of Plunder has come to an end. It has been a wonderful privilege to lead the pirates again, and I love the enthusiasm for the game y’all have. Despite the setbacks, we weathered the storm and made it to the end! We may not have sacked a capitol this year, but we had all nations quaking in their boots!

Alas, like all good things, this campaign has come to an end. This will be my last year leading the Pirates, as new blood is needed to carry our black banner forward! Cap’n Greg has been a wonderful second, and has my endorsement to be the leader next year while I take on a smaller role behind the scenes. I have no doubt he will continue to inspire and bring new players into the game!

Last, and certainly not least, I have to name our most notorious Pirate! This person logged the most games this year, and managed to bring in more wealth to our coffers than we could have hoped for. Our Most Notorious Pirate of 2024 is Konrad Labedzki! He has won a painted commander mini for his service!

I hope everyone had fun, and am looking forward to seeing everybody come out in force for the Pirates next year!

• Dan Carlson, The Boyar of the Brethren

A Word from Greg Padilla

Captains, As we wrapped up the last week of the 2024 Summer of Plunder, it was an awesome experience to read, chat, and look at all the pics you have submitted over the past nine weeks. Our weekly reports would have been minimal at best if it wasn’t for your participation and of course, having fun doing it.

Speaking of points, our top five point leaders (konrad łabędzki, Jakub Karaś, 963yug_taht, peter Johnson, and myself) are leading the way in the points earned for the Pirate faction. A BIG Shout out to Peter Johnson as the “The End is Nigh” scenario winner! His win gave us a Bonus Victory Point for the campaign. Not sure of the full impact, but any bit is helpful. Again, cannot express it enough..that’s a great job representing the “Black”!

I know from Captain Dan aka Boyar of the Brethren and myself, your communications daily were spot on for strategizing, planning the next moves, sucking up our losses, but most of having a great time with the post in the Discord Pirate chat channel.

This past week, the “Objective was left to the faction commanders, in which our captain has declared our Pirate objective would be, “Dress for Success”! Just from the Discord Pirate chat…there be some lookers…

Having fun with “Dress for Success”, this gave you an opportunity to break out that Pirate gear you have hanging on the wall. In addition, we Pirate flags were also accepted in your pictures.

Finally, it’s been a great pleasure to be part of the Pirate Faction, and hope to be there for next year’s Summer of Plunder. Take care and keep gaming the Black!

Minor Powers – Final Commander Update

We had a great Summer of Plunder this year! All of the unaligned factions were played at least 3 times, with the Maroons far ahead at 18 games! Below is a table for the counts, which is much higher than in previous years. Great job everyone!

Of course, with the playing of all factions that means we ended up completing all of the prize quests. Daniel Wray completed the Swedish quest and will get a unit blister. Daniel Broaddus completed the Miskito Zambo quest and will get a unit blister. Dylan Craig completed the Black Caribs quest and will get a burned piece of scatter terrain. Congrats to these players for completing the quests! Remember, everyone who played any of these three factions will also get a custom commander card. Prizes will be sent out sometime around September, and I will send emails for addresses then. To wrap up, here are some pictures from the campaign!

• Liam Smith, Minor Powers Commander

Misc Numbers and Stats

Let’s look at some numbers on games played, nations and factions represented and player leaders.

The campaign grew by a significant margin this year by all metrics.

A Look Back At Previous Campaigns

• 2021: This was the inaugural campaign. It was long, spanning 13. The entire campaign logged 288 games. This year we’ve had 4 of the 6 Nations break that record on their own!
  If you want to see how far we’ve come, check out 2021 Campaign Rules and the Final 2021 Campaign Newsletter.
• 2022: The second campaign was even longer at 14 weeks, being much more organized and easy to participate in. During the campaign, 155 players played 1,690 games, 1,469 of Blood & Plunder and 221 Oak & Iron
• 2023: Last year was a much more developed campaign system with the map. The 9 week campaign logged 1,303 games from 201 players.
• 2024: With 267 players logging 1810 games, this year is the biggest Summer of Plunder campaign yet!

Comparison of Games Played by Year

^{_{* The 2022 Campaign was 14 weeks, not 9; the number in parenthesis is the full 14 weeks, the other adjusted for the 9-week period to match ’23 & ’24}}

Total Player Count by Year

Overall participation was up!

Jumping to 267 players in the campaign was awesome! That’s 33% growth in one year!

National Statistics & Analysis Report 

The Dutch won the campaign this year, just by a hair! It was an amazingly close contest. But the Campaign conflict and map system didn’t rely solely on the number of games played this year. The competition was evened out through a ranked system of player votes and Commander actions.

Players per nation

It’s always interesting to see which nations have the largest player base during these campaigns. A noticeable trend popped up! The nation that wins one year always takes a hit to its player numbers in the next year! Last year Spain had the largest player base with 61 players. This year, they were near the bottom with 48.

• English 76
• Pirates 66
• French 56
• Dutch 51
• Spanish 48
• Native Americans 34

You’ll notice that totals more than the 270 players participating in the campaign. With nations having a stronger identity and having to work more closely together, there was significantly less crossover with people playing more than 1 nation, but there were 21 people who crossed that line, playing for more than 1 nation. Several of those players (including both campaign organizers) played for pretty much every nation.

The Native Americans still had the lowest player base, but it was less lopsided this year, and there was a lot of energy behind the Natives’ effort this year.

Number of Games Player per Nation

The number of games played closely matches the number of player per nation.

• Native Americans 209/34=5.97 games per player
• Dutch 298/51=5.8 games per player
• French 311/5.55 games per player
• English 412/74= 5.4 games per player
• Pirates 345/66= 5.2 games per player
• Spanish 231/48= 4.9 games per player

I was a bit shocked, but the Native averaged the most games per player!

Player Points per Nation

Player points were earned through various objectives. 1pt for the game, 1pt for the objective of the week, 2pts for teaching a new player, and 1pt for playing at your local gaming store (or other public place). This total will largely mirror the total number of games played.

1. English 1251
2. Pirates 1015
3. Dutch 1004
4. French 919
5. Spanish 664
6. Native Americans 616

The Dutch flipped spots with the French in this metric.

This is a closer spread than 2023 by a long shot!

2023 Numbers:

1. Spanish 1309
2. Pirates 698
3. Dutch 593
4. English 535
5. French 456
6. Natives 178

From a 7x difference from top to bottom to a “mere 2x.”

Points Average per Game

It doesn’t mean much, but it’s fun to check the numbers and see which nations were the most efficient point farmers.

• Dutch 1004/298=3.36pts per game
• English 1251/412=3.03pts per game
• Native Americans 616/209=2.96pts per game
• French 919/311=2.95pts per game
• Pirates 1015/345=2.94pts per game
• Spanish 664/231=2.88pts per game

The differences are very small but may reflect a little bit on how easy objectives were to complete with each nation, and overall how closely players were following the details of the campaign. Or how greedy they were for points and willing to be manipulated by objectives!

That pinwheel is pretty dang even!

Faction Statistics & Analysis Report 

There are a LOT of factions to enjoy in Blood & Plunder. Between the Oak & Iron factions and all the Blood & Plunder factions, there are a few more than 100 factions people can use in this campaign! It’s always a hope and goal of mine to have all of them used by the end of the event! I’m happy to report that every single faction was played again this year! Most multiple times!

Spain and England

Here is a breakdown of the factions and the number of times they were played over the course of the camapaign.

Spanish Militia is always a big winner but it’s notable that the 17th century version has more than twice the plays compared to the Reformed Spanish Militia from RtB. The Spanish Mission Garrison is funny to see so high! And the Spanish Oak and Iron faction is high as well!

British Royal Navy was the most played faction for the English. I have a feeling Mr. Ogle got a workout this year! The top 3 English factions are all from Raise the Black with the flagship English Caribbean Militia and English Buccaneers coming in next along with the Oak and Iron players at 36 game. The Legendary factions always see the least play, largely because smaller games are more common and those commanders are hard to fit into a smaller force.

French and Dutch

The French had a runaway leader with the French Buccaneers counting as nearly a third of all French games this year! French Buccaneers had 48 plays last year. French Army faction was considerably lower than British Army which is interesting. Some of these readings are a bit skewed by the presence of more than one version of a faction. If you combine the 2 versions of the Canadian Militia, that climbs to the 4th spot.

The Dutch have fewer factions to work with, but they had the highest number logged for their least played faction. If you combine the two Dutch Caribbean Militias, that number overcomes anything else this year! The Dutch need a few more factions to mess with!

Natives, Pirates, and Minor Powers

The Natives have a lot of factions since Fire on the Frontier gave them a lot. But they got them all played. The Wabanaki came to the top as the most-played faction. If you combine the Wabanakis, you get a total of 37 compared to 26 for 2nd place Iroquois. Both the Golden Island Tribe and King Philip’s Alliance did pretty well as far as Legendary Factions go.

Pirates also have a small number of factions, but they hit some impressive numbers with both the Golden Age Pirates and the Brethren of the Coast! Those drunken Baymen and Logwood Cutters always trail a bit! Caesar’s Men and Blackbeard’s Men were head and shoulders above all the rest of the Legendary Factions this year!

The Minor Powers got less play this year than last year, although it was more even play. Last year there were a total of 123 Minor Power games, including 37 Miskito Zambo and 29 Brazilian Portuguese Garrison. The Maroons got the most play this year with a modest 17 players, followed by the distant Portuguese Brazilian Tercios & Militia.

Top Factions Played

Top played factions overall include:

1. French Buccaneers (97)
2. Golden Age Pirates (89)
3. Brethren of the Coast (71)
4. Dutch Caribbean Militia (67)
5. British Royal Navy (54)
6. Spanish Militia (50)

If you lump similar factions together, the leaders look like this:

1. Dutch Caribbean Militia combo (110)
2. French Buccaneers (97)
3. Golden Age Pirates (89)
4. English/British Militia combo (78)
5. Spanish Militias combo (70)

But choosing which factions to combine is pretty arbitrary. The nations with fewer factions tend to get higher play counts. But the French Buccaneers take the cake this year! Wow!

Individual Player Reports

We have some standout players in a few different categories. Most categories had a prize attached which we awarded in the End of Campaign Prizes post.

Players with the Most Player Points

Our top 30 players ranged between 115 and 46 points, generated from 78-15 games. Overall, the spread was more even without a couple of leading players that pulled away from the pack which has happened in the past.

The top 5 scoring players were:

1. Conner Fix – 115 (English)
2. Michael Paul – 108 (Dutch)
3. Danny Perkins – 107 (Unaligned)
4. Konrad Łabędzki – 93 (Pirates)
5. Peter Johnson – 92 (Pirates)

Players Who Played the Most Games

We did have a runaway winner here with Danny Perkins. 78 games! The top 30 players ranged from 15 to 78. The average game count per player over the course of the campaign was 6.7 games which is a healthy number!

Top 5 players for games logged include:

1. Danny Perkins – 78
2. Michael Paul – 45
3. Connor Fix – 41
4. Konrad Łabędzki – 41
5. Peter Johnson – 39

Number of New Players Taught

One of the benefits of the campaign is that it gets Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron on the table and attracts new players. It’s fun to share an awesome hobby and we love seeing new players jump in!

This year we had 423 games logged as teaching a new player for the first time! We had a prize for the player who taught the most new players, again congrats to Marc Hardenack for winning the Miniatures case donated by Feldherr!

Our top 7 teaching players included:

1. Marc Hardenack – 13
2. Adam Bortner – 12
3. Chris Asche – 12
4. Erich Goebel – 11
5. Jason Klotz – 11
6. Josiah Huss – 11
7. Richard Naco – 11

New Players Participating in the Campaign

Of the 270 players that participated this year, a full 131 of them indicated that they had picked up Blood & Plunder or Oak & Iron this year (2024)! I’m not entirely sure the question was super clear, as some long-term players of Blood & Plunder may have clicked “yes” for Oak & Iron and vice versa. But it’s great to have new players picking up Blood & Plunder or Oak & Iron! Welcome to the community and we’re glad you jumped into this campaign this year!

If you are a new player, make sure to register on the FirelockGamesMap.com to help other players in your area find you!

Games Played at Your FLGS

The Firelock Games Organized Play kit was released “almost in time” for the campaign. Along with it, we saw an increase in the number of games played at game stores and clubs! We hope the kit returns in 2025 as it got nothing but positive feedback.

This year 903 of the 1,810 games were marked as played at a local game store (or similar public space). Pretty much 50% which is a bit of an uptick from last year where 606 out of 1,303 were at a game store (46.5%).

If you have a local game store in your area and it’s not already on the FirelockGamesMap.com make sure to send them a message to get them registered!

Our leading players in the category of playing in a public venue were:

1. Connor Fix – 36 games
2. Jakub Karaś – 27 games
3. Daniel Reynolds – 23 games
4. Daniel Broaddus – 20 games
5. Timothy Stone – 18 games

Oak & Iron in the Campaign

This campaign includes both Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron, but the smaller-scale game usually gets fewer games. This year the percentage was up a bit!

We saw a total of 159 Oak & Iron games played out of the 1,810 (8.78%). Last year it was 93 out of 1,396 (6.67%).

Our top players for Oak & Iron this year were:

1. Josiah Huss – 21 games
2. James Clifton Monson – 14 games
3. Ginger Monson – 13 games
4. Margartia de Vargas Oro 8 game
5. David Dueck & Xavier Shivak – 7 games

Objective Participation

We work hard to incorporate a list of interesting objectives to mix things up and help people explore different corners of their games. This year 1,412 of the 1,810 logged games indicated they had participated in the objective of the week. This is down a bit in terms of percentage (78% ) from last year’s 1,169 out of 1,396 (83.7%).

Objectives are a fun way to explore new or subtle parts of the game and help players enjoy a common experience each week. And they can give some focus to your game sessions! But there’s no requirement to play the objectives each week in this campaign.

More Pictures from Week 9 of the Summer of Plunder

One more photo dump of some of the great pictures submitted by players around the world last week!

Prize Shipment

I believe all prizes have now been awarded. Shipping is in process with many items shipped out during the campaign, but shipping will continue for the next week or two, depending on the source. Feel free to check in to make sure it got shipped if you haven’t seen a package on your doorstop in two weeks (or more for non-US locations).

Many Thanks!

Many thanks to all the people and organizations that helped with this campaign this year!

All of our volunteer commanders did great work! It takes a good bit of time and a lot of energy and devotion to lead a nation and help guide players through the campaign. We appreciate these community leaders volunteering their time and expertise! They were hard at work months ago running through a dry run play testing this year campaign system, and they’re still working hard shipping our prizes for players!

• Pirates – Dan Carlson & Greg Padilla
• Spanish – Garrett Swader & Josh Shivak
• English – Jayden King & Erich Goebel
• French – Andy Hodges & Tyler Stone
• Dutch – Matthew Doerr and Maarten de Kruif
• Native Americans – Bartosz Nowicki and David Boeren
• Unaligned – Liam Smith

Huge thanks for Firelock Games for creating awesome games and creating a great community. And for working with us and coordinating the organized play kit, supporting stores and quartermasters trying to participate for and providing great prize support! Thanks to Mike, Alex, Lily, Ray, and Jonathan and all the crew! We pestered them a lot leading up to this event and they got that Organized Play kit out!

Thanks to Our Sponsors

Thanks to all the companies and sponsors that donated prize support! The list is long but includes Firelock Games, Feldherr, TABLEWAR, Benerson Little, The Plunder Den, Seamons’ Quality Sails, Timber & Sail, Dead Man’s Chest, Shipwrecked with Captain Marrow, Things from the Basement, St. Augustine Mint, and Matthew Doerr (and the Blood & Pigment plunder vault). Check the Prize List post and the End of Campaign Prize post for full lists of prizes given away this year.

A huge and special thanks goes out to Jason Klotz for all the blood, sweat, tears, and plunder he put into campaign design, spreadsheet creation/management, IT support, campaign map creation, campaign map resolution, and updates this year! This would be a much different (and humbler) affair without his skills and donation of time!

We here at Blood & Pigment are thrilled to have helped facilitate another campaign for the community and we hope you’ve enjoyed the event!

Blood & Pigment Patreon

If you enjoyed the campaign and value the work we do here at Blood & Pigment, you can throw some Spanish silver at us on Patreon. All monies got straight back into the community in some way or another!

It’s a pretty chill Patreon campaign, but we provide periodic updates on the projects we’re working on, as well as some early-release content. But most of our energy goes straight into providing support for the whole Blood & Plunder community!

What’s Next After Summer of Plunder?

There are lots of great conversions and local events to look forward to. Be sure to check the Facebook and Discord groups for more info. As for Blood & Pigment, we’ll be turning our time and attention to creating new videos, articles, and podcast content to help grow the games. The Summer of Plunder is an extremely time-intensive event/project for our crew so new content takes a bit of a back seat for a few months. We’ll be trying to ramp back up on content creation for a while… with maybe a short breather for our weary staff.

Connecting with Other Players

We encourage you to keep connecting with other players in your local area and gaming groups in nearby regions. If you’ve not already taken the time to register on FirelockGamesMap.com, we highly encourage you to! It will help you find other players in your area and people to find you! The more we can grow the community the better.

Great Pirate Paint Off

Every Spring we hold a painting contest. We’ve not finalized the date yet, but this is a great time for hobbying your minis and ships. Look for details in a couple of months. Be sure to check out the details and a great gallery of the previous entries from past Great Pirate Paint Off contests.

Adepticon 2025

After that, we’ll be turning our primary focus to planning the Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron events at Adepticon 2025 for Firelock Games! We have a lot of events in the works and it should be a great time for Pirates gamers. Mark your calendars and reserve those hotel rooms now because its going to be an awesome time!

Post-Campaign Survey

We’ve worked up a short (well, maybe moderate) survey to get feedback for next year. We covet your input! Stop now and fill out this survey! We’ll send out another prize to a random player who fills out the survey. The final prize is 12 Blood & Plunder Bone dice! We’ll draw a random winner from all survey participants. The survey will close at midnight EST on Saturday, August 17th.

Plans for Summer of Plunder 2025

We will be back for the 5th annual Summer of Plunder in 2025! Every year we work hard to improve the event, fine-tuning objectives, the campaign system, communications, updates, and schedule. We have a good handful of lessons we learned this year and have some plans for tweaks for next year!

While not locked in stone, some of the ideas include:

• Possibly adding a formal alliance mechanic for mutual attack, defense, and or non-aggression.
• Additional trade mechanics that can make diplomacy a little more obvious and less chaotic on the campaign map.
• Limit on Raids and the ability to defend Raids in the campaign system
• Strengthening the Defense mechanics to encourage a balance away from an all-offense strategy
• Possible shorter timeline of 8 weeks instead of 9
• Incorporation of Port Royal into the campaign
• Support and Encouragement of Tournaments during the campaign
• Email notifications for game submissions so players can track their entries

Final Thoughts on Summer of Plunder 2024

We hope you enjoyed the campaign! We had a ton of fun organizing and coordinating for you. You all are the greatest gaming community out there! Coordinating a campaign with many volunteer leaders and 200+ players from around the world is tricky, but you guys are chill, fun, and awesome and it makes it a joy.

We hope you enjoyed the national competition and the extra-national community building from the Discord chats. At some point, we will be shuttering the Summer of Plunder Discord Server for most of the year, but we encourage you to take your energy and chatter to the main Firelock Games server. Keep up the conversations on list building, rules questions, events, and everything else!

But most of all, we hope you enjoyed your wargaming hobby this summer! Thanks for participating in the campaign this year and we hope you’ll jump in on the fun again next year!

Additional Recommended Reading

• 2024 Post-Campaign Survey
• All the Info and Rules for the 2024 Summer of Plunder Event
• 2024 Summer of Plunder Map
• Call to Arms! posts from Summer of Plunder Commanders
• Objective List for 2024 Summer of Plunder
• Prize List for 2024 Summer of Plunder