The Firelock Games Light Frigate is a small warship made for combat and commonly used by the Guarda Costas and pirate hunters. Light Frigates are robust vessels which are designed to mimic their larger counter parts while keeping up with the smaller ships they pursued. This article breaks down all the stats, attributes, and capabilities of the Light Frigate model in Blood & Plunder.
The Light Frigate (called the “Frigate on the Firelock Games website) is one of Firelock Games’ original ships, and launched with the Kickstarter in 2016. Despite being one of the originals, is still maintains its relevance all these years later. This article will give you all the information you need to field your very own Light Frigate in Blood and Plunder!
The Light Frigate represents an “unrated” frigate from the 17th and 18th centuries. “unrated” means it does not have a classification within the English (and later British) Navy in accordance to the number of guns carried.
Like all frigates, the Light Frigate is “frigate-built” (duh) meaning she is built long and fairly low to the water. This gives the ships better speed as they cut through the water with less resistance. Non surprisingly, frigates were a popular cruising vessel, offering some of the best balance of speed and firepower, but couldn’t retreat upriver like sloops can. Some popular frigates include Laurens DeGraff’s El Tigre, Jean Hamlyn’s La Trompeuse, and Henry Morgan’s Satisfaction.
An English Buccaneer Light Frigate on the prowl – Painted by Robert McFarland
Light Frigate Ship Stat Card
Here is a copy of the Light Frigate ship stat card, front and back, for your reference. If you wish to save and print it, each side should be 4″ x 6″. We recommend using a rigid card sleeve for your ship stat card, allowing you to use erasable markers to track damage, critical hits, and reloads during gameplay.
The Light Frigate was the original warship in Blood and Plunder, and boasted the coveted 5” speed combines with a decent armament (this most of any of the 3 original ships) and excellent durability. These traits make it a solid ship choice in standard games (200-250 pts).
Speed and Maneuverability
The Light Frigate has a top speed of 5″, matching the Bermuda Sloop, which is impressive for a medium sized ship with no upgrades. While a 3″ turn is not as maneuverable as a Sloop, it is on par with most of the other Size 3 ships in the game.
Still, this long ship will take full 4 moves (1 full Turn), to do a 180° turn and reverse directions (depending on your position relative to the wind). It is possible to cut that down to 3 moves and a partial if you use a Wearing Advanced Maneuver.
Ship Movement Stats
Top Speed: 5″
Windward:-2″
Turn: 3″
Draft: 8
Sail Settings: 5″ | 4″ | 3″ | 2″ | 0″ | ⚓
A Windward penalty of -2″ is average for most Size 3 ships, but when paired with a Top Speed of 5″ you are still able to turn your max of 3″ without suffering loss. That’s 1″ faster than the Galleon, which can be a lifesaver if you’re forced to square up with one.
Sail Settings & Draft
Like the 6th Rate Frigate, it takes 5 Change Sail Setting actions to go from Anchored to full speed of 5″. A ship’s sail settings reflect a combination of the number of sails on the ship and the manpower and time it takes for such a vessel to get underway or anchor.
In most games, this doesn’t matter because you set your sail at the beginning and rarely adjust it by more than one setting up or down. However, if the ship runs aground on a shoal or collides with terrain, it will take 4 actions to go from your maximum Sail Setting to 0″. It then takes a Dedicated Repair to get off the rocks and 4 more Actions to get back up to full speed… which is unlikely to happen in a 6 Turn game. Especially, since you will want to keep fighting to defend yourself from opponents that haven’t run aground.
The draft value of 8 makes this larger ship prone to becoming beached if it attempts to move over shoal terrain. The test combines a d10 with your Draft value and you will become beached if the total is 15 or above. The Light Frigate has a 40% chance of becoming beached on a standard shoal, compared to 6% for a Bermuda Sloop, 10% for a standard Sloop, and 50% for a 6th Rate Frigate. You need to respect the shoals when playing with a Frigate!
Dan Carlson’s polacre, made using the Light Frigate Hull
Sailing Strategy & Tactics Suggestions
Staysails The Light Frigate includes the Staysails ability, which makes sailing windward a little more tolerable.
A Top Speed of 5″ matches the top sail setting so there is not a gap for wind or a speed up with an Advanced Maneuver. Keep this in mind when planning Advanced Maneuvers.
Shoals are risky. A Draft value of 8 means you will run aground 40% of the time you enter a shoal (>=7 on the check).
Initial deployment is key.
If you are engaging smaller ships meaning to board you, deploying horizontally will keep them at bay further and present your broadsides sooner.
If you are boarding or going for objectives, deploy bow first toward the center of the board. With a 4″ deployment zone and the length of the ship you are already 20+ inches into the board. In most cases, the bow of your ship can reach the center of the board in one or two moves, with a Freshly Careened Hull Ship Upgrade you may be able to reach the center before the game even begins!
Patrik Tozer’s Sea of Thieves inspired Light Frigate
Firepower
For a size 3 ship, the Light Frigate holds the firepower category exceptionally well!
Unlike its bigger cousin, the 6th Rate Frigate, the Light Frigate is a size 3 ship and can only take Light and Medium guns. However, in games between 200-300 points, Medium Guns still pack quite a punch!
Here is a points guide to equipping your Light Frigate:
5 Pairs of Light Cannons = 35 pts
6 Pairs of Light Cannons = 42
5 Pairs of Medium Cannons = 50pts
6 Pairs of Medium Cannons = 60pts
Firepower Stats
Max Guns: 14 (7 pairs)
2 Fore Deck (1 Pairs)
6 2nd Deck (3 Pairs)
6 3rd Deck (2 Pairs + Chasers [optional])
Max Swivel Guns: 4
2 on the Fore Deck
2 on the Rear Deck
While the Light Frigate carries the same amount of cannons as the Fluyt, it carries them in a different configuration that maximizes firepower at the cost of what we’ll call “crew fragility”. The Fluyt carries her six cannons in 2 pairs across her 3 decks. This allows for a more even spread of crew throughout t those decks, and it is harder for your opponent to target 1 deck for suppression since each deck carries the same number of guns. While slightly more prone to being surpressed by focused enemy fire, the main deck’s 3 pairs of cannons is quite deadly. Chances of both Lucky and Critical Hits and substantially increased while shooting 3 cannons instead of 2!
The Light Frigate carries 3 pairs of guns on her middle deck, requiring more crew to man the guns than on the front and rear decks. This means if a crafty opponent manages to whittle that crew down or cause them to be shaken, your firepower is essentially cut in half. This is something to consider if you are planning on playing a list centered around cannons.
A Light Frigate unleashes a full broadside on its opponent.
Stern Chasers
In most games, Chasers tend to be less useful in games than they would be in real life. As most games only last 6 round rounds, you don’t typically have your Stern facing your primary opponent more than a couple of times per game. This is okay because if your stern is facing your opponent, chances are you’re in for a stern-rake, which is not something you want to happen! For this reason, purchasing the Stern Chasers usually isn’t the best use of your points unless you plan to play a certain tactic that would let the fire more regularly.
Wayne Burton’s Light Frigate next to a Longboat
Swivel Guns
The Light Frigate has a total of four swivel guns, and they are located on the front and rear decks in a single pair. While this configuration is objectively worse than having 4 on one deck, it is still sufficient enough for running a Small Arms style list. Combining these with a Commander that has the Broadside! Special Rule can let you throw 12 dice at an enemy deck that has a base Shoot score of 6! Combining that with units that are great with their muskets can really help whittle down an opponent and/or stack some of that sweet sweet fatigue on them.
Riley Faulk’s Light Frigate from the Great Pirate Paint Off of 2024!
Durability
The Light Frigate is a stout ship for its size! She starts off at Fortitude 5 and Integrity 6. This makes it awesome for going toe-to-toe in a broadside battle with any ship at or below its class. There are only a handful of ships that start at a Fortitude of 5 and that will usually give you a solid upper hand in a cannon duel unless your opponent is sailing a 6th Rate Frigate or a Galleon (shudder).
Rigging Durability
The Light Frigate has a rigging fortitude of 3 and an integrity of 6. This is 1 point of integrity more than the Brigantine, but is exactly the same as the Fluyt. Should your opponent bring Chain Shot, you may have to worry about them shredding your rigging. While this may seem concerning, remember that if they are shooting aat your rigging, they aren’t shooting at your gun crews, which could be just as perilous for them!
Hull Durability
The Light Frigate shares the same hull durability profile as the 6th Rate Frigate.
With a Fortitude of 5 and an Integrity of 6, this ship can take 24 damage before being reduced to a Fortitude of 1.
At 24 damage this ship is only vulnerable to massed cannons with a Commander using the Broadside! rule.
Ship Durability Stats
Rigging
Fortitude: 3
Integrity: 6
Hull
Fortitude: 5
Integrity: 6
Ship Model Capacity
The Light Frigate has 3 decks and these capacities assume no cannons to get the maximum allowable capacities.
Deck 1 (bow): 18 Models +4 with a Fighting Top
Deck 2: 32 + 4 models with a fighting top
Deck 3: 21 models
Total Capacity: 71 or 79 with 2 fighting tops
Top Decks
18
32
21
Subsections
4 Fighting Top
4 Fighting Top
Total Capacity
79
Ship deck packed to capacity with crewmembers
Subsections
The Light Frigate does not have subsections other than the Fighting Tops. Cannons that appear below the decks are manned by crews on the top.
Fighting Tops Subsections
The Light Frigate can be upgraded with up to 2 Fighting Tops; they cost 2 points each and are located on the 2 front masts.
The Fighting Tops are a little tricky to use on the ship because of the game size used. The minimum unit size goes up as the total game size increases. This means you break the 300 pt threshold level the minimum unit Size is 5. Fighting tops have a maximum capacity of 4 models.
This means that you can’t put a dedicated unit in the fighting tops and any models have to be a portion of units on the main decks. So for example, you can take a 12-model unit and have 8 on the Main Deck and 4 on a Fighting Top.
Optionally, if you wanted to put an independent unit of 4 or a few models up there, you can utilize the Army Game rules which let you build multiple “companies” that act as a single force. So you are running multiple armies and multiple units activate at once. On paper this allows you to create a tiny force of 50-75 points with 3 units of 4 models placing a separate unit on each top. Those units then activate in conjunction with a unit activating in your larger main force.
The back of the ship card is filled with the various traits, special rules, and upgrades to the ship. These elements add character to the ship and some depth of customization allowing you to tailor the ship to your preferred playstyle.
Traits
We’ve covered all of the Traits on the Light Frigate previously, but here is a unified summary for reference:
Chasers (Stern): Chasers are Cannons that face either forward out of the Bow, or out back from the Stern of the ship. If cannons are placed in the Chasers gun ports, they fire in the direction they face, with the width of the Bow (or Stern) as their Arc of Fire
Staysails: When moving under sail to windward, this ship is never reduced to its lowest sail setting value that is greater than 0 (unless it is In the Wind’s Eye). Use of Staysails is optional.
Ship Upgrades
Sweeps(2) (+2 pts): May move up to 2” under oars while sails are set at speed 0” and the Sweeps are crewed.
+2 Points for Sweeps 2 is cool, but you REALLY should be staying in the wind. If you are forced to Windward, Staysails will always keep you moving at a minimum of 2″.
Additional Upgrade Suggestions
The Raise the Black expansion has added a number of new “generic” ship upgrades available to ships. Some of these are worth considering with the Light Frigate.
Streamlined Hull – for +3 pts this option decreases your Windward penalty by 1 in exchange for a +1 Draft. Since you should be avoiding shoals like the plague anyway, the bonus for sailing Windward can be beneficial. This allows you to reduce Windward penalty to -1″ keeping you moving at fast pace.
Anti-grappling Measures – This is great if you do not want to be boarded. If you are running a gunnery list and want to make it extra hard for those pesky Natives in their little boats to board you, take this.
Freshly Careened Hull – This is an excellent option for boarding lists. For +4 points, a ship with Freshly Careened Hull can make a single move after deployment at its starting sail setting (Usually that means 5″ for the Light Frigate). This free move brings the Light Frigate closer to its prey.
Improved Rig – While not as much of an “auto-include” for boarding lists, it is useful against an opponent who isn’t prepared for raw speed. For +4 points, this upgrade increases the ship’s top speed by 1″to 6″! This allows the Sailing Master Fighting Man or a Commander with the Sailing Master Special Rule to make the Light Frigate move 6″ during one of its movements. It also allows you to take better advantage of possible wind bonuses. An extra inch can often be the difference between boarding and having to soak up more cannon or musket fire for a full turn before engaging the enemy in glorious hand-to-hand combat.
Ship’s Wheel (+2 pts): -1 bonus to Sailing Tests when attempting Advanced Maneuvers The Wheel Upgrade for +2 is invaluable if you have a unit with Expert Sailors manning you sails! This means that you pass ANY Advanced Maneuver on a 3+…that’s an 80% guarantee you’ll pass! If you are forced to Tack, this will come in mighty handy! This is insanely useful for using a Wearing Action after a Tack in order to get a 4″ turn!
Combat Strategy & Tactics Suggestions
There are a variety of combat strategies you can use for captaining the Light Frigate. We’ll break them down by the overarching type of list you plan to use.
The Light Frigate really shines at the 200-250 point level! There is enough points to purchase enough cannons and crew to outfit your gunship completely!
At 250pts or more Amaro Pargo’s faction, Pargo’s Marineros allows you to bring u to 3 Heavy cannons on your Light Frigate, at the cost of moving no more that 4″. This allows the Light Frigate to punch above her weight on a broadside, assuming you have the crew to man them!
When choosing guns, Mediums are always preferable to Lights at 200pts plus, and even a mix of them is better than just running a single deck of Mediums. The key is to try and maximize your hits to get those beautiful Critical Hits!
If you are the attacker, it is possible to flip broadsides efficiently with the use of a Wearing Advanced Maneuver. It is possible to this this as the defender, but is often frowned upon as even a “fighting retreat” may be viewed as unsportsmanlike. This is especially true if your opponent is in a slower ship.
Boarding with the Light Frigate is stupidly easy. Adding a Sailing Master, Improved Rig, and Freshly Careened Hull means on the first activation of the first turn the ship will have moved 11″ from its initial deployment! This, combined with the length of the hull, means closing the distance (especially in the Encounter Scenario) before the Defender can appropriately respond is extremely easy.
In a chase, the Light Frigate can match the speed of nearly any ship in the game.
For lists focused around small arms, the decks are spacious enough to allow for plenty of musketeers. For games of 299pts or less, you can place units of 4 in the fighting tops to not only take advantage of elevation, but take care of any repairs or Advanced Maneuvers.
If you go with a 100% Militia faction, most militia forces can take at least one sailor unit as a support option. It’s typically a good idea to have at least 1 unit of sailors to handle the rigging and do Advanced Maneuvers.
Hobby Guides for the Light Frigate
We have a couple of guides and suggestions for preparing your workhorse Light Frigate for the tabletop:
Advanced Rigging the Blood & Plunder Light Frigate
The following is an image of a rigging layout from a historical model. It would be a lot of work, but it’s a solid reference if you are interested. While this is for a 6th Rate Frigate, if you follow the rigging guide for just the first two sections of the mast you will be fine.
Video Review of the Light Frigate
Join Joseph, Guy, and Dan on our YouTube channel as they discuss the glorious 6th-Rate Frigate from Firelock Games. She how this fast, well-armed vessel is perfect for pirate or pirate hunters alike!
Force building with the Light Frigate
The Light Frigate really shines in the 200-250 point level for casual and competitive games. Its versatility means your opponent won’t know what to expect until you set up for a game!
300 points is probably the the upper limit you’ll want to push a Light Frigate. While larger lists can be made, once you hit 350pts+, a larger ship, or two ships is usually more optimal.
A brief battle report of the English Royal Navy (Joseph) vs Brethren of the Coast (Guy). Can the Light Frigate capture her larger cousin and claim victory?
The Battle of Hudson’s Bay
Joseph & Guy play The Battle of Hudson’s Bay from the Fire on the Frontier expansion for Blood & Plunder.
Photo Gallery of the Light Frigate in Blood & Plunder
Here is a collection of photos of the Light Frigate in action! Select an image to zoom in.
Special thanks to all community members committing images to our gallery. If you have pics you’d like to contribute, we’d love to feature them! Just contact us to pass on your photos.
Conclusion
The Light Frigate is considered to be one of the best all-around ships in Blood and Plunder. Its uncanny ability to facilitate different list types and accommodate a variety of playstyles makes it an ideal choice for most games. The model is beautiful, and once fully painted and rigged, will more than likely catch lots of eyes at your local game store or at a tournament!
28mm scale Light Frigate Model for Blood & Plunder- From Robert McFarland
Pingback: The Corbeta - New Blood & Plunder Ship Preview - Blood & Pigment