The Blood & Plunder 2024 Organized Play Kit released for the Summer of Plunder event contained some fun exclusives minis. One of those minis was designed to represent the commonly used Master Gunner Character.
Now no one really knows what “exclusive” means in the gaming world. I hope a lot of you Blood & Plunder player access to the Organized Play kit over this last summer, but if you didn’t, rumor has it this mini may be released for general purchase from Firelock Games soon™ (before the end of November).
Master Gunner Miniature
The exclusive Master Gunner miniature is very “dynamic”! Reaching forward with his linstock to fire a cannon.
The miniature comes in two pieces, model and base (per the new normal for Blood & Plunder minis). But gluing the two pieces is easy and no problem!
The model is very detailed and clean, but has a few nubs to clean up from the printing process.
The figure is wearing a rather large coat, making him usable in militia and army forces but still fitting into a pirate crew with his head covered with a simple cloth.
The pose positions the linstock pretty high for a Light Cannon, about right for a Medium Cannon, and it’s touching the barrel on a Heavy Cannon or a Field Gun.
Painting the Master Gunner
I chose some basic colors I’ve been seeing used in historical reproductions of buccaneer clothing. Light blue jacket with off white trim and silver buttons.
Red bandana and neckerchief. Can’t beat that red, white and blue color palette!
Medium brown leathers and black shoes and scabbard. Light brown pants and Citadel’s standard flesh tones for the skin.
I am happy with how the face, eyes and black glaze for the beard area turned out.
Using the Master Gunner Character
The Master Gunner is a really strong character that helps your great guns fire faster and more accurately. If you plan to rely very heavily on your cannons in either a sea force, or maybe a defensive list that has cannons mounted in a fortification, he nearly always a great choice to add to your force.
What does the Master Gunner do? He has 3 different abilities that boost your artillery power:
- The Master Gunner bring the Expert Artillery Crew ability to the unit he joins. This is especially useful for both the French and Spanish as their standard sailor/artillery unit only has the Artillery Crew rule. It is also very useful for the Militia style artillery crew units (but only if you upgrade them to Trained). This upgrade to Expert grants a free Reload action on the Heart activation card as well as the Spade.
- The Master Gunner has a Reload Command Point. He has a short Command Range of 3″ so usually you’ll use it on his own unit, but 3″ is enough to reach adjacent decks on a ship or adjacent fortification sections.
- Last, and probably most importantly, he provides a -1 bonus to the Ranging Shot when firing a great gun. When firing solid shot or chain shot, cannons start with a “ranging shot” with a base shoot of 4 with an additional +1 penalty for each 8″ of range. If this test is successful, you proceed to roll a test for damage. But if this test fails, you miss entirely! The Master Gunner gives you a -1 bonus to this crucial Ranging Shot which is the make-or-break for all artillery! This makes the Master Gunner excellent on your unit assigned to the largest deck of cannons on your ship. More cannons hitting more often is great!
With all those bonuses, the Master Gunner is a very strong choice for any Blood & Plunder force that relies very heavily on cannons. The Master Gunner started out as a 4pt Character, but his cost was increased to 6pts in the 2024 reprint of the No Peace Beyond the Line expansion book. But even with the increased cost, he remains a popular choice, and for good reason!
Final Thoughts
The Master Gunner is a valuable Character in Blood & Plunder and it’s awesome that we have a devoted model for him now!
Look for the Master Gunner model (and maybe the Surgeon and Treasure Objective Marker) to become available on the Firelock Games website sometime in late November!
