AdeptiCon 2025 set sail for a new location moving from Schaumburg, IL to Milwaukee, WI. Once again the Blood & Pigment crew hosted a variety of Blood & Plunder wargaming events at the convention, including the ever-popular Sea Tournament. Players from across the community tested their skills in a series of competitive matchups, navigating shifting winds, withering cannon fire, and aggressive boarding actions. This event highlighted the depth of the game’s naval combat, with several close-fought engagements and standout performances along with a wide range of tactics and outcomes in the results.

The Sea Tournament has always been the highlight of AdeptiCon for me. After winning the 2024 event, I (Jason Klotz) decided to step back this year and take on the role of Tournament Organizer and Judge.

As one of the main events of the Blood & Plunder lineup, the Sea Tournament draws skilled captains looking to test their ships and crews in intense naval battles. Some bring finely tuned competitive lists, while others field unconventional fleets just to see how they fare. It’s a showcase of tactical skill, creative list-building, and the unpredictable nature of high-seas combat.

This year, we increased the points limit from 200 to 250, allowing for greater variety in fleet composition. Players brought everything from nimble Bermuda sloops to massive galleons, with some fielding dual-ship fleets—and one daring captain even running three ships. The expanded options led to diverse matchups and new tactical challenges. Let’s take a look at how it all played out.

2025 AdeptiCon Blood & Plunder Sea Tournament Rules

Lists needed to be 250 points from any expansion ruleset or time era. Each round was 110 minutes. Every round players would earn 3 Tournament Points for a victory and 0 for a loss. Players would gain 1 in the case of a tie. Strike Points were earned with the standard methods with an occasional bonus from the scenarios.

Each player must keep track of Strike Points at the end of the game. Strike Point differential at the end of the tournament would break any ties on Tournament Points. Additional tie breaks are determined by points value of models killed and then number of models killed.

Sea Tournament Scenarios

The scenarios were randomly drawn from the pool of 5 we picked before the event. They drawn scenarios were:

• Round 1: Take & Hold
• Round 2: Chase’s End
• Round 3: Encounter

ADEPTICON 2025 Sea Tournament WINNERS

Sea Tournament Placement Prizes

• 1st Place = $100 + an Adepticon Medal + gold Adepticon custom dice
• 2nd Place = $75 + an Adepticon Medal + silver Adepticon custom dice
• 3rd Place = $50 + an Adepticon Medal + bronze Adepticon custom dice

Best Painted Ship

During the tournament, there was a “secret judge” that wandered the tables to evaluate the ships to select a “Best Painted” Award. The competition was fierce and there were a LOT of good entries. I’m glad I wasn’t the judge! In the end, the chosen winner was Jake Ferris and his Fluyt.

Bonus Prizes

Display Boards – There were two players who built special display boards for their ships to showcase them between games.

Christian Busch had a special tiered jetty for his 3 moored Barco Luengos. He also placed his casualties on the piers as they stacked up.

“Box Haul King” – Kenneth Boone

Prior to the tournament, Kenneth Boone said he’d never done an Advanced Maneuver in a game before. After stopping by as the T.O., I gave a quick run through how to do a Box Haul maneuver. By the end of the second game, he box hauled 3 times, and by the end of the tournament did two other advanced maneuvers.

Top 6 Force Building Lists from the Tournament

Here are the top 6 players and the lists they brought to the tournament:

1. Dan Carlson = Unaligned Brethren of the Coast = Light Frigate + Fast Boarding & Muskets
2. Christian Busch = Pirates – The Flying Gang = 3x Barco Luengos = Mediums Canons + Grenades
3. Tyler Stone = Unaligned – The Last Buccaneers = Privateer Fluyt + Medium Cannons & Muskets
4. Patrick Tozer = England – British Royal Navy – Galleon + Heavy Cannons
5. Garrett Swader = Spain -Armada de Barlovento – Light Frigate + Medium Cannonsw w/Grapeshot & Pikes
6. Kurtis Fraley = Unaligned – Brethren of the Coast = Light Frigate – Medium Cannons & Muskets

Crunchy Data from the Sea Tournament

Nation and Faction Breakdown

Here is a breakdown of the forces by Nation and Faction

Ship Breakdown

Here is some ship data from the tournament. The 250-point mark definitely changed things up this year. A wide range of ships were taken, including several with multiple ships. The Light Frigate filled out 31% of the lists. Shockingly the Fluyt (and its variants), typically rare in the past, showed in 5 lists, 22.7% of the field.

• 1 – 2 ship Barco Luengos
• 1 – 3 ship Barco Luengos
• 3x – Bermuda Sloops
• 1 Brigantine
• 3x – Fluyt
• 2x – Fluyt, Privateer
• Galleon
• Heavy Bark
• 7x – Light Frigate
• Sloop (resin)
• Sloop (resin) + Piragua

Misc Takeaways from the Tourney

Here are some other nerdy stats drawn from submitted force lists. This only draws from 15 of the lists since that’s all we got in digital form, so this is partial info, but to review nontheless!

• Ship Upgrades from the 15 Force Builder links we have: Heavily Built 2x, Anti Grappling 5x, Freshly Careened Hull 4x, Improved Rig 1, Reinforced Bulkheads 1, Streamlined Hull 1, Sweeps 1x, Shallow Draft 1x, Ship’s Wheel 1x, Fighting Tops 2x
• Points spent on Commander: 10-30 with an average of 22.26
• Number of Models: 23-50 with an average of 40.26
• Number of Characters: 0-5 with an average of 1.73
• Points spent on Characters: 0-31 with and average of 9.2
• Points spent on Artillery: 0-67 with an average of 45.26
• Nations represented: 6 with English most common but the 4 Unaligned were really Pirate-ish and combine those with the 4 Pirates and they become most common. No Natives this year.

Gallery of Images from the Adepticon 2025 Sea Tournament

There were so many good moments and lots of great photos from the event. We’d love to share them all but we had to limit things to some of the highlights.

Conclusion

I hope everyone had a good time even if the ship they sailed in on was a burning hulk sinking to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. I had a great time running the event and it gave me a lot of valuable experience. want to thank each and every person who participated. The wonderful community is why these events are so awesome each year.

By Jason Klotz

Additional Recommended Reading

• AdeptiCon 2024 – Blood & Plunder Land Tournament Recap