There’s a massive wave of new Blood & Plunder minis coming from Firelock Games in early 2026! We’ve looked at a couple units, Young Henry Morgan, and some of the new generic commander models so far here on Blood & Pigment. Today we get to look at a new historical commander and his unique sculpt: Bartolomeu Português.
Who Was Bartolomeu Português?
Português was a buccaneer commander sailing out of Jamaica in the 1660’s. He is primarily known to us through Exquemelin’s Buccaneers of America, published in 1678.
He comes alive to us these 360 years later through an engraving in that book.
Português was not the most successful pirate, but he was determined and ambitious and survived when all hope seemed lost!
Exquemelin indicates he was a Portuguese man, who had spent time in Brazil before leading crews out of Port Royal in search of Spanish plunder. There is a high likelihood he was had Jewish heritage but it’s difficult to know for sure.
The account in Buccaneers of America has Portugues sailing around Cuba in a 4 gun Bark with 30 men, looking for trouble. He attacks substantial Spanish vessel of 20 guns and 70 crew and takes it on the second assault. But before he could enjoy his newfound plunder of silver and cacao, another Spanish fleet overtakes him and captures him and his crew. With a bad reputation with the Spanish, he was kept on board the Spanish ship after returning to Campeche while they erected a gallows for him. But Bart gave them the slip! Killing the sentry and escaping the ship using empty wine bottles, he made it to shore where he hid for 3 days while the Spanish looked for him. He then proceeded to walk about 100 miles along the coastline before encountering a Buccaneer ship in El Golfo Triste and returning to his Buccaneer ways. Bad luck seemed to hound him, but he always survived!
While Portugues may not have been a top shelf buccaneer, I’m thrilled we’re getting this flavorful model inspired by a period likeness (who knows if that likeness was accurate at the time!).
Bartolomeu Português Sculpt
While in a more dynamic pose than the 17th century print, this sculpt seems to do a great job of channeling his personality.
With long hair, a sleazy moustache, and a showy coat, this fellow is all drama!
About the Miniature
This miniature certainly lives up to the high standard of Firelock Games recent resin minis. Exquisite detail, sturdy material, active pose, and historically based.
One of the stand out features of this miniature is the ornate coat, clearly modeled off the portrait in Buccaneers of America.
This texture gives some great opportunity for us painters! It could take a base and wash, or a speed/contrast paint really well. But the detail on that coat texturing is just amazing. Well done, sculptors at Firelock Games!
He is simply equipped with a sword and pistol, a full length sash and no hat (to better display his luxurious hair).
Painting Bartolomeu Português
Painting this mini was fun and not too difficult. The choice of colors for the coat was difficult. I attempted to copy this red-over-gold pattern on this example of a 17th century Justscorps I found online (on the Left).
I did a base coat of a Citadel gold color (Retributor Armor) and then tried to hit all the raised patterns with a red from the Monument Hobbies B&P paint set. My highlighting turned out pretty messy, but it did the job for a distance and it looks fancy, and that was the goal. I used the darker maroon color for the cuffs and trim, based on the coat above.
The fellow on the Right in the image above inspired me to add some metal medium to my blue for his sashes. I really like the end result there. The shine makes it look like a fine silk.
The mustache, eyebrows and hair were a bit of a challenge since they are such a focal point on the mini.
I almost went with a yellow color like this colorized version of the portrait print. Maybe I need to paint another Português.
Português Painted by Riley Faulk
Riley painted up Portugues with a very effective green and orange color combo. Excellent work from Riley!
Preview of Português Commander Rules
We’ve got a preview of Português’ commander profile! This is one of the several commander profiles in the upcoming Rise of the Buccaneer: Jamaica expansion book. Things are still subject to change, but here’s our preview.
This guy is very interesting. He has a lot of great rules, but a massive drawback as well.
Bartolomeu Português
May Lead: Brethren of the Coast, Early English Buccaneers
Main Weapons: Buccaneer Gun or Brace of Pistols and Standard Melee Weapon.
Sidearm: Pistol (if armed with Buccaneer Gun)
Command Range: 12”
Command Points: 2
Special Rules: Indomitable, Cunning, Aggressive Commander, and Vendetta: SpanishUnorthodox Force: A Force led by this Commander may include Jewish Militia as Support units.
He has an Unorthodox Force rule that allows him to include some Jewish Militia as a Support Unit which is probably a nod to his likely Jewish background.
His 2 Command Points and 12″ Command Range put him solidly into the heavy hitting but second tier commanders right below the 3CP and Legendary commanders. How many points do we have to pay for this fellow? 8 Points! That looks pretty insane until you read his final ability:
Extra Abilities: A Force led by this Commander starts the game with 1 Fortune Point (this may not be increased in any way). This Commander may use the Cheat Death ability once per game without spending a Fortune Point.
Português starts the game with only 1 Fortune Point! And he can’t benefit from any possible ways to get more! That is a severe drawback and it makes his incredibly low cost make a bit more sense. Finally, to mitigate that miserable fortune, he can use the Cheat Death ability once per game without spending a Fortune Token. That ability is valuable, but isn’t the top way that players generally spend Fortune Points.
Fortune is a pretty powerful tool in every game of Blood & Plunder. Starting with 1 Fortune Point is pretty nasty! But all that commander power for such low cost is awful tempting! Very interesting design.
Portugues can lead the familiar Brethren of the Coast faction, but also a new “Early English Buccaneers” faction! We’ll have to take a look at the faction soon here on Blood & Pigment!
Final thoughts.
Historical commanders with good stories, lots of game flavor and interesting force-building and gaming choices are one of my favorite things about Blood & Plunder. Having a sculpt based on a 17th century portrait makes this whole package even better!
This guy is going to start leading my Brethren of the Coast to dubious victories right away!
What do you think of the model and rules for Mr. Bartolomeu Portugues?
A big thank you to Firelock Games for sending us some preview minis and allowing us to share thes previews.