On New Year’s Day the Pigment Crew got to sit down with Mike Tunez and stream live on YouTube. We got to talk about Firelock Games’ 2025 and look forward to 2026 and then take a ton of questions from the community. If you didn’t get to listen in yet, we’ve cleaned up the video a bit and added time stamps for all the questions asked during the video for your convenience. We are also uploading the audio to our podcast channel for those of you that don’t listen on YouTube.

2025 Year in Review

Mike gives a run down of the accomplishments and challenges Firelock Games faced this year. There were plenty of challenges, health challenges for staff members being the largest. But Firelock soldiered on and published several projects in 2025 and there’s lots planned for 2026!

Looking Forward to 2026

The Year of Our Lord 2026 will be a big year for Blood & Plunder! This is the 10th year since Blood & Plunder was first published and there is a lot in store for the Blood & Plunder player this year. There are three projects planned for the year, along with an upcoming unit update, and a massive Wave 2 Kickstarter with so many new minis!

The Rise of the Buccaneer: Jamaica

Coming with the Wave 2 Kickstarter, we have a new expansion book coming! Grab all the details on this expansion coming to Kickstarter near the end of Q1 2026.

If a Pirate I Must Be

This project has been yanked around several times, but it is scheduled to launch this year! Covering the East Atlantic pirates, and the West Coast of Africa, this If a Pirate I Must Be promises to bring some great new stuff to Blood & Plunder!

And So Much More!

New Ships, tournament packs, Port Royal expansions, Mike’s beard, Blas de Lezo, merch and apparel, Oak & Iron ships, Great Northern War, Campaigns and so much more. This is great listening while you paint miniatures for the Great Pirate Paint Off!

Special Guests

Through the video, we periodically bring community members and content creators in to share different projects they worked on over the last year, and to ask Mike questions in person. Special guests include Liam Taylor (historian and ship expert), Erich Goebel (Port Royal expert, Thieves’ Harbor curator, and tournament winner), Josh Shivak (game streamer, Oak & Iron community leader, and bold Spaniard), Tyler Stone (longtime community leader, event organizer, Dead Man’s Chest curator and champion of Firelock other Blood AND games), and Dr D (painting champion, Arachne podcast host and smacktalker).

Time Stamps for EVERYTHING

0:00:18 – 2025 in Review
0:05:00 – 10 Years of Blood & Plunder
0:05:30 – Wave 2 Minis Kickstarter Project
0:06:45 – 3 Blood & Plunder projects for 2026
0:09:45 – What New Ships Can We Expect?
0:13:30 – New Alternate Rig Options
0:17:25 – Change Ship Point Costs?
0:19:10 – Plans for STL’s?
0:20:21 – New Plastic Mini Kits?
0:21:53 – Firelock Games Terrain or Terrain Partnership?
0:23:17 – Special Guest Erich Goebel from Thieves Harbor
0:24:40 – Port Royal First Year
0:26:42 – Port Royal Boats
0:27:44 – New Content for Port Royal
0:32:02 – Port Royal Competitive Format
0:33:10 – What do you want for the Port Royal Community?
0:34:00 – Game Design Lessons
0:35:00 – Rise of the Buccaneer Project Details
0:40:40 – Wave 2 Project Details
0:41:30 – If a Pirate I Must Be Project Details
0:44:52 – Sculpting Improvements
0:50:00 – Map & Campaign in the Jamaican Expansion
0:53:50 – Original Corvette Still Legal?
0:55:40 – Is there a Ketch coming?
0:56:32 – Haitian Revolution
0:56:49 – Holiday and Themed Content
0:57:33 – Open Gaming License
0:59:24 – What Cons is Firelock Attending this Year
1:00:40 – Will Maroons be a full Nation?
1:02:28 – Will Blas de Lezo come into Blood & Plunder
1:05:05 – Special Guest Tyler Stone
1:08:38 – What’s coming for Blood & Crowns and Blood & Valor?
1:12:48 – Tournament Scenarios
1:14:28 – Strike Points in Multi Ship Forces
1:17:00 – Book of Scenarios
1:20:30 – Rise of Buccaneers for Port Royal?
1:23:20 – Integrating Port Royal, Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron in a Campaign
1:26:15 – Ships in Port Royal
1:28:18 – Special Guest Josh Shivak
1:29:20 – Oak & Iron Expansions in 2026
1:33:00 – Reception of Oak & Iron 2e
1:39:50 – New Periods for Oak & Iron System
1:41:48 – Is Blood & Katanas a Thing?
1:42:50 – Great Northern War Project
1:44:05 – What are the Upper Limits of Ship Size for Blood & Plunder?
1:47:30 – Forts for Oak & Iron
1:48:15 – New Ships for Natives and Africans?
1:52:00 – Will Mike Submit anything in The Great Pirate Paint Off?
1:53:43 – Will there be Force Builders for all the Firelock Games?
1:53:50 – Will there be National Codexes?
2:00:00 – Will there be new Deluxe Rulebooks?
2:02:45 – What is still produced in China?
2:07:40 – Organized Play Kits but NOT Summer of Plunder
2:10:30 – Special Guest Dr. D
2:13:20 – How is Mike Tunez so Cute and Well Bearded?
2:14:03 – How Many People Work for Firelock Games?
2:16:10 – “Radical Stuff” in Game Design
2:17:55 – Scar Rules for Ships in Port Royal
2:19:08 – Will Fantasy Come to Blood & Plunder?
2:21:55 – Tournament Kit
2:23:30 – What Can Content Creators Do that Helps Firelock the Most?
2:29:45 – How Far Back Will Blood & Plunder Go?
2:31:30 – How Will Americans be Different in Rev
2:34:45 – Will New Plunder Nations be available in Port Royal?
2:36:22 – Who is the Coolest Privateer in History?
2:37:24 – Will Firelock Work with Other Companies to Make More Plastic Sprues?
2:38:55 – Will We Get More Firelock T-Shirts?
2:40:27 – Any other merch planned?
2:41:40 – International Distribution
2:44:30 – Sign Off

Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoy this wild smattering of topics! A big thanks to Mike, Liam, and all our special guests that came on the video. We’re sorry Dan and Riley couldn’t make it, but they had other important gaming and party obligations!

Again, we apologize for fouled up video feed.

We’re looking forward to 2026! Should be a great year for Blood & Plunder.