by Dan Carlson
Who says lighting can’t strike twice? After grabbing 1st Place at the Adepticon Sea Tournament in 2025, I claimed 1st Place again in 2026. While last year’s success taught me a ton, I decided to play a different faction this year: Ostend Privateers!
The List
I decided to use the Ostend Privateers this year, as I was looking to play something Dutch, but I find their sea factions difficult to build for in a competitive setting. Ostend Privateers use Dutch units, but they all gain the Ruthless Special Rule, essentially doubling their effectiveness! However, this would mean I would be technically sailing for Spain, a proposition I puzzled with for awhile before deciding to take part in some old fashioned memery. As of this writing, the Mission Priest Fighting Man can be taken with any Spanish List. Since the Ostend Privateers are under Spain, this makes him legal! Thus, Dutch Santiago was born!
The Faction: Ostend Privateers
Ostend Privateers are an underrated Naval Faction, in my opinion. While they seem very basic on the surface, they are a hidden gem that I believe most players ignore or simply scroll past. With a +2 bonus to be the Attacker, it’s clear they are a Privateering/Buccaneering Faction. Allowing units to ignore the effects of Poorly Equipped is a solid rule since there are lots of Spanish units that come with that rule baked in. However, the diamond in the rough is the vert first rule mentioned: “All units in this Force gain the Ruthless Special Rule.” This is what makes this faction so great! While Corsarios, Marineros, and Marineros Piqueros all come with Ruthless anyway, this means that Zeelieden, Kapers, European Sailors, and Enter Ploeg all gain Ruthless. This turns those units into melee and ranged combat monsters!
Commander and Units
My initial goal was to use my Summer of Plunder, Tourney Legal Commander Card for the list, but oddly enough Ostend Privateers cannot take Standard Dutch Commanders, so I selected the Standard Spanish Commander to lead my Force. I took the Bold Special Rule so he would be able to throw around Command Points while engaged in melee. Inspiring is usually the rule go for, but I knew I would be taking the Mission Priest (who comes with Inspiring) so I had some wiggle room.
With how successful my musketry was last year, I knew I had to take enough models armed with muskets to soften up the enemy before I closed and engaged in glorious hand to hand combat. I knew I was going to be taking 6 units, so 4 units with muskets would be the order of the day. My goal was to fill my ship to capacity so I could take casualties while moving in for the kill, and to bolster my Strike Point threshold for said casualties. However, I knew I would need some sailors to do auxiliary tasks like repairs, advanced maneuvers, and to charge once ships were grappled.
Command Unit: Kapers
I am not shy about throwing my Commander and his unit into the fray, but I always try and make sure that the unit I select can not only stay alive in a scrap, but is also useful outside of combat. Last year, my Command unit was Kapers, and they performed well. I figured “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and selected Kapers again. After getting some much needed equipment options with the 2026 Units Update, I was sure to add Sidearm Pistols to the unit for 2 points. Kapers have a 6/7 Shoot, a 6/6 Fight, a Resolve of 5, and come with Artillery Crew (basically worthless in a list with no Artillery), Expert Sailors, and Brawlers. On most ships, they are saving on 5s in melee thanks to Hard Cover, and Brawlers helps add more hits if any natural 10s are rolled.
The Command unit’s job is to dish out Ruthless Musket Fire (all 10 of them!) from the middle deck, support units with Command Points, and to Charge in if a hole needs to be filled (if a unit that is engaged in combat becomes shaken and flees, for example). The huge win with Kapers is that they gain Ruthless by being in Ostend Privateers, meaning whenever they target an enemy unit that ahs more Fatigue than they do, the Kapers gain a -1 to Shoot and Fight Tests.
European Sailors: Long Range and Tarpit
After selecting the command unit, I chose to take three units of European Sailors and armed them with Muskets. A unit of 7 models on the front deck, a Unit of 10 models on the mod deck, and a unit of 8 models on the rear deck. European Sailors boast a Shoot Skill of 6 and on top of being equipped with the Artillery Crew and Sailors Special Rules, come with Battle Hardened. Once again, thanks to Ostend Privateer’s Faction Rule, all three units of European Sailors also gain Ruthless. When shooting units that have more Fatigue than they have, this gives them a base Shoot of 5, making them budget Boucaniers!
The second part of European Sailors is the Battle Hardened Special Rule. Essentially, after an enemy unit fights a unit of European Sailors, they roll one less Fatigue dice when checking for fatigue. This, combined with their Resolve of 5, makes them very difficult to dislodge from a deck. Their job is to pelt the enemy from afar, and then be the first ones over the rail to establish a foothold. Once they are in, this allows other units that hit harder in melee to Charge over without taking Defensive Fire or Fights.
Zeelieden: Heavy Hitters
Zeelieden exist to shame all other sailors in the game. I have sang their praises all over this blog, so I will quickly summarize what makes them tick. Zeelieden come with Expert Artillery Crew, Expert Sailors, and Hard Chargers (all without Faction rules!). This makes them S-tier when handing any tasks on board a ship! With a 6 Fight and Hard Chargers, they hit on 5s after a charge and their Fight Save of 6 (5 on most ships thanks to Hard Cover!) they are durable as well! They become even better with the addition of Ruthless, potentially dropping that Fight down to a 4 on a Charge, and a 3 on a Dedicated Fight Action!
The Zeelieden are the heavy hitters. of this List. After the European Sailors soak of defensive attacks, the Zeelieden follow them over to put their knives to work. lacking pistols, they won’t get to re-roll their misses, but in my experience hitting on a low number is good enough. On the way to board, they can also handle repairs and Advanced Maneuvers as needed.
Fighting Men: Reformado, Sharp-Eyeed Lookout, and Mission Priest
Knowing I was going to be getting into Close Action, I needed to bring some Fighting Men to bolster my List. I chose the Reformado, the Sharp-Eyed Lookout, and Mission Priest.
The Reformado was put on the front deck with a unit of 8 European Sailors with muskets. His job was to let the European Sailors shoot and eventually get in close so after his unit makes grapple checks, he could send them over the rail.
The Mission Priest is best utilized the turn after boarding happens. He is there to not only provide Inspiring for Fatigue management, but to dish out Command Points to the entire ship. Charges, Moves, Rallies, you name it! If I needed to get lots of units to make a climb action to board, he was the one calling the shots.
The Sharp Eyed Lookout is arguably the most important part of the list. While a +2 to be the Attacker is great, some factions have a +3 or a +4. This could be an issue because while I know how to sail up-wind, I really don’t want to. The Sharp-Eyed Lookout was a game changer, making sure I remained the Attacker and thus securing favorable deployment.
The Ship: Sloop of War
This year, I opted to not use the Light Frigate, and chose to use its bouncing, badass baby brother: The Sloop of War. Essentially a Brigantine hull with the rear mast’s gaff sail swapped out for two swore sails, is a speedy little ship. It mimics the Light Frigate’s sailing capabilities, but isn’t quite as tanky.
Honestly, I just brought the Sloop of War because I wanted to. There isn’t really a good reason to bring it over the Merchant Frigate (the cheaper alt-rig of the Light Frigate). They cost the same points, have the same hull Fortitude and Integrity, and the same sailing profile. The Merchant Frigate carries more models and more guns, making it flat-out better than the Sloop of War.
However, I had a Brigantine I stripped with Simple Green and re-primed over and wanted to use it, so here we are. It was fun to use, easier to transport, and stood out from the Frigates and Fluyts that have been dominating Adepticon since last year.
Strategy
My strategy for this year did not change, hilariously enough. My goal was to pick a deck (preferably the deck with the most guns and/or the easiest deck to board on) and pelt it with Ruthless Musket fire until I could board. If I was fighting a Sloop, Light Frigate, or 6th Rate that meant the deck housing 3 pairs of guns. If I was up against a Galleon or Fluyt, the mid deck with the lowest freeboard would be the target to facilitate boarding actions.
Once on the enemy vessel, the plan is to use the European Sailors as the “First Wave” to establish contact and soak up and Defensive Attacks, then send in the Zeeliden to smash whatever’s left. The “Second Wave” happens only when a unit flees or dies. Making sure a unit can flee so a fresh one can Charge in is crucial, especially since players like to horde up on cannon crew. From there, a simple battle of attrition ensues, and the carnage only stops if they Strike or are tabled. Foreshadowing, I tabled 2 of my 3 foes.
Round 1: Ryan
My first opponent was Ryan, and I was squaring off against his Fluyt with Pargo’s Marineros. The scenario was Control the Field, with the aim of being upwind of your opponent by Turn 6 if you’re the Attacker, or at the end of any turn if you are the Defender. We rolled off, and I was the Attacker. Great! Deployment was easy enough as we both had to deploy to Windward, and my Sloop of War as going to be faster than his Fluyt. He was running a lot of substantial guns, so my priority was denying his ship cannon arc.
While I was pulling ahead of his ship, I made sure to pelt his front deck with muskets to make sure I could easily board there. All went according to plan, and there was very few models left by the end of Turn 1, allowing me to turn to sailing Large to speed in. On the 2nd activation of Turn 2, the carnage began. I made the European Sailors Grapple his front deck, and then used the Command Point from the Reformado to make that Dedicated Climb. The few Marineros with Lances were too fatigued to take a Defensive action and were swiftly cut down. I had the Zeelieden move up to his front Deck, and moved another group of European Sailors up to my front Deck. I then used Santiago! and had the Zeelieden charge his mid-deck, tying up cannon crew with no pistols and a fatigued group of Marineros, also with lances. The second group of European Sailors moved up to Mike’s front deck and the rear most units on my ship moved to my mid deck. This was enough to force Ryan to take a Strike Test at the end of Turn 2, and Pargo surrendered! I received 0 strike points, and gave Ryan 3 Strike Points.
Mike was fun to play! He was newer, so I was coaching him while we were playing and explaining all the interactions, as well as giving him his best options. He was a good sport, and we had fun joking back and forth during our game.
Round 2: Kyle
In a bizarre twist of fate, my second opponent this year, was my final opponent from last year: Kyle. Last year, he brought a Light Frigate with English Buccaneers. This year, he brought a 6th Rate with 7 Medium Guns and 2 Light Guns and was playing the British Royal Navy. Our scenario was A Wanted Man, which could have been awful for me, but, thanks to my Sharp-Eyed Lookout, I made Kyle re-roll his attacker roll, which resulted in me being the Attacker again!
The first Turn was rough for me, despite my creative deployment (24″ off is bow and Freshly Careened Hull) I still had to soak up some cannon fire. Luckily for me, and not-so-good for Kyle, he did not roll very well on his cannons and I took minimal damage and minimal casualties. On the 2nd activation of Turn 2, I boarded his 2nd Deck and commenced the carnage!
Hilariously, what happened was a repeat of last year. Grueling hand to hand combat against a group of English who insisted on fighting to the last man! In the end, I wiped out his entire Force and claimed his Commander’s head! I was given 0 Strike Points, I gave Kyle 5.
Kyle was just as much fun to play against this year as he was last year, and as before, we were laughing the entire time.
Round 3: Dylan “Dr D.”
My final opponent was Dylan “Dr D.”, and he put me through the ringer. Dr. D was playing Laurens DeGraff, meaning his cannons and sailors were going to be a problem. The scenario was Escort, meaning I had to pry a Captured Merchant away from Dr. D. I once again won the Attacker, and had intended to try and board him on the usual Turn 2. However, this was thwarted by a combined Lull (-1 wind speed) event, Dr D’s cannons laying into my steering, and the most embarrassing Santiago in the history of the game. I tried to roll to grapple 6 times, and failed all 6 rolls! This allowed him to get upwind, but I refused to let him get away and followed.
While I was giving chase, I decided to focus fire on his rear deck. I wanted to try and limit his turn by knocking out the units on his rear deck. Like the now-famous scene in Black Sails, my musketry cleared one unit of Marins, and when another went back to take their place, they too were shot to pieces. Dr. D got another event, and chose to shift the wind just after I had turned in close. I puzzled for an embarrassingly long time, and then realized I was within grapple range. Grappling was possible!
Well, we know how this song and dance goes. I finally managed to grapple his vessel, and sent some very angry sailors over the rail, and managed to slay every sailor on board, claiming the Captured Merchant for myself at the end of turn 6! Dr. D gave me 3 Strike Points, and I dealt him 6 (4 for casualties, 1 for capturing his ship, and 1 for the Captured Merchant!).
If you’d like to watch the game in real time, Josh Shivak recorded it here:
Final Results
After a fun tournament and the Strike Point differentials tallied, I scored first place with a Strike Point Differential of-11! Garrett Swader scored second place with a -6, and Josh Shivak scored 3rd with a -4. Dr. D scored Best Painted for the Sea Tournament, and I have to agree because his minis looked pristine! Mike Tunez was there to hand us our medals and certificates, bringing the moment together wonderfully.
Conclusion
While it was great to win a second time using my two favorite List Variables: a 17th Century List and Fast Boarding, it was more fun to see the community meet up and scrap in the largest Blood and Plunder Sea Tournament of the year!