FRENCH CALL TO ARMS
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
The King of France requests your strength in his conquest of The New World. The divine Louis XIV calls upon the young, the brave, the faithful, and the resolute to rid these new lands of our European enemies. We go to war for our dear Queen, Anne of Austria!
Seriously, the war this year’s campaign is built around is literally named after the Queen of France, so how can you not choose to pick up swords and blunderbusses for the French?! To choose the French is to choose a Summer of Synergy (SoS… wait, that can’t be right).
French Commander – Kyle Arpke
Kyle Arpke hails from the shores of Milwaukee’s great Lake Michigan (hey, we make great cheese, so there’s some French crossover, amirite?). A filmmaker and wildlife photojournalist, Kyle loves the stories created by an epic miniatures game session. He hopes that under his and Gareth’s French leadership players will have fun tales to share during this season’s Summer of Plunder!
French Second-in-Command – Gareth
Gareth lives just outside of Edmonton, Alberta. After serving 14 years in the infantry he now is a power engineer (fancy name for boils water and then uses the steam for various things). Gareth mostly plays B&P with his daughter, while his son rolls dice for her, and an old army buddy. Having played for the English last year flying the HBC flag, this year as l’intendant de la Nouvelle-France (second in command) he intends to work with Kyle Arpke making France a fun and immersive experience, and hopefully learn some more history along the way. Gareth believes this is France’s year for victory.
Vive le Roi! Vive la France!
French Fortunes & Prizes
As per tradition, the grand prize for the French will be a Bark! One random member of the French Discord will win this coveted prize at the end of the campaign!
At the end of the campaign, one French O&I player will receive an O&I French Dice Set by Baron of Dice. The marble white is very slick.
This year, we have something truly special for all players. During the campaign, all French Discord members will receive an STL for Monbars the Exterminator, created by Firelock model designer Emily. For weekly prize support, we will be giving away physical versions of the model!
Week 1’s prize objective brings back an instant favorite: write a sea shanty worthy of The Sun King. Send your sea shanties to @TheKarp(Kyle A) on Discord. One random shanty (or more) will win a physical Monbars.
Stay tuned for additional ways to win this awesome model! There will be objectives ranging from the super simple (log a game for France this week) to the creative (shanties, journal entries, awesome photos, and more), all in an effort to help players enjoy the many facets of the Summer of Plunder!
Join us in the French Discord. There are tactical discussions aplenty along with cheese (not real cheese, of course, just my cheesy jokes). Players have a great time connecting and plotting the demise of the English and Dutch (I guess we’ll add the Pirates to that list this year).
The Sun King shall have absolute power across the Atlantic! May Louis XIV’s generosity reign!
French Objectives
- Week 3 – Speed and Aggression
- Plunder – take a unit or force with the quick ability
- Oak & Iron – have every ship in fleet move speed five in a single turn
- Port Royal – have at least half of your officers *and* half of your crew with the hard charger trait.
- Week 9 – Exceptional Musketry
- Plunder – use the Marksman ability
- Oak & Iron – use Elan to make a partial fire attack on a ship with buccaneers
- Port Royal – use the Marksman ability
Great Pirate Paint Off Dutch Entry Award
From all the French entries in the Great Pirate Paint Off this year, we have chosen this Dutch Commander model painted by Carlos Moral Gonzalez.
Dylan has won his choice of French Activation Deck of set of French d10’s from Baron of Dice.