The Summer of Plunder campaign starts in just about a week on May 30th! The main goal of the campaign is to encourage people to get out and play some fun games. So don’t let any of the delightfully complicated system below distract you from that! But part of the campaign is a overarching game system that let’s teams work together to “win” the campaign on a campaign map. Players basically “vote” for actions on the campaign map, linking their local games to a larger team effort. It’s clearly a bit abstracted from your local games, but its a fun way to link everyone together in a larger conflict.

How Does it Work?

TLDR Quick Summary:

1. Play Games.  Take at least 1 pic.
2. Submit your entry and vote for the Campaign Map Location where you want to log your game.
3. Weekly results from player votes & commander decisions change control on the map.
4. Win prizes weekly and grand prizes at the end.

Full Summary Version:

• Enjoy opportunities to participate in unique scenarios and objectives for your Blood & Plunder, Port Royal or Oak & Iron games each week.
• Players submit a quick entry online, logging their game, accruing points for themselves and their Alliance
  • When submitting your entry, you can pick a location or sea lane on the Campaign Map as a “vote” for where your conflict took place.  If your nation owns the Location, you are helping to Defend that Location.  If an enemy controls the Location, then you are helping to Attack.
  • You must include at least 1 picture with your entry.
  • Each entry earns you 1 “raffle ticket” for prize giveaways every week and at the end of the campaign. You can earn extra tickets for additional objectives and activities.
• Periodically, there may be Optional bonus objectives or special news events announced by the campaign organizers
• There will be prizes… LOTS of prizes… which is the “Plunder” part of the Summer of Plunder

Campaign System Details

We’ve designed a new campaign system with several new features this year. First, there are fixed alliances instead of all 6 nations in a free-for-all. The pro-Bourbon alliance includes the French, Spanish and Native American teams. The pro-Hapsburg alliance includes the English, Pirate and Dutch players.

This year’s map features 3 distinct theaters, representing the major areas of conflict during Queen Anne’s War, and a whole new “Sea Lanes” system that can only be influenced by Oak & Iron players.

Basically, the overarching metagame is “area control on a complicated map.” Each Location is worth Campaign points, which are scored at the end of each campaign week. Teams have to coordinate on where to attack, defend, and shuffle troops. Teams are rewarded for careful allocation and coordination. Whichever Alliance has the most Campaign Points at the end of Week 9 will win the campaign!

How It Works:

• The map features 3 distinct Theaters, each with 7-11 locations, and 6 Sea Lanes
• Each Alliance starts with several home locations
• Most locations start neutral and must be moved into from adjacent locations to control
• Players submit games weekly, choosing a map location for their vote, which counts as an Attack or Defense based on ownership.

Where Armies are placed on the map each week is determined by player votes attached to campaign entries.

Earning Player Votes

Each game you play earns a variable rate of votes depending on the size and game system:

1 Point

• A Port Royal Game
• Oak & Iron game < 100pts
• Blood & Plunder <=150pts

2 Points

• Oak & Iron game 100-199pts
• Blood & Plunder =151-299pts

3 Points

• Oak & Iron game 200pts +
• Blood & Plunder = 300pts+

Bonus Votes

Regardless of the Game System you play, you can earn bonus votes for the following:

• +1 for completing the weekly objective
• +2 for introducing a new player (1 per game system, per player)
• +1 for playing at a public venue (game store, convention, etc.)

EXAMPLE:

Dan plays a 200-point game of Plunder as the Dutch faction (2 pts) at his local game store (+1). He didn’t complete the Week 3 National Objective of “playing with a unit of cavalry,” so he misses that bonus, but he does teach a brand new player (+2). This game earns him 5 points total (automatically calculated when he submits the Entry Form). Knowing the Dutch Commander wants to pressure Spain this week, Dan logs his game against Havana in the campaign entry form representing an Attack.

Resolving Battles on the Map:

• The total player votes within each nation’s team determine the outcomes of the campaign map conflicts, with the top-voted choices resolving on a sliding scale. Whatever locations are voted for the most within each nation’s team will receive “troop points,” either being reinforced if the location is already under their control, or attacked if it is neutral or enemy-controlled. Each nation has 10 Army Points every week, but the distribution of points is slightly different for each Nation.
• This system ensures every nation gets the same number of actions, regardless of the total number of players or games played.
• If there aren’t enough votes or there’s a tie, organizers will decide based on past trends.

BRITISH ALLIANCE

British

• 1st place location (location with the most player votes assigned) – 5 Army Points
• 2nd place – 3 Army Points
• 3rd place – 2 Army Points
• Commander’s Choice – 1 Army Point

Dutch

• 1st place – 4pts
• 2nd place – 3pts
• 3rd place – 2pts
• 4th place – 1pts
• Commander’s Choice – 1pt

Pirates

• 1st place – 3pts
• 2nd place – 3pts
• 3rd place – 2pts
• 4th place – 2pts
• Commander’s Choice – 1pt

Unaligned British Aligned

• 1st place – 1pt

FRENCH ALLIANCE

French

• 1st place location (location with the most player votes assigned) – 5 Army Points
• 2nd place – 3 Army Points
• 3rd place – 2 Army Points
• Commander’s Choice – 1 Army Point

Spanish

• 1st place – 4pts
• 2nd place – 3pts
• 3rd place – 2pts
• 4th place – 1pts
• Commander’s Choice – 1pt

Native Americans

• 1st place – 3pts
• 2nd place – 3pts
• 3rd place – 2pts
• 4th place – 2pts
• Commander’s Choice – 1pt

Unaligned French Aligned

• 1st place – 1pt

These “Army Points” will be “dropped on the map” like an army in a game similar to Risk. Each Army Point is a “Troop.” If it drops into a friendly location, it will increase your total number of troops/strength there. If it drops into a neutral or enemy location, Army Points of opposing Alliances will “kill each other” or “cancel each other out” until only one Alliance has troops there (or it becomes neutral in the case of a tie).

EXAMPLE CONTINUED:

• Several British players logged their games against St. Augustine (enemy-controlled) during this campaign week. Dan logged a 5pt game, Daniel logged a 3pt game, and Greg logged a massive 7pt game, totalling 15 player points counted as attacking St. Augustine this week.
• But other players logging games ended up applying 27 points to Portobello (enemy controlled), 12pts to Port Royal (friendly), and 10 pts towards St. Johns (enemy controlled)
• With these 4 results ranked according to “popularity, ” this would result in:
  British Attacking Portobello for 5 (1st place result @27pts)
  Attacking St. Augustine for 3 (2nd place result @15pts)
  and Reinforcing Port Royal for 2 (3rd place result @12pts)
• St. Johns (enemy) would not be attacked because the British only hit their top 3 choices, and it was in 4th place with 10pts.
  

Now this voting process is done within all three Nations within an Alliance, then the total number of Army Points is combined into one Army number per location, either to reinforce or Attack.

EXAMPLE CONTINUED

• The British Alliance worked hard to coordinate with their allies, the Dutch and the Pirates. In addition to the 5 Army Points from being voted into first place for the British, the Dutch have Portobello as their 2nd place result (3pts), and the Pirates have it as their 4th place result (2pts)
• This results in a GRAND TOTAL of 10 Army Points from the British Alliance attacking Portobello.
• The French Alliance currently has a Strength of 8 in Portobello. This results in both alliances losing 8 Armies, and the British Alliance takes Portobello with 2 surviving Armies.

After the Attack, the map would look like it does below (Red background color on the location indicates British control). Now controlling Portobello, the British Alliance will score the 4 Campaign Points for that location for this Campaign Week.

Voting Rules Clarifications

• In local games, your opponent’s nation does not affect your vote. For example, if you’re playing as the English against the Spanish, you can choose to attack any legitimate location—not just the Spanish. This prevents bias and ensures everyone can contribute to the global campaign, even if certain nations have fewer local players.
• Winning or losing your tabletop game does not impact your vote’s value—you still contribute equally regardless of the outcome. The goal is simply to play and have fun!
• If you represent a nation, you should submit your vote accordingly (e.g., don’t play as Spain and then vote for France).
• If you play as an Unaligned Faction, you can side with either alliance when you submit your game, but your influence is limited.

National Commander Action

Every week, the Commander of every nation receives one Command Action where they can allocate 1 Army Point to either defend a friendly territory or attack an enemy territory adjacent to a friendly territory. This version of the Commander Action is less powerful than last year’s system, but we’re trying to keep this more player-directed this year!

This Army Point will be allocated before the Commander sees the numbers from their players every week. Players and Commanders will need to coordinate to be effective! And Commander will have to work together within their alliances, deploy their armies well, and conquer territory for their teams!

CLARIFICATION

One odd feature of this campaign is that troops that are already on the map may never be used to attack. Only new troops put on the map through player choices actually attack a non-friendly territory. Troops on the map can be used as Defense and may be moved around through the Oak & Iron game rewards (below), but they can’t be pushed forward into a fresh attack. It’s odd. But that’s the way it works this year. 🙂

Oak & Iron Games

This year, Oak & Iron games will uniquely influence the campaign. Instead of being applied directly to the key point-earning locations on the map, Oak & Iron players will be vying for control of the important shipping lanes. Control of key points allows the movement of armies within theaters, across theaters, and even allows for troop reinforcements from Europe. Unlike the standard locations, the Sea Lanes are not held over from week to week, but players compete for control every week.

There is a total of 6 key Sea Lanes on the campaign map, 2 linked to each of the three theaters. When Oak & Iron players submit games for the campaign, they choose which sea lanes to apply their games to. Votes from all three Nations from the alliance are tallied and applied:

• Top-voted location – 2 Naval Points
• Second voted location – 1 Naval Point
• Admiral Choice – 1 Naval Point

If both nations choose the same Sea Lane, the team with the higher total Naval Points will secure it for the turn. If it is a tie, neither team will benefit.

Sea Lanes Rewards

Moving troops is key to defense in this campaign. Control of the Sea Lanes allows you to move troops around on the map.

• Control of 1 Sea Lane in a Theater – The Admiral may move up to 5 Armies from one friendly location to another friendly location within the theater, using the line of control.
• Control of BOTH Sea Lanes in a Theater – The Admiral may move up to 5 Armies from one friendly location to another friendly location, using the line of control, and add 2 more armies (reinforcements from Europe). Control of both Sea Lanes in one Theater obviously deprives the enemy of any actions as well.
• Control of Sea Lanes in different Theaters – If you control a Sea Lane in two or more Theaters of the map at the end of the campaign week, you may move up to 5 Armies (per paired connection) from one friendly location in the first Theater into a friendly location in the second Theater. If two Sea Lane connections, the 5 army transfers cannot come from the same location (e.g., cannot move 5 from Charleston to Quebec and also send 5 from Charleston to Curacao).

Oak & Iron Examples

Here are some examples of how the Sea Lanes work.

Example 1 – Moving Troops Within 1 Theater

The French/Spanish/Native players chose The Mouth of the Mississippi Sea Lane as their top choice and secured it for this week. They are able to move one army around on the SE Theater Map.

They choose to move 5 Armies from Mobile to Pensacola which is more vulnerable to an enemy attack from Chicacas. After the move, the map looks like this:

If they had secured both the Mouth of the Mississippi and Charles Town Harbor, they could have added two more troops as well, ending with 9 holding Pensacola.

Example 2 – Moving Armies from One Theater to Another

In this example, the British alliance has secured Sea Lanes in both the SE (Charles Town Harbor) and NE (New England Coast) Theaters. They can now move up to 5 armies from any one location in one Theater, to a friendly location in the other Theater.

The British Alliance Admiral chose to move 5 Armies from Charles Town up north to St. John’s. This would result in 11 Armies in Charles Town and 13 in St. John’s.

If you find yourself winning handily in one area but struggling somewhere else, this is a huge help in redeploying your Armies.

Campaign Scoring

At the end of each week, each Alliance will score Campaign Points based on its current holdings on the map. Campaign Points are scored for:

• Each Location held by the Alliance
• Theater Domination Bonuses

Each Location on the map has a Campaign Point value, ranging between 1-8. Any Location the Alliance currently has troops in will produce Campaign Points for the Team.

Additionally, if an Alliance dominates a theater by controlling more than half the total available Locations within the Theater, they will receive Bonus Campaign Points.

Campaign Scoring Example

Here is an example of the SE Theater Scoring.

At the end of the first Campaign Week, both the British and French Alliances have expanded in the Southeastern Theater, seizing all 7 locations.

Campaign Points would be awarded like this:

• British Alliance receives 2pts for Hollatchatroe, 2 for Chicacas, and 6 for Charles Town, totalling 10 Campaign Points for this Theater this week. The Charles Town Harbor Sea Lane provides utility, but no Campaign Points.
• French Alliance receives 4pts for Mobile, 3 for Pensacola, 2 for Mission San Luis, and 4 for St. Augustine. Since they also control 4 locations, which is more than half of the locations in the SE Theater, they receive the 4pt “Domination Bonus.” The Mouth of the Mississippi Sea Lane provides utility but no Campaign Points. This scoring would net the French Alliance with 17 Campaign Points for this Theater

Winning the Campaign

Alliances will accumulate points from week to week, and the team with the most points at the end is the winner. There is a significant “grand prize” that will be awarded to a random player from the winning Alliance, but it’s mostly played for bragging rights.

How the Campaign Progresses

There are 27 locations in three separate Theaters on the Campaign Map, but they will not all be active throughout the whole campaign.

• Weeks 1-3 – SE and NE Theaters
• Week 4-6 – All Theaters – SE, NE, and Caribbean
• Week 7-9 – NE and Caribbean Theaters

So the Caribbean Theater will not be available for the first 3 weeks of the campaign, but will open up with two Locations held by each Alliance during week 4. The Southeastern Theater will conclude in Week 6, and the conflict will be narrowed to the NE and Caribbean Theaters. This follows the important campaigns during Queen Anne’s War and the subsequent years, and also shakes things up, providing players with plenty of tactical choices.

Final Thoughts

If that was all confusing or annoying to read, you don’t need to worry about it to have a good time in the Summer of Plunder campaign.

You can enjoy the Summer of Plunder Campaign at several levels. Whatever is best for you!

• You can play some games with friends, submit some pics and be entered to win some prizes.
• You can connect with the worldwide community and interact with players on the devoted Campaign Discord.
• If you lack local players you can play Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron online via Tabletop Simulator. There’s even a Escalation League running the course of the campaign!
• You can participate in the clash of alliances through the Queen Anne’s War Summer of Plunder campaign systemx
• You can participate in the weekly scenario, objective or “challenge” of the week to help you more fully enjoy your game and participate in a common experience with other players.
• You can pick up the Organized Play Kit from Firelock Games with exclusive minis and special scenarios

You can take or leave any of these elements, and hopefully have a great summer of piratical gaming in 2026!

Summer of Plunder Resources

• You can find the FULL page of info and rules here (this article isolates the campaign map rules from this main page).
• The list of weekly objectives and short scenario descriptions can be found here.
• For a detailed look at the Campaign map, check out this short post.
• The full list of prizes and giveaways can be found here.
• Join the online community for additional hangouts, discussion, movie nights, painting nights, and planning on the Campaign Discord Server.
• There is a growing number of folks organizing games on Tabletop Simulator, which might make games more feasible for people without local players. They have an escalation league planned in coordination with the campaign.
• Pick up your copy of the Organized Play Kit if you haven’t already!