We just finished the fourth full week of the 2026 Summer of Plunder Campaign and we’re approaching the halfway point. With all three theaters of the war open, things are really getting interesting!

In this update we’ll look at the campaign map where players on two grand alliances have made choices on where to deploy troops in an effort to control the New World. The Alliance of British, Dutch and Pirates found themselves in a difficult position last week. Let’s see if they were able to make a big move this week. With a whole new portion of the campaign map opening up this week in the Caribbean, the whole game will be changing!

This update will only look at the movements on the Campaign Map. A follow up post will feature more pictures, messages from commanders, and prize winners.

Updated Campaign Map – End of Week 3 of Summer of Plunder 2026

Here is the new updated map after all actions were accounted for. The British made a big play, taking an important French key, but the Spanish, Natives and French held on to enough to earn the Domination Bonus in both theaters this week.

Map Changes

Here are details of the attacks and defenses in the various theaters of the campaign map.

Final Outcomes of the Campaign Map for Week 4 of Summer of Plunder 2026

With the Caribbean theatre opening, exciting action and changes have occurred across the entire campaign!   The French—Spanish-Native Alliance went on a full assault of the British Alliance’s holdings in this theatre, while the British-Dutch—Pirates split their focus, with the British and Dutch gaining ground in the Northern battlegrounds, while the Pirates leaned into their disposition for rum and sandy shores, and did some island hopping in the Caribbean.

NE – New England & New France

17 of the 40 British-Alliance army points were driven into the North, with a powerful British-Dutch-Pirate Coalition assault of Quebec!   In addition, the Dutch and British worked together to flip Placentia to their side, and their admiral shifted much needed reinforcements from Boston to Montreal.   The French Admiral shifted troops from Pensacola to reinforce Quebec, while local commanders attempted to rally locals.   When the dust settled in Quebec, the French were victorious – narrowly holding their Capital by a single army point, despite the organized efforts of the British Alliance.

The successful capture of Placentia has turned the tide in the NE theatre.  The English/Pirate/Dutch efforts in the theatre netted them a whopping 26 points this week, and a strong defensive position to work from.    

The French-Native-Spanish Alliance committed two army points to Quebec, while utilizing 5 of their reinforcements in quiet Pensacola to reinforce the besieged city.  These reinforcements came in at a critical moment, allowing the French to control their capitol by a single army point, despite losing the domination bonus, the French Alliance scored 15 points from the theatre, and their attentions appear to have turned elsewhere.  

SE – Carolinas & La Florida

The Southern Theatre saw limited Pirate raids on Pensacola as French ships ferried troops off to the northern front, but these were of limited effect.    The positions were maintained in this theatre as both Alliances turned their focus elsewhere.  The British-Dutch-Pirate alliance earned 10 points in this theatre. 

In the Southern Theater, the French alliance merely started their pull of troops out of the theatre.   Their admiral utilize their cross-theatre sea lane control to shift troops into the north at the same time as Pirates raided Pensacola, but the alliance maintains a healthy control of the frontlines in this theatre, and earned 15 points here this week.

Caribbean

The Caribbean was a major focus for both alliances this week, as they jostled for control of key islands as the theatre opened up.   Bloody fighting throughout the Caribbean led to some interesting developments as each alliance approached it using different strategies.

For the British Alliance – The Alliance focused on seizing Portobello, while the Pirates attempted to target as many islands as possible.   The Pirates met with Spanish on Saint Eustatius, and successfully pushed them off, while minor nations fighting for the alliance sailed on Puerto Rico. 21 of the Alliances 40 army points were dedicated to the theatre, and control of various territories netted the alliance 24 points in the Caribbean.

The French—Spanish-Native Alliance, in a show of impressive coordination, went on a full assault of enemy strongholds in the Caribbean this week!  35 of their 37 army points went into these islands, with 17 points aimed at Jamaica, and 11 points aimed at Curacao.   Dutch Commanders rallying their troops in Curacao barely prevented its capture, and Jamaica itself is recoiling from the assault, but still within British hands.  The Spanish expedition on St. Eustatius was pushed off by Pirate forces, while the Natives were able to claim Antigua, and the alliance earned 14 points this week from the theatre.     

Campaign Victory Points for Week 4

The French-Native-Spanish alliance lost their tenuous domination of the North with the fall of Placentia, but maintained another easy and quiet domination in the South. Despite very aggressive plays in the Caribbean, they were unable to add to their list of territories this week.   This week they earned 42 points in the 4^th week of the campaign, for a total of 156 points to date, maintaining a healthy, but narrowing, lead.

The British-Pirate-Dutch alliance continued their methodical war in the North, and were able to confidently claim the domination bonus.   They appear to have abandoned the Southern theatre as it winds down, and combined efforts allowed them to snag-and keep- critical territories in the Caribbean.  They earned a whopping 60 points during this week of the campaign – for a total of 135 points to date.

Details of Team & Commander Votes

If you’re interested in how all the votes played out, here’s the data from this week’s nearly 225 logged games. (In some of these tables, you see negative numbers. Our spreadsheets use negative numbers for British team control and positive numbers for French team control.)

• The French Focused their efforts this week on the assault of Jamaica and Curacao, with a  token defense of Quebec.
• The Spanish followed suit – with the top votes going to Jamaica and Curacao, along with Smaller attacks a Nassau and St. Eustacius
• The Natives Showed remarkable unity in focusing their top two votes into Jamaica and Curacao – with the remaining votes aimed at Nassau and Antigua  
• The French Minor Powers jumped in on the assault of Jamaica – an impressive unifying effort of the French Alliance!
• The British Split their efforts between theatres, putting Efforts into the capture of Portobello and Placentia, and assaulting Quebec.
• The Dutch also split their efforts between the Northern Theatre and the Caribbean, following suit in the capture of Portobello and Placentia, the assault on Quebec, as well as defending Jamaica
• The Pirates Joined their allies in the Assaults on Portobello and Quebec, Snagging Saint Eustatius as well.
• The British Minor Powers aided the Pirates in their capture of Puerto Rico, adding another territory to the Alliances Caribbean holdings.

Above, you can see each of the locations voted highest by each national team. Very interesting to see different strategies take form!

Here we see the Commander and Admiral Actions – The Admiral of the French Alliance was able to transfer troops from Placentia to Quebec, nearly turning the tide, but to no avail, while the Pirate Admiral moved some much needed reinforcements from Boston to Montreal.

And you can see the starting control of each location, the armies sent out from each alliance, and the control results in the tables above.

Oak & Iron Sea Routes

The Oak & Iron games in this campaign influence several sea lanes on the campaign map that grant alliances flexibility in redeploying troops and might even bring new troops in from Europe. The votes were very close in this contest, exactly canceling each other out in a couple of cases.

The British concentrated all of their efforts into the Northern Theatre this week, and were able to take control of both Sea Lanes this week, as well as taking a Caribbean Sea-Lane. Their control of both Sea-lanes in the North has given them a small reinforcement of 2 troops for the theatre!

The French fleet focused on securing their Sea Lane in the South and Caribbean, perhaps to ferry more troops out of the closing theatre.  

Things are certainly heating up as all three theatres are open!  

Final Thoughts for Week 4 Summer of Plunder 2026

Well that was an interesting week on the campaign map! The Pirates, Dutch and English made good gains and made good strides in catching up. The French, Spanish and Natives made some bold moves, with a dastardly grab at the newly opened Dutch capital on Curacao.

This was a fascinating week as the event organizers. Having that new theater open and seeing the hard decisions that had to be made was very satisfying! Well done teams!

There will be another campaign update including prize winners, more pictures, and messages from National Commanders coming out in the next day or two.

But the entry form has been updated to reflect to the new possible targets for each alliance, the map has been updated, and we’re ready to roll for week 4! Check in with your commanders, or better yet, start a conversation with your team and commanders in your Discord channel. Where should your team deploy their troops this week?

We hit the 1000 games mark this week! Dan went live on Discord and did a special prize drawing for a full set of custom Blood & Pigment accessories. Congrats to Bryan H for being drawn out of 1000 entries!

A big thanks to Daniel Wray and Jason Klotz for making the magic math happen with some super fancy spreadsheets!

Bonus Campaign Rules Summary

If this whole campaign map system is still kind of mysterious/opaque to you, you can read the campaign system rules system here, or you can read Jason’s excellent short summary below:

Blood & Plunder and Port Royal Games

• Each point you earn from an entry includes the option to count as votes on the map.Votes determine where your Nation attacks or defends on the campaign map each week.They are the mechanism that converts player activity into map movement.Everyone in your faction is dropping votes all week long. Your Commander might say: “Everyone hit Charles Town this week!” or “We need to defend the Albany!”
  If lots of players follow that plan, those locations rise to the top.Each Nation gets exactly 10 “Army Points” to spend each week, regardless of whether players logged 5 games or 500 games, but where the 10 Army Points are distributed is based on how the players voted. At the end of the week, the top 4 most popular locations determine the outcomes.
• It’s a popularity-driven tier system. So for instance, the Dutch are awarding their 10 points as follows:
  • 1st place – 4pts
  • 2nd place – 3pts
  • 3rd place – 2pts
  • 4th place – 1pts
• There are 32 locations on the map at the start of the game (I think), but there are only 15 locations to possibly attack/defend out of the gate…
• To make votes effective, players must coordinate to ensure their chosen location places in the top tier, as votes for low-popularity areas receive no points.
• At the end of the week, new troops are placed by each of the 6 nations based on their top 4 votes (Dutch get 4, 3, 2, 1).
  • Locations with troops from both alliances resolve combat (just add the numbers… British 12 troops vs 8 French… Brits win. 4 are left)
  • Points are earned by what you control. Most points at the end = winning alliance.

Oak & Iron Games

• There are 2 “shipping lanes” per theater (4 now, 6 later)
  • 1st place – 2pts
  • 2nd place – 1ptsAlliance Admiral Choice: 1 PointHigh score wins the lane. Ties give nothing.
• Control of Shipping Lanes offers the following benefits
  • 1 Lane (In one Theater): The Alliance may move 5 armies within that theater (even if they aren’t directly connected to the ocean)
  • 2 Lanes (In one Theater):
    • Move 5 armies within the Theater
    • gain 2 reinforcement armies from Europe
    • It functions as a blockade limiting enemy movement in that theater.
  • Own at least 1 lane in 2 Theatres:
    • Move 5 armies between the theaters.

Or read his full article on tactics and strategy on the campaign map here.

Additional Recommended Reading

• Campaign Rules
• Campaign Map
• Discord Server for this year’s campaign
• Strategy Guide for Campaign Map