By Ken!
Who hasn’t enjoyed a good Pirates of the Caribbean or Hornblower movie and watched the battle scenes unfold and then wanted to replicate them on the wargames table, I know I have and I have tried several sets of rules in 28mm. Well, now we have “Blood and Plunder”to let us live out our ideas. It is an unusual set of rules as it has been designed from the start with Sea, Land and Amphibious operations in mind, something that didn’t quite jell with the others for me this is probably why it has been a worldwide success with many competitions and some which are open and supported internationally.
The rules let the players return to the Golden Age of Piracy in the 16th Century and with various extensions taking them through to the French and Indian Wars and the 18th century taking in such colourful characters as Henry Morgan and Blackbeard on the way, but, it’s not all about Good old Blighty, many other nations and their leaders that had established territories in the Americas or just preyed on the “honest” traders in their settlements or on the high seas are represented along with the crews that served them.
At this point it is best to point out some useful websites, so good that they make this game one of the best-supported games I have ever come across especially as they are free for all.
Blood & Plunder » Firelock Games
This is the parent site for the game and well worth exploring, especially the Shop and the Downloads, you can also access details of all the other games from this manufacturer. The How to Play section is excellent as are the series of videos on Youtube.
The real star of the show, this site has just about everything you will ever need apart from the rules and the actual pieces. Spend some time exploring everything on here from the details of all the ship types, analysis of the various nations in the game and the factions they can use, including the ArmyBuilder software that is free to use.
Getting back to the rules, these are for a “squad-based”skirmish game with units of between 4 and 8 figures, the minimum at the start is always 4 figures.
Activation: activation is determined by cards, at the start of a turn each side is dealt a card for each unit deployed. There are cards available for each faction in the game but they are only dressed-up versions of a standard pack of playing cards plus the 3 Jokers. If a joker is drawn then an event that could help or hinder whoever had the card is diced for and implemented, the player that drew the card then draws another card to replace the one drawn. Each player selects a card from their hand and plays it face-down, they are then turned over and the highest activates a unit first. King is high, an Ace is always 1 and the suits go Spaded, Hears, Diamonds and Clubs. The winner activates a unit followed by the second player. Howmany activations the player gets are then determined by the by the suit of the card and experience of the unit. No unit can carry out more than 3 actions when activated. The commander’s unit is slightly different in that the commandershave a number of command points to allocate depending on who they are and how much (points) they cost. When their unit is activated these points can be allocated to activate a unit but no more than one to each unit, the commander’s own unit can be activated in this way.
So what are these actions, the basic ones anyhow?
Move: a standard move is 4” and if more than three are carried out in an activation the actual group will earn a Fatigue (more later as this is important to the game) The move distance can be modified by rough ground or the need to climb.
Charge: A move where it is intended that combat will take place
Shoot: This speaks for itself and each type of weapon has a range and capability
Reload: Primarily for firearms and cannons, the number of reload actions required after firing and the figures required vary with the weapon. Bows do not need to reload but their effect is reduced.
Rally: The main fatigue management instruction.
There are other possible actions especially when we also bring ships into the game. Some may be a dedicated action where only one of this type can be used during a unit’s activation,some may be free actions as allowed by the card that activated the unit.
Assignments: some elements require a unit to be assigned to them before they can operate, an example being artillery on land or sea, likewise some stats for a faction may provide extra abilities when assigned and they are activated. Unusually and this is the choice of the American Designers a D10 is the only style used where we are more used to games with the D6, so 8 or 9 could be more than sufficient. And knowing this will help give meaning to some of the die rolls required.
Fatigue is an important element that must be managed it affects the ability of a squad to function fully throughout the game, to remove fatigue, we roll 1 D10 for every casualty taken having to score the units or leaders XXXX or better. A unit with one fatigue does not suffer a penalty but a unit with 2 can only take 1 action until the excess is removed, a unit with three or more immediately retreats a move or goes prone and is classed as disorganised, only able to take Rally actions regardless of the number granted by the card until successful. Even worse A unit with twice as many fatigues as surviving members or 7 fatigues is eliminated. There are also cards for the ships
Combat and Stats:
There are stats for each leader, faction and ship detailing abilities shooting and melee values and special granted by activating with this card, the ship’s card records damage records, the reloads that may be required by the ship’s guns and some sailing abilities. The latest errata has updated the rules here, figures in the open used to need a 9+ and now need an 8+ (errata v3) improving their survivability the card also details the melee strike and save values and importantly the value for the faction or the leader.
Structures: This concept is interesting as it determines both the number of figures in an area and the ability to absorb damage for both ships and Buildings. Regardless of the physical size a structure for the game is assumed to be 4” square this solves a lot of potential problems, e.g. a structure for a ship is the deck, so a 2-deck sloop consists of 2 structures with each able to contain 2 units, and shooting from structure to adjacent structure is 0” for range, the same applies to buildings when the players can decide whether a room/floor or the whole building represents a structure. For shooting at ships, the activated player declares if he/she is shooting at the hull or the mast/rigging, which section and which type of ammunition, each mast on multi-masted ships is treated as a separate structure.
I started collecting with the Two-Player starter set and at £94 for me this is the best way to go. The set contains 2 Plastic sloop kits; 24 Seamen; 2 characters, Lieutenant Maynard and Blackbeard ; 2 packs of activation cards, Pirate and British; 9 d10 dice; press-out card markers; press-out scenic items; a double-sided playmat; movement and explosion/fire/stinkpot templates; a double-sided playmat, sea and land and the all-important rulebook. From experience, the first expansion needed is another pack of 12 Seamen. From this start you can then decide which nations and factions you want to fieldshould you want to expand your forces. The figures themselves are slightly on the heroic side so you have to be careful when mixing them with those from other suppliers. My Perry and Foundry figures are on the smaller side and I think I will save the ones I have (40) from previous games for the Peninsular extension as the majority look more suitable.The standard base size for Infantry is 20mm round and these are cast with the metal ones and supplied as part of the plastic kits, this size also helps to determine how many figures a ship canhold, the larger the base the less figures. I do not know about the new resin ones that are slowly replacing the metal as I have not obtained any yet. Cavalry (yes, Cavalry are included in some of the Nationalities) come as plastic kits so I will assume that bases are included.
The Ships: Firelock produce an extensive range of ships which mostly have resin hulls and MDF additions ranging from Canoes up to a Spanish Galleon each with its own crew and weapons capacities and costs with prices ranging from£16.50 to £292.20. The Blood and Pigment site details all of these and also has an easy-to-copy stats card for each one. Theodd ones are the Sloop kit and the Corvette the Sloop Kit, comes with the starter set and can be bought separately for 30 pounds, the Corvette is an MDF kit and hard to find. Other manufacturers make ships in this scale and I have 2 longboats and two Brigantines in my collection from when we played this style of game in the first Firestorm.
The Books: Here I can only describe the books I own and how useful they are starting with the rulebook that comes with the 2 Player Starter set. Like all the books this one starts with a timeline of the period with some notable dates This is a comprehensive rulebook containing stats for the ships and crews I the starter set, it also contains several scenarios and these each have a Land, Sea and Amphibious version to enjoy.
The next book I bought was the main one for the period of the starter set “Blood and Plunder Raise the Black”. This opens up the possibilities by including the other nations involvedand the factions and leaders they can employ. Following this I obtained an extension to this book, “Fire on the Frontier”,This provides a comprehensive cover of the period in North America with the histories chapters covering conflicts I never knew about like King Phillip’s War (Not the Spanish King) or The First Abernaki War” and several more. In what was probably in a period we refer to as the French and Indian Wars, It introduced several new factions and some new rules, some of these covering fortifications.
The final book (for me, my version being the updated copy) is “No Peace Beyond the Line”. This looks at the earlier period when the Brethren of the Coast were also a major force andfollows the same format as all the others by detailing Nations, Leaders and Factions along with a comprehensive history line and it also expands and introduces some new rules and theyare applicable to all the periods.
As I said these are the books I have and both like and find extremely useful, all the books do introduce new rules as theybecome needed, so unfortunately, there is no one volume to go to it can be an issue for some but mine are available to view on a games night.
Suppliers: I am aware of these three sites in the UK and you do have to look around them before ordering as they don’t hold extensive stocks and have to go back to the States for items out of stock, this can take some time and unless you are aware your total order can be held up waiting for these items. If you know of more available to us let us know, the website is deceptive when it shows stores over here.
Wayland Games 20% Discount wargames, miniatures and board games with | Wayland Games this site has supplied all my expansions and offers free postage on orders over £20
Gaming Figures: Gaming Figures This is where I got my starter set from and they offer free postage on orders over £70
Entoyment Entoyment Wargaming and Hobby Centre animporter in Poole, they run the UK National Championship and I know Bartoz Nowiki (name-dropping) who plays in our small group won this competition in 2023.
The Future: I know of three initiatives in the pipeline from Firelock Games. The first to be published will be Port Royal where the release has been delayed (currently late February 2025). This is a skirmish game where rather than squads the individual figures play a bigger part with about 9 figures a side. It is based on the lawlessness and looting that ensued following the Earthquake and Tsunami that occurred in 1692when Port Royal was almost destroyed and 3000 people died. The next release will be a new game Blood and Bayonets which will extend the timeline to cover the Peninsular War, (this will be a kick-starter in 2025 and as it is in effect an extension, this is expected to concentrate on the rule book and any tokens and cards required) it will be interesting to see what new ship types will be covered in this period and means that those of us with troops for the period will also be catered for. Finally, there is planned to be an extension to Blood and Plunder that moves the action to the west coast of Africa, (release date unknown) I have taken part in some of the preliminary testing for this where many of the factions and leaders are still there but it also covers the enterprise companies that had ships and land forces primarily to protect their trading interests. There are modifications to some of the ships to allow for merchant vessels with an introduction to some of their defences like fortified sections for the crew to retreat to if overwhelmed and even explosive packages to harm invaders.
This missive may appear complicated but I can assure you that things do fall into place quite quickly after a couple of games and one I have really enjoyed playing. Hopefully, when reading this I have tempted you to try the game, so let me extend an open invite to all. All you need to do is contact me via theFacebook group Blood & Plunder – Cardiff and South Wales and we can then book a game, you will not need to provide anything except yourself, I have sufficient for both sides. You may want to think of two games, the first a land action and then a sea action. I also respond on here to The Old Git or Uncle Ken Email, Ken@butty.me.uk. In any case if you see a game in progress, pop over to say hello that way we can get to know each other and what games we play.
Uncle Ken aka The Old Git.
Our thanks to Ken for giving us this insight into a very popular period!
Despertaferres 
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