Good Old Fashioned Law and Order: A Patriot’s guide to fighting revolutionaries

By Tyler Stone

has launched the highly anticipated next chapter of ‘Blood & Plunder’ with their latest Kickstarter; . NDNG received an exclusive, early preview of some of the factions and units coming to the game. In response to fellow Tales of the Sail caster , I demand law and order, unwavering discipline and bravery. Hence, I present the British Army.

Raise the Black focuses on this “law and order” era of the New World. In the 18th century, European powers sent their professional armies to defend the wealth of their colonies. Our sneak preview included the British Army (from 1690, to 1750) that I will be sharing with you today.

Faction Rules
All factions in ‘Blood & Plunder’ include flavorful special rules, and the British Army is no different. Eighteenth-century reforms have turned professional soldiers into drilled machines.

These rules combined mean that even an Inexperienced Commander can issue a command to several units. This order can move or shoot with several units in a single activation.

Core Units
The British Army is restricted in what Core Units it may take. In fact, it may choose from either the extant Musketeers unit or a new unit of Regulars.

Regulars have identical stats to the Musketeers, which means Fight Skill and Save of 6, Shoot Skill 6, Shoot Save 7, and a stubborn Resolve 4. Regulars also add Fast Reload and Unwavering as Special Rules. They cost one point more than Musketeers.

Unwavering is an uncommon rule from ‘No Peace Beyond the Line’. It allows units that activate Shaken to remove a single point of Fatigue. If this would bring them to 2 or less Fatigue, they may activate as normal.

Regulars also bring a new bit of wargear from the 18th century: Socket Bayonets. Unlike the plug variety available to earlier units, Socket Bayonets allow a unit to keep firing even with fixed bayonets. The downside is that the unit suffers an extra +1 Penalty when shooting at enemies more than 12″ away.

Special Units
With only a single option for your Core Unit, the variance in British Army lists will come down to the selection of your Support Units. Fortunately, the Faction offers seven different units to choose from. Of these 7, there are 4 from earlier publications. The British Army can choose from Artillerymen, English Militia, Native Warriors, and Native Warrior Musketeers. There are 3 units which have not appeared in print, but are available on the online Force Builder: Indian Fighters, Braves, and Young Braves. The previewed new units are the Grenadiers, and English Provincials.

Grenadiers
The Grenadiers stand to be the most elite unit in Blood & Plunder. They cost an eye-watering 8 points each. They bring firelock muskets and socket bayonets for equipment. They also have Tough, Fast Reload, Unwavering, and Expertly Drilled (for Platoon Actions). They also have a very good Fight Skill of 5, Resolve of 4, and all their other stats are 6s; they are definitely elite. For options, 1 in 4 models may carry free Explosives. If the unit does not include Explosives, the cost of the unit (not per model) is reduced by 4-points.

Likewise, if the unit chooses to downgrade to Plug Bayonets, the cost is also reduced by 4 points. They can also be upgraded to Veteran, for the usual cost. With the optional downgrades, you will likely see these models fielded in small units. A unit of 6 Trained Grenadiers without Grenades and Plug Bayonets costs 40 points. You would pay 2 points more for a unit of 6 Forlorn Hope. Forlorn Hope would get explosives, but when it comes to raw stats, there’s no contest between the two.

Provincials
The second of the new units are the Provincials. Think of Provincials as “super militia.” Historically, provincial troops were raised in the colonies, and served for a period of 1 year. During this year, they were full-time soldiers, and after the year, they could reenlist. This made them better skilled than the common militia of part-time soldiers, but not quite as elite as the continental regulars. This status is borne-out in the rules for the Provincials.They boast a Shoot and Fight of 6, with Saves of 7 for each, and the typical English Resolve of 5.

They come Trained, and have Drilled (which they may exchange for Elusive). They also have the option to carry Plug Bayonets, Thrown Weapons. They can upgrade to Trained or downgraded to Inexperienced. If you have ever found yourself pining over French Milices des Caraibes, then congratulations: these are slightly better. These cost the same points Trained, as your Inexperienced Indian Fighters. If Provincials can be Expertly Drilled as well, I think that they could replace Indian Fighters in their slot.

There is a list building option for Provincials though. When creating your force, you can select the ‘Provincials’ force option. In that list, Provincials become Core, and Musketeers/Regulars are Support. This creates an army more in-line with what you would find in North America during Queen Anne’s War.

Commanders
Either the normal English Army Commander or the new British Commander leads this force. So far as we know, there aren’t any named characters for the British Army yet.

‘Raise the Black’ will be bringing a new mechanic for personalizing your commanders. Rather than set Special Rules, the British Commanders get to choose from the following list of Special Rules.

Pending clarification from Firelock (or specific wording in the final publication) Motived stands out as being very powerful if it means that the Commander can gain a point of Fatigue to give units in his Platoon Action two actions instead of the usual one. Inspiring is also an excellent trait to have, and Tough or Unwavering could be useful if attached to a unit that doesn’t otherwise have it.

So far, Firelock has not revelated any ‘Named Characters’ for the British Army. I’m sure that the Firelock team is busy working out the rules for the innumerable pirates who will plague the Main in this expansion.

Closing Thoughts
With the new Regular Army forces in Raise the Black, Firelock has given us the truly elite; the SOG operators, the SS Panzer, the “Space Marines” of ‘Blood & Plunder’. During our interview, Mike Tunez assured us that the latest forces would be compatible with the existing 17th-century lists. He explained that points costs of many 18th century forces would lead to slightly larger games.

Having seen the points cost of the new British Regulars, I can attest to that. There’s plenty of reason for excitement though; people have been asking for bigger land tournaments for a while, and now there’s definitely enough cause to increase the points limit a bit. It’s also going to be fun bringing an army that plays like an army, with drill and coordination among the troops. I cannot wait for that first 3-unit volley to shred through an enemy unit at the top of the turn.

So, what are your thoughts on the new factions coming to the game? Are you a filthy pirate and enemy of all mankind, or will you side with the might of monarchy and field one of the new army factions?