Blood & Plunder: Force Building Pt. 2, Sea Games

By Tyler Stone

In , we walked through the basics of assembling your force for games of Blood & Plunder. In this article, I’ll go over what changes when building a force for a Sea or Amphibious game. We’ll look at including and outfitting ships, as well as how some of the Structure rules affect our list choices.

Remember, ships are just structures that move, after all. Like part 1, this writeup isn’t a guide to building the most powerful warship to ever cruise the seven seas, although I will still offer the occasional Tactical Tip. Also like part 1, this article will assume use of the , so click the link if you’d like to follow along.

An example of a ship status card, showing the stats and variety of upgrades. The 6th rate is the second largest vessel in the Firelock fleet

1. Choosing a Hull

After choosing a Faction and Subfaction, you can choose a Ship to include in your force. At this time, you’re really only selecting a hull shape, although many ships offer alternate rigging options which change things like Fortitude and Top Speed. We will mainly focus on the hull, as this determines how many decks, cannons, swivel guns, and – most importantly – models you can fit onto the ship. The latter quality is not something that is readily apparent in either the rulebooks or the Force Builder. Fortunately, we can thank the gentlemen at ‘Blood & Pigment‘ for rigorously testing every ship’s deck capacity. For simplicity, I will list their findings below, but you should definitely check out their detailed ship reviews for far more information about each specific ship type.

Type : Deck1 / Deck2 / Deck3 / Deck4 — Each ship assumes a full complement of Light Cannon
Canoa : 8
Longboat : 13
Piragua : 23
Bark : 23 / 12
Tartana : 21 / 18
Sloop : 27 / 16
Corvette : 27 / 12+6 *
Brigantine : 17 / 20 / 19
Light Frigate : 18 / 28 / 21
Fluyt : 21 / 25 / 15+7
Sixth Rate : 16 / 31 / 20 / 14
Galleon : 26+20 / 35+20 / 27+20 / 18+6+20 **
* The Corvette is figured with a full complement of Medium Cannon
** The Galleon has 4 Gundecks, each holding 20 models. These are inaccessible on the model.

The most important thing to know about Ships when building your list, is that each deck section can only hold 2 units. Some ships do have ‘subsections,’ which are marked on the chart above as a +X. A single unit can occupy a subsection, or part of a unit from the parent section. Some ships have the option to add Fighting Tops, which are subsections with space for 4 models.

We’ll discuss allocating units to each deck later in this article. Just know for now that larger ships can carry more units, smaller ships carry fewer. Be mindful of the size game you are playing, as the points limit will decide the minimum and maximum unit sizes. For example, the stern of a Bark only has room for 1 maximum sized unit in a 200 point game.

Varying approaches to ship outfits. A size 3 Sloop of War at the bottom of the shot with only swivel guns, a Privateer Sloop and Sloop with medium guns, and a Bark mounting Light Cannons and Swivels.

2. Outfitting Your Ship

If choosing a hull is the most important thing about building a seafaring list, then outfitting it with artillery is probably the most exciting. At the time of writing, there are only two kinds of artillery in the game, and both can be mounted on ships; cannons, and swivel guns.

Cannons aboard ships are purchased in pairs, and use as special points value. When you add guns, they are symmetrical; a broadside gun on the port, is matched with a broadside gun starboard. Don’t be cheeky and think that you can buy 2 pair of cannons for your Brigantine, and mount all of them on the starboard broadside. You also cannot “move” cannons aboard a ship. They sit in the section they’re in, facing the direction they’re facing, and that’s it. There is some weird, pervasive myth that ships only had enough cannon to arm a single broadside, and would “switch over” the guns to the other side as necessary. It’s not true. Ships usually only had enough crew to load and fire one battery or the other, but the unused guns were still there!

Tactical Tip!
Cannons in ‘Blood & Plunder’ are not the ship-smashers of later eras or Hollywood. The gun sizes only represent cannons firing 3, 6, or 9-pound shot. Light guns work well enough when fired at small vessels, but if you want to do meaningful damage to anything bigger than a Sloop, you’ll want to include Medium guns.

Swivel Guns have a lot in common with small arms, like the blunderbuss, but are still classified as Artillery. That’s because these gigantic shotguns weighed 50lbs or more, and were usually mounted to a ship’s rail. Swivel Guns cannot damage the hull of a ship like cannons do, but they are capable to tearing ragged holes through man and rigging alike. The biggest way that swivels differ from cannons, is in their 360-degree firing arc. In other words, swivel guns are aimed out of a deck section just like small arms; measure the closest distance between your deck and the target, and then fire! Because of this, swivel guns are purchased individually, using the normal Structure cost. It is totally acceptable to have only a single swivel in a deck section – they aren’t symmetrical like cannons.

Tactical Tip!
Swivel Guns are artillery just like Cannons, so they benefit from the Artillery Crew and Expert Artillery Crew special rules. Since swivels only take 2 Actions to reload, and fire 3 shots at a time, they can be a great equalizer between cheap Sailors and a more expensive unit like Freebooters with Fast Reload.

A set of Firelock’s artillery crew, ready to run out the guns

If you include cannons, you will probably want to fire them – this means adding units to crew your guns. Each size of cannon has a corresponding crew requirement. Light, Medium and Heavy guns require 2, 3, and 4 crewmen each, respectively. Swivel Guns also require 2 crew. This has caused some confusion for players in the past. The crew requirement is for loading the guns only.

Any number of crewmen can be assigned to any number of cannons in their deck section. You can technically assign 1 man to crew all 6 cannons in the bow of your Sloop. During a Shoot Action, each crewman can fire one artillery piece. When given a Reload Action, you need to have at least the minimum crew requirement per gun you are reloading. If you don’t have enough men, you can choose to either reload only the portion of guns for which you have crew or reload all of the guns as a Dedicated Action.

The Dedicated Action means that you only remove a single reload token, rather than one per action. Since cannons gain 4 Reload Markers when they fire, it’s usually a good idea to keep enough crew on hand to work a full broadside battery, plus a few extra to fill in the inevitable casualties.

Tactical Tip!
Pay attention to where the artillery on your ship is located. Players usually favor ships with more cannons in a single section, as it makes for more efficient broadsides. Similarly, if you plan to board the enemy ship after clearing the decks with swivels, you’ll probably want to look for a ship that mounts most of its swivel guns on the foredeck.

Most ships have additional options besides artillery, for outfitting the vessel. The most common options are Fighting Tops, Stay Sails, and Sweeps. We discussed Fighting Tops in the portion about hulls; they add a subsection to the deck where the mast is located, allowing you to carry additional men. They also allow models to shoot from higher up, which reduces enemy saves by 1, to represent the effect of plunging fire.

Sweeps and Staysails are situational upgrades for most ships. Staysails help when sailing Windward, defined in B&P as any time your bow is closer to the windy board-edge than your stern is. All ships have a negative speed modifier when sailing at this attitude. Staysails put a lower-threshold on this, so that you will always be able to move at the speed of your lowest possible sail setting, no matter your sailing orientation.

Similarly, Sweeps don’t care about the position of your ship at all, and let you row the vessel with oars instead. To use your Sweeps, you need to assign a unit from the crew to the sweeps, and have your sails set to Speed 0. Both of these upgrades can save your bacon in an Amphibious game, if the wind changes to blow out from shore. Staysails can provide additional maneuverability in any game, though.

A Spanish crew hurries to the rail, to repel incoming boarders

3. Crewing Your Ship

Choosing the models and units to crew your ship in a Sea Battle is no different than choosing a force for a Land battle. You will still select a Faction, Sub Faction, Commander, and your units will still fit within the minimum and maximum size limitations. Unlike land battles though, there are easily defined roles for your units to fulfill. The most obvious role is that of the assigned gun crew, if your ship includes artillery. If your ship is outfitted with Sweeps that you intend to use, you will need a unit Assigned to them.

Assignment Actions are a source of much confusion for new players. Units are not ‘assigned’ to Artillery, to Sweeps, or to the Sheets and Braces until they have been given an Assignment Action during one of their activations. Units can also begin the game assigned to one of these roles. An Assignment Action is a Dedicated Action – it must be declared as the unit’s first action on the card, and any extra actions on the card are lost. If you’re ahead of the curve, you’ve likely noticed that this means you cannot assign a unit to Artillery, and then fire that artillery with the same activation card. To benefit from having a unit assigned, it needs to have been assigned to the task before the start of the activation.

When assigning a unit to Sweeps or using the Sheets and Braces rule from ‘No Peace Beyond the Line’, the unit will stay assigned until they take a Standard Action to quit the assignment. This means that a unit can drop their sweeps and then shoot with a remaining action. If the unit is Shaken or is engaged in melee, it will automatically abandon its Assignment.

When a unit is assigned to Artillery, it remains assigned until it takes another Assignment Action to abandon all or some of the guns. This means that you cannot drop your artillery and then charge an enemy unit. This extra delay represents the complicated process of “stowing the guns.” However, units which are assigned to artillery do not abandon their guns if they are Shaken or engaged in melee.

Tactics Tip!
Since Assignment Actions mean that your unit will only get a single action, consider using a Command Point from your Commander to order the unit to start or end an assignment. This leaves the unit free to take multiple actions during its own Activation.

Other Dedicated Actions aboard a ship which take up your full activation, include Repair, changing your Sail Setting, and performing Advanced Maneuvers. For the latter two actions, you can use a unit that has manned Sheets and Braces. Since units that are assigned to crew artillery or sweeps cannot do these things, and no assigned units can be issued the Repair order, it is common practice to keep an unassigned unit of Sailors on deck, in order to handle the ship.

You can see how all of this will eat up the 2-units-per-deck that you are allowed. On a small ship, crew will be at a premium. On a size 2 Sloop, you might have one unit manning the cannons, another crewing the swivels, and a third that you intend to use for repairs and sail-setting. That leaves just one unit to shoot small arms. An alternative is to use Command Points to allow units to pull double-duty. A unit could be ordered to attempt a Repair with a Command Point, and then fire it’s muskets during its own activation. There is a measure of risk-reward in using your Command Points to carry out seafaring actions rather than handing out Rally orders or reloading your artillery.

Tactics Tip!
Although units are at a premium aboard ships, there are trade-offs to fielding two small units on a deck, compared to a single large unit. Hits are shared evenly between units in a structure. If a deck containing 2 units is hit with 4 shots, you will roll 2 Shoot Saves on each unit, potentially losing 4 models. However, each unit will have to take a Resolve Test for having been shot – and each will have to be Rallied separately. A single large unit might still lose 4 models, but will only take the Resolve Test once, and can be Rallied with a single Command Point. On the other hand, a second unit of cheap models can take the pressure off your expensive elites, risking a 4-point Marin instead of a 7-point Boucanier.

Now Set Sail!

That wraps up our overview for force building. It was difficult not to include more ‘Tactics Tips’ in Part 2, because there are lots of fun strategies to try out when gaming sea battles. Outfitting a ship and crew isn’t much more difficult than setting up for a land game, and sea games aren’t any harder to play, either. In my opinion, you just have to think a little bit more about how you will approach a sea game. Units need to be added to your list with intent, not just thrown on to the table to find a role later.

If you haven’t taken a look at Part 1, you can find it . If you’re looking for an opponent, Firelock Games has an excellent community and an . If you just can’t get enough 17th Century naval action, you may want to check out the articles we’ve done on Firelock’s other game, Oak & Iron – a squadron-level game with glorious 1/600th scale ships.