Why You Should Be Playing Blood and Plunder

By Mitch Reed

What is

It is a 28mm skirmish game that takes place during the early age of pirates which is called the . During this time, the British and French fought a war in the Caribbean against the Spanish. Both the French and British enlisted the aid of independent contractors to help them in the fight and became what we call pirates or buccaneers. While much of pirate lore is told in works of fiction; the truth behind this that this was an actual historical war that lasted for almost 130 years and was not contained in just the New World. While I butchered the above history, do not fear, both of the books for B&P come with an in-depth history that will set you straight.

If you haven’t played B&P yet, let me catch you up on its origins. The first book came out in just a year or two ago and featured the forces of France, England, Spain and the pirates who aligned with these nations. The game seamlessly mixes land and naval combat brilliantly and you can play either or both and still enjoy the game. Depending on your faction, you can field a full force with as little as 12-15 models and as many as 20 for the standard 100 point game. I was a bit leery to play with the ships at first, then I tried it and recently got a frigate to sail with my sloop.

What I really like about this game is how fast it moves and while it is easy to play, the “under the hood” mechanics of B&P makes it a deep and challenging game that plays in less than an hour if you are as bad as I am at the game.

Each force you assemble plays differently, some shoot well, some melee well and some can do both. If you like list building, this game gives you so many options. Many of the forces are interchangeable, so while I bought the English starter set I have usually played the models as one of the major pirate factions in the game.

Even within a nationality you still have to select a “force” each with varied capabilities. You also can pick a historical leader for your force that gives your troops some extra abilities. As for ships, well like I said you can be a landlubber and play without them, however then you and your opponent can and amphibious mission and they will have a few ships to pick from, anything from a longboat to a frigate.

The game is based on a d10 roll for attacking (shooting or melee) and for defense (also shooting or melee). Units are activated by cards which really is a neat mechanic and makes you really think on how you want to use your forces. Units are made up of around four models and either die or accumulate shock when hit.

Well enough of the past, let’s transition to the new book for B&P, No Peace Beyond the Line (NPBTL). The name of this new book is taken from a hard to find tome from 1972 with the same name that covers the English in the Caribbean during the 17th Century.

The idea that this book expands the previous factions and adds the Dutch, Native Caribbean’s and three ships is a huge understatement. NPBTL expands what makes this game great, the diverse amount of forces you can select from.

I learned from that the folks from Firelock did extensive historical research to put forces in this game and still did not include everything they wanted to. So no matter what faction you select as your main one, you can build a force that plays to your gaming style. The amount of forces each faction can take is so broad that I wonder what faction is missing based on Mike’s claim above.

NPBTL also adds a third gaming mode, which is where you command a larger “army” that recreates a larger fight where you can make some really neat additions to your force. In Army mode you can build a standard European army that would have been deployed into the Caribbean during this period.

So if you thought that this article was a spoiler for NPBTL, you may be disappointed. While the books are shipping as I write this, most of the 1300 Kickstarter backers already got NPBTL via PDF from the folks at Firelock.

This article is more for the folks who have not played this game yet. I will break down my argument with a few topics that we all can understand.

Force Constrution and Playability
If you like to spend hours developing that perfect list to beat all comers, this game is for you. The vast amount of units and forces will give you hours of non-playing fun as you tinker and perfect your lists. Since all of the units appear in more than one force and even appear in multiple factions, you can play whatever type of force that suits your skills or desires for that day.

The game is also quick as compared to other games and can be played on as little as a 3’x3’ table. As I stated above, you have two modes of play, land and sea, which can be mixed as you see fit. You can play a ship to ship fight or an amphibious mission which combines land and sea forces or just skip the ships totally, it’s really up to you. Switching between these modes will keep the game fresh for a long time.

Time and Money
We brought up the low cost of getting into B&P with Mike during the podcast and I hope it doesn’t cause them to wake up and raise prices. Each start box has 25 figures and costs about $52 US, this is more than you will need for a 100 point game.

I have never fielded a force with more than 16 models because they are more experienced troops, if you play with a less seasoned force you may get 24 models and a leader on the table. Once you add ships and cannons the price will go up, however. The boats are nice models and are cheaper than you would think.

I know I said that you will end up playing more than one faction in B&P and what makes this happen is that many of the models are used in multiple factions and forces. In fact, the new European Land Forces box set can be used for any faction and since I didn’t paint my forces with a “theme” I can use Forlorn Hope for Sea Dogs or English Militia for Freebooters, the game is very forgiving in this aspect. As for time, the models were easy to paint and as I stated above, you can finish a game in less than 90 minutes.

Perhaps the best selling point is that the game is fun while having the detail to challenge your tactical acumen.