How To Play Blood & Plunder
June 19, 2017 by dignity
We talk with Mike & John from Firelock Games about How To Play Blood & Plunder with a demo game between the Spanish and the French. In this tutorial, you’ll learn about movement, shooting, melee combat and more so keep your sabres sharp and the powder dry as we prepare for a clash.
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Are there any tactics, in particular, you’d like to see discussed more? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
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- Blood & Plunder Rulebook
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This is enough for you and a friend to get started in the game and enjoy some adventures on the high seas!
Have you got a handle on the basics now?
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Do we get bonus points for throwing insults in while having sword fights etc?
You fight like a dairy farmer!
It wouldn’t hurt ;#0
How appropriate, you fight like a cow.
Arr me laddies, walk the plank you landlubber! I for one am going to pull out my pirate dictionairy, bonus point or not i don’t care :p
Will there be a later video for ship to ship combat? I heard you can board the enemy ship and potentially seize it for your own use.
Yup all major aspects of the game are being covered this week
Saw one Demo game where the English boarded cleared the Spanish deck, where countercharged from the bridge of the Spanish ship and thrown back to their own ship
I like systems like this where the training level of a unit is reflected in more than just their morale.
Wow, looks fun.
So, measuring the distance between units is closest to closest?
I believe the phrase is “Yarrrr!”
yarrr
viva blood & plunder
seems like a real fun game
and that table looks awesome!!!…seems pretty straight forward and the minis look really cool!!!, could be great to get a board with two ships, and maybe pirate boarding or something like that
Great to see explanations of how to play on video. Firelock make their own chapter by chapter run through but it’s good to see people asking the questions we all have! Keep it up BoW
would love to have some pirates, to bad the ship are expensive, try to find a cheaper alternitive for them
Hi,Icewolff! We understand where you’re coming from. Please keep in mind that ships come with all canons, all swivel guns, string for rigging, dowel for mast, parts for rigging, and separate hard stock card with stats and rules etc. They are made from a light-weight, durable resin and portray an accurate historical standard. We want our players to have historical ships that are meticulously detailed and are a real value in comparison to other ships on the market. 🙂
Playmobil and Fisher Price both makes a line of plastic Pirate toy figures and ships. The scale [IMO] is amazing close to B&P (aprox. 1:50). I have been able find two so far at local Thrift Stores for only $5, but I have not been able to get into a battle yet. This is just a suggestion for a cheaper alternative to the Firelock resin boats which still need to be assembled and painted. – even if they’re only used as terrain pieces.
I like the idea with the cards saying how many actions different trained troops can use. Makes it more tactical than “Everyone can move and do one action” or similar. Plus the models look great.
Looking forward to trying this game.
Everyone should try it, but beware! Once you try it you will want it!
Precisely!
The table is really outstanding!! The whole game looks beautiful 😎
I would love to make a Black Pearl with an undead pirate crew. No special rules, but I think it would look so cool.
As I started to watch the game the mechanics seemed a bit clunky and slow, with not much happening. But as the game moved on and Justin learned a bit more, the pace of the game sped up quit a bit. And as the two side closed in on each other the game speed increased even more. I think this is a great way for this type of game to work. Slow at the start as each side is shooting at each other, but as they get closer together, the speed of the game picks up just as it would in real life as the two side close in on each other and the hand to hand combat becomes much more intense. Great game guys look forward to the rest of the videos this week.
even more excited to get stuck in!! looking forward to the rest of the week
I can’t wait to see the ship battles.
Also the description says it’s English vs. French and in the video you’re talking about Spanish vs. French. Are these Spanish from England or the other way around?
Regarding your “Spanish from England” – maybe they are the descendants of the survivors of the Spanish Armada who washed up on the coasts of the British Isles only 50 years previous (~~~lol~~~)
They’re supposed to be doing even larger ships soon
Looks awesome something different wouldn’t mind to have a set.
Why not talk about the near genocide of the native people that lived on those islands? Tainos and Carib Indians? I hope they flesh out that faction historically… even though historically it won’t have a fighting chance.
I love this era, I love the Caribbean and I love historical games so either way I’m excited!
Probably the same reason bolt action avoids some of the horrors or ww2.
Great ruleset, I need to buy a couple of starter set to try it !
That seemed quite straightforward a fun
Making an Ulster boy try and pronounce a French name, these Firelock gents are a cruel pair.
I cant wait to watch the sea and land+sea videos!
enjoyed …….but i think justin in full pirate costume would have made it better in fact goes for all games justin plays he should play in a costume to suit the game 🙂
Great video. Im looking forward to running demos myself at my FLGS.
This game looks great.
The game Looks a lot of fun and the table looked superb
Well, I´ve wanted to make a tropical gametable ever since I saw Rogue One, now It might not only be fitting for Infinity/DzC/FoW, it might just be the prime piece Blood and Thunder xD
Love your use of the soft foam for terrain making, looks awesome!
Great game I did spend a bit of time with them at Origins
We looked very seriously at this game, but the entry point was to high. Maybe this will change out mind.
Get the rule book and test it out with other minis – Warlords Pike and Shoote spring to mind
Interesting gameplay for the basic…damn…seem to be my next wargame. (How will i get this to my wife?…)
This looks like a load of fun. I love the card mechanic, adds an extra element of chance and unknown to the game.
great game, great table and looks like great fun
It’s looking like my Chinese pirates are going to provision up the Dragon Lady and set sail for plunder and glory!
I’ve been looking forward to this! Thanks for giving us a chance to win!
When he says to leave a comment on facebook, beatsofwars or youtube. Does it mean you only need to comment once, in one of these? Or do you increase if you spread your comments in the 3 plataforms?
I have liked everything about this game so far, except for that locked in combat thing. Will have to look into that when I get into this game.
That looked quite straight forward a fun
So glad age of sail games seem to be getting a lot of attention lately, between this and e3.
The terrain looks awesome. So far the game seems simple, wonder how much more complicated it can get. I really like the cards BTW.
Arrrrr… batten the hatches and prepare to give me the loot. I need more pirates in my life.
Excellent looking game, unfortunately too many already invested in to do another, shame.
I like the mechanics of the game, can’t wait to see how the naval battles work.
Great demo, first time I have seen the game played. I like the card mechanic very much, as well as, how quickly the game developed. Looking forward to the rest of the week’s segments.
The French are my home boys
Those ship kits look amazing!
Interesting. Looking forward to seeing more game play.
Great game. I like the straight forward play and the different flavour of the units. The card mechanics is ingenious, requiring you to out-wit your opponent as well as plan your own actions.
Was the imbalance of the number of units and experience due to the poor equipment that the Spanish had or because one side was defending?
The table is awesome. Roll on tomorrow…
Definitely checking this out. Should be good synergy with Ghost Archipelago coming out later this year.
Love that table! Oh, the game looks nice too 😉
This looks like a lot of fun!
Need to figure out a way to get a group started for this!
I promised myself no more games till my last game was all painted, oh well!
Game looks great. I do wonder how ship to ship combat will work at this scale. Most folks tables won’t leave much room for maneuver,
Looks fairly easy to learn.
Great game guys. Looking forward to all of the content this week. I can not help but like this game.
looking forward to this week
looks good! i’d love a starter set
Great show guys
Dagnabbit, I was hovering over the button when this was on kickstarter, but couldn’t get anyone else local to join me (and couldn’t cover the two factions alone). I feels the pains watching this stuff, looks like everything I hoped it would be!
Nothing like watching experts playing to really get how a game works. A friend and i backed the game and played a few weeks back, boy did we get a lot wrong!
Looking good
B&P looks like a cool game! 🙂
Great demo game. The system seems very fun and interesting. And the theme is just awesome. Who doesn’t like pirates. Would probably house rule a few dinosaurs in there as well though :p
That moment you realize, selling your encyclopedia on pirates of the 17th and 18th century seems rather stupid now….really looking forward to getting the grips on this game.
I’ve already purchased a couple of bags of palm trees to start my terrain
Good work Justin as usual.
The mechanism are interresting but how are prepare the teams?
I was on the fence with the original Kickstarter, quite regret not going for it now, but with the expansion coming up I think I’ll definitely “dip my toe in the water” so to speak
Looks cool on the tabletop.
Good fun, very enjoyable viewing!
Just binge watched Black Sails. Feeling the urge to jump in to a pirate game.
Bit out of my Sci Fi genre comfort zone but looking objectively it seems quite good.
Really like the mechanics .. this looks like fun
Looks like fun.
I am loving the look of this game. If I had the cash to get into another game right now it would be this.
Dare I watch this… Can I really afford another game? I’m at the stage now where I kind of hope I don’t like these games you show us. Still haven’t had a game of Wolsung since you first introduced me to that!
Excellent! I’ve been looking forward to this!
Tables looks immaculate, some job.
Yarrrr!
Fun game, I agree with @dignity summary in the video. Simple mechanics based on the cards for activation and orders with d10 rolls with simple modifiers. Cards give a nice mix of chance and PvP strategy face off. 3 rolls… to hit, to save and to fatigue.
Pretty simple system, I hope the ships add an interesting dimension, I could see it becoming a little samey otherwise..
I like some of the mechanics. In particular the playing cad activations.
21:00 – I’ve read about “buck b’ ball” being used as late as the American Civil War. One of the standard .69 and .58 caliber musket balls with two smaller projectiles. Destroyed accuracy and range, and did a good bit of damage on the muskets themselves, but the close-range firepower was pretty fearsome.
This kind of ammo wasn’t thought of very highly, but of course this was 1861-63, and in a “formal military” where weapons were fired much more often (thus ruining the barrels even faster). Also, back in the Age of Piracy there were no revolvers, which were often carried in the ACW enhance close-range firepower. So for pirates in the late 1600s and early 1700s, who probably didn’t have to fire their weapons every day, I’m sure buck n’ ball was a fearsome option. 😀
Great models for the ships, the seamen and officer sculpts seem to be of great quality as well!
Interested!
Looks interesting. Might have to try this out.
I’m really curious about the contents of the action deck and they interact with the game
Argh. You can have too many zombies but never too many pirates.
Buck ‘n’ balls – the next new thing on the menu at my local hipster burger place.
(~~~lol~~~) . . . yeah it will be in the appetizer section right below Rocky Mountain Oysters
Seemed like a very cool and fast minature game, and pirates !!!
Awesome looking game. Looking forward to the new KS.
Now I regret cancelling my pledge on their KS last year 🙁
I hadn’t heard of this game, but it sure has my interest now!
That looks really fun! 😀
Wow! That table is beautiful. I need to get a backstage pass to see the making of videos.
good gameplay vid. looking forward to the rest of the week
I heard an interview with these guys and they are all about that pirate life. No joke…like they eat and breath the historical aspects of pirates, not the fantasy we see in movies. Mad props for turning a their passion into something we can all enjoy.
Looks fun!
A nice simple set of rules and some interesting twists
Play on land. Play on sea. Play on land AND sea!
Looks nice… not sure I’m thrilled about the mix of cards, dice and special game dice. I loved GW’s Legends a decade ago, maybe I’m just an old grognard that’s resistant to change. Will have to try it out to see if it’s worth investing in or have it walk the plank.
Settling down to watch this game system (although it’s the ship to ship stuff that interests me)
very cool game system, I’m hopping I can save up some money and get into this game.
I’ve picked up a few things and have started terrain and hope to get my first games in shortly.
Can’t help but wonder just how staggering the cost of a Frigate or Man O War type vessel would be. Either way, the game looks interesting.
The light frigats that are available at the moment are fairly good value for money
I agree. During the initial Kickstarter, I upgraded my ship to a frigate for only a few extra dollars (can’t remember the exact amount) and I was not disappointed. It’s pictures of the new galleon ship to be released and imagining what it’s going to cost that’s got me scared.
Looks like a system I’ll be getting into. Thanks again for the content.
Looks like a decent rule set, but the scenario left something to be desired. It seemed like it turned to stand where you are and shoot each other. I’d like to see some different styles of scenarios.
I’m more interested in the ship to ship than this, though it does look fun as well.
The “How To Play B&P” video is a great tutorial. I’ve watched it twice so far and will probably do so again as things I’ve read in the rules book start to make sense when you see them actually demonstrated on a table. BTW: That’s a great looking table top for this skirmish .
That sounds great! This seems like an easy game to get into quickly. Thanks for the videos!!
The table is amazing!
Thank you Beasts of war for this weeks Blood and Plunder week. I am in Chicago on business and your content has helped me through jet lag!!
I am now looking to get 2 factions and the rule book to start a Caribbean sea adventure
Really excited to learn about the naval actions. the card system is inspired too. not only a way to generate a random sort of turn but also allows the players a chance at strategy and not just threat assessment.
As someone who shoots black powder muskets, I think this is kinda fun. Would be interested in any complex objective type missions.
Insult fights definitely need to be part of this game 😉
Don’t forget September 19th is international talk like a pirate day! Yarrr!
I have read the rules but yet to get my first game in. This definitely helped! Thanks guys.
this is looking amazing ! cant wait for the next kickstarter !
Some interesting mechanics in there: the half shot and the activation jump out. Really nice, fellas.
Also yarr!
Looks sooooo good. Look forward to getting this one.
Pirates? Good. Ships? Good. Cool system? Good. Whats not to like 🙂 Me wants it!
Game plays well beautiful table
Looks exciting!
The mechanics seem quite easy to pick up. But there is a lot of remembering of stats and modifiers involved. Have to see more.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum Blood & Plunder could be such fun:)
I absolutely love B&P. Three of us in my local club picked up stuff during the first kickstarter. Amazing miniatures. Awesome rules. I have backed this KS also.
Need this swag me hearties, need it! hawwrrr!
If only I could get people into this game then I would have someone to play it with.
This was a great “how to” video. Really thorough without getting overly complicated.
Yarrrr! This looks like fun!
Picked this game up at Origins game fair in Columbus, Ohio, and tried the demo. It was great fun and a great game. When the action starts it gets bloody fast. Very enjoyable and it flows well, more-so than many other war games I have tried. Highly recommend if you enjoy the pirate genre or the Caribbean history.
nice looking game, interesting mechanics and great minis 🙂
Wow this seems pretty awesome, pirates rock
Great game chaps, looks like a lot of fun to play. The table looks fantastic too. 🙂
At first glance it looks a bit I-go-you-go. But the card activation, reloads and fatigue mechanics really make you think tactically about what to do when.
Also nice to see the game can be played quite fast once you know the rules.
very thematic
love the card activation
Looks great but you really need to invest in a good table it feels more so than most other games.
Great demo. I really like the activation system.
The fatigue mechanic is intriguing.
Game looks like a lot of fun and easy to get to basics down.
Good demo game. I like the mechanics and activation system, also it seems like a pretty fast game to play. I always stuggle a bit with modifiers when they’re this way around, but I guess it’s just a matter of getting used to it.
Woa seems a complex system with lots of situation covered, my first impresión about 4″ movement was like seems a bit short but with all the rules for shooting command and so, just clarifies me that aspect of really close combat.
On the actual ks there’s no initiation pledge with basic forces and rules other than the expansion??
Looks great!
Nice play through guys! really nice flow to this game
Looks like a great game!
Guess what my magic compass is punting towards
hahahaah there has to be a Fleg! in there somewhere 😉
This game looks great, do you plan to make a demo naval battle?
The videos for this game have been highly instructive, something other companies should note for the future.
Oh to have the space and money to do a full table like the one here!
Very good run through, i really like this range if models and the game seems simple enough. Plus i need an excuse to build another table!!
Seems quite straightforward, but with alot of simple tactical decisions that can change the game up.
This game is a stunning feast for the eyes.
I wasn’t sold on the game play when the first KS came out. Seem’s I was wrong. I wish there was a bunch of these kind of articles back then! I’ll get on board for this second KS!
Amazing minis, good rules, lots of theme and opportunities to throw insults, make pirate noises and drink some rum. Very excited.
Also, if you don’t pick me to win a prize: Walk the plank, ya scurvy dogs!
Looks like a lot of fun – I’d love to play this with some mateys!
Great work on the table.
The rules look neat and tidy with plenty of flavourful special rules between the units.
Would need to dip in and out of the book a bit to begin with like every game, but some unit cards would limit that.
I might dust off some English civil war miniatures and give this game a go some day.
Some games
*Not “Some games”
A skirmish game for 17th century warfare would be really welcome.
Looks very fun. Wonder how the battle between ships would go.
pretty good video
Really great way of introducing the game, factions, character, abilities and whatnot, it’s been pretty easy to follow through
very nice scenery, deep immersion game;
That is excellent terrain and beautifully painted figures! The game looks to be quite fun!
looks sooo good can’t wait to get stuck in!
WOW that table worked out well! Really beautiful.
Theme + interesting mechanics makes this a must try. Time for some good old fashioned piracy 😉
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr! Shiver me timbers!
Interesting pronunciations! Rules look really solid and the table is amazing
Great minis, Great rules! 🙂
Great looking table. So impressed with these guys’ enthusiasm and attention to detail.
This looks like a fun game.
Great game! I can’t Wait to get into this game
Do like that fatigue mechanic and the fact that you can decide how your initiative will be and how it influence the number of actions.
watched the video 3 times, so well I guess that was filming well invested 😛
Definitely picking up this game.
Looked interesting, would have been nice to see more of a breakdown (in detail) of a turn, rather than continuing the game to its conclusion in the time given tho 🙁
Looks great! I would love to try this game.
Really nice game…for my pirate soul !
Enjoyed watching the game. The mechanics are nice and simple. You can see how easily Justin picked them up and the game moved up a gear!
Can’t wait to get a game of this!
Rules seem polished and unique!
Pretty interesting mechanics from the range of cards you pull and what how they activate your units.
I am loving these rules and the game seems simple but the additions from the units is wonderful
That looks pretty easy to play – sign of a good rule set!
Very interesting turn initiative mechanic!
Nice demo.