French Buccaneers for B&P

Finally time for the kind of posts I intended to use this blog for. Yes, it's still Blood & Plunder, but now it's not about the game, but about what I've recently painted for the game.

So, without further ado, here's the French band of Buccaneers that's been sitting on my work station the last two weeks:

First of is of course the generic Commander:

The foppiest fop that ever fopped. Seriously, that hat is insane. We'll see how long until I find a good replacement that looks somewhat more badass to justify the rules he's got.

Next up, a Buccaneer Commander

The model is exclusive to the first Blood & Plunder kickstarter, and is inspired by art by Howard Pyle. He can be used as any model armed with a buccaneer gun and possibly a pistol or two (such as English  Freebooters, French Flibustiers or French Boucaniers). Interrestingly enough, though, all the English and French Historical Commanders able to command Buccaneer factions can be fielded either equiped with a brace of pistols, or a buccaneer gun and a pistol... So I will happily field this guy as either Monbars the Exterminator or Alexandre Bras de Fer. I even have another one of these, that will be painted up in more English colors (and English base marking), to be fielded as Robert Searle or Barnard Speidryke.

On to the painted units. First of them, French Boucaniers (from Boucan, dried smoked meat that these guys hunted and sold to passing ships)

They are almost comparable to modern day rednecks (except with less guns). Master marksmen and experts at jungle or forest movement, they're still quite at home on a ship as well.

Next up, French Marins. Due to limitations of models available, these will form the core of two units of sailors, instead of being all of one unit (as can be gleaned from the base markings)

Somewhat similar to sailors of other nations (the sharp-eyed will notice that I am in fact using to models sold as Spanish Marineros and two sold as English Sea Dogs in this unit, since I was low on "real" French Marins), with a preference for bloody charges into melee from their ship or longboat.

Then, the French Flibustiers (due to bad decisions while painting, these will also form the core of two units, instead of the entirety of one. They can of course be fielded as a single unit while the others are being painted)

The one thing making these somewhat unique is their abundance, or overabundance, of guns, with each man carrying a buccaneers gun and at least two pistols in addition to swords, knives or both. Firepower is note something they will find lacking, especially so short-range firepower.

The final painted unit, French Les Enfants Perdue

If the Flibustiers were well-armed, these "lost children" (nevermind the massive beards on some of them) are overly well-armed with, between the four of them, 9 pistols, 4 buccaneer guns, 3 swords, a boarding axe and a bag of explosive presents to their enemies. And that's only what's clearly visible and distinguishable.

These models can also be used as English Forlorn Hope, and will be used as such by me, hence the somewhat special markings on the base.

The entirety of the French band, as of right now (there still remains Flibustiers, Boucaniers and, when my next order arrives, Marins to paint... as well as some English Forlorn Hope that will of course be able to do double duty)

Interrestingly, this army averages out at only a smidgeon less than 2 guns per model, a number that is set to increase as I get more Frenchmen. And this is despite the fact that half the models currently only carry one gun (either a buccaneer rifle, for the Boucaniers, or a pistol, for the Marins).

And what would a band of French Pirates be without a ship?

The sloop Jeanne De Flandre has been painted, although she's still missing her sails. There will be a more indepth photo session, and accompanying blog post, with her once these are finished, but for now, some images of her and her French crew

A ship needs a name. I had an amazing amount of indecision about what to name her, but settled for Jeanne after a moderate wiki-walk (well, I settled for Jeanne de [something] surprisingly soon into the wiki-walk, but the [something] was harder to find). Thank you to everyone in the Blood & Plunder Facebook page who helped me with naming suggestions. We'll see of I'll get another French ship and use Choucas for her, or if the name gets used on an English ship instead.

She's armed with 6 cannons, either light or medium guns that can be easily exchanged and are secured by magnets. I need to work on the ideal placement of these magnets, since the light cannons are sitting a bit far back right now, though.

She can also have up to 6 swivel guns. These are also secured by magnets, though some more securely than others. Hoepfully I've learnt something for the next ship.

Yes, that flag is white. No, it does not mean they're surrendering. No, you're not amusing by pulling that joke. Go over there and tell it to them (and watch them fire you. Out of a gun).

I can already hear the jokes, but I'm too much of a sticker for historical accuracy to use another french flag. Thankfully, the flag can easily be replaced, and I will most likely make a pure red one to use as an alternative, for piratical No Quarter.

/Fool out, time to paint some Englishmen

Blood & Plunder: No Peace Beyond the Line

As one can guess from the headline, the kickstarter for the first expansion of Blood & Plunder, No Peace Beyond the Line, has launched. And was funded in 79 minutes (I did say it would be less than 12 hours... and that was in case they had a truly ambitious funding goal). It has since then merrily trundled along and is slowly gathering up stretch goals.

Image by Firelock Games.

So, what's included in the kickstarter? Well, the main draw is the two new major "nations", the Dutch and the Native Caribbeans, and of course an expansion book with various new and interresting ways to play the game. There are also new generic miniatures and forces, that can either be used to expand one of the other nations, or as their own forces as stand in for any of the minor nations that haven't yet gotten their own rules.

Everything I say within this post, especially when trying to describe the new stuff, is to be taken with a grain of salt, since it's mostly rumours, hearsay and the impressions I've gotten from when the good folks at Firelock Games have been writing about it, and can of course be changed between now and release date. So it might be completely wrong, but I don't think so.

Image by Firelock Games.

First of, the ones that initially had me the most excited: the Dutch. These will be available as "sailors" and "militia", just as most other nations, and will presumable be focused in a similar way between "mostly land-based" and "amphibious". Rumour has it that they will be sailors beyond all others, even the "land-based" versions, and will excel at close to very close range, and/or be a very resilient force.

The dutch will not only be available as a separate nation, but can also be used as allies with the French, the English, or, as Ostenders, with the Spanish. And units will of course be available for the unaligned.

Image by Firelock Games.

The other new "nation" is the Native Caribbeans. The indigenous population of the Caribbean islands did not go down without a fight, and were in fact known to swim out to passing ships, intending (and surprisingly often, succeeding at) taking it. They will not have as much staying power as their european enemies, but will instead rely on ambushes, skirmishing and fading into the jungle once things go tough. They have limited access to modern equipment, such as firearms, and can only field smaller boats (the largest being the Piragua, also launched with this kickstarter). To compensate, they'll be the only ones capable of swimming (meaning they can move models through deep water).

Just as the Dutch, they will not only be fieldable as their own force, but also taken as allies with the various other nations.

Image by Firelock Games.

Finally, there is the new generic forces. First of these is the European Land Forces, with a mix of musketeers, cannon crew (and a cannon on a field carriage) and cavalry. These will mostly be useful with various land forces, since neither horses nor guns on field carriages will be all that useful on a ship. That said, nothing has so far prevented the "sailing" factions to field land armies, so they might find a fair bit of use surrounded by sailors.

Image b y Firelock Games.

 And then there is the Pirates and Privateers, with sailors, sailors armed with muskets, sailors armed with blunderbusses, sailors armed with explosives, and sailors servicing a cannon. One can kind of detect a theme with this force...

Both of the generic forces can either be fielded as their own force (European Land Force or Pirates and Privateers, depending on your inclinations), or seamlessly integrated into the already existing nations (I assume the Dutch are included in this, but not the Native Caribs). When fielded by their own, they will serve as one of the minor players of the Caribbean, such as the Portugese (though these could feasibly be represented by the Spanish), Prussians, or (and this is where I get excited for real), the Danes or the Swedes (!!).

Image by Firelock Games

There will also, of course, be new ships. The Piragua, mentioned above, is the smallest ship, with only a single deck and minimal armament (well, more than a longboat, but not even close to what real ships could bring to bear). It was used by the natives, but also by pirates and privateers, who favored it for its small size (making it harder to hit) and agility, especially around islands).

On the other end of the scale, there is the massive Galleon. Built by Spain and the wet dream of plunder for any pirate, these huge ships will be, in scale, more than half a meter in length, with 4 decks and a devastating 14 cannon broadside. Approach with caution.

Finally, the Fluyt is of middling size, at least compared to the ginormous Galleon. Of course, middling size compared to a Galleon still isn't all that small, and it appears to be of comparable size to the larger ships currently offered by Firelock Games, the Brigantine and the Light Frigate. And believe me, that still isn't small.

Image by Firelock Games.

Since the kickstarter's managed to reach $100,000, canoes will also be made available as an even smaller boat, supposedly even smaller than the longboats currently available (but more robust).

There will also be a grand total of 5 new Legendary Commanders, for both old and new nations.

• Laurens de Graff for the French
• Captain Kidd for the English, and can also be used by the Unaligned
• Juan Corso for the Spanish
• Piet Heyn for the Dutch
• King Golden Cap for the Caribs

Sadly, not much is currently known about how they will act and interact with their forces and the game.

And finally, because I am utterly amazed at how mindboggingly huge the Galleon is:

Image by Firelock Games.

Those tiny little specks on the decks are 28mm figures... I have no idea how to transport this once I've got it and it's painted (because of course I'm getting the galleon), but that problem will have to be solved.

/Fool Out, time to find out if there existed any Scanian pirates

Blood & Plunder - Commanders

Time for me to ramble some more about Blood & Plunder. Specifically, Commanders, how they work, and what options there exist for them. Commanders can roughly be divided into generic, historical and legendary Commanders, and most factions have access to some version of these.

Spanish Commander. Image from Firelock Games.

Each Commander is defined by his Command Points, Command Range and eventual special rules. He must be joined with a unit (specifically, a Core Unit) when the game begins, and cannot voluntarily leave that unit while it is alive. He gains all the special rules of the unit he's joined to and that unit in turn gain all applicable special rules of the Commander (there are a few rules that only applies to the commander himself), as long as he's part of that unit. He also gains the stats of the unit he's part of, such as Shoot value, Saves and Resolve, but not the equipment. Instead, he has his own equipment, in most cases a Standard Melee Weapon and one or several Pistols.

Command points are extra actions that can either be used by the Commanders unit, or given out to other units within the Commanders Command Range, who then act during the activation of the Commanders unit. This allows for several more or less sneaky things. An extra chance for units to rally and come back into the fight, fire their weapons without potential negative effects, fight a melee combat outside of their turn and thereby be ready to do smething else (or charge into a new melee combat) when they activate are only some of the possibilities.

English Commander. Image from Firelock Games

First of, the generic Commanders. These come in 3 different versions for each faction (and every faction have these, with the Unaligned factions sharing Generic Commander with the English or French)

• Untested Commander for no points, who provides the bare minimum 1 Command Point, minimal Command Range and no special rules
• Experienced Commander for some points, who has 2 Command Points, better Command Range and one Special Rule
• Seasoned Commander, more expensive, also with 2 Command Points, but even better Command Range and additional Special Rules

French peacock commander.
Image from Firelock Games.

Then, there are the Historical Commanders, based on real people who commanded militia, buccaneers or what have you. These are roughly comparable to Experienced or Seasoned Commanders, both in cost and abilities. Most factions have two to choose between. The Brethren of the Coast are limited to one Historical Commander, who they share with the French Buccaneers. The French Caribbean Militia and the Logwood Cutters, possibly due to being a late web-based addition, have none. Rumour has it that the currently ongoing kickstarter (I'll write a blogpost to gush about that later) will have more Historical Commanders for all the factions, both new and old.

The Historical Commanders who are currently in the game, and some of their abilities, are

• Don Francisco can command the Spanish Guarda Costa and provides an option of a spanish force that is more resistant to battle, at the cost of them being not as merciless once the enemy is on the ropes.
• Philip Fitzgerald, an Irish catholic privateer in spanish service, can command the Spanish Guarda Costa, and offers a force that truly hates the English, gaining a bonus whenever they're fighting any of the English factions.
• Mateo Alonso de Huidobro is an option for the Spanish Militia, and provides that force with some much-needed nautical help if one is so inclined. He's also one of only two non-Legendary Commanders with 3 Command Points.
• Cristobal Arnaldo de Issasi offers a sneakier option for the Spanish Militia, with several special rules that promotes a hit-and-run tactic.

Alternative English Commander
Image by Firelock Games.

• Robert Searle can command the English Buccaneers and his force will gain some additional bonuses in melee combat, promoting a force willing to get in close.
• Barnard Speidryke, strictly speaking a Dutch privateer, but under English flag, offers an alternative for the more nautically inclined English Buccaneers, capable of unleashing deadly broadsides from any ships.
• Colonel Edward Morgan (possibly an uncle of the Captain Morgan) can be in command of an English Militia, and is able to motivate and push that force to do it's utmost, even to the point where he himself may go under from the pressure (not to mention heat).
• Sir Thomas Whetstone, in command of the English Militia, is the other non-Legendary Commander with 3 Command Points. He also provides significant nautical support for the militia, as well as some native allies.
• Alexandre Bras de Fer (Iron Arm) can command the French Buccaneers, and offers a force that can rely a bit more than average on their luck.
• Monbars the Exterminator can command a force of either French Buccaneers, or Brethren of the Coast. In either case, the force can be supplemented by a few (or many, if the player's inclined that way) formerly spanish Milicianos Indios/Native Caribbeans. The force will also hold a burning hatred for the spanish, getting a bonus whenever fighting those factions.

The Lengendary Commanders, finally, are characters that were larger than life and living legends already during their lifetime. They provide an abundance of special rules (most, but not all of them positive) as well as 3 Command Points. Of course, this does not come cheaply, and the Legendary Commanders are the most expensive models one can field. Currently, 3 exist, but more are on the way (5 more are promised in the kickstarter previously alluded to).

Manuel Rivero de Pardal. Image by Firelock Games.

First is Manuel Rivero de Pardal, a portugese privateer who by all appearances saw himself as a bit of a medieval knight. While he himself was by all accounts a great fighter, if a braggart and mediocre poet. The men under him, however, not so much. In one of his most famous battles, against Barnard Speidryke, de Pardals forces suffered significant casualties despite outnumbering them 70 to 18. Numbers still won the day, and Speidryke, as well as half his force, were killed,

He can be in command of any Spanish faction, including his own Los Corsairos de Pardal, a poorly equiped and less experienced version of the Guarda Costa.

Francois L'Olonnais. Image by Firelock Games.

Francois L'Olonnais, real name Jean-David Nau, was a French pirate, well known for his violence and cruelty. He's famous for supposedly, while interrogating (torturing) spanish prisoners, cutting one of them open, pulling out his heart, taking a bite out of it and forcing anothe prisoner to do the same. Needless to say, escapades like this gave him a certain reputaion, and few liked to go against him. Interrestingly enough, his own life was ended when he was captured, killed and subsequently himelf eaten by hostile natives.

L'Olonnais can be chosen as commander for either French Buccaneers or his own Flibustier Nau, a more brutal and close-range alternative to the Buccaneers.

Henry Morgan. Image by Firelock Games.

Last, and arguable greatest, of the Legendary Commanders is Captain sir Henry Morgan. Yes, the Captain Morgan. You might know of him from certain bottles of beverages. He was real. He began his career as a privateer, fresh from Wales to the Caribbean, and he ended his life as Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. During it, he was the only one who managed to sack Panama City (well, strictly speaking, the Spanish burned Panama to not have it fall into his hands whole).

Morgan can command either English Militia, English Buccaneers, Brethren of the Coast (making him the Legendary Commander for the Unaligned, by dint of recruiting a lot of pirates for his expeditions) or his own Morgan's Buccaneers, who can best be described as English Buccaneers with less focus on sailing ships and more on fielding land forces (though still not by all means useless at sea).

Alternative Spanish Commander.
Image by Firelock Games.

There are some Special Rules that are very common among Commanders. Most Experienced or Seasoned Commanders have Inspiring, allowing them to easier get their force back into fighting shape. A few Historical Commanders, as well as the Legendary Commanders, are Very Inspiring, making it even easier. English and French Buccaneer Commanders have a rule named Lead by Example, allowing them a similar but greater effect whenever they and their command unit manage to finish of enemy units. Finally, Seasoned Commanders for the more piratical factions (Guarda Costaand any Buccaneer force), most Historical and Legendary Commanders, as well as, interrestingly enough, the Experienced Guarda Costa Commander, have Broadside, allowing them to better coordinate artillery broadsides from any units activated by their Command Points.

If I can be allowed a bit of theoretical list optimisation (I am yet to play a naval battle, sadly), I suspect that Broadside will be a rule that one will definetely want to have in their force when fielding
larger ships. This will probably provide a significant advantage to the Spanish, who can get by with a cheaper Commander while still having this rule. The difference in cost will not be greater than 2-3 models, but combined with the generally cheaper Spanish units, it might allow the Spanish to field larger ships more easily at lower points.

What I do know is that Inspiring is a very useful rule, allowing a Commander to change a unit from broken and almost beyond their ability to fight at all, into once more being fit for fight and ready to give the enemy a good kicking.

Blood & Plunder - Factions

In my last post about Blood & Plunder, I mentioned that there are 4 nations of 2 factions each. What are these factions, one may ask. Ask no more, I will make everything clear (or clearer, at least. No murkier than a dark and foggy night)

The 4 nations are Spanish (of course, the Caribbean and associated coast lines were called the Spanish Main for a reason), English, French and "unaligned" (a mix of mostly french and english that doesn't really care about the politics of nations). 

A quick word on force composition: each faction have Core Units and Support Units. You can only ever have a maximum of half as many Support Units as you have Core Units. While each faction within a nation have more or less different Core Units, they can usually have the Core Units of the other faction as Support Units, thereby allowing you to easily expand your collection to contain two different forces, that may play surprisingly different.

While the game hasn't been out long enough for a true and tested theory of how the different factions work to be formed, and I have not been able to play enough games to get a solid grasp of everything (yet!), some things can be gleaned. I will now try to use this incomplete knowledge to summarise the different factions.

Spanish Lanceros. Image by Firelock Games

The Spanish generally have cheap models, allowing you to field large forces, but at the price of each model not having as much equipment as their english or french counterparts. Their gunpowder is poor, which occasionally causes problems for units armed with pistols or muskets, and they're the only ones currently to field a unit with no ranged weapons at all (the Lanceros, farmers and hunters armed with machetes, knives and lances. They're lethal if they manage to actually use these). Also, they have a tendency to, if given the upper hand in a fight, grab hold and not letting go until they've won. Most of their units are specialised to one degree or another. 

They can be fielded as either Spanish Militia, protecting one of the many spanish settlements in the Caribbean (or invading their neighbours), or as Guarda Costa, the coast guard. The coast guard might not sound overly exciting, but when your superior is of the opinion that any ship transporting goods made, mined or grown "here" and not flying your flag is an obvious smuggler, and any settlement not flying your flag is equally obviously illegal, things quickly get exciting.

English Freebooters. Image by Firelock Games

In contrast with the Spanish, the English field fewer, more expensive models that have more and better equipment. Their units are more generalist to the spanish specialists (with the exception of their sailors, English Sea Dogs are artillerymen par excellence), and their signature unit, the Freebooter excels at both long and close range shooting, while still not being completely useless once the powder is expended and it's time for swords. When they get to melee, the English seem to be characterised by toughness, they're both more likely to avoid being killed, and to stay put and give it back when they do take a hit.

The English can come as either Militia, who, just as the spanish equivalent, defend their settlements, and occasionally invade their neighbours to preemptively defend their settlement, or they can come as Buccaneers, sailors always willing to assault and capture spaniards wherever they find them (usually under a letter of marque, most often but not always from the english crown or their duly appointed governors of the Caribbean). Interestingly enough, they can have a few french units as Support, as French and English were quite willing to cooperate against the Spanish in the Caribbean (as long as France and England wasn't at war, at least, and possibly even then).

French Boucaniers. Image by Firelock Games

The French, the last of the "real" nations, will most likely field even fewer models than the English, with expensive, but well equiped and trained specialists. The only thing better than a unit of Boucaniers at long range combat, is a cannon (and using artillery for long range is kind of cheating). But if those same Boucaniers are forced into melee combat, they're moderately boned. As a rule of thumb, the French will hit hard, but they can't really take it in return and will rely on never giving the opponent the chance to fight back effectively (games between spanish and french will be... interresting, in every sense of the word).

As the English before them, they can come as Militia (Caribbean Militia, technically) defending (preemptively or not) their settlements, or Buccaneers for the more navally inclined. Just as the English Buccaneers can have French units supporting them, the French Buccaneers can have English units in Support, for much the same reason. Do note that the French Caribbean Militia is not available in the book, but can be downloaded from Firelock Games' homepage.

Flibustiers. Technically French, but can be used by the Undivided.
Image by Firelock Games

Finally, there is the "Unaligned", folks who pledge to no nation but mostly want to live their lives (and make money, peace is optional). They field a combination of English and French units, as well as a few spanish ones. This means that they have mostly expensive(-er) units, but they have the option of making these cheaper, but worse. They do have a good mix between specialists and generalists, allowing players to tailor their force as they want, to a certain degree.

They're also available as "militia" and "sailors". The militia is Logwood Cutters (available on Firelock Games homepage), basically the lumberjack version of poachers (Logwood is both a thing, and was apparently insanely valuable). The sailors are the Brethren of the Coast, pirates who, while more than willing to attack the Spanish under whatever letter of marque they can find, aren't too bothered about the details, nor over whom they actually attack and plunder.

As an addendum, there are special 3 factions (one each for Spain, England and France), that are defined by their commander. The short version is that each nation have a Legendary Commander, and each Legendary Commander can field a force special for something he did. There is Manuel Rivero de Pardal for the spanish, who can field the Corsairos de Pardal, which can be summarized as even cheaper and more plentiful spanish sailors (excellent for crewing the larger ships cheaply). There is Henry Morgan (yes, Captain Morgan, as in the rum), with his Morgan's Buccaneers, basically a slightly mixed up version of the ordinary Buccaneers, but with more Militia (soldiers) and less sailors. And finally, there's Francois L'Olonnais (real name Jean David Nau) and the Flibustier Nau, French Buccaneers with a few limits on the actual sailors, but utterly Ruthless.

Commanders, both normal and Legendary, will get a bigger look at in an upcoming post, as will the different nations once I've managed to get in enough games to get to know them. 

Blood & Plunder - What's this?

So, as I've mentioned: Blood & Plunder. It might be worth it for people to know what it is, and it might be worth it for me to write it down (in part so that I can link this to people, and in part to sort out my thoughts about it).

Image from Firelock Games

The short answer, is that it is an awesome miniatures wargame. The longer answer is that it is a miniature wargame that is

• 28mm or 1/56th scale
• Skirmish-sized, with a force of approximately 20-50 models as "normal"
• Made by Firelock Games
• Historical, and within that based on the 17th century, the so called Golden Age of Piracy, set in the Caribbean (for now, they seem to have plans to expand it). No magic, no lasers, no zombies, only stuff with historical precedence (no, that does not mean that it is "boring")
• Allows for both naval and land warfare with the same ruleset. And in case only one of the forces has a ship, you can play an amphibious scenario
• Interestlingly enough, uses d10 instead of the more common (even ubiquitous) d6

One thing, I would say the thing that makes Blood & Plunder different, special and unique, is how turns are played out. Instead of one player moving their entire army, shooting with it, and then charging into melee combat, as so many other wargames I know (I won't say that all wargames do this, but all the ones I've played do), the game has a card mechanic for which unit is activated. 

Each player draws a number of cards equal to the number of units in their force. These cards can be the specialised cards provided by Firelock Games, or they can be from a deck of ordinary playing cards if you're willing to reference the rulebook a bit more. Each player then choose one card and plays it face down. These cards are revealed, and depending on which suite each card is, one or the other player activates a unit first (the other player(s) gets to activate a unit with their card afterwards). Spade is the fastest, followed by Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. However, if you play a fast card, the unit will get fewer actions during its activation, with Spades limiting most units to a single action, while Clubs give them 2 or 3 actions, depending on the unit.

Each turn thus constitutes approximately alternating activations for the players, instead of the more common "now I do all my stuff, and then I can go to the bathroom while you do all your stuff". No unit can be activated a second time during a turn, and a turn lasts until all units have been activated. 

The card mechanic opens up several sneaky strategies. One can opt (or at least try to) to activate a unit dead last during one turn, and then activate it first during the next, making it do a rush straight through an area thought to be covered, or doing a rapid surprise reposition (or charge). Of course, it is not without its risks. If your opponent sees what you're doing, he might manage to circumvent it, either by attempting to go after your unit on turn 1, or beating you to the draw and going first on turn 2. In either of these cases, the unit might just get gunned down in the open instead. But no guts, no glory!

Image from Firelock Games

Forces are balanced with the (for wargaming) true and tested method of points-based army lists. Each model is worth a certain number of points, depending on its abilities, equipment and competence. These models are organied into units (where a unit may only ever contain one type of model) and lead by a commander (which I often call a captain). Finally, the force can include cannons (crew for the cannons needs to be bought separately for points) and ships (which, in turn, can be armed with cannons. Crew still bought separately for points).

There are currently 4 "nations", each with 2 different factions, to base your force on. The 4 nations are Spanish (of course), English, French and "unaligned" (a mix of mostly french and english that doesn't really care about the politics of nations). Each of these have one faction of militia, or similar people who mostly will be fighting on land, and one faction of sailors who would expect to fight just as much at sea as on land. While the factions within a nation have a different core of units, they can usually be supported by units more commonly associated with the other faction of their nation, allowing you to easily expand your collection to contain two different forces, that may play vastly differently.

Image by Firelock Games

The first expansion, No Peace Beyond the Line, will launch on kickstarter very soon (in 2 days, as of writing this, and I am madly excited), and will add at least Dutch and native Caribs to the mix, as well as expansion boxes (sailors and military), that apparently can be fielded as generic armies of their own.

Introduction

Who am I, what is this and so on

Easiest question first, what is this? Quite simple, it's my blog :p

For a slightly less silly answer, it is (hopefully) where I will put up pictures of what I've painted for the various miniature wargames that I play. From time to time, I might also post reviews of kits, rules and other stuff enjoyed by such a hobby. These might include rants, minor or major, when I find stuff that is, in my opinion, utterly stupid. These might also be somewhat rambly, given that I am rambly by nature.

Miniatures! (Specifically, Spaniards for Blood & Plunder)

Do note, I do not proclaim to be a great painter, I lack the patience required for that. What I aim for is "good enough for the tabletop". Sure, I add details that would not be noticed at such a distance, but that is for my personal amusement and relaxation, not because it will be good.

Miniature wargames, you say? Well, as any miniature wargamer knows, it's not enough to specify miniature wargames as your hobby, you need to specify which miniature wargame(s) you mean, and usually which factions within those as well. There might be a (somewhat rambly) post about it in the future, but the short if it: I have played Warhammer 40k (as Tau and Orks). That was how it started, but I have since left it for various reasons. I played Flames of War for a significant amount of time, but recently (as of their latest edition and the releases following that) I've found that I no longer agree with that game. Have a lot of armies, but the main ones are Aussies, for EW and MW in the desert, Germans (two armies, panzers for EW in the desert and Paner Lehr Panzergrenadiers for LW in Normandy) and a metric arse-ton of americans (I can field pretty much everything not too esoteric or airborne for LW... and a few of the esoteric lists as well). I've got 2 SAGA armies, Normans and Vikings, and the latest hotness: Blood & Plunder (this will get a larger post later... or several), where I can field pretty much all kinds of factions that are expected at sea, though only the spanish Guarda Costa is currently painted.

There might also be posts dealing with my other hobbies aside from wargaming. That mostly means role playing games, but occasional LEGO kits and MOCs* might appear, as well as nature photography if I get the camera out. While I am an avid reader, I will most likely not post much about books/authors here, unless they relate to any of the above (the one thing that would make me post about it, has sadly already happened. GNU Terry Pratchett).

A note on photography: just as I am not a great painter, I am not a great photographer. Once more, I lack the patience necessary for that. What I do have, is a decent camera (when I remember to bring it, and isn't reduced to using my smartphone) and an ability to find enjoyment while behind it. Possibly some natural inclination to not be completely shit at it, but that might in part be because I use the shotgun technique (take enough pictures, and some of them will turn out good enough).

Lilacs. They do have certain significance for me, partly due to Pratchett (if you don't know, read Night Watch... hell, if you don't know, read Night Watch and all the books preceding it, fall in love with Pratchetts books, and read them all)

The intention is to try to update at least once every week. But I make no promises, that way I won't break them.

What is this not? Intentions and all that, but it's not a personal diary. My personal life is intended to be just that, personal. I will try to keep politics out of it (it's just not something that interrests me, even though it probably should). In fact, anything happening in the "real world" will most likely not make it this far, unless and how it affects aforesaid hobbies.


Who am I then? (allow me my delusion of grandeur in assuming that someone who isn't family or a friend will read this)

Me, as represented in LEGO.

A guy, most often in a hat (I have several hats, and am rarely without at least one of them). At times, a bit of a fool (especially when it comes to new and shiny miniatures and/or rules). Swedish, if that matters. This means that while I like to think that I am quite good at english, it is not my native language, and mistakes will occur. Apologies for those. Of course, some times those mistakes are just misspellings. Apologies for those as well.


/Fool in a Hat out

*MOCs: "My Own Creations", that is LEGO that I've built with no instructions (I am not sure what major modifications counts as, but those might appear as well)

(Oh, and yeah, footnotes will occur from time to time. Blame Pratchett for those)