Saturday, July 18, 2020

Blood and Plunder - First Game & Impressions

A somewhat spontaneous game of Blood and Plunder happened today.

Dan Kerrick was to come by to pick up some stuff from my place.  He had some time on his hands and I had been speaking with Roy Scaife at the same time who was also otherwise not engaged.  The result, I pulled out some Blood and Plunder stuff and dove right into my first game.

I was able to quickly make a small island
settlement in which to fight over ...
 
I quickly pulled together some terrain.  Buildings I have from Crescent Root Studio, the mat we've used for the Battle of Scariff, and the associated palm trees, etc.  Scatter terrain is also from Crescent Root Studio.

Arrrrgh!  Here be plunder!
(Coins used to mark activated units)

I must count myself remiss - in that I've had the miniatures ready to go for this game for well over a year but have not actually played a game!  Shame.  Shame.  Shame ... march me through the city naked for my insolence!

Before I dig into a few thoughts on the same ... some close up pictures for you all ...








Now that you've seen some eye candy (more to come) ... a few thoughts.

This game is awesome.

We had a blast.  From knowing nothing, we played through our first game - 100 point lists each (the start armies each for England, Spain and France) - from start to finish, in 3 hours.  The rules are extremely well written and laid out ... additionally they are at the exact level of complexity (in that they are not complex, but offer a lot of strategic play options and are not overly dumbed down in any way).

After the first turn it was auto pilot ... even the special rules are easy to remember.  We moved along at a great pace.  Note that we only played a land battle and not a sea battle.  In reading the ship rules, that does add a whole extra layer of stuff in the game.  I do look forward to that though!

Multi-player works.

The activation system moves along.  Our first game was a 3 player game.  Many skirmish systems I've played would fall apart quickly when there are more than 2 distinct sides.  This moved along swimmingly!

It left me wanting more ... a lot more.

You know it's good when you are ordering stuff in the middle of still playing the game ... right?!  Yup ... that exactly what I did ... I ordered additional buildings from Crescent Root Studio ... and more stuff from Firelock Games.

I want to fill out my existing factions more - and finish the factions I have already from the No Peace Beyond the Line Kickstarter.  Oooo ...and ships ... yes!

If you haven't looked at or played this game ... I say take a look - really.

Now for some in game pictures and such from my lovely phone camera ...















I look forward to more here ... much more.  I have the models, ships and such ... it is just a matter of getting more painted/done ... and this game provided some good motivation.

36 comments:

  1. This looks great. Unfortunately after the first two pictures, none of the others would enlarge. It may be my computer but worth checking your end as it increases the enjoyment to get a closer view

    Stephen

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    1. Thanks! That would be the "new" blogger interface ... sometimes the picture uploads don't work properly. I just re-uploaded the pictures and updated - seems to be working fine for me.

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  2. Great looking game!Awesome pictures, miniatures and terrain, you were able to transcribe the spirit of adventure in this superb report for our greatest pleasure!

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    1. Thanks Phil! Had a lot of fun with this one.

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  3. Hi Jay,
    Great looking table, terrain and figures.
    Congratulations
    Cheers
    Mike

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  4. It looks absolutely amazing! Always good to hear when a set of rules really captures the players too, one to look our for.

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    1. Thank you Michael! Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. Looking forward to playing some more.

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  5. Exceptional layout - great to play over with those lovely figures. Cheers Greg (Delta Coy Blog)

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  6. Very cool toys!
    I played a B&P game with ships once. It was a lot of fun. You should get some.

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    1. Thanks James! Funny enough, I have many ships (at least two of each type from the entire range after the last Kickstarter). I have two large bins of unfinished B&P stuff ... pulled it out and started digging through it all ... ships are high on my list of stuff to do now :-)

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  7. Great pictures! Your minis and terrain are fantastic. Murdock has B&P but we have yet to play it.

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    1. Thanks! I've had 4 full factions painted for almost 2 years ... and this was my first game. I really wish I had played it sooner. I'm easily distracted ;-)

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  8. Back for a second look and all worked well.

    I quite fancy the Spanish set but no decision made as yet

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    1. Excellent! I'm partial to the Spanish as well.

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  9. A great looking game Jay...
    A very tempting set of rules and figures and ships...
    I must calm my butterfly.... 😂😂😂
    I have enough to do... at the moment.
    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! Lol, I know the feeling. I'm easily distracted. Saw 2 games of Napoleon in Egypt recently ... doing my best to pretend I didn't see them :D

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  10. Quickly pulled so terrain together :-)
    Fantastic looking table and figures.. sounds like a real blast.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Lol, honestly ... was just stuff laying around. Gotta do a proper setup for it :) Thanks Stu!

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  11. "Just stuff laying around", he says,. and comes up with this completely awesome looking table. Arrrr, and a fine job it be, matey!

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  12. That is one gorgeous looking game as well as sounding great fun. Well done.

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  13. That looks fantastic and appears you all had a good time so wins all around.

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    1. Thanks Paul! I got completely wiped off the board, and loved it lol

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  14. Magnificent terrane, a wonderful game!

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  15. Stop copying my game ideas dammit 🤣
    Absolutely brilliant table as usual Jay! Glad to see you finally get B&P on the tabletop and into the blogsphere - I, and everyone else, can't wait to see what you do with those monster 28mm ships though! That is going to be nothing short of epic 😀

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    1. Brothers from different mothers! Lol ... or perhaps great minds think alike? I still claim our "cycles" are sync'd, lol!

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  16. Power outage from storms for two days and just catching up.

    The local club here likes this game as well, but I've resisted collecting another period. Of course that goes right out the window when I see your nice table setup and beautiful miniatures. Sigh, the life of a hobbyist never ends...

    Cheers
    Kevin

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    1. Yikes! Well glad to hear you have power back Kevin. If it helps, the starter sets for this game, 25 figs each, make for a fun game. With the terrain from Crescent Root, which can easily double for Spain, it is fairly easy to get up and running.

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  17. Fantastic scenery and photos Jay. Your camera gives really clear pictures.

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