So, on Wednesday I received the long-awaited Kickstarter from Firelock Games, Blood and Plunder.  This was a very successful Kickstarter, which in my opinion is a great example of what a Kickstarter campaign should be.

From the very start, the images on their page were beautiful and attractive.  The tabletop they made to display their models was just stunning.  The Caribbean waters of their little board attracted me to the game and it wasn’t available to me!

Furthermore, the folks at Firelock added interesting well-made videos showing not just their models but describing gameplay.  Their communication during the actual campaign and throughout their fulfillment has been very good and open.

I wish that I had the money to buy more when I joined, but the level I supported at provided me with the rules, all of the game aids for play, one faction, and one ship.  Fortunately, my pal Chris with the Williamsburg Legati was also participating in the Kickstarter and would purchase an opponent force.  I chose the Guarda Costa as my faction and the basic sloop as my vessel.  I am beginning to regret that I didn’t upgrade to the Frigate, and suspect I will be ordering one of those soon!  Chris went for the obvious British Buccaneers.

So what was in my box?  I received a beautiful hardback copy of the rule book with a QRS sheet and some further clarifications of the artillery rules placed inside of it.  While there are templates printed in the back of the book it would have been nice to have a cardstock copy of that to simply cut out.  There were two little burlap bags that contained the game dice, several custom D10s and the marker dice (d6s marked to represent various game statuses).  A nationality specific deck of cards to activate the models (a regular playing deck can be used).  All the cards that describe the abilities of all the different models.  The Guarda Costra miniatures, 25 prebased figures to make up my force. Of course the plastic resin sloop. Addons I received included a number of different leader and hero miniatures, a second set of heavy guns for the sloop, and some detailing accessories for the boat.

All of the components are very well made, but the sloop deserves special notice.

The casting is very clean, I just need to trim off a small amount of flash in the gun ports.  Having actually sailed late 16th century vessels, I was pleased to see how much of spars and masts are actually represented.

In this scale it would not be to great a challenge to increase the detail if interested, by adding dead eyes and fife rails and such.  With the sloop being fore and aft rig, I don’t expect that this will clutter gameplay to much, that might be less true on the other vessels however,

At least one of my friends participated in this Kickstarter at a lower lever just to gain ships for his Sharp Practice 2 game.  Not a bad idea, and I already know that this sloop will find itself in such a circumstance as well.  Have to decide how to keep my flags interchangeable!

If you missed this Kickstarter you are not out of luck.  I noticed that they are offering pre-ordered offers on their webpage already.  this is presently limited to U.S. costumers but I imagine that will change later.

Very well done Firelock Games!

 

Cheers,

Ron