Pirates. Who doesn’t love Pirates? Ok, maybe deep inside I’m a 10 year old boy. And you know what? I don’t care. I like to play make believe, I like to play with toys. It is who I am. My wife mostly doesn’t care, even if she doesn’t understand it. My kids like to play with me on occasion.
Recently, I got invited to play test some new material for Blood and Plunder. It’s a period I have been excited about for a few years. One of the creators I follow, Battlecat Miniatures has a bunch of Napoleonic minis, and I found I really enjoy the painting the colorful uniforms.
Playing mini wargames is always more fun with friends, but sometimes you need to just learn a ruleset. Sometimes you don’t have time to get together and play a large wargame.
Blood and Plunder uses a card based activation system. You draw a draw a card for every unit you have on the table, and then each player picks a card to activate. I find this makes playing solo a lot easier. I deal out a hand of cards, and then blind play them.
Solo play is never going to be as satisfying as playing against a real opponent, but it is a great way to playtest, and to learn a new ruleset.
Michael DiBaggio