“We are many. they are few. to fear death is a choice. and they can’t hang us all” – Charles Vane; Black Sails
There are seven core factions in Port Royal, each based historically on groups that would flock to the wicked city following its destruction to salvage what plunder they could. While each of the Factions can be built to fit any play style of the player, each has unique abilities and advancement opportunities that allow them to excel in different areas. Each has two faction abilities that give their crews powerful boons during gameplay.
Further flavor is found in 4 Officer and 4 Crew options from which players can build their crews from. Below you will find brief introductions to each Faction with deep dives available for each faction on their overview page. Here you can find analysis into Character Options, Example Crew Member Names, and even a starter list to get you into the action quickly!
Official Port Royal Factions
French Buccaneers
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- A mid-range faction with powerful melee capabilities with Hard Chargers Keyword on many characters
- Specialized Musket Crew Character allows for sniper covering fire.
- A once-per-game ability to Reload the whole Company’s Guns for action economy.
- Officers gain a weapon for free, allowing for more extended loadouts from the campaign start.
Carib Raiders
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- Quintessential Stealth/Guerrilla faction with strong offensive melee capabilities.
- Very defensively strong at range and against opposing Reactions with consistent Concealment abilities.
- Weak defensively in melee combat.
Dutch Kapers
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- Disciplined and orderly. They have multiple Drilled units allowing them to concentrate fires.
- Several units have Hard Chargers and are a threat in Melee.
- Knife Fighters faction bonus, ignoring the Inaccurate Weapon Trait on Daggers.
- Stubborn and tenacious, they don’t give up and shrug off fatigue to stay in the fight.
Spanish Guarda Costa
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- Keep it Reale with strong melee capabilities.
- Ruthless keyword across board allows you to punish enemies.
- Core fighting forces of Corsairs and Biscayers have strong stat-lines for their cost.
- Rewards smart positioning of Characters with a powerful once-a-game tempo swing move of Santiago! to take advantage of holes in an opponent’s defenses.
Maroons
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- Fast. Easy Access to the Quick Keyword gives free 2-inch movements on the majority of available units
- The Maroons serve as the Guerilla Combat Faction.
- Faction Abilities give free 4-inch movements at both the start of the game and as a “Once a Game” ability.
- As Master Skirmishers, once per game, you may spend 2 Fortune Points to give every character in this company a free Move action.
Jamaican Pirates
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- As a well-armed faction, all officers get a single free weapon.
- Intimidating. Once per game, you may spend 2 Fortune Points to give all characters the Terror Special Rule for 1 Turn.
- Units split between two archetypes: Brawlers for up-close combat and Marksmen for long-range sniping.
Forces of the Crown
Strengths and Archetypal Role:
- Long-Range Musket Force
- Easy access to Drilled Keyword for accurate and rapid musket fire.
- Can be built as a Militia-based Horde Faction or an Elite Soldier Faction
- Fatigue Management: prevention, rather than removal
- Can transition to melee focus with Bayonets giving potent charge-based melee capabilities, impaling enemies.
Unofficial Port Royal Factions
The following is a collection of fan-made Factions that give the option for a bit more fantasy in your games
Coming Soon!
Additional Content Suggestions
- What are the differences between Port Royal and Blood & Plunder?
- Pickup your copy of Port Royal from Firelock Games today