I don’t like to review factions that I don’t have experience with; and I rarely play Plunder on Land, except for tournaments. I have played few Land games since the Red For Reformado list won at Historicon ’24, but I determined that my next competitive force would be something different. With the latest errata on cover saves, I was drawn to the cheap Warrior Musketeers, and from there to an lesser-known and under-utilized faction; the Miskito Zambo. With 2 tournament wins under my belt with my Miskito force, (including 1st place at Adepticon) – I feel confident in sharing my thoughts on the faction.
Why Play Miskito? The Elevator Pitch
The Miskito are a unique faction with a colorful historical background. Would-be slaves turned slave-raiders, the Miskito are peerless hunters of men. Their playstyle reflects this – pressuring the opponent with guerilla tactics, waiting for them to make a mistake. When they do, the Miskito spring their trap, leaping in to make the kill. This faction is the bane of Natives, outplaying them at their own game and even ignoring Hidden.
If role of patient hunter appeals to you, or you want to play a tactically advanced force that is more than the sum of it’s parts – then read on as we try get to grips with the wily Miskito Zambo.
Contents
History: The Slaves Who Would Be King
Force Special Rules
Command Options
– King Jeremy II
Force Building & Tactics
Miskito at Sea
Collecting Miskito
Final Thoughts & Further Reading
The Slaves Who Would Be King – History
In the mid-17th century, a slave ship —likely bound for one of the Spanish colonies— was caught in a storm and wrecked off the treacherous shores near Cape Gracias a Dios, where present-day Honduras meets Nicaragua. The surviving Africans swam ashore to the remote, jungle-fringed coastline.
There, they encountered the indigenous Miskito Kingdom, the tribal federation which ruled the Mosquito Coast. The Africans, unable to return home and with no European settlements nearby, were taken in by the Miskito. This merging of African and indigenous cultures gave rise to a unique society which married the Miskito language and customs with West-African warrior culture. The Spanish called these people Miskito Zambo. In the Spanish racial hierarchy, a ‘Zambo’ or ‘Sambu’ is someone with mixed African and Indigenous heritage.
By the 18th century, the Zambo had become central to the Miskito kingdom’s military and external diplomacy, particularly in dealings with the British. Their leaders often acted semi-independently, controlling key territories and maintaining direct trade links with British traders and buccaneers. Zambo warriors participated in raids against Spanish settlements and slave plantations in Nicaragua and Honduras, sometimes even as far inland as Guatemala. During these raids, the Miskito Zambo would capture Spanish colonists, indigenous people, and enslaved Africans.
Ironically, while their ancestors had escaped slavery, the Miskito Zambo enslaved others, particularly Spaniards and rival indigenous groups. At times they even participated in the recapture or resale of African slaves. Some of the captives were traded directly to British slavers, in exchange for weapons and other trade goods.
The Miskito were able to maintain their sovereignty through the late 19th century, in large part because of their alliance with the British. Eventually, their lands were conquered by Nicaragua and Honduras. The tribe persists today, particularly in Honduras, where the government has granted them semi-autonomous control of more than 16 million acres of coastal land, formerly part of the Miskito Kingdom.
Force Special Rules
Despite being predominately Native units, the Miskito Zambo in Plunder fall under the Unaligned nationality, and do not have the full list of Native national rules. At sea, they still only have Size 1 boats, no Artillery, and all of their boats gain Paddles. Their other rules are:
All units gain Skirmishers
All units with Slow Reload replace it with Poorly Equipped at no cost
This force ignores Hidden on opposing units
If this force is the attacker, it may choose to have Limited Visibility: Night in effect
* While not a Force rule, all units in this force also have Scouts naturally
Force-wide Skirmishers is worth more than you might initially expect, because both the Warrior Musketeers and Warrior Archers lack the rule normally.
The option to attack at Night is a trap if you are playing on Land. With Limited Visibility in effect, neither player can “see” more than 12 inches, which means that the Miskito lose the advantage of being Hidden, and also give up their advantage of ignoring Hidden against enemy units.
The only time that I have used the option to attack at Night was when the table had very little terrain, or when most of the terrain was Structures – since Hidden does not work inside of a building or outside of cover.
Command Options
The Miskito Zambo utilize Standard Renegade Commanders, who have a choice of special rules:
Ruthless – I wish that this were Cold Blooded, but it’s still a good choice.
Evade – Warrior Musketeers and Archers already have this rule. This is a low priority rule even on your Command unit.
Elusive – This rule gets your Command unit to a 5+ Shoot Save in cover, which is crazy.
Guerilla Commander – Your units already gain force-wide Skirmisher.
Cunning – This is a “lose less” rule for combat, and I avoid it.
Hidden – African Warriors are the only unit in the force which doesn’t already have this. However, they’re a great Command unit. I prefer Elusive for shooting survival.
Tough – Nerfed by the Errata, and I would rather have Inspiring, but not bad.
Expert Ambushers – Moving while prone is ‘meh’, but command-radius Hard Chargers is really good.
As you can see, the Renegade Commander is not really a “team player,” and is more focused on boosting his personal unit. Which rule you take will mostly depend on which unit your commander chooses to join. In general, Expert Ambushers is a good take, followed by Elusive and Ruthless. Unless you are taking Expert Ambusher, there is little need for a large Command Range; consider taking a 0pt Commander and 10pt Officer, over the 10pt choice.
King Jeremy II
The Miskito had several leaders who went by the name King Jeremy. This iteration of him, however, is the best 20pt Commander that the force has access to. He is well worth those 20 points. Without a Standard Bearer, he is your only access to Inspiring. He also brings along Well Equipped for removing Poorly Equipped from whatever musket unit he decides to join.
The real reason to grab Jeremy though is the 8 inch command bubble of Quick that he grants your units thanks to Mobile. This naturally includes his own unit, but used properly this can be a very potent tool in the Miskito arsenal.
Most of the rest of this guide will assume that you are running Jeremy while playing on land.
Core Units
Warrior Musketeers are the bread & butter core unit for the Miskito. Swapping Slow Reload to Poorly Equipped removes this unit’s largest drawback, and gaining Skirmishers makes them even better. There’s not much point in discussing the merits of this unit, because they’re really your only option for Core in a Miskito force.
African vs. Coromantee Warriors
Both of these units are too expensive to be mainstay units – this is the problem with the Maroon forces. They are only Core so that your commander can choose to join them. Which you choose to field is going to be dependent upon how many points you are willing to burn. In most cases, this will likely be Africans.
Coromantee and Africans have almost identical statlines (Coromantee are Fight 5, Africans 6) and have additional special rules, for which they pay 1pt per model (at equal training). Coromantee are not a bad unit compared to Africans, but most of their benefits are mitigated by the Miskito Zambo special rules. Hidden is really the only consideration here, and I don’t find it to be worth the extra cost. There are tactics which allow African Warriors to basically benefit from Hidden.
Support Units –
Miskito get to choose between two Support units – Warrior Archers, or plain Warriors. I’m only going to pay lip-service to the Warrior Archers.
Warrior Archers in any other list are only “worth it” because Warrior Musketeers with Slow Reload are so bad. In the Miskito, where your Warrior Muskets are only Poorly Equipped. Even using the bows to apply Fatigue has little payoff here, as Miskito lack the Ruthless rule to capitalize on Fatigue.
Warriors however, are a key component of any competitive Miskito list. They are a straightforward melee unit, with a good suite of special rules. It is better to discuss them in the tactics section, to avoid repeating myself here.
Force Building & Tactics
I ran the Miskito for 150 and 200 point tournaments, and my lists differed only a little each time. In every case I ran Jeremy, and while he is expensive at 150, I feel he is worth it. Around Jeremy, the core of the list always remained the same. The narrow unit options, and the force tactics of the Miskito really dictate how the force looks.
Starting with the Command unit – this will likely be African Warriors, with muskets. I didn’t go for Veteran in any of my lists. If you are fielding Jeremy and can get rid of Slow Reload / Poorly Equipped entirely, then there is a limited argument for running a huge unit of Warrior Musketeers to act as a cheap and brutally effective firebase.
More than other lists, King Jeremy’s command unit is the nucleus of a competitive Miskito list; the rest of the force is built literally around this unit. This is because of the limited range of Mobile. The ability to pair Quick with Skirmishers makes your units extremely mobile for their cost.
The Core of the list, working in the shadow of Jeremy’s command range, will be Warrior Musketeers. The combination of Skirmishers and Quick (from Mobile) alongside Evade and Hidden makes these 4pt units nearly untouchable in skilled hands. Being so closely supported allows the units to Skirmish through one another; a useful trick with your African Warriors to hide behind a friendly Hidden unit so that neither can be targeted. Evade also benefits by close proximity; one unit can act as ‘bait’, and then Evade away to draw the opponent into an ambush. With Jeremy’s Command Points, you can spring the trap with multiple units at a time; Warrior Musketeers are Fight 6/8, so you should not be afraid to charge into melee if you think you can overwhelm your enemy on the charge.
Units of 6 Warrior Musketeers are “large enough.” Even in my 200pt list, I preferred to field additional 6-man units, rather than enlarge my existing units to 8 models. This helps you to draw more cards, making sure that you get to see more of those hearts and spades where they matter. It also allows you to spread out Fatigue, which is important as Resolve 6 is the musketeer’s key weakness.
The second constant in your list will be Warriors for melee. Whether you take 1 or 2 units will depend on the size of the game you are playing. Warriors are your ultimate ambush. Veteran Warriors are capable of charging 16″ in a single activation (Quick + Move + Move + Push). You will gain +2 Fatigue charging at this range. Warriors are living missiles.
There is a psychological aspect in this – make sure your opponent knows what your Warriors are capable of. They will hesitate to leave any unit with 2 Fatigue or Unloaded within that 16″ range. When they inevitably do, consider your target carefully; the hunter only gets one shot, after all. You want to make a favorable trade; more points, or perhaps their Commander, in exchange for your Warrior unit. The cheaper you can make this unit, the more likely you are to find that favorable trade. Veteran is one upgrade which I find indispensable, as it translates directly to an additional 4″ of threat range with Quick.
Warriors already have Quick, making them capable of acting on their own, away from Jeremy. They also have no particular need of Command Points, unless they are rapidly repositioning. This gives you some flexibility in deployment. You can place your Warriors to cover an area of the table and deny it to your opponent. You can also deploy them to strike from multiple angles, different to the thrust of your main force. In missions such as Breakthrough which favor mobility, you can use your Warriors’ speed and independence like a “quarterback sneak.” In missions that require an objective-grab, like Take & Hold, your Warriors can race in at the last moment to make the capture.
Miskito at Sea
I have tried this, albeit without much success. Miskito suffer the same issues as the actual Native factions do at sea – they cannot take Size 2 ships or Artillery, and many of their special rules simply stop working.
If you want a list for your Miskito to occupy at sea, the Brethren commander Monbars the Exterminator can take Warriors and Warrior Musketeers in his list; this reflects a historically accurate alliance between Monbars and the Miskito.
Collecting Miskito
For the time being, the best way to collect Miskito officially from Firelock is to buy the plastic Native Warrior kit and assemble them from that, unless you want African Warrior Archers. This is somewhat frustrating as the kit only has enough muskets for 8 out of your 12 models. Count on this when planning your force; 3 kits would net you 24 musketeers and 12 Warriors with thrown weapons (spears).
The Native kit comes with 12 African heads. I chose to build my force as fully African, but you could easily mix in the Tawira, indigenous “straight-haired” Miskito. The two tribes did fight together, and the Africans blended quickly with the Native population, much like the Black Caribs / Garifuna.
For conversions, and to make my force look like they enjoyed trade with the Europeans, I converted several of the models. The plastic Sailor kit has some African heads, but also has bodies that are wearing real clothes! It also has plenty of hats, so I gave a few of my guys hats from the kit. I couldn’t stop thinking of the scene in Disney’s Peter Pan where a few of the Natives are shown wearing tophats and bowlers. Models that have separate front and back loin clothes can have pants sculpted on with Greenstuff relatively easily.
I painted their skin with a mixture of colors; AP Leather Brown, Dirt Spatter, and Oak Brown over white base coats, with washes of either Strong Tone, Agrax Earthshade, or Drakenhof Nightshade. If you’re looking for a Speedpaint for the skin, AP Noble Skin or Dark Wood both work well.
Final Thoughts & Further Reading
The Miskito are a fascinating and less-explored part of colonial history in the Caribbean. That Plunder even includes them as a playable faction in really unique in Historical Games. After 2 tournaments with the list, plus the prep games, it has become one of my favorite forces that I’ve built for the game. If you want to read up on my actual Adepticon tournament list, and how the list performed, that article is also cross-linked here at DMC.