This year at Historicon 2026, returning champ Howard brought a very effective Iroquois list to the table and went 3-0 to take first-place. He’s graciously shared his list and some thoughts on how he built it.
If you’d like to read a recap of the full event, you can also find that here at DMC.
Article by Howard Hagan
I started playing Blood and Plunder three years ago, with the Dutch Militia as they interested me the most of the European faction at the time. This year, I felt comfortable enough with the rules to try out a Native force, transferring over many of the lessons I learned. After much theoretical list building and a few test games, I settled on an Iroquois: Onondaga list from ‘Raise the Black’ for Historicon.
Raiding Party!
List Building Approach
For Blood and Plunder, my general approach is to maximize my army size; both in regards to total models and total units. In all three rounds I had a higher model count than my opponents, which allowed me to come out ahead on Strike Points.
Maximizing my unit count improved my odds of drawing a Spade on a “Go” turn for my Warriors, especially when combined with the option of spending a Fortune Point to redraw my Activation Cards.
I generally won’t take units at fewer than five models, as I have found that to be a sweet spot of survivability. I typically will cap out my largest unit at eight models even at 200+ points as any unit can still Rout if they hit 7 Fatigue.
Warriors Come Out to Plaaaay!
One of the first considerations was wanting a faction combining both Warriors and the “new” Native units, which is how I first settled on playing an Iroquois list. The exact subfaction selection came later.
Warriors are one of the best melee units in the game, and in my experience melee is the most consistent way to remove models.
The combination of Quick and Veteran allows you to play a ♠ and charge a unit 12″ away (without taking Fatigue) before your opponent has a chance to Reload or Rally.
I also included an Officer Fighting Man, to either increase that range to 16 inches or to squeeze a third action out of the activation. Skirmish allows the unit to safely disengage if the charge doesn’t destroy or at least Shake the target unit, with Sidearm Muskets primarily to discourage being charged.
The Brave and the Bold
Having Braves as a Core unit for carrying muskets was of greater concern. I absolutely did not want to have to rely on Slow Reload Warrior Muskets for my ranged damage. I was equally wary of Poorly Equipped, but in practice I found it pretty easy to work around. ♣ can be used to activate the units of Young Braves, the Warriors when they weren’t prepped for a charge, or a unit of Braves that had other, non-shooting actions to take, such as Reloading, Rallying, or Moving.
I took Young Braves as my archer units to save on points. While I could have swapped one unit of Young Braves to Warrior Archers (for the cost of a single Brave), I didn’t want to have to try to remember which bow-armed unit was which.
Command & Conquer
After settling on the Iroquois (RtB), I was limited in my options for commander.
Peter Brant was tempting between Inspiring and Guerilla Commander, but only an 8” Command Range led me to rule him out.
The Seasoned Standard Native American Commander was similarly ruled out, as they don’t have two commander options worth taking. Too many of the Standard Native Commander options focus on making the single command unit better, which isn’t as beneficial as improving multiple units.
Granting units Skirmish with Guerilla Commander was an easy decision, as it benefits all the shooting units in the army. Moving Braves inside 12” to be able to trigger Ball & Shot, then moving back to protect them from return fire with Hidden is very strong.
Taking a 5 point Musician gave me Inspiring to help with Fatigue, and Terror was a potential upside. It only netted me two pre-game Fatigue, but it was also insurance against an opponent bringing a Musician of their own.
Final Considerations
At last, I decided to take the Onondaga sub-faction option for the list. I already had plenty of Core units, allowing me to bump my Young Braves to Support, and I gained Careful Planning for free.
And that’s the list. Of course, a big thing with any list is just getting reps in, and making sure you remember all the special rules and how to apply them!