Habitants & Highlanders

I found another set of French and Indian War rules that look like a must read – Habitants & Highlanders by Bruce McFarlane from The Canadian Wargamers Group.

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Live from the Battlefield

This post originally appeared on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Blog on February 17, 2017.

As we get into the year, work has picked up considerably for me. That said, I’ve been more or less sticking to my painting schedule.

Given the recent demands on my time, the five figures below didn’t get to make a stop in my tabletop light box before ending up on the tabletop battlefield at the club.

Here we have more figures from the Conquest Miniatures French and Indian War line. There’s an officer to the left. three marching soldiers in the center and an ensign on the right who, without a flag, makes a good unit commander.

The expeditious deployment to the field saw these figures routing some British regulars and colonial provincials in a Friday night game of Muskets & Tomahawks. It made for a rousing end to a long week of work.

I have six or seven more of these left to paint along with some Woodland Indians and Canadian Militia from Wargames Factory before I move on to another genre.

Until next time…

Branching Paths

This post originally appeared on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Blog on January 13, 2017.

I jumped the gun earlier this week with my first entry into the challenge for fear of missing next week’s deadline. Now, that I’m more in the swing of things, I wanted to try to get a few more figures in this week.

First up is Snorri the smith, leader of our traveling trio of itinerant craftsdwarves.

Next up is Hár the stone mason. Both he and Snorri are from the same Games Workshop Dwarf Rangers box set from which their friend Borri hailed. I love the cloaks and the poses of these sculpts. My only complaint is, as they’re one piece figures, it’s difficult to field more than one box on the table and not have things look redundant.

Finally, here’s a French Regular from Conquest Miniatures. I’ve been slowly working on my Canadian wilderness force for Muskets & Tomahawks, but it’s been slow going. I think I first got started on a militia unit in August of last year. Well, I just found out that my friend Brian is moving back to the UK soon and that we’ll be sending him off with a big game of M&T at the club, so there’s no time like the present to get these Canadians done.

My previous experience painting uniformed troops involved ACW Confederates and WWII U.S. Paratroopers – i.e. lots of butternut and olive drab respectively. Eighteenth century regular units are an entirely different challenge. I can’t wait to see a finished unit in formation!

Next week will be more of the same branched paths with dwarves, wargs and Dark Ages/fantasy warriors on one hand and French regulars on the other.

French Regular Infantry

I recently completed my first French Regular Infantry figure for Muskets & Tomahawks. My complete force will consist of Canadian Militia and Huron Indians as well.

The French Regular Infantry figures are produced by Conquest Miniatures and sold in a box set by Warlord Games. I picked mine up off the shelf at the Brooklyn Strategist. However, if I had a chance to do it again (or buy more – which is more probable), I’d buy directly from Conquest Games as the box set has a drummer and a couple of standard bearers that I don’t need.

French Regular Infantry from Conquest Miniatures
This is the first time I painted a figure with a uniform of this nature. In the past, my uniformed figures have been Confederates or World War II U.S. Airborne – or, to put it another way, butternut and olive drab.

To help get things right, I referred to Osprey Publishing’s British Redcoat vs French Fusilier: North America 1755-63. There’s an excellent spread on pages tk-tk that shows both the front and back view of a French Fusilier along with a legend describing his gear.

Here’s a bit more context from Osprey:

Providing a unique glimpse into the experiences of regular British and French infantry during the French and Indian War, Stuart Reid reveals what it was like to fight in three battles at the height of the struggle for Canada: La Belle-Famille, the Plains of Abraham and Sainte-Foy. In 1755, Britain and France both decided to escalate a low intensity frontier war that had started the previous year by dispatching regular troops to their respective colonies in North America. Far from home, both sides’ equipment and tactics were initially more suited to the European theatre. As the war ground on, however, combat doctrine evolved as both armies learned lessons that would be utilized by succeeding generations of soldiers. Packed with first-hand accounts, dramatic illustrations and a technical analysis of the changing nature of warfare on the American continent, this book puts readers in the shoes of the combatants who played a pivotal role in shaping the future of North America.

I haven’t had a chance to read much of the book. But, I do have a lot of French Regulars to paint, so I’m sure I’ll read the whole thing before it’s over.

Muskets & Tomahawks

I played my first game of Muskets & Tomahawks today. As many of you already know, it was a blast.

There were three players on each side running two units each as well as an officer. I commanded a unit of colonial militia, a crack unit of rangers, and a British officer.

British Regulars face off with Compagnie Franche De la Marine