Rangers, Compagnies Franches, and American Indians

I made several additions to my "French and Indian Wars" forces in anticipation of a game on Saturday, February 16.  I guess I needed an incentive to get these figures painted.  They will reinforce my Britannian and Gallian field forces.

The first group are 12 American colonial rangers from the old Conquest line (now made by Warlord Games), packs C and D.  They will join the rangers from packs A and B that I had already painted to form a ranger company.

The figure on the left with the map will actually be a senior officer for my Britannian force.

The second group are Blue Moon's French box from their "Drums in the Ohio Valley" range.  These are rather large figures with a large circular base.  I had to mount them on 1" square bases.  They are a varied lot of Compagnies Franches de la Marine colonial infantry.  Theses units were raised by the French Navy who had jurisdiction over the overseas French colonies.  they join two other previously painted units.

The figure in the tricorne in the center will actually be a senior officer for my Britannian force.

And finally I have a "hand me down" unit of Gallian "courier de bois" (woods runners) and Huron Indians manufactured by Frontier Miniatures which no longer exists (unfortunately to my mind).  The Hurons are armed with bows, muskets, and tomahawks.  Along with their Gallian associates, they will be the Red Rock Clan.  We think that they were painted either by the late Mark "Doc Ord" Stevens or by the late Andrew Doyle.  They were gifted by Mark to my friend Lord Sterling who then gifted them to our friend Steve H.  Not having a need for northeastern woodland Indians, Steve then gifted them to me.  They are mounted on US pennies so I glued them to 3/4" washers to give them some additional height since almost all my French and Indian War figures are 28mm in size.  I still need to do some touch-up painting on their bases.

The Red Rock Clan with their Gallian associates

Here are a couple of close-ups of the figures:

Courier de bois leader

Huron Indians, showing base label

I'll be posting pictures of my game on Saturday at a later date for your enjoyment.

Rangers, Frontiersmen, and Iroqouis Warriors

Joining Major Rogers (see yesterday's post) are the rest of his American Colonial Rangers (Set A from Conquest Miniatures).  Like Rogers and all the rest of the Conquest figures I've just painted, these were very easy to paint.

Along with Rogers and the Rangers, his command will also consist of six frontiersmen (Set A from Conquest).  These intrepid adventurers will mesh well with the rangers.

And finally, we have six stout Iroquois warriors (Set B, Conquest) to round out Rogers command. They are all armed with muskets and either a tomahawk, a round headed club, or a spiked wooden combat stick. Eventually I'll add another six Indian warriors so that Roberts command will have 12 whites and 12 Indians.

I'll soon be posting a picture of the interim Britannian commander of this band of diverse figures, which includes the light infantry, rangers, and colonial grenadiers from an earlier post.  I say he is an interim commander because he is a Dixon British dragoon officer.  He will eventually be replaced by a more universal looking command figure, part of a group of Old Glory figures I received for Christmas.

These will be the last 18th Century figures I'll be painting for a while.  Next I will start on some more late 19th Century Victorian Colonial figures - Egyptian infantry and cavalry, British naval brigade, and Arab opponents - for my annual Colonial game at the Gulf South convention, Bayou Wars, in June.

More December Painting

I've had this figure sitting on my painting desk, partially painted, for well over a year.  Even though I would see him every time I sat down, I just couldn't seem to get the urge to finish him.  But over the past month I've painted about 30 American Eastern Woodland Indians and suddenly it seemed to be the right time, even though "Chief Joe" is for my Wild West gaming.

Chief Joe was one of the free figures provided to Old Glory Army members during the 2007-2008 period, I believe, as part of the line of Western figures.  According to the write up provided with him, Chief Joe has seen a whole batch of American history, from President Lincoln's assassination through Bill Hickok's murder and the raid on Northfield, Minnesota, to the "Shoot Out at the OK Corral" in Tombstone.

Now Chief Joe will grace the streets of our mostly nameless Western towns in our Wild West games here in Jackson, Mississippi. 




This figure was actually painted back in June prior to the Bayou Wars convention in New Orleans.  But since I had him out as a guide while I painted the rest of his rangers, I thought that I would take this "more formal" picture.

His other eleven compatriots, all from Conquest Miniatures, are not quite complete.  Their picture will grace this blog before the end of the year.





This is the first post I've done using the new editor.  Although it will take me some time to get used to all the "gimmicks" and can say that I like it so far.

Brittanian Corps of Scouts

As described in the previous post about the Charles Town Grenadiers, the Brittanian expeditions into the Hibernian Capitania General de la Florida will always be led by the Corps of Scouts. This "brigade" consists of nine Colonial rangers (foreground in green), seven Brittanian light infantry from the 5th Foot (left middle in red), and the four Colonial Charles Town Grenadiers (background in green with busby).

It is, to my eyes, readily apparent from this picture that the Redoubt rangers, Foundry light infantry, and unknown manufacturer grenadiers match fairly well and, in a skirmish role, can be used together in one unit.

Here the Corps of Scouts encounters warriors from the Soaring Hawk clan (Old Glory Indians)

They trade shots, although everyone's aim appears a little off as there are no casualties.