Sunday 28 October 2012

FIW extras

To further clutter up the battlefield for future games I've decided to add a few pieces of extra details. First up is two carts from 4ground. These are made from MDF and were pretty straightforward to put together and paint.
2 Hand carts

I've also put together some extra trade goods to go with the trading post. The sandbags were from a plastic WW2 set I picked up years ago, still got some more lying around. The smaller crates and barrels are resin that I picked up rather cheaply on EBay. The larger barrel is from GW Siege defenders range and the 2 rolls of cloth are from Black Crow's sci fi range.

Trade goods
 As most of my scenery is for the Europeans I decided I wanted something for the Indians. I had a quick look on the Grand Manner site at their Indian Longhouses, lovely sculpts but out of my price range. It was then I remembered an old WI issue with and article from Herb Gundt on making a woodland Indian village. Using this as inspiration and knicking a plastic bowl from the Kitchen, I add small squares of crepe paper to get a bark effect. Quite pleased with my efforts, though the door is probably too large.

Indian Hut
Indian hut
And all Indian villages are not complete with a totem pole displaying the scalps of a warriors recent victims. The scalps were made from some rolled up tissue paper.

Scalping pole
On the figure front I painted up another 6 Canadian militia as Courer de bois. These figures are all from Front Rank Miniatures. Quite enjoyed painting these guys despite my initial reservations.

Courer de bois
Courer de bois

Friday 26 October 2012

FIW Raid

For the second game at the club I decided on a reversal in roles. This time the British and their Iroquios allies would be raiding into French territory. Their objective was a retaliatory strike and burn the village. The French were trying to prevent this. For this game we had hidden movement and event cards, which seemed to work quite well, though at the beginning of the game no figures were on the table as nobody could see each other.

The forces involved included for the British
1 Officer
2 units of Regulars, 8 figures each
1 unit of Rangers, 7 figures with the Sharpshooter trait.

The Iroquois
1 Sachem
3 units of Indians with muskets, 2 @ 6 figures and 1 @ 5 figures
1 unit of Indians with bows, 5 figures

The French
1 Officer with the light infantry trait
1 unit of regulars, 8 figures
2 units of Compagne de la marine , 8 figures each

The Canadians
1 Officer
1 unit of Courer de bois, 6 figures
3 units of militia, 2 @ 6 figures and 1 @ 7 figures.

The French had to deploy the regulars in the fort and 1 unit of militia in the village.

All quiet in the village
The British attack hidden from view
The British decided to attack down the river in canoes, disembarking under the cover of the wood to try and avoid being spotted. The British took the north bank while the Iroquois went south to the village. For the first turn the French sat, hoping the British would reveal themselves.

Eventually the lead elements of the Iroquois advanced into an ambush, a small unit of Canadian militia sprung their trap but fired high and wide, more damage to wildlife than Indians. The return fire from the Iroquois was deadly cutting down 3 of their opponents forcing the rest into flight back to the village. With a hoop and a holla the Iroquois pursued cutting down the rest. The villages at this point went into panic, fleeing from the blood thirsty Iroquois.
Canadian Militia spring their ambush
Iroquois sweep through the woods

At the sound of gunfire the French Officer dispatched a unit of Marines to investigate. The Rangers, meanwhile had moved up through the woods into a position to cover and moves from the fort. Their first volley cut down 1 of the Marines. A fateful event befell the Marines, they had forgotten ammunition and were given a black powder marker, all they could do was re load. The Rangers meanwhile gave them another volley from the woods, cutting down 5 more. The 2 remaining marines promptly routed from the field.
Forward dear fellows

The British Regulars eventually struggled through the woods to support the Rangers, between them they began to exchange fire with the fort, keeping the Remaining French troops pinned in.
Form a line chaps
 The Indians meanwhile were running wild in the village, cutting down the civilians and firing the buildings, this flushed a unit of militia out, who charged into the Iroquois, they got the worst of it and beat a hasty retreat from the village. Their fate though was sealed as more Iroquois moved up and they wee cut down to a man.
Fleeing Militia as the village starts to burn
The remaining Canadians from the safety of the wooded hills began to fire on the enemy, inflicting casualties on the Iroquois as well as the British Regulars who strayed to close to the edge of the wood. At this point the game was over, with mounting casualties in the fort and the village aflame the British had achieved their objective.

Overall a very enjoyable game. The hidden movement worked well adding a suspense to the game. The French cracked first and the poor unit of marines paid for it. Ambushes if timed right were deadly. Unfortunately for the Canadian Militia a single unit got swarmed by the entire force of Iroquois.  The event cards also add a little fun, though not if you were the marines to forget your ammo. Cannot wait for next weeks game.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

1st Musket & Tomahawk's game

Finally got around to playing a couple of games of these rules. The first game was at the club with Chris and John commanding the French and Indians and Paul and Dave commanding the British troops. From the start the game wasn't balanced as we just used the troops that we had available, concentrating more on ensuring we got our heads around the rules.

British forces consisted of 2 units of regulars, 1 unit of rangers and a unit of Indians all led by 2 officers. The French force consisted of an officer, 1 unit of regulars, 2 units of marines, 1 Sachem and 3 Indian units. The game centred on the British trying to evacuate the Jefferson family from their farmstead as well as gathering in supplies for the fort. The French were out to destroy the supplies, burn the farmsteads and slaughter any civilians.

The game started brightly for the Indians under John as there random start location turned up right next to the Jefferson farmstead. The helpless civilians quickly made a dash towards the bridge and safety. However the cards went against them as the Indians closed and peppered them with arrows and musket balls. Mr Jefferson taking a musket ball for the family.

The Jefferson's flee across the bridge
With the British regulars quickly advancing to the river in support, further disaster befell the civilians as they were all cut down from heavy fire from the Indians and marines. With the British firing line set up they sent a deadly volley into the Indians killing 3 and sending the rest of the unit packing. With the second unit coming up into support, the Indians began to show how brittle they were, repeatedly recoiling from fire. The regulars though proved of stern stuff, repeatedly passing morale checks despite heavy casualties.

British Regulars move into position
French regulars and marines get into position

Eventually the French regulars got into position on a rocky ridge and began pouring fire into the enemy, The Mohawk Indians were forced to recoil and the British eventually broke off from combat. Overall a French victory, they managed to burn 1 of the 3 farmsteads, killed all the civilians while the British only managed to retrieve about 75% of the supplies

Overall an enjoyable game, the mechanics are easy to pick up, though next time we will introduce hidden movement and traits. The idea of cards to determine actions is great fun, not knowing when you will go, can you risk firing and get a chance to reload before the enemy close etc.

Sunday 21 October 2012

More FIW Goodiness

I'm continuing to add to my French and Indian War collection. First up is some plastic buildings from Pegasus Hobbies. These are supposedly 1/72nd scale, representing Russian log houses but are more in scale with 28mm figures. I've kept the roofs as they are, even though one is thatched. Thatched roofs did not last long in North America due to the long dry summers causing a number of incidents with fires.

Building with thatched roof
2nd building

I've painted these to match the buildings I have already done, adding MDF bases to add a bit of sturdiness. I would recommend these buildings to anyone doing gaming in North America. I also re-furbished a number of storage items to use as battlefield clutter for games.


Barrels and supply boxes

On the figure front I have finished the last of my AW Miniatures Indians and some Canadian Militia from Front Rank.

Indians with muskets
Indians with bows
Canadian militia
Canadian militia

I've also managed to get in a couple of games using the Musket and Tomahawk rules. So far very positive, the game at the club was enjoyed by all the players. The second game was a solo affair to help me get my head around a couple of the rules. All in all a good set of rules. I will post some pictures of the games shortly.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Latest FIW figures

Work is continuing on my French and Indian War collection. I finished off the first 4 Indians that I received from AW miniatures. Very easy to paint, already started on the next 2 units of Indians. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, these dark nights are limiting the times I can get decent pictures.

Woodland Indians - AW Miniatures
Woodland Indians

Next up I put some paint to a unit of 7 Rangers, figures again from AW Miniatures. These I like a lot and will definitely get some more in the future. Instead of painting them up as Rogers' Rangers like just about everyone else, I decided to complete Hezekiah Dunn's Ranger Company from New Jersey in their grey coats. This company was raised and paid from by the Provincial Government and not the Crown like Rogers' company.

Dunn's Rangers - AW Miniatures
Dunn's Rangers

The last unit I've completed was the French Regulars from La Reine Regiment. These figures are all from Front Rank Miniatures. These were quite easy to paint up, gotta love the French and their white uniforms.

French Regulars - Front Rank Miniatures
French Regulars.
Going through the figures I have left for this project, their are 11 more Woodland Indains, bringing my total up to 18. I've also got 6 Courer de bois and 8 Candien Militia to complete. As part of a swap with a mate at the club, I also received a further 6 Courer de Bois, 5 Indians and 3 Civilians. Not sure of the make of these figures but size wise nearer 25mm than 28mm. In their own units they will be okay as they are dwarfed by the Front Rank and AW Miniatures I already have.

On the scenery front I picked up the Pegasus Models 2 Russian log houses, look perfect for the Frontier settlements. I've also dusted down some of my old batterred trees which need a bit of a face lift and new bases.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

AW Miniatures

My figures arrived from AW Miniatures this morning and very nice they are too. I ordered them on the 29th September and they arrived today 9th October. A very respectable turn around, especially considering the range has just been released. I bought both packs of the woodland Indians and pack 1 of Rogers Rangers. Thought I'd do a little review on my first impressions.

Both packs of Indians contain 8 miniatures priced at £8.50, good value for money. They also do a War party pack of 20 figures for £20, may be worth considering these. 3 of the Indians are bow armed while the other 5 have muskets. This suits me as I can combine the 2 packs to give one bow armed unit and two musket armed units. One of the musket armed figures has separate arms so you can adjust the pose, allows you to add a little variety to the figures. There were a couple of slight mould lines but nothing that a quick scrap of the scalpel will remove.

Height wise they are very comparable to the Front Rank figures I already have, cannot say if they will mix well with the other ranges until I get my hands on some to compare, but if Front Rank mix then so will these. The photos below were of the first 4 Indians I picked out for painting. I really like the figure with the musket above his head.

4 AW Miniatures with muskets
Next up a couple of photos showing them against the Front Rank Indians that I have already painted.

Firing pose comparison
Aw on the left and front rank on the right
Overall I'm very happy with the figures. I'll post a review of the Rangers when I get to them. I will definitely be buying more figures from this range. I notice on the website that British and French Regulars are coming soon.

Sunday 7 October 2012

FIW Muster continues

A few more additions to my slowly growing French & Indian war collection. First up is the second unit of Companies Franches de la marine. This will allow me to field either 2 units of 8 figures or a single unit of 12 figures. The figures are part of a set I got from Harry and no idea what make they are.

Companies Franches de la marine
The full Company together
 Next up are a few figures from Front Rank Figurines, very nice sculpts and a pleasure to paint. First up is 2 British officers to lead my force. Again I kept with the colour scheme of the 60th Royal Americans.

British Officers
British Officers

For the French, they have the addition of an Officer in summer dress and 3 Regulars from the La Reine Infantry Regiment. Already got an order in with Front Rank to finish off this unit.


French Officer
French Officer
Regiment La Reine
And lastly the start of my Woodland Indians, 3 figures from Front Rank. The centre figure will fulfil the role as a Sachem for these.

Woodland Indians

Friday 5 October 2012

FIW blockhouse part 2

Finally finished off the model with a little help from my daughter who insisted she helped. I'm still not totally happy with the roof, but it will have to do for now. For the floor I left a hole in the middle in which I can insert my figure to lift it out so troops can be placed on the ground floor if needed.

Finished blockhouse
Close up of the blockhouse
The floor with a hole
On  the figure front a small order has arrived from Front Rank, these are lovely figures. I got myself 2 British and 1 French officer as well as 3 Indians. One of the Indians has a suitable pose to stand out as a Sachem. The other 2 Indians will be added to those from AW miniatures when they arrive to give me 3 units of 6 warriors.

I've also finally finished another 8 Companies franches de la marine, just waiting for the bases to dry and I'll post some pictures over the weekend if time allows. SWMBO has already stated the only painting I'll be doing is the walls in my daughters room this weekend.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

FIW Blockhouse part 1

While I'm still in the groove for building scenery and with some left over balsa wood, I decided to build a block house following the same methods I used for the trading post. Once again I went for a lift off roof and even have a removable floor so figures can be put on the ground floor. Took some inspiration from one of the Touching History books by Paul Darnell, excellent if you can get your hands on them.

Main body of the blockhouse undercoated black
Showing the buttresses to take the lift off floor
The roof under construction
I'm not totally happy with the roof, The wife gave her expert opinion and stated that the pitch wasn't high enough! and I think she is right. It will have to do for now as I've run out of materials.

Tuesday 2 October 2012

FIW Trading post part 3 and more

I finally completed the basing for the trading post, my usual mixture of sand covered in an Oak finish varnish with clumps of static grass added. I also decided to paint the floor black as it is noticeable when the roof is removed for figures.

Finished trading post

I also managed to obtain a good deal with a club member on some spare figures he had lying around. It gave me 32 figures or enough for 4 units for Muskets and Tomahawks. After a bit of sorting I put together 2 units of 8 British regulars, painted as the 60th Royal Americans. I chose these as there uniform had most of the lace removed as they were primarily recruited for fighting along the frontier. The unit has a mix of headgear, even a couple which may not be strictly legal but I don't care.

60th Royal Americans
60th Royal Americans
Next up are the first unit of French, they still need their bases finished off. They are from the Companies franches de la marine. Very resourceful fighters on the frontier.

Companies franches de la marine
Companies franches de la marine
Next up I have a second unit of french men as I await my order from AW miniatures. If anyone knows the make of these figures I would be much obliged.