More Indians! (Analogue contest 3rd entry)

Here's my third entry in the Analogue challenge, 16 28mm Indians for my French Indian Wars project, figures by Conquest miniatures and bases by Litko. I used my usual 3 colour method (base coat + 2 highlights) finished with a coat of Army painter.

They are a mix of Delaware, Fox and Iroquois indians; they are to be used as French allied Indians in my games. Conquest miniatures is a fantastic range, but their Indians are even better. Some of the best sculpts I've ever painted. I did these in two batches of 8, as I like to paint skirmish figures in small batches, and these guys certainly deserve the extra attention. These are my first tries at painting war paints, and I'm quite pleased with the results. 

 

I took a break from painting the Canaanites to finish these as they were needed for a our very first FIW game, which took place last week. Pics will follow in a few days.

These guys give me 82 points.

For those anxiously waiting for the Chariots, I'm currently basing them and hope to post pics at the latest next monday. I had some Army Painter issues which caused a delay.

Redcoats! (or back to the FIW)

Redcoats are kinda essential to any FIW projects, a lot more so than French regulars, who arrived late to the party. And Britain sent a LOT more of them regulars than France ever did. Even more so since my project is aimed at representing the first years of the war, when Britain was still fighting à l'européenne against a mix of Militia, Indians and Compagnies Franches de la Marine.

Last fall I commissioned my good mate and brush for hire Roger Murrow to paint a battalion of Redcoats for me. 26 figures to be exact. My original plan called for 24 but I had 2 extras as part of my purchase so I sent them all to Rog...in Britain (so these guys also had to cross the ocean, as the real ones did). He, as usual, did a fantastic job.

My choice of regiment to paint was the 44th foot, for three reasons :

• They fought at the Monongahela. The main battle I'm basing my forces on.
• They fought at Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga). The other battle I'm basing my forces on.
• They have nice yellow facings. (I will always do my best to avoid fielding or painting any British regiment in Buff facings. Eurk. 

Astute readers will notice that this regiment was really unlucky, as both the Monongahela and Ticonderoga were bad, bad defeats for the British! 
 In January 14 1755, the regiment (about 500 men) embarked at Cork in Ireland to sail to North America as part of General Edward Braddock's force. On February 20, it arrived at Hampton in Virginia. It was then ordered to march up the Potomac to Alexandria. New recruits were waiting for the regiment in Alexandria. It was thus brought to full strength (about 700 men). Early in March, the regiment reached Winchester. By May 10, it was with Braddock's expeditionary force at Fort Cumberland at the junction of Wills Creek with the Potomac. It took part to the disastrous attempt against Fort Duquesne where it suffered a heavy defeat on the Monongahela on July 9. The British force first retreated to Great Meadows (July 13), then to Fort Cumberland, leaving this fort for Philadelphia on August 2. 

In 1756, the regiment was among the reinforcements being sent to Fort Oswego under colonel Webb. This force left Albany on August 14. Webb had scarcely reached the Great Carrying Place (actual Rome NY) when he was informed that Oswego had already been captured. When he received an erroneous report that 6,000 French were advancing upon New York, Webb ordered trees to be felled and thrown into the stream at Wood Creek to stop the progress of the French. Then, with shameful precipitation, he burned the fort at the Great Carrying Place and retreated down the Mohawk River to German Flats. 

In March 1757, a detachment of the regiment (274 men) under major Eyre garrisoned Fort William Henry which was attacked by a French expeditionary force. The garrison repulsed attempts against the fort but the French managed to destroy the storehouses as well as the British ships assembled around the fort, thus preventing any British offensive on lac Saint-Sacrement (actual Lake George) during this campaign. In June, the regiment was at New York. The same month, it was transferred to Halifax in preparation for the aborted expedition against Louisbourg. 

In 1758, the regiment formed part of the British expeditionary force under James Abercromby sent against Fort Carillon (actual Ticonderoga). The army assembled at Albany, then advanced to Fort Edward and Fort William Henry. On July 5, the regiment was embarked at the head of lake Saint-Sacrement (actual Lake George) and crossed the lake. On July 6, at daybreak, the British flotilla reached the narrow channel leading into Lake Champlain near Fort Carillon and disembarkation began at 9:00 AM. On July 8, the British army fought the battle of Carillon where it was utterly defeated, the 44th loosing 205 men. At daybreak on July 9, the British army re-embarked and retreated to the head of the lake where it reoccupied the camp it had left a few days before. 

In 1759, the regiment took part to the expedition against Fort Niagara which surrendered on July 24. After the capture of Fort Niagara, the regiment was assigned to garrison Presqu'Isle on Lake Erie. 

In 1760, the regiment was part of the British army assembled at Oswego by lieutenant-general Amherst. In August, this army advanced downstream on the Saint-Laurent river towards Montréal where it made its junction with two other British armies on September 6. Montréal surrendered (snif, snif) on September 8, Canada was now under British rule. 

In 1761 and 1762, detachments of the regiment garrisoned Trois-Rivières, Chambly, Saint-François and other localities. By October 1762, the entire regiment was assembled in Montréal where it assumed garrison duty.

Source : Kronoskaf

So here they are, the brave but unlucky lads of the 44th Foot, shown here in their brown campaign gaiters. Before anyone asks....the Grenadiers will follow sometime this year. Again commissioned to Rog.

The base and movement trays are from Litko, figures are Conquest Miniatures, flags by GMB, painted by Roger Murrow for my collection, based by yours truly.

Considering the size of my FIW project, this is a big chunk of the British forces and frankly one I had less interest in painting. I'm keeping the Canadians, Indians and other irregulars like the Rangers for myself. I also hope to have some pics of some newly painted Indians soon...(and Ancients fans need not worry, Chariots are also on their way).

Ronin #15 (Analogue Contest entry #2)

A small entry for the challenge. 

Here is the Ronin #15 for Curt's collection (it was the entry fee for the competition). This is an old figure from 'Clan War', and clearly has an heroic look to him, what with that huge Naginata. This guy has been sitting in a box for over 10 years so I'm glad to know he's going to a loving family. I had the choice between a couple of great Clan War figures, but this one was always my favourite. 

The colour scheme is not based on anything historical, but rather based on the colours of the Crane clan (for those familiar with Legend of the five Rings), by far my favourite clan when I used to play a lot of the CCG and the RPG back in the days.

A Crane Clan Samurai

Plus, pale blue is my favourite colour and I wanted to give him a personnal touch. This was my first samurai and I quite enjoyed painting him, they are a nice challenge, however I don't think I could paint an army of these guys! So I see what Curt did there... ;-)

More seriously, I think the entry fee is a great idea, because not only does Curt sends money to the SPCA (a favourite cause of mine) for every Ronin he receives, but it makes one go out of their comfort zone and paint something they probably would not have painted otherwise. Great initiative Curt! 

This initiative is Leto approved

20 more points for the challenge

The land of Canaan, part II

I usually base my projects on historical battles and OOB's. Obviously in the case of this project that is difficult to achieve. Because while I can tell you I'd like to represent the battle of Megiddo, I can also tell you we know very little about the forces present at the battle. Moreover, I have to remind myself the ultimate goal of this project is to create a generic Canaanite army that can be used in a variety of rules.

The Canaanite army at Megiddo numbered anywhere between 5000 to 15000 men, depending on your sources. Chariots made-up the bulk of the army, supported by archers, infantry and a small contingent of heavy royal guards. So really, nothing that can't be reproduced on a smaller scale.

So I came up with the following tentative plan :

• 2x6 chariots
• 2x24 spearmen (close order)
• 1x20 archers (open order)
• 3x12 skirmishers (slingers or javelinmen)
• 1x Canaanite prince on chariot

So that's a very manageable 130 foot figures, 24 horses and 13 chariots. This is the bare minimum and a good start. Maybe a bit heavy on the infantry but it's to keep me sane between painting the chariots (I love painting infantry). However since I'm not following a strict OOB, I leave myself room to change things along the way. I used to go with huge plans aimed at creating huge armies, but I've wisen up with the years... Now I like to divide my projects into smaller, achievable (and gameable) steps. Once this plan has been achieved, and depending on how much I enjoyed painting the project, I will come up with another plan, which should include more Chariots, Royal guards and the odd extras, like diorama's and such.

As I mentionned in a previous post, the vast majority of these figures will be Foundry, except for the Chariots (Cutting Edge miniatures).

I already have all the lead necessary for this plan, except for the prince. Surprisingly, I haven't found a Canaanite or Mitanni general figure. Anyone have an idea of a special figure I could use? Otherwise I'll just use one of the regular chariots and paint it extra special.

Source material is however quite scarce, and more often than not one has to use reference books on the Egyptians to get info on the Canaanites. So I got the Osprey on the NKE and Bronze Age Chariots, as well as Thutmose III by Richard A. Gabriel (which contains a whole chapter on the Canaanite and Mitanni armies), and Canaanites, by Jonathan N. Tubb. I'm trying at the moment to get a cheap copy of The Art of Warfare in Biblical Land. If a reader has other suggestion I would love to hear them.

One of the thing I enjoy about painting ancients is the almost complete latitude you have in choosing your figure's colour schemes. Like I did with my TYW army, I spent a lot of time thinking about it as I like the look of my armies to match the 'personnality' of the army and it's people. Many biblical armies are mostly beige and browns, but I wanted something more and decided to go with vibrant colours. First because that's my style of painting but also because for some reason I find it represents better a merchant people. It will also make a good contrast with the mostly whites of Canaan enemies; the Imperialistic Egyptians.

And representations of the Canaanites do show colours :

I decided to paint most of my infantry with a limited palette of raw linen, red and pale blue, in various ways as you have seen with the spearmen and the slingers. It will unify the army without making it look too uniformed. Chariots are special, and as such will have their own colour schemes, I'm thinking purple. After all Canaan was know for it's purple dye industry (from Wiki) :

Tablets found in the Mesopotamian city of Nuzi use the term Kinahnu ("Canaan") as a synonym for red or purple dye, laboriously produced by the Kassite rulers of Babylon from murex shells as early as 1600 BC, and on the Mediterranean coast by the Phoenicians from a byproduct of glassmaking. Purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have been named after their place of origin. The name 'Phoenicia' is connected with the Greek word for "purple", apparently referring to the same product, but it is difficult to state with certainty whether the Greek word came from the name, or vice versa. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far and wide and was associated by the Romans with nobility and royalty.

I said in my previous post I would discuss basing some more, but as John Matrix famously said in Commando; I lied ;-) .

 

(ah good ol" gratuitous violence from the 80s)

Actually I received quite a few question on how I do my basing, so I decided to devote a future post on the subject.

So the plan is set, the colours chosen, the figures bought, the reading in progress, now it's just a matter of completing the damn army!

Oh, and thanks to all my readers; I passed the 2000 hits milestone a few days ago.