Paddling in the North American Wilderness
… and not in canoes!
I finished this last batch of Indian Allies for my British in North America some time ago. Having caught up with the rest of my life I am catching up with blogging!
Indian Allies - marsh basing
Come on in, the water is sticky
Using the water effect was nice and easy. It poured out smoothly with no sudden surges. Well, years of pouring ales and wines may have helped here! Once in place there were some small bubbles.
Getting rid of these with a pin, as I have done with resin casting in the past, was not a good idea. I actually split some bubbles into two! I switched to using an old paint brush and just brushed them out without any problems.
The verdict is I like this product and found it straightforward to use with a little care. I got mine from Maelstrom with some other odds and ends, so I got a discount and post free.
Rear view of marsh basing
That’s enough of those native chaps for now
I have now finished the three units I planned. Hopefully the idea of using a different theme on each unit’s bases will let me recognise them on the table top. The photo below should demonstrate the theory!
Three units of English Indian allies
Our native allies in America
A big bag of them, Sir!
Not exactly thousands of them but a bag of 50 Old Glory 10mm American Revolution Indians supplied by Caliver. I decided to use Old Glory so the British native allies would look different to the French. I plan to use Pendraken Indians for my French forces. So it was open the bag, clean up the figures, and paint!
Both units arrayed in depth
How was it for you Hiawatha?
I have painted 30mm Indians for this period and found tattoos and war paint a mixture of fun and frustration. On these wee fellows the smaller scale let me use the daub technique to give a quick impression of warpaint. That’s the aim anyway! I enjoyed painting these although one or two figures have very over scale muskets. I would recommend considering them for any North American eighteenth century conflict.
Sharp eyed readers will see I have used a Pendraken British officer to further identify these figures as British allies.
One from another
Eventually I will have three units of these chaps. So how to tell them apart?
Clever micro painting with distinctive war paint could be one approach. I wanted something I can see when standing or sitting at the table so testing my badger paws painting technique to the limit was not the answer. I settled on making each unit’s basing distinctive. The result is one unit with a plain base using just some Gale Force 9 forest flock supplied by Maelstrom Games, a second using Woodland Scenics twigs from a model shop, and the third one will appear in a later entry! You can judge the effectiveness of this plan from the image below.
Looking down to see the difference in basing
The flock and twigs were anchored with a mix of PVA glue and paint. The twigs were painted and washed with acrylics. The end result was then sprayed with Testor’s Dullcote – once we had a warm and dry enough day!
First French Indian War 10mm Painted!
Colour the hatchets red
I have had an interest in the French-Indian War since the 1980s when buying a book with Gerry Embleton illustrations in piqued my interest. More reading followed and I have small forces of militia, non-combatants, rangers, and Indians in 30mm.
Since then I have wanted to depict larger engagements on the table top. A combination of two Pendraken 10mm armies on eBay and satisfying my curiosity about Piquet by buying Field of Battle resulted in rules and figures to hand.
Ooops!
Being a typical wargamer I decided to use my new Pendraken Indians for the French forces. This meant needing to buy (yes, of course I needed to) some Indians for the British. I decided to use Old Glory figures as their AWI line includes a bag of Indians, and they are cast as single figures not on strips.
What they are like and how I painted them
The figures are nicely proportioned although some muskets are a bit tree trunk like, and very little flash to remove. I primed with Citadel white undercoat, painted with various makes of modeller’s acrylics, followed by a brown wash over flesh and warm colours, and finished with Humbrol satin varnish. Results are below.
Old Glory 10mm Indians
Next task
Paint some British officer types to identify the units on a table and then it’s basing time!
