With the new version of Muskets & Tomahawks due out in the next month or so I decided to polish off some French & Indian War troops that had been languishing in the lead pile.

What you’ve got here are some Indians and their allies from the Canadian colonies. I’ve now got enough of these frontier irregulars Muskets & Tomahawks or Sharp Practice.

Indians

 

These figures are from the Perrys, part of a larger order which I got a couple of years back and only painted part of (the rest are here). As you’d expect from the Perrys they’re great scultps, realistically proportioned, dynamic and richly detailed. They were a real joy to paint.

Canadian Militia

These frontier militia boys are from Redoubt, and are billed as “woodsmen/coureur de bois”. Coureur de bois is a term you hear bandied around a lot by wargamers as if they were some kind of elite troops. From what I’ve read the term (which literally means “woods runners”) actually referred to illegal trappers who were way out beyond the fringe of civilised society. I’m sure they were good woodsmen, but I’m sceptical of their value as a disciplined military force.

These figures have a bit of the problem I’ve seen in some other Redoubt sculpts: tiny legs and big noses. They’re definitely a more exaggerated style than the Perry stuff above, but I don’t dislike them. I think they’ve got a bit of character and to be honest the stumpy legs are only really in full effect on one or two, and extra tufty wilderness basing conceals it somewhat. I’ve stuck with one colour for all the hats, purely to tie the unit together visually, even though it’s probably not super historical.