Drums and Tomahawks

 Officially, the Little Wars TV Fall APC began September 1st, with the announcement of the theme, "Forgotten Wars."  After reading the initial post, I starting thinking about the Indian wars that occurred in New England prior to the French & Indian War.  At first, I had contemplated painting up figures for King Phillip's War, but I wasn't sure exactly what was available for that time period.  A short discussion on the LWTV Patreon Discord server pointed me Brigade Games KPW line of miniatures.  Scrolling through the site, I saw that they sell a skirmish ruleset for the time period, Song of Muskets and Tomahawks by Ganesha Games.  The price was right, so I purchased the PDF book.

At some point, while reading through the rules, and looking into the time period, more, I decided to change focus to the Pequot War.  As I mentioned in my last post, two of my ancestors were involved in the conflict, so I had read a bit about it before.  Looking through the Ganesha Games website, I found, surprisingly, that they had a scenario book specifically for playing the Pequot War using the SoDaT rules.

The scenario books outlines a 12 game campaign, with each game representing a specific battle of the war.  It starts with the ambush of John Stone and his crew in 1634, but, really, the animosity of the various factions started before that.  I'll cover that in an upcoming post.

A New Project

 

"Lion Gardiner in the Pequot War," Charles Stanley Reinhart

 

On September 1st, on their Patreon Discord, Little Wars TV kicked off their 3rd annual "Fall Army Painting Challenge (APC)."  The challenge has inspired me to start a new project, which, in turn, inspired me to dust off "Lost in the Grants" again.

The theme for this season's APC is "Forgotten Wars."  The goal is to paint up an army and/or terrain representing a war that is sort of forgotten in history or overshadowed by larger more popular topics like the American Civil War or World War 2.  Basically, any conflict that doesn't get a lot of love amongst the masses interested in such things.

I quickly decided that pretty much any conflict in North America that took place before the French & Indian War falls into the "Forgotten" category.  These are conflicts that aren't covered much, if at all, in modern classrooms, and if they are touched upon, it generally seems to be generalized as whites killing natives for little or no reason.

For this project, I've settled on the Pequot War that took place in New England in the early 1600s.

The what war?  Yeah, that's why it's forgotten.

In the 1630s, in what is now Connecticut, a series of skirmishes took place between the Dutch, English, and several native tribes, culminating in the Mystic Massacre in 1637 in which the Pequot Indian tribe was basically wiped out by English colonists and their Narraganset allies.  One of my ancestors, Captain John Underhill, is often credited with instigating the massacre.  Another of my ancestors, Barnabas Davis, is said to have been drafted by the colony of Connecticut to fight in the war.  Thus, I do have a somewhat personal, though distant, connection with the conflict.  As I've been studying the battles, and the politics behind them, I'm finding that, like most of history, things aren't as black and white as they are often made out to be.  Did the English wipe out the Pequots?  Yes.  With help.  Was it racially motivated?  No.  It was a war of several opposing nations.  Was it horrific?  Absolutely. On all sides.

As I progress through this project, I'll try to share my research and thoughts on this particular forgotten conflict.  Though short, it's an interesting period of history to study, with a few first person accounts left by the English that give a feel for the battles and the reasons for the conflicts.

Colonial Blockhouse

Stillwater Blockhouse Plan

 Last October, I decided to take part in the Little Wars TV Discord "Secret Soldier."  Basically, this was the group's version of a traditional Secret Santa swap, where wargamers picked names and traded gifts with each other.  I don't remember the exact parameters, but the idea was to keep the cost low, and buy/build something that your recipient would like.

28mm Colonial Blockhouse

For my gift, I decided to build a colonial blockhouse, such that may be found in New England during the French & Indian War or American Revolution.  I'd been wanting to build one anyway, being fascinated with the Battle of Shelburne Blockhouse, so I had much of the material on hand.

Early in November, I had a day to myself, so I traveled over to the Saratoga, NY area to visit the Stillwater Blockhouse, a replica that resembles what I've always pictured the Shelburne building to look like.

Stillwater Blockhouse on the Hudson River

Based on photos I took there, I started building, tier by tier, with 1/4" dowels, cut to length as I went, to give a log construction look.  I was on a time crunch, so I didn't square off the dowels to get a perfect fit, but I still achieved the look I was going for.  I used a 28mm figure from Perry Miniatures Civilians pack to size the doors, windows, and ceiling heights.

First floor before stain and paint.

With the first floor finished, I stained the wood with a dark brown, then drybrushed with grey, trying to recreate the color of the Stillwater blockhouse.  I then moved onto the second floor.  Somewhere along the line I also decided to add a fireplace, made from card stock and stone patterned styrene.

First floor fireplace.

Patterned styrene was also used to represent the shingled roof.  With my deadline looming, this was the portion of the project that I rushed the most.  When all else fails, add more glue.

Second floor in progress.

Unfortunately, I missed the Christmas deadline for my recipient.  I did, however, finish the project in January and send it out to him.  Though the build was a bit tedious, adding courses one by one, I really like the look, and may build a second one for myself at some point.

Second floor complete.

Battle of Hubbardton in 6mm

With over half the year gone already, I figured I'd better catch up on posting.  I've actually been pretty active on the gaming front in the past few months, especially since the reenacting scene has been pretty quiet due to Covid-19.

Battle of Hubbardton

First up, The Battle of Hubbardton.

Back in the beginning of the year, I watched a video from Little Wars TV about creating a topographical map for wargaming.  At the time, I had been thinking about creating some sort of game to represent The Battle of Hubbardton.  The video put the idea into my head to recreate the battle in 1:1 figure scale (roughly 1,000 troops per side) using 6mm figures.

I started the project by ordering some Continental Line Infantry in light infantry caps from Baccus Miniatures to represent Seth Warner's "Green Mountain Boys" regiment.  Warner was in overall command of the American side of the field that day,  and I'm familiar with the regiment, so I started there.  Never having painted miniatures as small as 6mm, I wasn't sure what to expect.  When they arrived, I was pleased to see how much detail could be sculpted at that size, and after watching a few videos, I discovered that painting them is easier than I expected it would be.  Unlike 28mm miniatures, 6mm miniatures don't need each detail picked out on every figure.  The goal is to represent massed troops, so coat colors and facings became more important than canteen straps and belts.

Warner's in 6mm

Baccus Continental Light Infantry

To give me an idea how they'd look on the table, I painted up just a few figures.  I decided that they were too dark, so I settled on painting the rest of the figures with a brighter green, to represent the green faced red coats that Warner's Regiment was ordered to have when they were formed.

Test Figures

My second order from Baccus was for a group of German line infantry, and some horsemen to act as officers for all units.  The Germans would represent the Hessian unit that came onto the field toward the end of the battle, reinforcing the British regulars and helping to cause the final retreat of the Continentals.

Hessian Line Infantry

Commanders on Horseback

These figures I was able to paint more quickly.  I think I was beginning to become more practiced with the scale.  I also found that I could add detail to the figures, things such as cross belts and helmet plates, by using a set of fine tipped paint pens that I found at our local craft store.

Hessians in Progress

Baron Riedesel's Troops Enter the Field

Unfortunately, this is where this particular project has stalled.  In March, things came to a halt with the arrival of the Corona virus, which has caused global shutdowns and delays, including with Baccus Miniatures.  While they have done their best to keep up, the company has had to shut down their online shopping cart a couple of times, due to staffing and shipping issues.  To their credit, they have been very open with the gaming community about their status, and once things are opened up again, I'll definitely be placing more orders with them to continue this project.

For more information about the Battle of Hubbardton, check out this video done by a friend of mine, Skyler Bailey, on the Seth Warner's Recreated Regiment YouTube channel.