More Photos...and more...and more...

Well, if there are too many photos, people asked for "lots" of photos.  And I'm still cheating.  These are not photos from the game but from the 'after-game' photo shoot.  Hopefully, there will be something viewers appreciate.

Natives skirting a forest.

Natives about to burst out on an opponents flank.

Higher command native stands - the 'generals'?

More natives, the two larger stands to the front are the unit command stands.

More.

And even more.

That is Nathaniel waving his hat with Chingotchkook and Uncas (sp?) behind him.

Here is a longer shot where they are waving the rangers forward.

A "Hawkeye" view?

Some special appearances by some specialty figures, closer shots and more of them following.

No fort for the ladder climbers but here they are climbing a tree. Go figure.

A ladder carrier team, three of them painted up and ready to go.

The torch bearers.  Need to re-glass the flames after the dull coating.

A game of lacrosse, anyone?

The battering ram team.  Fun figures to add to the collection.

We interrupt the native program for some victimization - um, unarmed civilians on display.  There are a couple of casualty stands in this and the following group.

Civilian group number two, European descent of course.

Before I rolled up the ground cloth I added another table and just took a 'bare' shot.  I do plan to make a few changes to reduce those 'seam' lines, easier to see in the image below.

There will be photos - or there were photos above? - with this same setup but without the guns.  There are two in the image above.

One gun, four crew (two each on two bases).  A 6 pounder or a 3 pounder, I think the latter.

Not the best focus but a howitzer.

Another gun shot - with the French this time.

Closer gun.

Dang, another out of focus howitzer.

Native villagers group one, '30' folks - though some are babes in arms so not that many castings.

Village number two, 29 folk - and a dog.  Can you find it?

These six stands are for when I add in Hero and Villain element to my rules - includes the Hawkeye stand.

A shot of guns on each end of a provincial company.

Rangers - duplicated somewhere here?   Did I say a lot of photos.

I believe that is La Reine.

Companie Franche de la Marine to the front, Canadian militia to the rear.

Another shot.

If this is La Reine, then the one above was the CFdlM in winter uniform.

A closer shot, a little, of the militia.

 Coureur du bois skirting the woods.

Some more natives in the woods not far from the CdB.

 An overhead of both of the above.

 A long shot.

I'm sure this is a duplicate but I'm leaving it for the moment.

 Highland grenadiers.

 Highlanders - without bearskins.

Blue coated provincials - Virginia regiment, Jersey Blues at need.

 A yellow/buff coated provincial regiment, probably from New York.

And a green coated regiment of provincials, Pennsylvania.

And that's enough for now.  Whew!

Preliminary Post-Game Photos

Hey, what do you mean, post-game photos?  Well, first I ran the game and took some photos before and along the way - which will come later.  And then I engaged in a little self-indulgence after the game by adjusting the terrain and lining up the troops for a few photos, just 'cause.

So, above shows five British companies facing off against 4 French companies.  British front has highland grenadiers center, highlanders to the right, and provincials to the left.  In support are two more provincial units (I have a couple more units painted that didn't make it out of their boxes today, regulars and militia).

The French have one unit of regulars and two of colony marines up front with a unit of militia in support.   Doesn't look very good for the French in that situation, does it?

Then again, what's going on over on the British right?  Those four units moving through the trees are all French allied natives and way off in the far distance on the French right is a unit of courier du bois skirting the woods with another group of natives to their right.  And off to the far British left are some rangers heading up into the trees to clear them - with an unfriendly welcome.  So, who wins in such an encounter?  (two more units of natives didn't make it our of their boxes today, either)

That is a question for another game some time.  I'll post pictures later before and during the game but bed time beckons.

Game Additions

Just a quick overall shot of recent additions to the French and Indian War collection.  353 newly painted and based/textured figures and some rebased to total 382 figures.  Most of the additions are natives, two units that just needed some minor finish work and one new unit plus the specialty items and the villagers and one new provincial unit and a bunch of gunners and one new gun.  All the time I have for now. 

Milestone Reached

After all these many years, I've finally finished painting all of the native Americans for my French and Indian War collection: one last fighting unit, the hero and villain stands, the specialty figures from Blue Moon (log ram, torch bearers, ladder carriers/climbers, 'lacrosse' players, and both civilian villages (with one figure being a dog to make up numbers plus nine babes in arms).  Must admit I pushed hard to get this done and may have cut a few corners quality wise but - as always - these are gaming pieces, not works of art.  Still have to texture the bases and do the seal coating but that's just time.   Once proper basing is complete there will be photos.  Might wait to paint up the village buildings, though.  I'd like the villagers photographed within their respective villages (two of them - one long house and two huts per village, at least for now).   Feels good to get them done.

Numbers, including the other fighting unit finished this year:

42 + 4 fighting unit #6
42 + 4 Fighting unit #7
6 + 6 Leaders for all seven fighting units
18 + 6 Hero and Villains figures
29 + 6 specialty figures
60 + 8 villagers

197 figures + 34 or so casualty figures (a few extra in the mix so I need to double check those counts on a later edit) for 231 total

Now need to finish up some European gun crew figures and some higher leaders to be ready for a game in less than two weeks.  Have two more fighting units, one French and one British, on the painting table that aren't likely to be done for the game but will leave just six more fighting units to finish plus some various auxiliary figures to finish out the collection - I'm starting to taste being done with the collection.  Goal: first day of summer have it all done.  Hoping.

Quality is good but finished and playable is the ultimate goal.  So finished is better.

FIW Game Table Try Out

Just a quartet of photos showing an early practice set-up for a game:

Above is an overall shot of the 4' x 12' table - near the center is a creek and there is a French company on the far side off to the right and on the near side of that creek on the left is a unit of Rangers.  The Rangers are based as skirmish capable, the French as regular line troops.

There are only 91 men and one horse in the photo above - there will be over 1,000 total figures when the game is run, including available casualty figures.

The road will probably be omitted, it was my first somewhat crude attempt at making my own roads.  When time permits, I plan on making up a whole "suite" of roads for my games.

This shot is a bit closer view of the rangers who, because they are clad in green, are a bit hard to make out in this phone photo (all these photos with my iPhone).

The French regulars, La Reine, are easier to see, each company is composed of 14 stands: 12 line troop stands and two command stands.  Some of the companies have an optional stand with the commander on foot with a horse holder holding his horse (or drummer if there is drummer on the mounted stand).  This gives the option of better command radius mounted but easier target versus poorer command but harder target if dismounted.  Even the natives adhere to the 14 basic stands plus two casualty stands.

For other than foot units, the organization may vary.  I have a whopping two units of cavalry at six figures each without dismounts - one light horse from the British colonies and the French messenger unit along the St. Lawrence.  There are also a variety of higher level command figures - especially for when the "companies" are used as battalions for some games.  All told, when completed, there will be 28 companies, 12 for the British, 9 for the French, and 7 for the native Americans.  Current project will leave only six companies to finish and four of those already have a platoon each already painted (a platoon is 12 figures, the company is 3 platoons plus 6 command figures - one of which for many units will be the commanders horse where appropriate).

Each foot command gets two stands of 2 casualties per stand.  These will be used to mark each loss of four total stands - including command - and when both casualty stands are used up for the unit it will no longer be capable of offensive action, essentially down to one third original strength.

That lump in the terrain is because the ground cloth wasn't completely smoothed out and flattened.  It's been rolled up and then semi-folded for a while.

Just a closer shot showing the stepped hills used at each end of the set-up (with some lighting fluctuation).  The ground cloth and hills were originally for my pirate extravaganza back in 2012.  Still going strong - and adding elements for varied terrain options.

And, yes, as can be clearly seen with the French, I use multiple figure basing for my 15 mm FIW collection to avoid having to individually move what, ultimately, will be closer to 1800 total figures or more (adding in civilians, native villagers, artillery men, engineers, pioneers, canoers, bateux and raft men, and long boats, all with appropriate casualty figures.  Many of the latter will be useful for my pirates and my AWI as well as with the FIW.

I'm also working up some stands for the British, French, and Natives of Heroic/Villainous figures for use in games, think Nathaniel Bumpo and Magua and you'll get the right idea.  Hard to kill (they are the stars of the show when on the table) and with some special skills.  Still very much in development.

That's it for now except to say the set-up is on top of my personal gaming table - cleared off just for testing out this set-up.