Irregular Wars Wargaming

With the release of Dan Mersey and Michael Leck's Rebels and Patriots , I've dug out my 15mm 18th and 19th century miniatures to build two trial companies. I'll not go into a full review (there are plenty out there, here is Karawansary's , and ilivewithcats' ); these read like another elegant set of rules, building on Dan's 'Rampant' series, and firmly rooted in the black powder period. First up are the 27th Inniskilling Fusiliers - my local regiment - for the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The 'Skins' had previously fought in the West Indies (1739-1740), against the Jacobites in Scotland (1745-1746), and then were sent to Canada where they fought from 1758-1761, before redeploying back to the West Indies until 1762 when they returned to New York. Although  Rebels and Patriots  is framed for games in the American conflicts of the 18th and 19th centuries, all the elements are there for more diverse conflicts in the period. Troop ...

We tried out the  Donnybrook rules for the French and Indian War this week. While the rules seem to have an awful lot going for them, we were not convinced that there was enough mid-18th century, North American theatre, flavour in the rules. They feel like they would be great with a bunch of scurvy buccaneers, but for this sort of conflict, maybe not.

The task given to Lieutenant James FitzJames (of the Cherrymount FitzJames') was a simple one. As Captain Hotspur had put it, "Get that bloody wagon moving!" Those parts of the trackway that were not riven with small gullies by the recent rains, had collected the water in broad stretches of sticky mud. Hotspur had taken most of the company on to Fort Heretostay, leaving the bookish FitzJames with a small detachment of men and impeded by a bogged wagon - not to mention the tiresome company of 'Mr' Thomas Hawks and his self entitled clutch of colonials. At least sergeants Maguire and Hamill had elected to stay behind to add a little practical experience to FitzJames' more theoretical learning. Rev. Cornelius Goodyeare had also decided to stay behind with the wagon to continue an ongoing discussion he had been having with FitzJames on the weight of angels relative to the density of clouds... FitzJames started off proceedings by suggesting the wagon would ge...

My Sharp Practice 2 French and Indian Wars British force is more or less complete at a half company of Inniskillings plus some Indian scouts. However, almost enjoying painting 15mm again, I decided I wanted to add a touch more colonial flavour to Hotspur's expedition. I decided that a group of frontiersmen would fit with my theme, but I was going to be damned before I'd buy 30 Blue Moon colonials to field a single unit of six skirmishers so I cast my eye around for a cheaper and more sensible alternative.  Enter the Freicorp range from QRF/Total System Scenics. They sell their infantry in the customary bag of eight for a pittance (if not a pittance, at £2.70, they are only a fraction of the £13 Blue Moon bags). I ordered one pack not knowing what to expect really. At worst, I'd lost a fiver (including post). At best, I'd have a new flavour-filled unit. I hope you'll agree from the top photo, the sculpts are actually quite nice and paint up to a suitable standa...

This week, we returned to the semi-wild woodlands of 1750s eastern North America for my second game of  Sharp Practice 2 , the large scale skirmish game for the black powder period from Too Fat Lardies. The game saw a mixed force of French regulars, Canadian militia and allied Indians (Huron probably, but they never got close enough for me to ask) on the warpath. Their immediate target was a British homestead, part of the fragile network of settlements seeded across the woodlands to start the  exploitation of  civilising of the New World. As the photo above shows (taken from the east, looking west), the roguish Captain Hotspur heard of the French threat and hot footed it towards the homestead from the south, leading a column of Inniskilling fusiliers with Indian scouts, while his bookish 2iC, Lt Fitzjames (of the Cherrymount Fitzjames') approached from the east with a second force the same size. While the French regulars slowly approached the farmstead across ...

I still have a couple of groups of eight fusiliers to do for my 'Skillings, but in preparation for a learning game of Sharp Practice 2 this week I have finished up my commanding officer, an ensign bearing the regimental colours, a drummer and a reverend. All are 15mm Blue Moon figures. By the time I am done, my base force will be the better half of a company of the 27th Inniskillings along with a scouting party of a dozen Mohawk and a clutch of civilians. I know that, even then, it is unlikely that such a group would ever have had custody of the regimental colours, but... it'll look nice to occasionally pop it out on the table. *EDIT* Below are a couple of photos from my introductory game of SP2 . We only had small forces, three groups on my side, and four groups on the French-Indian side. This is not the place for a full review of the rules - I'd like to understand them better first - but it was a fun wee game in which Captain Hotspur gave the Frog a bloody nose ...

Phase one of my French Indian War project is now finished up. I hope to get a few games of Song of Drums and Tomahawks and Sharp Practice 2  with these chaps in the new year and then get another 16 fusiliers to bring me up to a full force for SP2 . The redcoats are panted up to be from what would have been my local regiment, the 27th Inniskilling Fusiliers. In this uniform they served against the Jacobite uprising (1745-46) and against the French and Spanish in North America and the Caribbean from 1756-1767. They later returned to the colonies to take on the rebels during the American Revolution. Also featured are half a dozen civilians - one with a long barreled hunting rifle - and the dozen Mohawk whom I have shown previously.

... you're in for a big surprise.  Accounts coming in from survivors tell of Mohawk war parties striking up and down the Ohio River country. The provincial government of New France had better beware, because the situation is about to get worse. Some reports even suggest that the Mohawk have been incited to this barbarity by the Anglais... In a last spurt of painting before work gets busy again, I've managed to make a start on our French and Indian War project using Blue Moon's 15mm range. I'm still waiting on some smaller bases for my British regulars, so I focused initially on 12 my Mohawk warriors, and a British captain. All the Blue moon officers carry partizans which I thought a bit cumbersome for the woods of North America, so I cut this chap's down and replaced it with a tomahawk. Due the the wash/ink used on them, they are all still woefully shiny, but nothing a quick spray of matt varnish wont fix. I just need to buy some. Any wait for a dry day wit...

Just a few bits and pieces of painting inspiration while I start looking into a new project that has fallen my way. I've agreed to put together some British and Indian forces for the French Indian War (North America's end of the Seven Years War - 1754-1763). Looks like we'll dabble in both Song of Drums and Tomahawks , and Sharp Practice 2 . Not entirely sure what I'm doing yet, but as the 27th (Inniskilling) regiment took part, and they are - sort of - the local regiment here, I thought I'd create an apocryphal company of the Skillings as the foundation of my force. The pictures below are all scoured from the net. Some are of re-enactors (obviously) and some of those are even re-enacting the 27th! At some stage, I'll have to pop down to the regimental museum and have a look see. It might also to worth picking up this wee booklet too: Available HERE