Iroquois (6)

One of my very first posts on this blog was about Conquest Miniatures' French & Indian War range, 18 woodland Indians that I'd painted in 2006.  Ten years later, here is another pack from Conquest (sold in the UK by Warlord Games).  I wish I'd blogged about those earlier figures on a pack-by-pack basis, because I can't now find them on either the Conquest or Warlord websites.  I think they started off as being sold as "generic woodland Indians", but then some figures were re-packaged as particular tribes. I see a few of the figures are now sold as "Miami" and "Ottawa", but I think some sculpts have disappeared into the ether and those packs contain other figures I haven't seen before.  Anyway, I've always been a fan of the Conquest range.  The figures are smaller and "slighter" than those of Perry, Galloping Major and other brands, but they are terrific animation and lots of detail.  I've had various other packs in the leadpile for several years and I'm slowly working my way through them.  This particular set of figures is called "Iroquois Warriors B".

I admit that I have very little idea of the differences between how the Iroquois should look as compared to the Saux/Fox, the Miami and the other specific nations made by Conquest.  There are noticeable differences in the types of clothing that the figures wear and the various Osprey MAA books I've consulted suggest different types of war paint.  But I confess that I've painted these with a fair amount of artistic licence, although I have looked at paintings by Troiani and others and those in the Ospreys and so I've tried to not completely make it up.  The colours are largely muted browns and blues, and wampum bead patterns on the bags and other bits of equipment.  The war paint is largely taken from modern illustrations.  I make no claims whatsoever about knowing what's "right" when painting native Americans of this era, so please excuse any mistakes.   

Looking through the published "British Grenadier!" scenarios, one finds the following battles as needing Indian figures:

- Hubbardton: 4;
- Oriskany: 54 (48 on the British side, 6 on the American side);
- Bennington: 8;
- Freeman's Farm: 15;
- Bemis Heights: 3;
- Indian Field: 12 Stockbridge Indians.

There is flexibility on the number Indians required for Freeman's Farm because the scenario calls for a unit of skirmishers that can be made up of "Tories and Indians"; the number above is the total for the unit, so you can have fewer Indians and instead use Loyalists.  So a couple of packs of Indians will cater for most AWI needs.  Oriskany presents a challenge - firstly on numbers and secondly on basing.  A third point one might also think about is modelling the different tribes/nations - Seneca and Iroquois on the Crown side and Oneida on the Patriot side.  I've noted above that I haven't really made any attempt when painting to differentiate between the tribes sold by Conquest (and indeed the Perries sell their figures as "woodland Indians"), although some figures do look quite different to the more generic ones.  So, for example, one might consider using the rather distinctive Delaware Indian packs for, say, those fighting for the Patriots, if you think it might get confusing on the tabletop which figures belong to which side.  As for numbers, building a large force of Indians isn't difficult as there are so many different figures available in 25mm - I have Perry, Conquest and Galloping Major in my collection, but there are others available too; for example, Crusader Miniatures have some nice ones, although the poses are rather static when compared to the aforementioned.  I started off basing my Indians as skirmishers on single 25mm x 25mm bases.  I did think about basing new figures on larger bases in multiples, but then decided to stick with single bases for consistency.  I'm minded to buy a couple of "movement trays" (something I vowed never to do) if I find myself preparing for an Oriskany game.

6 figures.  Painted October 2016.