Louisiana Territory New France (54mm Skirmish Project)

[WillPhillips]

As someone of Osage Indian heritage, who loves the 1992 Last of the Mohicans movie, and lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA - in a region with historical ties to the French colonial period, it's only reasonable I add yet another project to my plate, right?

Right...?

There's not much to the project yet, but I've sourced, based, and primed three small skirmish warbands. Details here on my blog: https://tabletop.willphillips.org/2021/02/27/54mm-new-france-skirmish-project

The French Regulars


The Osage


The Voyageurs or Coureurs des Bois

[has.been]

I'm betting this will look great.
I will follow with interest.
My first intro to skirmish gaming was 54mm Western Gunfight,
many happy hours. I wish the same to you.
(Botch Blake, Kid Caldwell & Long Haired Steve Curtis set of rules &
they did a follow up set that covered Woods Indians et al)

[James Morris]

Gosh, those are superb figures!  This is going to be amazing. And yes, you are completely right to add this as an extra project.

[WillPhillips]

Well, If I had actual painting skills you would have every right to be excited, as it is get ready to be... whelmed. 

[zippyfusenet]

Looks like a great project. That was a lot of effort to source those figures. Thanks for sharing.

On your blog you asked about suitable rules. I've played Muskets & Tomahawks, Song of Drums and Tomahawks and This Very Ground. Of those, I think SODT will suit you best, as the other two are designed for more figures and units than you're fielding. You might want to double the SODT ranges, so they visually scale better with your 54mm figures.

If you PM me your email address, I can send you a set of very simple black powder skirmish rules called Firelock and Scalplock that might scratch your itch.

I'm also a mid-western boy (Cincinnati) with a strong interest in local history. I lived in St. Louis for a couple of years as a young man, have family there and visit once in a while. I'm interested in the Mississippian history of the region, and French Illinois. I've toured Cahokia Mounds and Fort de Chartres, would like to see them again one day.

I recently read Din The Imperial Osages and Burns Osage Indian Customs and Myths (seems to be based on Francis Le Flesche's work), and some academic papers that try to relate Osage spiritual beliefs to imagery in Mississippian art. I'd be interested if you know of any websites or books to further educate a tourist like me on Osage culture and history.

I hope you'll post more as you make progress with your Illinois skirmish game.

[Patrice]

  Beautiful figures, and great project!

Skirmish for 6 characters on each side, and very fast? Argad would work, but would end too fast probably after only a few dice rolls in shooting and hand fighting; unless you give them some terrain to hide behind, or perhaps if you give 2 "life points" to each man...

[marco55]

Those Osage look great.I think I read somewhere that eventually they they will be made in metal.This is an interesting period in Illinois and Louisiana territories.Not much info as there is of Canada.I just finished a book on the Natchez Indians but I always thought the Osage were cool.
Mark

[WillPhillips]

I think I read somewhere that eventually they they will be made in metal.

Thanks for the kind words, Mark, but c'moooon! Don't tell me that, hahah.

I'm worried about the rubbery material of these figures, but I'm committed at this point.

[WillPhillips]

Beautiful figures, and great project!

Skirmish for 6 characters on each side, and very fast? Argad would work, but would end too fast probably after only a few dice rolls in shooting and hand fighting; unless you give them some terrain to hide behind, or perhaps if you give 2 "life points" to each man...

I'm not familiar with Argad, but will look into.

Given that I want to use these figures for those times I just want a simple game free of heavy list optimization and thinking, the odds are that I'm going to spin up a very, very rules-light system for this.

[WillPhillips]

Looks like a great project. That was a lot of effort to source those figures. Thanks for sharing.

On your blog you asked about suitable rules. I've played Muskets & Tomahawks, Song of Drums and Tomahawks and This Very Ground. Of those, I think SODT will suit you best, as the other two are designed for more figures and units than you're fielding. You might want to double the SODT ranges, so they visually scale better with your 54mm figures.

If you PM me your email address, I can send you a set of very simple black powder skirmish rules called Firelock and Scalplock that might scratch your itch.

Thanks, zippy. SODT does seem like it will be right-sized for this project. I'm really love the three dice, push your luck approach to activation their games use and am totally lifting it for my micro rules I'm writing for this project.

Have heard for Firelock and Scalplock and would love to take a look at that, too. Will PM you.

I recently read Din The Imperial Osages and Burns Osage Indian Customs and Myths (seems to be based on Francis Le Flesche's work), and some academic papers that try to relate Osage spiritual beliefs to imagery in Mississippian art. I'd be interested if you know of any websites or books to further educate a tourist like me on Osage culture and history.

As far as it relates to any connections to the Mississippian mound builder culture, I'm a little dubious of making firm claims there, but the tribe's Director of Historic Preservation, Andrea Hunte Ph.D is an anthropologist who seems keen on that hypothesis.

If you have time and availability tonight (11 March), she is giving a Zoom lecture:

https://www.mymcpl.org/events/69348/osage-nation-brief-history-zoom
"Join Dr. Andrea Hunter for a fascinating look at the history and culture of the Osage people. Learn about their earliest known existence and how they left their "footprint" right here in Missouri."

For more recent historiography, I'd definitely recommend DuVal's The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent:
https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14229.html

[BillK]

Thank You for posting that link to Kathleen DuVal's book. Was not familiar with the title and will definitely pick it up and give it a read.

[WillPhillips]

Thank You for posting that link to Kathleen DuVal's book. Was not familiar with the title and will definitely pick it up and give it a read.

Shame on my family lineage, but I'm not too read up on my own Osage history. That said, I found it a good read.

The Osage: An Ethnohistorical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-Plains by Willard H. Rollings is also good, but a little drier. It is a focused look at the tribe while DuVal's work is more of a regional look that features the Osage predominantly.

[WillPhillips]

Not too much of an update. Taking my time painting these minis.

But I got a pair of very vicious dogs (upscaled from 28-32mm) from a 3D printer and am very happy with the quality.

https://tabletop.willphillips.org/2021/03/15/good-bois/





https://tabletop.willphillips.org/2021/03/15/good-bois/

[marco55]

Did you check these out from Firelock Games?

[WillPhillips]

Does Firelock do 54mm?

I thought they were 28mm only.

Regardless, I'm deliberately keeping this a very small project!

6 minis per "side" and the two dogs. Got to make some black powder smoke-styled reload markers, and that'll be it!

(Quick and dirty papercraft terrain not withstanding.)