Northeast Woods Indians (Cold)

CinC, LMI, 2HCW, JLS, B, Sh @ 100 points 1
Subgen, LMI, 2HCW, JLS, B, Sh @ 50 points 0 - 5
Sun Warriors, IrrB LMI, 2HCW, JLS @ 4 points 0 - 30
Shaman, IrrA LMI, 2SA, @ 4 points 6 - 36
Nobles, IrrC LMI, 2HCW, B @ 3 points 18 - 72
Extra to upgrade nobles to IrrB @ 1 point 0 - 30
Honored Men, IrrC LMI or MI, JLS, B @ 3 points 36 - 144
Stinkard, IrrD MI, JLS or 2HCW, B @ 2 points 48 - 144
Hunters, IrrC LI, JLS, B @ 3 points 60 - 120
Gatherers, IrrD LI, B or J @ I point 0 - 108
Extra to give any but Stinkard or Gatherers Sh @ 1 point up to 1/2
Light Bolt Shooter and 2 IrrC crew @ 40 points 0 - 2
Up to 25 irregular command factors @ 25 points.
Up to 6 irregular command factors @ 10 points to provide CinC or Subgen with a detachment of Shaman.

Only Sun Warriors and Nobles may provide staff elements fcr generals. Honored men may be mixed with Nobles or Stinkard.

A sense of pride in North American Indian prompted me to provide this list. It describes three major tribal groups of American Indians, the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Sioux, at the time of the Viking incursions into North America. Culture, tactics, equipment, and organization were the major influences on the development of this list.

Cultural Influences

There were three major cultural influences on warfare in the indian community, a caste system, ritual/magic, and political expansion.

A caste system governed the social organization of the indians. Indians belonged to one of three castes, a warrior caste, a worker caste, or a priest caste. Matrilineal descent determined membership in the warrior and worker castes. Heredity and enterprise combined to decide membership in the priest caste.

The warriors of the Sun, and the tribal nobles comprised the hereditary warring class. A tribal noble could aspire to leadership by virtue of prowess of arms. Yet, tribal rulers normally descended from Sun Warriors. At puberty a tribal noble became a warrior by virtue of heredity. He attained full status in the Sun caste after a rigorous series of ritual trials and tests. The Sun Warrior adhered to a strict code of behavior, similar to the Bushido code of the Japanese Samurai. The warrior could easily lose face in his caste, and loose his status as a Sun Warrior.

The Stinkard were the hereditary working class of the American Indian. Though they possessed skill at weapons handling, the Stinkard only provided military service in defense of the lodge, as payment for a debt, or as a ritual obligation. It was possible for a Stinkard to become an Honored Man, if he proved his prowess in battle. Honored Men gained admission to a warrior society due to a nobleman's sponsorship. So, Honored Men owed their allegiance to a noble and normally fought alongside him. The relationship between a tribal noble and an Honored Man was similar to the relationship between a European Knight and a gentleman at arms.

The Shaman formed the caste of priests. Unlike other castes, the priesthood was not a result of matrilineal descent. Shaman became priests because of divine revelation and aptitude. In theory, any member of the tribe could become a Shaman. But, Shaman were normally Sun warriors. So, the Shaman took an active part in battle. The Shaman encouraged warfare, because battles often satisfied ritual/magic purposes. 

Due to ritual and magic the indian engaged in warfare to obtain sacrifices, enhance the prestige of tribal members, and to satisfy omens. The capture of hostages was a major motivation for warfare among the Indian tribes. The indians used the hostages in sacrificial rites that included cannibalism and torture. There were many requirements for human sacrifice. So the taking of hostages was frequent cause for warfare. The taking of hostages was not the only way that magic influenced warfare. Ritual acts enacted on the battlefield enhanced the prestige of tribal members. Touching the weapon or person of an enemy, or dancing in front of him enhanced the prestige of the tribesman in the eyes of the tribe and the gods. This practice, "counting coup" endowed the indian with magic powers and abilities. Finally, omens and dreams inspired the indian to battle.

Magic and ritual often gave way to the political and economic aspirations of tribal leaders. Tribal leaders attempted to subjugate neighboring villages for tribute, slaves, and political power. Subject villages provided their masters with annual tributes of grains and corn. Subject villages also provided warriors occasionally. Tribal leaders conducted frequent raids on neighboring villages. These raids were for obtaining slaves. Their intent was not the subjugation of the villages. Slaves were captured for three basic purposes: tribal adoption, ritual sacrifice, and for exacting tribute from neighboring tribes.

The indians were essentially raiders. They avoided open battle. When attacking they preferred swift raids conducted by widely dispersed groups of gorilla fighters. On the defense, they enclosed themselves in palisaded villages and engaged their attackers at long range with missile fire.

Tactics

On the attack, the indian employed the gorilla tactics of infiltration, harassment, and isolation. Before a major raid, small groups of hunters infiltrated the enemy's territory, to scout their positions and establish lines of communication and supply. These hunters attempted to establish encampments near the enemy villages. The encampments served as forward area supply and communications posts. From them, warbands sallied forth on raids, rallied after battle, and cached their booty. The warriors attempted to demoralize the enemy by harassment after the camps were established. Warriors prowled the forests surrounding the enemy villages, and subjected anyone that ventured outside the village to swift and merciless ambush. When the morale of the enemy began to waver, the indians moved closer to the village. This had the effect of isolating the enemy village. The Stinkard and the elderly joined in the raid. At a safe distance from the village they shouted insults, danced obscenely, and shot arrows at any enemy that showed himself. During a prolonged siege, the Stinkard built small stone throwers and hurled pebbles over the palisaded walls of the enemy.

If artillery, isolation, and harassment were ineffective, the indians normally lifted their siege after a few weeks. The short duration of the siege formed the basis of the indian's defensive policy. The greatest threat to the indians were hordes of wandering Skraeling (Eskimo). When confronted by these hordes of wanderers, the indian retired to the safety of his village and waited the Skraeling to leave the area. The indians were superior to the Skraeling in weapons and organizat:on, but they preferred waiting the Skraeling out, to open battle. 

The American Indians weapons and organization were highly refined when the Vikings invaded North America. Their major weapons were bow, lance, warclub, tomahawk, and stone thrower.

The American Indians were excellent archers. Their archery training began at a very young age. The American Indian's bow was approximately the height of an average man. Yet, their bows are not classified as longbows, because the longbow classification is reserved for archers that trained to engage heavily armored troops.

The lance of the indian was a short spear used for throwing, or wielded single handed in combat. As this was often an ancillary weapon, it is justified to class this as a "plus JLS" weapon.

The war club was a heavy stone tipped club made of hardwood and reinforced with bone. This club weighed more than twenty pounds, and often exceeded three feet in length. It is unlikely that this club was wielded single handed. So, it is classed as a 2HCW.

The tomahawk was the primary short range missile weapon of the indian. It was a stone throwing ax similar in size and appearance to the European sax or francisca. The stone head of the tomahawk was finely polished and sharpened to enhance its penetration power, accuracy, and balance. This weapon is not a HTW. It is classified as a JLS, the Viking list, expressly excludes the francisca from being classified as a HTW.

During sieges the indian made use of stone throwers. Their stone throwers consisted of a pole with a pebble filled leather globe on one end, and a stiffened leather pocket (similar to a lacrosse pocket) on the other end. The pole was mounted on a light frame of wood and leather, and served by a three man crew.

Besides highly refined weapons, the indian had a highly refined organization structure. His organization was tribal in nature. Closely tied to kith and kin, the indian organized his warfare along the lines of the lodge, village, and tribe. The lodge formed the basic organizational unit of the indians. Lodge members were closely related by blood or adoption. Villages consisted of multiple lodges sharing a common compound. Tribes were a confederation of villages united by blood or vassalage. It is conceivable that a tribal battle group could have numbered as many 10,000 to 15,000 participants. The maximums and minimums for this list were based on a battle group of this size, at a scale of 38:1.

Armor was either non-existent, or present in such small quantities that the indians are classified as light infantry, light medium infantry, and medium infantry. Sun warriors, Nobles, and Honored Men are classed as light medium infantry, because the favored swift ambushes in heavily wooded terrain. Stinkard are classed as medium infantry because they could not skirmish effectively, and were primarily used as a village defense, not than a maneuver force. Hunters, and Gatherers are classed as light infantry because they were primarily used as scouts, and they were deployed in widely dispersed groups in close terrain.

Citations

Chapman, Paul, H., 1981. The Norse Discovery of America, USA, One Candle Press
Davies, Nigel, 1979. Voyages To The New World, New York, William Morrow & CO.
Fell, Barry, 1980. Saga America, Toronto, Fitzhenry & Whitside
Howard, James, 1984. The Canadian Sioux, Lincoln, NE, Univ of Nebraska
Mallery, A, 1979. The Rediscovery Of Lost America, Toronto, Clarke/Irwin
Nelson, Richard, 1973. Hunters Of The Northern Forests, USA, Univ of Chicago
Walgren, Erik, 1986. The Vikings And North America, New York, Thames Hudson Co.