I don't know whether you saw it, but towards the end of last year the B.B.C. screened a serialised version of one of J.Peninmore Cooper's, Pathfinder stories as a sequel to the excellent dramatisation of "The Last of the Mohicans" that they did in 1972. The serial, which was filmed in Scotland, was shown on Sunday afternoons which is about the one time I ever watch television. The scenery of the Highlands, I think, captured the atmosphere as I imagine it to be of Canada during the mid-18th century and I think a great deal of car was taken to make it as authentic as possible, short of getting the actors to shave their heads to play the Redskins. I doubt if it kept very close the original story, which was called "The Inland Lake", but it was one of the most exciting historical drama's that I have seen in a long time. The result of this was I felt compelled to try and recreate that atmosphere and excitement on the wargames table, by recreating the sporadic and fierce skirmishes that went on between the English, Scots and French and their Indian Allies. This inspiration coincided with my buying a set of the Colonial Skirmish Rules, and after fighting skirmishes in some of the more obvious Colonial wars, such as the Seventh Cavalry versus Indians, and Afghans against British, I was eager to adapt these rules to fit the 18th century Colonial struggles. First things first, however, I had to get some figures and after considering the possibilities of both 25mm and 54mm figures I decided on using 30mm as my basic scale. Although 54mm offered a wide scope for conversion, I felt they were a little too big, and 25mm did not really offer the possibilities of characterisation that I wanted. However the main reason for choosing 30mm was that those in the Stadden range are by far the most beautiful wargames figures ever produced. Still, even in this time of a boom in figure manufacturers I am thwarted by the simple fact that apart from "Willie" which are a little too expensive for wargaming, no manufacturer to my knowledge made a Huron/ Iroquois/Mohican/Mohawk Indian of this period. Am I right? Stadden produces a beautiful range of American War of Independence Mountain Boys which are easily adapted and also some very nice Highlanders which can be converted quite easily to represent Black Watch of the earlier period. However the number of possible position is in no way unlimited and I think the actual position of the figure is very important in Skirmish games. Obviously the Indians are not impossible to obtain but it takes time to convert them. As yet I have three, one converted from a charging Stadden Frontiersman armed with a Tomahawk and the other two converted from Zulus, which involved quite a lot of carving and modelling putty. They, though I say it myself, are pretty impressive, though my painting isn't up to much. Still I have got to get a lot more before the ratio of Redskins to whitemen is realistic. I would also like to gei hold of some suitable seated figures so I can make a canoe. I hope by now you can see the possibilities and excitement of this period, but as yet I do not know whether it is really suitable for wargaming. Last week I tried an experimental game using the few figures that I have been able to assemble and I had real difficulties in deciding who could see who, and whether the sharp ears of an Indian scout could pick up the movement of some invisible Frontiersmen. Because the range was so limited due to the heavy cover which cut down visibility to a minimum, any firing was done at very short range and was rarely aimed, just before hand-to-hand combat. Unlike Colonial skirmishes in later Colonial periods such as the North-West Frontier which entails a lot of long distance sniping, this period involves more fighting at close quarters with tomehawks, knives and musket and bayonets. I have not really got time to give a detailed description of my adaptations to the basic rules but most of them are fairly obvious. However, as well as the firing and melee factors that each figure has, he also has a missile factor which is not necessarily equal to his other factors, in case he wishes to throw his Tomahawk or knife. The weapons are basically similar on both sides, bows and musket for the Redskins; muskets and rifles (I do not know if rifles were common - the Pathfinder used one in Fenimore Cooper's book, but I think that they were quite rare and anyway are not really effective in a Skirmish game due to the time it would take to load) for the frontiersmen, with all irregulars armed with Tomahawks and knives; and bayonets, muskets, flintlock pistols and claymores for the Regulars. Anyway the whole idea is still in a fairly early stage, and most of it is still in my head, as yet. Still the period has given me a lot of satisfaction so far and even if I find that it does not give a very realistic or enjoyable game, at least it has got me away from Napoleonics for a while. I only wish there were more 30mm figures of the same quality as the Stedden ones (and at the same price, which is still only 15P), then I might be able to get somewhere. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 152 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1974 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com