Finally Complete: Sauk y Fox War Party



Sauk, Sac, y Fox or SacFox, by any name,
they play into American history in the 18th and 19th c.

 I purchased these figures from Conquest Miniatures FIW woodland Indians line and the sculpting is incredible.  These have been on the bench for a while, but were finally finished after some internet research and finding some free time.



I used a pin to apply paint to simulate quill and shell work on shotbags.

The great thing about these figures is that they can be used for FIW, AWR, and the 19th c Blackhawk Wars (currently most of my American figs are from the 1830's:  Texian Revolution).  I have a few FIW American Rangers on the painting table and figure I can use my Texian Militia to wargame the campaigns of the Blackhawk Wars.

 

18th and 19th century depictions of Sac/Fox

I based the figs on laser cut hardboard and pasted magnets to the bottom, similar to my Texians/Mexicans.  The bases are a bit high to my liking, but its what I had on hand.  I'm transitioning to 3/4 in washers...since they're already magnetic, have a lower profile, and are significantly less expensive than all of the base options I've seen on the market.

The detail on the Conquest minis is phenomenal, down to claw necklaces
and braided garters for their mitasses.

 



The bases are topped off with sand, painted and flocked.  On to my rangers, so I can stage a small unit action.

 

...even cones and deer hair (center blue shot bag).

 

          I will definitely be purchasing more from Conquest and as I said, have some FIW rangers currently on the painting table (top, primed).

 

 

          I'm working on Mexican Cazadores, Command, and artillery.  Also on the table are tavern servants, Franciscan friars, and mounted Texian Rangers (not to forget the FIW rangers).  These have involved a lot of reposing, new arms, and work with putty to make bi-corns, M1928 forage caps, sashes, blanket rolls, etc.  I'm hoping that they turn out well.  Many of these are poses that I never had any intention of using...but with some putty, styrene and the occasional oath...they should make it into a future campaign.

 

New Buildings from old scraps and unfinished projects...

French farmhouse and barn:  Rescued from an unfinished and languishing project.

A long hiatus:  Grad School semester over, move completed, and a new job-not much time for Liliputia.  I have had a huge structure on the table for about a year now.  It was supposed to be a Presidial barracks or cells for friars at Mission Concepcion for the Bexar Campaign.  The problem was, it was just too large.  With 28mm, I guess some things can't be to scale-they just don't fit on a dining room table.  So I proceeded to rip off the top story, balcony, colonnade, etc. and was left with the structure below.

The barracks sans balcony, colonnade and second floor.

 The structure was made of foamboard covered in sand, the columns from closed cell insulation foam.  The details around the door transoms and windows was some epoxy I had on m boat that was beginning to dry out-a lot harder to work than blue/yellow, but it did the trick.

Finished barracks and farm house (r). 



 The finished products, sanded, painted and weathered.  The one story house on the right is the old 2d floor of the barracks, now a Mexican farm house.  They were painted in leftover latex primer from our living room, and then coats of acrylic terra cotta, linen dry brush, and a brown wash.

French medieval barn on the stocks.

 I still had the balcony, colonnade and some additional scraps left over.  These became a barn and farm house.  I intend to use them on an island in our late-medieval Cog Wars campaigns, but they would be just as good for Lace Wars, Napoleonics, or even the Great War.  Again, the foam board walls on a foundation of closed cell foam insulation.

The foundations were the remains of the balcony and colonnade from the old
Presidial barracks project.

 Again, I used the last of the boat epoxy to craft the stone accents around the doors and windows.  The buildings were sanded from kids' sandbox in the back yard.  Painted with the old latex base and then a coat of linen with brown wash.  The roof shingles are card stock painted, drybrush, and stained with the brown wash.

Completed French farm, awaiting a well, fields, etc.

 The end product turned out to my liking...and to my daughter's liking as well.  She would like a set larger enough for her Disney Princess dolls.  (My sons rolls their eyes, because the odds are I will be doing that in the near future).

As always, the roofs are removable to allow the buildings o be occupied.
The barn has a hayloft...for an archer...or archer and wench.



With the structures completed, on to the Battle of Gonzales, 1835.

Completed: War of 1812 Ship's Company, frontier tavern

Boarding party

     My 1812/Napoleonic ships company is finally complete. These were great figures, but they've been sitting on the bench for so long that I can't remember the manufacturer.  I did get most of them from Brigade Games and a few at Historicon last summer.

        The bases are wood disks covered with yellow and blue sculpting putty, then scored to give the appearance of a ship's deck.  

Lieutenant and Midshipmen

            I do need to find a captain figure and another lieutenant to round out the wardroom.

Gun crews

          A few more gun crews would be nice as well, unless I'm only manning a two-gun sloop.

          All in all, these were fun to paint, although I don't know what I will do with them yet.  Perhaps an Aubrey-Maturin game?

         The tavern took me forever to complete, mostly because its a pain to chink in between the logs with wood putty.  I used Elmer's, which contains wood pulp.  Once its dry and set (1-2 days), it gets a coat of primer and is painted.  The building made its debut as part of a town, defended by Texian rebels against a Mexican force, more on that later.

The chinking completed, awaiting primer.

         The "stone" foundation and chimney are just blue 1 in. foam insulation sheeting, scored, and melted to give the impression of rough hewn stone blocks.

The competed tavern...minus a signboard.

            The roof is just mat board cut and glued.  Perhaps a bit out of scale, but it gives the impression of wood or slate depending on the paint.  At least its less expensive than an embossed styrene sheet.

Historicon: Bargain Basement Longbowmen, or how to improve on horrible Bretonnian models.

 

English Longbowmen in Burgundian livery

    My brother passed away a few months ago, unexpectedly and his wife gave my son all his minis.  Mostly old Gamesworkshop Bretonnians from when we were kids.  I had sold all mine, but since my son won Most Valuable Gamer at Historicon Cog Wars (and consequently an Old Glory Cog)...we are delving back into late medieval gaming.  On to the Bargain basement and the vendors!  I picked up about thirty of the old plastic Bretonnian archers (two poses) and a box of Perry Bros. European Infantry.

Notice the hoods made of blue/yellow modelling putty.

       I dislike the Gamesworkshop figures in general because they are so chunky, but 30 figs for $3.50...not complaining.  I hacked off the heads and replaced with various heads from Perry, Games Workshop Empire (Mordheim) Militia, and Hammer of the Gods.  Adding a few recycled swords and such from my bits box, as well as modelling some hoods out of blue/yellow putty makes them seem less like Bretonnians.

A little work with a knife, pin vise, leftover parts, and putty...

      I am painting these as English Archers in the service of Charles the Bold.  Most Burgundian troops were crossbowmen and hand gunners, but the English did support Charles against his European foes (the enemy of my enemy...).

Finished hoods add variety to the once bland Bretonnians.

Matte sealer by Testors and flocking finish them off.  By the way, I've started using small wooden disks from the craft store for my bases.  I get about 50 for $3.00...a lot better that the plastic bases or laser cut bases on the market!  Just need to put the flags on my Burgundian Infantry (hand gunners, halberdiers) and the army is complete.

Progress on the Centralista Army of Operations: Fusileros, Dragoons, Perry Carlists, Buildings and Conquest Sauk y Fox



Mexican Regular Dragoons (Regimental Honours)



      Finally making some progress on the Centralista Army of Operations...and some other distractions.  The Cavalry (Batalion Tampico) is done, except for flocking and a squadron base.  I had to repaint the shabraques to the correct green bound in white (that I found to be appropriate after further research-which as it turns out these dragoons should be in French-made Dragoon helmets, probably not bear-crested Tarletons...oh well)




Jimenez, Matamoros, Toluca, and Tres Villas Bns (Converted Austrians)



      These soldados still require flocking, but are the Fusileros of what will be the Jimenez, Matamoros, Toluca, and Tres Villas Battalions.   I converted some for the command (the Color Sergeant and Drummer)...but need more, so I have been waiting on an order from The War Store...which arrived last week.

Perry Bros Carlist Wars Royalist Command and British Riflemen...excellente!

      What I ordered were Perry Bros Carlist Wars Loyalist Command and British Riflemen, which you may wonder what these have to do with the Army of Operations.  Well, the Perry figures are amazingly detailed and well cast-little cleanup required.  With the exception of two figures, the poses are very dynamic and will fit well with the Fusileros advancing.  The Royalists, with a little blade and putty work, look very similar to the Mexican Permanente and Activo uniforms of 1835-36. The same goes for the Riflemen, who with additional work are very close to their Baker wielding counterparts, the Mexican Cazadores (Flank Companies).  So all I really need to purchase to complete the Army is Artillery and a Command/Staff unit.

Adobe building, primed and ready for painting

      This building I started to add to the current adobes I've built either for the battle of Bexar or another unnamed action south of the Colorado River. The walls are foam board covered with sand and the columns, stairs and balcony are blue styrofoam insulation.  Floors are flagstone (mat board) It still needs paint and interior accents (I've made shutters, paintings, etc.)

What have the Sauk to do with Santa Anna...absolutely nothing. 
Mission Creep!

      While waiting for the sand and priming to dry on the Royalists-Come-Centralistas, I started working on some Sauk by Conquest.  Why?  A.  They're incredible.  Highly recommend their figures, which makes me want to build up a warband now.  Mission creep!  B.  My six-year-old is painting a section of Roger's Rangers.  So much for staying in the 1830's...

On the Painting Table...

The garage workbench...its been below 20 deg F out there...

      So right now on the bench I have the remainder of my Mexican Infantry (converted from Austrian Infantry).  I shaved off the tall hackle plume and replaced with a small lead projectile from a dove shot load-perfect pom-pom.  There are also mounted Texas Rangers, the rest of the Mexican Lancers (Regulars), and a mule train that I bought at a small shop in Honolulu while on a business trip last spring.

Texas Rangers and Mexican Infantry

Texas Rangers

       I am also trying to complete the mule train (back) and the Mexican Light Cavalry Lancers (Front).
Slowly, but surely.

The Unfinished Tavern

        This building has been on the bench for a while now.  I'm going to use Plastic Wood for the chinking between the logs, as I have for the other log structures I've made (cabin, dogtrot, blockhouse). I plan on modeling some other details for this as well (barrels, food, etc).  The stone is just styrofoam insulation panels-the blue sheets from the hardware store.  Floor stones are just painted matboard.  This one will have a second level, just a loft with some beds.  The finished tavern is going to be the terrain for a "Barfight" scenario between James Bowie's Volunteers and a rival gang.

What I'm working on...

Batallion Matamoros and Light Cavalry charge the 1st Battalion,
Republic of Texas Regulars and a Six Pounder.

    Unfortunately, not much painting over the holidays.  In-laws in town for two weeks.  I did manage to complete my Texian artillery battery...well they still need flocking too.

The Two Sisters

    The figures are 28mm (hence the blog title) Old Glory and the cannon I picked up loose at the 2012 Historicon.  I've been focusing on modeling and playing the Texas Revolution (1835-6).  It fits my likes for small tactical gaming.

     I've completed the skirmish and battalion rules for the game my sons and I play (Savage Frontier: 1835), but still need to complete the scenario diagrams and photographs.
     My projects in varying states of completion are:

                  1) Parker's Fort:  Gate house (Dogtrot Cabin-See photos above), Cabin, Blockhouse, Palisades, Blacksmith shop (incomplete).
                  2) Presidio La Bahia:  East gate house is the only thing complete.  Still need to complete barracks, chapel, officer's quarters, walls and two bastions.
                  3) Tres Villas Battalion:  Mexican Reserve Unit-Needs command.  Foot soldiers are a mixture of Old Glory and converted Regimental Honours Austrians (a little putty, knife work and filing).
                  4) Mexican Light Cavalry:  Need to complete officer, standard bearer and bugler. (Old Glory)
                  5) War of 1812 Sailors (New Line Napoleonics)
                  6) Texas Rangers Mounted (Converted from some Ohio Mounted Rifles from the flea market at Historicon.
                  7) Sauk y Fox Indians (I put some Conquest minis in my stocking)
                  8) 2x Boxes of Saxon Warbands: Perry Plastic.  Bought these while on a business trip to Honolulu last year...still not painted.  This is dangerous because this is a different time period...This is one of the symptoms of "Lead Poisoning".