Hurons!

The final part of my French wilderness force for Sharp Practice 2 is of course a couple of units of Huron allies. I'm really looking forward to using these in SP2 - the rules for moveable deployment zones should give their opponents something to think about.



These were lovely figures to paint, although very time consuming due to the individual details. Most of the figures are from the Woodland Indians box set put out by Warlord (which are actually Conquest Miniatures figures), with six figures from Northstar. Here's a stack of photos - I hope you enjoy them.

Coureurs des Bois and a Canoe

French forces in Sharp Practice 2 are allowed a single unit of Coureurs des Bois, rugged irregular scouts. As it happens, buying a box each of the Northstar French Wilderness Force figures and the Warlord Compagnie Franche de la Marine to make a core force leaves six figures left over, perfect to add some 'Runners of the Woods' to them.



What's a French and Indian Wars battle without canoes? Fortunately, Conquest Miniatures make some lovely canoes with different crews, so here's one from the Compagnie Franche de la Marines.



I'm not sure what function this will have in a game of Sharp Practice, but I might be able to use it as a Deployment Point marker or something like that.

Next up: Hurons!

Milice Canadienne for Sharp Practice 2

Along with the Compagnie Franche de la Marine, no French raiding force in 1759 would be complete without a couple of units of Canadian Militia. These are just Northstar and Conquest Marine figures, given a slightly less uniform paintjob, but under the command of an officer of the les Marins.

Putting Together a French Wildnerness Force of Sharp Practice 2

Sharp Practice 2 includes some army lists for the French Indian Wars. I decided to put together a French wilderness force, made up of a mix of Native American allies and Canadian militia around a core of Compagnie Franches de la Marine. This is an interesting and colourful force to put together, and can be assembled from three readily-available box sets.



The basic core force consists of two units of eight Compagnie Franches de la Marine, under a senior officer, two units of six Canadian militia, with an officer and two units of 12 native Americans, with a leader. Northstar produce a very nice French Wilderness force box set for Muskets and Tomahawks, which combined with a box each of Compagnie Franches de la Marine and Woodland Indians from Warlord Games (actually Conquest Miniatures) gives you exactly what you need, with six figures left over to serve as a unit of Coureur de Bois and an additional sergeant. There is a slight size difference between Northstar and Warlord, but they mix together perfectly well, in my view.

This post features the two units of Compagnie Franches de la Marine. The movement based are from , and I have gone for a woodlands theme with the basing. The tree trunks are a compromise - I wanted to evoke woods without having to move whole forests around the table like Birnam Wood, but hopefully they don't look too much like Ypres. What do you reckon?

French and Indian Wars for Sharp Practice 2

So Sharp Practice 2 looks good. I still haven't played a game, but the size of the forces involved help to make it appealing. Like many of you, I'm drawn to finite painting projects, where I can indulge, say, an itch to paint some Napoleonic French without committing to the next decade to paint the entire Grande Armee. The rules look good, and have been getting great reviews. Even more importantly, a few of us at our gaming club are keen to try them out for the French and Indian Wars, with French, British Regulars and a Ranger force all in various states of painting.

I've finished my French wilderness force, with the picture above just being a bit of a teaser. Over the next few days I'll put up images of the different units in the force, as well as some terrain I'm working on. The plan is to play our first game on 3 September, so if you are interested in following this little project, stay tuned.