Tag Archives: Minden Miniatures

French and Indian War: Working Pioneers from Black Hussar Miniatures

General Braddock's Defeat on the Monongahela Part 8 | Monongahela, Braddock, Local history

Moving armies and settlers through the 18th-century North American wilderness during the French and Indian War often involved widening old trails, clearing new routes and building new roads. Hired crews of civilian workers and military pioneers usually led the way, felling trees far in advance of military columns.

I had recently found some great military pioneers from Redoubt Enterprises as well as some generic civilian workers from Minden Miniatures from Fife & Drum Miniatures. Always on the lookout for unique models, I came across Black Hussar Miniatures and found a whole new manufacturer previously unknown to me.

Referred to as lumberjacks on this Germany-based manufacturer’s site, the pack of three models could easily find a place on a military road or on a settler’s farm. I love the mix of poses and clothing with hatchets being wielded to split logs and a hack at branches. The largest of the castings is dragging a large tree branch to which I added some additional twigs as stumps on a large metal washer base.

I’m always thrilled to find a new source of models, and I’ve quickly added these and some other minis from Black Hussar to my collection.

French and Indian War: Civilian Workers, Guides and Pack Animals from Fife & Drum Miniatures and Wargames Foundry

ClearingTrees

Ask the average person to describe an 18th-century army in the North American colonies during the French and Indian War and you’ll probably get a lot of images of tricorne hats, muskets and guys in regular uniforms marching in lines across open fields. The role of civilians often doesn’t come up, but their importance was of the utmost to armies of the period.

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Map of Braddock’s Road (John Kennedy Lacock, 1912)

When British General Edward Braddock set off into the Ohio Country wilderness in 1755 to lay a planned siege at Fort Duquesne, his column of some 2,000 soldiers also contained civilians. These men (and a couple dozen women) served as scouts, laborers, wagoneers, animal herders, cooks, blacksmiths, carpenters and all manner of other roles commonly found in the era.

On the Braddock Campaign, scouts included backcountry notable, local landowner and fur trader John Fraser. Among the hired teamsters were Daniel Morgan and a young Daniel Boone. The wilderness expertise of these historic figures and those whose names are since lost was key in navigating the miles-long column as civilian laborers hacked their way through the woods of Southwestern Pennsylvania at a rate of just a couple miles a day.

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I found a bunch of civilian figures in the flea market are at this year’s HMGS Cold Wars convention. At just a buck or two each, I managed to snag a nice variety of workers from Fife & Drum Miniatures plus some pack animals and a mounted scout from the Old West line from Wargames Foundry. The metal sculpts provide a lot of unique models which were a nice break from regular poses of the FIW French and British soldiers I’ve been collecting over the past year. Painting the civilians and pack animals also allowed for some less historical freedom and creativity.

My finished figures are going to come in handy as I build out some Braddock-themed scenarios in the coming months. Having completed a few, I’ll also be looking to add more civilians to my forces in support of the masses of troops on my FIW game tables.

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Minden Miniatures laborers from Fife & Drum Miniatures

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Scout and pack animals from Wargames Foundry

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