"1870 or 1885?" Topic

I'm slowly wrapping up my Russian army for 1812 (it's not finished and never will be, but I'm setting it aside so I can work on other things). I want to do a project that ties to western Canada in the 19th Century, and have narrowed the options to three. Two of them are completely alternative history, and the third will hold closer to what actually happened.

The campaigns I'm considering are:

1870: Pig War gone hot. The actual Pig War was a twelve year standoff between the Royal Navy and the US Army on San Juan Island, and was notable in that the only casualty was the pig that actually started the whole affair. In my version, there would be some event that would move the participants to an actual armed conflict.
Figures: Royal Marines and the Victoria Pioneer Rifles would be represented by Perry BIF, and I'm certain I could find Royal Navy landing parties and gunners somewhere. ACW Union troops would represent the US Army.

The next idea is even more fantastical: the 1870 Wolseley Expedition to Manitoba would find not a deserted Fort Garry, but armed resistance from the Metis National Council, supported by friends such as the Fenian Brotherhood and les zouaves pontificaux (in this case, French Canadian veterans of the Pontical Zouaves, returned from Europe and keen to protect Louis Riel from les maudits anglais).

Wolseley's troops would again be Perry BIF. The Fenians would be converted from Perry ACW Confederates and the Pontifical Zouaves from ACW Zouaves. I'm not certain where I'd go for the Métis. Maybe Foundry's Mountain Men (http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/old-west/old-west-men-wilderness-collection-bcow008/) and Artizan's Texians

My last idea is to go with a straight, historical 1885 Northwest Rebellion (or Resistance, if you prefer). This one has several gameable battles, which were small enough that they could almost be gamed with every original participant on the table! Battles such as Cut Knife and Fish Creek would be interesting to try on the table, especially with something like the Too Fat Lardies rules which allow for lots of fog of war. Reading accounts, the biggest challenge for the government troops was the lack of intelligence that they had about their opponents, which allowed relatively small numbers of Cree and/or Metis to embarrass the Canadian militia. There are even armed river steamboats to keep the steampunks happy!

I really don't know what models I'd use for this conflict, though. Rafm has a dedicated line, but the models are older and much smaller (25mm) than anything else I have right now. I'd rather collect 28mm models for this project. Zulu War models would appear to be ok, but I'd be frustrated that they'd be equipped with Martini Henrys instead of Snider Enfields. No one else would even notice, but it would still bug me. Maybe Castaway Arts Ashanti War British? Hmm. Also not certain about suitable Métis or Cree. The figures I recommended for 1870 would not be suitable as by 1885 most Métis would have had repeating rifles such as Winchesters, not the muskets still in use in 1870. I've seen others recommend Boers, which could serve to a certain extent (in this case watch for those bolt action rifles!), and maybe by trawling various wild west lines I could come up with suitable numbers of Métis. As for the Cree, I could look at wild west plains indians, but I'd prefer warriors with more clothing – most of the miniatures for wild west native Americans seem to favour loincloths (and nought else), but the photos and drawings I've seen show most of the warriors better protected against the elements, with shirts or coats, or blankets.

I've only really considered 28mm figs. I suppose 15mm could work.

For me this is really an exercise in thinking out loud. I can see that for the next 5 years or so I'll only have a couple of hours for painting here and there, and nearly none for gaming. This project (should it get that far) will take me years to complete! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or recommendations.

Thanks

Will

Foundry has had clothed Indians in their American Civil War range; perhaps others with their mountain men.

For 1885 there is always these link

The Foundry Indians are listed now under Old West.
Some of the Conquest Indians might work as well as others portraying Indians of the War of 1812.

If you do go with 1885, Empress make a nice selection of mounted and dismounted Boers for the 1880-81 Transvaal War, most of whom have breechloaders…

LINK to Empress: link

Anything with Royal Marines will not disappoint

For the Fenians, you may consider 1866 and 10mm. Battle of Ridgeway has a dedicated book, details for the orders of battle can be found on the Fenian Raids Yahoo group, and Pendraken makes ACW (Fenians) and Canadian militia.

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I'm considering Fenians as an alt. history addition to the Pig War or the Red River Rebellion, but I'm not interested in Ridgeway. However, 10 mm may be the way to go if I can get proxies for the Métis.

Thanks for the vote in favour of the RM, RM!

Empress (or other) Boers could do for some of the Métis, like these PoWs,

but I would want some to represent folks like Gabriel Dumont

For 1885, I might be able to stretch the BIF use as the Snider Enfield is really just a rechambered Enfield musket.