I'm running an ad hoc grand strategy game this spring focused on the Navajo between Mexican independence in 1821 and the Treaty of 1868 that established the modern Navajo Nation in their homeland.
While players will be Navajo headmen, they historically interact with (and may potentially interact with) a huge range of forces during this period. The game masters will be running the rest of the region's nations. I'm thinking it might help to have a 'big board' for the game masters, and why not fill it with miniatures? Probably of the "spray painted in one national color" variety, though I'll probably keep them for repainting down the line.
15mm feels right for this, but I'm having trouble finding much beyond Apache, generic Plains Indians, Mexico, and the USA.
-- Naturally, livestock and perhaps some game should be represented to show more mobile and fragile resources targeted by hunters and raiders. These are pretty easy to find, at least in 15mm. At the scale of the game, probably only distinguishing between Livestock, Game, and Bison is necessary (as Bison are a particularly important source of trade goods for a lot of the other powerful native groups to the east). Horses might be worth representing, too, but it doesn't seem like there are many forces lacking for horses by this point in Southwestern history, at least in a way that would matter at this scale, so it might be purely aesthetic to have some mounted troops, and represent the resource value as just a component of livestock.
-- Mexico, probably best represented by 3 types of miniature. Federal forces, I'm thinking of using Mexican-American War era troops. Militia/regular citizens, probably collectively represented by Mexican-American War frontier militia. I believe it was Old Glory that had a set with a mix of lances, bows, and rifles-- just the right look for New Mexican militias. Finally, Pueblo Indians. I'm not sure that the Pueblo Indians who are part of Mexico in the 19th century would look sufficiently different from the New Mexican militiamen to have a different miniature, but I'll probably paint them a slightly different shade so that the effects of distinct political loyalties between these and mestizo/creole New Mexicans can be visualized easily on the map.
-- USA. Probably something to represent Traders/Hunters/etc during the Santa Fe Trail Era, possibly using the same figures to represent Anglo settlers through the rest of the period (though there doesn't seem to be much of a distinction between Anglo and Mexican settlers after 1848). Of course, the Army of the West in the Mexican American War comes to mind-- but I'm not certain that using Mexican American War miniatures is worth the extra price and perhaps visual confusion to less historically/miniatures inclined game masters. A lot of the US interaction with the Navajo, historically, happens after uniforms start changing. Obviously by the Long Walk the uniforms are the same as the Civil War-- and in case of ahistorical potentialities, it makes sense to have show CSA forces on the map. So, potentially, it makes the most sense to just use Union and Confederate miniatures. That said, any ideas here are welcome-- it is possible that some 'frontier uniform' represented in some range I haven't found would span the entire era just fine.
-- The various Plains Indians ranges can probably represent Ute, Commanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne, who sometimes raid the Navajo (and vice versa), and are important as part of the overall diplomatic situation between Mexico, America, and the Navajo.
-- Various Apache groups can probably be represented by Apache miniatures (for instance, Old Glory's in their Blue Moon Old West range). Sure, the models are clearly more for the later US-Apache Wars, but the overall style of dress and use of long firearms shouldn't be so anachronistic. In a pinch, I'll use these unmodified for Navajo as well. Possibly even for Zuni and Hopi (though I can't find any picture of fighters from these societies, and their fights were defensive). Granted, most photos from this era or just after seem to suggest that Southwestern American Indians dressed loosely similarly-- close enough for 15mm in a grand strategy game, perhaps?
-- The Navajo themselves. As noted, I can't find anything for this.
-- Unaffiliated Pueblos (Zuni, Hopi)-- ditto.
--Pima-- ditto, probably can be represented in the same was as the Zuni and Hopi.
-- Representing civilian population for Pueblos, New Mexicans, and the Navajo seems pretty important. I might just use Mexican Civilians from Mexican-American War and some 'generic' American Indian civilians, but I'm somewhat lacking in sources for these, so help here is definitely appreciated.
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
