"Inspiration and preparations for FiW/7YW?" Topic

I have decided – after much deliberation – to do FiW / 7YW with the lovely Old Glory Blue Moon 18mm figs. My goal is to start small with FiW regiments at 1/20 and then expand them to 1/10 in the future, including moving on to the Western Theater of the 7YW on the continent, i.e. to get a lot of cavalry on the table!

I have all the Osprey for the French and British, and a bunch of the battles, and highlanders, rangers and Indians. I also have the OOP and excellent "Habitants & Highlanders" by CWG / Bruce McFarlane.

Any other must-read books? For fun I have the excellent series by Altsheler, starting with "Hunters of the Hills".

How about Must-see movies [e.g. battle scenes]? I have the very fun and completely historically accurate "Last of the Mohicans" altho I found the book a snooze never finished and donated to the library years and years go.

Finally…websites. Any ones I definitely have to put on my list and check out?

Much thanks in advance!

If you don't have it already Kronoskaf kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page is a must.

Mark Twain's opinion of Cooper's writing in general is right on the money as far as I'm concerned. The movie is a keeper, though.

Among the fun to watch flicks:

Northwest Passage (Kenneth Roberts was a better writer than Cooper. The book is worth reading; just don't take it as history.)

The Broken Chain (TV movie; the Iroquois are the good guys)

Drums Along the Mohawk (no accurate scenes anywhere but fun)

Of course, Hollywood's grasp of warfare in any period is tenuous at best and looking for an accurate depiction of FIW warfare is tantamount to seeking the philosopher's stone.

LT

Read this:

link

This shows how the AWI started with the treaty of 1763:

link

You may want to check out the following forum:

fifeanddrumminis.proboards.com

It's dedicated to the period you are interested in. More SYW than FIW, but plenty of knowledgeable and friendly folks.

Drums Along The Mohawk is super fun!!!

Northwest Passage is sledge-hammer level racist, even by the standards of the time it was filmed.

If you creep ahead to the next war for really good period inspiration, The Devil's Disciple is definitely must-see.

Trying to plan a fig order from Old Glory…

Would you say that 12mm a figure would be about where the Blue Moon FiW guys would fit in? Or are they so big they push 15mm a figure?

I want them to not be touching, but look "shoulder to shoulder" more or less. I was planning to angle the files of shooting guys so they locked in tighter.

Fred Anderon's book on the 7YW in N. America was in the library – so I'll be picking that one up. Kronoskaf is now bookmarked – thanks!

For your expansion into the western theater in Germany during the SYW, I can highly recommended His Britannic Majesty's Army in Germany by Lt Gen Sir Reginald Savory. Although pricey, it is the best one volume study of the Anglo-Hanoverian army's operations against the French.

18thcenturypress.com/savory.html

Jim

The frontage per figure varies by pose. I only have a few Blue Moon AWI figures, and some older "chunky" 15mm figures (Essex, Frontier, etc.), and I find the firing poses to be the widest because the elbows are sticking out. I'm not sure of the actual width per figure, but I can say that mine don't fit in a single rank of 3 figures on a 1" wide base, so my Hessians and some British look like they're stuck in open order.

- Ix

Hey YA – thanks, you have a lot of helpful posts, I'm noticing.

yes, at 25mm to the inch, I can't see fitting 15mm figs in at 8mm or so a fig. I'd be looking at 10mm a fig, on larger bases. I plan to base my figs on 1-division bases, so they will be a lot larger than usual, probably up to 60mm each, so 5-6 figs per rank or so.

Movies on the Continent with battle scenes?
Barry Lyndon.

A decent one stop book for the war in America would be. this one. "Empires Collide" Ruth Sheppard, William M Fowler, Jr
2006

For film/TV try the PBS series
"The war that made America"