Following the release of our 15mm Tlingit Indians, we have now moved to the Mississippi Valley to bring you the Mississippian Mound Builders. Sculptor Alan Marsh has recreated these industrious warriors, who built sprawling settlements dominated by great flat-topped earth mounds, which appear to have been influenced by contact with the great pyramid cultures of Central America. Despite being an essentially stone-age technology, they developed a sophisticated and complex society now only known to us through their impressive monuments and the observations of early European explorers who encountered the last remnants of this culture.
The Mississippian Mound Builders rose quickly in power between the 7th and 9th centuries AD through a mixture of trade and military superiority over their neighbours. Colonisation and an ever-increasing demand for high yield arable land seem to have driven the expansion. This created the surpluses and the manpower resources required to build their great mounds and support their cities – some of which were defended by palisades and ditches. They reached their peak around 1100 to 1200AD, when the population of the great Mound Builder city at Cahokia in Illinois reached an estimated 10,000 individuals. Competition for productive land and water resources in particular remained intense, resulting in internal warfare between the different Mound Builder 'states'. A growing population no doubt made things worse. By the late 13th Century the Mound Builders appear to have been in decline, and their great urban sites had been largely deserted by the time the Europeans arrived. Perhaps victims of their own success, the great concentrations of population promoted native diseases like tuberculosis and other problems associated with dense populations and poor sanitary conditions. For once, European diseases were not to blame.
The Mississippian warriors relied on traditional spears (aided by the atl-atl spear thrower), but the rise of their culture is marked by the increasing popularity of the bow and arrow - which became the dominant weapon towards the end of the period. Stone-edged clubs, maces and other sidearms continued to be ubiquitous. As with many North American indigenous peoples at this time, the collecting of vanquished opponents' heads as trophies appears to have been a common feature. Our miniatures reflect all these features, allowing the gamer and collector to raise an unusual army for games rules such as DBA and DBM.
Here are the catalogue details for the new miniatures:
15mm MOUND BUILDER NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
Variants in parenthesises. Variants are supplied randomly.
300MBI01 - Mound Builder Chief, on litter, with four bearers (1)
300MBI02 - Mound Builder Shaman (1)
300MBI03 - Mound Builder Noble, body armour, shield and melee weapons (4)
300MBI04 - Mound Builder Honoured Men, with bows and side arms (8)
300MBI05 - Mound Builder Honoured Men, with atl-atl (4)
300MBI06 - Mound Builder Stinkards, with spears (4)
These miniatures can also be ordered in the U.K. from Fighting 15s, and in the U.S.A. from Eureka Miniatures U.S.A.