Lead Legionaries: Canadian Militia for French & Indian War

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Canadian Militia for French & Indian War

My newest F&I War figures -- 6 Canadian militia posing near one of my Acheson longhouses

I am running the "Skirmish at Jumonville Glen" (where Lt. Col. George Washington essentially starts the French & Indian War) this coming Sunday at a local history museum. To make sure I had enough troops for the French, I decided to paint up another batch of six Canadian Militia. I will be using my own rules, Song of Drums and Tomahawks, and plan on giving each player five figures (a leader and four soldiers). Chances are that I will have six players for the game, which is a rather large game for what I normally run at conventions with these rules. However, I think five each will do fine. With these six figures added in, I'll have plenty of French -- even if I end up with four players per side!

Closeup of two of the poses of what I believe are 28mm Foundry figures (please correct me if not!)

I believe these 28mm figures are from Foundry Miniatures, but I could be wrong. I couldn't find them on their website, and the other manufacturers I checked also turned up negative. There were three poses in the unmarked ziploc bag I had put them in, two of each. Initially, I thought these were meant to be the French irregular -- coureurs de bois. The more I looked at images online for inspiration, though, the more convinced I became they were actually Canadian Militia. A lot of reenactor pictures were dead ringers for these guys! So, militia they were -- which was perfect, since the French force in this battle was composed mostly of militia.

I used a mix of light tans & light grays for the "white" that seemed to be the typical militia shirt

The Canadian Militia (who were actually very effective troops during this conflict) seem to wear loose white shirts, floppy blue or red caps, and bright red or blue gaiters over their trousers. Not wanting to look like they stepped off a parade ground, I used a variety of white-ish colors, three in the gray range, and three in the tan range. Most of the pictures I saw online had red caps, but some had blue. So, I gave four of the red and the other two blue. For the gaiters, I noticed those were also the most popular colors, so divided them between the two. I did a range of shades, though, from a very pale to a medium blue, and a dark, reddish brown to a faded salmon. I think this kind of variety in tones make for very effective looking irregulars.

I used a variety of reds, blues, & "whites"to make them look like they'd been in the field for awhile

These being 28mm miniatures, that range of tones for base colors meant that I had an almost equally wide variety of dry brush highlighting, too. In the pictures I saw online, I did not notice an overwhelmingly standard color of packs or belts. So, I used my own tastes to choose those. And speaking of bags and equipment, it had been a long time since I painted any French & Indian War figures. I had forgotten just how many details are on some of these figures. They seemed to be loaded down with as much equipment as a modern infantry man. Besides the musket, these figures had strapped on them or carried the following items: knapsack, cartridge bag, powder horn, knife, native-style loin cloth, tomahawk, hair ribbon, leg gaiters, gaiter ties, floppy hat, leather band on wrist, belt, and buckles. Whew! And not all figures had the identical equipment (which is a good thing, really), so these took a little time, as you can imagine!

Looking into the eyes of Lt. Col. Washington's foes for the upcoming 'Skirmish at Jumonville Glen'

I really do like how they turned out, though. The colors work well together, yet look like they belong in the woodlands of frontier America. Of course, I would have preferred six different poses, but these three are nice and seem to fit for a woodsman. Though they were established units, the Canadian Militia did not fight like European line infantry, preferring a more "Indian-style" warfare. The mustaches and beards look French, too, and I'm thinking there will be few quibbles from my players about any historical license that I took.

A look from above at the 6 figures, along with my scratch-built fish smoker and scalp poles

So, what else is on my painting desk right now? The next batch of Hicks & Hobday Warhost Orcs are ready for flocking. They went faster than the Linebreaker Orcs (and considerably faster than the Canadian Militia!). So, expect to see them in a day or two. Also on my desk are three large tents for the Canadian militia's camp for this Sunday. With all the really cool terrain that I have for the French & Indian War, Washington's attack on the French camp was basically in a wooded, rocky area. So, I wanted to have something besides trees and rocks on the table. My local HMGS chapter (Great Lakes) will be hosting monthly historical miniatures games at the Ohio History Center museum. It is a great way to let the public see our hobby and possibly recruit interested folks to miniatures. Of course, I'll do a blog post on the game!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025