Lead Legionaries: French & Indian War Scatter Terrain

Everything all together -- the tents, fire rights, and little leather sacks to represent loot

When I decided to recreate the "Skirmish at Jumonville Glen" for the first Ohio History Center game day, I immediately began to think about how to make the game board look nice to museum visitors (and my players, of course!). I wouldn't be able to use any of my showpiece terrain -- the giant, Last of the Mohicans cliffs, the Acheson Creations longhouses, or blockhouses or forts. This was a battle in a rocky, wooded setting. It was essentially an attack on a French camp, so I would have to build that up.

Sure, I had a nice gaming mat, various cool trees, and my really nice (if I must say so) scratch-built rocky ground. I made them long ago using bark mulch pieces which look amazingly like layered sandstone. Still, I wanted more "Wow!" than that, so decided that I needed to make some tents. I did some research and F&I War tents seemed to be very simple triangular ones like you still see in use today. For blanket rolls and bedrolls, I had the three Mantic Games plastic pieces which I posted about awhile back. However, I would need to scratch-build these pieces, as everything else in the "Crystal Peaks Campsite" set is noticeably modern looking.

The framework of mini dowels and craft sticks in place for each tent, and their paper towel blanket

I started by cutting the bases -- three rectangular pieces of MDF. The upright posts on each end of the tent were done with mini-dowels from the craft store. A hole for them was drilled into the MDF with a pin vice, so they would be strong and stable. For the long horizontal piece sitting atop the poles, I used craft sticks. I used two-part epoxy to attach everything together and keep it as sturdy as craft sticks and mini dowels can be!

A look at the blankets and bedrolls cut from paper towel & folded up on the inside of each tent

Next, I cut a rectangle of paper towel for the blanket on the floor of the tent. I used glue and water to stiffen it, and then craft acrylic paint as a base coat and dry brush. Folded pieces of a paper napkin were used for three sets of blankets on the floor of each tent. I used white glue to attach them to the large blanket on the floor, first. Next, I painted and dry brushed them pale colors like I had the other blankets. Once the interior was done, it was time for the triangular shape of the linen or canvas tent itself.

I went back and forth over what material to use. I felt cloth or paper towels would have too much texture. Their weave would be jarringly out of scale. Paper or cardboard would be too flat and not have enough texture. I finally decided to go with an ordinary paper napkin that I picked up from a restaurant. It seemed sturdy enough and had a little bit of texture and would look like cloth. I decided that attaching the material would be a 3-stage process. First, I cut the proper width for the tent, but a much longer piece than I would need. I used two-part epoxy to attach one edge to the base. I let it dry thoroughly first before proceeding to stage two.

You can see the napkin material held taunt by the dice, allowing the epoxy to affix to the material

Stage two meant dabbing a line of epoxy the to craft stick which was the main overhead support for the tent. I stretched the napkin material tight and set it on the pole, pressing down so the epoxy was absorbed a bit by the material. I stretched the remainder of the material out and weighed it down, so it would stay taunt. I let this dry thoroughly, too. The last step was simply to cut the material to the proper length, dab where it would join the base with a line of white glue, and press it down onto it. I used a paint brush to make sure the glue was properly worked into the paper towel, soaking in.

The next step was to give the napkin material some strength. After it dried, I sprayed it with clear acrylic spray paint. Once it dried again, I carefully painted the napkin material with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Several times during this process, I would carefully use a round paint brush handle to straighten the material. I ran the stick gently on the inside of the tent, from the top peak down each side to where it joined the base. I let it glue dry thoroughly over night.

Side view of the tents - I like how the paper napkin material I used has a visible, slight texture

All that was left to do at this stage was painting and flocking. I used a light tan ("Wild Rice" craft paint) and dry brushed it white when it was dry. Finally, I used the brown vehicle wash on the sides. Note that I did not need to paint the inside -- the thin napkin material is translucent enough that the color on the outside makes the inside look painted. The last step was to flock the tents and they were done! I felt they turned out okay -- nothing spectacular, but they would certainly add to the look of the table.

I also decided that I wanted to use my flickering LED Fire Markers that I purchased from Bad Goblin Games for campfires. So, I decided to make two campfire rings of stones and simply set the orange plastic flame atop them. I used an appropriately sized circular wooden base, and traced the outline of one of the plastic fires onto it. I then epoxied larger ballast stones in a ring around where the flame would be. I then dry brushed the part of the stones facing the fire black to show they'd be blackened a bit by soot.

The ring of stones with the black ballast glued into the center to look like ashes

Inside the stones, I glued in some fine black ballast (maybe used as "coal" by model railroaders?). It gave the center some texture -- I hope it would look like ash underneath the fire. After that, I simply flocked the area outside the stones with Woodland Scenics Earth Ballast and patches of Blended Green for grass. These were super-simple to create, but once the flickering LED is set atop them, they add that extra bit to the diorama quality of the tabletop. I've really begun trying to use more flickering LEDs in my games where appropriate. Why not? They make your table stand out even more!

Here you can see the dry brushing that gave the fire rings a soot-blackened look (hopefully)

The tents and campfires were used in my Jumonville Glen game, and all of my players (and some of the museum staff) commented on how nice the setup looked. I created them specifically for this game, but now would have on hand for many other miniatures scenarios. The next public game of Song of Drums and Tomahawks I'd be running was less than a week later, at Battles at the Brewery. I had committed to run a F&I War scenario for this game day for the Chillicothe Area Wargaming Group. However, I ended up having to attend a funeral on that same day. Luckily, Jason Stelzer could sub in for me. Jenny and I would drive down to Fifty West Brewing in Chillicothe, set up the game, and Jason would show up and run it.

The campfire rings of stones with their soot-blackened edges & Bad Goblin Games LED flames

I decided to use my "Interrupted Raid" scenario, which I had run numerous times at conventions through the years. It features a group of Rogers Rangers who linger too long in their looting of a Huron village that they raided. The men of the village return from their hunting expedition, trapping the rangers inside the palisade. Loaded down with loot, the rangers need to fight their way out! In the scenario, each ranger is considered "Slow" (can move only once per turn) as long as they carry their loot. They can drop it at any time, though, and move normally. I needed some sort of marker to show whether a ranger was loaded down or not.

In the past, I have simply used black pom poms from craft stores (or "poof balls," as I call them!). However, this is in a public place -- poof balls aren't good enough for that! I remembered that my friend Tim Peaslee had long ago given me a bunch of plaster leather sacks cast out of dental plaster as part of the Hirst Arts line. I dug them out and they were indeed small enough to fit on the base of each 28mm figure. Why not? The game was in a few days! Plenty of time, right??

Close up of the plaster sacks that I painted up and got ready for my 'Interrupted Raid' scenario

I glued the sacks to a piece of cardboard with white glue, and then spray primed them with Krylon Fusion matte black. I went over that once it was dry with a 50/50 mix of black paint and water, to make sure the color had seeped into every crevice. Next, I did a wet brush of Camo Brown followed by a highlight of Leather. The straps tying each sack closed were painted in the Wild Rice light tan. Once dry, they received a final brown vehicle wash.

The last step was to pop all of the sacks off their cardboard, exposing their white plaster bottom. I used some gray tack to turn each upside down, exposing their white plaster bottoms, and hold them in place. I painted the bottom of each sack black, finishing them off. I think the sacks look great, and I will also be able to use them as scatter in many games to come, too. They were finished off on Friday -- the day before the game! My only regret is that I did not get a chance to see them on the figures while the game was in progress.

So, there we go! Some more F&I Was scatter to likely be used in other periods, as well!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025