Zurzeit haben wir, wie man das auch meinem letzten
Bericht entnehmen kann, den French Indian War (im deutschen: Siebenjähriger
Krieg in Nordamerika) als Tabletopszenario geradezu wiederentdeckt.
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/08/rebels-and-patriots.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/09/compagnies-franches-de-la-marine.html
Folge davon ist es, dass man dann natürlich damit beginnt in seinem Zinnberg zu kramen; und wie sollte es anders sein: Klar, wird man da auch fündig.
Aktuell bin ich dabei meine Indianer Warbands zu erweitern. Ich habe bisher zwei 12er Einheiten bemalt. Weitere 12 Figuren sind zu 90% fertig.
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/08/rebels-and-patriots.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/09/compagnies-franches-de-la-marine.html
Folge davon ist es, dass man dann natürlich damit beginnt in seinem Zinnberg zu kramen; und wie sollte es anders sein: Klar, wird man da auch fündig.
Aktuell bin ich dabei meine Indianer Warbands zu erweitern. Ich habe bisher zwei 12er Einheiten bemalt. Weitere 12 Figuren sind zu 90% fertig.
Dass soll es aber nicht gewesen sein.
Ziel ist es eine komplette 24 Punkte Einheit nach Rebells and Patriots Regeln aufzustellen, oder eine Riesentruppe für Muskets and Tomahawks, die ausschließlich aus Kriegern der First Nations besteht. Übrigens keine große Aufgabe. Ich stelle jedes Mal fest, wenn ich dann Indianer aus der Schublade krame, dass es mir einfach Spaß macht die Krieger zu bemalen.
Logisch weshalb. Cowboys und Indianer sind ja sowas wie die Keimzelle meines Zugangs zum Spiel mit Figuren. Cowboys, Indianer und Ritter. Das war die Spielzeugsoldatenwelt meiner Kindheit. Und wie habe ich sie geliebt. Bemale ich heute Figuren zu diesem Thema, so ist das wie eine Reise in die Vergangenheit. Und irgendwie bilde ich mir ein, dass dann ganz tief im Innern etwas flackert, was einem die kindliche Freude am Spiel und den Figuren zurückbringt. Die Bemalung läuft dann fast von alleine.
Bevor ich aber etwas zu den Figuren schreibe, die Sie hier im Bild sehen, zunächst ein paar Bemerkungen zur Epoche und den Indianern… ah. Indianer. Ich hab’s wieder geschrieben. Da muss man ja dann doch heutzutage Stellung beziehen.
Nein; im deutschen Sprachgebrauch ist dieses Wort nicht rassistisch.
Sehr treffend ist ein Absatz im entsprechenden Artikel der deutschsprachigen Wikipedia:
„Obwohl das deutsche Wort ‚Indianer‘ aufgrund einer fehlenden deutsch-amerikanischen Kolonialgeschichte und insbesondere durch das positive (wenngleich stark verzerrte und idealisierte) Indianerbild im deutschen Sprachraum keinen herabwürdigenden Beigeschmack hat, werden seit Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts in der deutschen Öffentlichkeit gelegentlich Stimmen laut, die auf eine Vermeidung des Wortes drängen. Ethnologen beteiligen sich in der Regel nicht an solchen Diskussionen, in denen weder eine tiefgründige Auseinandersetzung mit der Thematik stattfindet, noch die Betroffenen gehört werden, sondern vorwiegend der mediale Effekt im Vordergrund steht. Da ‚Indianer‘ nicht wie im Englischen oder Spanischen mit ‚Inder‘ verwechselt werden kann, ist der Ausdruck – genauso wie Bezeichnungen in weiteren Drittsprachen – für indigene Amerikaner nur von geringem Interesse.“
Soviel zum Thema, und soviel zur Tatsache, dass ich auch weiterhin nicht auf den bei mir positiv konnotierten Begriff Indianer generell verzichten möchte.
Zurück zur Geschichte.
Beschäftigt man sich mit dem French-Indian War – aber auch dem nachfolgenden Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg-, stellt man sehr schnell fest, dass sich der Schwerpunkt der Kämpfe rund um die Großen Seen in Amerika, hier vor allem am Ontario See und Erie See abspielen. Südlich des Erie Sees liegt das Ohio Tal, östlich das Mohawk Tal. Der Mohawk wiederum mündet bei Albany in den Hudson River.
Damit sind schon einmal grob die Grenzen des historischen Schlachtfeldes abgegrenzt. Denn in dieser Region wurden vor allem die Kämpfe gegen die hier ansässigen indigenen Völker geführt.
Ich möchte an dieser Stelle eine Karte aus der Wikipedia einfügen, damit Sie, meine lieben Leser, die verschiedenen indianischen Stämme in diese Region einsortieren können.
Die bekanntesten sind sicherlich die 5 (später 6) Stämme der Irokesenföderation: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondoga, Seneca und Tuscarora. Diese siedelten am Ontario See und am St. Lorenzstrom. Ihre Nachbarn, und häufig auch Gegner, waren die Mahican (Mohikaner), die Abanaki und Delawaren.
Am anderen Ufere des Ontario See, also Richtung Kanada, siedelten die traditionellen Feinde der Irokesen, die Huronen oder Wyandot. Auch diese waren ein Zusammenschluss von vier unterschiedlichen Völkern.
Mohikaner, Irokesen, Delawaren und Huronen sind jedem deutschen Leser der Romane von James Fenimore Cooper bekannt. Es sind die Stämme, die in seinen „Lederstrumpfgeschichten“ einen prominenten Platz einnehmen.
Aber!!!!!! Alle die Leser, die in den 60er Jahren des letzten Jahrhunderts geboren sind, müssen jetzt einige falschen Bilder aus den Lederstrumpfgeschichten, einer vierteiligen Fernsehreihe aus den 60er Jahren mit dem Schauspieler Helmut Lange in der Hauptrolle, erst einmal verdrängen lernen.
Nein; weder Huronen, noch Mohikaner oder Delawaren sahen aus wie Winnetou.
In einem geradezu charakteristischen Anfall „deutscher Indianerromantik“ hatten sich die damaligen Fernsehmacher dafür entschieden „Karl May Indianer“ als „Waldindianer“ zu casten. Deshalb sah Chingachgook auch aus wie ein wiederauferstandener Winnetou aus dem nie gedrehten vierten Teil der Winnetou Serie.
Und sein Gegner Magua sah aus wie sein Zwillingsbruder, nur eben in böse.
Auch alle anderen Indianer in der vierteiligen Serie – bis auf EINEN, ein Unterhäuptling des großen Delawaren !! Sachem, der im „Letzten Mohikaner auftaucht“ – trugen die Winnetou Frise.
Logisch.
So stellte sich halt das Deutschland der 60er Jahre den richtigen Indianer vor. Der musste schon so wie Winnetou aussehen. Verrückterweise sogar der Bösewicht.
(Zum Glück ist der Film „Der letzte Mohikaner“ mit Daniel Day Lewis in der Hauptrolle da gänzlich anders. Auf diesen Film komme ich aber in einem separaten Artikel noch zurück).
Dann standen in der Verfilmung der „Lederstrumpfgeschichten“ natürlich auch noch als Behausungen die guten Tipis, die typischen Zelte der Prärieindianer, herum. Klischee eben.
Auf andere klassische Fehler des damaligen Fernsehens – wenig Action, falsche Uniformen und Kleidung, langatmige Dialoge, Repetiergewehre anstatt Musketen et. etc. – will ich jetzt gar nicht eingehen.
Aber gerade die Behausung und die Frisuren der Indianer müssen dann jetzt noch einmal genauer betrachtet werden.
Sie fragen sich warum? Es ist einfach erklärt. Beides ist typisch für die Region und für die in ihr lebenden Stämme.
Auch heute noch ist der „Irokesenschnitt“ bekannt, ist er doch immer noch die klassische Haarfrisur der Punk- und teilweise auch der Gothic Bewegung. Der hierzulande als „Iro“ abgekürzte Haarschnitt, wird im englischen als „Mohawk“ bezeichnet. Lustigerweise, denn mittlerweile gehen Untersuchungen davon aus, dass die Huronen ihn als erste trugen, und Irokesenstämme, so auch die Mohawk, diesen erst übernommen haben. Das zeigt aber wiederum, dass sowohl Huronen (Wyandot), als auch Irokesen die gleiche Haartracht getragen haben, und so erhalten wir auch für die Indianer dieser Region einen typischen Look.
Für Figurenmaler bedeutet es im Umkehrschluss, dass als „Irokesen“ gebrandete Indianer, beispielsweise des Herstellers Warlord Games (Conquest), auch durchaus als andere Indianer der Region verwendet werden können.
Miniaturen von Prärieindianern heranzuziehen, wäre aber schlichtweg falsch.
Zu den Tipis.
Die Irokesen, und auch andere Stämme der Region, lebten vor allem In Langhäusern, nicht in Tipis. Irokese ist übrigens nicht die Eigenbezeichnung des Volkes. Der Ursprung des Wortes kommt von den Algonkin und bedeutet in deren Sprache „Klapperschlange“, also durchaus ein Schimpfwort. Der Begriff wurde dann von den Franzosen und Engländern übernommen. Selbst bezeichnen sich die Irokesen als Haudenosaunee, was übersetzt „Leute des Langhauses“ bedeutet. Das Langhaus ist somit ein extrem wichtiger Bestandteil der Kultur und des Selbstverständnisses dieser Stämme. Deshalb sollten auch im Wargaming entsprechende Gebäude verwendet werden.
In den Langhäusern lebten mehrere Familien und ihre Mitglieder zusammen. Je nach Größe wohnten hier 5 bis 20 Familien miteinander. Interessanterweise übrigens in einem matrilinearen Verwandtschaftssystem. Oberhaupt der Familie, Besitzerin des Langhauses, des Landes und der Ernte war immer die Frau. „Das Erbrecht begünstigte die Tochter oder das nächste weibliche Mitglied der Familie. Auch die Führung eines Langhauses hatte eine ältere Frau inne. Das galt ebenfalls für den Clan, dessen führender Frau ein männlicher, von Frauen gewählter Häuptling zur Seite stand. Alle wichtigen Personen wurden von Frauen gewählt und konnten wieder von ihnen abgesetzt werden, wenn sie ihrer Aufgabe nicht gewachsen waren. Kein Krieg konnte ohne Einwilligung der Frauen geführt werden und eine Mutter konnte ihrem Sohn die Teilnahme am Kriegszug verbieten.“ (Wikipedia, Artikel Irokesen)
Wenn man sich den letzten Absatz einmal genauer durchliest, ist es wirklich verwunderlich, dass noch kein Hersteller diese Frauen der Irokesen modelliert hat. Eine Ergänzung, die unbedingt notwendig wäre.
Heute sehen sie eine meiner Einheiten. Es handelt sich um Figuren der Perries aus der AWI Serie und von Warlord Games, Miniaturen, die ursprünglich unter dem eigenen Label Conquest vertrieben, aber schon vor Jahren von Warlord Games gekauft wurden.
Die Geschichte der Indianerstämme werde ich ihnen noch in
ein paar weiteren Episoden schildern. Es werden ja noch ein paar Warbands
dazukommen.
At the moment, as you can see from my last report, we
have rediscovered the French Indian War (in German: Seven Years' War in North
America) as a tabletop scenario.
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/08/rebels-and-patriots.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/09/compagnies-franches-de-la-marine.html
The consequence of this is that you naturally start rummaging through your pile of tin; and how could it be otherwise: Of course, you'll find what you're looking for there.
I'm currently in the process of expanding my Indian Warbands. So far I've painted two 12-man units. Another 12 figures are 90% finished.
But that's not all.
The goal is to set up a complete 24-point unit according to Rebels and Patriots rules, or a major warband for Muskets&Tomahawks, consisting exclusively of First Nations warriors. Not a big task, by the way. Every time I dig American Indians out of the drawer, I notice that I simply enjoy painting the warriors.
It's logical why. Cowboys and American Indians are something like the nucleus of my approach to playing with figures. Cowboys, American Indians and knights. That was the toy soldier world of my childhood. And how I loved them. When I paint figures on this theme today, it's like a trip into the past. And somehow I imagine that something flickers deep inside that brings back the childlike joy of playing with the figures. The painting then almost happens by itself.
But before I write something about the figures that you see here in the pictures, first a few comments about the era and the American Indians... ah. American Indians. I wrote it again. Nowadays you have to take a stand.
No; in German usage this word is not racist.
A paragraph in the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia is very apt:
“Although the German word ‘Indianer’ does not have a derogatory connotation due to the lack of German-American colonial history and in particular due to the positive (albeit highly distorted and idealized) image of Indians in the German-speaking world, since the beginning of the 21st century there have occasionally been voices in the German public urging the word to be avoided. Ethnologists generally do not participate in such discussions in which there is neither a profound discussion of the topic nor are those affected heard, but the focus is primarily on the media effect. Since ‘Indianer’ cannot be confused with ‘Indian’ as in English or Spanish, the term – just like terms in other third languages – is of little interest to indigenous Americans.”
So much for the topic, and so much for the fact that I still do not want to do without the term Indianer in general, which has positive connotations for me.
Back to the story.
If you study the French-Indian War - but also the subsequent American War of Independence - you will quickly see that the focus of the fighting took place around the Great Lakes in America, especially on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. South of Lake Erie lies the Ohio Valley, to the east the Mohawk Valley. The Mohawk in turn flows into the Hudson River near Albany.
This roughly defines the boundaries of the historical battlefield. This is because the battles against the indigenous peoples living here were mainly fought in this region.
I would like to insert a map from Wikipedia here so that you, my dear readers, can sort the various Indian tribes into this region.
The most famous are certainly the 5 (later 6) tribes of the Iroquois Federation: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondoga, Seneca and Tuscarora. They settled on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Their neighbors, and often opponents, were the Mahican (Mohicans), the Abanaki and the Delawares.
On the other side of Lake Ontario, towards Canada, settled the traditional enemies of the Iroquois, the Hurons or Wyandots. They were also a union of four different peoples.
Mohicans, Iroquois, Delawares and Hurons are known to every German reader of James Fenimore Cooper's novels. They are the tribes that occupy a prominent place in his "Leatherstocking Tales".
But!!!!!! All readers born in the 1960s must now first learn to suppress some false images from the Leatherstocking Tales, a four-part television series from the 1960s with the actor Helmut Lange in the lead role.
No; neither the Hurons, nor the Mohicans or Delawares looked like Winnetou.
In a characteristic fit of "German Indianer romanticism", the television producers of the time had decided to cast "Karl May Indians" as "forest Indians". That's why Chingachgook looked like a resurrected Winnetou from the never-filmed fourth part of the Winnetou series.
And his opponent Magua looked like his twin brother, just evil.
All the other Indians in the four-part series - except for ONE, a sub-chief of the great Delaware!! Sachem, who appears in "The Last of the Mohicans" - wore the Winnetou haircut.
Logical.
That's how Germany in the 60s imagined the real Indian. He had to look like Winnetou. Crazy as it is, even the villain.
(Fortunately, the film "The Last of the Mohicans" with Daniel Day Lewis in the lead role is completely different. But I'll come back to that film in a separate article).
The film version of "The Leatherstocking Tales" also featured the good tipis, the typical tents of the prairie Indians, as dwellings. It's a cliché.
I don't want to go into other classic mistakes of television at the time - little action, wrong uniforms and clothing, long-winded dialogues, carabines instead of muskets, etc.
But the Indians' dwellings and hairstyles in particular need to be looked at more closely.
Are you wondering why? It's easy to explain. Both are typical of the region and the tribes living there.
The "Mohawk" is still known today, as it is still the classic hairstyle of the punk and partly the gothic movement. The haircut, abbreviated to "Iro" in Germany, is called "Mohawk" in English. Funny, because research now assumes that the Hurons were the first to wear it, and that Iroquois tribes, including the Mohawk, were the first to adopt it. But that again shows that both the Hurons (Wyandot) and the Iroquois wore the same hairstyle, and so we also get a typical look for the Indians of this region.
For figure painters, this means that American Indians branded as "Iroquois", for example by the manufacturer Warlord Games (Conquest), can also be used for other tribes in the region.
But using miniatures of prairie Indians would simply be wrong.
On the tipis.
The Iroquois, and other tribes in the region, lived primarily in longhouses, not in tipis. Iroquois is not the people's own name, by the way. The origin of the word comes from the Algonquian and means "rattlesnake" in their language, which is definitely a swear word. The term was then adopted by the French and English. The Iroquois refer to themselves as Haudenosaunee, which translates as "people of the longhouse". The longhouse is therefore an extremely important part of the culture and self-image of these tribes. Therefore, corresponding buildings should also be used in wargaming.
Several families and their members lived together in the longhouses. Depending on the size, 5 to 20 families lived here together. Interestingly, by the way, in a matrilineal kinship system. The head of the family, owner of the longhouse, the land and the harvest was always the woman. "The right of inheritance favored the daughter or the next female member of the family. An older woman was also in charge of the longhouse. This also applied to the clan, whose leading woman was assisted by a male chief elected by women. All important people were elected by women and could be deposed by them if they were not up to the task. No war could be waged without the consent of the women and a mother could forbid her son from taking part in the campaign." (Wikipedia, article Iroquois)
If you read the last paragraph more closely, it is really surprising that no manufacturer has yet modeled these Iroquois women. An addition that would be absolutely necessary.
Today you can see one of my units. These are Perries figures from the AWI series and from Warlord Games, miniatures that were originally sold under their own label Conquest, but were bought by Warlord Games years ago.
I will tell you the history of the Indian tribes in a few more episodes. There will be a few more warbands to come.
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/08/rebels-and-patriots.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2024/09/compagnies-franches-de-la-marine.html
The consequence of this is that you naturally start rummaging through your pile of tin; and how could it be otherwise: Of course, you'll find what you're looking for there.
I'm currently in the process of expanding my Indian Warbands. So far I've painted two 12-man units. Another 12 figures are 90% finished.
But that's not all.
The goal is to set up a complete 24-point unit according to Rebels and Patriots rules, or a major warband for Muskets&Tomahawks, consisting exclusively of First Nations warriors. Not a big task, by the way. Every time I dig American Indians out of the drawer, I notice that I simply enjoy painting the warriors.
It's logical why. Cowboys and American Indians are something like the nucleus of my approach to playing with figures. Cowboys, American Indians and knights. That was the toy soldier world of my childhood. And how I loved them. When I paint figures on this theme today, it's like a trip into the past. And somehow I imagine that something flickers deep inside that brings back the childlike joy of playing with the figures. The painting then almost happens by itself.
But before I write something about the figures that you see here in the pictures, first a few comments about the era and the American Indians... ah. American Indians. I wrote it again. Nowadays you have to take a stand.
No; in German usage this word is not racist.
A paragraph in the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia is very apt:
“Although the German word ‘Indianer’ does not have a derogatory connotation due to the lack of German-American colonial history and in particular due to the positive (albeit highly distorted and idealized) image of Indians in the German-speaking world, since the beginning of the 21st century there have occasionally been voices in the German public urging the word to be avoided. Ethnologists generally do not participate in such discussions in which there is neither a profound discussion of the topic nor are those affected heard, but the focus is primarily on the media effect. Since ‘Indianer’ cannot be confused with ‘Indian’ as in English or Spanish, the term – just like terms in other third languages – is of little interest to indigenous Americans.”
So much for the topic, and so much for the fact that I still do not want to do without the term Indianer in general, which has positive connotations for me.
Back to the story.
If you study the French-Indian War - but also the subsequent American War of Independence - you will quickly see that the focus of the fighting took place around the Great Lakes in America, especially on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. South of Lake Erie lies the Ohio Valley, to the east the Mohawk Valley. The Mohawk in turn flows into the Hudson River near Albany.
This roughly defines the boundaries of the historical battlefield. This is because the battles against the indigenous peoples living here were mainly fought in this region.
I would like to insert a map from Wikipedia here so that you, my dear readers, can sort the various Indian tribes into this region.
The most famous are certainly the 5 (later 6) tribes of the Iroquois Federation: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondoga, Seneca and Tuscarora. They settled on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Their neighbors, and often opponents, were the Mahican (Mohicans), the Abanaki and the Delawares.
On the other side of Lake Ontario, towards Canada, settled the traditional enemies of the Iroquois, the Hurons or Wyandots. They were also a union of four different peoples.
Mohicans, Iroquois, Delawares and Hurons are known to every German reader of James Fenimore Cooper's novels. They are the tribes that occupy a prominent place in his "Leatherstocking Tales".
But!!!!!! All readers born in the 1960s must now first learn to suppress some false images from the Leatherstocking Tales, a four-part television series from the 1960s with the actor Helmut Lange in the lead role.
No; neither the Hurons, nor the Mohicans or Delawares looked like Winnetou.
In a characteristic fit of "German Indianer romanticism", the television producers of the time had decided to cast "Karl May Indians" as "forest Indians". That's why Chingachgook looked like a resurrected Winnetou from the never-filmed fourth part of the Winnetou series.
And his opponent Magua looked like his twin brother, just evil.
All the other Indians in the four-part series - except for ONE, a sub-chief of the great Delaware!! Sachem, who appears in "The Last of the Mohicans" - wore the Winnetou haircut.
Logical.
That's how Germany in the 60s imagined the real Indian. He had to look like Winnetou. Crazy as it is, even the villain.
(Fortunately, the film "The Last of the Mohicans" with Daniel Day Lewis in the lead role is completely different. But I'll come back to that film in a separate article).
The film version of "The Leatherstocking Tales" also featured the good tipis, the typical tents of the prairie Indians, as dwellings. It's a cliché.
I don't want to go into other classic mistakes of television at the time - little action, wrong uniforms and clothing, long-winded dialogues, carabines instead of muskets, etc.
But the Indians' dwellings and hairstyles in particular need to be looked at more closely.
Are you wondering why? It's easy to explain. Both are typical of the region and the tribes living there.
The "Mohawk" is still known today, as it is still the classic hairstyle of the punk and partly the gothic movement. The haircut, abbreviated to "Iro" in Germany, is called "Mohawk" in English. Funny, because research now assumes that the Hurons were the first to wear it, and that Iroquois tribes, including the Mohawk, were the first to adopt it. But that again shows that both the Hurons (Wyandot) and the Iroquois wore the same hairstyle, and so we also get a typical look for the Indians of this region.
For figure painters, this means that American Indians branded as "Iroquois", for example by the manufacturer Warlord Games (Conquest), can also be used for other tribes in the region.
But using miniatures of prairie Indians would simply be wrong.
On the tipis.
The Iroquois, and other tribes in the region, lived primarily in longhouses, not in tipis. Iroquois is not the people's own name, by the way. The origin of the word comes from the Algonquian and means "rattlesnake" in their language, which is definitely a swear word. The term was then adopted by the French and English. The Iroquois refer to themselves as Haudenosaunee, which translates as "people of the longhouse". The longhouse is therefore an extremely important part of the culture and self-image of these tribes. Therefore, corresponding buildings should also be used in wargaming.
Several families and their members lived together in the longhouses. Depending on the size, 5 to 20 families lived here together. Interestingly, by the way, in a matrilineal kinship system. The head of the family, owner of the longhouse, the land and the harvest was always the woman. "The right of inheritance favored the daughter or the next female member of the family. An older woman was also in charge of the longhouse. This also applied to the clan, whose leading woman was assisted by a male chief elected by women. All important people were elected by women and could be deposed by them if they were not up to the task. No war could be waged without the consent of the women and a mother could forbid her son from taking part in the campaign." (Wikipedia, article Iroquois)
If you read the last paragraph more closely, it is really surprising that no manufacturer has yet modeled these Iroquois women. An addition that would be absolutely necessary.
Today you can see one of my units. These are Perries figures from the AWI series and from Warlord Games, miniatures that were originally sold under their own label Conquest, but were bought by Warlord Games years ago.
I will tell you the history of the Indian tribes in a few more episodes. There will be a few more warbands to come.
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