Brigade Games Natty Bumppo (Hawkeye), Chingachgook and Uncas

Left to Right: Chingachgook, Uncas and Hawkeye (Natty Bumpoo) from The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. Figures by Brigade Games.

How could I do the French and Indian War with Rebels and Patriots and not include three of the most famous characters from American Literature? So I had to buy (my arm was really twisted) from Brigade Games French and Indian War line the pack Frontier Characters I which are the spitting image of Hawkeye, Chigachgook and Uncas from the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans.

 Left to Right: Russell Means (Chingachgook), Eric Schweig (Uncas) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Hawkeye) in Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (1992). (Morgan Creek Productions/Photofest)

The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of five novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, set in the eighteenth-century era of development in the primarily former Iroquois areas in central New York. Each novel features Natty Bumppo, a frontiersman known to European-American settlers as "Leatherstocking", "The Pathfinder" and "the trapper". Native Americans call him "Deerslayer", "La Longue Carabine" ("Long Rifle" in French), and "Hawkeye".

Natty Bumpoo

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757, is the second novel in Cooper's pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. The novel has been one of the most popular English-language novels since its publication and is frequently assigned reading in American literature courses. It has been adapted numerous times and in many languages for films, TV movies, and cartoons.

Chingachgook is the last chief of the Mohican tribe and the father of Uncas. 

In the The Leatherstocking Tales Chingachgook is the best friend and companion of the main character Natty Bumppo, aka Hawkeye. He appears in The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, and The Pioneers. He is characterized by his skills as a warrior and forester, his bravery, his wisdom, and his pride for his tribe. Interestingly, Bela Lugosi played Chingachgook in two German silent films, Lederstrumpf, 1. Teil: Der Wildtöter und Chingachgook (Leatherstocking 1: The Deerslayer and Chingachgook) and Lederstrumpf, 2. Teil: Der Letzte der Mohikaner (Leatherstocking 2: The Last of the Mohicans), both filmed in 1920.

Uncas,  the son of Chingachgook and called by him "Last of the Mohicans", as there were no pure-blooded Mohican women for him to marry. He is also known as Le Cerf Agile, the Bounding Elk.

In the novel The Last of the Mohicans, Uncas is truly the last of the Mohican warriors, as he is the only son of Chingachgook. Uncas is devoted to his father and to Hawkeye, and fights with great valor against the Mingos and the French. Uncas dies in pursuit of Magua, at the end of the novel; but Uncas is celebrated by the Delawares (of whom the Mohicans are a sub-tribe) as a great and powerful warrior, who will be treated as such in the “hunting grounds” of the afterlife.

For Rebels and Patriots, I am going to playtest the following rules for using Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas in the game. To quote Michael Leck and Daniel Mersey in their introduction to Rebels and Patriots: . . . the rules play up the feeling of adventure, where heroic officers lead their men to glory . . did someone say "Hollywood"?

1. May only be with British or British Colonial forces.

2. Two options:

    a. Skirmishers (2 points).

        Unit Upgrades:

• Very Small Unit. Unit size is 3 models. Cost -1 point. 
• Veteran. Discipline becomes +1. Cost +2 points.
• Sharpshooters. Firing/Range becomes 4+/24". Cost +4 points.
• Hollywood Aggressive. Fighting becomes 5+ and all figures can fight. Cost +2 points.
• Total Points: 9 points

    b. Joining a Skirmisher Unit (2 points).

• Replace 3 of the models with Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas. Cost 0 points.
• Veteran. Discipline becomes +1. Cost +2 points.
• Sharpshooters. Firing/Range becomes 4+/24". Cost +4 points.
• Aggressive. Fighting becomes 5+. Cost +1 point.
• Total Points: 9 points.

As a reminder, the above has not been play tested yet - but they will! As with any special/optional rules, make sure your opponent agrees to use them; after all, were are gentlemen and ladies.