One of the most impressive and marking piece ever produced by John Jenkins Designs certainly was the JJ-QB-45 - Woodland Indian Attacking Line Infantry #2. Not only is it a beautiful piece but, when it was released in 2014, it marked the start of a new style of figure within the Jenkins’ collections.

When JJ-QB-45 was announced, this was at the same time with the JJ-QB-44 - Indian Attacking British #1. Those two releases were similar in style but today only the JJ-QB-45 is still available. This piece depicts a woodland indian attacking a british soldier. Details on the figures are as impeccable as usual. What is amazing about this piece is how the Indian is floating in mid air, giving a lot of impact to his jump attack. Connection points between the two figures are well integrated and the resulting assemblage is sturdy and stable. Notice how the tomahawk’s handle merges with the rifle to secure the two characters together.

On the left, the JJ-QB-45 (still available).
On the right, the JJ-QB-44 (now retired).

The JJ-QB-45 and his brother the JJ-QB-44 were inspired by the ambush scene from movie The Last of the Mohicans (1992). This movie is one of the recurrent sources of inspiration for John Jenkjins. Many pieces from the Drums Along the Mohawk collection exist because of that movie. One of the most obvious references is the magnificent trio of Mohawk warriors: JJ-DAM-50, JJ-DAM-51 and JJ-DAM-52. Those are in fact Nathaniel, Uncas and Chingachgook. They are currently out of stock, but there is a rumor that those might be restocked in 2022.

The retired Last of the Mohican trio. Those figueres might be restocked in 2022.

About the new era talked earlier, it’s because this was the first time that such an impressive jumping motion was captured. This vision of figures floating in mid air was probably in John Jenkin’s mind for a while. I remember speaking with him about the Bejas warrior from the Anglo Sudan collection. He said that he wishes he could reproduce the bouncing motion they have in the movie “The Four Feathers”, but how can you make a figure look like jumping when it must be attached to a base? The solution apparently came a few years later with the lease of the JJ-QB-45 and JJ-QB-44. Since that day, many other vignettes merging two figures together to get a jumping motion have been produced.

The JJ-AER-12B - Warrior Charging; the heir of the JJ-QB-45.

To conclude, this piece is as much an historical piece for the French and Indian war as it is for the John Jenkins collection. Like it was released in 2014, chances are high that it will soon be discontinued. So it’s most likely one of your last chances to get one easily. There is however one important warning if you want to purchase it second hand. The firsts versions of those figures were shipped in regular red John Jenkins boxes. Because of the size of the vignette, few of them were damaged during the shipping as the boxes had no room for compression. So the red boxes were quickly replaced by larger white boxes. Therefore, if you want to purchase this piece on the used market, make sure to enquire about the box. Red boxes might contain damaged items. As for our store, we only have white boxes in stock. I now leave you with the scene from The Last of the Mohican who started it all.