The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  A placeholder photograph borrowed from Wikipedia until I can get my own photo up here in its place. Guess what?  Yes, I am enjoying the first two slices of this year's stollen with hot coffee right now, and it is delicious!  As soon as the Grand Duchess sends me the photographs I took with her iPhone a few moments ago, I'll share a picture here.  Of course, I misplaced my own phone after photographing the candles late yesterday evening.  Argh!!!  Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy might recall that the territory and its immediate neighbors were first conceived way back in early December 2005 once Saturday afternoon as the Grand Duchess baked a small stollen to share with her German students at the time during their final exams.  My home office at the time was across the hallway in our old apartment, the much missed Purple Room, where I sat enjoying the aroma of baking as I tried to come up with a catchy name for a new semi-fictitious mid-18th cent...

  Not toy soldiers but a rather pleasing photograph taken with my phone yesterday evening as the Grand Duchess baked and I kept her company with all manner of advice on how to prepare the annual stollen (watch for a photograph later today). W hile the Grand Duchess baked cornbread for the stuffing/dressing to go with the Christmas goose AND our annual stollen yesterday evening -- That's authentic Dresdner Stollen mind you! -- yours truly took up space by the hearth in the library after finishing gift-wrapping down in Zum Stollenkeller .  We enjoyed soft Christmas music, mulled wine, and a bit of eggnog with freshly ground nutmeg much later in the evening, sitting up until almost 1am.   Staying up late like that is something we never do anymore, but I hope for more of during Christmas Week.  I used to be a night owl for most of my life until the Young Master came along in 2009, which understandably changed the narrative.  Since he is now 15 and large...

  The now familiar place-holder for a later photographic update.  But in the meantime, I kinda like this well-used artist's palette. S pent another 90 minutes or so in the painting chair last night -- before reconvening with the Grand Duchess to enjoy a second glass of an Argentinian red wine (I know, I know. . . living life on the bloody edge here in the Grand Duchy) -- finally seeing to a variety of smaller details.  These included the kettle drum heads and mallets, exposed pistol stocks and holster ends, and the green chevrons along the sleeves of one of the musicians.   I finished the session by starting to apply washes of white to raised areas of the trumpeter's coat.  Neither quite pleased with, nor done with that quite yet, but hope to return this evening after a round of final student team projects and decorating the trees, which I am headed out to pick up midday today (Saturday).   Somewhere in the painting left to do, I must also retouch...

  A bout 90 minutes or so back in the painting chair yesterday evening before later yoga and meditation with the Grand Duchess (I began joining my wife -- a yoga practitioner for more than 20 years at this point -- for this most evenings back in April).  Most of my time behind the brush was spent cleaning up the saddle cloths and highlighting the green distinctions .  You'll also see that I have carried out, but not yet completed, some limited charcoal gray highlights on some of the horses.  Not sure if I like the look of it, but overall these 16 figures are starting to come together I think.  See what you think and feel free to leave a comment or suggestion.  Happy December 13th everyone! -- Stokes

  A quick shot Sunday evening to illustrate where things stand with the larger of two cuirassier batches.  The figures are 28mm Eureka Saxons purchased way back in October 2016 as a present to myself out ahead of a a certain birthday, and they've sat in a drawer ever since until I began sporadic brushwork last January before life got in the way during late March, and all progress halted until very recently. So, how do things stand at the moment? Slowly but surely, we're getting there after several sessions this weekend, primarily seeing to various metallic bits on the horse furniture and adding lace to the saddle cloths as well as touching up the cheekbones, bridges of noses, chins, and in a few cases the jawlines of the officers, troopers, and musicians.   Oh, and look closely.  You'll notice a lot of buttons on the cuffs of many of the figures.  The trick is to touch the very tip of the brush to the button only long enough to leave a tiny fleck of paint ...

  A colorful, if slightly pretentious placeholder until I have a few recent photographs to share. of these blasted Saxons.  Thanks to everyone who sent encouraging comments for the previous post. W ell, it's 10:38am on Saturday morning.  The Grand Duchess and Young Master have headed to Chicago for a 36-hour pre-Christmas mother-son trip via train, leaving yours truly -- along with with the cats and fish -- unsupervised for a couple of days.  What to do?  What to do?    Yes, my thought exactly.  High time to say "No" to everything else and get back to the painting table.  Where things have stalled the last week since the Thanksgiving holiday due to the usual end-of-term things.  It's the same old song and dance as Steven Tyler once sang. But what of the Eureka 28mm Saxon cavalry?  In truth, it has been slow going, but little by little as the old Robert Plant song from about 1984 or '85 goes.  A few slow, painstaking sessio...

  A ppropriately enough, we woke to this scene today.  I took the quick picture from our front door just after 8am while waiting for the coffee water to heat.  Nothing toy soldier related, of course, just a pretty scene to share.  Happy winter everyone! -- Stokes

    B ut here's a photo update of sorts.  Painting as and when the muse visits, and time is available the last several days.  And here is where we stand for slightly more than half of the 30-figure regiment.  A dozen or so officers and troopers, though cemented to their horses, remain in the bare metal state off camera for the moment in their clear acrylic storage box.  Still lots to do, of course, with the figures pictured above, but not half-bad in my view.  It took a couple of evenings to get back into the swing of things, but I am finding my stride again after several frustrating mishaps the first evening or two back in the painting saddle.  One interesting point worth noting however that might have some of you nodding in agreement.  Certainly, cuirassiers had as many minute and shiny details as their hussar cousins.  Don't let anyone tell you differently!   In these pictures, snapped midday -- Before finally ...

  T oday (Saturday) is the day. My return to the painting table after too many months to count away from hobby activities. Almost all of the outdoor winterizing of flower beds, leaf clearing, and mowing has been done. Chilly, damp weather has arrived. We've even had a few dustings of snow the last few days although that has gone by midday.  I'll begin by quickly dusting off the surface and putting away a few things, and then see where things are with the slightly more than half of the Eureka SYW Saxon curassiers that are close to completion. And then open a bottle or two of paint and have a go at things. Probably makes good sense to draft a short checklist of colors/parts left to complete too. Wish me luck. Hmm.  Wait a second. A complete hobby absence from hobby activities is not entirely true come to think of it. I have tinkered with a few small river sections using printable magnetic sheets from Office Depot (or is it Office Max?), and I like the ear...

  T his anniversary is more poignant than it has been previously, for some of us at least, here in the United States.  What have previous and current generations fought and died for?  Despite the fact that the ugly alternative has been staring us in the face for quite some time, despite the warnings from constitutional and legal scholars, despite the warnings of senior military leaders and government officials with firsthand knowledge, we have chosen yet again to turn our back on the weakest in society, on individual and human rights, on our history, and on our obligation to and productive collaboration with the rest of the world.  For that, I am truly heartbroken and sorry.  -- Stokes

  My own troops, inspired by Brigadier Peter Young's own Erbprinz Regiment., the Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Regiment.  A gift for Christmas 2006, 60+ RSM95 Prussians painted to a clean "wargames standard" during late spring and early summer 2007, here freshly rebased during September 2017. I nspired by Big Lee's most recent wargaming vlog on his top 10 tips for newcomers to the hobby, and in response to his own invitation for viewers to add their own suggestions, I whipped up a list of my advice to newbies.  Or jaded old hands.  In no particular order, here they are:   1) Invest in enough and bright lighting for the painting table and paint your figures to the best of your ability. Wargames Standard (aka at arm’s length) is fine.   Painting is great fun by itself, but trying to do so in poor lighting is frustrating and will not produce the best results. 2) Stick to one period.   Hard, I know.   Variety is the spice of life.   The...