The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  The next unit to go under the brush.  I give you the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment! A propos of nothing, I found an AI that, among other things, easily removes backgrounds from photographs, leaving just the subject in the foreground to paste into or against another background.  Pixelcut.ai it is for anyone who might like to mess around with it to see what it can help you produce. Otherwise, just wrapping up summertime activities before various meetings and things kick in Monday morning at 9am with classes beginning the following Monday the 25th.  While I well and truly enjoy working with (most) undergrads, my colleagues, developing/revising courses, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in general, I really could do without the departmental and program meetings which always go on far too long and come at less than convenient times whether in-person, or online.  Sigh. I know, I know.  Lots of people in the world right now with far worse problems, so I sho...

  A fter a week away from the painting table as real life and the approaching fall term encroach, I returned to the chair this afternoon and finished the various buttons on the trumpeter's coat.  The squadron is now ready for the usual 2.5 coats of acrylic gloss varnish, which I'll start tomorrow (Monday) evening.   In general, I am very pleased with the way the figures and their mounts turned out.  Some of the details are wrong, of course, but overall they don't look half bad.  I'll see about the squadron standard in due course.   Looking ahead, I think a regiment of infantry is in order before I return to cavalry and a monster regiment (36+) of Minden Austrian hussars.  I've found a unit that wore basically red uniforms with  red saddle cloths and valises, so that should help move things along a a fairly rapid pace (he said).  Watch this space! -- Stokes

    A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century.  And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed.   The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area.  Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are.  Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors.  Grrrr.  As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered.  For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

    I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion.  In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life.  Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted.  Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green.  Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs.  The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

  A wee   bit behind my time with the self-imposed July 31st deadline, but I managed to complete a myriad of the small details remaining during a 2.5-hour session in the painting chair Friday evening (August 1st).  I won't bore you with a long list of these.  Suffice to say that most are too small for anyone but me to notice at more than arm's length.   If these were the old crude Peter Laing 15mm castings, then ok.  Splash on the general uniform colors in lighter tones to show up on the table before moving on to the next batch of figures.   However, many tiny nuances have been masterfully sculpted onto the Eureka castings, so it seems a shame to ignore them altogether.  I know, I know.  But one should at least make an attempt to suggest some of the finer points of uniforms and equipment if and when possible when working with miniatures in sizes 18mm or larger.  But that's just me.  In any case, I was able to address these...

  A n afternoon session in the painting chair followed later by an evening session after a long post-dinner walk around the neighborhood.  Most of the minute brushwork today focused on the squadron officer, trumpeter, and standard bearer.  Very few mistakes to fix, but I managed to wick those away with a clean damp brush before the paint set in all by one instance.   Even managed to nail the trumpeter's sleeve chevrons without too much trouble.  The trick is to adopt a feather-like touch, almost like what I imagine a surgeon must use and tease the paint onto those tiny details.  And hold your breath. I had to use quite a bit of creative license, especially on the trumpeter since I lacked detailed information for the early 1730s-era uniforms beyond the illustration shared earlier, but I'm reasonably pleased with the results so far.  In a few days, everyone will get gold buttons simply because I like the added glitter they give to tabletop units, es...

A gray, intermittently rainy Saturday here in the Grand Duchy.  The perfect excuse to get myself into the painting chair for a couple of sessions devoted to various and sundry small, even minute details on these 14 Eureka Saxon cuirassier castings.   These included 13 mustaches (Vallejo 'German Camo Black-Brown'), valise straps (Vallejo 'black'), and highlights on all of the leather cartridge, sword belts, and gauntlets (Vallejo 'Flat Earth').  I also busied myself with some additional touching up/highlighting to the visible turnbacks in the facing color (Army Painter 'Fur Brown').   Again, probably a bit light for the 'coffee brown' facing color of the regiment during the early 1730s, but we want it to show up on the table.  Wargamers' artistic license as mentioned in an earlier post. But what about the trumpeter?  Here, I also applied Vallejo 'Flat Red' as a highlight to his coat collar, turnbacks, and waistcoat plus carefully pain...

  A fter two days, the hat and saddle cloth lace is done.  Whew!  I also highlighted the visible facings/turnbacks with Army Painter 'Fur Brown.'  Probably lighter than the actual coffee brown described, but artistic license and all you understand.   Next up three more tiny details: the gold loops holding the white ribbons onto the hats, mustaches, and the cuirass waist belts.  After that, gunmetal and brass  on the carbines and slightly lightened 'Leather Brown' highlights on the shoulder belts and gauntlets.  Somewhere in there any visible buttons [and sword baskets] as well.   The trumpeter and his mount will be two of the last things to tackle before final touch-ups and eventual glossing.  I'm aiming to have 'em all done by month's end, just two weeks and a bit more away.  Can he do it?  Stay tuned to find out. -- Stokes   

A pplying brown highlights to the carbine and pistol stocks where visible this (Saturday) afternoon, and thought I'd continue by tackling the yellow lace on one of the troopers.  You know.  Just to see what that might look like.   As I have tended to do in the recent past, I used Army Painter 'Basilisk Brown'  to avoid anything more garish and glaring.  Must admit I kind of like the results.  Much more businesslike than, say, a bright yellow that might have been more at home on the sets of The Bugaloos, H.R. Puffenstuff, or Sigmund and the Seamonsters .  Showing my age there you understand! But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.  Or perhaps behind?  Still quite a few bits of brown and brown highlights to attend to first.  Back to the salt mines as my grandfather used to joke once the (reheated) coffee break concludes. -- Stokes

  T hree (relatively) short sessions in the painting chair yesterday at different points between early afternoon and early evening after dinner and a walk around the neighborhood with the Grand Duchess.  Still no earth shattering progress, but the 14 figures (riders AND horses remember) are coming together bit by painstaking bit. No question about it though.  Painting cavalry units is a challenge given the sheer amount of metal or plastic to cover in various layers of paint.  Whew!  But 12-14 cavalry at a time seem manageable.  A large enough chunk to make a dent in the infamous Drawer o' Lead, but not so many figures and horses that you despair and give up. Remind me of that when I dive into those 36 or so Minden Austrian hussars, still waiting in their shipping box(es) over in the closet here in Zum Stollenkeller .  Jim is highly astute with his periodic sales and promotions, which is what led me to conclude that I "needed" another regiment of hussar...

  Must retouch the shoulder belts I notice.  This is what happens when you have three or four different bottles of 'Leather Brown' from different manufacturers and neglect to record which was used for the initial coat.  Grrr.   K eep those brushes paintin'.  Rawhide!  Or something to that effect.   The 14 Eureka Saxon cuirassiers, taking shape as a squadron of the von Polenz, ca. 1733, are coming along slowly but surely.  Here's where things stand as the (Sunday) morning of July 6th.  Gotta finish highlighting the reds with Vallejo 'Flat Red' after the Army Painter red wash applied yesterday (Saturday) along with the off white wigs and queues.  And the mustaches of course. Following that, the most pressing and tedious task is the carbines slung upside down, which need their barrels, firelocks, and at least some of the more visible brass metal work seen to after that.  And then possibly the sword blades and scabbards  Thing...

  H ere's where we stand on the morning of July 3rd.  A tiny bit of progress yesterday evening with the primary belts across the left shoulder of most figures with a lesser strap across the right shoulders after about 70 minutes in the painting chair.   I did not manage the facings or black touch-ups as promised in yesterday's post, so some mockery and derision from readers is in order.  But I will jump on that this evening.  I know, I know. The illustration I am using as a guide shows this particular unit with natural leather belts rather than whitened hence the "Leather Brown" from two different manufacturers.  Once that is done, the next steps with be a return to the heads and necks of the troopers/officers and musician. Namely, mustaches, hair/wigs, and neckstocks.   Might as well get these tedious parts out of the way.  To be fair, most of the latter already look reasonably good -- I think I tackled those back in May. -- but a few ...

  S ounds like a Merchant-Ivory film from the 1980s, doesn't it .   June was a busy month here and gone before I knew it.  And here we are in July after a conference in Washington, D.C. with a visit to my sister, intense work on a summer podcast series aimed at college professors, and topped off by an all too brief vacation with the Grand Duchess and Young Master in Northern Michigan outside of Traverse City on the banks of the Betsie River.  You'll note, as clear as the water is, that it looks brown rather than the odd shades of blue on commercially produced river  and lake sections.  Only deep water on sunny days, for example Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes, appears dark blue.  A dark blue-gray on cloudy days. In any case, time now to dive back into the painting fray and make some progress with my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733.  I am throwing my gauntlet on the ground at my own feet and issuing a painting ch...

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text .  I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well.  Now, we're getting somewhere.  I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas,  Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave.  I can't do that." -- Stokes

  T he latest version of my semi-fictitious campaign area as revised by Ninja AI.  Somewhat maddeningly, it continues to omit certain details, and get others wrong, even after repeated prompts to correct mistakes made to the file uploaded to Ninja at the start of the process.  For all of that frustration, however, it finally managed to get the river courses and hex overlay correct.  Generally speaking, I am pleased with the overall appearance of the map, but the devil is in the details. -- Stokes

  A painting muse of another color visited Saturday, so rather than begin the yellow/gold detailing of the saddle cloths, I tried my hand at highlighting the red coats. . . and saddle cloths.  The previously applied darker undercoat was Citadel Khorne Red, and instead of scarlet for the highlight I decided to use Vallejo Flat Red for a slightly more understated look.   Bearing in mind my tendency to overdo it with highlights, I used a #1 round and really tried to restricts myself to simply touching the bristles to the highest points of the shoulders, sleeves, saddle cloths, and valises/coats just behind the riders (I have not yet done anything to highlight the coffee brown musician's coat).   Not sure how successful my efforts were, but I am trying to keep in mind Big Lee's point today about painting for the "Three Foot Rule." I may yet add a dot of scarlet, but the jury remains out on that point.  See what you think. Ok, enough shilly-shallying....

  T he squadron after a couple of early morning sessions today to carefully trim in the GW 'Goblin Green' (my preferred old school base color) around the highlighted hooves.  And just a single misplaced blotch with the new #6 round!  You tend to forget in the heat of battle -- or at least I do -- how easy it is to apply and direct the paint onto and around the miniatures with a brand new brush that has an excellent point.  You would think I'd have internalized this key piece of painting wisdom after 40+ years of applying brush to figures.  About as sharp as a mashed potato sandwich here as my much missed maternal grandparents used to kid family members in moments of, shall we say, less than stellar judgement. But what's next with these cavalry?  Well, while I wait for the set of special dry-brushing brushes to arrive (for the horse highlights), I'll clean up a few edges and touch up a few other areas here and there before moving to detailing the saddle clot...

    J ust a quick Kodak moment update to illustrate where we are with the squadron of von Polenz Cuirassiers.  Still lots to accomplish, but the horse furniture is about done barring the usual touch-ups and cleaning of edges here and there before highlighting a few hooves (I know, I know. . .).  A light drybrushing to pick out raised details on the animals, and then we'll move on to the saddle cloths, holsters, and scabbards before getting to the men themselves.  Onward and upward, eh? -- Stokes

  S low progress on the horse furniture highlights, but we're getting somewhere.  I've spent a few different painting sessions applying black to those on the four non-black horses in the squadron, and then my usual very dark gray as a highlight.  Once that's done (six more horses to go), the usual dots of metallic colors to bring out the bits plus a few small buckles here and there.  Then its on to the white markings before moving toward saddle cloths, saddles, etc. I must also extend a heartfelt "thank you" to Allan Tidmarsh, the man behind the Kingdom of Wittenberg blog (and one of my longtime favorites).  He sent me a lovely scan of and officer and trooper of the von Polenz cuirassiers, sporting their early red coats with coffee brown facings, from a German language source on the troops of August the Strong.  One more example of the charitable and helpful side of the wargaming hobby.  Thank you again Allan! -- Stokes   A very handsome uniform,...

  A s and when time has permitted the last week or so, I've basecoated the latest squadron of cavalry -- this time to represent Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, ca. 1733 (red coats with coffee brown facings) -- applied the basic horse flesh coloring and gone to work blocking in the basic uniform colors that will be highlighted later.  In truth, they look like a bloody mess up close, and I can't recall when I have been less pleased with my brushwork, but we're still very early in the painting process.   Or so I console myself.   But as I advise my often less than resilient students during the academic year, you can't row in circles after a disappointing grade.  Rather, make the decision to revise your approach and move forward without repeating the same mistake twice.  A point that dovetails nicely with advice given to my son's Tae Kwon Do class a couple of years ago by the instructor Mr. R. So, next up, the neck stocks and black cuirasses.  I...

    B esides goofing around with artificial intelligence, I have also tinkered with the second half of those Eureka Saxon cuirassiers during the last week or so, applying the basic flesh tone (alkyd oil) to the 14 faces a short while ago.  Tomorrow evening, I'll apply the Army Painter flesh wash and then go to work on the horse furniture first this time around to shake up the painting process a bit and tackle those more tedious bits before the tedium demon notices what I'm up to. The plan is to paint these as the von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733 when the unit had coffee brown facings and, at least in full dress, red coats and saddle cloths.  I've combed through my two books on the Saxon army (the Summerfield and Pagano titles) and as well as the Project Seven Years War website, and I fear the kollets worn by all but the trumpeter should be an off-white or tan rather than the hoped for red.  But I'll check one more time before making any rash decision. In the i...

  A computer enhanced version of an early drawing of the campaign area during Fall 2006. I ran it through Fotor earlier today clean it up a bit although some of the print remains blurred,  Time perhaps to see if an AI might help.  T he Grand Duchy of Stollen, nominal purview of Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, unfurls across the northeastern European landscape like a patchwork quilt sewn by an enthusiastic grandmother after her third glass of elderberry wine. Nestled precariously between Prussia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire, and the Duchy of Courland, it remains a curious diplomatic anomaly in mid-18th century Europe -- a legacy of the convoluted Peace of Westphalia that even the negotiators had forgotten by the time they affixed their seals to the document.  At the heart of the capital Krankenstadt stands the modest ducal palace, where the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, a distant cousin to one of the Hessian houses, presides with an endearing a...

  A fter a busy morning filled with lots of little things on the dreaded end of semester/term 'To Do' list, I took a long lunch to dry-brush the bases with some cheap tan craft paint and then apply some foliage  clumps with careful dots of superglue.  To my mind, at least, the finished company of Slavonische Brooder Grenze r look like they are emerging from the edge of a wood to harass an exposed Prussian flank a hundred yards or so away.   A few days' break, and then it's time to apply the usual white acrylic gesso to those last 14 or 15 Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  I've been doing some research, and will paint them more or less in line with 1730s-era uniforms, which were a bit more colorful than later in the middle part of the century.  I think.  To be sure, I must check my sources one more time before applying brush to figures. -- Stokes  An Early Tuesday Morning P.S. Thank you everyone for your interest in the genzers and related question(s...