A Spring Ball in Krankenstadt: The Guest List. . .

It's finally spring in Krankentadt.  A perfect time for the Grand Duke's aunts to host a ball at the Residenz, a.k.a. Krankenstadt Palace.

Aunts Hilrtrud, Irmagard, and Waltraud, in yet another bid to see the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II marry and produce an heir to the throne, have decided to throw a springtime ball with the purpose of establishing an understanding of some sort between their wayward nephew and a young lady of acceptable family and station.  While the guest list is large, extending to include over two hundred  souls all told, certain names on it are considered special guests of honor.  These include the following individuals:


General Maurice Leger de Main -- A former Saxon general, of dubious social origins, who attached himself to the Grand Duke's household in January of 1773.  Strangely, he has yet to make clear what services he is able to offer Irwin-Amadeus II.

Signore di Polenta -- The Grand Duke's tailor of questionable tailoring practices and suspicious predilections.  While di Polenta has a marked fondness for the chambermaids of the Residenz, certain young footmen and pages in the household do not escape his libidinous attentions either.

Uncle What's-His-Name -- Doddering husband of Aunt Hiltrud, who has been around for so long, no one can quite recall why the two married to begin with, or what the social connection was that their respective families hoped to establish, a subject that puzzles even Aunt Hiltrud lo these many years later.

Lady Marie Cheque de Voyage -- One of the Grand Duke's current crop of suitors.

Mademoiselle Amalie de Ambuscade -- Ditto

Liesl von Goshenhoppen -- Ditto but suffers from the dreaded man hands syndrome.

Lady Lucretia von Goshenhoppen -- Her mother.  No more need be said.

Lady Solange de Badinage -- The most charming of the four young female hopefuls.

Bishop Sievert Tiburtius -- Spiritual adviser to and friend of the Grand Duke.  In addition, he is an inveterate gambler and cardsharp with a fondness for peppermint schnapps.

Professor Detrius -- Professor of Philosophy, Logic, and Metaphysics at the insignificant University of Krankenstadt.  Frequently annoyed, dismayed, and confounded by the Grand Duke's naive grasp and attempted discussions of Metaphysics during their long walks around the gardens of the Residenz.

Heinz-Ulrich and Leonora Christina von Boffke -- Former romantic rival to the Grand Duke and his Swedish wife, a one-time love interest of Irwin-Amadeus II.  Since her laugh resembles that of a bull seal during mating season, precisely why the Grand Duke was so attracted to Leonora Christina in the first place is unclear.

Freiherr Heinz von dem Salat -- Prussian ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Stollen.  Jovial and with a healthy appetite.  The midday meal is his favorite.  The household staff refer to him privately as the Man Who Came to Luncheon.

Felix von  Schwerfällig und Schreiben -- Young, self-important libertine poet who is given to revolutionary ideals expressed through pages and pages of third rate poetry.  Inexplicably, the Grand Duke's three aunts adore him.

Heinrich Schatzi von Pelznikkel -- One of the Grand  Duke's closest ministers, who also had the unfortunate task of marching his monarch into the palace fountian, during the oppressively hot summer of 1767 at the height of what is remembered as The Grreat Lobster Costume Affair.

Katrina-Bettina von Heffelfinger -- Society page editor for Die Krankenstadt Tageblat.  An overly familiar, presumptuous, and nosy gossip of the highest order.

Georg Biedermeier von Spiesburg -- Gentleman farmer, acquaintance of the Grand Duke's aunts, and occasional self-appointed art critic for Die Krankenstadt Tageblat via long, rambling, sometimes almost incoherent letters to the editor.

General von Tschatschke -- A flamboyant Stollenian general with a predilection for purple, pink, and lavender uniforms that he designs himself, actually appearing in them publicly AND on the battlefield.

General von Buttinski -- The indecisive Stollenian commander of heavy cavalry, who delegates tasks to his subordinates and then countermands their decisions and attempted orders anyway.

General von Drosselmaier -- The craven officer who lost the Grand Duchy's only functioning sawmill to the invading vile Stagonians during the Battle of Saegewerkdorf in the spring of 1769 and has lived ever since in self-imposed exile and shame on the family estate outside Dorpat.  He is making the trip to Krankenstadt only as a favor to Aunt Irmgard, the middle sister, with whom he once had an understanding many years ago.

Antoine de Cavalcade -- Otherwise known as Anton Burg, an overly dramatic, affected, and pretentious actor on the Stollenian stage.  Once a nameless extra in some opera, play, or other in Vienna as a much younger man, something he brings up whenever there is a lull in the conversation.

Benjamin Tobias von Wowereit -- A young, talented painter and unapologetic charmer of the ladies, who insists on stripping to his waist, or at least opening his shirt to his navel to exspose copious amounts of blonde chest hair, before he can begin applying paint to his canvas in earnest.

Ingetraud and Karl-Heinz -- A pair of distant, younger cousins of the Grand Duke who always seem to be underfoot at any function hosted by his three aunts.  Generally unpleasant, mishievous, and malodorous brats.  Perhaps one of the main reasons Irwin-Amadeus II has no real desire to marry and produce a family.  And who can blame him?

Feberuary 15th-May 15th, 2013 Painting Challenge Output. . .

The title of today's post says it all!  The results of the recent painting challenge.

Here's a photograph of everything I've managed to accomplish in the last three months. . .  wife, child, career, students, and life notwithstanding.  Approximately 74 figures (if my addition is correct), some horses, musical instruments, picnic items, and artist's equipment either wrapped up, or painted from start to finish, in some cases some scratch-building and/or figure conversion, everything glossed, and scenic effects applied to the bases.  A delightful mix of figures by Minden Miniatures, Jackdaw, Eureka, and RSM95 along with a few more by Fife & Drum Miniatures, Miniature Figurines, Spencer Smith, and two or three extra pieces of picnic paraphernalia by Foundry on the lower left-hand corner of the plastic tub shown above.  

Among theses are some civilian vignettes as well as those with a more military theme.  Each vignette is quite a bit different from its fellows.  A refreshing and fun painting challenge all around.  This is perhaps the biggest reason why I enjoy the hobby so much.  It always provides an artistic outlet of some sort and a chance to practice, refresh, experiment with, and/or refine painting and modelling skills.  

Of course, a number of other similar small tableaus wait in the wings here in Zum Stollenkeller in another large plastic storage tub -- 25 figures on foot and mounted plus 19 horses -- but I won't get to those until July.  Once May Term is over, the Grand Duchess has another conference for a few days, and then we pack for an almost three week vacation in Mexico, where the three of us will visit my mother in Merida and spend several days at the beach just outside of Progresso on the Yucatecan coast where she has rented a fantastic beach house for the four of us. 

In the meantime, I plan to put up my painting feet for a little while and get to some other pressing work, including an article that needs writing and a Norwegian-English translation that needs, well, translating.  Coincidentally, today, May 17th, is Norway's National Day.  God Nasjonaldag alle!/Happy Independence Day everyone!

The Final Two Vignettes for a While. . .

The final two vignettes for a while: a couple of Croats from the Slavonian Border Grenz Regiment (left) and the Szluiner Grenz Regiment (right).  The Croats and human casualty are by Minden Miniatures.  The horse casualty if by, I believe, Garrison.  I chopped it from its base and mashed the legs together before gluing it down to the asymmetrical scenic base for painting.  Oh, and the discarded musket beneath the Prussian infantryman is a bit of RSM95 from the Dayton Painting Consortium.

A close-up of the Slavonian grenzer, whose uniform is based on the third figure shown on Plate F in Philip Haythornthwaite and Bill Youngusband's The Austrian Army 1740-80: 3 Specialist Troops (1995).  Whoops!  I forgot to dust off the extra bits of scatter grass material from the horse. 

And here is a close-up of the Szuliner fellow, who has stopped to plunder and pilfer an expired enemy.  His uniform is based on a small illustration and description on page 45 of Haythornthwaite and Younghusband.  Grrr. . .  I forgot to apply fleshtone to the dastardly fellow's hands.  Rushing through one's painting just isn't cricket.  Blast!

Gallping toward the Midnight Deadline. . .

It's 10:28am here.  We're in the Homestretch.  Can I make the February 15th-May 15th Painting Challenge Deadline by Midnight CDT tonight?

Just a few things to wrap up here on those two kneeling Minden Croat vignettes.  Some final painting on the dead horse for the first base.  Red facings, lace, shoulder belts, and small straps plus a bit of dark lining on the second.  Two coats of acrylic gloss for both (four figures in total).  Finish with groundwork which involves a few different steps.  

Not that much really.  Should be able to accomplish everything in fairly short order.  But hold on a moment.  Factor in May Term teaching today for three hours, mowing the grass late this afternoon before it rains again (possibly the forecast says), supper, and the usual evening family things.  Hmm. . .   Is it possible?  Well, I'll give it the old college try.  The Grand Duchess might be on her own this evening after the Young Master has turned in at 8pm.  Terraining the bases might, however, need to wait until tomorrow evening.  Stand by.

On another note, the GD of S blog has managed to pick up a few more followers in the last several weeks.  A hearty "Welcome!" to all of you who have just tuned in.  Tell your wargaming friends and neighbors.  Help spread the good word.  Let's see if we can hit the 200 followers mark by September 1st as I continue assembling and painting vignettes plus that planned reinforced company of pioneers/miners along with some other (a-) historical surprises that are in the the longer term painting queue.  Once we are back from Mexico in July, I've also got some actual gaming planned too.  It's been too long.  Summers are a good time east of the sun and west of the moon here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen.


Update. . . 
I got as far as a coat of acrylic glass yesterday evening by about 10:30pm and the decided to hit the sack.  The gloss seemed to be taking quite a while to dry anyway, but the figures look good this morning.  Limited terrain work this evening plus the inevitable touch up or two, and then I take a break for the remainder of May while I write the article that goes with all of these different vignettes.  Photos to follow later this evening. 

The Next Officer Vignette in the Queue. . .

A couple of high-ranking, nominally Austrian engineers converse with a field marshal as a mounted infantry colonel looks on.  The figures are, naturally, by Minden Miniatures in the U.K., and wonderful castings they are too.

A birthday for the Grand Duchess, followed by Mother's Day, along with the usual May Term course duties, and an interruption of two days while new basement windows were installed here in Zum Stollenkeller notwithstanding, I managed to wrap up this latest command vignette yesterday (Sunday).  The May 15th deadline in the current painting challenge among my loose group of wargaming friends and acquaintances looms dangerously close now.  However, I will try my best to finish a couple of small vignettes featuring two different kneeling Minden Croats plus a horse and a human casualty before Midnight Central Daylight Time on the 15th.  

And yes, before anyone comments, I realize that I inadvertently reversed the colors on the sashes worn by three of the officers shown here.   Rats!  Don't you hate it when you do something like that?  Sigh.  Well, they aren't real Austrians in my little world, and the painting is reasonably good, so why mess with things any further?  The white edging also seems to make the sashes stand out better against the chests of the 1/56th scale figures.  So, finished they are.

Painting this time was mostly done with Citadel and Ral Partha acrylics although the flesh areas, horse, and hats/boots were my usual alkyd oils thinned down with Liquin, which was dry to the touch by the next morning.  I used very thin dark brown and/or dark blue hobby acrylics to add a little selective lining on the four figures along with some dark brown to stain areas on the field marshal's coat that were destined for gold lace.   Metallics don't stand out well by themselves on white coats, you see.  I might touch up two areas on the front of the mounted colonel's coat, which seem to have just a bit too much brown at the moment.  Funny how you never notice these things until the photographs have been taken and posted. 

The two coats of gloss on the miniatures were achieved with Liquitex acrylic gloss medium, while the groundwork on the base was my usual sand stained with dark brown acrylic paint.  That was followed by a sprinkling of Woodland Scenics grass material held down with Liquitex acrylic matt medium and a few carefully placed Woodland Scenics shrubs, tacked down with one or another brand of superglue gel.  Oh, and the base was cut from a piece of basswood and lightly sanded to knock off a few edges and splinters.

I don't think that this vignette is the most exciting and dynamic group of figures painted in the last few months, but I'm reasonably pleased with the way it turned out.  Certainly, it was a nice change to paint Austrians in a color besides white!  When I get to that large, reinforced company of Minden pioneers/miners and laborers later this summer, this group of officers will oversee their work. . .  Whatever that might be at the time, depending on the game scenario or display.

How did this almost escape me?

H.G. Wells and friends maneuvering their armies around the parlor floor.  Considering where this falls on the wargaming historical spectrum.  Sometime before Featherstone, but after von Hellwig and von Reisswitz.  Might we, therefore, consider Little Wars Late Middle Old School Wargaming? 

The opportunity to read the Sunday paper two days late certainly has its advantages.  Once in a great while, you run across something about our wonderful hobby that doesn't present it in a goofy, uninformed, negative light.  You know the familiar implication:  These guys are a bunch of unsocialized morons in ill-fitting t-shirts and sagging cargo shorts, with matted hair and horrendous body odor, who live with fish tanks full of newts in lieu of an actual S.O., spouse, or partner and, thus, have nothing better to do with their time.  Anyway, I just came across this interesting little essay in the Book Review supplement of this past Sunday's New York Times that is refreshingly different in its outlook and approach.  Take a look if you'd like.  Click on Little Wars to be magically transported to the text in question.

Time for some Austrians, er, um, Zichenauers. . .

A generic Austrian mounted officer converses with his Hungarian counterpart while a stray Croat takes pot shots at the enemy from behind the relative safety of a broken down gun carriage.

Painting on, and the glossing of, this latest command vignette was concluded late this morning with scenic features added mid-afternoon.  This time, most of the painting was done with Citadel acrylics although the horses, hats, and footwear were done with thinned oils.  The scenic features, as usual, are a combination of Woodland Scenics over sand stained dark brown, which was gathered many years ago from my maternal grandmother's creek bed during a dry spell in the summer of 1984.  The boulder and a piece of rotting tree trunk come from my driveway just outside Stollen Central.  

This time, instead of black lining the reins and harnesses on the horses, I first used a watery dark brown paint, followed by a reddish brown highlight (?!) over top.  Dark brown lining gives a less stark effect than black, but still makes these particular details stand out against the lighter colored horses.  I later added a tiny bit of the same dark brown lining to the three white uniforms just to define things a bit more.  For anyone else loony enough to add old school lining to their figures, I'd suggest either a darker compliment of the same color or dark brown, both of which are a bit more subtle than black lining.  But, to each his, or her own of course.

Rats!  I just noticed that forgot to paint the Austrian's sword loop around his right wrist.  Don't you just hate when that happens?  Well, I suppose it's a fairly easy and rapid job to take care of it before continuing on with the next Austrian/Zichenauer staff vignette tonight or tomorrow. That particular base will feature some engineer officers mounted and on foot, overseeing some project or other.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The inspiration for the base of figures featured in today's post comes from a 15mm French Napoleonic staff vignette that was featured in the August '89 issue of Wargames Illustrated entitled 'Designing and Painting Napoleonic Armies' by an American named F. Patrick Burk.  Sadly, despite my repeated web searches over the last few years for clues as to his whereabouts and hobby activities now, Mr. Burk seems to have disappeared without a trace in the intervening almost quarter century.  Yikes!  Where has the time gone?

The mounted figures are by Minden Miniatures while the gun and the lone Croat are by RSM95.  Figures from these two ranges complement each other perfectly with regard to size and proportion and thus extend both ranges considerably where poses and/or battlefield activities are concerned.

A Few Techincal Bits. . .

Some of my earlier scenic vignette work from June 2012.  Two companies of historically-based (as opposed to fictitious) Grenz along with  a mounted officer.  Figures are a mix of RSM95 and Minden Miniatures.

Thank you everyone for the recent comments and compliments on all of the command vignettes finished during the last several days.   More are on the way!  Several of you have asked, in the meantime, about certain things, like the gloss medium and bases, so I figured (Get it?) I'd respond here.

The varnish I am using right now is Liquitex (acrylic) Gloss Medium and Varnish, available from arts and crafts stores like Michael's and Dick Blick here in the United States. I believe Liquitex artists' products are available in other parts of the world too.  Anyway, the gloss medium stays exactly where you put it since it is somewhat thicker than Future/Klear acrylic floor finish, which I have used since 2006. 

The problem with Future/Klear is that the stuff runs everywhere.  Rapid to apply, but very messy, and it seems to run off of higher areas on figures like shoulders, raised arms, the points of bayonets and swords, etc., which means that the paintwork on those areas is neither as well protected from handling, nor as glossy as on other parts of the figures.  The Liquitex stuff, in contrast, while slower to apply, stays put and dries crystal clear in about 10 minutes. A second coat makes the figures even shinier and makes the colors even more vivid. 

The bases are just heavy pieces of approximately 1/8" thick card that I purchased a sheet of from Dick Blick in January 2010 when I was on one of my occasional house-building kicks.  It's not too different from the kind that is used as the backing for artists' sketch pads and tablets of graph paper, but slightly better in quality, firmer, and so less prone to warping than the cheaper stuff I used to save from used up writing and graph paper pads in my younger, poorer days.  Anyway, I've chopped it into irregular shapes and then carefully rounded the corners with judicious trimming, using a sharp hobby knife.  You can't beat it for ease of use.  I have recently tried thin plywood and basswood for my bases, but I think I prefer the cardboard stuff. 

With my vignettes, I've been attempting to capture a "look" similar to all of those great old vignettes by Doug Mason that used to grace the pages of Miniature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated, and the Wargames Holiday Centre brochures throughout the 1980s and into the early 90s.  

The vignette work of Phil Olley, Jim Purky, Bill Gaskin, John Ray, and the Kingom of Wittenburg blog, more recently, has also had considerable influence on my own hobby dabblings.  I'm not necessarily in the same league, of course, but their small "scenes" have certainly introduced me to a new dimension of the wargaming hobby and the presentation of painted 25-30mm military miniatures that seems worthy of emulation.  

If nothing else, command and other kinds of vignettes help add atmosphere, period flavor, and even unique personality to one's collection and tabletop set-up.  These small tableaus also compliment the various units of infantry, cavalry, and artillery that comprise our tiny armies regardless of their precise historic era. . .  in much the same way that a well-chosen wool or silk pocket handkerchief with paisleys or pheasants on it can compliment the day's necktie.  Yes, yes. . .   I'm an unabashed dandy chap and proud of it!  ;-)

More, More, More Vignettes!!!

More RSM95 figures removed from their old single bases and regrouped into command vignettes.

I have just finished regrouping older figures in my collection, painted during the last several years, into three additional command 'scenes,' one Stollenian at the front and two Zichenauer at the rear.  On the rear left, you'll note General Phillipe de Latte (dark blue) conversing with his rather animated ADC Major Paolo di Biscotti (white), who makes the point that one can never truly enjoy coffee cakes and sweetbreads without fresh espresso.

"The Grand Duchy of Stollen? Does that guy ever sleep?"

The most recently "finished" figures.  Miniatures by RSM95, Miniature Figurines in the background, and a couple of vintage plastic Spencer Smiths at the far right.

When you're hot, you're hot!  Well. . .   Ok, maybe not exactly hot -- Let's not get carried away with yourself too much, Stokes! --  but when the painting and modelling muse is actually present in the house, go with it!  She is, at times, an elusive figure after all, so it's best to strike while the iron is hot.

The figures above have been painted and in my collection a long time.  Some since December 2006.  They've popped up in various photographs of my painting table and battlefields-in-minitature presented here routinely.  But they were, until Sunday, based individually.  That evening was the first time I actually got around to removing the figures from their old glossy green bases, and I next tacked these various generals and ADC officers down onto scenic bases.  The usual brown-stained creekbed sand and Woodland Scenics treatment followed a little while ago.  Ah. . .  The end of term before final papers and exams roll in is a delightful few days! 

Stollenian generals, including the interfering von Buttinski (yellow) , the foppish von Tschatschke (pink), and the craven von Drosselmaier (dark blue) are in the three vignettes in the foreground.  Anonymous Zichenauer generals and officers are behind.   Three additional bases of officers -- one of Stollenians and two of Zichenauers -- await completion this evening, including that most dastardly mercenary adventurer from France, General Phillipe de Latte, along with his equally nefarious (and crunchy) ADC Paolo di Biscotti.  Stay tuned for more vignettes this evening or sometime tomorrow.