Now, this is it!!!

If you have not done so already, click on the Balsthof Blog link here: http://blasthofblog.blogspot.com and feast your eyes upon Phil Olley's balanced force of Charge-inspired Spencer Smith figures. This is Classic Wargaming at its finest. I'm almost speechless with awe and enthusiasm.

A Small Milestone and Other Errata. . .

Sometime in the night, the number of visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen passed the 80,000 mark. Not bad for slightly over three years. I imagine cannon are going off, to mark the occasion, around the city of Krankenstadt in the Grand Duchy of Stollen as the sun rises this morning!

The writing spirit seized me over the weekend, so I've been taking a couple of days away from the painting table to work on "the wargaming book". Remember that? This particular chapter is a longer one, and, remarkably, it seems almost as if it is writing itself. I have done considerable work with young Paul asleep in my lap. It's almost finished, and then the time comes for proofreading and editing, to make things more concise and cohesive.

Many of the intended chapters are finished with not that much outstanding work remaining other than some reorganization of said chapters and adding a few other bits and pieces. But I think it should not be too terribly much longer before I'll have a finsihed product to show publishers, and then we'll see.

Finally, have a look at the Hinchliffe Range (link at right under "Links"), now sold by Hinds Miniatures in the U.K. While I don't especially like the 18th century figures themselves (funny pposes with spindly legs and odd looking horses), there is all manner of equipment that might be suitable for use in your old school games, including various 25mm bridges, wagons, carts, barrels, gabions, and etc. And you need to click on the different periods to find everything as it's not all listed under the generic title of "25mm Equipment".

In particular, there is a pontoon bridge set, mentioned by Charles S. Grant in The War Game Companion, that has caught my eye. And possibly just in time for Christmas. We'll have to see if I can manage to get my letter written and sent to Santa Claus/Father Christmas in time for the big day. In any case, adding items like these to one's collection would open up all kinds of additional Grantian scenario possibilities for actions and battles of various types on the table top. Just think of the potential!

In the meantime, it's back to those Austrian cuirassiers this evening to finish their red saddlecloths. Charge!

White Step Is Finished!!!

With a huge sigh of relief, the white step is all finished on the second squadron of Austria's, er, Stollen's Anspach-Beyreuth Kuirassiere. Young David Paul I had a quiet night last night, so we got a tiny bit more sleep than has been the case lately. The Grand Duchess and son are out running some errands together this afternoon, so I've had a rare couple of hours to finish this step, take, and post a picture here. Now, it's onto the next step, "The Reds". . . facings, turnbacks, breeches, and saddle cloths. Charge!

And speaking of Charge!, is anyone else having problems leaving comments at the wonderfully whimsical Blasthof Blog? I've tried to post a comment several times in the last few days about Phil Olley's unit of Tarleton helmeted artillery, but the comment won't take. It simply disappears without explanation whenever I click on the publish button. Phil, if you're reading this, your battery is lovely. I might just have to bite the bullet and order some of those same Tradition British RHA figures and guns myself, though I'm leaning toward pink coats with light blue facings and turnbacks rather than the Brigadier's apparent dark blue or grey. There's nothing like seeing another guy's exellently turned out figures to reinvigorate one's own painting and collecting efforts!

Pluggin' Away. . .

Ahhh. . . I managed to squeeze in about 90 minutes for figure painting yesterday evening between grading student papers, dinner with the Grand Duchess, showing a film at school, and a fussy baby. Sleep? What's that? So, that second squadron of nine RSM Austrian dragoons now has its shoulder belts and cuirass belts/straps all painted carefully. And no mistakes to fix for once! You can see where we stand at this point from the above photograph.

Probably no time to paint this evening since my amateur rock and roll band has a practice session for a couple of hours, but the next time I sit down to the painting table, I'll tackle the white tunics and gauntlets before moving onto the red facings and saddlecloths. Suffice to say, the figures are indeed starting to look more like little men and horses rather than inanimate chunks of pewter, or white metal, or whatever it is that the RSM's are made of.

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month. . .

Today, thoughts turn to my maternal grandfather David Lewis Stokes, his brothers (Baxter and Jackson), and his brother-in-laws (Bob, Sydney, and Charlie). Amazingly, all six of them served, in one way or another, during the Second World War of 1939-45 and somehow managed to make it home relatively unscathed. So too did the only First World War veteran I ever met, Harrison Terrell, a Pennsylvania Quaker no less, who answered the call in 1917 and ended up in the trenches of northern France. They are all gone now, but I knew each of them well and think about them often. . . well, all the time really. It's November 11th everyone, formerly known as Armistice Day, now called Veterans' Day here in the United States. Please take a quiet moment to remember those who have served in previous and present conflicts around the world.

28mm Prussian SYW Artillery Figure Set on the Way from HaT!!!

Just a brief note today, to sound the clarion call. . . Apparently, there is a forthcoming 28mm set of plastic SYW Prussian artillery in the works from HaT! Thanks to Guy over at the Old School Wargaming Yahoo group for mentioning this exciting news in a post earlier today. The set has a catalog number already and does show up on that company's website, though there is no box art yet and no date of release. But, if you are into plastic figures and cannot track down the increasingly rare (and pricey) 1/72 Revell Austrian horse artillery set, or you are thinking about adding some new figures to your 25mm mid-18th century collection, the HaT figure set might be worth checking out. I'll certainly keep my eyes open for it in the coming months. Click here to view the "roughs": http://www.hat.com/Prev/7YWPA/7YWPAm.html. These early figures look good, so I might just forget my self-imposed temporary moratorium on buying anymore figures once the set is issued!

Cuirassier Painting Update. . .

Managed to find about 90 minutes of painting time yesterday evening, and so beat a hasty retreat to Zum Stollenkeller for some time with the little metal men while the Grand Duchess spoke to her parents on the phone, and young David Paul I slept. As the Grand Ducal Feline lounged contentedly in my lap, I finished painting the tack on the horses: girths and stirrup leathers, using a ten-year-old bottle of Ral Partha "Leather Brown" that still flows nicely despite its age. Then, it was onto the stirrups, bits, and silver/brass buckles on the halters and reins, for which I used newer bottles of Citadel's (ex- Games Workshop) "Mithril Silver" and bronze. So, the horses are basically finished for the second squadron of nine figures, barring a few of those inevitable touch-ups. Grrrrrrr. . .

Next up, the white gauntlets, tunics, and shoulder belts on those same officer and troopers. Then, it's on to the red facings and saddle cloths. Hopefully, I'll get some more painting time in before too many days go by, but there is a batch of student papers that needs to be finished by this evening, and then the usual parental things too. By the way, I'm amazed at how fast I can change a diaper now! Who would have thought? Anyway, I'll have a photo update on the cuirassiers once I get my computer back and set it up again. Hopefully, Tech Services will have finished debugging it by Monday morning (tomorrow). Gee, and they have only had it for three weeks!