The 2nd Musketeers Are All Painted!!!

I finally completed the 2^nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers last night! They look fantastic if I do say so myself. As soon as I finish the current role of film (this week hopefully), I’ll scan several photos and post them here and at OSW. The only glitch is the flag.

First, the eagle I painted in the center of each side is about the lamest looking bird anyone has ever seen. Second, I think that I’ll cut away the molded flags and poles in future, replacing them with one’s I make myself. But then there is the problem of making a convincing finial for the top of the pole! Anyone have any suggestions? For central designs, I’d like to try some decal transfers like those I’ve seen other’s use in their work, for instance Phil Olley.

Otherwise, I am very pleased with the results of my initial foray into another size and “period” (albeit an ahistorical country and army) besides 15mm Napoleonic figures.

This week, I hope to gradually cover the entire unit in a coat of Future floor polish and then a shot or two of Testor’s Dullcote to kill the shine. I’ve already washed my next couple of units – a smaller battalion of jaegers and two gun crews plus a mounted officer. Next weekend, my wife Sonja and I will go camping for the last time this season, but afterwards, I hope to get cracking on meeting the OSW September Painting Challenge!

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And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

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...

Warboss Green Bases. . .

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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