Stollen's Irwin Amadeus II Makes Second Diplomatic Faux Pas

News Release:

Krankenstadt Palace -- Krankenstadt, The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Today, Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II made another in a growing line of diplomatic blunders that place The Grand Duchy of Stollen in a precarious position among the other marginal and erroneous states around mid-eighteenth century Europe. In an exchange with a new acquaintance, regarding the recruitment and training of soldiers in the Bishopric of Uber Gruntshuffen, Irwin-Amadeus mistakenly attributed the relationship between the Duchy of Alzheim and Australia to the former and New Zealand. An egregious error if ever there were one.

The magnitude of our Grand Duke’s gaff is exacerbated by the fact that he and The Grand Duchess Sonja have a very close friend who hails from Australia! One could almost observe Irwin-Amadeus shriveling up as he apologized and took leave of the conversation.

How does our Grand Duke’s most recent poor conduct affect Stollen’s standing in the eyes of its immediate neighbors? Only time will tell. But, in view of the rumblings of war in the region, the recruitment of extra forces by neighboring countries, and various fevered diplomatic exchanges between the governments of those same territories, the picture for Stollen does not look good. Perhaps the handlers of Irwin-Amadeus II should mind their ruler more closely when he is loose in public. In any case, stay abreast of continuing developments right here with the Krankenstadt Tageblat.

-- Katrina-Bettina von Heffelfinger

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

Perhaps with the return of the King to New Zealand, they have conquered Australia? If so, Irwin Amadeus II would be correct.

Of course, if such a conquest has not taken place then the Grand Duke would indeed have made a serious faux pas.

Rumors that the Duchy of Alzheim is mobilizing its armies have yet to be confirmed . . . but rumors persist.

-- Jeff

2:37 AM

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

For the "Big Game" you are going to take a small mixed brigade to, have you considered painting Irwin Amadeus II's personal standard with a lobster?

This might be fun . . . and would perhaps turn his faux pas into a sort of "thumb your nose" triumph.

Anyway, as I'm about to dismantle my computer for a while (see my blog), I'm not sure how soon I'll again be able to look in on the wonderfully entertaining news of the Grand Duchy . . . but I'll catch up when I'm back online.

Give my best to the Grand Duchess.

-- Jeff of Saxe-Bearstein

4:36 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Hey there Jeff,

I like that idea! I'll have to do something between now and then to supply good ol' Irwin-AMadeus with a personal standard like you suggest. Thanks!

Best Regards,

Stokes

6:10 AM

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

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 ...

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog