The Case of the Mysterious Breakfast

This morning, Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II awoke to discover a silver tray at the foot of his bed. The tray held a hot pot of dark roast coffee, a small pitcher of cream, a matching bowl of sugar, a soft boiled egg in an eggcup, two pieces of hot toast on a plate, a pot of gooseberry preserves -- the Grand Duke’s favorite -- and a place setting of the grand ducal silver arrayed around the plate along with a linen napkin, displaying the Stollenian coat of arms embroidered on one corner.

The ravenously hungry Irwin Amadeus was thrilled and later thanked Hives for his prompt attention to breakfast before he set about eating it. However, Hives informed his master that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the meal, which was mysteriously prepared and left in the grand ducal chambers before the valet stirred from his bed.

Hives next handed his master a note, which apparently accompanied the breakfast tray. It reads:

I am so pleased that you liked the hunting dogs. Max and Moritz will keep your feet toasty warm this winter. Until we meet again. . .

Yours,

Fräulein von Y

Strangely, Max and Moritz slept undisturbed on the foot of Irwin-Amadeus II’s bed and did not raise the alarm when the mysterious breakfast was delivered. Needless to say, Irwin-Amadeus II and Hives are rather puzzled by the stealthy arrival of the meal and the overly familiar tone of the note with it. Just who IS the mysterious breakfast bringer? How did she enter the Grand Duke’s chambers unannounced and unobserved? From which royal house in apocryphal 18^th century Europe does she hail? And when will she strike again? The whole situation is, to borrow Hives words, “Perpetually perplexing, Sir.”

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...

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

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

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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