Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers on Parade

Today is the Day of the Three Kings in the Latin world! Since we cannot be in Mexico, where my parents have their retirement home, the Grand Duchess has been busy in the kitchen baking a Rosca de Reyes – a ring of sweetbread with candied/dried fruit baked into and on top of it. These are delicious with fresh, strong coffee and something we discovered a few years ago when we visited my parents in Merida, Yucatan over Christmas and New Year’s.

On the soldier front, Stollen’s Leib Grenadiers (aka Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) have gathered for parade in a handy town square somewhere in Krankenstadt. Colonel von Spasticus has ordered these maneuvers for two reasons. First, to honor and entertain his Spanish concubine, the ravishing and enigmatic Maria Ophelia de Cartegeña, on the Day of the Three Kings. Second, so that his entire regiment can drill together and prepare for the next time they meet Zichenau’s army in the field.

Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, his closest ministers, and generals are hard at work in the palace where they are developing a hopefully brilliant counterstroke to Zichenau’s victory at Zollamtstadt last week. Next time the two forces meet in battle, the Grand Duke has decided that he will command in person rather than leave things to General Hermann von Drosselmaier. For his part, von Drosselmaier has been put on half-pay and released to his family estate outside of Reval in distant Estonia where he is reported to be deeply engaged in ice fishing on the frozen Drosselmaierzee.

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

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

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog