A Dispatch to von Wilkewiczeske, Personal Minister to Irwin-Amadeus II

Pelznikkel, The Grand Duchy of Stollen

31 July 1768

My Dear Herr von Wilkewiczeske,

As the closest minister to our troubled Grand Duke, I write to you asking that you might intercede on my behalf.

Currently, my small army is spread thinly around the town of Pelznikkel, just two days march from Krankenstadt. My forces consist of a regiment of musketeers, a battalion of jäger, the Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers, a regiment of dragoons, and a battery of field guns. Most of these troops are good men but unseasoned and therefore of questionable value in a pitched battle.

Alas, I fear they are not enough by themselves to stem the tide of Zichenauers now reported to be advancing northward. I beseech you to act on my behalf and request that the Grand Duke and his war ministry dispatch a veteran regiment or two of line infantry along with a regiment of cavalry forthwith, so that the Army of Stollen might enjoy a numerical advantage over its enemy. My officers would then be better able to reverse the course of this protracted, albeit sleepy, campaign and eject the Zichenauers from our own Grand Duchy of Stollen, putting an end to their claim on the Duchy of Schleiz once and for all.

Please send a reply at your earliest possible convenience, but exercise the utmost caution as the territory between the capital and Pelznikkel is rumored to be riddled with enemy agents. Any courier you send stands a good chance of capture or delay due to enemy activity in the area.

Your Loyal and Most Obedient Servant,

General von Drosselmaier

Comments

Major Wittering said…

Hi Stokes

This correspondence sounds as if it'll end in a fight, mark my words.

So - great!

I just wanted to say, as you've posted some really helpful comments on my blogs, how much I've enjoyed "The Grand Duchy." I only came across it about a week ago, but I've read through the whole thing, beginning to end, and enjoyed every word. Your dedication and patience are remarkable, and you're building an enviable collection of figures. I check your blog at least once a day, usually more often. Keep it going, sir.

regards

Noel

4:28 PM

Martin said…

Hummmm....So the general may need some help pulling the chestnuts from the fire, eh? Does the Duke have a set of "battleclaws" for his lobster outfit? Now there would be a unique miniature to model!

Martin

7:25 PM

Bluebear Jeff said…

I suspect that the good general is getting desperate, don't you?

Noel -- good to see your Mendelstadt flag adorning your comments.

-- Jeff of Saxe-Bearstein

2:22 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 ...

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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