Happy Monday Everybody!

I simply can’t believe how rewarding the wargaming hobby is. This is what I always read in Military Modelling and Miniature Wargames (when I could find them) as a long-haired, teen-aged Stokes, but I didn’t really think it was possible.

Fast forward 25 or more years. The Grand Duchy of Stollen project is right about 2 ½ years old now. The related blog is slightly less (dating from August 2006, I think), but sometime in the night, we rounded the 30,000 visits mark. And it’s indescribably cool to be part of the worldwide network of friends and acquaintances that has developed thanks to this blog and others. Who would have thought this back in 1982 or ‘83? Certainly not me.

So, before going any further, I must give credit where credit is due and place the blame with Greg Horne in Australia for his article on blogging in one of the first issues of Battlegames. It was this piece and Greg’s Duchy of Alzheim blog that started me down the road all of us are traveling together. “Eccentric” is the term the Grand Duchess once used to describe me, but I suspect that I am in good company among you Stollen regulars!

Next, are a few photos of my buildings above especially for Charles Grant, who was interested to know if there were ruins inside my model structures. Some of you will recognize these photos from before, but what the heck. So, Charles, here you are. Enjoy!

Finally, the Olympic “Grassy Meadow” latex is dry today, so I can start the river sections on those four extra squares, which means I should probably cut out some 5” wide templates – that’s the length of my bridge span (the middle section). And those 21 RSM French aren’t looking quite as sloppy as I thought Saturday night. In fact, with the work I did yesterday (lots of slow, painstaking black lining), they look pretty good if I do say so myself, but somewhere along the way, I missed the speed painting boat I'm afraid. I’ll try to wrap them up this evening and take a few photos to post here.

In the meantime, I’ve got some real life stuff to take care of today (phone calls and writing), so the solders will have to wait until after dinner this evening. And there’s this little 30-mile bike ride I want to take if the rain holds off. . .

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

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