Sigh -- A Dreary Easter Monday. . .

The Grand Duches and I watched an interesting movie last night. So, if you enjoy 18th Century period pieces, rent The Affair of the Necklace (2001) with Hilary Swank and Adrian Brody among others.

Set in France of the 1780s, the film has its basis in historical events, which, we are told, contributed to the French Revolution of 1789 in no small way. Well, I suppose that sort of statement can always be disputed, but 18th century buffs will enjoy the movie for at least two additional reasons. There are lots of interesting, very nicely done examples of daily dress, at least among the upper classes and royalty. And there are even a few sequences featuring French infantry and cavalry of the period.

Historical accuracy notwithstanding, you might like this movie too. It's an enjoyable way to kill two hours when you just don't feel like visiting the painting table. Significantly, though, your mind and imagination nevertheless remain in period, which is a good thing.

Comments

littlejohn said…

Yes sometimes only a little visual immersion in a period get the fires going again. The battle scene in "Barry Lyndon" can drive me back to the painting table (18th c that is..) in short order... ;)

--best
Dave

7:35 PM

CWT said…

I always liked Amadeus - not military in any way, but very big on (late-ish) period feel - if you can get past the American accents in downtown Vienna

12:37 AM

tradgardmastare said…

I love "Barry Lyndon" the candlelight scenes and, of course, the battles...
We watched "The Duchess" last weekend and were rather disappointed .What did you think?
Alan

1:15 AM

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

How did the Indras' gig go?

-- Jeff

PS, you have my wife's email so you don't have to wait until my computer is back online to start the game . . . unless you can get some reinforcements painted in time to add to the Stollen troops.

4:03 AM

Giles said…

Sounds interesting - I hadn't heard of this one. I watched "The Duchess" on the flight back from NZ last month, and was less than impressed - there siomply isn't much of a plot, or in fact a story...

Giles

4:15 AM

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 ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Warboss Green Bases. . .

I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion. In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life. Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted. Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green. Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs. The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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