And here they are -- the 7th (von Flickenhoffer's) Fusiliers!

For your viewing pleasure, here is the fourth company of fusiliers -- all done and varnished with two coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish. Nice and shiny they are too! On a few figures, you'll notice, I need to retouch the green bases, but that will only take a few minutes when I sit down after supper this evening.

Here is a somewhat close-up shot of the company NCO and a few of his charges as well as the 3rd company to their rear. Two coats of clear glossy varnish seem to approximate that Peter Gilder-esque look, which I have grown to prefer over the last few years. Two coats are glossier than a single coat too. I read somewhere online that Mr. Gilder wanted his figures to look like tiny porcelain miniatures, hence the glossy finish he used. For a classic wargaming project like the Grand Duchy of Stollen project, that's just the sort of appearance I hope to impart to my troops.

Here is a higher angle, third photograph, showing the entire regiment on parade. And to think, I've only been working on them since last December! Where on earth has the time gone? Well, it has been on again-off again in the intervening months with a couple of games, time abroad in June, and the ever-looming student essays to read and correct plus band activities. Presumably, I could have finished the unit more rapidly without these other distractions, but no harm done I suppose.

And last of all, another shot of the entire unit of von Flickenhoffer's Fusiliers for good measure with Colonel von Flickenhoffer himself atop his lively steed just behind the color party. My, how martial and menacing they appear! Is it any wonder that only three companies of these seasoned troops cleared Saegewerkdorf of blue-coated Stollenians (when the former doubled as vile Stagonia's Du Lepps Fusiliers) in the truncated e-refight of Sawmill Village between Jeff Hudelson and me this past spring?

Addendum. . .

And where do we stand with the Grand Duchy of Stollen project?

Total Painted Figures in Army of Zichenau -- 309/318. . . Only nine hussars (one squadron) left to paint.

Total Painted Figures in Army of Stollen -- 226/433. . . Several units and more mounted officers are left to paint.

Total Figures in GD of S Project -- 751 (Does not include generals and ADCs)

Figures Painted to Date -- 535 (Does not include generals and ADCs)

Painting Half-way Point -- 375.5

And sometime in the night, we rounded the 70,000 visits mark. Thank you to one and all!!!

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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