The Grand Duchy of Stollen

The base edges require a bit of touching up for a fully finished look, but here is the first company plus the mounted colonel and regimental staff at the front. Not really, but I have been wrestling with a computer bug during the last ten days for the third time in about six months, which means that the desk-top PC has been out of commission. . . AGAIN. So, I've had to do most of my computing via a laptop this week, and that complicates blog posting and uploading photographs a bit. In any case, here are two pictures of the first company of those Huzzah Miniatures, finished last Sunday. I haven't included the extra officers, NCOs, or drummers though. I mean, why have too much of a good thing? The flag was fairly easy to do. I found a conjectured Wurtemburg standard through Kronoskaf/Project Seven Years War (link at lower right on this page), resized, printed, and trimmed carefully with an X-acto hobby knife and a metal ruler. Once it was glued carefully around the flagpole...

Here are the 4th (Trakehnen) Dragoons, the senior cavalry regiment in the Army of Stollen, painted in January-February 2007. Once again, the figures are 1/72 Revell Austrian dragoons, painted in a color scheme that I made up off the cuff at the time. I later learned that not only did Britain clothe it's cavalry of the day in red, but a few Austrian units wore red as did a Saxon cavalry regiment or two. And I believe so did some Sardinian cavalry. Regardless of whether your miniature troops are based on a real army or fictitious, red certainly makes the figures stand out on the table. Here's another unit of plastic figures. This time, its a regiment of cavalry, organized more or less according to the suggestions laid out by Brigadier Young and Colonel Lawford in Charge! -- three squadrons of eight troopers, each with an officer, plus a regimental staff consisting of a colonel, standard bearer, and a musician. You'll notice that the figures have been affixed to card ba...

This batch of figures, Die Grendiere zu Pferd, was the first cavalry regiment I painted for the Army of Zichenau. To keep postage costs down, I asked Peter Johnstone of Spencer Smith Miniatures to send the order to my wife, who was in Berlin for two months during the summer of 2007. The Grand Duchess then transported these figures in her carry-on baggage during the 20+ hour trip home at the end of June that year. Yesterday, I mentioned something about Spencer Smith and Holger Eriksson figures, so it seems like a good idea to feature a photograph of said miniatures in the second of today's two posts. This is a regiment I finally painted in December 2007-January 2008 after my wife brought them home to me the previous summer. Now, the Spencer Smith range does not include any standard bearers or trumpeters, but Holger Eriksson figures fill the vacancies quite well, thank you very much. Now, some wargamers have remarked that they don't "get" Spencer Smiths, and others ...

General von Drosselmaier (center) and his retinue of officers watch in disbelief as the sun sets on their carefully laid plans, and the Zichenauer forces march gaily into the village of Pelznikkel , during my refight of Charles Grant's 'Action' in August 2008. The figures are a mix of MiniFigs and RSM95. Looking back through the various photographs I've snapped over the last few years, I was surprised to see that I have painted quite a few mounted generals and aide de camps. In fact, there is a plastic tub with 12-15+ such figures on the shelf to my left where my armies are quartered when not fighting tabletop encounters of one sort or another. Typically, I paint two or even three such figures at a time, using them to take much needed breaks between those more labor intensive larger units of infantry and cavalry that are the hallmark of the growing Grand Duchy of Stollen collection. While I set out to paint all of my figures to a pleasing standard, these personality ...

The dastardly General Phillipe de Latte (center) flanked by his evil minions, Major Paolo di Biscotti (left) and Colonel von Gherkin (right) . All three are RSM95 figures, painted during the winter of 2007-2008. . . I think. With all of this talk about Zichenauer victories, the possibility of genuine tactical ability, or just dumb luck, it seems like a good idea to reintroduce three gentlemen, and I use the term very loosely, whom you have met before at one time or another. The French SYW veteran, and now mercenary-adventurer, General Phillipe de Latte and his two aide de camps strike a martial pose above before two bell tents. Though my initial intention was to collect and paint plastic 1/72 figures for the Grand Duchy of Stollen project, the Grand Duchess (bless her) blew that idea to smithereens when she presented me with 60+ RSM95 Prussian grenadiers for Christmas 2006. These wonderful figures were painted the following spring (2007), completed by early June, and a photograph ...

More Revell 1/72 plastics! This time, Austrian grenadiers painted as -- wait for it -- Zichenauer grenadiers occupy the key postal stop of Pelznikkel, which was at the center of the table during the August 2008 refight of Charles Grant's 'Action'. These particular figures were painted during the early fall of 2007. In keeping with the plastics theme of the last post, here is another photograph of some more of my growing collection. This time, we observe two companies of Zichenauer infantry, von Finknottle's Grenadiers, aka "The Newts", seizing a small village around an important crossroads from General von Drosselmaier and his blue-coated Stollenians. This particular unit of infantry is notable because it was my first 80-figure unit, which took slightly longer than two months of steady painting to finish. Long-time visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will recall that poor old Stollen has yet to win a battle on the field of Mars. Victory always see...

The oldest regiment in the Stollenian army, though neither its most fashionable, nor premier regiment, here are the 2nd (von Laurenz) Musketeers. These figures were prepared, painted, and sealed, more or less, in the way I describe below during the late summer of 2006. Those of you who have followed the Grand Duchy of Stollen project since its inception in August 2006 will recall that I began the project with plastic 1/72 Revell Prussian and Austrian SYW figures. While lacking some of the hyper-correct detail with which some gamers become obsessed, these figures are slender and nicely proportioned for the most part, measuring roughly 25-26mm from base to eye, factors which influenced my thinking in finding, buying, and using them at the time. And what a long, strange trip that was, requiring much time spent trawling hobby shop sites on the web and correspondence with the owners, sometimes in more than one language. Given the relative scarcity of these figure sets, which are, I beli...

My solo refight of Charles Grant's 'Action', which was staged as the inaugural affair for my 6'x8' wargaming table in mid-August 2008. Above, you'll observe the Army of Zichenau, commanded by General Phillipe de Latte, in the foreground and the Army of Stollen in the background under the command of one General von Drosselmaier . While in the midst of any wargaming project, it's always a good practice to review your painting, collecting, and gaming aspirations occasionally. A photographic record of the units you have painted to completion already is a highly effective way to do that, enabling you to keep your painting mojo going strong. Yeah, baby! It's also just plain fun to revisit what you have accomplished so far in the way of painting and collecting miniatures as well as building or scrounging any scenic items in your possession. Reviewing your work like this is also invaluable when it comes to planning for any future additions to your collectio...

Here's a general photograph of the first 29 Huzzah figures, showing where they stand in the painting and varnishing process. Although it's hard to see in this picture, we're getting very close to completion here. No time for painting last night (Monday evening), but as you know, I managed to squeeze in a few hours this past weekend. So, it seems like a good idea to share a few photo updates. You can see that the current crop of figures is getting very close to being finished. Just a couple of small details, some black touch-ups, and the flag to finish. I also need to redo the gold lace on the officers' coats, so that I have distinct pairs of lace loops across the front of their coats. Then it's onto a couple of coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish and blah, blah, blah. . . You Stollen regulars know the drill as well as I do by now! ;-) Here, we have a close-up of a company NCO. He's not perfect by any means, but at arm's length and on the tabl...

Here's a teaser to tide you over until the first batch of 29 Huzzah figures are all finished. The above illustration depicts a member of Wurtemburg's Garde zu Fuss in a post-Seven Years' War uniform I believe, but his kit is fairly similar to the one I'm currently applying to my figures. The SYW-era uniform lacked a plume and had black gaiters instead of white. Well, it's been a busy weekend so far here at Stollen Central. I did some painting Friday evening, and the first 29 Huzzah figures are getting very close to completion. I hope to wrap them up in the next week and get started with the next batch of 16 infantry privates since all officers, NCOs and musicians will be finished. That should make painting progress a bit faster than has been the case around here, painting funks notwithstanding, during the last few months. Saturday midday saw me noodling around with the layout of the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog, something I have meant to do for quite a while. ...

At long last, here are the three finished drummers, atop their respective bottle caps and still awaiting their final clear coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish. But I'll leave that step until I have the rest of the first 29 figures painted and tackle all of them at once. Definitely not the late Luciano Pavorati and his cronies. Nope. It's the three drummers for that large battalion of Huzzah Wurtemburgers (nee Prussians) that I've been promising for some weeks now. But, I've finally gotten the digital camera and, more importantly, it's cord back from the Grand Duchess. So, here we go! Painting is progressing slowly of late, but I am managing nevertheless to sit down for a few hours each week, to add another color to another area of the first 29 figures. Besides finishing the drummers, I've added hatlace for the NCOs and officers, the officers' gorgets, and begun the yellow and black pompoms on the hats, which now need careful daubs of black pa...

Here's another unidentified drummer, who might possibly from the American War of Independence. In any case, he cuts a rather dashing figure. Had about 90 minutes early yesterday evening to finish the three drummers. They look pretty good, but I need to touch up the sleeve chevrons just a bit. Why are these always so hard to do convincingly? Tune in for a couple of photos this evening.

Might any of you Stollen regulars be able to offer some insight into the army and regiment for which this gentleman drums? Back to painting in a limited way this weekend, and I've been working on the three company drummers for that unit of Huzzah Prussian musketeers that are being painted, more or less, as Wurtemburg infantry -- The Garde zu Fuss I do believe. Though they'll be given an imaginary name and identity once they are finished and take their proper place in the Army of Stollen. I haven't finished with them yet, and painting all that extra white lace on the navy blue coats and sleeves is slow going, but they are shaping up nicely I think. Since I have not been able to find much information on Wurtemburg infantry musicians and drum hoops, much of my work is conjectural at best, but there you are. The unit will be imaginary anyway, so I'm really not worrying too much about it. The main thing is that I'm painting again after a hobby funk lasting about two...