Putting the Cart before the Horse. . .

Well, you knew it would happen, didn't you? Yes! Although I have several other units in-progress, as well as within the painting queue, I am already thinking ahead to which uniforms I might paint onto that final 60-figure unit of Stollenian infantry sometime during 2011. My own travels and related interests make me partial to using the red-coated infantry from the Free Hanseatic Cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Luebeck as models for the last unit of RSM95 Prussian musketeers, which has been in the pile of lead here at Stollen Central since early 2009, courtesy of a fellow long-distance voyager in Arizona, USA.

So, besides a brief referral one evening last week to my Funcken volumn on the subject, which shows two SYW-era grenadiers from Bremen and Luebeck respectively, I've been trawling the trusty ol' Internet (many thanks to former Tennessee senator and one-time vice-president Al Gore for inventing it) for additional illustrations of similar troops. Surprisingly, I turned up about half a dozen. All make for very interesting perusal and slooooow reading (my German is very rusty), but my favorite is the Knoetel print above, showing two very slight variations in the uniform of Luebeck infantry, worn during the 18th Century. An unmistakable North German cut to the uniform along with a pleasant contrast between the red coat and white facings, breeches, etc. make this an easy decision.

To put all of this into context then, the Stollenian capital of Krankenstadt, as a very minor member of the Hanseatic League (eclipsed in the history books on the subject by larger Riga to the north as well as Memel to the northwest), will furnish a similarly clothed regiment to the Army of Stollen, based on the above, making for a colorful addition to the army. And when I think of all the various Hanseatic-themed flags that might be used as the basis for their standard, well, it's almost too much to bear. But patience is a virtue I am told. Still, lots to daydream about in the coming months as I work through the final units of the initial project.