Minden Hussar Update: Photo Coming Soon. . .

In the meantime, here is an image, presumably of 18th, or very early 19th Century vintage, of a Swedish hussar. A member of the Crown Prince's Regiment no less.

Happy to report that I am nearing completion of the first dozen of those 30 Minden Prussian hussars that I've been moaning about here for months. That should leave me with just over a month to complete the remaining 18 (in three batches of six) before the completion date of November 5th. . . the day before my 45th, er. . . um. . . ah. . . 29th birthday!

Anyway, my wife actually asked how painting was going the other evening about 9:30pm when we joined each other on the front porch for a few moments of quiet and calm. Caught off guard -- because the Grand Duchess almost NEVER asks about my soldier hobby -- I almost choked on my single malt and spluttered that things were going well, but if I had it to do over again, I would have purchased hussar figures from Spencer Smith, something I will do in future since my desire for more hussars on the tabletop never fully goes away. It's just painting the darn things!

Don't get me wrong, the Minden castings are exquisite works of art, but I've always felt they are so chock-a-block with tiny details that they intimidate all but the very best painters. They have certainly absolved me of any smugness I might have had at one time about my own ability to paint wargaming figures to a convincing standard. Just my two cents. That said, for personality figures, they are without equal, and I hope to add a few more of them to my collection at some point. Christmas is on the horizon after all, and it's time to start thinking about that annual letter to Santa Claus/Father Christmas.

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...

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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