Breaking News: Battlegames to Merge with Miniature Wargames!

The great BG is scheduled to "merge" with Miniatures Wargames in just a few issues.

A bit news came into the offices here at Stollen Central yesterday that has me feeling a bit of I don't know what this morning. At loose ends maybe? Atlantic Publishing's Miniature Wargames will absorb Battlegames in the next couple of issues. Here's the full story in a release issued by Atlantic Publishing yesterday. In nutshell, BG's Henry Hyde has been given editorial control over MW and, hopefully, will revamp it to resemble something of its glorious past. That's the plan at least.

I've got my fingers crossed, in particular, for something that's a cross between the current thoughtful and thought-provoking BG and the first dozen issues or so of MW from the early 8os. The latter remain fascinating reads today and, of course, are chock-a-block with photographs of Peter Gilder's, Phil Robinson's, and Doug Mason's figures among others. Wonderful and exciting news for Henry career-wise, and he's going to be kept very busy I imagine.

At the same time, I am more than a little sad to see BG go. It really had something to it and was a fresh voice that has consistently been leagues above the eye candy and vapid articles seen in so many issues of Wargames Illustrated, Miniature Wargames, et al in recent years. Frankly, and on a personal note, these two publications simply have not felt like they contained much of interest for many years now. 18 or 20? Well, maybe that's somewhat unfair, but you get the point. Sure, I have occasionally picked up an issue at the hobby store in the last twelve years or so and thumbed through it, but that's about it. Battlegames was different. Hopefully, Henry will be able to maintain full editorial control over the new MW plus his high content standards without too much micromanaging from the publishers.

Still, chin up, stiff upper lip, carry on, and all that, chaps! It should be very interesting to see an issue of the new Miniature Wargames and see how things have turned out. And I mean that sincerely. No hint of sarcasm or irony intended. If anyone can merge the two in a fairly seamless way, Henry can. And as for Battlegames? As a friend remarked yesterday, "Battlegames is dead! Long live Battlegames!"

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

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

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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