Daydreaming Ahead. . .

An illustration of infantry from one of the many Saxon duchies, from the Vinkhuijzen Collection of Military Costume Illustration collection.

Daydreaming ahead here lately.  Putting the car before the horse.  Avoidance.  Delaying real focus on other things.  As one does.  One of the wargaming hobby's occupational hazards.  Besides unwittingly plunging a hobby knife into the back of your hand during the latest attempt at figure conversion.

At any rate, I've been thinking about what to do with those two 60-figure batches of RSM95 Prussian musketeers when other things standing before them in the painting queue have been finished.  Then, it hit me a few days ago.  A simple idea really.  So, why didn't it occur to me sooner?  Ah, but it did, you see.  Paint a variegated unit made up of smaller contingents from various territories, an idea I nattered on about in a blog post way back in late August of 2006, entitled Pondering into the Wee Hours.  So, I did a bit of digging and uncovered this neat bit of information over at Kronoskaf on infantry from the Saxon duchies during the Seven Years War period.  

Save for figuring out a flag or standard of some kind -- there is no information to be had on this particular feature according to Kronoskaf -- one of thse 60-figure units of RSM Prussian musketeers currently in the lead pile is now destined to be painted up in three batches, wearing dark blue uniforms faced red, white faced red, and blue faced with straw yellow respectively.  And in my semi-fictitious post-SYW world, this unit will represent a body of infantry made up of contingents from Pillau-Reuss, Pillau-Zerbst, and Zeller-Schwarze-Katze.  

Long time GD of S visitors might recall that these tiny "statelettes" are but three of the several insignificant principalities that border the Grand Duchy of Stollen (ruled by the oblivious Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II), and its sworn enemy the Electorate of Zichenau (governed by the conniving and morally bankrupt Princess Antonia III), providing drafts of troops from time to time to their larger neighbors on a fly-by-night basis, depending on how the wind blows.

Painting the envisioned infantry unit, if you'll permit me to return to the matter at hand, should be an interesting exercise.  What's more, the variation of uniforms should be enough to keep me going through another large unit, which can sometimes be a trial.  But that's at least a year off, so I'm getting way ahead of myself.  Again.  Still, having a plan in place makes it easier to keep a project going.  Hopefully in a forward direction.  

Let's not forget, the seventh anniversary of the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog is approaching, and I don't want to lose sight of what has always been my primary and motivating focus. . . the assembly and painting of two modest mid-18th century 25-30mm armies similar to those featured in Young and Lawford's Charge! (1967) and Grant's The War Game (1971). . .  along with a healthy dose of early 80s Peter Gilder and Doug Mason thrown into the mix.  With that lofty aim in mind, "Focus, grasshopper.  Focus!"