Summer has gone to the dogs around here. . .

Hey, these are the hot, steamy dog days of late August in the American Midwest, right? Anyway, one of you mentioned a few days ago that it would be a good idea to add a dog to the vivandiere vignette that is taking shape (I'm still messing with it before gluing everything in place) on the ol' painting table. To coin the Wooster twins, Claude and Eustace, that's an extremely sound idea. So, I did some digging around and turned up a set of four, different sized mutts, which is available from Westfalia Miniatures for 4.00 British Pounds.

I like the scruffy, animated look of these dogs, and think I'll add the set to my birthday/Christmas list. Or maybe just order them myself before long. Why put the onus, after all, on the Grand Duchess and Young Master if they present me with other gifts, and I'm unable to finish said vignette? That said, there must be other 25-30mm metal canines to be had out there, but I've not had much luck turning up non-cute stuff with basic searches on the web.

-- Stokes

Later. . .

A nicely packed, weighty small parcel arrived in the mail earlier today all the way from a friend Dublin, Ireland, which contained all sorts of small goodies that I'd completely forgotten about due to all of the hub-bub around here this last week with preparations for the start of the new school year. Needless to say, it was a really nice surprise to spy this in the mailbox on the porch when I checked to see if our mail lady had left us anything today. Watch here over the next few weeks to see what else turns up. Oh, and a very special thank-you to Mr. Kinch!

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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