Presenting the Finished Sutleress Vignette. . .

Submitted for your approval, the now finished Suren sutleress vignette.

Here it is. A wee bit too grassy (I wish a bit more sand showed through the grass scatter material), but let's just say these enterprising ladies have chosen a sunny, grassy area some distance from the main road to set up shop in sight of any troops marching by.

I won't be doing anymore non-combatant scenes for a while, but the next such tableaux on the long-term mental list will be either a group of soliders' wives (Suren/Willie figures) doing the laundry around a big, boiling cauldron. . . or a Lutheran pastor (Black Hussar Miniatures) attempting to save a group of fallen women (more Suren/Willie figures) overseen by their madam, who I have christened the Naughty Lola.

Relax, guys! No nudie figures to see here, just more of these delightfully weird and characterful female figures culled from the various 30mm Suren/Willie ranges currently in production. All I can say is that the late Ted Suren clearly must have had unresolved issues with the women in his life.

In the meantime, the two dozen or so Minden Miniatures castings on clear view in many recent photos will become two companies of pontooniers in the next few weeks. Hopefully before Christmas. There might be another vignette or two of mounted officers in there as well if the elusive painting muse stays with me. And then, that long-delayed regiment of 80 RSM95 infantry, whose four companies are destined to wear four different uniforms based on the three contingents of the Ernestine Sachsen infantry and the grenadiers of Poland's Crown Guard Grenadier regiment. A busy couple of months ahead, painting-wise.

-- Stokes

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!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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