Leuthen Day. . . a Day Late. . .

An atypical seasonal image: Ol' Fritz speaking to his officers before the Battle of Leuthen began in earnest on 5 December 1757.

When Mom is away. . . The Grand Duchess has taken a bunch of her students to the annual Kristkindlmarkt in Chicago today, so it's just the boys around the house on a dark, windy December Saturday. After breakfast, I thought the Young Master and I might take a walk downtown to one of the cafes there for some hot chocolate and a cookie of some kind for the boy plus the usual observations and conversation about whatever happens to catch our eyes along the way. Then it's back here to Stollen Central for whatever Saturday activity the Young Master might imagine for himself. Ol' Dad will, at some point, retire down here to Zum Stolenkeller for some painting time -- basecoating 24+ Minden pontooniers with my usual white acrylic gesso -- and final assembly of the Minden/Westfalia Maurice de Saxe carriage vignette.

The next several items in the painting queue here at Stollen Central.

Before signing off for today, allow me to provide a few more details about the middle photograph above. Along the back row, the new General Phillipe de Latte at far left, currently awaiting the arrival of his ADC Major Paolo di Biscotti, who should be with us any day now. Skipping over the partially painted and head-swapped RSM95 Prussian hussar officer, a recently acquired group of Crann Tara British staff (the Duke of Cumberland, the Earl of Albemarle, and Lt. General Hawley), who in my semi-fictitious Europe of the mid- to late 18th century will become Lord Huffington-Blather and his officers, all three on loan from the Army of Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg (also known as Hanover), who oversee the pontoniers to their left and before them in the mid-distance.

And last of all, a decidedly less martial and more characteristic seasonal image: December 6th is Sankt Nikolaustag in the German-speaking world and, no doubt, in some other cultures as well. Sometime in the night of December 5-6, Sankt Nikolaus visits homes and leaves small treats in the shoes of boys and girls. Sankt Nikolaus visits our household each year and leaves a number of small goodies in a pair of the Young Master's shoes. . . and yes, in Mom's and Dad's too.

Finally, in the foreground, we have the exquisite Minden-Westfalia collaborative vignette, featuring Maurice de Saxe (aka General Alfons von Bauchschmerzen) and his whicker carriage, which needs only its traces attached before base-coating and painting can commence. Von Bauchschmerzen, besides suffering from perpetual tummy problems, is the officer in charge of Stollen's recently completed supply and pontoon train. Can't wait to begin painting ol' von Bauchschmerzen and his coach as well as his uhlan escort(s)!

-- Stokes

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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