Christmas Coffee Blend. . .

Not one of ours, but we observed both cats lounging for quite some time yesterday evening beneath the larger of our two Christmas trees. They seem to be very interested in the the aroma of the tree and in the spectacle of the white lights and glass ornaments. Thus far, no attempts to make off with anything or climb up the tree.

Enjoying an early morning mug of Starbuck's (I know, I know) dark Christmas blend at the moment. following a haircut for the Young Master and myself later this morning, I've got final grades to tally and enter for the semester just ended. With any luck, that will be finished by supper, and then there are some gifts to wrap this evening.

The situation at the close of Move One. That's General von Tschatschke heading to the local tavern for a refresher.

In the meantime, you can observe the situation after Move One in the Raid on Fickmuhlen currently being fought between Greg Horne and yours truly. We are using Greg's collection of vintage Spencer Smiths and playing via email although Greg is sending me short digital video updates as well. The game is a variation of Sawmill Village with both forces attempting to take and hold the village. My troops are in the foreground with General von Tschatschke himself attempting to get a table at the local tavern The Elector's Arms from where he can direct the battle while imbibing some of the local ale. Shades of Inspector Morse you know.

-- Stokes

Comments

Conrad Kinch said…

Watch that Horne. He's a wily opponent.

10:20 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Ross MacFarlane has agreed to take the reins of the Alzheimer force, placing Greg solely in the umpire's seat. Should be an interesting ride. I do hope Mrs. Kinch has recovered from the attack if M-Isis last week.

Best Regards,

Stokes

2:31 PM

Anonymous said…

A the pleasure of the snug. The good General should watch out the ale and food don't get the better of him.

3:10 PM

Unknown said…

I look forward to the story unfolding. Great to see simple unfussy terrain (your Blog Stokes has inspired me to have the same approach)and also the old Airfix pub...haven't seen one of those for years!
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Best regards,
Simon

2:10 AM

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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