It's Saturday at Last!

In lieu of a model soldier picture, here is a photograph of the lovely view I had yesterday morning about 8:15 while walking across campus on the way to a professional development seminar, which actually turned out to be pretty interesting. So far, that's two really good ones in the space of a month. This could become a trend if we aren't careful.

Another cold, slightly snowy one this morning, the first Saturday of our nine-day Spring Vacation here at Totleigh-in-the-Wold. The Grand Duchess is breakfasting quietly in the dining room, the Young Master is building something quietly with his Legos upstairs, and I am down here in Zum Stollenkeller Mk. II with a mug of coffee and a cat or two. High time to return to those two stabdards for my large battalion of Ernestine Sachsen Infantry. With any luck, my Litko bases will arrive in the mail today, or Monday, and I will be able to begin preparing those for mounting the figures.

On that note, I've worked out an acceptable basing scheme for my infantry and cavalry units using the dimensions laid out by the late Peter Gilder in his In the Grand Manner rules along with the diagrams of an infantry battalion deployed for battle in Christopher Duffy's The Army of Frederick the Great. It's a bit too early in the morning still for me to attempt detailed explanation, but the basing scheme manages, I think, to satisfy my aesthetic sensibilities AND keep things very manageable where playability is concerned.

Since drummers along with most (but not all) NCOS and officers will kept as singletons, virtually any size unit may be represented on the tabletop, from 24-80 figures strong depending on rules and/or scenario. It will make more sense once I post a photograph or three. Hopefully, before long. Stay tuned.

-- Stokes

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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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