The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  Not much to look at at just yet, but plugging away with the first squadron and two regimental command figures. A quiet, calm Sunday afternoon here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen.  The Grand Duchess and Young Master are out doing something at a local nature preserve, so I have taken the opportunity to give Zum Stollenkeller a much needed spiffing up (dusting and the Hoover) before getting back to applying some paint.  Before the glaze of  London Red Alkyd oil, an undercoat of acrylic yellow (red oil glazes over a whiter undercoat don't look right. . .  not exactly pink, but definitely not red enough), which I'll wrap up after finishing this post.  OK, time to quit blathering on get back to work!  There is just slightly more than a month left of summer vacation, and still so much to accomplish. . .  including another solo game, during which I'll playtest the latest version of my Call It Macaroni! rules  More of which anon. -- Stokes ...

Still early in the painting game with this two-squadron regiment of cuirassiers in bearskins.  I am tackling them one squadron at a time although the two-figure regimental HQ right square in the middle of the front rank is being done along with the first squadron to its left.  The second squadron will have either a slightly different dark brown for its horses or, perhaps, black steeds. T inkering around with painting the horses of first dozen RSM95 (French) cuirassiers in bearskins this afternoon, and a few new things emerged clearly in my mind while I did so.  In no particular order, they go like this.   One, if you use oils to paint your horses, you cannot beat Van Dyke Brown as a color for both various chestnuts and bays.  Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber are also good colors as is Grumbacher English Red over a black undercoat, which helps tone down the very reddish brown cast of this particular color.  Otherwise, I no longer use black as a base ...

Two suitable images by reenactors for the July 4th holiday.  Not my particular cup of tea, but you've got to hand it to the  people who take the time, effort, and spend the money to get it just right. A lmost finished applying white gesso basecoat to those 30 RSM95 cavalry.  Then, it will be time to start painting in earnest.  First, I'll apply the usual alkyd oil flesh wash to faces, followed by an acrylic yellow undercoat to the horses before a dark brown oil glaze (Burnt Umber), black cavalry boots, and then the main uniform colors.     My son, the Young Master, wandered by yesterday afternoon and asked when I would be all finished painting soldiers.  I replied that, much like a flower garden, one is never quite done when it comes to painting, collecting, and playing with soldiers.  You could probably say that for many other hobbies as well.  Happy Independence Day everyone.  KA-BOOM!!! -- Stokes

Apparently, the above illustration shows how a Prussian cavalry squadron appeared on parade during the late 17th and 18th centuries.  Battle formation was similar, but the distances between files were closed up if I understand correctly.  Anyway, this is interesting because of where the officers, trumpeters, and standard bearer are placed.  Note that they are not all together. T hought that I would share this here.  I came across the above illustration of a Prussian cavalry squadron yesterday while trying some German search terms  -- 'fahnen' and 'standarten' -- on Google.  Looking for possible information on Wurttemburg and Bavarian cavalry flags you understand.  One sometimes turns up unexpected new things online by trying another language for searches, something I learned 20+ years ago when I had a job in the Geography Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  During the 1995-96 academic year, my boss put me in charge of findin...

  Bavaria   Bavaria Wurttemburg W ell, if our G.D. internet connection were more cooperative -- a problem for the last two blasted days -- I'd have a bit more to write here.  Suffice to say, I will start on the first squadron of an eventual two-squadron regiment of RSM95 heavy cavalry in bearskins later today by gluing riders onto horses and, hopefully, getting white acrylic gesso basecoat on at least some of them.  While I might still paint one squadron in dark blue, I'll definitely paint one in red, based on either Bavarian or Wurttemburg heavy cavalry of the mid-18th century.  It's simply too good a temptation to resist, and about the only way I'll ever get a unit approaching the dramatic Scots Greys on the table given my mid-18th century, semi-fictitious, quasi-Germanic focus.  The Grand Duchy of Stollen is, after all, rather far away from the plains of Belgium! -- Stokes Later. . . Righty-oh!  Riders have been glued into...