The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Definitely not perfect, and nowhere near as artistically done as some by others, these three squadron guidons should nevertheless do nicely.  There is some medium brown highlighting on the Habsburg eagles, but it is not showing up in the photograph.  I prefer to paint my own flags because I feel they match my painting style better than commercially produced items.  So long as they look kind of like what they purport to be from three-six feet away, I'm happy.   W ell, painting time has been scarce the last week or ten days for all of the usual reasons now that we are a few weeks into the fall semester and school online for The Young Master.  But I have managed to finish the three squadron guidons above.  Although they don't stand up to close inspection, and certainly would never win any awards, they should look pretty good at arm's length once fixed to the bearers' right hands and stirrups.   I went ahead and gave 'em two coats of acrylic gloss this afternoon to help

  Another Kodak Moment.  Almost finished after a few more details and guidons.   L ately, I feel like I have fallen from the edge of the earth given the frightfully busy summer (brought on by the global pandemic and the push to redevelop once face-to-face courses for online delivery) without the usual few months to recharge, my mother's death a few weeks back, the start of the fall semester, and school online for The Young Master, who would much rather be in normal face-to-face classes with his teachers and classmates.  Difficult does not begin to describe it, but then everyone is in similar straights right now, and some much worse, so I really should not complain. When free time has permitted itself, I have continued plugging away at those 36 Minden Austrian dragoons.  Two evenings ago I bit the bullet and got to work on the yellow and black shoulder wings for the three drummers.  According to Kronoskaf, drummers for the Batthyanyi Dragoons either wore uniforms like the enlisted

  A not unpleasant sight. . .  A loooong line of toy cavalry.  And a lengthy slog, yes, given the events of the summer, but we're getting there steadily, slowly, but surely.  You can see the final nine figures and horses lurking in the background.   S till here, still ambling along, still muddling through. . .  And still adding details to the 36 Minden Austrian dragoons, who seem to come more alive with each new bit painted.  Today, I finished the white lace on most of the saddle cloths, highlighted the dark green saddle cloths for the officers of the three squadrons, and added tiny dabs of bright gold to bring out the trigger guards of the muskets carried by 27 of the 36 figures.  Yes, I know.  I know.  In addition, I took the opportunity as I worked through the unit to touch up some of the dark blue and mid-blue, cleaning up the lines where different colors, or tones of the same color meet in the process.   By my reckoning, the following areas remain in need of painterly attentio

  Not white paint, but you get the idea. Y esterday (Monday. . . Labor Day here in the U.S.) afternoon, I finally managed to clear the figurative decks enough to sit down to the painting table for some more work on those 36 Minden Austrian dragoons that have occupied so much of my sparse free time the last few months.  Almost immediately, the small, plastic bottle of Citadel 'Skull White' slipped from my fingers as I opened the cap after shaking vigorously, and a healthy dollop of paint seemed to leap from it, spilling across my table in the direction of the lined up dragoons.   Mercifully, the painting gods smiled on me.  I made my saving throw, and the paint stopped a mere centimeter or two -- it was terribly close -- from getting all over two or three of the mostly painted figures sitting there awaiting fine detail work.  After filling the air with quietly hissed blue language and mopping up the blasted paint, careful examination indicated that, indeed, no figures were in su

  I've played this scenario twice, once in 2012 via email, when rambunctious kittens brought the game to a premature close, and again via email in late 2015. E arlier this morning, while enjoying toast with lemon curd and a mug of fresh strong coffee, I engaged in that favorite of wargamers' pastimes: daydreaming.  Taking a cue from the late Stu Asquith's idea of favorite tabletop scenarios, I lighted on the following theoretical question.  How many different ways might we play the fabled Battle of Sittangbad, as presented in Charge!  Or How to Play War Games (1967)?   Brigadier Peter Young and Colonel James Lawford based their tabletop encounter, I believe, on an actual battle between British and Japanese forces in Burma (???) during the Second World War.  The battle waged in the pages of their delightful book was set squarely in the mid-18th century, which devotees will know already. It strikes me that The Battle of Sittangbad scenario might lend itself well t