A Sawmill Village Refight Update. . .

The view from my end of the table. I reprised my role as the dastardly Zichenauer mercenry-adventurer General Phillipe de Latte, visible in the foreground in the dark blue coate with his back to the camera. Young Paul took the role of the sickly General von Bauchschmerzen, who rides around the tabletop battlefield in his wicker carriage with a lap blanket and hot water bottle to sooth his bad stomach.

A second view of my line from the northeast to the southwest with the contested village of Hasenpfeffer at the center of the table. You can just make out Paul's newly routed jager company at the right (northern) edge of the 6'x 10' table.

Here's a shot from Young Master Paul's end of the table, showing how confused the battle has become. Not sure what he's doing with his red-coated Hanseatic Regiment, which has exposed its rear and flank to my lurking dragoon squadron. Among all of the action, you'll notice General von Bauchschmerzen, lolling in his wicker carriage, no doubt asking, nay begging for a comfort stop at a handy roadside inn.

Last of all, here is Paul's squadron of Bosniaks, recouping for the required two turns after a brief, but indecisive clash with another squadron of my dragoons just to the south of Hasenpfeffer House in the middle distance. Sadly I have yet to get my lone cannon and crew into position after seven turns!

Here are a few photo updates of our Sawmill Village refight at the end of Turn 7 late yesterday afternoon. The rules work well, although there are a few areas that need to be streamlined in the interest of playability and ease, but overall I am happy with them so far. Young Master Paul has had fun, reveling in ol' Dad's numerous poor die rolls for musketry and saving throws. He wasn't so lucky when his battered company of jaegers finally routed on his left flank after a second morale test at the end of Turn 7.

We'll pick up the game later today (Sunday) and play through to the end of Turn 10, which we agreed upon beforehand. The inevitable post-game analysis will follow as we pack the figures carefully into their plastic tubs and stow the terrain cloths, scenery, and tables before once again restoring Zum Stollenkeller to it's relatively normal state. As much as I miss having my table set up permanently, it is nice having the center of the room open for Paul's Tae Kwon Do practice and Zoom sessions as well as the generally pleasing aesthetics of an uncluttered space.

-- 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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