The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  Young Master Paul writes his initial orders at the start of a game two or three years back. T he Young Master and I have been planning our coming game, which will be a larger affair than we usually attempt here in Stollen Centrale.  This time around, we will base our tabletop adventures on the Combat at Zinna , fought in 1759, but we have renamed it The Battle of Spargelzeit (Asparagus Season) to fit into our Grand Duchy of Stollen campaign area, which lies more or less to the northeast of Frederick's Prussia, somewhere in the vicinity of modern day Lithuania and Latvia. The Young Master, to his credit, has been hankering after, "a really big battle" (his words) for some time, so how can I refuse?   This one should do the trick.  Our own forces are not quite as extensive as history dictates, but we'll use what we have on hand and "bathtub" things a bit, in the fine Grantian tradition, to make it all work on the table.  The game will also will give us a cha

  F or our upcoming tabletop game, the Young Master and I will use the latest version of our own home-cooked and half-baked rules that we call A Tangled Mass: Comfortable Rules for Games of  Glossy Toy Soldiers in the Old Style .     Without doubt, you'll recognize that we have borrowed from and been inspired by many of the hobby greats past and present in our approach.  We claim neither originality, nor innovation.   While our rules -- suggestions really -- are very gamey in approach and style, our aim has nevertheless been to reflect some of the confusion and frustration of trying to get our troops to comply with and accomplish orders issued to them at the start of the game.  Or subsequently once we realize that some hotheaded one and a quarter inch dolt in command of X regiment, battalion, squadron, or battery of guns has misinterpreted (or flat out ignored) our instructions. Imagine the consternation! In any case, the summer campaigning season is afoot.  Will my son continue to

  War Declared in the Grand Duchy??? Efforts to Settle a Matter of Some Importance Break Down   Schmitten, Electtorate of Zichenau, 16. June 1765 --   E merging reports indicate that the always tenuous relations have once again broken down between the Grand Duchy of Stollen and its nemesis the Electorate of Zichenau.  At emergency meetings in Krankenstadt this week, representatives of Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, the terminally befuddled and fashion mad ruler of Stollen, have failed to reach an agreement with emissaries acting on behalf of Princess Antonia III, the capricious and conniving ruler of Zichenau. All information coming out of Krankenstadt would indicate that attempts to maintain amicable diplomatic relations have broken down amidst a series of hotly debated talking points. Most of these seem to concern when precisely the current asparagus season for the year concludes in the long-contested Duchy of Schleiz.  Dignitaries from Zichenau, who have been representing their prince