Just Three More Buttons. . .

A reprise of the second-from-the-top photograph, but this time brightened and cropped to show just the three figures making up the company command vignette. Or it will be a vignette once some minor terrain features have been added post-glossing.

Well, I mistakenly THOUGHT that my Ansbach-Beyreuth company of 15 (Fife & Drum) jaegers was done. But -- and it seems there is always a 'but' in these matters -- there are three, or possibly four or five buttons down the front of the officer's waistcoat that need a dot of gold. And one or two more touch-ups that I spot now looking at the pictures.

But then I will stop this madness and call them done save for the usual acrylic gloss varnish and some Woodland Scenics materials on the bases.

In any case, here are a few photographs snapped this (Saturday) morning to illustrate where things stand at the moment. Some of my favorite castings, I think, among the many gems produced by Minden, F&D, and Crann Tara. There are a number of other brands of mid-18th century miniatures that I like, and many more than that on the market (we all have our favorites), but these three are far and away the very best in my view.

And it's amazing what a tripod with timer will do to improve one's picture taking results! I did not brighten the pictures in the online editor I use (Fotor), however, to give a truer idea of my color-wash combination of the Citadel, Army Painter, Vallejo, and craft paint products used to paint the figures shown.

In a nutshell, the breeches, coats, and flesh received appropriate washes after the basic colors with many, but not all, of the surfaces highlighted sparingly as the final step. As the song goes, it's getting better all the time. . . It couldn't get much worse!

Otherwise, the company should be ready for the Young Master to command in our game set for next weekend. The planned Battle of Spargelzeit. We'll be using our emerging set of morale rules from our totally derivative A Tangled Mass set, which has a had a few changes and additions since our last outing.

Stay tuned!

-- 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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