The Grand Duchy of Stollen at 20. . .

 

Exactly 20 years ago -- appropriately enough on Leuthen Day 2005 -- the idea that became the Grand Duchy of Stollen hit me like a bolt out of the blue as the Grand Duchess Sonja (a professor of German and Eastern European Studies) baked a stollen for her German language students across the hall from my old office ("The Purple Room") in the apartment/flat we had at the time in Bloomington, Illinois just two blocks from the university.  

The butterflies were thick that day.  It was a snowy, cold Saturday [actually December 03, 2005. . . NOT Leuthen Day].  Final Exam Week was poised to start in a couple of days.  I was sitting at the computer happily reading about toy soldiers on one or another online forum.  I had recently discovered the now defunct Yahoo Old School Wargaming Group along with Henry Hyde's original Battlegames site, just before the much missed magazine came into being, and Phil Olley's original Phil's War Cabinet sites along with Greg Horne's Duchy of Alzheim blog.

At long last, the stars had aligned.  

Each online space was, at that time, steeped in enthusiasm for mid-18th century wargaming, painting, and collecting in (often) imaginary settings.  I was instantly hooked.  All of that resonated with my own reentry into the hobby after a long period of inactivity due to studies, life, the universe, and everything else that we allow to get in the way of more joyful pursuits like brightly colored toy soldiers.

While my early activities had focused on creating 15mm corps-level Waterloo-era forces during the 1980s, it was not until I got my hands on an old paperback reissue of Charge! Or How to Play War Games during the mid-1990s that things really gelled in my mind.  "This is it!" thought I.  But it would be another 10 years before I dipped my toe back into the water with early purchases of the Revell SYW figure sets, later augmented by Christmas gifts of RSM95 figures from the Grand Duchess and her parents. 

Flush with enthusiasm, and spurred on by Greg Horne's article on blogging in a wargame context in one of the first issues of Battlegames to hit the newsstands, I started the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog in September 2006.  And almost two decades later, we're still here. Still reading, painting, and collecting although actual games are thin on the ground these days. Again thanks to teaching and other professorial commitments (Sigh).  But I keep plugging away.  Very much like the proverbial tortoise in his race against the hare.  

Since those heady early days here in the Grand Duchy, the toy soldier collection has grown as and when time permits.  While I do not have an exact number of painted figures currently at my fingertips, the collection is now large enough that my 6'x10' table (when it is set up) is not large enough to deploy everything at one time. The sheer irony!  In any event, my preferred figures these days are by Minden and Fife & Drum along with a few from Crann Tara, Eureka, and Holger Eriksson.

And speaking of figures, or more correctly their organization into tabletop units, it would be remiss of me, in all of this hobby nostalgia, to neglect mention of Peter Gilder.  Although he has been gone for quite some time, Gilder continues to exert considerable influence on how I have approached the wargaming hobby for the last 20 years or so.  Blame those delicious photographs of his large Napoleonic units -- so called BIG battalions in more recent parlance -- as featured in a few early issues of  Miniature Wargames that I managed to snag on this side of the Atlantic way back in the early 1980s.

It doesn't seem that long ago.  

The problem was, of course, that there was simply no way the teen-aged me could afford to do something similar on my very limited weekly allowance and summertime lawn-mowing money.  But Gilder's "Grand Manner" approach has always provided a touchstone, of sorts, in how I envisioned shaping my own wargaming activities.  And when I finally embarked on the Grand Duchy of Stollen project back in December 2005, I thought something along the lines of "This time, I'll do it right and steer the course."  

So, here we are. And despite periodic clouds of those blasted butterflies, I've somehow managed to stick with it for the last couple of decades. So, what's the plan moving forward?  To continue with the Grand Duchy of Stollen project of course!  It meets all of my hobby needs.  Colorful, plenty of scope for fanciful story-telling elements, and aesthetically satisfying. 

Am I hyper focused, or Johnny One-note?  You be the judge. 

On a couple of related notes, I've also managed to contribute the odd article here and there to the hobby press, improve my painting and photographic skills, scratch-build a rather nice collection of Baltic German-inspired farm houses and town structures, and even rope in our son Young Master Paul. He was, for a few glorious years, very interested in playing games with Dad and his toys don't forget.  

Now 16, the Young Master is too cool for school and interested in his own things you'll understand.  Flight Simulator, giggly girls (the nerve!), and languages like German, Spanish, and Italian.  To his credit, one can meet some rather interesting young women using those languages, so I can't criticize our son too much. But hopefully the wargaming seeds have been sown, he'll one day come to his senses, and return to the hobby putting his own spin on it.

It would be easy to continue, but long-time visitors, and any new ones, can dig around in the archive to learn more about the Grand Duchy of Stollen project, related activities, and how all of that has taken shape over time.  It's very much an ongoing pursuit that continues to bring me great pleasure even during those periods when other duties and commitments get in the way. We won't mention the cross-country skiing, my other passion during the colder months. 😊  

But I digress!

By way of celebrating this important hobby milestone, I've included a few photographs of some Anspach-Bayreuth jaegers that were painted two or three years ago.  Some of my very best brushwork I think.  Admittedly, it's much easier to lavish attention on a relatively small number of figures like these versus my more typical batches of 30-60 figures, representing squadrons, battalions, and regiments as laid out in Charge!  Madness indeed as Young and Lawford might have observed.

In more current news, painting on the second batch of my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment has begun in earnest with an hour or so each evening lately.  The basic colors are just about blocked in on these 20 figures, which means it's almost time for the multitudinous details.  Given the tight space between the figures' chins/jaws, shoulders, and musket stocks, it makes good sense to start with the red neck stocks (white for the company officer).  Easy enough to cover any misplaced blotches of color with quick basecoat touch-ups before moving to the next item on the painting "to do" list. 

On a closing note for today (Saturday, December 6th), a small package just arrived from Jim Purky, the man behind Minden and Fife & Drum Miniatures, containing 12 Austrian hussars plus officer and trumpeter.  The last few years, I've taken advantage of Jim's Black Friday promotions to purchase four such squadrons, 14 figures and horses each November, plus a suitable superior hussar officer and mount. Nadasdy, resplendent in hussar attire if memory serves. 

Yes, you read that right.  More hussars. 

Once the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment has been finished (approximately 60 Austrian infantry castings), this massive regiment of hussars -- 57 figures in all plus horses -- is next in the painting queue, and that should keep me busy of the rest of 2026.  I know, I know. I've mentioned many times that I'd never again attempt hussars after two Prussian squadrons painted back in 2011 or '12 as those of Lauzun's Legion.  Rational thinking is clearly not my strong suit.  But you know how it is, right?  The best laid plans and all.

In truth, I've never been able to free my mind of those 40 or so French Napoleonic hussars charging magnificently across the rear cover of Miniature Wargames #6. Somewhere, I'd like think, Peter Gilder and Duncan Macfarlane are smiling.  Giddy up!

So, those are the most immediate plans for the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection.  Let's agree to check in at this time next year and see where things stand with these admittedly grandiose visions.  

-- Stokes