The Grand Duchy of Stollen

It's finally spring in Krankentadt.  A perfect time for the Grand Duke's aunts to host a ball at the Residenz, a.k.a. Krankenstadt Palace. A unts Hilrtrud, Irmagard, and Waltraud, in yet another bid to see the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II marry and produce an heir to the throne, have decided to throw a springtime ball with the purpose of establishing an understanding of some sort between their wayward nephew and a young lady of acceptable family and station.  While the guest list is large, extending to include over two hundred  souls all told, certain names on it are considered special guests of honor.  These include the following individuals: General Maurice Leger de Main -- A former Saxon general, of dubious social origins, who attached himself to the Grand Duke's household in January of 1773.  Strangely, he has yet to make clear what services he is able to offer Irwin-Amadeus II. Signore di Polenta -- The Grand Duke's Neapolitan tailor of questiona...

The title of today's post says it all!  The results of the recent painting challenge. H ere's a photograph of everything I've managed to accomplish in the last three months. . .  wife, child, career, students, and life notwithstanding.  Approximately 74 figures (if my addition is correct), some horses, musical instruments, picnic items, and artist's equipment either wrapped up, or painted from start to finish, in some cases some scratch-building and/or figure conversion, everything glossed, and scenic effects applied to the bases.  A delightful mix of figures by Minden Miniatures, Jackdaw, Eureka, and RSM95 along with a few more by Fife & Drum Miniatures, Miniature Figurines, Spencer Smith, and two or three extra pieces of picnic paraphernalia by Foundry on the lower left-hand corner of the plastic tub shown above.   Among theses are some civilian vignettes as well as those with a more military theme.  Each vignette is quite a bit different from ...

The final two vignettes for a while: a couple of Croats from the Slavonian Border Grenz Regiment (left) and the Szluiner Grenz Regiment (right).  The Croats and human casualty are by Minden Miniatures.  The horse casualty if by, I believe, Garrison.  I chopped it from its base and mashed the legs together before gluing it down to the asymmetrical scenic base for painting.  Oh, and the discarded musket beneath the Prussi an infantryman is a bit o f RSM95 from the Dayton Painting C o nsortium . A close-up of the Slavonian grenzer, whose uniform is based on the third figure shown on Plate F in Philip Haythornthwaite and Bill Youngusband's The Austrian Army 1740-80: 3 Specialist Troops (1995).  W h oops !  I forgot to dust off the extra bits of scatter grass material from the horse.  And here is a close-up of the Szuliner fellow, who has stopped to plunder and pilfer an expired enemy.  His uniform is based on a small illustration an...

It's 10:28am here.  We're in the Homestretch.  Can I make the February 15th-May 15th Painting Challenge Deadline by Midnight CDT tonight ? J ust a few things to wrap up here on those two kneeling Minden Croat vignettes.  Some final painting on the dead horse for the first base.  Red f acings, lace, shoulder belts, and small straps plus a bit of dark lining on the second.  Two coats of acrylic gloss for both (four figures in total) .  Finish with groundwork which involves a few different steps.   Not th at m uch really.  Should be able to accomplish everything in fairly short or der.  But hold on a moment.  Factor in May Term teaching today for three hours, mowing the grass late this afternoon before it rains again (possibly the forecast says) , supper, and the usual evening family things.  Hm m . . .   Is it possible?  Well, I'll give it the old college try.  The Gra nd Duchess might be on her own thi...

A couple of high-ranking, nominally Austrian engineers converse with a field marshal as a mounted infantry colonel looks on.  The figures are, naturally, b y Minden Miniatures in the U.K., and wonderful castings they are too. A birthday for the Grand Duchess, followed by Mother's Day, along with the usual May Term course duties, and an interruption of two days while new basement windows were installed here in Zum Stollenkeller notwithstanding, I managed to wrap up this latest command vignette yesterday (Sunday).  The May 15th deadline in the current painting challenge among my loose group of wargaming friends and acquaintances looms dangerously close now.  However, I will try my best to finish a couple of small vignettes featuring two different kneeling Minden Croats plus a horse and a human casualty before Midnight Central Daylight Time on the 15th.   And yes, before anyone comments, I realize that I inadvertently reversed the colors on the sashes w...

H.G. Wells and friends maneuvering their armies around the parlor floor.  Considering where this falls on the wargaming historical spectrum .  Sometime b efore Featherstone, but after von Hellwig and von Reisswitz .  M ight we, therefore, consider Little Wars Late Middle Old School Wargaming?  T he opportunity to read the Sunday paper two days late certainly has its advantages.  Once in a great while, you run across something about our wonderful hobby that doesn't present it in a goofy, uninformed, negative light.  You know the familiar implication:  These guys are a bunch of unsocialized morons in ill-fitting t-shirts and sagging cargo shorts, with matted hair and horrendous body odor, who live with fish tanks full of newts in lieu of an actual S.O., spouse, or partner and, thus, have nothing better to do with their time.  Anyway, I just came across this interesting little essay in the Book Review supplement of this past Sunday's New York Ti...

A generic Austrian mounted officer converses with his Hungarian counterpart while a stray Croat takes pot shots at the enemy from behind the relative s af ety of a broken down gun carriage. P ainting on, and the glossing o f , t his latest command vignette was concluded late this morning with scenic features added mid-afternoon.  This time, most of the painting was done with Citadel acrylics although the horses, hats, and footwear were done with thinned oils.  The scenic features, as usual, are a combination of Woodland Scenics over sand stained dark brown, which was gathered many years ago from my maternal grandmother's creek bed during a dry spell in the summer of 1984.  The boulder and a piece of rotting tree trunk come from my driveway just outside Stollen Central.   This time, instead of black lining the reins and harnesses on the horses, I first used a watery dark brown paint, followed by a reddish brown highlight (?!) over top.  Dark brown ...

Some of my earlier scenic vignette work from June 2012.  Two companies of historically-based (as opposed to fictitious) Grenz along with  a mounted officer.  Figures are a mix of RSM95 and Minden Miniatures. T hank you everyone for the recent comments and compliments on all of the command vignettes finished during the last several days.   More are on the way!  Several of you have asked, in the meantime, about certain things, like the gloss medium and bases, so I figured (Get it?) I'd respond here. The varnish I am using right now is Liquitex (acrylic) Gloss Medium and Varnish, available from arts and crafts stores like Michael's and Dick Blick here in the United States. I believe Liquitex artists' products are available in other parts of the world too.  Anyway, the gloss medium stays exactly where you put it since it is somewhat thicker than Future/Klear acrylic floor finish, which I have used since 2006.  The problem with Future/Kle...

More RSM95 figures removed from their old single bases and regrouped into command vignettes. I have just finished regrouping older figures in my collection, painted during the last several years, into three additional command 'scenes,' one Stollenian at the front and two Zichenauer at the rear.  On the rear left, you'll note General Phillipe de Latte (dark blue) conversing with his rather animated ADC Major Paolo di Biscotti (white), who makes the point that one can never truly enjoy coffee cakes and sweetbreads without fresh espresso.

The most recently "finished" figures.  Miniatures by RSM95, Miniature Figurines in the background , and a couple of vintage plastic Spencer Smiths at the far right . W hen you're hot, you're hot!  Well. . .   Ok, maybe not exactly hot -- Let's not get carried away with yourself too much, Stokes! --  but when the painting and modelling muse is actually present in the house, go with it!  She is, at times, an elusive figure after all, so it's best to strike while the iron is hot. The figures above have been painted and in my collection a long time.  Some since December 2006.  They've popped up in various photographs of my painting table and battlefields-in-minitature presented here routinely.  But they were, until Sunday, based individually.  That evening was the first time I actually got around to removing the figures from their old glossy green bases, and I next tacked these various generals and ADC officers down onto scenic bases...

A lone Eureka Saxon grenadier (Vielen Dank Stefan!) at attention, painted here as a generic Prussian sort of fellow, guarding (wait for it) . . .  a wooden crate. Here's our lone grenadier once more, this time shown with a bunch of Minden figures finished several weeks ago.  He is guarding a Z ic henauer dragoon officer, who is being interrogated by several Stollenians and a n E n glish officer seconded to the Stollenian Army.  "The box!  The box!  Tell us, my dear von Boffke, wha t is in the box ?" More figures by Minden Miniat ures!  Here, Hives (in gray greatcoat) and the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II eavesdrop on an argument between two Stollenian engineer officers, who cannot determine which way is up on their map.   B esides the Eureka and Minden figures show above, the extra bits in these photographs include a crate and barrel from Foundary, rocks and twigs from my driveway outside Stollen Central, and sand from my matern...

The Grand Duke's aunts, Irmgard in the green riding habit and Waltraud in the blue, younger sisters of the formid a bl e Aunt Hildegard. . .  She of the yellow dress along with Uncle What's- H is-Name and the large group of frolicking aristocrats in a previous post.  All three women are as ferocious as the gorgons, scheming, and eager to see their nephew marry and produce an heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Stollen.  But for the good graces of his faithful English manservant Hives, p oor Irwin-Amdeus II doesn't stand a chance! Rats!  I see that in my rush to gloss the figures and terrain their base, I neglected to add the silver and brass bits on the harnesses of the their horses.  No matter.  I'll take five minutes tomorrow afternoon and do it before movng on to the next batch of figures. The two aunts viewed from another slightly different angle.  I'm especially pleased with the way Aunt Waltraud's blue riding habit turned...

Bertie Wooster's ferocious Aunt Agatha, called 'Mrs. Gregson ' by Jeeves and all others. A fter a lovely, uninterrupted Sunday afternoon's worth of painting, my own Aunt Irmgard and Aunt Waltraud (courtesy of Minden Miniatures), mounted on horses and based together on a single scenic base, are finished painting-wise.  If time permits after supper, I might even return to Zum Stollenkeller this evening to slap a couple of coats of clear, glossy acrylic varnish on them.  Some limited groundwork will follow tomorrow before I move on to completion of painting the base featuring Irwin-Amadeus II and Hives on horseback along with two flummoxed engineer officers, arguing over whether their map is correct. 

Here they are, freshly glossed and terrained. F inally finished those frolicking aristocrats by Jackdaw, and I must admit that I feel pretty pleased with them despite the apparent inability to cease and desist with the alliteration.  Maybe I can have something done about that on an outpatient basis?  At any rate, I kept the groundwork to a minimum, adding just a few tiny tufts of vegetation after the sand, a wash of thinned brown paint, and some grass scatter material.  I concluded that my cast of characters here (and they will all receive names) has dispatched to a pleasant clearing, or even a handy meadow, post-hunt to observe occasional tabletop battles from a distance rather than some thickly wooded copse.  After all, you can't frolic like this bunch in rough country and broken ground can you?  Now, it's "Tally ho!" with aunts Irmgard and Hiltrud plus their respective steeds.

Various recently arrived Minden figures along with a lone Eureka Saxon grenadier in the back plus some odds and ends added to provide visual interest.  I'm not sure whether the fellow kneeling over the deceased musketeer is cocking his musket, or pausing to rifle the body for plunder before continuing on his way. A ny available free time today (the Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it is just the Young Master and myself all weekend) shall be devoted to adding the groundwork to the various bases beneath those frolicking aristocrats, their servants, and their picnic table and crates.  However, there is little time to waste to and much to be done before my current obsession with small tableauxs is cured. From left to right, Hives and the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus looking over the shoulders of two engineer officers, along with aunts Irmgard and Waltraud.  These two scenes in miniature are intended to go along with the larger frolicking aristocrats scene alth...

  The post-hunt picnic takes gradual shape.   P ainting is now complete on the 18 Jackdaw frolicking aristocrats!  Just the clear glossy acrylic coat and limited groundwork to do before moving on to the two Minden mounted ladies, who will become the Grand Duke's aunts Irmgard and Waltraud -- two thirds of that formidable triumvirate of mature members of the female persuasion, who are determined to see Irwin-Amadeus II marry and produce an heir -- this weekend.  Then, it's back to things military with a company of Minden sappers/miners and some additional command vignettes.  No rest for the wicked! Dogs, discussion, and dancing take center stage. It seems that Signore di Polenta likes girls too.  And what a dandy fellow he is! Ponderous Poetry and Presentations. Aunt Hiltrud and Uncle What's-His-Name observe the festivities.

The latest three Jackdaw civilian figures (almost) completed.  I'm especially pleased with the tray of fruit carried by the African servant.  I should have been a confectioner and specialized in marzipans! A lmost finished with the three figures show above, but the gentlemen in green needs a bit more attention. . .  and gold lace on his his cuffs plus a buckle on his white waist belt.  The, it's on to the final base of  four figures: two ladies, a bowing gentleman, and another tray-laden servant.   The ladies are just about finished, so it's really just some detailing for the two males, which i might be able to accomplish in an evening or two, if life is kind that is, early in the week.   And then there are those two mounted ladies by Minden Miniatures.  They are their steeds require some considerable detailing although the main colors are blocked in.  I'm scrambling at this point to tie up several things, so that I can actua...

ONe of my insp iration al illustrations for the current painting work in progress -- Picnic after the Hunt (1740) by French painte r Nicolas Lancret. T hose 18 frolicking aristocrats by Jackdaw are just over halfway done.  Eight remain, and they are mostly painted, simply requiring detailing of one kind or another.  I am having a great time painting these, especially the women's dresses, which present some new challenges.  Maybe I should have been a fashion designer, but the servants in their livery with their trays of refreshments are fun and challenging too, especially the African guy in turban, who is offering a fruit-laden tray to interested parties.  Hopefully, I'll have a little time this evening to continue painting.  However, there is a stack of eight or ten student papers just to my right here on the desk that *sigh* needs attention, so it might need to wait until Friday afternoon.

Napoleonic Saxons painted by the incredibly talented Doug Mason (one of my painting idols) and featured several years ago on the Unfashionably Shiny blog.  This is just one of many units that will soo n be in my possession . S everal months ago, I was contacted by the attorney of a distant cousin -- "Genevieve" -- from the state of North Carolina, several times removed and much older than myself, who passed away early last year.  To make a long story short, it seemed that she had been extremely impressed by and grateful for some translation and editing work I did for her in back in 2007.  Something she never forgot and mentioned often in conversations with friends and family if and when the subject came up.  It also seems that her assets were rather more than anyone in the family suspected. The long and the short of it is that the Grand Duchess and I have learned that we are now rather more well off that we ever expected to be as academics.  Even after ta...

 H appy Easter from all of us in the Grand Duchy of Stollen.  I'm off now to breakfast followed by an Easter egg hunt in the back yard for the Young Master.  Enjoy the day everyone!

And a most enjoyable Sunday afternoon it was.   F or a few hours yesterday afternoon, I almost felt like Jackson Pollock as I mixed, applied, and dripped oil and acrylic colors everywhere.  It was glorious.  Most of the large areas of color on 18 Jackdaw and two Minden figures -- plus a couple of Minden horses -- are done now and it's simply a matter of applying lace trim and some other smaller details where necessary and appropriate.  Oh, and the vague hint of oils and thinner still lingered in the air early this morning when I brought a mug of coffee down to Zum Stollenkeller .  The two aromas mingled for a little while before I began the week in earnest.  Somehow, it made Monday morning a little less painful.  Know what I mean? On other related fronts, a Swedish client (and friend), for whom I did a bunch of editing and proofreading recently, had trouble transferring money from her bank account in Budapest to my Paypal account this weeke...

T wo photographs of the 'just finished and glossed' artist vignette.  The small clumps of foliage and easel were also glued down only minutes ago.  Herr Biedermeyer von Spiesburg (in the brown coat) is busy micromanaging our artiste-at-work while the former's valet fetches something from the painter's kit on the bench.   The figures are from Blue Moon, including a converted duelist, who has apparently become a painter in his spare time.  The chair, bench, and crate are from Foundry, and the bucket is a spare from Minden Miniatures.  Foliage and grass scatter are Woodland Scenics while the sand beneath, which was first stained brown, comes from my deceased maternal grandparents' place in Berks County Pennsylvania, where I grew up.  I collected a small pile of dry sand from the creek bed in front of their fieldstone colonial house during July of '84, and I've carted it along with me ever since in an old loose tea tin.  Oh, and the easel is an o...

Professor Detrius (in green and pink), the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, and his dogs Max and Moritz out for a country stroll and some philosophical debate. A couple of staff groups, Minden figures in the foreground (along with one Fife & Drum officer) and two Fife&Drum figures in the rear.  Sadly, the large base with the five figures has warped somewhat due to the coats of clear matt varnish that holds down the scatter material.  Lesson learned?  Keep scenic vignette bases fairly compact. And finally, here they are, the Grand Duke's court combo, led by the Maestro Bacharach on the clavichord in the foreground.  Li sten carefully, and you'll hear them playing a newly written tune by the Ma estro called Walk on By . Replies to Comments , Questions, and Further Meaningless Holding Forth Thank you for the nice comments, men!  -- I fixed the warped base in the middle photograph by slapping some paint on the underside, which seemed...