The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Here is where things stand with the final batch of wagons and carts as of mid-afternoon today (Sunday). I am still alive and kicking, as the song went, but as you might expect, things have been a tad busy here at Stollen Central since the autumn semester began in earnest at the end of August.  However, this weekend has provided a nice lull before yet another batch of students papers floods over me Monday morning, and one more cycle of reading and assigning grades takes center stage for the next 7-10 days. At any rate, I have been picking away, time permitting, at a few different wargaming-related things since the last post here at The Grand Duchy of Stollen blog in early September.  We are getting there, slowly but surely, with the last batch of wagons and carts.  The vehicles and horses are done, and now it's time for the usual dark brown on all of the collars, harnesses, traces, straps, reins, and the like.  Then, it's time to do the humans, followed by the...

The final (for now) six wagons and carts in various stages of incompletion. D espite a busy couple of weeks with the start of the new college semester, I've managed to snatch a little time here and there to work on the various supply train vehicles.  An errant French Napoleonic limber also arrived from Ireland in the midst of everything.    Never one to shy away from ahistoricity, I tacked it and its horse team to bases and applied the necessary base-coats, figuring it will go well with everything else.  Hey, if the late Brigadier Young could include Napoleonic British Royal Horse Artillery in his otherwise 18th century armies, then I can certainly include a French Gribeauval limber with my own quasi-historic armies of the 1760s-1770s.   Next up, the various brown oil glazes for the horses and Mr. Entwistle, who pulls the hay cart in the third row at the right. -- Stokes

H ey, these are the hot, steamy dog days of late August in the American Midwest, right?  Anyway, one of you mentioned a few days ago that it would be a good idea to add a dog to the vivandiere vignette that is taking shape (I'm still messing with it before gluing everything in place) on the ol' painting table.  To coin the Wooster twins, Claude and Eustace, that's an extremely sound idea.  So, I did some digging around and turned up a set of four, different sized mutts, which is available from Westfalia Miniatures for 4.00 British Pounds .   I like the scruffy, animated look of these dogs, and think I'll add the set to my birthday/Christmas list.  Or maybe just order them myself before long.  Why put the onus, after all, on the Grand Duchess and Young Master if they present me with other gifts, and I'm unable to finish said vignette?  That said, there must be other 25-30mm metal canines to be had out there, but I've not had much luck turning ...

The current and 'final' -- When in wargaming is anything ever really final where purchasing, painting, and collecting are concerned? -- batch of wagons and carts along with that company of Minden pontooniers.  I've added small (glued together) loads of balsa 'lumber' to the two Old Glory wagons in the foreground.  For now, at any rate, the lumber in the ox cart at the rear right is all loose. T he long summer break is, sadly, approaching its inevitable conclusion, and the Autumn semester begins in earnest on Monday next week bright and early with a 103W Academic Writing Intensive class for incoming freshmen at 8am.  Sigh.  So, it makes good sense to spend my last few, relatively carefree days preparing the final batch of wagons and carts as I wait for syllabus packets to return from Printing Services .   While people on the outside might grouse about post-secondary educators getting long Christmas and summer breaks, we pay for it later by having more...

 The four recently finshed pontoon wagons with their tweaked balsa bridge timbers added.  I'll leave the balsa in its natural color and simply call them freshly hewn.  Sometimes, you've just gotta call it done and move on to the next part of the project.  In the background, you'll also observe the blacksmith's anvil and scratch-built tool table, which needs glossing and some terraining on the base. Here they are, the threatened company of pontooniers (Minden laborers and a couple of Austrian artillerymen) with bridge timbers and a few tools glued into their hands and all ready for the usual white basecoat.  They turned out so well, that I might just add another company of twelve pontooniers with scratch-built oars and punting poles glued into their hands.  Blame Der Alte Fritz and C.S. Grant! Finally, here is a close-up of the developing vivandiere vignette made of from a variety of figures and extra bits by Suren (Willie), Eureka, and anoth...

 Here is the cargo wagon with payload in place.  I toyed with the idea of  leaving the load of cargo loose but cemented it in place permanently in the end.  The fewer pieces of stuff to lose, the better if you ask me. O k .   Here  is the latest batch of finished wagons plus the cargo for the tw0-wheeled horse cart finished in early July.  Not super detailed, as usual, but painted to a reasonably neat standard that looks good at arm's length.  It occurred to me that afternoon, that I need a company of pontooniers to go with the pontoon train.  Luckily, I've got two or three packs of Minden laborers in the leadpile, so I might just take a painting detour with those before moving on to the final batch of five wagons, carts, horses and another lone ox.  I'll see how the mood strikes me though.  Onwards and upwards!   -- Stokes   Next, we have the two-wheeled horse cart, finished in July, but with the additio...

 Once the wagons have been given two coats of acrylic gloss, it's time to do the pontoons.  Here they are in the midst of receiving two coats of my usual white acrylic gesso. . .  on both sides. T hings have been busy the last week or so around here at Stollen Central.  The start of another academic year has encroached upon my relatively carefree summer days of the last few months with the annual fall course syllabus revisions and the not required but strongly suggested (and mind-numbing) day-length professional development talks and workshops.  I've concluded that many PhD's love the sound of their own voices.  Hours of pontification and holding forth  without ever actually saying anything.  No wonder so many people (at least here in the U.S.) are suspicious of intellectuals and relegate them to the sidelines of public life. Still, I've managed to find a little time here and there to continue work on the middle batch of six wagons as part ...

T he next five finished wagons and horse teams along with terrained bases, plus a couple of small surprises. -- Stokes

The various straps, harnesses, collars, bridles, and reins have their wash of dark brown. W hew!  Well, I juts finished all of the straps, harnesses, etc. a short while ago on the horses for the second batch of wagons.   This must surely be one of the most tedious processes involved with painting any sort of horses for a pre-20th century tabletop army, cavalry or transport animals, but it's done.  I actually used a rather large, new #4 round brush wih synthetic bristles and a good point to do all of this and did not make too many mistakes that needed cleaning up.  Luckily.   But now, it's on to the white markings on the equine muzzles legs, and ankles before continuing to the small metal bits and pieces.  Oh, and that stack of pontoons lurking in the back needs doing, but they should be fairly straightforward.  Then, comes the varnishing stage and finally the groundwork on the bases.   And then finally -- ha, ha, ha -- th...

The current crop of wagons after some dry-brushing and washes with light gray to weather them a bit. C aptain's log. . .  Stardate 30 July 2014.  Summer is in full swing here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen as it no doubt is for many of you in the Northern Hemisphere.  July has been delightfully unusual in our little part of the galaxy this year.  With the exception of a day or two here and there, it has been unseasonably cool and green, something that is not typical for this time of the year in the midst of Central Illinois.  Usually by this time, it is hot, dry, and the grass is uniformly brown most places.  Hopefully, August and September will continue in a similar temperate and comfortable vein.  Cross your fingers and toes! At the moment, I am listening online to Norwegian State Broadcasting (NRK), Program 1 out of Bergen on the west coast of Norway, a place where I spent a lot of time in a previous life about 15-20 years ago.  The progr...

  A large two-wheeled cart -- its load of freight is yet to be painted -- by Blue Moon, I think.  The driver is of course from the wonderful Minden line.  No attempt was made to model the reins between the driver and his horse since I wanted something that would stand up a bit better to handling, especially when the Young Master is a wee bit older and I indoctrinate. . . er. . . um. . . introduce him to tabletop wargaming.  You know, one of those many compromises all of us make in one way or other with our painting and modelling.  Y ou know, some mornings, just nothing goes right.  For instance, after a difficult and challenging breakfast with the Young Master, who clearly got up on the wrong side of the bed today, I retreated to the relative safety of Zum Stollenkeller with another mug of black coffee for some much needed time away from wife and child.  And to take some nicer photographs of that recently completed first batch of five wagons and...

Here they are, the first batch of wagons and carts all done except for a bit more Woodland Scenics foliage material to masquerade as clumps of weeds along the edges and down the middle of  each base. O k, I'm calling them just about done, barring a bit more tinkering with foliage material from Woodland Scenics this evening after the Young Master's bedtime.  What I was aiming for with the ground cover on each base was the impression of very minor, unpaved, and narrow roads, paths really, with grass and weeds along the sides.   I recall reading somewhere in the last 20+ years of so -- perhaps in Jac Weller's Wellington at Waterloo ? -- that prior to the mid-19th century many so called "roads" on the continent of Europe were rather vague and neglected.  As a rule, many were not paved, they could be 10-40 feet in width, depending on importance and proximity to population among other things, poorly defined and maintained, and treacherous in rain or winter weat...

Here is where things stand with those first five wagons and carts.  Freshly glossed with two coats of shiny stuff and all done save for a wee bit of ground cover on the bases to approximate sandy tracks in the political, social, and cultural backwater that is the Grand Duchy of Stollen, somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Latvia. I n case anyone has wondered recently whether or not I've fallen from the edges of the earth, the answer is no.  Just trying to do too much with the little remaining free time before things begin gearing up for the autumn semester in about six weeks.  Sigh.  I'm already thinking about what needs doing where syllabi revisions are concerned (shakes head sadly). On a slightly more positive note, I am extremely close to wrapping things up with the first five wagons and carts plus teams and drivers/drovers as you will observe above.  Only 11 to go, and then it's time to get to a rather large regiment of RSM95 infantry that's been...

This photograph shows the dark red -- not really right for a smaller room -- that was the old color. T he Grand Duchess and Young Master return sometime Monday evening, barring delays along the way due to predicted strong thunderstorms of course.  Yours truly has been busy the last week or so with some surprises for them, including repainting the upstairs bathroom as well as uncluttering (decluttering?) the living room and library on the first floor. Of the two of us, I am really the more domestic.  While the Grand Duchess makes some fantastic things in the kitchen, I am the one who does our laundry each week, makes the beds, and keeps the first floor of the house straight and vacuumed.  It will come as no surprise then that it has occurred to me in the last 18 months or so that the rooms on the first floor could look even better with some careful rearranging and through simply putting away other various smaller items.  You know, getting rid of that cluttered ...