The Grand Duchy of Stollen

    T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part.  To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view.  The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group.  Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one.  It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise.   And then there are near

An lovely alternate view that shows the Holsten Bridge, Holsten Gate, and the salt warehouses at left, which housed various retail clothing stores when I last visited with the Grand Duchess in 2009. The Holsten Bridge, ca. 1800. A fter several months away from hobby activities -- The spring and summer simply got away from me. -- I finally purchased a package of 10 small sheets of foamcore craftboard from our old friends at Amazon. The aim is to construct a bridge based on the old illustrations above, the Holsten Bridge across the River Trave into the old city center of Hansestadt Lübeck in northern Germany. Probably my favorite place in that country. . . although Bremen and Hamburg are close seconds. I've always felt very at home in these cities for some odd reason. But I digress!  Let's talk model bridges. I find that many commercially available model/toy bridges have too much extreme swoop, or arch to them, sitting like odd warts atop the table.  I understand why

  B ut not of the toy soldiers arrayed across a Gilderesque table variety.  No.  Instead, I was in a hobby shop somewhere rooting through stacks of old, hobby-related magazines  -- for just 10 cents US each -- and managed to find copies of Wargamer's Newsletter and Battle along with early issues of Miniature Wargames , Practical Wargamer , and Military Modelling in reasonable condition.  Dog-earred and faded, sure, but still good enough to read and enjoy. I managed to gather a selection of about 24 or 30 before others in the throng had picked through everything.  Then, I had a quick conversation with the guy at the cash register about having lived in Madison and Minneapolis before leaving with my new stash.  The dream was so real that it woke me.  At 5am on a Saturday. The subconscious is cruel sometimes. -- Stokes

  A selection of Continental Army infantry uniforms to mark the day.  Kind of plain, almost Prussian in appearance, but handsome nonetheless.   S till alive and (barely) kicking here in the Grand Duchy although the hobby mojo has been next to nothing since the late winter-early spring.  Simply pulled in too many directions with work and family.  As I discovered when I went to work in a supermarket at 19, and became a department manager at 20, there simply are not enough hours in a day for everything.  The Eureka Saxon cuirassiers wait patiently nevertheless in a clear acrylic box until a time when I can return to painting and more routine hobby pursuits.   But today is July 4th, more or less the midpoint of Summer here traditionally speaking.  We actually had a unexpected greeting and best wishes from a family friend in Berlin this morning, which was a lovely surprise.  Nothing special planned here beyond an easy day with some light yard work outside in the sun, grilling o

'The Nap at the Palace' by Jose Triado Mayol N ot much in the way of hobby-related activity happening here in the Grand Duchy lately.  Sigh.  And no surprise there really since there are only so many hours in the day, only so much mental and physical energy to spare, and you sometimes simply just have to give in and know when to say, um, "When!"  A glass of wine and/or evening yoga by the hearth with the Grand Duchess (who has practiced for over 20 years), and then off into la-la land.  Zzzzzzzzz.   More immediately, I'm recovering, mentally speaking, from a grueling Friday in which I was involved with three (online) conference sessions, one right after the other, followed by a 90-minute meeting at the end of the day. Also virtual. My brain has been mush ever since, so an easy, completely unproductive Saturday watching intermittent snow fall outside (no accumulation however) and drinking coffee while the visiting handymen completed some repair work down her

    S till limping along here in the Grand Duchy although real life has managed to elbow it's way to the head of the queue these last few months, getting in the way of accomplishing much over at the painting table since the big dusting and clean-up a couple of months back.  But, the 28mm Eureka Saxon Saxon cuirassiers are waiting very patiently in their clear acrylic box on the table for the magical time that I am able to return to them in good conscience. In truth, I have a major review coming up at some point in the early Autumn -- the precise date has yet to be determined -- and have (too) many irons in the fire at the moment as a result.  I will be the first to admit that it's nice to feel needed, but there ought to be/are limits.  In the meantime, I have been updating the ol' portfolio of materials and brainstorming the as-yet-unwritten review of my approach and activities since the last one was drafted. My now emeritus step-father observed to me a year of two ago that

  Two quick progress shots of the first half and a bit more of the 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  Still lots to do, but they are beginning to look like something. C ontrary to anything you might have heard, I have not fallen from the edge of the earth, but have been frightfully busy with work-related stuff and a bit of painting lethargy these last couple of months.  Still, little by little the first 16 of 30 Saxon cuirassiers are taking shape, more or less as the  Plötz Cuirassiers , which had lovely green facings and standard. About two weekends back I decided it was time to clean and (re-) organize my painting area, which had become kind of, well, grungy in recent months.  Cobwebs, dead spiders, dust and such.  Blagh! I also put up large pieces of white poster board to bounce and diffuse light from my three painting lamps around the one end of the built-in table/desk area where I have done most of my painting since we moved into our house back in December 2015.  Although it was not

  F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day."  A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day.  I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  These have stood waiting  untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday a

  Nothing much to look at, and still on the sloppy side, the first (slightly more than) half of the 30 Saxon cuirassiers are nevertheless underway. S ounds like a film title, eh?  One of those war dramas from the 1950s or 1960s.  Kind of along the lines of The Guns of Navarone , The Heroes of Telemark , The Dirty Dozen , or perhaps Where Eagles Dare. Cinematic delusions of grandeur aside, it seems like a good idea to share some painting progress where those Eureka Saxon cuirassiers are concerned.  Not much to look at quite yet since I am still at the stage of blocking in main colors, but it's  a start. The first squadron and regimental HQ  mounts have already received two coats of black.  Not sure yet whether I will dry-brush these with a dark blue or a dark gray before adding white markings to muzzles, legs, and the moving onto the hooves and horse furniture, which will be highlighted here and there with dark gray before adding metal highlights where appropriate.  Not everyone doe

  The 15 Ansbach-Bayreuth Jaegers mentioned below and finished during mid-2023. I n a postscript to yesterday evening's post, and looking back at the year just ended, painting output was not completely abysmal it seems.  I managed to complete the following infantry units: 1) 60+ Wied Infantry (Minden) -- Finished early in 2023. 2) 15 Generic -- Ansbach-Bayreuth -- Jaegers (Fife & Drum) 3) 15 Generic Frei-Infantrie --  Von Hordt --"Double Blues" (Minden) 4) Started 16 of 30 Saxon Cuirassiers (Eureka) in November.   So, not a huge output rolling off the ol' painting desk in 2023, but not too bad either given the various commitments vying for my time the last 12 months or so.  The next post, will look quickly at planned painting once the Saxon cavalry have been finished. -- Stokes The 15 Von Hordt Frei-Infanterie all based and ready to go.  Combined with the jaegers above, they form a 30-strong light battalion  according to the rules -- Suggestions? -- outlined in Yo

J ust back from a week five hours north in Ontario on what was to have been a skiing excursion.  Not a typical winter up there so far thanks to an El Nino year, global warming, and whatever else Mother Nature decided not to do this year, so it was an odd week of sitting on our hands, with some hiking and limited sightseeing since much is closed for the winter season in the area in and around Sault Saint Marie on the Canadian side.   The area we had hoped to ski -- Stokely Creek Lodge -- had lots of snow on the ground a month ago. with many trails groomed and open for skiing, but warmer temperatures and lots of rain put paid to that in the 10 days or so before we journeyed north on December 27th.  Lots of dirty piles of snow, or pure ice here and there, but nothing remotely skiable on the trails themselves.   Back down here in Mid-Michigan, the ski trail situation has been equally disappointing thus far.  Most years that we have been here, there is usually at leas six or eight inches of

  One of my favorite vintage images of Father Christmas,  There is just something magical about him.  A far cry from the near universal Coca-Cola image of Santa Claus that we see everywhere in the 21st century.  The follow above certainly fits right into the Grand Duchy of Stollen pantheon. T he ground is white with fresh snow east of the sun and west of the moon in the far off Grand Duchy of Stollen. Billowing, silvery drifts are piled throughout the country. The rivers and lakes are frozen solid. The woods are still but for the distant jingle of sleigh bells in the bracing air. The sky is slate grey, and heavy coal smoke hangs over the villages and towns. It is Christmas Eve here in the Grand Duchy, somewhere very near to Frederick’s Prussia, but a bit east of the sun and west of the moon, sometime during the mid-18th century.  Citizens of Krankenstadt bustle to and fro through snow-covered streets of the small capital city of the Grand Duchy, running last minute errands before th

  A suitably snowy vista across part of the capital city Krankenstadt of the Grand Duchy of Stollen, a place which bares a striking resemblance to Riga, Latvia. T hings are busier than I would like here in the Grand Duchy at the moment, further early brushwork on the first 16 Eureka Saxon cavalry has been put on a back burner, and a slight cold for a few days threw a wrench into the works.  Grrrr.   But I am on the mend now and steaming full ahead with the few last minute details and errands out ahead of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and our December 27th departure for a week of cross-country skiing in Canada through the new year.  In the meantime, it seems like a nice idea to share a few of our favorite traditional carols here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen.   Given the many traditional carols out there, this has been a tough call to make since there are some truly beuatiful pieces, but his long-suffering manservant Hives and I have managed to narrow the list to Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeu

  Part of Peter Gilder's famed Waterloo set-up with the Chateau Hougoumont in the foreground.  An image familiar to many of you no doubt!   A propos of nothing, it has been quite a while since I had a model soldier dream.  However, last night came very close in that I had a making-terrain-for-model-soldiers dream.  In said dream, I starred in the role of, if not the late Messrs. Peter Gilder and Ian Weekley, then at the very least a master terrain modeler.   The layout wasn't Waterloo, but there were already some units -- It wasn't clear if these were my own, 18th century, Napoleonic, or another sub-period of the horse and musket era. -- scattered around the large tabletop, which had realistic and convincing undulation, buildings, and some copses already in place.  I was simply finishing things up on parts of the large board that were not quite done to my liking.   Dusting with Woodland Scenics materials here and there you understand.  Spraying with fixative scenic cement. 

I t's 1 0:30 Saturday morning, and I am still waking up with the first mug of coffee, and the two cats milling around here in my office at home.  A dark, wet, and dreary day outside, but I've got much activity planned since the Grand Duchess and Young Master have decided to visit Chicago for the day and left very early this morning. First off, and following a hot shower, a visit to my tailor to take in a new three-piece suit from J. Press for the usual minor alterations.  It arrived yesterday, and was/is a gift to myself for some good news professionally speaking earlier this fall.  And since three-piece suits are generally pretty hard to find in 2023, I leapt at the opportunity after spotting this particular number on the J. Press website two weeks back.  A charcoal Donegal weave, very soft to the touch, and perfect for the cooler months, which here in Mid-Michigan are, conveniently, October through April, and sometimes well into May.  So this one should get a

  T o mark Leuthen Day 2023 -- The battle was fought on 5. December 1757 -- here are a few previous photographs of my versions of King Frederick II listening to von Seydlitz hold forth about this, that, something, or other.   Minden figures of course (1/56 scale).  First painted back in 2011 or 2012 (or possibly 2010?) when Frank Hammond still owned and ran the company.  Paints were a mix of alkyd oils for the horses and larger areas of ol' Fred and Seyd with hobby acrylics for most (but not all) of the smaller details.   I rebased  the two at some point post-2020, using a smaller Litko terrain base. They still look pretty good to my eyes. -- Stokes