The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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A Late August Hussar Update. . .

Here's where we are with the current batch of Austrian hussars as we inch along bit by bit toward the goal of an eventual four-squadron regiment of 55-60 men and horses. They're actually coming along pretty well I think. As usual, my iPhone 15 Pro Max photograph has been cropped slightly, brightened, and sharpened in Fotor. N o. Before you ask, I h aven't attempted the hair, queues, and mustaches (as threatened) since last we met, but a bit more progress nonetheless on the current 15 Minden Austrian hussars and Daddy Nadasdy. I decided to stick to larger, marginally easier areas for Saturday's two or three painting sessions. Here's how that brushwork unfolded. First, I applied Army Painter Speedpaint 'Black' to the sheepskins followed by very limited dry-brushing with 'Charcoal Gray,' one of several bottles of cheap craftpaint that serves my purposes well when it comes to highlighting anything black. N...

Basic Horse Tack Finished (Whew!). . .

A long way to go before these approach anything like "finished", but at least the miles of horse tack have their basic black coat. The martingales, in particular (the strap running from the girth around the ribs between the front legs), were an absolute bear to paint. Even with a very small 000 brush. I still managed to get black paint all over the GD place and had to come back later to cover up those many blotches with the various browns used for the horse flesh itself. Not fun. July was a discouraging month as a result, hence the break of several week's duration that stretched into August. Sometimes I find that the best remedy for hobby frustration is to do other things for a while and just. . . take a break. Easy enough to do during the summer months. Climbing back onto the horse now though (ahem). On that note, I've used Army Painter 'Fur Brown' and Vallejo 'Mahogany Brown' for the chestnuts, and Vallejo 'Chocolate Brown'...

A Mid-August Hussar Update. . .

My usual picture placeholder until I have a suitable photograph to share. T hank you to everyone who has checked in during the last month and bit to see how the first 14 Austrian hussars are coming along. NOT finished yet. I've been struggling to motivate myself to pick up the brush since the last post at the start of July. BUT. . . I can report that the basic horse furniture is almost finished. Another session or two planned for today, a very gray (and possibly) rainy Saturday, so just the sort of day one needs to press on and get the job done. That's about all you can do when painting horses. The end results are usually worth the time and effort, but getting there is a painting trial to say the least. Spent a couple of hours yesterday (Friday) evening working on reins and bridles, making several mistakes along the way (Grrrrrrr. . .), which will need to be addressed by trimming in the original horseflesh colors once all of the various r...

An Early July Hussar Update. . .

Marginally neater in appearance with green bases, girths, and ivory horse markings added, but I need to neaten up some hooves now before moving onto the rest of the tack. W here in the world did June go? While I still ponder the answer to that question, how about a quick painting update on the first batch of 14 Minden Austrian hussars and Nadasdy? Good. I'm glad we are of a like mind. Still on the sloppy side, but I've managed to move things along, painting the green bases, white (ivory) horse markings, and beginning the miles and miles of tack adorning the various horses. I always like to begin with the girths spanning the horses' ribs which helped hold the saddles in place. Even with the figures mounted individually on temporary painting bases, these can be kind of tricky to access, but there we are. I've also used various Army Painter washes (Mid-Brown and Strong Tone) as well as their Speed Paint (Grim Black) to make the manes and tails of the horses a bit m...

A Quick(wash) Hussar Update. . .

S till on the sloppy side, yes, but I am pleased with the way the Army Painter Red Tone Quickwash has gone on and settled into the many folds and crevasses of the first 14 Minden Austrian hussars. It helps define the many complicated areas of their uniforms. Miles of buttons and braid across the chests and pelisses anyone? Applied carefully with a #6 round brush, an added benefit is that the wash also made helped to made the bergundy undercoat richer. The plan moving forward is to carefully damp-brush plain old red onto the upper areas of arms, thighs, busby bags, and saddlecloths where light would hit while allowing the lowlights to show elsewhere, hopefully giving these exquisite figures their due. They're not, say, the 11th Hussars in parade dress circa 1854 before heading out to the Crimea, but hey. They're hussars! Might as well go the extra distance with 'em where and when possible. Right? I tried a little test application of thinned Vall...

This Is Interesting!

A Sunday Hussar Update. . .

Looking very sloppy at this point. Grand Duchess, Young Master, and lawn permitting, I'll finish the dark red undercoat on everything across two or three painting sessions today. S natching some time here and there the last few days to apply a 'Bergundy' undercoat to the 14 Minden Austrian hussars currently on the painting table, with a planned red highlight to be added later. Lots of nooks and crannies with these as you might imagine given the dolman and pelisse modeled on the castings among other items. But absolutely everything was red according to much of the information on Kronoskaf about the uniform(s) worn by the Warasdiner Grenz Hussars, so I can't complain too much. I've approached this step -- my own blue period -- like one might when repainting a room interior. Trim in the outer edges first (using a #4 round brush with a decent point, time consuming to say the least) and the fill in the inner areas more quickly after the fact. With necessary touc...

Argh!!!

A bit haphazard, but painting IS moving forward after a fashion. N ot the comedic sound of TV or cinematic pirates, but of frustration. Tried a couple of horses yesterday using the Army Painter speed paints in my collection, and was not pleased with the results. Blotchy, muddy-looking coats. Blast! That wasn't supposed to happen. After fooling with two, I decided that normal hobby acrylics would give a better result that I can live with, and chose a couple of Vallejo browns and a third from Army Painter. The latter must contain less pigment because it required a couple of coats to get even coverage over the gray basecoat. Should've listened to my inner painter ("Wait, Stokes! Not so fast!"), saved the time, and frustration by sticking to the usual approach of many years. And should not have been seduced by the Youtube videos of a professional painter. Live and learn as the saying goes. Where the speed paint did perform well w...

Basic Fleshtone Applied. . .

T he basic fleshtone, Winsor-Newton Griffin Alkyd Oil (dries in 24 hours), has been applied. I'll tone this down later with my usual Army Painter fleshwash, which settles nicely into the eye sockets plus other facial and hand details, making everything a bit less peachy-orange and more akin to what your skin might look like after several weeks of living rough exposed to sun, wind, and probably not washed very often. For now, there are a few remaining nooks and crannies that the gray basecoat managed to avoid, so some quick touch-ups are in order. And then, it's onwards to the basic horseflesh. Mostly chestnuts in a couple of lighter browns planned with a couple of darker bays and , of course, a grey of some kind for the trumpeter. I've decided to experiment with speed and contrast paints after watching several Youtube videos from Culloden Painting Studio , of whom I've spoken before. En avant mes amis ! -- Stokes

Basecoating on the First 15 Finished. . .

Time to get down to the actual application of paint now I think. F inally managed to finish applying the gray basecoat to the first squadron of 14 Austrian hussars and Ndasdy there at the back corner, who seems to be looking for his errant trumpeter. That took longer than usual, despite use of a #10 round brush, thanks to all of the nooks and crannies on these figures. Although I have attempted use of spray primers in the distant past, good coverage always seemed to be an issue, so I have continued for most of my 40+ years behind the brush to tackle the important basecoating step with that most useful of tools. . . a paintbrush. As usual, my preferred basecoat is an inexact mix of white acrylic gesso and acrylic craft paint, 'Quaker Gray' by Cermacoat. But I finally wised up a little bit. The bottle of the latter was, after many years of use, about a third full. It dawned on me that I could simplify things a bit and also ensure consistency by squeezi...

Three Versions of the Grand Duchy of Stollen Campaign Map. . .

Early September 2006. Hand-drawn and colored during our final camping trip of the summer at Lake Evergreen outside of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois where we lived and worked at that time. The area was also a favorite destination for our bicycle club the McLean County Wheelers, typically about a 33-35 mile ride there and back. The second version from just 10 days or so later in mid-September 2006. Created using Microsoft Paint with pasted in compass rose and text entered manually later with Word. The most recent version of the map, finalized at the start of June 2026. A question was posed by one Der Alte Fritz (Hi, Jim!) in yesterday's comments, asking how I created the map for my semi-fictitious campaign area. Well, since you asked. . . The short answer is through repeated attempts and experimentation with various AIs since late May or early June of 2025. I began with Ninja -- I read online that it was good for image creation. Not sure I ...

Daddy Nadasdy Looks On. . .

O k, now we're getting somewhere. At last. All 14 hussars seem to be firmly in place atop their horses with the final two sword arms cemented into their shoulder sockets and, apparently, curing without issue. And would you believe the Gorilla Glue gel grabbed right away on the final arm? There ought to be a law. But, we had gentle rain all night, which sounded lovely through the open bedroom widows. And the sun is out this morning, so a bit of clean-up in the flower beds outside once things dry off and maybe a trip to our local big box lawn and garden store for a few bags of mulch, which the long suffering Grand Duchess has asked me to see too since last, oh, the end of last summer. I know, I know. . . Happy Saturday everyone! -- Stokes

Friday Evening Hussar Activities. . .

W hile awaiting the arrival of his trumpeter, Nadasdy observes from the rear of the cutting mat as I attach sword arms to hussars and reattach two of them to their mounts (Grrrrrr. . .). A tedious couple of early steps that are a challenge at the best of times. This morning, I discovered that about half of the 14 hussars, cemented to their horses yesterday afternoon, failed to grab (Gorilla Glue gel anyone?!), so they required a second attempt. Of those, the two at the right rear have still failed to cure with a firm join in place, so this is the third try in two days. They need to be firmly attached to their horses before I attempt to cement the sword arms in place. Can't recall when I have ever had so much trouble getting riders cemented into place using gel! Waiting around on these kinds of delays is maddening, but part of the process. I guess. The Minden Prussian hussars that I tackled back in 2011-2012, painted as Lauzun'...

The Penultimate Campaign Map?

T he final revised version of of the Grand Duchy of Stollen and its immediate environs, a few decades before the region was swallowed up in the various partitions of Poland. Should you wonder, the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II and his gentleman's personal gentleman Hives subsequently decamped for England, where the former purchased a place in Sussex and lived out his days enjoying games of croquet with various guests on the west lawn. -- Stokes

Striking While the Iron Is Hot. . .

The first 14 Austrian hussars seated precariously atop their respective, and masterfully rendered, 1/56 mounts. T hank you everyone for your kind comments about the recently (and finally) completed Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. The fictitious second battalion in the pay of the conniving Princess Antonia, Elector of Zichenau. The notorious French mercenary-adventurer, General Phillipe de Latte (her not so secret paramour), commands Antonia's army in the field of course. His aide de camp, the mustachioed Major Paulo di Biscotti, has, in turn, been absent without leave for some weeks. Rumor has it he has been on a grand tour in search of the perfect cappuccino. Di Biscotti was reportedly last seen in Florence. Or was it Trento? But I digress! The Anhalt-Zerbst project was a slog at times, but it's done at last, and I'm happy to add it to the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection. The 60+ figures have been, for the time being, s...

Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment Based at Last!!!

Y es, you read that right. All 60+ figures comprising the three companies (a Charge-sized line regiment) of the fictitious second battalion of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment have been affixed to their permanent bases. The dimensions are those suggested for 25mm units of line infantry within In the Grand Manner . I fudge things a bit by basing my musicians and a few third rank corporals individually. Look carefully and you'll spot them in these two photographs shot just a few minutes ago on the morning of June 1st. About nine months (!!!) after I started them. But no time to dilly-dally admiring my own brushwork. I've got a large, heavy box of Minden Austrian hussars over on the painting desk just out of frame to the right, and it's time to open and organize the first batch of 14 or 15 and glue the sword arms in place before the usual base coat of white acrylic gesso. Onward and upward, eh? -- Stokes

Updated Campaign Area Map. . .

The Stollenian Ministry of Cartography has managed fairly well at long last. F ollowing quite a few failed attempts by Claude to make the fixes I requested -- I t has been a very frustrating couple of days to say the least. -- I finally used my preferred online photograph editing application to make those edits manually and sharpen up the image overall. So, I've finally got the map looking very close to what I've been after since the very first hand-sketched and colored map way back in September 2006. And here we are. Complete with a faint hex overlay and a scale of miles in the upper right corner. Each hex is roughly equal to a day's march, assuming poor, ill-defined roads across the region and that armies of the era typically marched at the rate of their transport and pontoon train(s), which is to say a walk with occasional forced marches notwithstanding. Anyway, I'm relatively pleased with the outcome. There is one last very mino...

Cartography Games with AI. .

R eturning to my campaign area map revisions of almost a year ago, but this time using a combination of Chat GPT with substantial help from Claude to fix the former's mistakes. Getting very close at long last, but there are a few small artifacts that will have to wait until another session to eradicate. Can you spot them? In the meantime, I've got to head outside for an hour to take care of a few small tasks before dark. -- Stokes

Nearly There. . .

O k, we're almost home. The weather gods have cooperated again today with gray skies and steady rain, so I've had every excuse needed to avoid yard work out of doors for one more day and steal away to Zum Stollenkeller after breakfast with the Grand Duchess late this morning. An hour or so to c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y peel the figures from their temporary cardboard bases and line 'em up atop their permanent bases. Just need to retouch the green base edges before cementing the 60 or so figures in place, but here they are in company column. Not perfect by any stretch, but they look pretty darn good en masse at arm's length. Overall, I'm pleased although goodness knows it took long enough to finish this particular unit. Almost nine months. Jeeze Louise! But for right now, it's raining lightly, the house is still, and I'm off to have a Sunday afternoon lie-down with one or both cats, who, like many dogs, usually turn up sooner or later w...

So, What's Left in the Mountain of Lead?

Part of the Army of Zichenau during the October 2017 Grand Review after two months of rebasing. And part of the Stollenian Army across the field, during the same autumn maneuvers that year. Both forces have grown considerably since, and there has been reflagging for many of the units at different points too. Interested parties can scroll back through the various subsequent blog entries to inspect those claims more closely. T his last week, I've spent a bit of time here and there during the evenings -- while waiting for coats of gloss varnish to dry -- to inspect my stock of unpainted Minden and RSM95 figures residing in the infamous Drawer o' Lead to my left. And, of course, to take a gander at the spillover in a nearby closet here in Zum Stollenkeller . The resulting 'audit' is tentatively encouraging (he said), but my work is cut out for me. After the planned monster-sized regiment of Austrian hussars, here's how I plan to complete the Grand Duchy of Stol...

Shiny, Shiny, Shiny. . .

A rainy, cool Saturday here in the Grand Duchy was just the excuse necessary to push ahead with glossing the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment (the fictitious 2nd Battalion). And here they are. The finished unit. Tomorrow, I'll finally get 'em onto their permanent green 3mm Litko bases, just peeking out from behind the regiment in the upper right-hand corner of the photograph. Then, after a couple of days off, it's time to get cracking with the fist 14 or so Austrian hussars. -- Stokes