The Grand Duchy of Stollen

    T he preparation of my late maternal grandfather's pulled pork BBQ and red slaw recipes.  The Grand Duchess, bless her, always whips up a large batch of hush-puppies to go with the dish, which is authentic.   The tangy sauce is created with, more or less, equal parts ketchup, sugar, and white vinegar with course ground black pepper and Worcestershire sauce added to taste.  I typically add another shot of white vinegar before kitchen clean-up to attenuate the tomato ketchup flavor a wee bit.  We enjoyed the dinner last evening on our screened porch and will do so again this evening. Afterwards, we will freeze the remaining meat (from a huge pork shoulder slow barbecued over indirect charcoal coals for about six hours in the Weber grill) for a few more dinners at different points this fall.   The slaw, thanks to the vinegar and sugar, keeps well for months and will live in several storage containers in the refrigerator.  It works very nicely too as a chutney of sort

  The first third, more or less, of Austria's Wied Infantry.  Still a way to go, but they don't look half bad at this point.   S ince mid-June, I have been picking away at the first company of the Wied Infantry (as and when time has permitted), viewed numerous videos on Your Tube in which various wargamers around the world explain how they tackle nominally 'white' (Napoleonic) Austrian infantry, and mused about the flags I might eventually give them once all 60 or so have been painted and glossed. I opted for a light gray undercoat followed by numerous (I have not kept track) washes of cheap white craft paint applied with a few different small brushes -- my trusty old sable 000 to a #2 synthetic round -- that have reasonably good points.   Craft paint, because I wanted less pigment that is easier to thin way down than high pigment hobby-specific whites.  My brushes are also kept very damp.  The combination of the two makes blending somewhat easier as I build up the coat

C hecking unit morale is a process that we try to keep fairly fluid and simple in A Tangled Mass .  For us, it involves two steps, but readers are invited to streamline or change anything that does not quite mesh with their particular understanding of horse and musket warfare during the mid-18th century.   Here is how the Young Master and I do it at present. Once a unit receives orders and is set into action, it gets a green bingo chip, which signifies that the unit is 'Following Orders, Steady, and Holding' (or 'Holding Steady and Following Orders' if you prefer).  It may proceed and/or continue acting in accordance with player instructions, issued in our tabletop general guise.   Players check unit morale at their discretion.  At the very least, we suggest doing so after approximately 25-30% casualties have been suffered; before or after close combat; when surprised or shocked; attacked in flank or rear, etc.  Use or modify this list as you see fit of course, depend

  At the start of Turn Seven General Phillipe de Latte seized his one remaining chance to save the day and declared a charge.  He intended to drive off the enemy jagers and Bosniaken with his remaining Batthyanyi Dragoons.  "Biscotti?" he shouted to his aide, "Sound the trumpets to signal Captain Gulyás that his opportunity is nigh!" Von Stollen's squadron of Bosniaken immediately counter-charged as his jaegers covered them with whithering skirmish fire into the approaching dragoons.  A brief period of close combat followed, in which few casualties were suffered, before the respective cavalry each retreated in disorder two full charge moves to the rear where they required two subsequent turns for remaining officers and NCOs to steady their respective lancers and troopers and restore order. At the start of Turn Eight, General Phillipe de Latte held a desperate consultation with his sidekick Major di Biscotti and staff.  With an expression that looked as though

During Turn Four, General Paul von Stollen effectively set the stage for an eventual flanking movement.  The speed with which this occurred took the underhanded General Phillipe de Latte by surprise.  None of his troops had yet managed to reach their planned positions on the field or deploy into formation with the notable exception of his battalion of combined grenadiers just southwest of Maddening.  With an almost undetectable twitch at the left corner of his mouth, de Latte fumbled in a waistcoat pocket for his snuffbox. By Turn Five, both commanders had managed to form the bulk of their infantry into lines that more or less ran parallel along either side of the road bisecting the battlefield from southwest to northeast.  De Latte's Batthyanyi Dragoons emerged from the village of Maddening where they were immediately enfiladed by wicked skirmish and artillery fire at close range from von Stollens cannon and corps of jaegers.  Numerous horses and men fell in the ensuing carnage an