The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  D espite the recent flurry (pun unintended) of cross-country skiing adventures solo and with the Grand Duchess, I have managed to occasionally put brush to paint and embark on the final third of the eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  Here's where things stood as of about 9pm yesterday (Wednesday) evening when I rinsed my brush.  Look closely, and you'll note the basic dark red (Citadel Khorne Red) neck stocks (gray for officers), followed by clean-up with another application of Quaker Gray carefully trimmed in around the neck stocks to avoid spoiling earlier brushwork.  All of which was carried out with my venerable Leow 000 sable round that I've used for more than 20 years.  Probably closer to 25 at this point.  For now, we'll have to leave it there as I am departing about 8am tomorrow morning for the two+ hour drive north to our favorite Nordic Ski center, where there is a Saturday morning race I am supporting in one way or another.  Not racing myse...

  F or the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment on this frigid day!   Obnoxious alliteration aside, and with the temperature hovering right around 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-17.7 C.), it seems like a smarter idea to forego skiing today and get some time in at the painting desk.  As you'll see, I just trimmed the North Star wire poles down a bit and Gorilla Glue'ed the finials into place.  I'll make the cords look a bit more dynamic later this afternoon, and possibly trim another five or 10mm from the bottom ends before cementing them carefully into the hands of the ensigns.   And do the same for the NCO's polearm.   Then I'll basecoat the three with my usual blend of white acrylic gesso and Quaker Gray craft paint.  Might also touch up a few spots on the others too before adding flesh tone to the remaining three faces and six hands this evening.  Between planned ski tours tomorrow (one solo late in the morning and another with the ...

  A  shot of yours truly taken by the Grand Duchess after lunch in the yurt at Forbush Corner Nordic Center on Sunday as we headed back out toward some more challenging intermediate and advanced terrain a few kilometers further along the trail. Conditions were about as close to perfect as one can get.  Cold, plenty of snow with more falling throughout the weekend, and many winter smiles as one of my coaches up there refers to happy skiers.   And there were record numbers this weekend!  250+ adults on Saturday alone. Lots of families or parents, grandparents, children of various ages, and even babies being towed in Burley ski trailers (usually by the fathers) out on the trails and in the yurt for breaks on Saturday and Sunday, which suggests at least to me that cross-coutry/Nordic skiing is far from dying like some doomsayers moan.  It's doing quite well in Michigan at least.  Admittedly, our own trail adventures were not quite The Heroes of Telema...

  B efore my mind turns to other pursuits of a cross-county/Nordic skiing nature, it seems like a good idea to document the remaining third (or so) of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  Here they are.   Amazingly, I had the foresight tto basecoat and apply the basic fleshtone to these too at some point during the autumn months before stowing them in one of my clear acrylic boxes where various painting projects reside in full fiew on a shelf above my painting table.  They are thus fully visible and in mind but protected from dust, feline paws, errant teen-aged fingers, and the like.  Not touching Dad's things seems to be a  skill that has been really difficult for the Young Master to internalize.  Ahem. Returning to the point at hand, the eagle-eyed among you will notice that the two standard bearers and an NCO have yet to receive their acrylic Quaker Gray-Gesso basecoat mix.  Must drill out their hands first and glue the various staves into place y...

  A short while ago, I put the finishing touches on the middle third of my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  And not too many necessary touch-ups either.  Sometimes, the stars line up rather nicely.  As I always say, not perfect, but pretty good middle aged eyes and (often) caffeinated hands notwithstanding.   Taking a break for a week or so since we're having a long ski weekend up north next weekend. That means ski prep and packing in the evenings this week.  Huzzah! -- Stokes

  The latest 'Kodak Moment' photo update.  I typically use the Fotor editing app online to brighten and crop my photographs (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max).   W ith apologies to the Rolling Stones. Taking some time now over a few days to carefully apply my usual gold to the many visible buttons.  Focusing on more pleasant things that I can control you understand.  Influenced by current reading on the Stoics, courtesy of my theologian/philosopher uncle.  Another professor in the family.  Now, I typically do not attempt the many buttons up the outside of the gaiters modeled on each infantry and artillery crew member casting.  That would be (another) sheer folly.  But those on the cuffs, lapels, waistcoats, at the small of the backs, and (where visible) the pockets on officers, drummers, or NCOs?  Those are fair game and really help the figures to pop as the cool kids were all saying a few years back.   Of course, one needs...

First They Came  Pastor Martin Niemoller  First they came for the Communists  And I did not speak out  Because I was not a Communist  Then they came for the Socialists  And I did not speak out  Because I was not a Socialist  Then they came for the trade unionists  And I did not speak out  Because I was not a trade unionist  Then they came for the Jews  And I did not speak out  Because I was not a Jew  Then they came for me  And there was no one left  To speak out for me.

  A lone RSM95 grenadier figure amidst quite a few Minden Austrians.  The former are slightly cruder castings, but they nevertheless work well along side their crisper brethren.  You can even drop one or two carefully chosen figures into a larger unit without raising any eyebrows.  Not sure where this one came from, but he is destined to be part of the color party when those are issued at the end of the current 60-figure painting dance (it's a rather slow minuet).  Fitting for a grenadier I hope you'll agree. T ook some time a couple of evenings ago to sort through the many hussars and horse castings, organizing them into squadron-sized batches in plastic ziplock sandwich bags.  During the process, I discovered something like another eight or 10 of each, which means I might as well plan on a regiment of 64  or so when all is said and done.  I know, I know. . .  But since I have them, it seems a shame to leave 'em unpainted In the meantime, it...

  Both illustrations of the later uniforms apparently sported by the Warasdiner Grenz Hussars were lifted (I prefer the milder "borrowed") from the Project Seven Years War website. W ell, the Christmas and New Year's holidays have come and gone.  We've dedecorated the schloss for another roughly 11.5 months.  And before I suit up for a solo ski tour locally this Sunday afternoon, it seems like a good idea to clarify where I see the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection heading in 2026.  So, here's the plan such as it is, and if we might use that rather grandiose term.   In short, I aim to paint something in the neighborhood of 57 Austrian hussar figures and horses.  You read that right.  But hey, why not celebrate the approaching 20th anniversary of the Grand Duchy of Stollen Blog (September 2006) with something monumental?  Of course a game too would be a nice change since it's been quite a while, but one thing at a time. Back to the hussars for...

S till a few areas perhaps in need of a final wash, but the basic white is about finished for the current 20 figures slated to become the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  Trying to avoid the Hollywood Smile look you understand, so very light gray is preferable to bone white.  Belts and webbing, however, along with the fronts/tops of shoulders and elbows -- where the fabric of the coats would be stretched tight -- are closer to pure white.   Still a ways to go, but they don't look half bad en masse. In the next day or two, I'll talk more about the planned hussar project for 2026 which will follow completion of this 60-figure unit.  I should probably have my head examined, but I must admit that I'm looking forward to getting back to some cavalry even if they are the dreaded hussars.  Feel free to remind me of that 'round about September.   Back to the painting tomorrow at some point, but for now I have a date with the Grand Duchess by the fireside for some ...

  Yours truly captured by the Grand Duchess on the trails mid-afternoon on New Year's Eve 2025 F rom one kind of white to another, the Grand Duchess and I slipped away for a couple of hours of local skiing just 10 minutes up the road from the house.  Once home, we enjoyed large mugs of peppermint hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows, before showers, and my return to the painting table.  Just nine more coats to apply white washes to, and then its onto the multitudinous brass buttons and cockades/hackles.  As usual leaving the drummer details for last, but he should be pretty quick to, ahem, brush up once the other 19 in the current batch are finished. Happy 2026 Everyone! -- Stokes The light of my life, the Grand Duchess Sonja before we unloaded the skis, poles, and clipped in to begin our tour through the Michigan woods. And one more of yours truly schussing quietly through the woods.  You can't quite see here, but it was snowing lightly as we skied, making the ...

  N o, not a post about skiing or hiking through the woods after a snowfall, but a qick update on the middle batch of 20 Anhalt-Zerbst figures.  I've been working on applying white almost washes for the last few days here and there as Christmas activities and festivities have permitted.   Started on the coats themselves yesterday (Monday) evening.  The two figures at left in the rear rank were the first to be issues with their coats.  I'm making a real effort to keep everything in very light shades of gray (almost white) and apply three or four washes only to the uppermost areas like the tops of shoulders, left forearms thighs on most figures, and bottoms of their waistcoats.  Oh, and the pipeclayed shoulder belts of course.   As I mentioned some weeks back when discussing the first batch of 20 figures, I find washes to be an inexact science, especially when using white, which can be a difficult color to work with under the best of circumstan...

  T he 2025 stollen shortly after the Grand Duchess dusted it with confectioner's sugar late Boxing Day afternoon.  We've enjoyed about a quarter of it so far, and while good at anytime with anything, for my money Sonja's stollen is best with fresh, strong coffee. Ambrosial! In toy soldierly news, I am getting very close to finishing the current batch of 20 Anhalt-Zerbst figures.  They're coming together nicely I think.  Stay tuned for a Kodak moment update! -- Stokes

  Of the many vintage images of Saint Nicholas/Father Christmas/Santa Claus collected during the last 20 years or so, this one has to be my favorite. T he ground is once again 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 the easternmost reaches of Frederick’s Prussia, 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 the Christmas festival begins in earnest. The red brick North German Gothic storefronts feature special Christmas items and treats like the marzip...

  M ore than a couple of painting sessions yesterday (Saturday) and today, working solely on the muskets carried by most of the 20 figures currently under the brush.  Specifically, musket barrels, bayonets, ramrods (Yes, you read that right!) and firelocks/pans just above the musketeers' left hands.  These items were touched lightly with Gun Metal, using a 000 sable round, a color which I prefer to straight silver in this instance.  Look very carefully.  It's there.   The various brass fittings followed and took an age over several sessions in the painting chair late this morning and throughout the afternoon.  Miraculously (some might suggest kindly), the painting gods smiled on me throughout, and there were relatively few misplaced blotches to clean up later.  It is not always so.   To be sure, there were a few flubs along the way. Along with hissed blue language.  But it could have been worse.  Overall, though, I'm relat...

  T he second batch of Anhalt-Zerbst figures is shaping up reasonably well. After a number of days of 45-90 minutes painting sessions, the reds, blacks, and (most of) the browns are finished.   Musket detailing with limited highlighting of the stocks is next on the agenda.  Time permitting, I might also add the tiny white straps on the flap of the knapsacks hanging over the right shoulders of the musketeers.   The RSM95 grenadier (in bearskin) lacks this particular feature.   This particular figures is, you'll note, out of step with with everyone else.  Not unlike yours truly.   Let's dub the miniature in question Grenadier Lennert Etwasschraeg , who hails originally from a farming family in the Tyrol.  Impressively tall but not necessarily the brightest bulb, his mother nevertheless  has high hopes that he might meet a nice Saxon milkmaid outside of Zerbst and settle down.   Once the 60-odd figure regiment ...

  T ackling the reds on the current (middle) batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  The Citadel 'Khorne Red' turnbacks left a lot of areas that needed cleaning up with careful reapplications of my preferred Quaker Gray undercoat and black, but the figures look, if not quite all present and correct, then at least more pulled together for now.   Once their cuffs and lapels have been done, again with the darker red, then I'll go back to apply dots and dashes of Vallejo 'Flat Red' as a highlight.  And then it will be back to things like shoulder belts, musket barrels, straps, etc. before finally applying washes of white to various areas of uniform, mustaches, drummer, and so forth.   And finally the many, many brass buttons, hat hackles, and corner tassels. Whew!  Trying to squeeze in at least an hour of painting time a day to get this batch done and dusted by Christmas Eve.   We'll see.   The plan is to begin the final third of the...

  F inally managed to get out for about 90 minutes midday for the first jaunt on my old Fischer classic skis at a nearby park that has actually rolled trails for skate technique.  Not quite enough snow yet for classic tracks, but that didn't stop many of us from taking a tour through the Mid-Michigan woods.  Quite a few other skiers out early this afternoon.   I was a bit wobbly for about the first 10 minutes, but I soon found my balance and stride, doing pretty well for the first outing this season.  Some nice glide and no wipeouts.  Even managed a few tricky downhills.  Yes!!! Besides yoga and meditation with the Grand Duchess, there is nothing that makes me feel as happy and at peace as cross-country skiing.  Except a ski tour with her. . .  Or shiny toy soldiers, fresh coffee, and cats in no particular order.  It was not so today, but plenty of couples skiing is on the way over the next few months along with the Young Master, wh...

  E xactly 20 years ago -- appropriately enough on Leuthen Day 2005 -- the idea that became the Grand Duchy of Stollen hit me like a bolt out of the blue as the Grand Duchess Sonja (a professor of German and Eastern European Studies) baked a stollen for her German language students across the hall from my old office ("The Purple Room") in the apartment/flat we had at the time in Bloomington, Illinois just two blocks from the university.   The butterflies were thick that day.  It was a snowy, cold Saturday [actually December 03, 2005. . . NOT Leuthen Day].  Final Exam Week was poised to start in a couple of days.  I was sitting at the computer happily reading about toy soldiers on one or another online forum.  I had recently discovered the now defunct Yahoo Old School Wargaming Group along with Henry Hyde's original Battlegames  site, just before the much missed magazine came into being, and Phil Olley's original  Phil's War Cabinet sites al...