The Grand Duchy of Stollen

A few sessions in the painting chair to complete the red facings and turnbacks on (roughly) the first third of my Anhalt-Zerbst regiment.  After a few evenings of brushwork, I managed to get that particular series of steps all done this rainy October afternoon following an unplanned run to the supermarket for that most important of domestic materials.   Kitty litter . Once home, and following the related chore (Jeeze Louise!), I was able to return to more pleasant and interesting affairs with the paintbrush.  Beyond their many buttons and careful washes of white to the light gray undercoat on coats, waistcoats, and plus fours, there is not much left to finish on the foot officer, his NCO, or the musketeers before the usual final touch-ups ahead of glossing. The more detail laden drummer and mounted officer are next, since these figures always require a bit more care and attention. On a related note, Big Lee's latest vlog over at Miniature Adventures -- on metal fig...

  A busy last few weeks here in the Grand Duchy, so painting has slowed somewhat, but I've recently redoubled my efforts with the brush, and here is where things stood with the first (roughly) third of my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment after about 90 minutes yesterday evening.   Time to highlight the red facings now -- you can already see where I've started on the mounted officer and two privates at left in the rear rank -- before moving onto a few details like the drum, the colonel's saddle cloth, fringe, and so forth. I'll finish with a couple of washes of white on the raised areas of arms, thighs, and chests/upper backs and a few of the usual very dark gray highlights on the black areas before final touch-ups and glossing. For white and red in particular, I find that a careful wash or three yield(s) more subtle results than applying these paints full strength directly from the bottle.  Of course, it's an inexact science, so take that with a grain of salt....

  S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions.  Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed.  Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red.   They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period.  But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery.  I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point.  Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

    A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday).  Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform.   The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men.  Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished.  Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings.  Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat.   The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week.  Next up, the neck stocks.   I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit.  Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step.   "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

  Arrrgh!  Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus.  Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown.  More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart.   I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands.  In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands.   As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff.  Depending on ...

  The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks  Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week.  But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases.  Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat.   I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak.  Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix.   -- Sto...

  The next unit to go under the brush.  I give you the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment! A propos of nothing, I found an AI that, among other things, easily removes backgrounds from photographs, leaving just the subject in the foreground to paste into or against another background.  Pixelcut.ai it is for anyone who might like to mess around with it to see what it can help you produce. Otherwise, just wrapping up summertime activities before various meetings and things kick in Monday morning at 9am with classes beginning the following Monday the 25th.  While I well and truly enjoy working with (most) undergrads, my colleagues, developing/revising courses, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in general, I really could do without the departmental and program meetings which always go on far too long and come at less than convenient times whether in-person, or online.  Sigh. I know, I know.  Lots of people in the world right now with far worse problems, so I sho...

  A fter a week away from the painting table as real life and the approaching fall term encroach, I returned to the chair this afternoon and finished the various buttons on the trumpeter's coat.  The squadron is now ready for the usual 2.5 coats of acrylic gloss varnish, which I'll start tomorrow (Monday) evening.   In general, I am very pleased with the way the figures and their mounts turned out.  Some of the details are wrong, of course, but overall they don't look half bad.  I'll see about the squadron standard in due course.   Looking ahead, I think a regiment of infantry is in order before I return to cavalry and a monster regiment (36+) of Minden Austrian hussars.  I've found a unit that wore basically red uniforms with  red saddle cloths and valises, so that should help move things along a a fairly rapid pace (he said).  Watch this space! -- Stokes

    A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century.  And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed.   The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area.  Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are.  Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors.  Grrrr.  As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered.  For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

    I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion.  In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life.  Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted.  Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green.  Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs.  The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

  A wee   bit behind my time with the self-imposed July 31st deadline, but I managed to complete a myriad of the small details remaining during a 2.5-hour session in the painting chair Friday evening (August 1st).  I won't bore you with a long list of these.  Suffice to say that most are too small for anyone but me to notice at more than arm's length.   If these were the old crude Peter Laing 15mm castings, then ok.  Splash on the general uniform colors in lighter tones to show up on the table before moving on to the next batch of figures.   However, many tiny nuances have been masterfully sculpted onto the Eureka castings, so it seems a shame to ignore them altogether.  I know, I know.  But one should at least make an attempt to suggest some of the finer points of uniforms and equipment if and when possible when working with miniatures in sizes 18mm or larger.  But that's just me.  In any case, I was able to address these...

  A n afternoon session in the painting chair followed later by an evening session after a long post-dinner walk around the neighborhood.  Most of the minute brushwork today focused on the squadron officer, trumpeter, and standard bearer.  Very few mistakes to fix, but I managed to wick those away with a clean damp brush before the paint set in all by one instance.   Even managed to nail the trumpeter's sleeve chevrons without too much trouble.  The trick is to adopt a feather-like touch, almost like what I imagine a surgeon must use and tease the paint onto those tiny details.  And hold your breath. I had to use quite a bit of creative license, especially on the trumpeter since I lacked detailed information for the early 1730s-era uniforms beyond the illustration shared earlier, but I'm reasonably pleased with the results so far.  In a few days, everyone will get gold buttons simply because I like the added glitter they give to tabletop units, es...

A gray, intermittently rainy Saturday here in the Grand Duchy.  The perfect excuse to get myself into the painting chair for a couple of sessions devoted to various and sundry small, even minute details on these 14 Eureka Saxon cuirassier castings.   These included 13 mustaches (Vallejo 'German Camo Black-Brown'), valise straps (Vallejo 'black'), and highlights on all of the leather cartridge, sword belts, and gauntlets (Vallejo 'Flat Earth').  I also busied myself with some additional touching up/highlighting to the visible turnbacks in the facing color (Army Painter 'Fur Brown').   Again, probably a bit light for the 'coffee brown' facing color of the regiment during the early 1730s, but we want it to show up on the table.  Wargamers' artistic license as mentioned in an earlier post. But what about the trumpeter?  Here, I also applied Vallejo 'Flat Red' as a highlight to his coat collar, turnbacks, and waistcoat plus carefully pain...

  A fter two days, the hat and saddle cloth lace is done.  Whew!  I also highlighted the visible facings/turnbacks with Army Painter 'Fur Brown.'  Probably lighter than the actual coffee brown described, but artistic license and all you understand.   Next up three more tiny details: the gold loops holding the white ribbons onto the hats, mustaches, and the cuirass waist belts.  After that, gunmetal and brass  on the carbines and slightly lightened 'Leather Brown' highlights on the shoulder belts and gauntlets.  Somewhere in there any visible buttons [and sword baskets] as well.   The trumpeter and his mount will be two of the last things to tackle before final touch-ups and eventual glossing.  I'm aiming to have 'em all done by month's end, just two weeks and a bit more away.  Can he do it?  Stay tuned to find out. -- Stokes   

A pplying brown highlights to the carbine and pistol stocks where visible this (Saturday) afternoon, and thought I'd continue by tackling the yellow lace on one of the troopers.  You know.  Just to see what that might look like.   As I have tended to do in the recent past, I used Army Painter 'Basilisk Brown'  to avoid anything more garish and glaring.  Must admit I kind of like the results.  Much more businesslike than, say, a bright yellow that might have been more at home on the sets of The Bugaloos, H.R. Puffenstuff, or Sigmund and the Seamonsters .  Showing my age there you understand! But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.  Or perhaps behind?  Still quite a few bits of brown and brown highlights to attend to first.  Back to the salt mines as my grandfather used to joke once the (reheated) coffee break concludes. -- Stokes

  T hree (relatively) short sessions in the painting chair yesterday at different points between early afternoon and early evening after dinner and a walk around the neighborhood with the Grand Duchess.  Still no earth shattering progress, but the 14 figures (riders AND horses remember) are coming together bit by painstaking bit. No question about it though.  Painting cavalry units is a challenge given the sheer amount of metal or plastic to cover in various layers of paint.  Whew!  But 12-14 cavalry at a time seem manageable.  A large enough chunk to make a dent in the infamous Drawer o' Lead, but not so many figures and horses that you despair and give up. Remind me of that when I dive into those 36 or so Minden Austrian hussars, still waiting in their shipping box(es) over in the closet here in Zum Stollenkeller .  Jim is highly astute with his periodic sales and promotions, which is what led me to conclude that I "needed" another regiment of hussar...

  Must retouch the shoulder belts I notice.  This is what happens when you have three or four different bottles of 'Leather Brown' from different manufacturers and neglect to record which was used for the initial coat.  Grrr.   K eep those brushes paintin'.  Rawhide!  Or something to that effect.   The 14 Eureka Saxon cuirassiers, taking shape as a squadron of the von Polenz, ca. 1733, are coming along slowly but surely.  Here's where things stand as the (Sunday) morning of July 6th.  Gotta finish highlighting the reds with Vallejo 'Flat Red' after the Army Painter red wash applied yesterday (Saturday) along with the off white wigs and queues.  And the mustaches of course. Following that, the most pressing and tedious task is the carbines slung upside down, which need their barrels, firelocks, and at least some of the more visible brass metal work seen to after that.  And then possibly the sword blades and scabbards  Thing...

  H ere's where we stand on the morning of July 3rd.  A tiny bit of progress yesterday evening with the primary belts across the left shoulder of most figures with a lesser strap across the right shoulders after about 70 minutes in the painting chair.   I did not manage the facings or black touch-ups as promised in yesterday's post, so some mockery and derision from readers is in order.  But I will jump on that this evening.  I know, I know. The illustration I am using as a guide shows this particular unit with natural leather belts rather than whitened hence the "Leather Brown" from two different manufacturers.  Once that is done, the next steps with be a return to the heads and necks of the troopers/officers and musician. Namely, mustaches, hair/wigs, and neckstocks.   Might as well get these tedious parts out of the way.  To be fair, most of the latter already look reasonably good -- I think I tackled those back in May. -- but a few ...

  S ounds like a Merchant-Ivory film from the 1980s, doesn't it .   June was a busy month here and gone before I knew it.  And here we are in July after a conference in Washington, D.C. with a visit to my sister, intense work on a summer podcast series aimed at college professors, and topped off by an all too brief vacation with the Grand Duchess and Young Master in Northern Michigan outside of Traverse City on the banks of the Betsie River.  You'll note, as clear as the water is, that it looks brown rather than the odd shades of blue on commercially produced river  and lake sections.  Only deep water on sunny days, for example Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes, appears dark blue.  A dark blue-gray on cloudy days. In any case, time now to dive back into the painting fray and make some progress with my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733.  I am throwing my gauntlet on the ground at my own feet and issuing a painting ch...

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text .  I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well.  Now, we're getting somewhere.  I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas,  Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave.  I can't do that." -- Stokes

  T he latest version of my semi-fictitious campaign area as revised by Ninja AI.  Somewhat maddeningly, it continues to omit certain details, and get others wrong, even after repeated prompts to correct mistakes made to the file uploaded to Ninja at the start of the process.  For all of that frustration, however, it finally managed to get the river courses and hex overlay correct.  Generally speaking, I am pleased with the overall appearance of the map, but the devil is in the details. -- Stokes