The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  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...

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  

  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...

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...

  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

  The first 2/3 of the fictitious second battalion of the Anhalt-Zerbst regiment all glossed and waiting on their final third (with flags) to turn up. W ell, glossing has gone a bit slower than expected during the last 10 days or so.  The Grand Duchess has been away on a work trip (Indonesia and Singapore), so it has been the Young Master and yours truly holding down the fort here at home with the cats.  Fairly calm and quiet all things considered.  Even the evening driving lessons around the quieter streets of our neighborhood.   Besides the usual outdoor things at this time of year, I've been scrambling to get a project finished out ahead of June 1st, so free time in the evenings has been scarce since classes finished at the end of April and grades were due on May 5th.  But, here is where we are at the moment with the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.   Only two tiny errors noted that are so egregious I've got to correct it with a small dab of flesh ...

I n the midst of glossing this late Sunday morning.  The two rows at the back are more of less finished with 2.5 coats.  The two in the foreground have had acrylic gloss applied to their bases and muskets plus the drum and NCO's polearm.   I typically brush the stuff onto the figures since I discovered many years ago that spray cans are, shall we say, inconsistent and can lead to unexpected, frustrating outcomes that leave one close to the point tears after weeks of careful painting.  And if not that, then certainly clouds of quietly muttered blue language.  You know what I mean. But so far, so good yesterday (the first third of the regiment) and today (the middle third). For the moment, though, I'll have to stop there to make a quick run up the road to the supermarket and then mow the lawn since the sun is out and more rain is on the way if the forecast holds.  I'll get back to these this evening. As the late Dame Vera Lynn sang, we'll meet again. . ....

  My usual photographic placeholder until I have something more interesting to show and tell. W ell, Sir. . . Grading is all done, final grades were submitted last Tuesday the 5th, and I presented a poster at our internal teaching and learning conference on Wednesday.  The last department meeting for the year followed on Thursday, and yesterday (Friday) was a "No Day." It's finally time to begin applying acrylic gloss to those 60 or so Anhalt-Zerbst figures.  And at long last, glossing will get underway later today.   I'll start with the mounted colonel and the first 20 or so figures completed late last fall. Or maybe it was during the early winter?  In any event, I'll move onto the next 20 and so forth  if that goes quickly enough .  I usually opt for a couple of coats to make'em nice and shiny with a third application of the stuff to those raised areas where the figures are more likely to get touched in the handling.   You know.  ...

  Not quite from the pages of Charge! Or How to Play War Games (1967), but the entire regiment stands at the ready ahead of the usual acrylic glossing. I t is the final day of April (already???), and there has been considerable hand-wringing here in Zum Stollenkeller about figures and flags in recent weeks, and indeed throughout the Grand Duchy if we can believe recent accounts in Die Krankenstadt Rundschau .  Much to the amusement of the Grand Duchess and Young Master it has to be said.  But they're finally painted now, flags and all.  So, I figured it might be fun to share one last photograph of my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment -- the little known second battalion, raised for service in the Army of Zichenau -- before glossing and transferal to their permanent 3mm ply Litko bases.  Good God, but that was long-winded. Lengthy sentences aside, here they are.   They should do the trick nicely I think once the final steps are done.  I can't...

  T he flags are in place at long last!  Just finished carefully gluing the standards in place and gently furling them while holding my breath.  Only a few white edges to disguise tomorrow evening with a lick of paint after the glue has dried for 24 hours or so. And then I'll add a few highlights here and there. I remembered to paint the inside edges of the flags the same dark red as the many flames to prevent any large white edges from showing once the two halves  were cemented into place. But I managed to match up the edges pretty well this go around, so no huge mishaps this time.  There is also a small square of kitchen foil inside each flag to help maintain their furl as the Elmer's PVA glue dries. Ok, enough time at the painting table for today,  It's been a tough road hobby-wise the last week or so.  That, and it's Finals Week.  Classes for the semester/term ended today (Sunday???), and I fully expect the usual spate of panicked emails from ...

  The second set of flags awaiting a few more judicious highlights once successfully (??!!) cut out and attached to the flagpoles carried by the two ensigns. P urportedly the words of a GDR tank commander as his formation rolled into Prague in 1968.   I certainly feel a similar case of deja vu following a long Saturday afternoon of carefully painting the second set of Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment standards in a week.   Fortunately, it was another chilly, wet day highly conducive to remaining down here in Zum Stollenkeller with some vintage Miles Davis and John Coltrane playing in the background. A "No Day" as I proclaimed to the Grand Duchess while we enjoyed a glass or two of pinot noir together late Friday evening. But back to the flags Mk. II. Plain old white printer paper this time around, which is a bit easier to work with than rice paper.  Not too bad all things considered.  Now, if only I can trim and attach them without repeating last week's mishap...

  A nd I certainly feel like it.   The great rice paper flag experiment has not worked as planned, and one of my carefully painted over flags has been ruined in attempting to glue it carefully around the pole of the first standard bearer. The rice paper is so absorbent that the glue grabbed and set before I could manage to match up the edges of the two halves.  The error was so glaring that even furling the flag around the pole as though carried in a Force 10 gale would not have helped.  The only thing to do was throw away the sad flag once the shreds were all removed from the flagpole. Sigh.  Can't remember if ever I've had such a hobby setback quite like this.  More than four hours of brushwork Saturday down the drain.  You can just imagine the blue language muttered internally to myself at the moment.  I imagine the feeling of defeat is something very similar to what model ship builders might feel when they discover a major mistake with th...

  H old your collective breath with fingers and toes crossed, everyone.  Here we go. . . -- Stokes

  A chilly, wet Saturday, conveniently enough, meant that I could remain ensconced down here in Zum Stollenkeller all day with a clear conscience to work on a couple of things.  Final video edits for a course podcast I produce each week of each semester/term for students in my hybrid courses ( The Collaborative Cafe @WSTKS-FM ) AND work on painting the two standards designed for the Anhlat-Zerbst Regiment.  You might recall that these were designed for me by David Morfitt, of the Not by Apointment blog . His work was based on a written description in the Osprey title German Troops in the American Revolution (2) .  David does amazing work as I'm sure many other habitues  of his blog will agree.  Regardless of provenance, I typically paint over top of each color after printing out the flags since computer inks fade over time. I also like to match the color palette of the troops a little more closely wherever possible.  I hope I've done justice to David...

  Eight figures to each 60mm x 40mm base as laid out in Gilder's In the Grand Manner.  The mounted colonel with two standard bearers, an officer on foot, and an NCO on the odd-shaped base in the middle. The nine singles in groups of three at the back are reserved for company officers on foot, NCO's, and musicians.  My unit organization continues to follow, more or less, those outlined in Young and Lawford's Charge! Or How to Play War Games (1967) with a few tweaks.  And the single bases enable me to approximate a partial third rank when the formation is drawn up in line. W hen working on a large project with several different parts, it is sometimes helpful to change things up a bit and work on another part of the project for a while.  Which is what I've done yesterday evening and for about 35 minutes mid-afternoon today (Thursday).  Playing hooky from real life -- or sagging off from school -- for a few minutes you understand. In any event, here are the Lit...

Almost there with the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment! F ollowing a day of clean-up and mowing outside (seven or eight bags of grass clippings and winter debris all told, whew!), I returned to the painting desk for 6o minutes or so after a shower, fresh pajamas, and dinner with the Grand Duchess.  Armed with a fresh mug of dark roast coffee, bright lights, and a "let's get this done!" attitude, I went to work about 7:45pm.   Roughly an hour later, the remaining buttons on waistcoats and red lapels were done, and I could breathe again (as the great Robert Plant sang in 'Little by Little' about 1985).  Not too many mistakes along the way although there were a few in the tighter spots.  Grrr.  But nothing that couldn't be fixed in the mix after the fact. Now some might sigh and say, "Stokes, why on earth do you go to such lengths and paint things like buttons and horse hooves when absolutely and categorically no one else will notice those details ...

  F riday evening. And while the Grand Duchess whips up some of her Massaman Curry upstairs, I couldn't resist sharing a photograph of the entire Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. Yes, the final 20 figures or so still need buttons on their red lapels and waistcoats plus flags and touch-ups before glossing and permanent basing.  But still. As usual, I've brightened and sharpened my photograph just a bit in Fotor, which does a nice job as long as you don't ask AI to do too much.  Found out the hard way when I realized, some months back, that figures were appearing with backwards heads, arms, and gargoyle-like facial features! 60+ figures altogether, in keeping with my approach for almost exactly 20 years of the Grand Duchy of Stollen Project.  Sheer painting willpower?  Easily entertained?  Or just a terminal case of Johnny One-Note?  You be the judge.    Just how long has it taken us to get to this point with this particular unit?  Well, I started ...

  H appy Easter everyone!  Well, as the delightful old tune by The Beatles goes, it's getting better all the time (and couldn't get much worse).  Despite a solid week of reviewing  and evaluating student learning team projects (My brain is mush, and I'll enter the grades tomorrow), I've managed to squeeze in a few brief painting session here and there during the evening hours after the house quiets down.  But anyway.   With the notable exception of the many buttons and the flags, we're just about there except for a few minute touch-ups with flesh tone, to cover blemishes on a couple of faces and hands where I have managed to slop a dash or two of other colors since the faces and hands were first tackled back during the winter.  Here are a couple of shots taken this morning and brightened in Fotor (my usual online editor) to illustrate where we are with the third and final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. Wow, that first sentence was a gallop!...

  Nearly there with the white highlights on the third and final batch of the Anhelt-Zerbst Regiment this Sunday morning at the end of March. T he Young Master and Grand Duchess are away for a few days visiting friends and relatives in our old stomping grounds of Central Illinois since our progeny has his Spring Break this coming week.  It's a whirlwind trip though.  They'll be back this evening, and he has his wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday.  Sadly, ahead of the Easter holiday, so the Easter Bunny will have to bring our Paul a variety of soft things to enjoy (cups of chocolate pudding/custard?) since chewing will be a challenge for a few days while his mouth heals up So, Bad Dad has been free to hang out down here in Zum Stollenkeller a bit more than usual with coffee, the cats, and paintbrushes in hand.  I've managed numerous sessions in the chair since Thursday evening to tackle the many remaining tiny details on the final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment...

Y ou thought I'd forget, didn't you?  Here's a quick work in progress shot of where things stand with the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment on the morning of March 19th.  Black, red, and (most of) the brown highlights added.  Cords and finials await a light dry-brush to brighten up the gold which received a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone a couple of evenings ago.  One bayonet has been bumped and needs to be straightened.  NCO's polearm needs a dab of brown near his hat to touch it up.   But then. . .  It's onto the white.  I'll start with the waistcoat and belt around the figures' waists this evening.  Breeches will follow, then the shoulder belts, and finally the coats themselves.  Time-consuming since I like to do this through a series of almost washes for a more natural blend built up from the light gray undercoat to almost white highlights on the fronts of shoulders. upper backs, and anywhere else it seems likely that ...

  My usual trusty placeholder until today's later Kodak Moment.  Be sure to check back later! N ot much progress to report during the last seven days.  But after a busy week, it was back to the painting desk for a couple of three (my late grandfather's expression) sessions in the chair.  Time to finish the visible hair, queues, and mustache or two. For these, I decided to try a couple of the six or seven Army Painter Speed Paints I ordered back in January following the Christmas holidays.  We can blame Rudy at the Culloden Painting Studio , who uses quite a few of these and has really impressive results.  But then he is a professional with younger eyes than yours truly at this point. Anyway, I went with the Ruddy Fur for the hair on all of the figures and the Grim Black, both applied at full strength, for the queues, both applied with a #1 Cottman round that still has its good point.  These water color brushes also work well for miniature painting I th...

  While much painting remains to be accomplished, the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment takes on a pleasing appearance with the addition of highlights to the black and red areas of the miniatures. E xcept for Tuesday evening, I've been spending 45-60 minutes a day, maybe a bit more, carefully highlighting the black areas and now the reds on the current and final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.  Almost finished with the latter this Saturday morning.  By the way, for these highlights, I have used my usual 'Charcoal' by Ceramcoat and Vallejo 'Red.'  Sadly, our quiet Spring vacation is coming to an end, which means I need to spend some time today organizing a few things for next week when classes reconvene.  And some (at least) of the students return to campus for class on Monday morning, although any break seems to accordion out in either direction to be almost twice what has been officially designated by the university and put on the calendar. ...

  I returned to the painting desk for about an hour Sunday evening to retouch a few of the light brown water bottle straps across the front of several chests and add a bit of Army Painter red wash in that crevice between the left lapel and musket stock.  As my Welsh step-father might say, they're starting to look very smart. M arch 1st.  The first weekend that bookends our spring vacation at my university.  And like clockwork, I came down with the same nasty cold and slight fever the Young Master brought home earlier last week. The very day before I was due to leave for my last solo ski trip of the season up north.  Blast!   Everything was packed and ready to load into the car early Friday morning for the slightly more than two-hour drive north.  But I realized about 10:30 Thursday evening that I felt rotten, and it would be a mistake to proceed as planned.  Sigh. Felt even crummier Friday morning with chills, nasal congestion, and sore throa...