The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  30 Eureka Saxon cuirassiers and horses stand at the ready for the usual basecoat of white acrylic gesso. I n between various and sundry other Sunday chores and things, including some mid-Sunday afternoon German milchkaffee (cafe au lait to the rest of the world) with the Grand Duchess, I have managed to affix the 30 Saxon cuirassiers to their horses and thence to their permanent 3mm ply bases from Litko.   This has become my preferred method for painting cavalry, transport, and light infantry formations since there is enough room between multiple-based figures to wield the paintbrush in a way that is not possible for closer order line infantry, who I mount to temporary  cardboard strips for painting and glossing before careful transfer to their permanent bases. The base dimensions I use for my close order troops are those stipulated within the late Peter Gilder's In the Grand Manner .  These have always looked pretty close to perfect to me for horse and musket-era troops.  Close

Next on the painting table, 30 Eureka Saxon cuirassiers, purchased back in October 2016 just ahead of "a certain birthday" as a gift to myself for rounding the half-century mark.  Time to get busy with 'em!   A well packed box of Minden goodness that took just three days to arrive in the Grand Duchy from Der Alte Fritz in Hesse-Seewald. Just a few of the river sections after some basic color revision.  Still not quite done. but they are shaping up nicely and, most important, heavy and flexible enough to lie flat on the table without shifting around at inopportune times.   W ell, sometimes it seems like life puts itself in the way of hobby activities, doesn't it?  And thus it was and has been the case with my planned Thanksgiving Weekend game.   We have been going through a rough patch lately with the Young Master, which has kind of got in the way of much else.  He's fine, just 14.  And as a result of these ongoing issues, the game(s) of toy soldiers continue to b

  T o U.S. citizens everywhere, Happy Thanksgiving 2023!    No toy soldiering today since I will be helping in the kitchen and setting the table, but I plan to touch up some river sections if/when  the time presents itself.  Tomorrow (Friday), the table and troops will be laid out, and the Combat at Spargelzeit (Zinna refight) game kicks off on Saturday with a possible finish Sunday.  A solo affair this time unless the Young Master decides he wants to join me.  Looking very forward to beholding my troops and terrain as I maneuver them around the table.  Stay tuned! -- Stokes

  M essing around this evening with Fotor, my online photo editor of choice.  Lots of AI help and other features there to present pictures of our collections as advantageously as possible. Looking again, I have spotted a few very tiny imperfections, but in the interest of preserving the smidgen of sanity left to me, we'll call 'em done.  It's time to move on.   Time and the paintbrushes wait for no one.  Besides, I've got Saxon cuirassiers and Hanoverian hussars waiting for me. -- Stokes

  A bit delayed today, but my stock of pebbles was depleted, so I had to remedy that after another round of leaf duty, in the front yard/garden this time.  Almost finished with that for the season.  Whew! -- Stokes

  The tabletop troops in question.  I took this photograph with my iPhone.  Other than some brightening and cropping in Fotor, it provides a good representation of the (almost) finished company,  The fetching Grand Duchess gave these Fife & Drum Hessians to me for Christmas 2022. L ong overdue greetings everyone!  The generic company of Frei-Infanterie shown above, based on the von Hordt regiment, is finished and glossed.  Finally.  Not quite as spectacular as their companion company of Anspach-Beyreuth jaegers showcased in August, but handsome in any case.   The 30 figures together make up  the light infantry contingent for the Grand Duchy of Stollen whose small army is based very loosely on those of ol' Frederic's Prussia and its neighboring allies.  But less ably led and with lower morale in general. It has been slow going with the paint brush these last couple of months due to usual cocktail of life and work, but here we are at last.  A few related painting and gaming p

  The shoulder insignia of my later maternal; grandfather's outfit, the 13th Airborned Division, for part of his service during 1942-1946, T hinking today of my late maternal grandfather, David Lewis Stokes from Lexington, North Carolina, who answered the call like so many others more than 80 years ago following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Initially anti-aircraft personnel in a Pennsylvania-German National Guard unit, he later served as glider infantry before taking the opportunity to train as a paratrooper ahead of the planned invasion of France.   Miraculously, he, along with his two older brothers and three brothers-in-law (Uncles Baxter, Jack, Sid, Charlie, and Bob) all managed to come home and lead relatively normal lives for many decades afterwards.  Since so many others did not, I have always wondered how our family was so fortunate given the sheer magnitude of the 1939-45 war. Likewise, a special mention of the only First World War veteran I knew, Harrison Terre

S till not quite there with these 15 Fife & Drum Hessians, but making some nice progress since the last update nonetheless.  Getting down to the small details now (and touch-ups).  These are not really noticeable at arm's length, but we know they are there, don't we?    With nondescript old ranges like, for example, the 15mm Peter Laings, which had their own charm about them, you could easily get away with leaving out all but the most general colors, and it worked.  With more current lines as nice as these 1/56 figures, however, it makes sense, at least to me, to spend a bit more time and effort on the tiny bits if at all possible, to add that extra bit of sparkle.  Both literally and figuratively speaking.  Hence my attention past and present to things like buttons.  That said, I have yet to address the hundreds of gaiter buttons, for example, on infantry and artillery units.  I know.  I know. Giving a nod here to our model railroad brethren, whose level of detail on so ma

  Half of the figures presented to me by the Grand Duchess and Young Master for Christmas 2022.  The first half were those that became the Ansbach-Beyreuth Jaegers during the summer months.  As usual, the photographs have been brightened and cropped, but otherwise are as is. D espite all rumors to the contrary, things have not become entirely moribund here in the Grand Duchy of late.  The usual mix and intrusion of work and real life, you know.  But I have managed to find the odd 60 minutes here, 30 minutes there to work on my generic company of frei-infanterie (based loosely on the Von Hordt Infantry)  as and when time permits. Here are a couple of Saturday morning photographs to illustrate where things stand at the moment.  Still lots of small details to do, with the usual touch-ups, but most of the basic colors have been blocked in at this point.   The paints used have been all acrylics except for the initial flesh tone, which was my usual Winsor & Newton Griffin alkyd oil pref

  Two companies of Reichsarmee grenadiers painted back in 2017 or 2018.  Minden Austrians of course. A lovely early autumn day here in the grand duchy.  Bright sunshine and a light breeze with cool temperatures will make for some very pleasant late afternoon lawn mowing in a little while.  But first a bit more discussion of painting plans for the future. Last time, I looked back at the various and sundry units, support troops, and civilians that I've managed to paint in the last 17 years as the Grand Duchy of Stollen project has developed.  So today, let's look into the seemingly bottomless Drawer 'o' Lead to my left for a clue to the new direction.  Be forewarned, it's not going to be a quick job getting everything painted and based, but there we are. The following plans are based on the pile of unpainted figures already here.  Any future purchases will be limited to small things that might be needed to fill out the envisioned units (the odd few officers mounted o