Pondering into the Wee Hours. . .

By now, you’ve seen my projected orders of battle here and noted that they are quite ambitious. The same occurred to me too, especially where the forces of the minor players in the campaign are concerned.

So, this small problem got me thinking into the wee hours late last night in bed before I fell asleep. Since my imaginary principalities (Pillau-Zerbst, Pillau-Reuss, Werben-Steinau, Tauroggen-Fiebus, and Zeller-Schwartzekatz) are sparsely populated, I’ll have each furnish just a company of infantry -- or a squadron of cavalry -- or a half battery and crew.

This neat idea developed while I was browsing through Philip Haythornthwaite’s The Napoleonic Source Book (1990) yesterday evening, reading about the numbers and types of troops furnished to Napoleon I by all of the various German duchies and principalities. Some of the smaller states furnished the French with just a company or two rather than entire battalions or regiments. It hit me like a bolt out of the blue later as I waited for sleep to arrive – I can do something very similar with my minor players here. Problem solved!

The sub-units I’ll create can combine into a single unit of infantry (four companies), dragoons, or artillery battery. Or, they can operate independently, much like the independent company of the Waldeck Regiment in Young and Lawford’s original Battle of Sittangbad in Charge! So, I can have them change sides and fight for either of my main players, the Grand Duchy of Stollen or the Electorate of Zichenau. Best of all, I won’t necessarily have to paint several additional full-strength units to represent the forces of the minor combatants.

This neat little solution will enable me to create some uniforms that are colored differently from those of my main combatants and, at the same time, allow me to complete my project in a reasonable amount of time, say 12-15 months, if I can keep up the painting momentum that I’ve managed with the Von Laurenz Musketeers. “Good luck, “ I hear many of you chuckle. . . Time will tell.

Which brings me to my next point. No, I did not actually make it to the painting desk last night. Shame on me! I’ve already set a bad example! Instead, I decided to enjoy a night off with Haythornthwaite, my sketch pad, a copy of Charge!, and Radio Havana, Cuba on my trusty bedside shortwave radio. It was just what I needed to rejuvenate me for more painting today, following a difficult first week teaching again after the long summer break. Charge!

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A Little More Brushwork. . .

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...

It's Early Days Yet. . .

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

And We're Off!!!

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 Grand Duchy of Stollen

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