Let's flesh out some geography, shall we?

During the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about fleshing out the geographical names of my imaginary grand duchy, electorate, and principalities. I’ve decided to name my river(s) the Greater Zwischen and the Lesser Zwischen. Each flows into the main river, the Blue Zwischen, which separates Stollen and Zichenau. Once the Blue Zwischen moves through my territories, it then flows northwest and empties into the Baltic somewhere near Riga. Numerous smaller streams and rivers empty into the system.

The lay of the land in this forgotten corner of Europe is flat with low hills, numerous lakes, and large tracts of forest, consisting of spruces, aspens, birches, and the like. Winters can be quite cold with snow while summers are generally cool and damp, although heat waves are not unknown.

The names of the primary cities in the region are:

Grand Duchy of Stollen: Krankenstadt

Electorate of Zichenau: Hissig

Principality of Pillau-Zerbst: Schmitten

Principality of Pillau-Reuss: Schneiden

Principality of Tauroggen-Fiebus: Doppig

Principality of Werben-Steinau: Paastaaelig

Zeller-Schwartzekatz: Lustig

***Those of you with a linguistic background might recognize some of these words with which I’m playing!

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Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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