"And you'll love the lemony-fresh scent!"

Last Saturday (December 09, 2006), Henry Hyde hosted a game at his home, featuring his marvelous collection of Spencer Smith figures. The armies were augmented by a few 25mm MiniFigs too, illustrating how well the two ranges work together. Anyway, here's one photo of the proceedings. You've simply got to check the rest of Henry's photos out -- there are about 60 in all. Take a look at: http://tinyurl.com/yd5sbu

As for me, I’ve just spent the better part of the evening washing Stollen’s as yet nameless dragoon regiment and its mounts in lemony fresh Dawn dishwashing liquid – “Dawn gets grease out of your way!” The dragoons smell nothing like horses -- we had a few when I was a boy – which is a good thing since I’ve got the 30-strong regiment lined up over on my painting/radio desk.

This brings me to my next interesting, though useless, piece of information. ;-) The 41 meter band of the shortwave spectrum was finally quiet earlier this evening, so I was able to scrub each figure and horse to the accompaniment of Croatian Radio in, you guessed it, Serbo-Croatian! Listening to shortwave radio while I work on my soldier collection is a long standing tradition – both hobbies have been a part of my life since the autumn/winter of 1983-84. There’s nothing quite like listening to a news report on events in Russia, China, or Egypt while painting in the details on some French Napoleonic (or even Stollenian) artillery! Ka-boom!!!

The 18th century? What's the Fascination?

Hessian musketeers by All the King's Men Toy Soldiers of Snellville, Georgia, U.S.A. Just a quick post post today, but I thought the above question might be interesting food for thought. Obviously, there is an array of possible periods, theaters, and conflicts that might catch our eyes. But what is it about the era 1700-1799 -- either real, or imagined? Is it the commanders and politics? The fairly straightforward tactics? The myriad of uniforms and flags? The variety and scope of the conflicts? The patchwork of various and sundry petty states, (at least in Central Europe)? I'm very interested to learn your thoughts. Don't be a lurker! Please leave a comment -- or even two or three. Have a nice day everyone!

An Early July Hussar Update. . .

Marginally neater in appearance with green bases, girths, and ivory horse markings added, but I need to neaten up some hooves now before moving onto the rest of the tack. W here in the world did June go? While I still ponder the answer to that question, how about a quick painting update on the first batch of 14 Minden Austrian hussars and Nadasdy? Good. I'm glad we are of a like mind. Still on the sloppy side, but I've managed to move things along, painting the green bases, white (ivory) horse markings, and beginning the miles and miles of tack adorning the various horses. I always like to begin with the girths spanning the horses' ribs which helped hold the saddles in place. Even with the figures mounted individually on temporary painting bases, these can be kind of tricky to access, but there we are. I've also used various Army Painter washes (Mid-Brown and Strong Tone) as well as their Speed Paint (Grim Black) to make the manes and tails of the horses a bit m...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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