And the next unit in the painting queue is. . .

Well, it looks like the votes are all in here at Stollen Central. And the next unit I will paint, following completion of the RSM95 grenadiers, is (drum roll, please). . . a unit of plastic 1/72 Revell Austrian grenadiers, wearing that neat bearskin with the silk bag flopping down one side! Final votes were three for these same grenadiers, and two each for the staff, cavalry, and artillery. Thanks to all of you who participated in the survey.

Now, what makes this REALLY exciting is that this first unit of Zichenau infantry will consist of 80+ figures organized in four companies plus a small regimental staff! Each company will have an officer, a sergeant, a corporal, a drummer, and 16 men. The staff will consist of a mounted colonel, an adjutant, a standard bearer, a regimental sergeant major, and a pioneer, leaning on a great big axe. Total regimental strength? A whopping 85 figures!

I decided to do this because the army of the Electorate of Zichenau will be slightly smaller than Stollen’s with perhaps only four units of infantry – two line, a two-company “light” formation, and a two-company pioneer unit -- plus (maybe) a single independent company. Stollen’s infantry, on the other hand, will consist of six units all told. So, it made sense to beef up Zichenau’s company establishment for its line troops.

Given the relative glut and cheapness of Revell’s 1/72 Austrian infantry sets on the

market (the other SYW sets are much rarer and MUCH dearer), I’ve purchased a final two boxes, to enable these massive regiments. They do look impressive all lined up on the painting table, even in their unpainted state. In the meantime, it’s back to the RSM95’s, singing their siren song to me from across the room. Can you say Odysseus?

P.S.

Thanks to everyone for your "get well" wishes. It’s always a drag to be sick, but especially when the weather is nice!

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

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...

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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