Busy, busy, busy. . .

Agggghhh! Our internet connection has not been working for two days, so I’ve been unable to update things here or see what’s new at the Old School Wargaming Yahoo Group. Fortunately, things have been cleared up by the Grand Duchess and Verizon techline help support.

Thanks to their collective efforts, I can inform you of developments here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen as far as troop build-ups along the Lesser Zwischen river between Stollen and Zichenau go. It seems there has been some preliminary skirmishing and pre-Christmas fraternizing around the village of Zollamt on the norther bank of the river, just inside the Grand Duchy of Stollen.

But first, a little business. Final Christmas preparations and submission of final grades are in full swing here in the Grand Duchy. I’ve also had a few commercial writing jobs fall into my lap, something a little unusual for the end of the year. Looks like business is finally improving just a bit after 2 ½ years!

On the soldier front, the Zichenauer artillery crew members are almost finished. There are just a few little things to complete on the crew. I've gone historical and painted them more or less as Russians of the mid-18th century somply because I like the bright red coats, breeches, and vests. It was also faster to paint everything in one color.

The two cannon are just about there too, though I still need to paint the two gun barrels brass and one of the gun carriages yellow. General de Latté and his ADC Captain von Lickschpittel need their horses painted and detailing. I also began basecoating 12 Spencer Smith/Holger Eriksson cavalry with white artists’ acrylic gesso last night. They’ll need a second coat later this evening, but then I can slap a coat of black Liquitex on them. So, I have many irons in the fire right now!

I planning a marathon cavalry painting session on Saturday and will continue on Sunday, which should enable me to get the most visible details completed before Christmas Eve. I might even be able to get in a little painting time on December 26^th. Even if tiny details are not finished, the soldiers will look good enough for photos even if every last thing isn’t finished I think.

Everything should be ready to go for the ‘Action at Zollamt Bridge’ on December 27^th, a scenario based on Young and Lawford’s Battle of Blasthof Heath from Charge! AS I’ve indicted previously though, I’ll throw in a few changes including some extra trees and buildings plus a really neat bridge that I made about one year ago.

The orders of battle for my two observation forces looks like this:

Grand Duchy of Stollen

* General von Drosselmaier and his ADC Herr Major von Schenker

* 73 infantry (contingents from the Von Laurenz, Jäger zu Fuβ, and Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers, including a mounted colonel.

* 19 cavalry -- two squadrons and regimental command -- 4^th (Trakehnen) Dragoons

* 2 guns with 12 crew and a mounted colonel

Electorate of Zichenau

* General Philip de Latté and his ADC Captain von Lickschpittel

* 80 infantry of the Ermland Garde, including a mounted colonel

* 12 cavalry of the Electoral Garde zu Pferd – one squadron and regimental command.

* 2 guns with 12 crew and a mounted colonel

All I need to do (he says) is charge through some painting for the next few days and then things should be ready to go for my first battle two days after Christmas. And don’t worry, men. There will be plenty of photos right here!