A Reply to General von Drosselmaier. . .

Spiessburg

31 July 1768

My Dear General von Drosselmaier,

Thank you for your communication of 30 July.

As you are no doubt aware, the Grand Duke has suffered something of a relapse in the last several weeks while here at Spiessburg. His grasp on reality varies from day to day, and sometimes from hour to hour, though there are times where he seems quite lucid.

His physicians Herr Doktor von Oetker and Herr Doktor von Eierdybe, while assuring us that no physical danger is present, seem neither able to discern the cause behind the Grand Dukes’ increasingly bizarre behavior, nor able to offer a possible cure. For the time being, the Grand Ducal household will remain in summer residence here at Spiessburg Palace

We are also certain you know by now that the Principality of Pillau-Zerbst to our northwest has allied itself with Zichenau against the Grand Duchy of Stollen, placing us in the uncomfortable position of fighting a two front war with only very limited resources at our collective disposal.

Given this situation, the War Ministry has advised our generals to dispatch at least some troops to the frontier shared with Pillau-Zerbst to function in an observatory role, hopefully deterring a secondary invasion from that direction. The few remaining soldiers available to us are earmarked to function as a garrison for the capital Krankenstadt in the event that Zichenauer forces are able to advance as far as the capital. I do not need to tell you that the situation is very grave.

In view of the developments outlined above, it is impossible to augment your army around Pelznikkel with even a company of infantry, much less a regiment of cavalry or a battery of guns. We trust that you will do your best with the forces at your disposal.

If I can be of further assistance, do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Von Wilkewiczeske

Comments

A J said…

Uh oh... It looks like General von Drasselmaier is on his own for this one. I'm sure he and his army will do their duty as best they can.

1:52 PM

Bluebear Jeff said…

I sense the hand of Koenig Maurice the Vile in the condition of the Grand Duke.

Are Stagonian fiends augmenting either or both forces threatening Stollen?

Did either Doktor von Oetker or Doktor von Eierdybe study in Stagonia?

What is this mysterious malady that has disabled Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II?

Will the nefarious schemes of the vile Stagonians succeed? Only time (and Stokes) can tell.

-- Jeff of Saxe-Bearstein

2:43 PM

Fitz-Badger said…

The Soweiter League had the same suspicions as Saxe-Bearstein...
We hope someone is watching out for Maurice.

8:07 PM

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

Search This Blog