The Grand Duchy of Stollen

90 minutes painting this evening!!! Worked on the scabbards, carbine barrels, and carbine stocks. Last night, I focused on the sabretache lace -- yellow for the troopers and gold for the officers. Still a great deal to do along with the inevitable touch-ups, but they are coming along pretty nicely I think. Here's one of the troopers from the left side. And here he is from the right side. Here's a slightly blurred shot of the colonel, but you can see the brading on his dolman and pelisse pretty well. I did this with a #1 round that has a good point and not too much gold on the bristles. And finally, here is our dashing colonel from the other side. Of all the figures in the Revell SYW hussar set, I like this figure the best.

My wargaming buddy in North Carolina, Jonathan Broadus, and I are beginning to plan our play-by-e-mail table top encounter. The battle will be based on the Table Top Teaser presented by Charles Grant in Battlegames #14. Now, I haven't yet heard back from Jonathan about his ideas, but my early thoughts run something like this. We'll be using my figures and set-up here in Zum Stollenkeller . Since the Stollenian- Zichenauer collection is still fairly small, I've suggested to Jonathan that we use infantry companies and cavalry squadrons as the basic units instead of Charles Grant's battalions and regiments That way, we can actually manage the game with what I have available right now. I think this will enable us to pick and choose the precise make-up of our forces along the same lines as the teaser article. Obviously, we'll use the dragoons and horse grenadiers in place of Charles' light cavalry, though there is a slight outside chance that I migh...

Just a quick update today as there are a number of things waiting to be done, and I hope to get in some painting on the hussars before, you guessed it, ANOTHER dinner out this evening at a colleague's home. First is the news that Tom Dye, of Games Figures Incorporated -- the North American producer of MiniFigs -- is thinking about the possibility of offering 25mm SYW miniatures in "old school" style packs. Many of you are probably aware of the discussion around this, which has been taking shape over at the Old School Wargaming Yahoo group for the last couple of days. The basic idea is that lovers of larger units would get everything they need in one package and at a slightly better price than if ordering everything individually. Naturally, I'm intrigued by this possibility. While some of the MiniFigs in 25mm are a bit on the dumpy side, I have always liked their toy soldier "look". If Tom presses ahead with his idea, I might just have to add a big battal...

Happy Friday everyone! Here are two more photos showing the latest progress on the first squadron of Prinz Albrecht's Hussars . This time, it's yellow lace on the saddle cloths and mirlitons for the men with gold for the officers. You'll also notice that I have done the braid on the dolman and pelisse of the trumpeter as a practice run. Note to self: Need a small brush and steady hand for this! Hope to make some real progress this weekend as we will be away from next Thursday. Watch right here for updates.

Sounds like a grand book title, doesn't it? Anyway, I managed to get in a bit of time late this afternoon before dinner with the Grand Duchess. You'll see that I've colored the saddlecloths and mirliton wings crimson. I also completed the hair on the troopers and two officers, The former have plain brown while the latter have the usual "powdered" white. I also had enough time to apply the yellow lace to the trumpeter's saddlecloth. Troopers will have yellow lace, officers gold. Now, I have a questions for those of you with more experience painting 18th century hussars. Was the top of the felt/cloth mirlton colored? Or was the rest of this peculiar headwear, besides the wing, left black? I'd sure appreciate any information you might be able to provide. None of the various books I have on the subject provide any information, visual or text description, on the matter. Thanks in advance for your help. And now, unfortunately, it's on to a stack ...

Good morning everyone! Not a lot to report on the painting front, I'm afraid. The Grand Duchess roped me into a 50-mile bicycle ride (round trip) yesterday, which was organized to protest our state governor's plans to cut all funding for state parks and areas of historical interest. This would mean that many recreational areas would close indefinitely due to lack of funds. So, about 200 member of our area bicycling club met up for the ride to Moraine View State Park, where another 800 people or so had gathered to stage a peaceful demonstration. There was newspaper coverage of the half-dozen speakers, which included our stare representative from Bloomington. Voting takes place later this week, and hopefully it will go well. We'll see, but cross your fingers please. Issue #14 of Battlegames has been a joy the last couple of days. Lots of great stuff on painting, basing, the Seven Years War, a neat Table-top Teaser, and so forth. At the risk of going overboard, I thin...

The new issue of Battlegames (#14) has arrived here at Stollen Central. Hurrah!!! Every single article looks interesting and worthy of a good read -- every one. Even the fantasy column, something I usually ignore. How is it that an already stellar publication keeps improving with each successive issue? Now, the difficult question. Do I spend the evening painting, or reading?

Blogger is giving me trouble lately when I try to paste in my entries on the recent painting that I have drafted in MS Word. Since this is how I've always done things, these recent developments are somewhat vexing to say the least. . . *&!%#$!*

I played hooky from grading student papers this evening so that I could paint. And you know what? My conscience doesn’t hurt me one bit! So, here are three picture updates of the first squadron and regimental staff. If you look very closely, you’ll see the crimson breeches peeking out from under the blue dolman and pelisse combo and as yet still black “schwaraden”, the leggings that came up to the mid-thigh. I think I might paint these yellow just to brighten things up a bit. I also did the white base on the plumes plus the silver sabers and bronze trumpet. So, these fellows are beginning to look a bit more like soldiers and less like small hunks of plastic with black gesso all over them! And now, it’s beddy-bye. My neck and shoulders demand it. Sleep well, men!

Here's a photo showing my (limited) progress on the first squadron of hussars and regimental staff -- basic horse colors and flesh tone on th men. And here we have a close-up of the squadron commander. Tonight, I hope to begin on the crimson breeches.

Good news today! As of 5:30AM (a little while ago), the damp has receded quite a bit here in Zum Stollenkeller thanks to the dehumidifier working all night. It doesn't even smell like damp basement down here this morning. Good! Now, maybe the Grand Ducal Feline "Rannveig I" and I can get some serious painting in this evening. Have a good day men!

Not exactly Illinois, but Bergen, Norway! My favorite place in all of Norway. It's located on the western coast and suffers from typically English weather most of the year. I spent quite a bit of time there ten years or so ago. When the rain comes, I run and hide my head. . . Well, not exactly, but since what was Hurricane Ike passed over Central Illinois early this morning -- leaving torrential rain in its wake -- Zum Stollenkeller is a bit damp. And the computer/internet connection is unplugged. :-( Hell and damnation! No standing water, nothing in danger, and no water damage. But it's a bit, shall we say, humid around the edges. Although we had a wet spring and periods of rain this summer, it didn't do anything like this. I imagine we had several inches of rain through the night and into the early morning. I feel relatively safe in assuming that this has been unusual. So, while the dehumidifier does its work in the basement, I've retreated here to my of...

Ok, not much to look at yet, but you have to start somewhere. Right? You can see that I’ve finished applying the Goblin Green to the bases of the 30-strong hussar regiment thought the photo isn’t the best. This evening, it’s onwards and upwards to the flesh tone. Charge! Martin, I think, asked about the developing wargaming “tome” yesterday. Well, that term is maybe a bit hyperbolic (Can you say that?). In any case, handbook might be somewhat more accurate. Anyway, it’s been on the back burner for a few weeks since school began again. But I’ve had a couple of ideas for some added chapters, which will fill some holes nicely. Hopefully, I can get back on track with writing before too long, although an out-of-town conference at the beginning of October is looming, so well see. But the Grand Duchess and I will get to see some graduate school friends in Minneapolis-St. Paul, so I’m not too upset. Now back to the salt mines! There’s translatin’ awaitin’. . .

Here we go! Thanks to Andy for directing me to the Zvezda website where this image comes from. If it's anything to go by, these look like really nice figures with lots of different possible uses . Just learned via the Plastic Soldier review (link at right) that Zvezda is poised to release a new set for the Great Northern War period, which might have application beyond that for 18th century devotees: Swedish Dragoons of Charles XII . No photos of the box art yet, but I might just have to order a set or two when they become available. We'll see if PSR posts a review of the set contents before too long.

Here are the little darlings as they appeared last Monday, freshly "dressed" in their combination basecoat/undercoat of black acrylic gesso. Well, here’s a photo from earlier in the week of the basecoated unit of hussars. I did manage to start applying some GW Goblin Green to a few bases last Tuesday evening but did not finish the job, and the figures in question have languished on my painting/radio desk most of the week. Now that the autumn semester is in full swing, my days begin about 5AM and last until 10-11pm. Geeze, it's like being in grad school again! I’m just too tired most evenings to concentrate on painting. Cry me a river, Stokes. . . I know, I know. . . ;-) So, the plan this weekend is to finish the green bases tonight late and apply the fleshtone tomorrow. Then, we’ll see how it goes next week. I'd like to start with the crimson breeches and mirliton "wings" first of all. Cross your fingers! On ot...

Not much happening here on the soldier front the last few days. Heavy translation work and teaching are soaking up most of my free time (sigh). But, The Indras did gather for a practice session yesterday evening! To read more about it, visit The Indras’ blog at right in the links section.

As my grandfather used to say, "Boys, boys!" Not an easy thing to do. But geeze Louise, the way some people get themselves all bunched up at the slightest provocation over at Old School Wargaming! Good thing we don’t settle disagreements like Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton did anymore, huh? We now return to your regulalrly scheduled programming.

A sergeant of the 11th (Prince Albert's) Hussars, mid-19th century by Keith Rocco. A real live member of the 11th Hussars from the late-19th century. Four 21st Century reenactors.

Here's a picture for Adrian! An officer of the 11th Hussars as they appeared on the mid-19th century. I'll base the uniform of my own hussar unit, currently in progress on the painting table, on this lovely example. Let’s get back to talking about model soldiers, shall we? Yesterday afternoon, and for about 90 minutes in the evening, I began applying black acrylic gesso to 30 or so plastic Revell Prussian SYW hussars. I really like the change to black gesso (Thanks to Mike Siggins for suggesting it). It has much better coverage than the white and dries to a nice matt finish in a short time. Only ten more troopers/horses to go, and then we can begin applying Games Workshop "Goblin Green" to the bases, followed by the flesh tone tomorrow evening. I’ll post a photo once these steps have been completed for the entire regiment. As for the planned uniform. . . Well, although the figures represent mid-18 th century Prussian hussars, the Grand Duchy ...