This Preview Has Been Rated "A" for All Audiences. . .

Just a sneak peek at a few of the highlights coming up here at the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog in the next several days. First, there's an update on the latest happenings in Krankenstadt palace as Iriwin-Amadeus II wonders out loud about life, the universe, the coming defensive campaign against the Electorate of Zichenau, and what he'll do with his day as his loyal English valet, Hives, scans the morning edition of Die Krankenstadt Tageblat. Next, there will be an informal review of those lovely Huzzah miniatures I received from Jim "Alte Fritz" Purky and Ian Marsh early last summer. I'll also be formalizing my thoughts on Charge! Or How to Play War Games for a short review that I promised Greg Horne some weeks ago.

Finally, there will be an update on the plans Jonathan Broadus and I are developing for our play-by-e-mail game -- a refight of Charles Grant's Table Top Teaser from Battlegames #14 -- which will take place in the coming weeks. Oh, and of course there will be a few more painting updates on those Revell hussars that have been waiting patiently on the painting/radio desk behind me as the first squadron is finished and work on the second begins. Ah, yes. Lot's to see and do in Stollen during the next week!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

I (and I assume others) will wait with bated breath.

-- Jeff

9:39 PM

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 ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Warboss Green Bases. . .

I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion. In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life. Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted. Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green. Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs. The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

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