Skip to main content

Another Lovely Arrival to the Grand Duchy of Stollen. . .

Not much gaming or painting here since we returned from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and skiing last Tuesday. But, yesterday's mail brought the Battlegames Table Top Teaser special! So, I turned in early last night with my usual mug of coffee, tuned the radio to Cuba for some news about Fidel and Salsa music, and read from cover to cover. Fantastic photographs, engaging writing, and additional pieces on the TTT's made it almost as if I was reading each teaser for the first time. And when the kitty joined us on the foot of the bed a little later, the evening was about as close to perfect as you can get.

My oldies band The Indras is gathering today to record seven or eight songs for eventual transferral onto CD's, so yesterday was spent gathering the things we'll need for the session, practicing a few bass parts, and reviewing the necessary lyrics. However, I did manage to snatch an hour to paint GW Goblin Green onto the bases of the next company of von Flickenhoffer's Fusiliers -- nineteen RSM95 Prussian fusiliers: 16 enlisted men, an officer, a drummer, and an NCO. I hope to add flesh to the faces and maybe the hands this evening. We'll see. And, spurred on by the arival of the TTT special yestrday, I hope Jonathan Broadus and I can get back to the Action at Pickelhaubewicz this week. . . and possibly finish things up before too long since there is a bridge demolition scenario by the Grants that I want to try within the context of the unfolding Grand Duchy of Stollen campaign.

Comments

Martin said…
Hi Stokes,

Is this a great time to be a wargamer or what?!! Savor every page of TTT and WGC. Our favorite Brigadier also has a five part linked scenario/campaign just published as well. Check it out on the On Military Matters website.

Yours,

Martin
Prinz Geoffrey said…
I apologize, what incorporates oldies music now, 20's, 50's, 80's? I noted you said bass lines, upright or electric, 4, 5, or 6 strings?
Conrad Kinch said…
Stokes,

I'm green with envy and still waiting for my copy of TTT to arrive.
Prinz Geoffrey,

Oldies, as in early rock and roll and rockabilly from about 1954-1962 -- Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Young Elvis, Bill Haley -- that kind of stuff. My bass is a four string Rickenbacker 4003 through a 200 watt all-tube head, it sounds pretty good with the trebly bridge pickup switched off and the bass, midrange, and treble controls on the amp all at about "5", not too clanky (as Ricks are know for being) and not too bass heavy, just right.
Der Alte Fritz said…
I received my copy on Saturday. TTT is a great treat to see and read. Of course, I enjoyed reading my own scenario and looking at the photoshop handywork that Henry did on the back grounds of my pictures. :)
A J said…
I do like the TTT's. Some years ago I bought the big paperback version.
Prinz Geoffrey said…
Alright, I have a 6-string Ibanez through a SWR tube head into two 8 inch and one 15 inch speakers. Used to play in a pop band. I have played with Bob Musgrave from Texas and bottle rocket fame and Dave from Dave and the alley cats, he is a welshman that used to play with Sleepy Labeuff, sorry do not know french spelling. Have hung up my bass now and am learning to play the viola. I was really into jazz at one stage, then rock, my band opened for Seven Mary Three once, my 15 minutes is over.
littlejohn said…
Oh Boy...I'm really feeling the "gamer envy" now!...

Now where did I put the credit card?...
old-tidders said…
Looks like TTT will have to be added to my library soon

-- Allan

Popular posts from this blog

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...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text .  I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well.  Now, we're getting somewhere.  I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas,  Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave.  I can't do that." -- Stokes