The day almost slipped past. . .

To celebrate the third anniversary of the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog, here's a photograph of that very first unit I painted back in August/September 2006, the 2nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers -- 60+ Revell plastic Prussian musketeers, scrounged from about a dozen boxes of figures.

Due to the start of the new fall semester, a ton of dull administrative stuff, and a couple of excruciating meetings with a department head, who seems totally out of touch with reality, August 19th slipped by me yesterday. And then I remembered a short while ago, sipping my early morning coffee as I sat before the computer.

Yes, August 19th marked the third anniversary of the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog, which I began to document the creation and painting of two Sittangbad-sized forces of 25/30mm old school miniatures, inspired by Young and Lawford's armies as described in that wonderful book Charge! Or How to Play War Games. Yep, three years ago, I began the journey that has led us down the path of classic wargaming and up it again.

In that time, we've covered a lot -- everything from painting large units of figures, building whimsical houses from common household items, and book reviews, to the misadventures of Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II and his trusty English manservant Hives, play-by-email games, and various off-topic pieces on recipes for things like Dresdener Stollen, North Carolina pork BBQ, cross country skiing trips, and a variety of other errata. What a long, strange trip it's been as the song goes.

In any case, I am happy you have been part of it as we lurch through the ongoing Grand Duchy of Stollen project, which, by the way, is now past the half-way point. And I hope you'll continue to drop by regularly in the coming months and years to see what new developments crop up, and where they take us. Thanks to everyone for your collective interest and support!


Addendum:

I should point out that the real inspiration for this blog came from Australia's own Greg Horne, whose own Duchy of Alzheim blog, together with an article on blogging by Greg in the first issue of Battlegames, encouraged me to take a crack at it myself. Thanks Greg!!!