The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Sadly deceased Swedish figure sculptor Holger Eriksson gazing at some of his larger creations. By all accounts, Mr. Eriksson was extremely an talented individual, carving many of his master figures from wood. The mercifully long Thanksgiving weekend has just about finished here in U.S., and besides lots of time for family, food, and related fun, I've been able to spend a reasonable amount of time here in Zum Stollenkeller doing a few hobby-related things. Besides yesterday's box o' bits, I've managed to get that 30-strong regiment of Holger Eriksson cavalry ready for basecoating. These should be fun and fairly rapid to paint. I'm setting a challenge to myself to see if I can complete the regiment by December 31st. More on this later right here. I've also purchased two NEW tubes of superglue (remember the annoyed rant the other evening?) and assembled a couple of MiniFig generic SYW-era cannon, which are waiting patiently to the left of the HE cavalry at the ...

Two of my (now-painted) classic Spencer Smith dragoons at left along with a couple of Holger Eriksson dragoons at right. This photograph appeared originally on the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog during July or August of 2007. Since the Grand Duchess and Young Master Paul are visiting relatives (who don't live far enough away) this afternoon, I've had a little time to do something on the mental to-do list for months and months. Yep, go through the pile of lead here at Stollen Central, take stock of what's in it, and weed out the various and odd bits, pieces, and sundry things people have sent me, weird and broken figures, etc., etc. The good news is that I have discovered an extra regiment of 60 RSM Prussian musketeers and command plus an extra 60 RSM horses. All of these are over and above the remaining units for my initial Sittangbad-sized project. So, I'll be able to add a few more units once I have filled my initial order of battle. Related to those 60 RSM horses a...

Don't you just hate it when you need a few drops of super glue -- You know, to glue the wheels and accoutrement to a couple of gun carriages for example -- and all of the various tubes here and there around the house are either dried up, or the cap has become fused to the rest of the tube and won't budge? Or, better yet, you cannot find the extra couple of new tubes of the stuff that you so carefully dropped into a kitchen drawer a month or two ago. Grrrrrrrrr. . .

Happy Thanksgiving to all American visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen wherever in the world you might find yourselves. We have a chilly, gray day with falling temperatures here in our neck of the Midwest, the Grand Duchess brought me a H-U-G-E mug of black coffee a short while ago as I yawned and woke up in bed, and we have over an hour until ol' Tom Turkey goes in to oven. Otherwise, it's still in the house at the moment, which is never a bad thing. Happy sigh. It's a good day. And I feel very fortunate indeed. Between preparing a couple of pies yesterday along with another dish, which I can't quite recall at the moment, I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours work on those Garrison Miniatures Prussian artillery crew, who are actually looking much more like Schaumburg-Lippe artillery crew with their pretty, light blue uniforms. Not much left to do there except for a couple of tiny things, and then its onto my usual two coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor f...

Some Hessian mercenaries retreating during the Saratoga Campaign of 1777. A new line of realistic, life-like 1/56th, or 32mm, figures with human proportions (in campaign dress as they actually appeared, no less) is in the works for the American War of Independence! The sculptor is -- Wait for it! -- the famous Richard Ansell, who has also done yeoman's work for Frank Hammond's Minden Miniatures among others. You can view several photographs of Richard's greens in-progress by visiting the Hesse-Seewald blog , whose own Alte Fritz is heavily involved in the project. You can also click on Battleroad Games & Hobbies , to be transported directly to the website of the U.S.-based producer and distributor of these figures-to-be. Or, you can scroll down the page and look for the links to both at the bottom right of this page. While the American Revolution is not exactly my period of interest, you cannot help but feel excited and inspired by these wonderful previews of the ...

Well, you knew it would happen, didn't you? Yes! Although I have several other units in-progress, as well as within the painting queue, I am already thinking ahead to which uniforms I might paint onto that final 60-figure unit of Stollenian infantry sometime during 2011. My own travels and related interests make me partial to using the red-coated infantry from the Free Hanseatic Cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Luebeck as models for the last unit of RSM95 Prussian musketeers, which has been in the pile of lead here at Stollen Central since early 2009, courtesy of a fellow long-distance voyager in Arizona, USA. So, besides a brief referral one evening last week to my Funcken volumn on the subject, which shows two SYW-era grenadiers from Bremen and Luebeck respectively, I've been trawling the trusty ol' Internet (many thanks to former Tennessee senator and one-time vice-president Al Gore for inventing it) for additional illustrations of similar troops. Surprisingly, I turn...

As promised, here is a rather bright photograph of the now finished Von Auflauf Infantry (Huzzah figures, mercenaries purchased from nearby Hesse-Seewald during summer 2008), a strange conglomeration of native Stollenians and drafts of SYW veterans from within and around German-speaking Central Europe. As you might expect then, not always the most cohesive or effective fighting force on the battlefield. Certainly not up to par with Stollen's elite Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers or the Jaeger zu Fuss. Best of all, only one more 60-figure unit of infantry to go, and that portion of my initial Sittangbad-sized project will be all done! So, here are the promised photographs of what's underway, or just done, here at Stollen Central. The tiny digital camera we have, a Canon, seems to eat batteries as if they are going out of style. Inevitably, it takes days to locate another two NEW ones to replace the old ones, take a few photos, and upload them here. Not lik...

Up frightfully early this fine, chilly Sunday morning thanks to. . . Well, not really sure what woke me just after 4am since we didn't conk out until Midnight, but I finally gave up the ghost at about 5:15, came quietly downstairs, made some fresh coffee, and retreated to my office here in Zum Stollenkeller . Even Princess Rannveig the Cat is not up yet! Normally, she spends much of her time hanging around down here with me, sitting in my lap as I work, touching my arm with her paw for attention, and just generally making herself at home. Clearly, neither cats, the Grand Duchess, nor Young Master Paul suffer from insomnia. . . Just ol' Dad! Spent a little while yesterday afternoon getting started on those Garrison artillery figures, which will become Schaumburg-Lippe-Buekeburg artillery crew before too long. Nothing terribly exciting quite yet. Only the green bases and faces have been done so far, but it's a start. Hopefully, I'll have time this evening to appl...

Please take a moment today to remember the fallen and the survivors of wars past and present.

They really ARE finished now, honest! Here is that final company of Huzzah Prussian musketeers -- painted as Wurtemburg's Garde zu Fuss -- as their first coat of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish dries. Next on the painting block, twelve Garrison Prussian artillery crew and a mounted officer just off camera to the right here. A few odd RSM and Minden figures loiter in the background. Well, then, you'll appreciate my surprise a little while ago as I was rooting around through a drawer here in the bedroom, looking for a long forgotten and misplaced giftcard when I decided to check my leather passport wallet. Among scads of unspent Mexican pesos and some euros (Sigh. Wish they were old German Marks), I discovered $80 US! This has obviously been in the wallet since our trip to Germany during the summer of '09 before Young Master Paul arrived. This is far better than discovering $5 in my jeans pocket a few times as a teenager when I began doing my own laundry. At any rate, ...