Much Afoot at Fife and Drum. . .

Back to the Grand Duchy after a lengthy absence in the name of family vacation. A good time was had by all, but it was extremely nice -- after navigating three airports, two flights, along with United States Immigrations and Customs officials plus a lengthy drive home from Chicago's O'Hare International mind you -- to walk through one's own front door and close it once the suitcases were unloaded.

So. Not much going on here at the moment just yet, although I plan to dive back into command vignettes shortly, and maybe even stage a solo game at the start of August. However, there have recently been lots of neat developments over at Fife and Drum Miniatures, where new Prussian artillery equipment, limbers, wagons, and horse teams have emerged for sale. Prices are competitive too, and the sculpting/casting is top notch. But see for yourselves by visiting Fife and Drum Miniatures or the Hesse-Seewald blog, where proprietor Jim Purky has posted new photographs with more scheduled to appear shortly.

Suffice to say, the Fife and Drum range is really turning into quite an impressive set of figures and equipment every bit as good as, and entirely compatible with, everything produced by Minden Miniatures. When used together, both ranges permit 18th century gamers considerable scope and variation where troop types and uniforms are concerned. It's almost too much good stuff at one time and makes dropping off to sleep in the late evenings just a bit harder what with thoughts of charging AWI dragoons, mounted officers, pontoon trains, and special unit/army deals drifting around the ol' noggin

Comments

Bloggerator said…

I am especially enamoured of the mounted officers and will be laying in a stock here in Alzheim.

Hm, i wonder of it's time for the jolly old DoA to explore the 1770s?

Glad to hear you had a jolly time Stokes.

11:00 PM

The 18th century? What's the Fascination?

Hessian musketeers by All the King's Men Toy Soldiers of Snellville, Georgia, U.S.A. Just a quick post post today, but I thought the above question might be interesting food for thought. Obviously, there is an array of possible periods, theaters, and conflicts that might catch our eyes. But what is it about the era 1700-1799 -- either real, or imagined? Is it the commanders and politics? The fairly straightforward tactics? The myriad of uniforms and flags? The variety and scope of the conflicts? The patchwork of various and sundry petty states, (at least in Central Europe)? I'm very interested to learn your thoughts. Don't be a lurker! Please leave a comment -- or even two or three. Have a nice day everyone!

An Early July Hussar Update. . .

Marginally neater in appearance with green bases, girths, and ivory horse markings added, but I need to neaten up some hooves now before moving onto the rest of the tack. W here in the world did June go? While I still ponder the answer to that question, how about a quick painting update on the first batch of 14 Minden Austrian hussars and Nadasdy? Good. I'm glad we are of a like mind. Still on the sloppy side, but I've managed to move things along, painting the green bases, white (ivory) horse markings, and beginning the miles and miles of tack adorning the various horses. I always like to begin with the girths spanning the horses' ribs which helped hold the saddles in place. Even with the figures mounted individually on temporary painting bases, these can be kind of tricky to access, but there we are. I've also used various Army Painter washes (Mid-Brown and Strong Tone) as well as their Speed Paint (Grim Black) to make the manes and tails of the horses a bit m...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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