The Spoils in Closer Detail. . .

The fully assembled Berliner Zinnfiguren Prussian mobile field forge with Fife & Drum limber horses and an RSM95 rider.

A few of you asked the other day for a peek at the items schlepped home from Berlin recently by the Grand Duchess, so here you are.

-- Stokes

Various Willie (Suren) 30mm ladies of ill repute, with The Naughty Lola at the center of things, and a 30mm Black Hussar Prussian military chaplain. I'd say he has his work cut out for him.

More 30mm Willie (Suren) sutleresses and vivandieres. I'll use these in two or three small vignettes, one of which will include a couple of soldiers' wives tending a large pot of laundry over a fire and hanging wet things on a line.

A 30mm Willie (Suren) plucky stable lad and running farm girl.

A 30mm Willie (Suren) bishop. This one has, as yet, no practical application, but he was too good to pass up since he bears such a marked resemblance to Monty Python's Terry Jones. "Oh no! It's. . . da Bishop!"

30mm Willie (Suren) dueling gentlemen, their seconds, and spectators. A neat little vignette all on its own. Eventually, I'll either add these to that bunch of Jacdaw frolicking aristocrats, painted in the spring of 2013, or make them dueling officers as part of a larger camp scene that I'm mulling over.

More 30mm Willie (Suren) figures, this time male servants and musicians, who will definitely become part of General Phillipe de Latte's retinue at some point in the not-too-distant future. A very special "Thank-you" to my friend Stefan Schulz for his extremely kind and generous donation of the figures shown here and in the preceding photograph. Much appreciated, Stefan. Vielen Dank!

Finally, one of several items I purchased last Friday from Fife & Drum/Minden, which arrived Tuesday this week. The 1/56th Fife & Drum French marshal on horseback, who is destined to become the "new" version of that most notorious cad and bounder. . . the French mercenary-adventurer and veteran of the Seven Years War. . . General Phillipe de Latte. I opted to have him holding a spyglass and with his head covered, but the figure comes with an extra head and right arm holding his hat in salute, so there is a bit of room to create just the figure you want. Just two small drops of Gorilla Super Glue, and voilà! De Latte's arm and head were firmly in place.

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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