Happy Feast of Stephen!

A lovely, quiet Christmas Day here at Stollen Central yesterday, which included a couple of very interesting books for yours truly. The first is a history of the military kriegspiel, both the serious, non-recreational kind as well as the somewhat more recreational variety entitled War Games and Their History (2012) by C. G. Lewin. The second beneath tree was Armies of Bismark's Wars: Prussia 1860-67 (2013) by Bruce Bassett-Powell. I discuss these in a bit more detail here once I've had time to look them over more closely. The Young Master and Grand Duchess also presented me with some much needed Minden pioneers and Uhlans de Saxe as well as a few additional Austrian and Prussian limber horse riders for several additional planned wagons and ammunition carts.

The Young Master, for his part, had what I believe was a smashing time although the sugar and excitement of the day became to much in the end, and he had to be excused from the dinner table and put to bed early. A tired, overstimulated small child, who is hopped up on too much chocolate and other kinds of candy, does not a pleasant dining companion make. A much calmer day today, and our small, blonde progeny is building with some new Lego bricks in his bedroom and listening to one of his two new Diana Krall CD's. Hey, he's a young jazz cat, and who can find fault in that? Like, crazy man. . . Crazy! He still has a few gifts left to open beneath the tree today, so we'll do that with some eggnog and pumpkin (the Young Master's favorite) or cherry pie after supper this evening.

Today's vintage Christmas illustration is an old Swedish greeting card depicting, as you can see, boys and girls sledding in the snow. Since an old Scandinavian/Nordic tradition involved going for a sleighride on Saint Stephen's Day, December 26th. I lacked a suitable image though, so it seems like a nice idea to share this one instead. Since this year we have had no appreciable snow to speak of yet (the ground had been covered for two weeks by this time last year), we are going to take the Young Master to a local park that he likes for a long amble around the various paths and through the woods today.

I wish you a peaceful and quiet day of continued Christmas celebration in your part of the world. As my maternal grandfather used to toast us -- on the afternoon of the 26th, invariably with a scotch and water in hand, as we convened in the living room with the Christmas tree and a wood fire in the fireplace -- Happy Day After!

-- Stokes

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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