Two Companies of Minden Pioneers Finished!

The freshly glossed (two coats) Minden Pioneers and equipment. The photograph is a bit bright, but since much of my usual lighting is packed away now, I overcompensated in Photoshop, so everything would show up without difficulty.

Whew! Saturday has never felt so good. We have had a packing crew here for two long days this Thursday and Friday. The load-up and departure of our belongings is Monday, and we head for Michigan Tuesday midday after the cleaning ladies have finished giving everything the once-over. In the meantime, I have managed to finish the current and final painting project for a while. With any luck, I'll have time for some better lightbox photos tomorrow, and then I get to pack the last remaining bits into couple of book boxes filled with styrofoam peanuts.

While these latest figures are definitely not perfect, I'm calling 'em done. If you squint your eyes a bit, and remove your glasses if you wear them, they don't look half bad. In any case, they should do well for pioneering type duties for either the Grand Duchy of Stollen or the Electorate of Zichenau once we are again in a house with the space necessary for a semi-permanent wargaming table. I am making it a priority to stage a game based on a Charles S. Grant scenario of one kind or another when that (eventually) happens.

-- Stokes

A closer in shot of the 1st company, led by its stalwart NCO gesturing with his cane, along with the mounted officer. This group of figures is equipped with shovels, picks, and a lone hayfork in the back.

A less good shot of the 2nd company, consisting of men carrying gabions, boards, a ladder, axes, and a few adzes plus another wheelbarrow and a bucket of water.

Comments

Unknown said…

Hi Stokes,
A great job as usual. Great colour scheme as opposed to the more normal blue; I like it. They look very business like!
Best regards,
Simon

5:23 PM

Stryker said…

You've done a fantastic job there Stokes! I hope the move goes without too much stress and that all the little fellas arrive safely...

6:15 PM

MSFoy said…

Super - a fine body of men. Makes me wonder if they could turn their hand to building some raised beds for me, since my wife has another "project" coming up, to make sure I don't get to put my feet up.

2:02 AM

Conrad Kinch said…

Looking good Stokes. Best of luck with the move.

12:34 PM

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

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...

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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