The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Very late in the game, you can observe General MacDuff's army converging on Sittangbad and the trapped remnants of General von Tschatschke's forces.  Von Tschatschke seems adept at losing his guns! R ealized some days ago that I had yet to share how the final few turns of the recent Sittangbad E-Fight between General MacDuff and General von Tschatschke, and hosted by Greg Horne, shaped up.  While, von Tschatschke was able to get about half of his army across the R i ver Weser and out of direct harm's way, the relentless onslaught of General MacDuff's forces meant that a regiment of cuirassiers, two guns with most of their crews, and a regiment of infantry were sacrificed, either as casualties, or, in the case of the infantry, as surrendered prisoners.  Most frustrating of all, von Tschatsschke's two young engineer officers, who were detailed to blow the bridge spanning the River Weser, were never quite able to do so.  Blame a wet fuse, damp powder, or probabl...

  An innocent enough looking mug of Constant Comment orange-flavored tea,laced with two-teaspoons of sugar, a healthy dollop of clover honey, and a shot of Knappogue Castle 12-year old single malt Irish whisky.  It worked wonders and, oddly, did not taste that bad.  I'll have another before bed this evening. T he curative powers of uninterrupted sleep are amazing.  While I don't feel tip-top today, the nine or so hours I enjoyed before waking at 9:05 this morning were, in a word, delightful.  As was the hot shower shortly thereafter.  I feel, at least, human again and will sit down for a couple of hours early this evening after the Young Master's bedtime, for some painting.  Incidentally, the hot tea laced with various 'medicinal' ingredients really worked and cleared my head and throat considerably  as I sipped it at the breakfast table.  Our forebearers were definitely onto something in the days before over-the-counter cold medicat...

W ell, darn it!  There is a much anticipated lull in the reading and course prep this weekend, and I was so looking forward to some uninterrupted soldier painting.  And what do you think happened?  Yep, I woke up with a cold and slight fever this morning and had to miss not one, but two Friday events, a meeting and a professional development seminar.  Not deathly ill, mind you, but I don't feel like doing a darn thing.  Even picking up a paintbrush seems less that exciting at the moment.  Blah. -- Stokes

IMPORTANT: Google Friend Connect (GFC) & Blogger follower changes I've noticed that on a couple of days, I've suddenly lost a significant amount of followers on Google Friend Connect (GFC). While you do tend to lose a follower here and there, the sudden loss of this many followers seemed strange to me. Another blogger recently googled to see if GFC was experiencing issues (back in 2011 they phased out GFC for non-blogger sites, so wouldn't be the first time). Apparently, starting the week of January 11th, Google has been slowly adding this requirement:  you now MUST have Google account in order to follow blogs through Google Friend Connect. If you follow blogs with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut, or other Open ID providers, you will lose your subscriptions to blogger blogs via GFC.  Fortunately, if you'd like to continue receiving updates from me, you could do as they suggest and sign up for a Google account and re-follow your blogs.  Thanks! Here's th...

A Continental Army staff group that I painted two or three years ago using the methods outlined below.  The 1/56 scale miniatures are from the Fife&Drum range, which is compatible with Minden, Crann Tara, and RSM95 figures and, to some extent, those by Eureka, Jackdaw, and Suren (W i llie). T his week, a comment was left by a new visitor, in which he remarked about the porcelain-like appearance of my figures and asked how I get that look.  Well, it is a bit inexact, and I am always tinkering with the way I do things, but basically, it's like this.  For me, the once - upon - a - time look of the shiny Napoleonic figures in the collections of Peter Gilder and Doug Mason, that featured prominently in issues of Military Modelling and Miniature Wargames during the early 1980s, has always informed my painting.  However, it was not until a few years back that I decided to go whole hog and at least try to do something similar in my own painting.  Here's th e ...

The view from our front walk here at Totliegh-in-the-Wold this morning just before 10:30am.   M eanwhile, at Totleigh-in-the-Wold life is good and we are enjoying the winter with cold, snow, and fires on the hearth during the evenings.  Tonight, the Grand Duchess and I will play a game or two of Scrabble and enjoy something medicinal , which should help my game.  Immeasurably.  Sittangbad E-fight and soldier painting updates to follow this weekend.  Happy Friday everyone! -- Stokes  Saturday Morning Update. . . Thank you for your kind words men.  The deer here do eat things from the flower and vegetable gardens we have been advised, so I am unsure what the Grand Duchess will do when she plants a vegetable garden next summer.  Bambi and his dr oogs do, however, seem to leave hasta and ivy alone, since there is a lot of both in the beds, and it look ed rather nice when we first viewed and visited the house last Septembe...

Just a few of the Croats fighting for the Electorate of Zichenau, arch enemy to the Grand Duchy of Stollen.  T he Grand Duchy of Stollen is now on Facebook !  Find and like us there.  The terminally befuddled and out of touch Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II and his gentleman's personal gentleman Hives hope to see you soon. -- Stokes

 Most of the now finished Stollenkeller, Mk. II as you enter via the staircase down to the basement and make an immediate left, looking, more or less, eastward. W ell, the university semester has begun, we are a week in, and things are about to become terribly busy as usual, so time to make a huge push to get things finished down here in my den before free time becomes a rare commodity what with teaching, professional, and family commitments here at Totleigh-in-the-Wold.   With that in mind, I spent yesterday (Friday -- I have no classes and few professional commitments on campus on Fridays), hanging my things, putting a few remaining items away in our ample closet space down here, and getting rid of the last moving cartons and packing paper that have cluttered one end of the main central room since before Christmas.   While there are still a few things I would like to do down here eventually, in general, I am pleased with how things have shaped up....

  A particularly nice photograph by Greg Horne, taken from General MacDuff's side of the table with Eisenburg Village in the near distance and the larger Sittangbad in the background. W e received word from Greg this morning that he is home, and the game is afoot once again!  Ross (General MacDuff) and I (General von Tschatschke) will issue our orders for Move Six shortly before moving on to shooting and any melees that might occur. -- Stokes Here, you'll observe General von Tschatschke (in faded red, or perhaps pink at the lower right) and his army retreating through Sittangbad and across the River Weser.

Another one of my favorites from the 2013 Elbow River refight.  Stollenian officers interrogate a Zichenauer dragoon in green. W ell, the Christmas trees have been removed from the house, and the decorations have been put away for another year here at Totleigh-in-the-Wold.  The house looks a bit empty, but on the other hand, it's nice to have the holiday clutter gone and the pine needles vacuumed up, which itself reintroduces a pleasant aroma into the house for 3o minutes of so afterwards.  Ahhhh.   Spent the middle third of Sunday afternoon having a series of thinks (Thank you, Dr. Seuss!) as I made a concerted effort to unpack the final half-dozen moving boxes occupying space in our bedroom.  Not entirely new thoughts, mind you, but rather expanding on what I initially shared about my 2016 painting goals a week+ ago on The Feast of Stephen, otherwise known as December 26th.  Here are my expanded blatherings. . .  1) Finish the latter ...