The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Grenadiers of the Kreisinfanter ie regiment Fürstenberg, who look remarkably like some old grumblers I painted way back in 2007! T he first pair of replacement Minden standard bearers for my line infantry regiments is almost finished.  Just sword scabbards, hilts, and neckstocks to do and then Bob is your mother's brother as the saying goes.  Once that is done, it will be time to work on the two flags and cords.  The poles will be made from brass rod, the cords come from Front Rank, I think .  I bought, in any case, two packs of these back in 2014 specifically for the planned reflagging.  Funny h ow it always seems to take a couple of y ears for plans to reach the actual doing stage!   If only I had two or three more pairs of arms.  The Human Centipede Goes Wargaming .  Now there's a horror film for you! A n yway, f or the flags themselves, I will try something a bit different this time.  My usual modus operandi for many years now ...

A cold, snowy January Sa tur day here in Mid-Michigan although sadly not enough snow to do anything with.  Still, a good day for another mug of coffee and some time here in Zum Stollenkeller .  The last 7-10 days have been too busy, so it's nice finally to have a truly free weekend with little to no planning for Monday's and Tuesday's classes since my students have peer review sessions of paper drafts coming up.  Ahhhhh. . . ---------- Which leads me to sorting.  I spent a pleasant hour or so down here last night following the Young Master's bedtime digging through the large drawer where my pile of lead and plastic reside.  It's always fun to root around the mound of stuff and see what you uncover, what you forgot about, and/or what might jump to the head of the painting queue merely because it strikes you.  ---------- More specifically, while I am not quite finished with several replacement standard bearers and additional ...

A few reprisals of some of last Saturday's photographs after sharpening, automatic levels adjustment, brightening, and cropping.  I hope you might enjoy looking these over once again. -- Stokes

M onkeying around with most (but not quite all) of the figures and scenery I've painted and cobbled together since August 2006 this afternoon.  I've meant to stage a grand review for a few years, but have not done so until now, Saturday afternoon.  So, here are my two armies converging on the market town of Hasenpfefferstadt, where the local gentry seem oblivious to what is happening around them.    The two companies each of pontooniers and pioneers, my var ious artillery crews, plus a regiment of cavalry I purchased a year ago from John Preece in the U.K. are not present on the tabletop, but everything else is here.  The term 'groaning board'  comes to mind (a 12' x 6' table) .  S till, there are plans to add to the GD of S c ollection , including those five additional units of cavalry currently in the painting queue, a few more units of line infantry, and two additional pairs of cannon (A u strian and R ussian) along with artillery crew to man...

  Three views of the now FINISHED half-dozen Minden Prussian limber teams, which have tormented me since late summer last year.  T ime to start those additional line infantry drummers and replacement standard bearers and those several new units of cavalry beyond that.  No more transport for a while.  Whew! -- Stokes Later that Next Day. . . And now for some technical details!  Here they are: 1) The 3mm thick ply bases are from Litko and measure 165mm long by 50mm wide.  Well worth the wait of a few weeks after ordering late last winter.  I don't know why on earth it took me so long to discover laser-cut wooden bases! 2) Once painting and glossing was done, last weekend, I used an old brush to apply liberal amounts of Liquitex acrylic matt medium and then covered each base in sand -- collected during the summer of 1984 from my maternal grandparents' creek bed in Berks County, Pennsylvania where yours truly spent his formative years -...

I ssue one of Wargamer's Notes Quarterly went live on January 1st, 2017, and it seems the young upstarts behind it are onto something.  Subscription requests have been coming in steadily since plans for the magazine were announced last fall, and they have grown in intensity the last few days.  If you too are interested in perusing the first issue a nd would like to join the subscription list for this high quality, FREE online magazine, or you would like to contribute your own article on how you tackle model sold i ers and go about the wargaming hobby, simply drop us a line at wargamersnotebook@gmail.com . -- Stokes

My wife maintains that overkill is my modus operandi in most things.  I don't see it. T hose six long in-progress Minden Prussian limber team bases have had their covering of sand cemented to them.  Tomorrow evening, it's on to the thinned acrylic Burn Umber ink, with tan dry-brushing and a smidgen of Woodland Scenics grass and foliage material to follow the evening after.  You can tell how badly I want to get these darn things done and move onto something else, eh?  Watch for a photograph or two of the finished pieces right here. -- Stokes

W ell, here we are. Almost two decades into the 21st century.  It seems like just yesterday that everyone was filled with anxiety about Y2K during the final weeks of the 20th century, and the apparent threat of our toasters and coffee makers taking over in a Terminator-like coup during the night of December 31st, 1999-January 1st, 2000.  I was living in Norway at the time, and, contrary to expectation, my trusty worldband radio, a Sony ICF2010 failed to take the opportunity to take me out while I slept.  And, as I say, here we are in 2017.  May your new year be filled with interesting reading about your chosen campaigns (real or imagined), the occasional game of toy soldiers, painting, collecting, and daydreaming about future tabletop exploits. -- Stokes