The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Here's where we stand now with the second squadron of (Germanic) horse grenadiers in cuirasses and bearskins.  That's not a warped base in the rear row, but rather a hardened dollop of super glue dripped onto the cutting mat ten or more years ago that causes the slight lean of one particular pair of cavalry figures and mounts. V ery quiet here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen during these last couple of weeks.  The usual encroachments of life into free, uninterrupted hobby time you understand.   It's pointless cataloging the various impediments to painting since school began again a month ago.  There has to be an easier way, but, as yet, I have not figured it out.  As lamented any number of times here before, by the time The Young Master is tucked in at 8:30 in the evenings, I simply want to collapse into bed myself and not do anything but read or binge on the latest British or Australian TV series that the Grand Duchess and I watch via Netflix or Amaz...

The figures in question, looking not so very different from their last Kodak moment in August.  Isn't it funny how the figures seem like lifeless blobs of metal and paint for so much of the painting process?  At some point, however, there will be one key step completed that breaks the back of a project and makes them spring to life.  Hopefully, I'll get there before too much longer. O r so went the wisdom in the war adventure Snow Treasure (1967), a film adaptation of the Marie McSwigan novel by the same title, all about secret efforts by Norwegian school children to transport gold bars out of the country following the German invasion of Norway in April 1940.  A mountain (large task) is really just a series of small hills.  This is how I prefer to think of figure painting , especially during those times when progress slows down to a glacial pace.   And so the small painting hill yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and again in the evenin...

Two photographs of Eureka Miniatures' "Oh, you're so awful!" vignette, painted by yours truly in June 2018. A fter a busy Saturday putting finishing touches on some hobby-related projects (not actual painting or gaming I fear), and whipping up a batch of delicious spaghetti meat sauce in the late afternoon, I retreated back down here to Zum Stollenkeller Mk. II for a couple of hours to play with a camera and my light tent kit.  You might recall that the latter was purchased via Amazon after Christmas and the New Year last January, courtesy of an online giftcard from my parents.   Took about a dozen or so photos of the above vignette, two of which seemed good enough for some minor editing (basically just clicking on 'Auto Levels') and cropping in Pixlr online.  Not quite Orson Welles, Anthony Mann, or Edward Dmytryk quality as far as deep focus (depth of field) is concerned, but we're getting there.   A useful trick seems to be backing off the...

"One o'clock and all is we-ell!"  Or is it?  The sleeping Village of Borszchardstadt somewhere in the Mark of Schleiz a contested territory nestled between The Grand Duchy of Stollen and its nemesis The Electorate of Zichenau.  Borszchardstadt from the south at approximately 1:15am on the morning of 2. September 1763.  No, those are not Dalmatians grazing in the background but rather a small herd of 1/64 Holstein cattle. Our heroes lurking in the woods south of the village.  From left to right: Captain Pedersen from the Stollenian Corps of Engineers, Corporal Heinrich 'Heinie' Rahnzahn from the 1st Musketeers, the legendary Oberfeldwebel Klatschen from the Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers, and Gustl 'The Kid' Goshen, who volunteered to come on this mission chiefly because he idolizes the older and more seasoned Klatschen. Our band emerges from the woods at the start of the game and makes its way carefully across the f...