The Table Has Been Set. . .

The field of battle, basically laid out, though I need to add a small river and mill run for the mill.

Spent a pleasant few hours yesterday evening, after the usual post-dinner long walk around the neighborhood, applying acrylic gloss to some cavalry figures until about 10pm. I then thought it was time to set the table for the planned Action at Sägemühledorf, aka Sawmill Village. So, here is what we have minus a few forthcoming last-minute details.

Since each side will have an element of light infantry added to its order of battle this time around, it made sense to have a slightly larger playing area available. What you see above is a 6'x8' surface covered with a single Hotz matt. Atop that are roads and fields, also by Eric Hotz. The trees are cake decorations that I've had since 2006, affixed to Litko terrain bases back in 2016 with The Young Master's help. The various houses were scratch-built at different times by yours truly. The mill is the most recent model added to the collection.

In any case, all of the houses are based on existing structures across the northeast of Germany and Northern Poland, and a slice of Lithuania, which is to say Pomerania, Brandenburg, and ex-East Prussia. Nothing helps set the scene better than model structures that reflect the actual architecture of a particular place and time.

A cool, sunny Saturday here today, and following some morning errands, I must mow the now beautifully green and tall grass, thanks to recent rains and organic fertilizer, before I can get down to wargaming business. The game will either take place this evening, or Sunday. Stay tuned.

-- Stokes

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

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog