Skip to main content

Bosniak Noir. . .

Taking a close look at the figures, these seem to be the various small details that need to bee addressed moving forward.  Oh, and of course the white markings on the horses.


Well, here is where things stand as of December 21st, the winter solstice and shortest days of the year here in the Northern hemisphere.  I've been painting these 14 riders and horses as part of small painting challenge that a few friends and I have been running since 'round about the 1st of the month.  

Our agreed deadline is December 23rd given how things tend to get very busy for many with last minute things, family commitments, church services, visits from Santa Claus/Father Christmas, and so forth.  And for most of us, I think the goal has been not necessarily to get the figures finished but at least to make some painting headway.  And indeed, headway is being made although I'll have to continue with the smaller details once things quiet down a bit during Christmas Week.  

I'm also aiming for a couple of small solo games on the table during Christmas Week though I must first clear it of my own and The Young Master's assorted things that have been piled on it during the fall semester/term.  But that is perhaps getting a bit ahead of ourselves here at Stollen Central!  So, let's talk a bit about what I've managed at the painting table since last we met.

Stepping back a bit from the painting table -- and to come clean, I took a break on Friday evening and worked on my Call It Macaroni rules instead --  the larger, easier areas of the figures and horses are all done.  Now, it's all of those tiny, maddening little details to take care of.  That and the inevitable touch-ups after the fact.  And finally, the usual two coats of acrylic gloss.

The last few days of the Christmas rush notwithstanding, I'll paint as and when I can.  I'd really like to get these finished by January 1st though.  Cross your fingers and toes, and stay tuned.

And finally, before signing off for today, it looks like we've picked up a couple of new followers in the last several days or so, so welcome to Brett and Nathan.  I hope you'll continue to find the grand Duchy of Stollen an interesting and maybe even inspiring"place" to visit from time to time.

-- Stokes


P.S.
Speaking of my developing mid-18th century rules Call It Macaroni, I finally whittled down the playsheet to a single side of a piece of paper yesterday evening.  The key was simplifying the rules for close combat and morale checks as well as shrinking the font size.  That and cutting and pasting the more detailed explanatory language to another page.  Still much to do, but it is exciting when something you have been thinking about and messing with for two years or more finally starts coming together.  But of this, more anon.



And were Film Noir directors like Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Anatole Litvak wargamers and collectors of toy soldiers, they might have included a shot like this on their blogs had such technology existed during the 1940s and early 50s.  I call this particular shot 'Bosniak Noir.'

Comments

The Seasons Greetings to you and yours , those Bosniaks are coming on great ! .
Have a lovely Christmas Stokes.

Popular posts from this blog

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

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...

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 ...