The Grand Duchy of Stollen

    T he three of us spent an amazing couple of hours at a local ski area early this afternoon.  Ideal temperatures, several inches of new snow, groomed trails. We even chatted (from an appropriate social distance, with apologies to Bette Midler) with a couple of Norwegians and Swedes during mid-ski pauses along the trail.  The woods of Mid-Michigan.  Who would have thought?  Funny the odd places they turn up!   In any case, I cannot recall when I have had so much fun on skis.  It has been a dozen years or more.  And Young Paul is really coming along.  He navigated all hills but two, fell only once, and really picked up the pace during our second hour.  He may well give the Norwegians a run for their money in another few years, but for now, he ought to drop off early and sleep soundly tonight. -- Stokes

  Just a couple of quick photos to illustrate where things stand at the moment.  I should have mounted the infantry colonel next to the trumpeter on a taller horse, but oh, well.  Definitely not going to monkey with it now.   A bout an hour in the ol' painting chair this morning before The Young Master took over Zum Stollenkeller for his weekly Tae Kwon Do classes via Zoom, and again mid-afternoon while he was off doing something in his room and The Grand Duchess filled the house with Chopin [and also Debussy, Bach, Beethoven, et al ] numbers from the piano.   Not too many misplaced blotches to fix, and I decided to ignore a couple of others, which are so minute that I'll forget about them in a week or so.  Other than the brass buttons and grass green on the bases, plus a bit more tinkering with horse nostrils-mouths, the officers' sashes, and the trumpeter, these babies are just about ready for a couple of coats of acrylic gloss.   The nine...

  Still a number of small details and touching up to do, but we're getting there. A second delightful and highly productive hour in the painting chair yesterday evening.  This time, I flew solo following my young painting partner's bedtime.  My session saw numerous small details painted in on my own figures, which I am eager to finish, so I can move on to an infantry regiment of either Austrians, or blue-coated Reichsarmee, or a blue-coated Prussian allied regiment.   But that's putting cart before the, ahem, horse.  The session was one of those all too rare times when it seemed the figures almost painted themselves.  One detail was completed so quickly that I moved on to the next and the next and the next. . .  And so forth.  The only 'big' things to do are to finish the grey horse's coat and paint the wooden bases their usual bright green. In any case, I stopped painting just before 10pm, highly satisfied with my work, and repaired upstairs...

Still a long way to go, but the are starting to look a little better.  Young Paul and I feel that fleshtone and horseflesh should be next. F inally managed to get a little painting time in with The Young Master late this Saturday afternoon (I cannot compete with TV following the evening meal it seems).  We managed to get two coats of grass green on the bases in fairly short order, and I cleaned up a few things for Paul on the 24 figures he takes care of on the right after he spun off into left field and another activity in another area of the house. I'll be back to the painting bench this evening after his bedtime to work a bit on my own nine Austrian horse grenadiers and regimental staff.  Lots of small details now, but some of these go pretty quickly, so I feel like things are in the home stretch at this point. -- Stokes

  The coat of the grey must be finished, and there are still numerous small details to address, but these last nine figures for that large regiment of dragoons begun last May (2020) are not unpleasing at this point.  The French trumpeter will wear a made up uniform.  I prefer for my cavalry to have trumpeters, and wanted something showy, gaudy even, for this particular figure.  Like his eight fellows, he's not yet finished either, but so far, so good.  I've used a brand new #1 round to add the scarlet highlights and gold on the raised details atop the darker red undercoat, and the new eye glasses for close-up work have been very helpful.  I suddenly find painting a pleasure again.   P lugging away with those nine Austrian horse grenadiers and dragoon staff in the evenings after my young painting partner has retired for the night.  By Jove, they are getting very close to being finished!  And it has been just over a month since I began with the...

Still quite a way to go, but the basic blue uniform and the black hats are finished. A productive hour or so painting with Young Master Paul this Sunday afternoon.  Snow on the ground outside, but not enough for satisfactory cross-country skiing [The Grand Duchess and I agree that we need about 6" on the ground at least for  good glide.  Our snows so far this year, and unusually, have been mere dustings.], so what better way to spend some time together on a winter afternoon?  Our plan is to do the black cartridge pouches, gaiters, and shoes next, followed by the fleshtone areas, and green bases.  Basic brown will follow for the musket stocks, and then we can begin addressing the numerous smaller details.  Tally ho! -- Stokes

  A couple of different projects going at the same time!  We've got two good thin coats of the white acrylic gesso applied and have move to blocking in the basic dark blue uniform color.  As time has presented itself, I've also continued adding details and piping to the nine horse grenadiers and regimental staff for that three-squadron MONSTER regiment of Batthyanyi Dragoons painted between May and October 2020.  Covid lockdown painting!   T he Young Master and I have been having a blast with base-coating and applying the basic dark blue -- a very nice shade of navy blue -- to his battalion of Prussian garrison troops.  It's been slow going, but priceless for the calm, focused effort and wargaming-related conversation that takes place as we work side by side for about 30-60 minutes in the evenings.  Not unlike the quiet chat I remember from trout fishing and camping trips in the woods of southern Missouri with my father when I was four and five y...

  The Young Master, some weird middle-aged guy, and the thumb of The Grand Duchess in the midst of base-coating figures. W ell, we finally managed to sit down together earlier today, to apply an initial coat of white acrylic gesso to the 40 or so Minden Prussian musketeers that comprise Young Paul's first ever batch of his own figures.  Contrary to my expectations, we breezed through 'em fairly quickly.  He is already a dab hand with the brush and did more than half of the figures himself.   We plan to check 'em tomorrow (Sunday) to see if they need a second thin coat before pressing on with the initial dark blue under coats for the coats, waistcoats, and breeches.  I'll take care of the faces and hands before we move on to the black hats, gaiters and shoes as well as the cartridge pouches, and then we'll see what to address next. Paul mentioned several times during today's session how excited he is to be doing this with ol' Dad, so I am hoping he might wan...

  The village of Zichenstadt where the gouty General von Bauchschemerzen is being held prisoner in the house to the left of the village church.  During the middle of the night, Captain Paul von Stollen, Oberfeldwebel Klatschen, Heinie, and Gustl 'The Kid' Goshen make their way from the edge of the woods along the table edge at right toward the village to attempt their rescue mission. T he Young Master and I played out our rescue scenario in just under one hour this afternoon.  Amazingly, his luck held out and his men managed to escape detection during their approach to Zichenstadt, their rescue of General von Bauchschmerzen, and their escape back to the safety of the woods well before daybreak.  Equally amazing, the band of four rescuers managed to carry out their mission without interference from enemy sentries or curious villagers.   We used a D6 for random movement each turn for the Young Master's four figures and 2d6 after each move to see whether or no...

  The tranquil village in question. . . Y oung Master Paul and I took a few minutes this afternoon to set the table for our forthcoming raid-rescue.  He will lead a small band of soldiers, who have been tasked with finding and rescuing the gouty General von Bauchschmerzen from the nefarious Zichenauers, under the command of that most notorious cad and bounder General Phillipe de Latte.   What my son does not know is that there will be a logic and deduction component to the game.  Before he can rescue von Bauchschmerzen, he must work out in which of the six buildings the good general is held.  I also plan to throw in a wandering sentry or two just to keep the Young Master on his toes.  Play is slated to begin following school tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. -- Stokes

  Young Master Paul's forthcoming Prussian garrison regiment all tacked down to their temporary painting bases and ready for base-coating.  I am toying with the idea of mixing lots of dark blue into the white acrylic gesso to combine the first couple of steps into one.  Not sure if that's the way we'll go quite yet though. H appy New Year (properly)!  It's actually already January 3rd, but I've taken a few days away from the hobby as we have de-decorated and put the house back in order.  The Young Master has been occupied with other things too, so we have not yet had our planned New Year's Day raid-rescue game, but we'll do so later this  afternoon in a few hours. The two of us have also discussed what to do with his Minden Prussian musketeers that he received for Christmas, and have figured that either Frederick's 1st Garrison Regiment, or 3rd Garrison Regiment will fit the bill for relatively simple uniforms that don't require too much facing color...