Nearing the Finish with Batch #3. . .

Having a "No Day" this Saturday, as my late mother would have put it. Just saying no to everyone, everything, and enjoying some me time. What better way to do that than to continue brushwork on the current batch of 16 figures? I thought you'd agree.

This time around, I tried taking pictures with my iPhone. I think they are marginally better than those taken with my now venerable Sony Cybershot although I am not quite sure. In any case, PixlrX still is not cooperating and refuses to open any of my images, so these are the raw pictures without any autofix, adjusting for brightness, or cropping.

Still, they provide a reasonable idea of where things are at the moment.

Remaining tasks include the queues at the back as well as highlighting visible hair and curls at the temples, mustaches, and metallics (musket barrels and firelocks plus brass fittings, cartridge pouch badges, and the few visible buttons), plus the inevitable touch-ups. And then I will be free to forge ahead to the final 13 officers, NCOs, and musicians plus the ol' mounted officer and horse before flags, glossing, and permanent basing.

With the start of school on September 1st for yours truly, maybe we are looking at another month's work on the current unit? We'll have to see, but I am eager to finish these, so The Young Master and I can return to his battalion of Prussian garrison infantry.

I'd also like to tackle a couple of mounted generals or perhaps a couple of guns with crew in time for Young Paul's 12th birthday at the end of October, or Christmas if time becomes scarce in the meantime. The latter is probably the more realistic view if we are honest.

Beyond that, another squadron or two of cavalry followed another regiment of line infantry, this time an Austrian regiment with some wonderfully striped flags is the plan. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here! Quite a bit in the planned queue before that particular project takes shape.

-- Stokes

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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