A Vernacular Architectural Saturday Afternoon Digression. . .

Sounds like a Syd Barret-era Pink Floyd composition, doesn't it? Or possibly something from The Move.

The above book arrived via DHL a couple of hours ago (our mail lady brought it to the door for a signature), and I am just tickled pink by the depth of the subject matter and overall fine quality of the reprint. I actually forgot all about my order of the book a few weeks back, so its arrival was a lovely surprise.

Anyway, 510 pages of copious text (in German), photographs, mechanical drawings, and tables. Very pleased with the purchase! A source I have been aware of, and meant to purchase a copy "one day" for several years, but it was not until Charles Grant's recent how-to piece in the 2023 Wargamers' Annual and the related discussion over on the Fife and Drum Miniatures forum that I took the leap.

A bit pricey, but look around online for alternative sellers to Amazon, which is what I did, and you might be able to pick up a copy of this coffee table-sized tome at considerable savings. Always a good thing, because more is left in the war chest for toy soldiers, paints, and scenic items! My own copy cost roughly half of those on Amazon in price with a bit more to cover shipping from Germany.

It's worth noting that the text is NOT old-fashioned Fraktur script, which makes use much easier for modern eyes. But even if you don't want to attempt close reading and/or translation with a German-English dictionary, there is lots of information to be gleaned from the pictures and illustrations for scratch-building models of rural structures to set an admittedly Germanic scene atop our respective tables.

Here's a bit more information abut the book for anyone who might be interested in whether, or not to track down a copy:

Das Bauernhaus im Deutschen Reiche und in seinen Grenzgebieten (1905/1906). Mit historisch-geographischer Einleitung (Farmhouses in the German Reich and Its Frontier Areas. With Historical-Geographical Preface. . . My very rough translation). The author/editor was Dietrich Schäfer

The book was apparently reissued in 2000 and contains, besides copious text, numerous illustrations and architectural drawings of rural structures found around Imperial Germany just before the First World War. Also included are many tables with information on the various styles of farmhouses and outbuildings as they existed at that time. The book was originally funded and published by a national association of architects and engineers, based in Dresden, early in the 20th century.

Again, my own translation is very rough -- off the top of my head in fact -- so native speakers of German are invited to chime in if I've made mistakes anywhere. I would usually ask The Grand Duchess Sonja to assist, but it's fun to stretch my own linguistic wings from time to time. Who knew that all those years of studying Norwegian (both written varieties), Swedish, Danish, Old Norse, and a semester of Dutch would be so helpful when it comes to approaching the occasional German text?

Ok, time now for a bit more jaeger painting! I've held forth more than long enough for everyone. Blah, blah, blah. . .

Kind Saturday Afternoon Regards Everyone,

-- Stokes

Comfortable Rules for Games of Glossy Toy Soldiers in the Old Style. . .

Introduction A Tangled Mass is a game of toy soldiers in the old style, set more or less in the middle part of the 18 th century. Our miniature forces are colorful and, we hope, glossy. Although the latter, like so much else, is up to the discretion of the players. But it is the modeling, brushwork, and unit organization of hobby greats like Gilder, Mason, and Robinson that provide our visual touchstone and continue to inform "the look of the thing" even now. Tabletop armies in A Tangled Mass can be historic, semi-historic, or whimsically fictitious, but the more flags and mounted officers, the better. Formations, while bearing some resemblance to their historic precedents, are generic: column, line, or extended order for lighter types. Squares, while possible, are less common than during all of that later Napoleonic madness with its guillotines and Spanish ulcers. And we'll simply choose not to mention patent leather dancing pumps, or that unseemly bedr

Prussian 3rd Garrison Regt. Update. . .

Still a few small things to do, including apply fleshtone to a left hand on an officer that I somehow missed at some point plus lace on the drummers and officers , but we're very close to the glossing stage. L ots of painstaking work to clean up edges, highlight folds, and touch up various bits and pieces the last few evenings. My trusty little Sony Cybershot, I fear, has gone to that big electronics place in the sky and no longer seems to be working. Well, I've had it since 2013, and small electronics don't last forever, so I cannot complain. With that little hiccup in mind, I snapped today's shot with my iPhone, brightened, and cropped it in Fotor before sharing it here. Again, the blue is not quite so bright in reality, but the auto-improve, or whatever they call it, makes for nice bright photographs in which everything shows up. Not long before these are done, and The Young Master was suitably please when I asked him to have a look a few minutes ago. -- Sto

A Break in the Radio Silence. . .

S till plugging away at the 60 or so Wied Infantry currently on the painting bench as and when work and family life permit. Using three different whites for the clothing, shoulder belts, and officers' wigs plus trying some Army Painter quick washes. My friend and one-time online magazine co-editor Greg Horne (the man behind The Duchy of Alzheim , still one of my blog and hobby touchstones) suggested I give washes a try a month or two ago, and I think he might be onto something. Admittedly, he suggested the Citadel contrast range, but what I purchased eventually is in that general direction. I am especially pleased with the Army Painter flesh wash, which picks out the facial details on the Minden figures very nicely. I've applied it on top of my usual Windsor & Newton alkyd oil fleshtone and then highlighted the brows, bridges of noses, cheeks, chins, lower lips, and knuckles/thumbs the next day with more of the fleshtone. Suddenly, and with relative ease, my paint

Archduke Piccolo said…

Talk about thorough! Most war gamers like to research their subjects, but this is going the extra nine yards! I'll be watching this space...
Cheers,
Ion

3:24 PM

Chris Kemp said…

That sounds like an excellent find, Archduke. I hit my personal limit with a limited print run of a glossy coffee table book showing the Bond movie sets, for £850.

I so badly wanted the detailed plans for a secret supervillain lair disguised as an extinct volcano! :-(

Regards, Chris.

7:15 PM

tidders said…

I have the book as well; I sometimes sit and leaf through it to get some ideas for buildings. I've too many buildings but maybe one can be added sometime ... :)

9:20 AM

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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