The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Friends. Wargamers. Miniature Collectors. Imaginary Country Enthusiasts. Loyal subjects. It seems there have been about 1000 visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen -- 1768 since adding a counter several weeks ago. Thanks to everyone who regularly drops by, especially those of you who leave suggestions and comments behind. Feedback is always a good thing. Stay tuned in future weeks. There's much more to come! Irwin Amadeus II -- Grand Duke of Stollen

Well, I managed to finish most of the tasks I set out to complete in last Thursday’s posting. The Jaegers zu Fuss are all painted and awaiting a coating of Future acrylic floor polish to protect their paintjob. Not too many touch-ups were necessary. Mostly just some GW “Chaos Black” here and there to fix a few minor errors on gaiters and hats. The figures in question look pretty darn good. Or at least I am pleased with them. Photos will follow later this week. Stay tuned right here boys and girls! I next trimmed mold lines from the 25mm MiniFigs Prussian officers and their horses, following with fairly copious amounts of “super glue” gel to stick’em onto their horses. I also carefully cut out some heavy card bases to mount the horses on because their metal bases are a bit narrow for them to stand securely by themselves. Anyway, the two generals and an ADC are now awaiting a couple of black base coats. Third, I soaked and scrubbed 12 Revell SYW Austrian artillery...

Well, for some reason yesterday, Blogger was presenting all kinds of problems each time I attempted to make a new posting. So, keep in mind that the following was intended to appear YESTERDAY -- Saturday, October 28, 2006. . . Another, crisp breezy fall day – but the kind with sunshine, so it’s really pretty outside with orange and yellow leaves falling from the trees and formations of birds flying to the south. I wish we had a fireplace because there’s nothing like the sight, sound, and smell of a wood fire inside. Kind of makes me nostalgic for the days of my youth and adolescence when we lived with my grandparents in rural southeastern Pennsylvania . They had a 200 year old stone farmhouse with three fireplaces! Yep, nothing like a wood fire in a fireplace. So, what’s on tap here at Grand Duchy of Stollen Central this weekend? Well, numerous little things. First, in about ten minutes, I’m going to paint the final bits of the Jaegers zu Fuss – silver musket barrels and brass trig...

I cannot recommend the North American producer and distributor of MiniFigs enough -- Tom Dye and his small crew at Game Figures Incorporated are on the ball! I just gave them a ring a few minutes ago to check on the availability of Prussian and “German” Austrian infantry standard bearers. You might recall that I intend to replace the figures that came with the Revell 1/72 SYW sets with heavier metal figures, so I can use the wonderful standards from the WarFlag and NapFlags websites. Anyway, the man I spoke to, “Ted”, checked on figure availability immediately. He told me GFI had molds for both and, although my order is only for 12 figures, that they would “spin” enough to fill it. No problem. Best of all, he added that the order should ship early next week. Plus they already had my address and payment information at hand, so we were only on the phone for about 5 minutes. It was an impressive display of customer service. If all goes well, I might have the figures...

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 So, I had an ongoing and bizarre conversation with my wife, Sonja, last night about all manner of things while she was trying to read through student papers, and I was paging idly through the latest issue of Battlegames, examining photos of the refight of Sittangbad at last May’s Partizan. Two words came up during the course of our exchange that might have a place in my imaginary 18 th century world centered on the Grand Duchy of Stollen and its arch enemy The Electorate of Zichenau. I like them at any rate. See what you think. First, we have the word “auflauf” which is German for something akin to a casserole made from all kinds of ingredients, often leftovers that are thrown into the pot. When you get a good auflauf, it’s quite tasty. My wife makes quite good auflauf if I do say so myself. Conversely, a bad auflauf is something to be avoided at all costs – much like Chinese take-out food in Germany ! I think the word would make...

A crisp, chilly Sunday morning here in Central Illinois -- Finally, it feels like October! Well, I managed to get in two separate sessions with the Jaegers zu Fuss yesterday. First, I painted all halberds and the walking sticks of two officers brown, followed by silver swords, pike heads on the halberds, lace on the mounted colonel’s light blue saddle cloth, etc. Then, I painted the reins and harnesses of the colonel’s horse and then the horse himself – A lovely light bay stallion with a white blaze on his muzzle and white socks on three of his legs. I must admit that I enjoy painting single horses for generals and mounted offices. However, as Jeff Hudelson (The Duke of Saxe-Bearstein) discussed on his blog and at the OSW group a few weeks ago, I get bored painting multiple horses in my cavalry units. Nevertheless, it is very useful to have some kind of reference work on horses in one’s wargames library. I’d recommend Horses by Elwyn Hartley Edwards, one of t...

October has not been a kind month so far. First, I contracted another nasty head cold that kept me in bed for most of last weekend with a slight fever. For the second time in five weeks! That cleared up by the beginning of last week, but then I woke up on Thursday morning with a case of Conjunctivitis (or Pink Eye in everyday language), which required another visit to the doctor, time spent waiting around filling prescriptions, and a day of cancelled classes. Seems that the college where I teach is a veritable playground for germs and viruses. One would think I was teaching drippy-nosed preschoolers. And from what I have observed of the young “adults” to whom I teach writing and composition, few parents seem to have instilled habits like covering one’s mouth when one sneezes, yawns, or coughs. Is it just me? Or do many people below a certain age seem to lack even the most basic manners? Anyway, this means that I am somewhat behind schedule with my Jaegers zu Fu...

Currently enjoying a coffee break after completing the white belts, small straps, and sword knots on one company of the Jaegers zu Fuss. After I finish my mug of java, it’s back to do the same on the second company. Then, depending on how time is going, I want to finish painting the white musket straps for the rest of the unit. I painted six of these the other night. Finally, I’ll touch up the “GW Goblin Green” bases, before moving on to the musket stocks. Where is all this time coming from? Well, my wife left for a four-day conference in Colorado Springs today, so it’s just me, the kitty, and the beta fish. This means there’s some extra time. What better way to use it than to sit myself down at the painting desk and get cracking! Right? I spent a little time looking through some books and magazines after I got home late this afternoon. Another favorite book of mine is Peter Young’s The War Game (1973). You know -- the one where ten famous battles from his...

I was thinking about yesterday's post during the drive to school this morning and realized that I also revisit certain favorite articles from time to time. Yes, there are a few pivotal articles in my collection of old Miniature Wargames and Wargames Illustrated magazines that fire my imagination (thank you Mick and Keith) again and again. Surely, it must be the same for many of you. Off the top of my head, there are two articles that appeared in Minature Wargame #6 and #7 by a guy named Mark Clayton called "Tolstoy and Morale". Any of you remember these? In a nutshell, Clayton used his reading of Tolstoy's War and Peace as a basis for simplified morale rules for Napoleonic era games. At the time, I found these so stimulating, that I decided D&D was no longer that interesting (I was about 16-17). Within days, my new passion became Napoloeonic figures, gaming, and history, and I've never looked back. Never ended up actually using Clayton's morale rules in a ...

In view of a current discussion going on over at OSW about one's favorite old school battle reports, I thought I'd join in here. Of my regular visitors who "tune in" here regularly, what are your favorite "old school" figures and why? Here, I mean specifically figures by older firms like Spencer Smith, Suren, Willie, Tradition, Holger Eriksson, Les Higgins, et al. Even older MiniFigs might be counted as far as I'm concerned. And how long have the RSM95 figures been around? Since at least the early 80s, I think, albeit under a different name at that time. If you know, please pass on on the information to me. Unfortunately, I have no firsthand experience with any of these lines myself, but I've certainly drooled over the photos of others' collections and games at OSW, Battlegames#4, and elsewhere. Someday soon, I mean to buy enough metal Spencer Smiths and RSM95's for a couple of respectably sized infantry units, but I digress. Any of y...

I managed to get in another couple of hours painting last night. Only six figures left waiting for their light blue turnbacks to be finished. That was a tedious job and my hands were not particularly steady last night. Too much coffee after dinner? Hmmm, I wonder ;-) So, I changed tack and moved to something larger and easier. I decided to complete all brown shoulder packs, followed by the khaki-colored haversacks hanging just below the shoulder packs. Well, the Jaegers zu Fuss look very nice now. Most large areas requiring color of some kind are finished. Here’s a rundown of the remaining areas in need of paint: 1) Turnbacks on last six figures 2) Musket stocks 3) Musket Barrels 4) White Shoulder Straps for Shoulder Packs 5) Khaki Shoulder Straps for Haversacks 6) Small White Straps on Brown Should Packs 7) Brass Plates on Cartridge Pouches 8) Brass Pommels on Swords and Tips of Scabbards 9) Small Da...

Just concluded a nice painting session on the Jaegers zu Fuss. The drum shells are a light blue and the hoops are bright yellow. This matches the yellow coat lace and blue facings I painted on the drummers’ uniforms yesterday afternoon. Although nothing is completely finished yet, my drummers look striking! Last night, I completed the lace around the top of each tri-cornered hat, gold for the officers and NCO’s and bright yellow for the enlisted men. Since it’s plain which figures will function as the NCO’s, I’ve decided to leave the gaiters for all ranks black in this particular unit of infantry. After all, I’ve not been able to find any pictures of historical units of 18 th century jaegers who had white gaiters in my Funcken, Mollo, or Men-at-Arms sources. Oh, and I’ve also painted the brown shoulder packs on seven of the figures too. It’s always neat once the faces, hair, and headgear are finished – a group of miniature figures really starts to look like a re...

A good question and one that has been mentioned several times over at OSW for the last few days with regard to “what” is appropriate for posting at that group and what should be addressed elsewhere. Can anyone provide a fairly succinct answer to the question though? Many at OSW have, no doubt, pondered the subject already. Mike Siggins offered his take on the matter of the “old school” approach in a recent issue of Battlegames. And many of my own questions are similar to his. For example, what is it about the idea of “old school” wargaming that so many find attractive? Dissatisfaction with recent/current wargaming trends (rules, figures, behavior of gaming opponents, etc)? Why exactly? And why are wargaming authors/personalities like Bruce Quarrie or Paddy Griffith (prominent, at least, in my wargaming library and milieu) not necessarily considered old school and largely omitted from discussion in forums like OSW or TMP? Continuing along, what constitutes an "old ...

Well, well. Lately, my painting conscience isn’t hurting me as badly -- I’ve managed a few short painting sessions over the last couple of evenings on my Jaegers zu Fuss. Each man now has a “British Rifle Green” jacket, light blue facings, turnbacks, smallclothes, and breeches, and the bases are a uniform coat of Games Workshop “Goblin Green”. What a great color for bases, and how nice the battalion now appears on parade. Yes gents, another batch of digital photos will be here shortly. Rest easy! Way back in the mid to late-1980s, I used to paint the bases of my Napoleonic troops a fairly similar shade of green, and I had forgotten the pleasing appearance this method yields. Have to say that “old school-style”, unflocked figure bases -- that are simply painted a nice shade of green -- look more pleasing to my eyes than the most expertly flocked/landscaped bases out there. And I've done it both ways over the years. When I eventually resume painting and modeling 15m...

In response to Jeff Hudelson's request (and who among us can refuse the Duke of Saxe-Bearstein himself?) , here are a few examples of what I termed the "Hansa Style" in my Saturday post -- A style of architecture left to us by the North German (and Flemish) merchants who were active all over Northern Europe for several centuries from about the mid-1100s to the mid-1700s (this is very approximate). I'll use these structures as models (is that a pun?) for the 6-10 miniature buildings I'll make to go along with my imaginary mid-18th Century armies. I plan to create things like a church, a town hall, several houses with "gabled" end walls, a warehouse, a tavern, and maybe a farmhouse plus barn or two. All structures will be slightly scaled down, so that they don't take up inordinate amounts of table space, but I'll lavish enough construction attention and painting detail on them, so that they are not simply symbolic pieces like those seen in the ...

Well, if the badly composed student essays weren't enough to delay my painting output the last couple of weeks, depressing me somewhat in the process, the nasty cold that I've had for a few days now is the hat trick! All I've had energy to do in the evenings is to hit the sack after arriving home and having supper. Following a bit of painting progress early in this passed week, my poor Jaegers zu Fuss have had to wait patiently untouched on my painting table since Tuesday evening. The fever is gone and the cold is waning, but I still don't feel 100% like sitting down to concentrate on painting. Maybe I'll do some easy painting work later this evening? I can relate, however, that the light blue facings and turnbacks look marvelous against the dark green coats. Initially, I wasn't sure how the two colors would work together, but it turns out that my mind's eye was not far off the mark this time. Nice when that actually happens. I've painted the pom-poms on...

Gotcha! You should be ashamed. All kidding aside, it seems my previous campaign maps have captured the imaginations of others. Good! It's flattering to learn that my own doodlings have inspired others to modify something first put out there into cyberspace by yours truly. With that in mind, look what I found over at the OSW group this morning. Relative to an ongoing discussion there about mapmaking and the associated software Campaign Cartographer, Tyler Provick has been experimenting with different graphics and mapmaking software. He has posted the results of his work in a folder at OSW in the "Files" section. Imagine my surprise, when the first map I opened turned out to be a later version of the map I dreamed up this summer and finally committed to paper while camping three weeks ago! I must say, I like the look of Tyler's map. His version is suitably "antique" looking although I am partial to the brighter colors I acheived with colored pencils and...

Happy first day of fall! I have finally managed to get in a little time on my new infantry unit, Stollen’s 32 figure Jaegers zu Fuss! Still in the very early stages, but, dare I say, they’re going to look good. I’ve painted the coats of all 32 figures Humbrol “Rifle Green”, using a tin of this color that I purchased at MiniFigs in Southampton, UK in January 1989! Amazing how the stuff lasts if tins are sealed tightly. In addition, I “test painted” one figure’s breeches, small clothes, facings, and turnbacks light blue. Parenthetically, this was the first time I’ve used my new Games Workshop paints. Anyway, the test figure already looks fantastic! And I haven’t even painted the flesh areas yet. I’ll try to paint all flesh and the light blue areas in another painting session this evening after dinner while my poor wife grades student essays and prepares a conference paper. On another note, I’ve finally decided how I’ll do my standards and cavalry guidons. I’m ...

Well, I've managed to get my next unit basecoated with one coat of black Liquitex -- Stolen's Jaegers zu Fuss. Hopefully, the second coat will go on much faster. The problem is that reading, grading, and providing extensive comments on all of these student papers has sucked up all of my time during the passed few days. I'd hoped to get in an hour working on these figures last night, but I was so tired by 9PM that reading for a little while in bed seemed more appealing. It's something about the level of concentration and mental energy required. In any case, the lack of free time and corresponding lack of progress has me a little down at the moment. Aaarrrggghhh! On a more positive note, the weather has turned quite cool here in Central Illinois, and autumn is officially on its way in a day or two. Good. Fall is my favorite time of year. Crisp weather, hot chocolate, gourds, and, eventualy, colorful leaves. It just does something for you, you know?

Arrrggghhh! A minor setback yesterday. . . As I detached my recently completed 2 nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers from their temporary bases, I discovered to my horror that the undercoat and green paint along the edges of each figure’s base pulled away down to the grey plastic underneath. So, now I have 63 figures waiting for some minor painting repairs today and tomorrow. I quickly decided that gluing the figures (reminder: my figures are large 1/72 figures by Revell AG in Germany ) to temporary bases is not the way to go with plastics! Moreover, I concluded that the underside of each base must also be base coated in Elmer’s (PVA) Glue, Liquitex acrylic, and painted in the same green as the topside of the base. Then, the ENTIRE figure is sealed and encased. And TWO protective coats of Future are in order, I think. I’ve also resigned myself to simply holding each figure carefully during the painting stages as I apply a particular color to it. On that note, I next q...

Thanks very much for your positive feedback on the new map! I've got about an hour before my 11AM class and thought I'd reply to early comments about the "New and Improved" map of Stollen, Zichenau, Pillau-Zerbst, et al. Making maps of imaginary worlds is something that has interested me for a long time -- since my teenage days designing various D&D adventures back in those heady days of the early 1980s. I particularly liked Tolkien's map in the back of the Silmarillion and LaGwynn's map in The Earthsea Trilogy. Between 1981-1985, I must have dreamed up and produced 35-40 different campaign maps for use in the D&D campaigns I tried to run. But I digress. More recently, Henry Hyde's articles on creating and developing one's own fictitious wargames campaigns, featured in the first three issues of Battlegames, awoke those same, long dormant cartographic tendencies. I've been doodling and sketching possible maps since mid-July this year, which ...

Here is a "new and improved" version of the campaign map I posted a couple of days ago. I hope it is large enough to see here! I've added many lakes (based on our beloved Minnesota and the Polish/Baltic region) as well as the three major cities in the region. Locations of the smaller cities and towns in the more inconsequential principalities have been left to the imagination for now. The area depicted covers approximately 100 square miles. Some of you might recall that Pillau-Zerbst's Princess Valerie was sighted cavorting publicly with Prince Ruprecht II in Hissig, Electorate of Zichenau last spring, sparking the latest round of foment in this corner of Europe. Keep an eye out for the couple -- She's beautiful but scheming while he's a dastardly cad. Why the French mercenary General Phillip de Latte wants Valerie back is anyone's guess! How Ruprecht II has escaped having his throat cut in various duels with the brothers of spurned lovers and cuckholded h...

The "real and true" Grand Duke of Stollen -- hard at work recruiting the first regiment of his army in what Sonja I , The Grand Duchess of Stollen, refers to lovingly as "The Purple Room." And no, my stuffed friends perched on the books and radios DO NOT talk to me!

My second round of six bottles of GW paints arrived a short while ago along with a large (and I mean LARGE) box of Warhammer figures and scenery that I did not order and, fortunately, for which I was not charged. Still, I had to call Games Workshop to let them know about their error and arrange for United Parcel Service to pick up the small army of figures at no charge to me. But anyway. . . The paint is here, and that’s what counts. I made a big push to finish trimming the mold lines away from my next unit – Stollen’s Jaegers zu Fuss . All 32 figures are now trimmed and glued to their temporary bases, awaiting their coats of Elmer’s glue and black Liquitex acrylic. Since I’ll have about 50 undergraduate papers to read and grade (a largely thankless task, I assure you) this coming weekend, it seems unlikely that I’ll be able to do this before next week. As a result, it seems that meeting the September Painting Challenge at OSW seems increasingly unlikely. But I’ll ...