The Grand Duchy of Stollen

The base edges require a bit of touching up for a fully finished look, but here is the first company plus the mounted colonel and regimental staff at the front. Not really, but I have been wrestling with a computer bug during the last ten days for the third time in about six months, which means that the desk-top PC has been out of commission. . . AGAIN. So, I've had to do most of my computing via a laptop this week, and that complicates blog posting and uploading photographs a bit. In any case, here are two pictures of the first company of those Huzzah Miniatures, finished last Sunday. I haven't included the extra officers, NCOs, or drummers though. I mean, why have too much of a good thing? The flag was fairly easy to do. I found a conjectured Wurtemburg standard through Kronoskaf/Project Seven Years War (link at lower right on this page), resized, printed, and trimmed carefully with an X-acto hobby knife and a metal ruler. Once it was glued carefully around the flagpole...

Here are the 4th (Trakehnen) Dragoons, the senior cavalry regiment in the Army of Stollen, painted in January-February 2007. Once again, the figures are 1/72 Revell Austrian dragoons, painted in a color scheme that I made up off the cuff at the time. I later learned that not only did Britain clothe it's cavalry of the day in red, but a few Austrian units wore red as did a Saxon cavalry regiment or two. And I believe so did some Sardinian cavalry. Regardless of whether your miniature troops are based on a real army or fictitious, red certainly makes the figures stand out on the table. Here's another unit of plastic figures. This time, its a regiment of cavalry, organized more or less according to the suggestions laid out by Brigadier Young and Colonel Lawford in Charge! -- three squadrons of eight troopers, each with an officer, plus a regimental staff consisting of a colonel, standard bearer, and a musician. You'll notice that the figures have been affixed to card ba...

This batch of figures, Die Grendiere zu Pferd, was the first cavalry regiment I painted for the Army of Zichenau. To keep postage costs down, I asked Peter Johnstone of Spencer Smith Miniatures to send the order to my wife, who was in Berlin for two months during the summer of 2007. The Grand Duchess then transported these figures in her carry-on baggage during the 20+ hour trip home at the end of June that year. Yesterday, I mentioned something about Spencer Smith and Holger Eriksson figures, so it seems like a good idea to feature a photograph of said miniatures in the second of today's two posts. This is a regiment I finally painted in December 2007-January 2008 after my wife brought them home to me the previous summer. Now, the Spencer Smith range does not include any standard bearers or trumpeters, but Holger Eriksson figures fill the vacancies quite well, thank you very much. Now, some wargamers have remarked that they don't "get" Spencer Smiths, and others ...

General von Drosselmaier (center) and his retinue of officers watch in disbelief as the sun sets on their carefully laid plans, and the Zichenauer forces march gaily into the village of Pelznikkel , during my refight of Charles Grant's 'Action' in August 2008. The figures are a mix of MiniFigs and RSM95. Looking back through the various photographs I've snapped over the last few years, I was surprised to see that I have painted quite a few mounted generals and aide de camps. In fact, there is a plastic tub with 12-15+ such figures on the shelf to my left where my armies are quartered when not fighting tabletop encounters of one sort or another. Typically, I paint two or even three such figures at a time, using them to take much needed breaks between those more labor intensive larger units of infantry and cavalry that are the hallmark of the growing Grand Duchy of Stollen collection. While I set out to paint all of my figures to a pleasing standard, these personality ...

The dastardly General Phillipe de Latte (center) flanked by his evil minions, Major Paolo di Biscotti (left) and Colonel von Gherkin (right) . All three are RSM95 figures, painted during the winter of 2007-2008. . . I think. With all of this talk about Zichenauer victories, the possibility of genuine tactical ability, or just dumb luck, it seems like a good idea to reintroduce three gentlemen, and I use the term very loosely, whom you have met before at one time or another. The French SYW veteran, and now mercenary-adventurer, General Phillipe de Latte and his two aide de camps strike a martial pose above before two bell tents. Though my initial intention was to collect and paint plastic 1/72 figures for the Grand Duchy of Stollen project, the Grand Duchess (bless her) blew that idea to smithereens when she presented me with 60+ RSM95 Prussian grenadiers for Christmas 2006. These wonderful figures were painted the following spring (2007), completed by early June, and a photograph ...

More Revell 1/72 plastics! This time, Austrian grenadiers painted as -- wait for it -- Zichenauer grenadiers occupy the key postal stop of Pelznikkel, which was at the center of the table during the August 2008 refight of Charles Grant's 'Action'. These particular figures were painted during the early fall of 2007. In keeping with the plastics theme of the last post, here is another photograph of some more of my growing collection. This time, we observe two companies of Zichenauer infantry, von Finknottle's Grenadiers, aka "The Newts", seizing a small village around an important crossroads from General von Drosselmaier and his blue-coated Stollenians. This particular unit of infantry is notable because it was my first 80-figure unit, which took slightly longer than two months of steady painting to finish. Long-time visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog will recall that poor old Stollen has yet to win a battle on the field of Mars. Victory always see...

The oldest regiment in the Stollenian army, though neither its most fashionable, nor premier regiment, here are the 2nd (von Laurenz) Musketeers. These figures were prepared, painted, and sealed, more or less, in the way I describe below during the late summer of 2006. Those of you who have followed the Grand Duchy of Stollen project since its inception in August 2006 will recall that I began the project with plastic 1/72 Revell Prussian and Austrian SYW figures. While lacking some of the hyper-correct detail with which some gamers become obsessed, these figures are slender and nicely proportioned for the most part, measuring roughly 25-26mm from base to eye, factors which influenced my thinking in finding, buying, and using them at the time. And what a long, strange trip that was, requiring much time spent trawling hobby shop sites on the web and correspondence with the owners, sometimes in more than one language. Given the relative scarcity of these figure sets, which are, I beli...

My solo refight of Charles Grant's 'Action', which was staged as the inaugural affair for my 6'x8' wargaming table in mid-August 2008. Above, you'll observe the Army of Zichenau, commanded by General Phillipe de Latte, in the foreground and the Army of Stollen in the background under the command of one General von Drosselmaier . While in the midst of any wargaming project, it's always a good practice to review your painting, collecting, and gaming aspirations occasionally. A photographic record of the units you have painted to completion already is a highly effective way to do that, enabling you to keep your painting mojo going strong. Yeah, baby! It's also just plain fun to revisit what you have accomplished so far in the way of painting and collecting miniatures as well as building or scrounging any scenic items in your possession. Reviewing your work like this is also invaluable when it comes to planning for any future additions to your collectio...

Here's a general photograph of the first 29 Huzzah figures, showing where they stand in the painting and varnishing process. Although it's hard to see in this picture, we're getting very close to completion here. No time for painting last night (Monday evening), but as you know, I managed to squeeze in a few hours this past weekend. So, it seems like a good idea to share a few photo updates. You can see that the current crop of figures is getting very close to being finished. Just a couple of small details, some black touch-ups, and the flag to finish. I also need to redo the gold lace on the officers' coats, so that I have distinct pairs of lace loops across the front of their coats. Then it's onto a couple of coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish and blah, blah, blah. . . You Stollen regulars know the drill as well as I do by now! ;-) Here, we have a close-up of a company NCO. He's not perfect by any means, but at arm's length and on the tabl...

Here's a teaser to tide you over until the first batch of 29 Huzzah figures are all finished. The above illustration depicts a member of Wurtemburg's Garde zu Fuss in a post-Seven Years' War uniform I believe, but his kit is fairly similar to the one I'm currently applying to my figures. The SYW-era uniform lacked a plume and had black gaiters instead of white. Well, it's been a busy weekend so far here at Stollen Central. I did some painting Friday evening, and the first 29 Huzzah figures are getting very close to completion. I hope to wrap them up in the next week and get started with the next batch of 16 infantry privates since all officers, NCOs and musicians will be finished. That should make painting progress a bit faster than has been the case around here, painting funks notwithstanding, during the last few months. Saturday midday saw me noodling around with the layout of the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog, something I have meant to do for quite a while. ...

At long last, here are the three finished drummers, atop their respective bottle caps and still awaiting their final clear coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish. But I'll leave that step until I have the rest of the first 29 figures painted and tackle all of them at once. Definitely not the late Luciano Pavorati and his cronies. Nope. It's the three drummers for that large battalion of Huzzah Wurtemburgers (nee Prussians) that I've been promising for some weeks now. But, I've finally gotten the digital camera and, more importantly, it's cord back from the Grand Duchess. So, here we go! Painting is progressing slowly of late, but I am managing nevertheless to sit down for a few hours each week, to add another color to another area of the first 29 figures. Besides finishing the drummers, I've added hatlace for the NCOs and officers, the officers' gorgets, and begun the yellow and black pompoms on the hats, which now need careful daubs of black pa...

Here's another unidentified drummer, who might possibly from the American War of Independence. In any case, he cuts a rather dashing figure. Had about 90 minutes early yesterday evening to finish the three drummers. They look pretty good, but I need to touch up the sleeve chevrons just a bit. Why are these always so hard to do convincingly? Tune in for a couple of photos this evening.

Might any of you Stollen regulars be able to offer some insight into the army and regiment for which this gentleman drums? Back to painting in a limited way this weekend, and I've been working on the three company drummers for that unit of Huzzah Prussian musketeers that are being painted, more or less, as Wurtemburg infantry -- The Garde zu Fuss I do believe. Though they'll be given an imaginary name and identity once they are finished and take their proper place in the Army of Stollen. I haven't finished with them yet, and painting all that extra white lace on the navy blue coats and sleeves is slow going, but they are shaping up nicely I think. Since I have not been able to find much information on Wurtemburg infantry musicians and drum hoops, much of my work is conjectural at best, but there you are. The unit will be imaginary anyway, so I'm really not worrying too much about it. The main thing is that I'm painting again after a hobby funk lasting about two...

Well, sometime during the night, the blog counter quietly passed the 100,000 mark. Obviously, Irwin Amadeus II will ask his intrepid, and long-suffering English manservant Hives to serve extra toast (burnt to a crisp of course) and bacon this morning in celebration! Tomfoolery aside, thank you to one and all for occasionally dropping by to peruse the ramblings that have appeared here since August 2006. Today's milestone might be just what I need to kick yours truly into gear and sit down later today, to begin once again with those Huzzah figures, who stand looking at me imploringly from the painting table. And by the way, thank you too for the comments everyone left following yesterday's post. All very sound advice. And now, I'm going to reread John Preece's latest post on all of those 20mm Crimean figures given to him by one Stuart Asquith. And then, it's off to breakfast with the Grand Duchess and Young Master Paul if he is awake!

Just thought I'd touch base quickly and let you Stollen regulars know that I'm still alive and kicking. The Grand Duchy of Stollen blog has indeed seemed like a ghost town in the American Old West lately, full of dust and tumbleweeds (a nod to Phil Olley here) Haven't managed to get off my you-know-what and do any painting in some weeks. The painting funk has hit hard, and while I'm reading many blogs and websites with interest, it's just been difficult to sit myself down and pick up that darn brush and begin painting again. I have been doing a bit of unrelated writing and translation, but that hasn't eaten up too much time. Neither has caring for Young Master Paul. Typically, the Grand Duchess has him after supper until bed time, so I've certainly had evenings free for hobby-related stuff. I've even got a small list of things to finish on those first 30 or so Huzzah figures languishing over on the painting table, but, sigh, the urge just eludes ...

Hmmmm. . . I think the Grand Duchy or Stollen, or maybe its mortal enemy the Electorate of Zichenau, needs an eventual regiment of uhlans in its cavalry branch. But which manufacturer can provide suitable 25-30mm figures? Can you believe we are in the homestretch for the month? And two entire weeks have flown by without much work in Zum Stollenkeller . Well, that's not entirely the case. There has indeed been "work", real work that is, but precious little of that has had anything to do with soldier painting or writing. Sadly, it's been the usual litany of reading student essays, assigning grades, dealing with a few students who felt they deserved better grades somehow, and various small (and boring) administrative tasks associated with that. But that has sucked up considerable time. When I've had a free hour or two, and that has actually occurred, but I just haven't felt like sitting down to the painting table. I think it's the same hobby funk t...

Here's all I use to paint faces and other flesh areas on my figures. . . a #1 "round", in this case a synthetic brush by Cottman that I've used for four or five years, and a tube of Griffin Alkyd color. The latter offers all of the advantages of oils (brilliance, etc.), but dries to the touch overnight. It is a bit glossy, but you can either spray your figures with Testor's Dullcote later, or not worry about if you varnish your figures with something glossy like I do. Griffin Alkyd colors are available from the better art supply shops and yield a much nicer fleshtone than most hobby acrylics or enamels. Ok, let's talk faces and fleshtones today. There are many methods for doing faces and just as many different kinds of hobby paint fleshtones on the market. Since the mid 1980s, when yours truly began painting 15mm Waterloo-era Napoleonics, I've always used either oil fleshtone or, since 2000, alkyd-based fleshtone. When the teen-aged Stokes began p...

Well, here are the 29 Huzzah miniatures I've been working on so far -- roughly half of the regiment. AS some of you might recall, I was persuaded to paint them in the rather more colorful uniforms of Wurtemburg's Garde zu Fuss rather than the dour dark blue uniform of Prussia's Garrison regiments. Not much time for blogging the last several days, but I have managed to squeeze in some painting here and there, and I thought is was time for a photo update. So, here we go. I'll say a little something about how I like to paint the faces on my figures in tomorrow's post, honest! Here is a close up shot of the unit's mounted colonel so far. Still much to do before he and his command are all finished. Here's one of the unfinished drummers up close. Can anyone supply information on the actual uniform worn by the drummers of Wurtemburg's Garde zu Fuss? The Project Seven Years War (Kronoskaf) website does not shed any light on this part of the unit. What ab...

Issues #1, #2, #8, and #10 of Miniature Wargames from the early 80s gathering dust? Better yet, would you be willing to part with them for a REASONABLE price? I am trying to complete the first year of this magazine, which began life as the Battlegames of its time, and these are the issues I still need. Please let me know. Alternately, I might be persuaded to part with at least some of the old Wargames Illustrated issues in my pile, from the late 80s and/or sporadic issues from the 1990s, in exchange for those old issues of MW. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming .

The 10th (Grand Duke Paul's) Regiment of Infantry -- known in the Stollenian army as the Fightin' 10th -- starts to take shape on the painting table. Obviously, they are named for our son, Young Master Paul, who was born late in the tenth month of 2009. Just a quick post for now. Above is a photograph I took last night, showing the first company plus all officers, NCOs, musicians, and standard bearer glued temporarily to plastic bottle caps. They have been base-coated with black acrylic gesso, undercoated with black acrylic paint, had all fleshtone applied, and all green bases painted. For added stability, I glued the mounted officer and his fleet-footed steed to a lozenge-shaped piece of thin plywood from an assorted bag of craft bits and pices of, well, thin plywood that I purchased a few years ago at Michael's , a chain of craft stores here in the United States that smell like cheap cinnamon scented candles and bayberry poupurie when you open the door. If you can sto...

This late Christmas gift finally arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon, but it was well worth the wait. Wow! Yesterday's mail brought the above title to my hot little hands, and I can't say enough about it after a delightful evening spent in bed with a cup of coffee and the book in question. Suffice to say that the writing and quality of Wargaming in History: The Seven Years War raises the bar considerably for all wargaming literature. Neither does it seem an overstatement to suggest that the book is just as engaging and charming as those two classics , held in such high regard by many of us, namely Charge! (1067) and The War Game (1971) . On a personal note, I think Charles Grant even surpasses those two works here. If you have not yet purchased Wargaming in History: The Seven Years War, do so at once. It is an amazing read and a feast for the eyes. Enough said. On another note, I've just learned of a new blog, which might be of some interest to many of you vis...

Holger Eriksson Charles XII cannon crewed by Garrison Prussian artillery figures, whose uniform here is based on that worn by the Von Kleist Freikorps artillery contingent. Just a quick post this morning. I finally finished varnishing and touching up a few places on those two Holger Eriksson cannon yesterday evening and had time for a photograph. I didn't feel too pleased with these guns until I applied the usual glossy Future/Klear acrylic floor finish. Suddenly, almost as if by magic, they looked much better! Next up, it's the first 20-odd figures in that unit of Huzzah Miniatures. Chaaaaaarrrrrge!

All of our wonderful snow of the last moth has finally gone thanks to warm temperatures and heavy rains last night. It looks bleak outside this morning, and I think we need a new covering of about 6" of snow, to brighten up things. Even more new snow would be better, but I'll settle for half a foot. Sadly, despite all of the snow we've had around here since before New Year's, I've only managed about an hour on skis this year. Some new snow would enable me to right that wrong, or at least dream about skiing in years to come. Here in Zum Stollenkeller , I managed to get the Holger Eriksson cannon almost finished yesterday evening. Just a wash and some touching up to apply today, and then it's time for the usual two coats of Future/Klear acrylic floor finish. The cannon look pretty good, but I think the HE molds need to be refurbished, because the castings are not as clean as they ought to be. If I had it to do over again, I would have ordered some more 25m...

An example of the uniform worn by Wutemburg's Garde zu Fuss during the mid-18th Century. Ok, ok. Several of you Stollen regulars have suggested that I give that unit of Huzzah figures a slightly more interesting uniform than just uniform dark blue. And one of you suggeted Wurtemburg Garde Grenadiers, which I liked, and which also sparked my curiosity a bit. So, I did some digging around on the web and found this example of another Wurtemburg uniform -- the Garde zu Fuss -- from the mid-18th Century. No mitre caps here, but the colors of everything else are similar to the Wurtemburg grenadiers that were originally proposed, so this uniform (pictured above) should work fine for my purposes. Naturally, it will take a bit longer to paint everything, but that just means that the figures will look much snazzier on the tabletop once everything is finished. Now, does anyone have any information on the standard(s) carried by Wurtemburg's Garde zu Fuss? Barring that, I have a more...