The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Jim "Der Alte Fritz" Purky, the man behind Fife and Drum Miniatures has taken the reins of Minden Miniatures. B y now, many of you will have learned that Minden Miniatures has merged with Fife & Drum Miniatures here in the United States.  Excellent news!  Be sure to toodle on over to the Der Alte Fritz Journal forthwith -- don't wait! --  to learn all of the important details.  These are two of the very best ranges of 28-30mm (actually 1/56th scale) mid- to late 18th century figures currently available.  How could there ever be anything better?  If you are a fan of either Fife & Drum or Minden figures, you should definitely learn how the merger will proceed in the next few months, plus you can find out about the longer term plans in store for both ranges once the logistic end of things has been addressed.

Human and basic horseflesh almost finished.  A mix of Minden, RSM95, and Fife & Drum figures.  Look closely.  Can you pick out the RSM95 conversion? A s predicted some weeks ago, the current academic term is indeed a bear, and it seems like there is always a new batch of student papers to read and grade.  Whew!  So, finally, three weeks into the current painting challenge, I got off my you-know-what and sat down to the painting table for a couple of hours earlier this afternoon to work on a second round of staff vignettes for the Stollenian and Zichenauer armies.  These will be painted, more or less, in Prussian, Saxon, and American Continental Army uniforms. Anyway, a delightful time was had slopping on oil-based flesh and various browns, which were thinned down with Liquin Original.  Now, the real work begins as I take care of smaller details on each base, painting one at a time to completion before moving on to the next.  Sadly, we a...

The Grand Duke's Minister of Finance and his charming wife, Madame et Monsieur de Bouleversement . A small dinner party with  a few guests has been organized for this evening at Krankenstadt Palace, but, as usual, the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II is distracted by other affairs of state.  We begin, however, with his ever-faithful manservant Hives late one September morning in the sunny drawing room of the Palace.  Hives has the morning and early afternoon off.  He is seated with a fresh pot of Frisian tea at hand and a copy of David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature on the writing desk before him.  The door opens, and the Grand Duke peeks his head in and spots his gentleman's personal gentleman.  Let's eavesdrop on their conversation that follows. Irwin-Amadeus II (enters room): Ah, Hives!  There you are.  Enjoying our morning off, are we? Hives (turns a page without looking up): I am indeed, Sir. Just catching up on a little light readi...

The late Donald Featherstone as a young man during World War II.

Sometimes, you've gotta give in and get your Fritz on!  A mug of North German tea and rock sugar, purchased during our last sojourn to Bremen, Germany during the summer of 2009.  The mug was included in a package of unused figures sold to me by the proprietor of Fife & Drum Miniatures, Jim Purky (Der Alte Fritz himself), in 2008. Y ou know?  Sometimes the best laid plans don't happen.  And I've been fine with that these last few weeks and months.  Today is Labor Day, the traditional end of summer season here in the United States.  The unpleasantly hot weather has broken.  The central air-conditioner is off, and the windows open.  The sun is out, and the birds and cicadas are singing and churruping away.   I haven't accomplished very much that I had planned for this three-day weekend.  Not much at all.  Other than a picnic dinner at a local park with the Young Master and Grand Duchess yesterday evening, followed by fr...

The recent Battle for the River Elbow, seen once again from the Stollenian side of the table . T he beauty of multiple bases?  I just spent slightly over an hour putting everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, carefully back in its plastics tubs, consolidating and storing the buildings and terrain, and tidying up in general.  Ahhhhh. . .  I may just pour myself a bit of something medicinal in a moment.   Tomorrow is September 1st -- Can you believe it? -- and it's time to get painting again for yet another friendly painting challenge that a few like-minded friends and I are waging from September 1st to November 1st.  Or was it December 1st?  No matter.  I've got my anticipated brushwork cut out for me in any case.  But more on that anon.   Time to finish that first batch of student papers for the semester in the meantime, which I collected yesterday.  This semester will be particularly brutal where free time is concerned.  ...

"Well, I suppose that's that, Hives," quipped the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II at the conclusion of the battle.  "Frightfully good show, but ol' von Tschatschke had an easy time of it though if you ask me.  Still, places to go, and people to see, eh Hives?  Come along now!  There's a cobbler back up the road in Kaunitz who has promised to measure my feet for a pair of whole-cut riding boots.  We mustn't keep him waiting."  Figures in this vignette are all by Minden with a Foundry barrel at the foot of the signpost and a unit of 1/72 Revell plastic infantry in the background.

General de Latte (at far left in dark blue and red), after much deliberation and consultation with his subordinate officers, decides to order a general withdrawal.  With great shame and frustration, he concedes the battle to his Stollenian opponents.  There will clearly be no schnooky-schnooky when de Latte returns to Princess Antonia III this evening!  The miniatures in the group of officers pictured above come from RSM95, Minden, and Spencer Smith. B etween seven-thirty and eight o'clock on the evening of 4th August 1773, General Phillipe de Latte gave the order for his men to break off contact and begin an orderly retreat to their south.  He had no wish to squander any more of his troops, who, during the course of several hours, had failed to cross the River Elbow and establish a foothold within the Grand Duchy of Stollen as ordered by the conniving Princess Antonia III.  The Zichenauer infantry took heavy casualties in its attempt to do so, and the bulk...

Berliner Landmiliz, 1760.  You can see where my mind is headed, can't you?  B reaking News!  Phil's War Cabinet is back!  Noted wargamer Phil Olley has been hard at work behind the scenes, and it looks like his new blog is going to be an amazing ride chocked full of visual goodies and inspiring copy.  Do yourselves a favor and toodle on over to Phil's War Cabinet right now.  Have a look around and either bookmark or, better yet, click on 'follow'.  This is destined to become one of the greats I'm certain. In other news, the Battle of the Elbow River has obviously taken a brief hiatus.  The Grand Duchess and Young Master returned last week, which has eaten into my available freetime considerably, much as I love and missed them.  And then, in a double whammy worthy of a WWF tag-team move, I looked at the calendar and noticed, almost as an afterthought, that it was the final week of summer vacation.  Which meant that it was time...

  General de Latte's first assault across the River Elbow comes to a standstill thanks to Stollenian musketeers and artillery  Not much is left of the first wave of von Flickenhoffer's Fusilers (foreground), and the Ermland Garde (background) have suffered badly the hands of von Tschatschke's 13th Musketeers. F or the next hour, General de Latte's advance stalled as his officers and NCOs attempted to sort out their men and restore some sort of order.  By 7:30pm, General von Tschatschke asked for the return of his telescope from the Grand Duke-Irwin Amadeus II, who remarked cheerily, "I say!  Did you know that if you look through the other end of this thingy, everything looks farther away?" Von Tschatschke raised an eyebrow in reply, as did Hives, and took back his telescope.  He surveyed the scene before him.     Reduced below 50% of their initial strength, de Latte's remaining Irish Grenzers (in the distance) turn tail and flee while ...

  The Stollenian Jaeger zu Fuss inflict another five casualties on Zichenau's von Cziklos Croats on the wooded hill, reducing their numbers to less than 50% of their original strength.  The remaining Croats fled as fast as their feet could carry them. A t half past six on the evening of 4th August 1773, the situation for General de Latte's invading army grew darker in every sense.  Along his front line, de Latte's infantry took heavy casualties from enemy musketry and gunfire, throwing the various units comprising the Zichenauer Army into confusion.  Chaos erupted in some areas as men and horses struggled to escape the carnage.  Still worse, the hussars and Croats attacking the left flank of the Stollenian Army on the eastern end of de Latte's position withered and evaporated in the face of heavy return fire.  The latter caused high casualties within de Latte's units in that area of the battlefield with sheer panic breaking among the relatively few sur...

  Throwing caution to the wind, the infantry on General de Latte's left flank wades into the RIver Elbow, with one platoon storming the bridge, while the Stollenian infantry waits beyond, its muskets at the ready.  Meanwhile, the aristocrats continue their carousal in the village of Clauswitz beyond.  Listen closely, and you'll hear Maestro Bacharach's musical combo striking up Sir Roger de Coverley! S hortly after 6pm on the evening of 4th August 1773, the Battle of the Elbow turned into a full-blown affair.  General de Latte's cavalry brigade had finally been able to concentrate on his left flank at the western end of the battlefield.  It was, however, unable to do much thanks to the mass of confused men and riderless horses before it on the south bank of the Elbow.  As the broken independent company of the Wolmar-Bock Regiment makes its way to a rear area, the remnants of de Latte's cavalry brigade form up into two lines.  What a pity ...

To the rear of his center, General von Tschatschke's Leib Grenadiers and 4th Dragoons continued approaching their new positions  B etween 5:30 and 6pm late in the afternoon of 4th August 1773, the action heated up across the battlefield.  Yet a third attempt by Stollenian engineers to blow the single small bridge across the River Elbow failed.  General von Tschtschke's artillery, nevertheless, managed to inflict heavy casualties on parts of the Zichenauer line which gave way.  So too did the Grand Duchy's corps of Jaeger zu Fuss during a stiff exchange of skirmish fire atop a wooded hill at the eastern end of the field.   A hot firefight erupted on the thickly wooded slopes at the far eastern edge of the battlefield between the von Cziklos Croats and  their enemies the Grand Duchy of Stollen's green-coated Jaeger zu Fuss during Turn Five  The latter managed to inflict three casualties on the blue Croatian devils without suffering any of...

The Zichenauer Infantry began to feel the effects of prolonged Stollenian artillery fire during Turns 3 and 4 with the independent company of the Wolmar-Bock Regiment (in light blue) taking the brunt of it. L ittle additional troop movement on either side had occurred by 5:30pm that afternoon thanks to a sudden cloudburst.  However, the artillery on either side was able to resume its barrages again as soon as possible after the rain quit, and the sun returned.  The were casualties on either side, although the Zichenauers suffered especially hard at the hands of the Stollenian artillery crew and its lone gun in the Lesser Redoubt, which blew gaping holes in the ranks of the Wolmar-Bock regiment.   Presumably, the sudden rain also had something to do with the Stollenian engineers' failure to detonate the bridge across the River Elbow.  You'll recall that they placed a charge beneath it before the battle began in earnest.  At the moment, two brave volun...

Here's a general panorama view of the battlefield after an hour of game time.  You'll note the respective armies beginning to concentrate and converge. B y approximately 4:25pm on the afternoon of 4th August 1773, the ongoing respective cannonades of both armies had inflicted only light casualties on either side.  Otherwise, the battlefield was relatively quiet with both General de Latte and General von Tschatschke taking the opportunity to shift  some of their units into better positions. General de Latte (left) and Major di Biscotti (right) lead two squadrons of the 11th Hussars toward their left flank at the gallop.  Di Biscotti, you'll note, is already demanding "Are we there yet?" and exhorting his superior to find a sidewalk cafe where they might stop for a late afternoon pick-me-up and use of the facilities!     Meanwhile, de Latte has left behind his third squadron of hussars under the supervison of another one of his aides, one Col...

The situation at 3:30pm on 4th August 1773. . .  The start of the Battle of the River Elbow.  The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I am in the midst of attaching the troops to multiple bases -- dimensions stipulated by Peter Gilder's In the Grand Manner rules -- to speed up play.  Still some painting to do here, so that the bases blend into the tabletop. E arly in the afternoon of 4th August 1773, the libidinous General Phillipe de Latte and his dastardly aide Major Paolo di Biscotti observed the final units taking their positions in the Zichenauer line.  Thicker than usual morning mist and moderate midday rains had delayed things longer than de Latte would have liked.  He spent the morning overcome by waves of ennui inside his pavilion tent, emerging just after 1pm.  By mid-afternoon, the skies had at last cleared, and everything was ready for de Latte to make his move.  At precisely 3 o'clock, he turned to his aide and asked, "Shall we or...

No, not the greatest photograph, but here's another small scene prior to the battle beginning in earnest.  A couple of Zichenauer officers discuss some aspect of the enemy deployment while yet another Croat takes potshots at someone or something across the River Elbow.  The mounted figures are by Minden Miniatures while the firing Croat and shattered gun carriage are from RSM95. A hearty thank-you to everyone who had a look at yesterday's photographs and/or left comments.  There were two or three questions asked as well, so here are the answers: 1) The cards I plan to draw to determine movement and firing initiative are just plain old playing cards. 2) The object that I mentioned on the right-hand side of one of the earlier photographs yesterday was the group of frolicking aristocrats, who have organized an impromptu garden fête just outside the small village of Clauswitz where they can climb the nearby ridge and observe the coming battle. 3) The artiste, who ...

A Room with a View: The armies take their starting positions.  Darn those moving wooded hills!  I'll have to put that back where it belongs. Captain von Schenker reports to General von Tsschatschke (in pink), who has just arrived.  And that looks like ol' Fred himself off to the left.  It's seldom mentioned in the history books these days, but Frederick II was a keen observer of the War of the Buttons between Stollen and Zichenau, and he attached himself to von Tschatschke's staff on more than one occasion just to see how things panned out on the battlefield for his neighbor.  The figures are by Minden, RSM95, and Minifigs.  Can you guess which miniatures are which? Meanwhile, General de Latte and his aide Major di Biscotti set up their headquarters at the foot of the church tower in Gneisenau.  The former was heard to quip to the latter, "I say, old bean, nothing is better than a fresh cup of espresso before a battle, what?"  To wh...