Skip to main content

Hurrah for Saturdays!

A parade of Carl Röchling paintings this weekend!  These are as interesting as the various Knoetel illustrations in my view.  First, one of Frederick II and von Ziethen meeting again as the Battle of Torgau ended.

At last, a free weekend for some hobby-related writing and painting after a truly brutal week full of meetings and an annual review on top of the usual teaching, paper grading, reading, movie watching, and preparation activities.  Whew!

Even better, there is another small load of unwanted Minden Prussian and Austrian infantry on the way from Belgium that I have decided to give a good home.  The pile of lead will shortly rival other stalwarts in the hobby, but it should give me everything I need to finish (yes, really) the final stages of the Grand Duchy of Stollen project during the next few years.  And then I will concentrate on playing more games with my toys as I drift ever closer to my dotage. 

The plan is to increase the size of my two semi-ficticious armies to six-eight units of line infantry each.  The two armies currently stand at four line infantry units for Stollen and three slightly larger for it's enemy The Electorate of Zichenau at the moment.  I also plan to augment the respective and related cavalry forces, but for the mid-18th century, which I have discussed in previous recent posts, but there is already enough artillery and light infantry painted, thank you very much, so no additions here though I do have a single company of 15 unpainted Minden and RSM95 Croats that will eventually enter the fray simply because the potential uniforms are so, well, pretty.

All of this is just a round about way of explaining and rationalizing the increase in 30mm military spending and related build-up of forces the last few months.  Hey, when am I ever going to turn 50 again?  Of course, I place all of the blame squarely at the feet of my partner in crime Greg, who, I believe, pursued a similar course when he rounded that particular milestone.  No, this latest bout of self-indulgence is not my fault!

Returning to the matter at hand, forces slightly larger than what I have so far built up, and as I have mentioned here previously here at the GD of S blog, will enable me to fight many more of the various scenarios presented by C.S. Grant in his wargame scenario books that came out during the early 1980s.  And, of course, more of his table top teasers will also be possible with slightly larger forces.

Anyway, once these additional figures units have been organized into their respective units,  painted, and based, anything after that will be icing on the cake.  In the longer term, I have a mind to add a field bakery to the collection since Black Hussar of Germany now offer several sets of bakers and associated helpers/equipment to that end.  Can butchers and candlestick-makers be far off I wonder?  A small camp with tents, stacked arms, some crates, and barrels sprinkled here and there might also be interesting to enliven  corner of the table at some point too.  That would give my Naughty Lola and other camp follower vignettes painted during the last several years a handy place to set up shop.  What a wonderful hobby this isHappy Saturday one and all!

-- Stokes



Sunday Morning. . . 

A delightfully quiet and unseasonably warm Saturday here yesterday.  I spent the afternoon writing up a short post-playtest of some short horse and musket rules I have written (ok, plagiarized from various sources really) for the upcoming Wargamer's Notes Quarterly #2 and bounced them to Greg on the other side of the world in Australia.  By late afternoon, it was time to join the Grand Duchess and Young Master for a walk around the neighborhood.  

After the latter's bedtime (the Grand Duchess had an evening event back on our university campus), I returned here to Zum Stollenkeller, where I cut 55mm lengths of brass rod for ten flagpoles and cemented Front Rank finials and cords to them using Loctite superglue gel.  The Minden standard bearers are at the stage, barring a few final small details, where I can turn my attention now to the flags themselves, possibly managing to complete four to six during the next couple of weeks time permitting.  

Painting the flagpoles and final-cord combinations should be a fairly quick exercise.  In the interest of time and sanity, though, I'll refrain from attempting any drinking straw red, black, and gold or red and white striped spirals up the poles.  To paraphrase a line in Charge! Or How to Play Wargames by Brigadier Young and Colonel Lawford (and still my primary wargaming touchstone), that is a road that leads to madness!

Finally, I notice that the GD of S blog has picked up two or three new followers, so "Welcome!"  I hope things here are/remain to your wargaming interests and likings.  Glad to have you along for the ride.

-- Stokes 


One of my favorite Carl Röchling illustrations, a parade of captured Austrian standards following the Battle of Hohenfriedberg.  This particular picture also provides more than a small hint about some of the forthcoming flags in the coming weeks.


Here's another Röchling painting of Frederick II at work in his study kept company by his dogs.



Finally, here is a fourth painting, one I have never come across before, and also by Carl Röchling, I believe, of ol' Fred and some Potsdam schoolboys cavorting around him.
 

Comments

marinergrim said…
But they go by in such a flash don't they! Leave work friday night wake up Monday morning is what it feels like.
They do indeed, Paul! They do indeed.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Popular posts from this blog

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!

Taking Stock Part II: The (As Yet) Unpainted but Planned OOB. . .

  Two companies of Reichsarmee grenadiers painted back in 2017 or 2018.  Minden Austrians of course. A lovely early autumn day here in the grand duchy.  Bright sunshine and a light breeze with cool temperatures will make for some very pleasant late afternoon lawn mowing in a little while.  But first a bit more discussion of painting plans for the future. Last time, I looked back at the various and sundry units, support troops, and civilians that I've managed to paint in the last 17 years as the Grand Duchy of Stollen project has developed.  So today, let's look into the seemingly bottomless Drawer 'o' Lead to my left for a clue to the new direction.  Be forewarned, it's not going to be a quick job getting everything painted and based, but there we are. The following plans are based on the pile of unpainted figures already here.  Any future purchases will be limited to small things that might be needed to fill out the envisioned units (the odd few officers mounted o

Having a "No Day". . .

  F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day."  A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day.  I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  These have stood waiting  untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday a