From PeterD: More Baddass Women (and a man) from WW2 (55 points)

I won't get all of my Bad Squiddo kickstarter finished this Challenge, but I've painted most of the figures. Here's another assortment, plus a few of the add-ons that I ordered to go with the KS.  My photography suffers from last days of the Challenge syndrome.

Odette, Pearl and Agent Zo 

Odette Hallowes also went by the last names of Samson and Churchill.  She was originally French but married an Englishman and moved to the UK.  She was an SOE operative with many adventures.  She survived the was and lived until age 82.  Pearl Witherington was born in Paris to British expats, and became an SOE agent who had 3500 maquis fighters under her command.  She survived until age 92 - there's a theme here - if the Nazis don't kill you nothing will!  The kickstarter for some reason included a bunny for Pearl, which I lost when I dropped a tray of mostly completed figures.  Elżbieta Zawacka aka "Agent Zo" was a member of the Polish Resistance.  Later she travelled to Britain to train and parachuted back into Poland.  The's been cast shedding her jump suit to show her dress underneath.  She later was arrested for resisting the Communist Polish regime, but served to age 99.

Iro, Simone and Zoya

Iro Konstantopoulou was a member of the Greek resistance, executed in 1944 at the age of 17.  Simone Segouin was a teenage French resistance fighter, famously photographed in the fetching shorts with SMG outfit by Robert Capra during an operation where her cell captured 25 Germans.  She live d to be 97.  IIRC, Curt has painted a Simone figure in the past.   Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya joined a partisan unit during the early days of Barbarossa.  She was captured, tortured and executed and became a hero of the Soviet Union.

The last of the the three war correspondents is Ruth Cowen, who was active in Algeria and France and apparently charmed Patton.  Hans and Sophie Scholl were members of the White Rose, a student resistance movement.  Based in Munich they were caught and executed by the Gestapo at the ages of 25 and 22.   This is a one piece resin sculpt and the siblings were put in a playful pose to show their youth.  Hans is the only male human figure that I've painted this Challenge (I did paint an Otter and a Racoon, but everyone else has been female)..

And lastly this pair of young women dancing, one in her ATS uniform.   These are two separate figures and lining the feet while holding hands was tricky, especially as I had to do it twice after dropping the tray of figures.  They were fun to paint.

I make that 11 28mm figures for 55 points.  I should have one more post of ships before Curt calls time.

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Well done Peter - It has been great to see all of these historic female figures and learn a little bit about their stories - and about the level of heart and courage it took to stand up to the Nazis. Simone Segouin has an iconic look to be sure, but my favourite of the lot has to Elzbieta, who parachuted in to face the Nazis and then the appalling Communists. That is a LOT of evil. 

55 more points for you sir!

GregB

From PeterD: Badass Women of WW2 (ish) (25 points)

A short post of 5 figures from Bad Squiddo.  Two are from the Resistance Kickstarter that I back, the others from their various WW2 ranges.  Depending on your approach the ish comment might modify any of Badass, Women or WW2.  All are lovely figures and are a joy to paint.

I am afraid I can't recall which figure is which.

The first two are from the Resistance Kickstarter.  Claude Cahun (born Lucy Schwob) lifelong partner Marcel Moore (born Suzanne Malherbe) were French surrealist photographers, artists and writers.  Having relocated to Jersey (the island not the State) in 1937, they had an active campaign of resistance following the German occupation of the Channel Islands in 1940.  They were discovered in 1944 (having been there, I can confirm that Jersey is not big enough to hide for long) and imprisoned being saved from death penalties by the liberation of Jersey in 1945.   

Next is another female War Correspondent Lee Miller.  Today Miler is renowned photographer, but she was not widely recognized as such until after her death,  mostly due to the efforts of her son.  She took very important photographs about the fall of Germany and its aftermath. She was famously the photographer bathing in Hitler's bathtub while her boots dirtied the floor with the mud of Dachau.  There's a movie of her life starring Kate Winslet that I keep meaning to watch. 

The figure on the left is a fictional SOE operative modelled on Bad Squiddo's own Annie Norman.  The women on the right is another WW2 veteran who survived into her nineties.  For many Challengers, her image appeared on your postage stamps and money (assuming that you remember postage stamps and money).  It's 18 year old Princess Elizabeth in her ATS service days when she trained and served as a mechanic.

That's 5 28mm figures (plus a cat, for which I claim no points) for 25 points.  I can't possibly squeeze a squirrel out of the collection so I'll stick with my current squirrel points.

My squirrel total now stands at 7:

• Badass Female Pulp Heroines
• Badass Female Nordic Resistance Fighters
• US Navy 1898 (including transports)
• European Intervention squadrons 1898
• Japanese navy 1894-5
• Chinese navy 1894-5
• Badass Female Dutch Resistance Fighters

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Sylvain: Another badass post. Excellent paint job on these women. My favorite has to be Elizabeth. I got use to her face on our coins for so long that it was a complete shock when I saw Charles III on a looney. It has been an honor to be your minion; "à la prochaine". 

 

From PaulSS - Barons' War foot soldiers and townsfolk and stuff! - 120pts

 

A mixed bag of Medieval goodies for you this week. 

Firstly, the last of the Wargames Atlantic figures I have painted, only 11 remained and have made their way to the end of the production line this week.

Firstly a couple of missile-armed peasants, one with sling and one with bow. I'm quite surprised the arrow survived this far, this one has usually broken off by this stage!

Next up the last Knight and a pair of Serjeants.

A trio of peasants with pointy sticks for the militia and levies.

Finally the last three crossbowmen.

It's the last of the Wargames Atlantic for now and I don't see me buying any more until the new sets come out, then I'll be picking up again. But it's not the end of the Medievals, only yesterday postie bought some Medbury Miniatures 3D prints for me.

Adding to the Medieval scene is this market stall. The stall itself is from Victrix, as are many of the accessories, although the crates on the right and the bucket are from Bad Squiddo, while the wattle fence is Renedra.

Points wise, I think that the complexity would rate it as the equivalent of a vehicle. 

I got down low and shone in a light for this warts and all view of some of the detail!

Victoria picked up for me some of the Medieval Vignettes from Athena Miniatures while we were at Fiasco a few months ago, they are nice enough subjects, but some of the figures are a bit rudimentary.

The first is a set of stocks with an unfortunate being pelted with rancid cabbages.

The barrel of cabbages is from TT Combat.

Thinking about this, I've not participated at all in the Skull Challenge this year, but I do already have 17 cabbages for the Cabbage Challenge this year!

Next is a baker from the artisan set, also comes with a rather nice oven. 

The sacks and basket are from the Victrix set, while the bucket is a Bad Squiddo.

The next pair are a black smith and a cooper, the blacksmith is probably the weakest figure painted so far.

He could really use a forge!

Finally four other figures from the vignettes, a lady with a broom, a cobbler - will see use in a future Battle of Northampton game - a laughing merchant and a chap with his child on his shoulders.

Twenty 28mm figures, plus a "vehicle" will add another 120pts to the total. 

From DaveD. Nice to see it are not fed up with earth hues so far . Yes I am surprised that arrow has survived. Good to hear you have some more planned too - the collection will be epic by the end . Brilliant vignette pieces being created too even if some the bits leave a bit to be desired as you say . The baker and oven set is wonderful .  I agree on the values , so 120 it is .

From PeterD: Badass Women of the Nordic Resistance (30 points)

You maybe noticing a theme to my 28mm posts this year...These are a set of 6 28mm female miniatures from Bad Squiddo, five from a WW2 Resistance kickstarter than I bought into.  Lovely figures, well researched, sculpted and cast.

First up, two Norwegians.  Anne Margrethe Bang had no formal nursing training beyond first aid, but served as a volunteer nurse to the defenders of Hegra fortress during a 25 day siege in 1940.   She lost several toes due to wet and cold conditions.  Captured and then released, she joined the Norwegian resistance.  Eva Klovstad joined the underground and from late1944 was leader of a 1,200 strong unit.  Both women survived the war and lived past 90.

Elsa checks out the scene while "fixing her sock", while Hedda makes sure that all it well with her dynamite.

Next two Danes.  Hedda Lundh was an explosive expert who ran an all female unit which included Elsa Marie Pade.  They relied on the Germans not bothering with a bunch of silly drunk girls (they were teenagers in 1940) while they planned sabotage attacks.  Else liked to use pulling her socks up as ruse.  When the group was captured, Hedda and her husband escaped to Sweden.  Later she became a journalist and teacher.  Else became a prisoner but after the war became a prominent electronic music pioneer.  Again they both lived past 90.

I like the pose on Vera, who is checking her compass to make sure that she's got her bearings straight.

The last pair are Vera Laska, A Czech and American photographer Toni Frissell.  Vera joined the underground in 1938 when she was 15, helping jews get out across borders.  She later sabotaged the V-2 program.  After the way she moved to America, got her PHd and became a college professor.  Toni Frissell was a well know fashion photographer who joined the Red Cross in 1941 and later worked for the War Department.  She took well known photos of the London Blitz and the Tuskegee Airmen.  Both survived the war and lived past 80.

For all of these figures I basically followed the colour schemes on the Bad Squiddo website where painted figures were shown.  I tried and bailed on Eva's argyle socks.  Doing the solid green for Toni convinced me never to do WW2 Americans.  Basing wise, Anne Margrethe was in a fortress and the two Danes appeared to be in an urban setting, so I tried representing a gravel ground scape for those three figures.  I'm not sure if I'll try it again. For the other three I used a more typical basing style.

6*28mm figures =30 points

I'll also claim a squirrel for the 5 figures (25 points) or Resistance fighters. 

 

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Sylvain: Again, the quality of your post is outstanding. You provide very lively information that add another layer of interest to your figurines. With your brushwork, you made each of these character unique and I hope you will find a way to integrate them in a game. Bravo!

 

From PeterD: Seeress and Graeae (20 points)

It's been a slow start to my Challenge and I don't imagine I'll get anywhere my 500 point target. I am a University Instructor and had 120 students write their Calculus exams on December 20th.  I finally got my marks posted on Christmas eve, my daughter arrived for a week and a bit on Christmas then we had family stuff crop up.

I have some fantasy types from Bad Squiddo games.  First up is a Seeress.

Next the Graeae sister trio from Greek myth.  They had one eye and one tooth to share between them.  They appear in the tale of Perseus, who managed to outwit them by stealing their eye.  I'm not sure what's in the pot but the skulls and femurs indicate that I don't want to know.  I'd avoid their Irish stew and shepherd's pie.

I've painted many Bad Squid figures over the past years and like many of them, these are nicely posed and cast and easy to paint.  I went for very drab clothing and basic accoutrements.  I rarely paint eyes on my figures as they end up looking like racoons or pandas.  However, I thought I'd better paint irises on the eyeballs that two of the figures are carrying.  

I have no firm plans to use these figures, but they could fit into the early medieval era in the Beowulf D&D games that I've run in the past.  They could also be fielded in Pict armies for Midgard games with a fantasy element.

That's four 28mm figures for a total of 20 points.  These will count towards my first squirrel (for D&D figures), but I won't claim that until I get 25 points.

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Sylvain: "You, Sir, are a gentlemen and a scholar" (Catcher in the Rye) These figurines are lovely but I especially like the academic description you provide. It gives a much deeper (and sinister?) aura to the Seeress and the Graeae. Joli travail!

From PeterD Gliding to Gluttony (30 points)

Once again photos show my painting flaws and need for touch ups.

Exiting Treachery, I am using this Bad Squiddo Krystyna Skarbek figure  to take me back out to Gluttony.  Skarbek was a Polish SOE operative who at one point kidnapped a Gestapo Chief.  Again read her bio.  She skied in and out of occupied Poland several times and that's how she's been sculpted.  The Bad Squiddo site has her in a very nice nordic sweater with I couldn't possibly match, but I added a yoke and trim to get some of the effect.  She's stylishly attired for Telemarking at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, interrupted by some serious espionage.

Last fall my wife asked if I'd be interested in seeing a touring musical about Women in WW2 that was playing live at Darke Hall, a local theatre.  I said sure and it turned out to be based on the lives of the female SOE operatives in the Bad Squiddo range.  It's called the Invisibles, Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare and is worth seeing if it comes to your town.  it was quite funny watching the play and going, wait a second I've painted her!  

This may be a reach, but I am going to try claiming a Spanish American War collier for my Gluttony post.  I am hoping that have a Minion who is a ranking Flag Officer will help my case, as I'm sure he'll understand the logistics involved.  (Laying it own a bit thick?) 

These are two 1/2400 scale ships from Tumbling Dice from their Age of Battleships range.  There is the collier USS Nanshan, still in merchant livery and the cruiser USS Newark in peacetime white and buff (so much nicer than wartime grey).   My pitch here is that late Victorian era warships had a tremendous appetite for coal, particularly if their machinery was in poor nick.  

The Spanish Armada had a bad time getting coal for its far off squadrons.  Cervera's squadron arrived in the Caribbean in desperate need after a Trans-Atlantic voyage.  They were refused coaling rights in Martinique and had to go to Curacao to top up.   Later at the Battle of Santiago, the Cristobal Colon would have gotten away if she hadn't run out of good coal and had to resort to inferior stuff.  Camara's squadron was sent east to recapture Manilla but had similar troubles getting coal in Egypt.

On the US side, coal logistics took careful management.  Dewey's squadron had the Nanshan attached to prevent such troubles and he needed to dispatch a gunboat to escort her before attacking at Cavite.  For the Cuban blockade, they set a temporary coaling port when captured Guantanmo and used a whole fleet of hired colliers to keep the fleet on station.

Points wise I am hoping for

• 5 pints for Krystyna
• 4 points for the two 1/2400 ships
• 20 points for Gluttony

For a total of 29 points.

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Well a Spanish Collier was certainly a treasure worth a fat prize money haul (an eighth of which was payable to the Admiral I will remind you, no matter how far away he was!). Thanks for that, I'll bump this up to 30 points so you can pay the man his dues!

And I agree: NEWARK looks lovely in White and Buff - suits her lovely lines and far more reminiscent of the times!

- Paul