Welcome back, the relaunch! I’ve kept the social media updated but not if you only follow here. I hit an absolute brain brick wall with this, and with the running of Bad Squiddo taking up all my time (and then some) it hit the backburner.

BUT! I promised I would get it caught up, so let’s do it.

I am aiming over the next couple of days to have all the designs and briefs sent to the sculptor, and then we can start voting for the next few and breathe life back into this. Thank you for being so patient and understanding.

Who was Harriet Tubman?

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross), 1822-1913 began life as a slave, and ended life free. Once she had discovered the Underground Railroad – a network of people working to smuggle out slaves and free them, she joined up wholeheartedly. A Christian woman, she felt it was God’s calling, and her supporters eventually began calling her Moses, because of the similarities!

At the age of 15 she suffered a massive whack to the forehead, there are varying accounts of how it happened but it led to a lifetime of issues with narcolepsy and other brain injuries. She often had visions during these blackouts of what she should do next, which led to even more blessed status.

She never lost a passenger, the counts I can find vary between 70 and 300 people during these times. It was said she carried a pistol which was never used, but for potential self defence, and for asserting herself on times there were people wanting to turn back. Harriet would say “Move, or die”. While seeming harsh, this was in fact imperative to the mission and ensured everybody got to their destination safely.

While a short five feet tall, she was strong from the years of manual labour, mentally as well as physically, with childhood bronchitis giving her a low voice which worked well for administering sharp commands.

When civil war broke out, she joined the Union side as a nurse, but Harriet’s skills from delivering all these people became quickly apparent as she was then enlisted as a spy. She led 150 black American troops in the raid on Combahee Ferry, freeing 750 slaves in one go.

Harriet lived a long life and even had surgery on her skull in the later years, opting for no anaesthesia but just to bite on a bullet, like the civil war soldiers. What a badass.

The Miniature Design

With this information, how do we go about making her into a 3cm tall model, that can encapsulate as much of this as possible.

Let’s begin!

The Key recognisable items (not all required) that I noted was a lantern to lead the way – both literally and figuratively, her head wrap, a dress from a photo, her pistol, and funnily enough – chickens. One of her tricks was to have two chickens on a leash, and if she saw someone who may recognise her, she tugged it so the chickens would squawk and give her cover from all the flapping.

So a gun for sure. Some accounts say revolver but it doesn’t massively check out. There is a photo of her caplock pistol from the Civil War, so it seems right to honour that. Even if she didn’t use that prior to the war (part of the enlistment) it has become one of the symbols for her, and as I frequently say, mini making is often more about symbolism than literal duplicates. Also handguns at 28mm are teeny so it won’t make too much difference.

The lantern of lighting the way! It would have been a kerosene lamp around those times, of which there are many different designs but ultimately the same form. The gaps will need filling for casting but I know that Alan (the sculptor) will find a way to make it look great and still be castable. The handle will of course have to be thickened for the same reason. The bag is a standard bag of the time, and will be over the shoulder with other supplies and tools inside.

Pose

I wanted to show Harriet Tubman in a dynamic way, as is she is currently leading an escape. I didn’t want the gun to be too prominent as it would emphasise violence but adding it will make it a very useful miniature for various games and scenarios (also something to bear in mind!). I also had a hankering for the old “foot on rock” trope. We haven’t done that in a while!

So instead of a rock, it’s going to be rubble, perhaps symbolising the impending collapse of slavery, with some broken shackles in there, which she is trampling over.

Some depict her in a coat, others in a shawl, though there are no photos, apart from later in life where she has a beautiful but not practical shawl. I’ve gone for shawl as one of her disguises was an an old lady (before she actually was!) so it’s a reference to that. It will be more jaggy than shown there, but remember these are just very rough sketches for a sculptor who knows me very well indeed!

There is a note with the left arm that the pistol doesn’t need to go back so far, in fact in might look a bit unnatural, so it may end up more forward and closer to the body.

Note on terrible drawing: Especially as I am behind with this, I’m not wasting time honing any drawings for the sculptor – concept art just has to let the next person in the chain know the needs and musts, and this alongside with my notes is enough for Alan, and he’s worked with a lot less before! I think we have a psychic link at this point.

The photos of the gun, dress, Harriet’s face, bag and lantern together with my little playmobil style drawing are enough to piece together a cracking model.

What do you think?

Onto the next bit of research for me…. more coffee! – Annie