Author / badsquiddogames

by badsquiddogames

Feedback Questionnaire Results

Hey all! Just as we were getting some steam with the project, the council evicted us and nearly 100 other businesses from our offices. With a month’s notice. It totally had a domino effect on the rest of the year, and I was absolutely desperate to get a WW2 project out, which I did, and it was wicked.

This has far been forgotten, I just have only so much human bandwidth, so I had to focus on some other things for a bit. I’m happy to get her going again.

I posted up a questionnaire to get some feedback. It was scary. Thank you for being honest! Shall we look through the results?

I was going to post a load of charts from the questionnaire but there were a lot of questions, so I am gonna summarise what the results were. You’ll just have to trust me! Have a few to break up the text though. My thoughts in italics.

DISCOVERY: The main 3 were the website, social media and Sunday Morning Coffee – so direct is still key.

NOMINATIONS: 39% had nominated a person, which is higher than I thought! The biggest reasons for not doing so were fear of getting any information wrong, unsure if she’d already been nominated or worried people wouldn’t vote for them. Hey I even get things wrong sometimes, perhaps I could look at some private nominations?

COLLECTOR CARDS: Nobody seems majorly bothered! A few have displayed them (nice) but they’re mostly hanging around in a drawer somewhere. Nobody admitted to binning them though, thankyou! *I* think they’re an important part of the project, but perhaps I will look at getting them smaller, cheaper, or more of them?

QUALITY: Overall people are very satisfied with the quality of the minis, design, communication and cards. Which is nice!

WHEN: Only 17% want the minis immediately, the rest don’t mind waiting until a few at a time. This is reassuring as opens up some other options.

Most people are comfortable putting money down once the concept sketch is up, though even at the name point there’s quite a lot (over half). This is also reassuring, as we can generate interest fairly early with each mini.

PLATFORMS: The most preferred by far was Facebook Groups, which is where it’s currently mostly on.

However, when asked where people WOULD go, the results were a bit more spread out. Kickstarter is an interestingly high number, and I think the project would do way better on a platform like that, but I am planning on running more regular Kickstarters with the main part of the business, so I’d rather not saturate.

BLOG VISIBILITY: 75% of you were aware of the blog, and most have visited. Which is more than I expected!

PATTERNS/STAND OUTS IN TEXT FEEDBACK

I can’t list every part of the freestyle text feedback and suggestions, but here are some which were recurring or stood out:

MORE INPUT: Folk want more input into the design process. I want this too! It was hard to get as much involvement as I would like, which is part of the reason for the relaunch. The original idea was lots of people pitching in with design and research, but I don’t know why that hasn’t worked as well, but my main suspicion is visibility.

MAKE THEM THEMED: This was an idea from one person and I love it, especially when we really get rolling and making them regularly. Maybe even voting on themes? Basically I want more engagement rather than me just making the figures and presenting them to you, which you want, but hasn’t been happening much.

CARDS: The cards only being available with direct orders has put off folk overseas who prefer to get them from their local shops, this is definitely a thing – I’ll address below.

LOTS OF NICE WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT: Thanks!

ANNIE’S THOUGHTS

I have been a bit stuck with how to relaunch this, but the questionnaire has been really helpful. I have a few more things to think about, which I will update soon once I’ve decided.

COLLECTOR CARDS – They’ve caused a lot of confusion with retailers, some won’t stock those minis at all, which impacts their further sales. Retailers not being able to get the cards means it’s harder for overseas customers too. SOLUTION: I’m going to cost up getting 500 of each card made, so they’re still limited but last quite a bit longer and means retailers will have them.

I have a pilot’s license. I do not actually have a pilot’s license.

VISIBILITY: Lots of the suggestions were things I already do, or people not sure of information that is here in the blog. So it means you’re not getting them information that I want you to. SOLUTION: Tidy everything up. I can do it!

TOO MANY PLATFORMS: The biggest issue is that it’s complicated to follow. Even I find it confusing and I made it! So the main solution is to centralise it way more, which I need to fully decide on, but I am working on it.

FACEBOOK SUCKS: I’ve never been keen on Facebook being the main location for it, and that it excludes people who don’t use it. At the time it was the best way for people to see things, but it’s harder than ever to get engagement there. But I won’t remove it either as I know it’s the only place many of the fans of the project go online. I’m thinking of setting up a Discord Server in addition, and taking nominations there as well.

VOTING: I think I’ll move the voting to a central location, like google forms, then it doesn’t matter what social media you have. I know I mentioned various platforms so far, but I’m still musing, I think it’ll slot into brain place soon.

KINDNESS: Thank you for mostly being super kind and understanding with all this. It’s a labour of love within a labour of love. I run Bad Squiddo Games for far too many hours a day, and this is a side project on top of that (though still very much part of). Sometimes things happen in the main business that distract me, as I run it all myself still (it’s the only way to keep a lil niche thing like this going!). I spend a lot of time on the Community Miniatures Project making sure I can get the best figure possible, and it usually involves getting hold of more books, and visits to places if possible (oh no, she says, swooning).

The majority of folks totally understand this, but I do get more abrupt or rude messages with this project than usual, which does put me off sometimes. Opening the design process is very vulnerable but it pays off and I am so proud of the minis we’ve made so far, and want to make many more.

My usual state is some sort of frazzled, entirely by my own choosing – this is my life’s passion – teaching about mega cool ladies through the minis – so I shan’t martyr, just remember with feedback that it’s just lil ol me, and I can fly a plane, as seen above.

End thoughts

I will continue to muse the relaunch but it’s now on the main slate (as well as fulfilling the WW2 KS but they compliment each other!) and will be fairly soon. I know I won’t be able to please everyone, which is causing me lots of unrest, but please be nice!

Catch you around social media!
Anniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie

by badsquiddogames

The Latest Minis have Shipped!

Hooray, brilliant!

Anne Bonny, Olga of Kyiv and Mary Read are out there in the world. Any pre-orders have shipped (apart from EU which will be later this week). They are available to buy from our shop and soon from some of the retailers. you can always ask your favourite retailer to stock Bad Squiddo – if they don’t, it’s about time, right?

Anne Bonny and Mary Read fighting back the Bad Squiddo. Background by Jon Hodgson.
Olga of Kyiv letting loose the pigeons of war! Backdrop by Jon Hodgson and terrain build by Chicken’s Tabletop Crafting.
Annie has scribbled colours over Martin Whitmore’s drawings to guide the painter.

Thank you to John Morris of Monkey Spirals Painting for bringing these to life and helping to give you a good idea on colour schemes for when you paint yours. Of course it’s up to you how to colour them in, though it’s always nice to have a little reference if you’re stuck.

Another bonus to having artwork by Martin Whitmore is being able to colour them in for the painter! So here are my VERY ROUGH colours for John, which also had a few notes with it. I wanted Mary and Anne to have the same palette to tie them together, to show they’re in sync! What, you’ve never shared clothes with your mates?

Anne and Julie

Two gals being pals – both minis by Bad Squiddo Games

An underrated part of my job is to get various historical characters to meet, even if via the medium of a metal mini. Julie d’Aubigny was used as a reference for Anne’s clothing as they’re similar times and both wearing high-brow gentleman’s gear. They’re both absolute troublemakers and there is a series of short stories ready there! Or gaming scenarios!

What Next?

We’re caught up! Time to vote for number 14, right? Well, we’ve been talking about this “relaunch” – it’s basically changing how minis are nominated and pre-ordered. Before deciding on a new system, I will send out surveys. It’ll be linked from here and sent out via our newsletter.

See you soon!

Annie

by badsquiddogames

Olga & Pirates ALMOST ready

Happy New Year! As the title says, Mary Read, Anne Bonny and Olga of Kyiv are ALMOST ready to ship. It WILL be January, and hopefully next week. Those in the EU will need to wait a teeny bit longer while we sort adherence to the latest GSPR regulations, but that’s aiming to be in place for January, too.

While I had been updating across social media and our live stream, I had neglected to update this blog, so I apologise for that. The end of 2024 became hectic in general, with various illness jumping in, and before I knew it was 2025. I’m back and better now though, hooray!

This is not to say that nothing was happening – it sure was! SOME elements were late though, which was entirely my fault. I was late getting directions to the painter, and I had a total brain block regarding writing out the collector cards. It’s all done now though and thanks to Print co. we have them and they are beautiful!

Anne Bonny and Mary Read, sculpted by Alan Marsh, painted by John Morris

So what DO we have?

  • Minis all cast and in hand
  • Collector Cards printed and in hand
  • Cards hand numbered
  • Pre orders part-packed with anything extra from the shop in there

Which is excellent! That’s the majority!

What needs to happen next?

  • Mini painting finished (2/3 so far!)
  • Minis Photographed
  • Graphic design for colour packaging, then ordered
  • Minis packed with colour insert
  • Shipping!

John has nearly finished painting Olga, then as soon as I receive them I’ll take some pics, whack em into the packaging file and get that ordered. These are super fast steps as the print place I get those from (different to the cards which are more bespoke) I can get next day delivery.

Packing them, I’ll get my part time worker Lil (aka mum) in to help. So these final steps are pretty straightforward.

You’ll know when to expect them as you will receive a shipping notification email.

Thank you again for supporting this! The relaunch will be put into action once these are fulfilled, but before that I will be putting out a survey where you can tell me what you loved and hated from the project so far, to aid in how we do the relaunch, as I LOVE this project but want it to be even better!

Thanks gang!

Annie

by badsquiddogames

Olga of Kyiv Sculpt & Project Update

She’s here! Well, nearly! At first glance you will think “Annie…. did you deviate from the plan a bit there…?” heck yeah I did! But it was worth it! One of the self-imposed rules of the project is that they’re all to be single-piece casts, but trying to find a way to make these pigeons really be going for it and make it one piece was proving difficult. The reality of my drawing was some very flat, vertical pigeons. Nobody wants that!

work in progress sculpt by Alan Marsh
Annie Norman’s original concept sketch

So we accepted going multi part would work for this one, as joining “at the pigeon” is nice and easy, especially as they have the little rags of sulphur. And Olga really propelling them forward as they fly off to burn down an entire city well, it’s kinda sweet, right?

A question we frequently ask ourselves and each other is “will this make a better model?” and if yes – then go for it!

She has a few more tweaks and tidies, you can see for example the wire still on the pigeons. Yes even pigeons need an internal wire to survive the heat and pressure of the mouldmaking process! But this is pretty much how the final model will look.

The face being downwards gives the sinister, unsettling feeling that I intended, and it’s another example of being on the same page as Alan – the sculptor.

It’s also going to be really easy if you don’t want pigeons, and want to use her for something else, as you can make her be holding something else entirely or just chop off the little rag bits so she has her palms in the air. Versatile, as always!

So what next?

After the final touches have been added, Alan will ship to me Olga, Mary Read and Anne Bonny. I’ll check them over and take a few photographs, and then send to the casting company who will make a master mould. They send me some samples of the master casts, I approve (hopefully! Usually!) and then send a copy of each to our painter – John Morris.

The artist Martin Whitmore is currently working on his sketches of the three, which will then be added to the very limited edition collector fact cards. And I’ll get those to print, along with the painted image packaging once John has done his paintbrush magic.

AND THEN, they will be on their way to you!

Is she really just £5?

Yes! … for now! The first 100 of each Community Mini are price-locked at £5 but subject to change after that, so it’s more incentive to get in early. With these massive pigeons she may well end up around £8. So, while there are still some of the Collector’s Edition available, it makes way more sense to do that, right?

What’s next for Community Minis?

The long mentioned relaunch! I’m waiting until these are all out and in folk’s hands so it’s as simple as possible, a nice clean slate, and then we can vote on the next one! Woohoo!

-Annie

by badsquiddogames

Mary Read & Anne Bonny Sculpts!

Alan has been very busy, and now we have… some more fantastic pieces of art. He never disappoints. We’ve worked together for…. about nine years so far, and getting the “Alan Marsh has sent you a photo” notification is still as exciting as it was from the first sculpts. Brynhildr was the first he made for us at Bad Squiddo Games, and still one of my favourites.

Are you ready? Here you go…

Work in progress sculpts by Alan Marsh – Greenstuff, Milliput, and wire.

Aren’t they adorable?! Ok so they are early work in progress shots. From L-R we have Mary Read, Anne Bonny, parts of weapons (they get sanded down once they’ve dried) and a bonus Olga of Kyiv! Not erally, of course, but that is the beginning of the shoulder pigeons.

Wire is a very important “skeleton” when sculpting anything that will be vulcanized – IE moulded to be cast into metal. The figure has to hold it’s form under a hole heap of heat and pressure (sames) and even the most beautiful sculpt without a solid core will buckle and distort in this process. I’ve seen it- horrifying!

Now to skip a few steps and….. voila!

Mary Read

Beautiful! I was slightly concerned about her in the design stage as she’s more practically dressed for sea than Anne, and I wanted to make sure she was still an interesting and exciting sculpt – she is! It’s so rewarding seeing your designs in reality. Validating, even.

For anybody just finding us here, the sketches and choices behind the designs are here. This project maps out the process from concept to painted, completed mini.

Anne Bonny

Here is Anne, out on the town! Out to… not cause any trouble, honest. You may notice a slight change from the concept art…… her left hand is up instead of lowered. This was on Alan’s suggestion during the early sculpting he said “my bit of wire has an air of sass to it” and who am I to argue with that? It has worked! There’s a small bit of concern about the casting of this but as we speak, Alan and CMA are discussing it and I get to leave them to it. She may need a tweak, but based on the videos I’ve seen from other angles, it might be tricky, but the casters are incredible, so they’ll manage it! (At worst we’ll change the head angle slightly, that’s all)

Conclusion

They’re lovely, aren’t they? I was worried that everything that could be done about pirates has…been done, but it was definitely wrong as these are fresh and unique, and I’m extra pleased that my research has shone out of them, instead of being lazy and just “making some pirates”. There’s reasons behind every part of their dress, it’s all been thought out, and that’s humbly, why I think our minis rock.

When?!

Soon! They will be moulded at the same time as Olga, so she is in progress at the moment, and then she will go to the mouldmaker and casters – I’ll approve the casts at master and production stage, then when everything is groovy they can be spun! The first casts will go to John to be painted, and I’ll get the packaging all sorted. After writing this, I’ll get over to Martin Whitmore to brief him on the card art.

Remember only the first 100 get the Collector Cards, you can pre order them here.

Delivery is looking like late September if not October.

Cheers – Annie

by badsquiddogames

Olga of Kyiv and Modern Context

Hi, it’s me again!

After publishing yesterday’s design for Olga of Kyiv, I very quickly discovered that even when historical characters are over 1000 years old, sometimes modern issues and context does overlap, as you can never entirely distance…anything! Nothing happens in a vacuum (take that, space).

So I’m back to add a bit onto yesterday’s design brief. Since finishing what has felt like a mammoth task, I have since eaten ice cream and slept, which has led to a fresh brain today, where I have been continuing the research to make sure I’ve got her how I consider to be right. I can’t say “got her right” as I wasn’t there, and is there a “right”? ie, is there a way to get the thumbs up from every person – there is not – but I can get her close, maybe.

In the previous write up, I stated how I felt more out of my depth with this one than others, and that it was a lot of information and context to absorb, and then blurt back out at you. Which is true.

Monument of St. Princess Olga, 1911, Kyiv

Since yesterday, I have furthered research of the design elements and how symbols are seen in the context of the current Ukraine/Russia conflict, which has included three long phonecalls today with people who know more than I, so thank you to them.

However, there didn’t appear to be a specific design element that had caused issue, which means it’s hard to act upon, so I went over her details again. I’ve decided to keep with her design and reiterate that she was Kyivan Rus, which was before there was a Russia and Ukraine as we know them today.

The cross we are using is the same as shown on the Monument of St. Princess Olga, built and displayed in Kyiv since 1911. Our depiction is similar all around but less Byzantine influence, as I’m placing her in an earlier style to reflect her roots.

That’s all really, I wanted to let you know that we love feedback, and it all goes to making a better model, as well as the heaps of learning along the way. So never be afraid to question a part of the design, especially in this Community Miniatures Project.

Still, I prefer this method of cramming a whole load of information over simply pointing at a painting and saying to the sculptor “knock this off, mate”, because, even when many of the design elements end up similar to previous portrayals. I can confidently say how and why each part was chosen, with a deeper understanding beyond “well that looks cool”. It does open us up to more criticism but hey, that’s how we all learn; there’s no honour in being a copycat!

Thanks all as always,

I’m having a break this weekend to celebrate catching up with A LOT this week, and then I can start putting wheels in motion for the relaunch of Community Minis Project, and get those nominations going for the next minis!

Annie

by badsquiddogames

Designing Saint Olga of Kyiv

When I initially read about Olga, my brain demanded flaming pigeons. Now we’re further down the line it – yeah it’s still that. There’s been a pose in mind from the very beginning, but when it comes to what she’s wearing, it’s been somewhat more difficult. To begin, do we put her in armour or a dress? If armour, what sort of armour? I now have a folder full of references of her son Sviatoslav and her husband Igor, as I imagine that if she ever armoured up on the battlefield, she would have worn similar to those two. There are no records I could find of her fighting, but she was there amongst the soldiers, so wearing protective gear just in case doesn’t seem too far a stretch.

However! For this project, the symbolic vengeful queen in gown with flaming pigeons seems better suited, and hopefully, not too far in the future, we can have a bonus Olga fighting with a big old sword and mailled up. If you’re good. By good I mean buy this one, and I’ll consider the latter if she flies off the shelves.

If you haven’t yet, you can read a bit more about her on the research post.

So, how is she portrayed?

Saint Olga (Stepennaya kniga, 1670)
Kievan Rus ruler Olga by Fedor Solntse, 1869
Saint Olga, Archangel Cathedral, 1652-1666

I try to look for sources as contemporary as possible, which has been difficult with this period. As we’ve seen when researching other figures, artists like to add their own flair, which is often reflective of the times in which it was created. However, Olga in a wimple, long gown, tighter undersleeves and a crown is pretty much the iconic gear for so many of her depictions.

Radziwiłł Chronicle. 15th C.

There was a long moment where I was stuck on whether to portray her as Christian or Pagan, especially as I wanted to include the flaming pigeons and sparrows, which was before her conversion. Of all the inspiration in the world, I turned to the wise words of Jez, from British comedy “Peep Show”.

“Uh, yeah, I spent some time with Ray before he went and I just wanted to say that I think we should all remember that Ray, by the end, he loved Jesus. Look, what I’m trying to say is that if I was dying and I decided that even though I’d never particularly been into, say, Enya before but that now I really, really was into Enya and that in fact, I thought Enya was great and that Enya died for our sins and I wanted an Enya themed funeral with pictures of Enya and lots and lots of mentions of Enya, then I think it would be a bit bloody rich for my sister to ban all mention of Enya from my funeral. Yeah?“

Ok yeah fair point! The cross it is! There is important symbolism to consider in these miniatures, and the Queen and Saint are two main elements of this for Enya. I mean, Olga.

The Design

Admittedly, this is the most out of my comfort zone I have been so far in the project. It’s become clear to me that it’s such a changing period, not just in fashion but, everything! In fact it was Olga herself, who put many of these wheels in motion.

We’re gonna go for the “something old, something new” theory for design here, as we are combining elements of her pre and post Christianity, which is also a huge change culturally.

I’ve drawn her in a simple gown of two layers, which you can then paint freehand to your heart’s content or(much easier) block in the colour with a bit of a wash over to bring out the folds. Red, blue and green are very strong in the older paintings. I will add in my notes to the sculptor that I wish the wimple, dress and cape to be more blowy in the wind, rather than just hanging there. As is she’s conjuring a storm (which she is, really!)

Pigeons, of course! This will be a fun challenge for Alan (I’m sure I said that last not too long ago, poor Alan) as the mini will be single piece, so he will need to find a way of “attaching” pigeons to her. I know you’re reading this Alan, I have faith in you!

Eastern Orthodox crosses

For the pose, I looked through plenty of spell caster reference photos, and I couldn’t quite get what I wanted, until I remembered the first bit of inspiration – The Night King from Game of Thrones! There’s a particular scene where he raises the dead and the stance is so powerful that I had to! It’s why her expression isn’t shouting, as it’s nicely sinister instead. We have ALL the pop culture references today.

There are lots of jewels to show her status, and a cross, which may end up quite oversized but is an important reference to her beliefs. The Eastern Orthodox cross has a variety of designs that are based on these two shapes. The right version will work better at such a small size.

Olga of Kiev by Nikolai Alexandrovich Bruni, 1901

The crown will probably be shortened from the drawing to something like this, from Nikolai Alexandrovich Bruni, which shows the pearls along the top. The “sunken” areas will be much easier to cast than if the rim was taller, and many are familiar with this image. See what I mean with that cold gaze – more effective than a yell. It’s terrifying. I have been told on several occasions that I am capable of such a face, usually when prepping for a big convention. This is clearly untrue.

As a final point – the pigeons won’t have sculpted fire. Nope, nope. I have tried to paint flames coming off minis too often to put that onto you. A flame on a bonfire or torch – yes, but coming from a mini, it often looks just… hairy. They also weren’t on fire when released. BUT. You can paint them fiery or make some neat conversions to add some flames. I won’t tell you off. Or give you the stare.

As I am always looking for as many ways I can sell a people can use a mini, I feel this design makes her a brilliant fantasy spellcaster or leader. Or both!

As always, disclaimer that I am not a historian, nor do I spend extra time getting the drawings perfect, as they only need to be good enough for the sculptor to work with – but I do have heaps of enthusiasm and obsession, so hoorah!

-Annie

by badsquiddogames

Who was Saint Olga of Kyiv?

St Olga by Mikhail Nesterov in 1892, public domain

I’m starting to believe that there’s a conspiracy in the results of the Community Miniatures Project to get me to learn about as many times and places as possible. How dare! What I actually mean is – thank you! While it’s a lot, cramming research for these minis has really helped build up my historical knowledge, which, as I have mentioned before – is full of gaps. This time we’re in the early medieval era, sometimes called the “Viking Age”, something we’ve covered a lot. Neato. Familiar. Until I realise we’re further East in this period than I know about. Time to get-a-learnin’!

When I first learnt of Olga, actually through the nominations for this project, I was incredibly excited. I was also shocked I had never heard such a legendary story before, and was rooting for her to win, so I’m more than happy that she did. Yesssss flaming pigeons (spoiler). I expected there to be a whole heap of books and resources but actually quite quickly hit a wall.

Perhaps due to the age, or there being little written or translated into English, I couldn’t find many sources at all. Most were various blog rewrites based on each other. At time of writing this, I’m still researching. The main writing I came across was the Primary Chronicle which is thought to be written in the 1100s and covers Kyivan Rus’ from around 850 until 1100.

Olga’s birth date is unknown, estimated to be between 890 and 925 CE and she lived until 969 CE in Kyivan Rus’. This was an area which covered areas now called Ukraine, Western Russia and Belarus. While young, she was married to Prince Igor of Kyiv, and following his death, took control as regent until their son Sviatoslav was of age.

Radziwiłł Chronicle. Olga’s revenge to the Drevlians, 15th C. public domain

As part of an ongoing feud with the Drevlians (a nearby tribe), Igor was eventually “captured by them, tied to tree trunks, and torn in two.” This set a chain of cunning and violent revenge from his widow that would cause much more horrific bloodshed.

The Radziwiłł Chronicle is a later copy of the Primary Chronicle, with more added to it, and has a whole heap of illustrations. As a fan of the style of medieval manuscript, this does not disappoint. I like to narrate them. In the series about Olga, she is usually sat pointing at the events, which I may have mimicked from my office chair. But you can’t prove it! Here she is chilling and saying “ah yes, burn them to death”. If you scroll back up she’s saying – no wait, I can’t tell you that bit yet, it’s for later.

Radziwiłł Chronicle. Olga’s revenge to the Drevlians, 15th C. public domain

Her story is one of those where it baffles me that it isn’t more well known. Even from the cold commercial point of view – it would make a brilliant TV series or film. In a talk recently I mentioned truth being stranger than fiction, and this is one where you don’t need to make it up – as you have it here ready to go! Chronicled!

Perceiving a weakened widow, the Drevlians offered to marry to her to their own prince, Prince Mal. She replied enthusiastically, of course she would, she can’t just be floating around unmarried after all and she was now a free lady! She specified that they must come via boat, and would be carried by her people as an act on honour. How lovely.

St. Olga of Kyiv. Drawing for mosaic by Nicholas Roerich, 1915

When they arrived, they were indeed all lifted up, which must have been a nice treat. However they were then tipped into a pre-dug hole and buried alive. Oops.

Her justification was that they didn’t send particularly high ranking or “cool enough” men, so they should do that and then she will totally comply. Totally. Upon arrival she had them led into a bathhouse for a nice scrub, which was then locked and set on fire. What’s the old saying – fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice….won’t get fooled again?

Still, they agreed to her third demand, which was a mighty feast where she could weep over the tomb of her husband, and finally accept that she had to remarry. Psyche! After they were all drunk on mead, her people killed around five thousand of theirs.

You’d think after this, that all pretence would be expired. But you’re already admiring this BEAUTIFUL collage I just made, and thinking that perhaps that cannot be the case. An attack on Iskorosten was declared by her young son, Sviatoslav, who feebly threw a spear (bless him!) towards the Drevlian forces on her command; this siege lasted a year.

After the year, she said, “Ok, here’s the deal. You just need to pay us tribute. All we want is three pigeons and three sparrows from each household, and that’ll be fine.” Presumably forgetting not to trust this lady at all, they complied. Seems reasonable enough!

“Fly my Pretties” by Annie Norman, 2024

“Annie, why have you collaged a pigeon flying in fire, whilst also carrying some fire?” Just normal reasons. They gave her the birds and off she went, it was all fine. Nobody die- ok fine, lots of people died. Each pigeon and sparrow had a little piece of sulphur and cloth tied to it’s little leg and set free. Yay! Of course they are homing animals, so off they go back to the city to go nest in all the lovely flammable hay and yes the whole place is on fire.

These intros to the Community Miniatures are supposed to be, well, intros. Brief. But we’re getting on a bit more so I’ll fast forward. Olga does a lot of work regarding administration, law making and changing the tribute system, which is fascinating in it’s own right, but has no flaming birds.

So, around 950 CE her travels took her Constantinople, where she caught the eye of the emperor, Constantine VII. Olga was still a highly sought after widow, and after many years of dodging proposals, she was running out of excuses. She had Constantine baptise her under the Christian name Helena, and then said oh no we can’t marry now it’s too weird. (The term used is “spiritual incest”)

You’ll have to look up the rest! She was later on made the Patron Saint of Widows and Converts, the former being obvious and the latter due to her vast work spreading the word of Christianity.

Now how the heck are we going to sum all this up in one mini? Stay tuned….

-Annie

by badsquiddogames

Designing Anne Bonny and Mary Read

I’ve done it again! “What’s that?” you call out in unison. I’ve only gone and overthought something relatively simple and made it a massive task to come back around to pretty much where I was at the start! But, to be honest, what else could you have come to expect from me? Certainly not slap-dash careless mini design! (read the research here if you missed it)

Digitised copy of the printed record of the 1720 trial of Rackham (alias Calico Jack) and of course Bonny and Read.

It’s been a while, but I can finally present you the designs for Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As with many of the figures we design, it starts off like “yeah, easy”, and then before you know it, you’re deep in the comments section of how to load and fire a flintlock pistol and reading trial documents from 1720’s Jamaica.

I think what overwhelmed me was the sheer amount of depictions of these ladies- the majority, of course, not historically accurate, and a fair amount of those somewhat… risque! Female pirates sure have captured people’s imagination and inspiration for quite some time.

The goal is to make these believable for the era, yet still compete with fantasy design for cool miniatures that you’d use in fantasy settings in addition to historical. This was similar to the brief for fellow pirate Jeanne de Clisson. Hopefully, we shall achieve these two as we did Jeanne.

Starting with Anne Bonny

As the two women were of the same era as well as crew-mates, it could have been easy to put them in the same gear. However, I have decided to use this as an opportunity to show off two styles of pirates – the working on the deck and the fancy “out on the town” look. I won’t even tell you off if you wish to swap their names around either (gasp).

USUAL DISCLAIMER: These sketches exist only to inform the sculptor what goes where, I’m not a professional artist and the further details are given via photo references which often can’t be put on the blog for copyright reasons (private collections and the such). The sculptor (Alan Marsh) also tweaks the design as he goes long to make sure it works for single piece casting and 28mm scale.

Figure Design by Annie Norman, 2024

It is said that when she went to land, Anne Bonny would dress up in all the finest styles, a common act of pirates. She could have been in a dress (future mini perhaps?) but I’ve gone for men’s clothing as it suits her story better. Also, she may well have been more comfortable in men’s clothing after all this time, and it could help protect her. And, well, this gear is cool. She has very similar clothing to our Julie d’Aubigny figure, being of a very close period and high society. The references for the coat and trousers are the same, as well as the buckle shoes. And I think it would be very daring of Anne to wear the red-heeled Louis fashion while being a criminal.

Operating in more of a lawless environment, she’s going to have her jacket OPEN (how many times can we gasp during this?), showing off her pirate shirt and… maybe a scarf? I pondered a scarf after scribbling, what do you think? Around her waist is a tied sash, with a belt over (it’s handy to tuck things between the two, guns and such) with the scabbard.

She can be painted historically with long white socks or all sorts of stripes, making her very versatile. I feel the shirt should be more fancy (or have the scarf), so it’s not the same as the standard sailor’s shirt. You can see the ruffled sleeves poking out of the coat.

The tricorne was very fashionable in the 18th century and, of course, another popular pirate icon, so she’s wearing one of those, probably with a nice gold trim! She’s off to shore to have a good, absolutely law-abiding* time, so she has to look her fanciest.

*ha!

“Two women, prisoners at the bar, were then on board the said sloop, and wore men’s jackets and long trousers, and handkerchiefs tied about their heads, and that each of them had a machete and pistol in their hands… the reason of her knowing and believing them to be women then was by the largeness of their breasts.” – An account of Dorothy Spenlow’s testimony during the trial.

What is Mary wearing on deck?

Sailor gear of course! Accustomed to being at sea from her early days in The Royal Navy, I decided she should be in the same outfit as the chaps. It was said the pair dressed as men, but outside of that is pretty much speculation. I’ve come to the conclusion that they weren’t in disguise, especially on deck, but wearing comfortable sailor clothing because – sea is pretty treacherous!

Because she can’t rely on fancy fashion for a cool model, I got really stuck on Mary. I decided to show you my first attempt, bravely. It was a great pose but wouldn’t translate to sculpt very well, so I went with something a bit more classic. A miniature’s silhouette is important, and I feel this works much better. If you do think the first one looks better then shhh don’t tell me.

Figure Design by Annie Norman, 2024

I’m a sucker for big curly hair, and in this case, it can help set them apart from the male figures with shorter cuts. The sea air would give them fluffy locks- I can’t quite see them in the cabin with their ghds somehow. With Mary I’ve decided she is going to go for a “half up half down” as she’s tied it up out her face, with the help of the handkerchief, and kept the lower bit down to protect her neck from the sun.

The shoes are drawn the same as Anne’s, but that was from habit; they’re going to be the more simplified sailors buckle shoes, though at 28mm, they won’t look much different, just softer leather and less of a heel. She’s gonna have a machete with no scabbard and no holster for the pistol, as she just tucks them between her belt and sash – much less faffing for a busy pirate.

What’s next?

Next up, this very evening is…… Olga of Kiev! Whether the blog post goes up tonight is another thing, but it’s totally getting started. We’re also very overdue the relaunch and slight switcharoo, so again thanks for all the patience. It’s just been a heck of a year for me running from task to task!

I also need to send this to the sculptor Alan, with all the photo references and additional notes that I have gathered – after a nice cup of tea though.

Thanks all

Annie.

by badsquiddogames

Jeanne d’Arc Spinoff!

Our first Community Miniatures Project spinoff!

From the start, I’ve said that a side effect of this project could be that it gets my cogs whirring for more minis based on one we’ve made for this – be it another mini, a whole range, some chums, or even just a style or era. It’s another reason that nominating people to be chosen is so important – even if they don’t “win”, I’m now aware of them, and they might creep into my subconscious enough that I decide to make them outside of the project anyway, as a standard release.


Well I got so into researching Jeanne d’Arc ,that when it came to designing her pennon, I decided to commit to making a battle standard for horseback version as well and then – time to make the mini!

Jeanne d’Arc by Bad Squiddo Games. Sculpted by Alan Marsh, painted by John Morris, banner art by Martin Whitmore and photo backdrop by Jon Hodgson.

Isn’t it stunning? The banner pole was said to be 18 feet tall, which is HUGE, and I tried it to scale, and it was so tall that I chose to shorten it in our version to look more “right” as, of course, 28mm isn’t a “proper” scale as such. The flags are scaled to each other as they are the same width, and this “looks right”.

As with the smaller flag, the pennon, you get two of each – in case you mess one up or need a spare for an objective – and instructions. I am SO please how well it’s all turned out!

Something which can cause weakness in mounted minis with poles is the one tiny join to the hand – but we solved this….with…. HISTORY! She has a special saddle called a “selle de bannière” or the “banner saddle”, which has a holster to pop it in to help carry the weight of it all. I can’t imagine riding a horse and carrying that thing, even with a support, which adds even more to how impressive Jeanne was. We have of course given 28mm Jeanne one of these saddles which helps her carry it, and also gives us another contact point – hooray! Thank you, history!

The Mounted Jeanne d’Arc is available now by herself or with the foot version if you haven’t got that yet – both here.

The famous “Jeanne d’Arc confronts Turkey Man” scene from history.

Where are the next three minis?

They’ve been delayed by EVERYTHING going on at once, but I have managed to clear some backlog of far more boring tasks so it’s now #1 priority. I underestimated how much time and energy that Salute and UK Games Expo – our two major shows in April and June – would take. Me underestimating time and energy for tasks is always a given though, I should know this by now (if I wasn’t busy underestimating)

I’m aiming to have the research and sketches all up and in the hands of the sculptor by the end of next week, hopefully sooner (but there’s always curveballs)

Thanks for sticking around, we haven’t done the full relaunch yet either, so there’s that to come too!

Check out who we have available so far here.

-Annie