Author / badsquiddogames

by badsquiddogames

Let us know your suggestions for the 7, 8 and 9th miniature

COMMUNITY MINIATURES SUGGESTION THREAD ON BAGGY’S CAVE (FACEBOOK)


Here is a copy of what I posted in our Facebook group, which is where most the voting takes place. For the suggestions though you can add them in the comments section here and I will add them to the poll.

Hello, I’m mostly going to be busy with Salute things but this can be pootling in the background. Post below who you want to be in the poll for the next 3 community minis. The top 3 will be made. This isn’t the poll, but I’ll collate them all for the poll and give you lots of warning when that goes live.

I found this to be the best way as it gives people time to see who everyone is, and none of the options get a “head start”.

On your suggestions, can you put their birth and death date, name/s, country, and a term that sums them up like job title or what they’re known for. Then whatever you want in terms of why you want them, any pics and any other info. The poll will only have the basic information so this is a good chance to “pitch” them to the others. I’ll probably do a blog post pre poll as well with this info collated so people can have a good look before its voting time.

It means more famous doesn’t automatically get a head start too.

Woop!

by badsquiddogames

Sculpting Begins!

Hooray, it begins!

Alan has begun work on the first four, and you can see a peek into how sculpts are born.

L-R Harriet Tubman, Zenobia, Julie D’Aubigny, Black Agnes – work in progress sculpts by Alan Marsh.

How cool are they? Sculptors all have different ways of going about things. Some sculpt the body then add clothes, some do it bit by bit, which is what Alan is doing here. The wire underframe gives support and strength while sculpting, as well as helping it survive the intense heat and pressure of the moulding process.

Alan uses a mixture of “greenstuff” and milliput, as greenstuff is a strong and popular medium, but can sometimes be a bit…springy. This means after sculpting, edges can soften without constant rework. The milliput combats this making it easier to work with, and a side bonus is that it’s easier to photograph! It’s not shiny. Everyone has their own little favourite methods and materials, I am a big fan of this as Alan’s models are always brilliant to cast. There are some putties more prone to crumbling or other issues which luckily none of our current sculptors use.

See how the wire on Julie (3rd across) goes straight through the arm and sword, this really strengthens it. The little tab at the bottom is going to be what attaches to the puddle base to help the metal flow in casting, then give it strength before it reaches the customer once cast – then you just clip it off.

Eleanor of Aquitaine and Ching Shi

These two ladies are the last that need their posts up and design sketch. I have a long draft saved of Eleanor as I got very into the research so haven’t finished yet, though she is pretty much designed in my head! She’s a figure I was originally not that excited by…. BUT NOW. Oh lawd. Her story is incredible. I haven’t started on Ching Shi yet but hoping to have the research started and wrapped up by the end of the week.

by badsquiddogames

Designing Zenobia

I love how the first six miniatures are so all over the place in terms of time period and location. After finishing up in Scotland in the last post, we now jump on the Bad Squiddo blimp and land in Ancient Palmyra. Not today Palmyra unfortunately, as it is mostly destroyed. Dangit.

Empress Zenobia! 240 – 274[disputed]. This is a period I do not know a huge amount about… yet, so please do bear with me, and let me know what I get wrong! 300 years after Cleopatra, one of Zenobia’s claims to fame was that she was a descendent of the Egyptian Queen. Not a bad person to associate with in her situation, known for power and beauty!

A coin depecting Zenobia as Empress

Married to King Odaenathus, they ruled together successfully until his untimely demise – by poison. There were many suspects but the truth will never be known, so all we have is speculation. One suspect was Zenobia herself. What were her motives? Well his son by a previous marriage was above her in succession, and not long after the death she placed their son Vaballathus as King, with herself the Queen Regent. He was only 10 years old and most people have seen Game of Thrones by now and know how that goes.

Not much time passed before she decided to go against the Roman rule and forge an empire of her own. Zenobia forged a mighty campaign that saw the Palmyran Empire expand and engulf most of the Roman East, in a relatively short period of time. She was certainly not a passive leader and was reputed to be an expert on horseback and combat, and right there on the battlefield. An especially important victory was that of Egypt, where Rome’s supply of grain was from. Rome had been otherwise distracted around this time by other conflicts but then it turned it’s eye to Zenobia.

During this time, she had had currency minted with her own face on it, which I hard relate to as someone who keeps getting miniatures of herself sculpted. Annie coin?

Emperor Aurelian took exception to this challenger of Rome and a series of conflicts took place, which ended with Zenobia escaping on camelback but inevitably being captured. The rest is unknown – some say she took her own life a ‘la Cleopatra, others she was paraded through the streets draped in heavy jewellery in a mocking fashion. Another rumour is that she lived out the rest of her life fairly quietly married to a Roman, and had several more children. What do you think?

There is much more to her militaristic exploits but this is supposed to be a brief summary so I cut it short, but there is plenty of information out there if you were further interested. She appeared to be loved by the people, a good ruler, and ambitious and successful military leader, but Rome gets everyone in the end (Until it doesn’t)

Designing the Miniature

This has been a ride! Zenobia was the first miniature for this project that I attempted to design. It didn’t go down too great but really just needed some tweaks. I’ll show the first image with what I’ve changed it to.

Aside from the obvious difference of me figuring out sketching on a tablet better, it’s a much better design right? Also there are two years between these. I had a nice chat with Alan Marsh, our main sculptor (who will be doing all the community minis) about my terrible sketches, and he said he actually prefers the rougher, less accurate ones where he can “see my workings” at it conveys movement and what I’m going for better than anything too refined.

The pose looks a bit weird, I get it! It’s because it is based on this statue of Emperor Augustus, which looks much better from this side angle, I was originally looking at more of a face on and it didn’t show how the arm goes forward quite a bit.

Statue of Emperor Augustus

In the changes to my design I’ve lifted the arm to make it less awkward and added more elements of Augustus such as the sceptre and robe. I entirely removed the armour, as it was a while ago I can’t remember why I decided on that armour, but I was determined to how her combat prestige. Now I believe this can be done without literal armour and weapons, but definitely an alternative figure down the line of her in full Palmyran battle gear would be brilliant, and of course a mounted version (camel or horse though?).

Why the Emperor pose? Women are often depicted quite conservative in this era of statue, and Zenobia was an Empress, though not officially recognised by Rome, she earned that! I’ve designed this figure to look perhaps as she would like to see her self portrayed, even though it was her son she was calling Caeser. It’s like a very very belated present for her! That arm forward pose is very much associated with military leaders, and has been in many eras (just look at Napoleon on that rearing horse!) so I wanted to reference that.

“The Beauty of Palmyra” Tomb Statue


The head and torso are heavily based on this tomb statue called “The Beauty of Palmyra”. There are fantastically preserved tomb statues from Palmyra of this era, and the women often have this elaborate headpiece and veil. While Zenobia may have worn a different crown as leader, I really wanted to pay tribute to the people of Palmyra, such as this unknown lady, and the mixture of Palmyran and Roman influence I think, well, looks cool. This statue is the most elaborate I have found, so that is what I am basing it on. I appear to not be the first, as other artwork such as that by Angus Mcbride also seems to have been heavily influenced by it. And I’m all about that recognisable symbolism.

The robe has been simplified to more of a toga style wrap over a sleeveless vest. She is decorated in the bangles from the statue as well as a higher arm band in homage to her hero Cleopatra.

There are heckloads of jewellery because – she’s an Empress! Don’t worry about the detail, you’d be able to paint it gold then run a wash over it and BOOM, beautiful.

I believe my MK2 Zenobia is a vast improvement with not too many changes, what do you think? – Annie.

by badsquiddogames

Designing Agnes Randolph

The last two entries have seen us in America, then France, and now we enter… Scotland!

Agnes Randolph (Ranulph according to contemparies but commonly referred to as Randolph, so will be by us for search results!) known as Black Agnes for her dark hair and eyes, is most well known for The Siege of Dunbar in 1338. She lived 1312-1369 making her around 26 for the time of the siege, now I feel somewhat underacheived!

As the wife of The 9th Earl of Dunbar and March, Patrick Randolph, early 1338 she came into the common situation of being left in charge of the castle while her husband was away. The English forces, led by the 1st Earl of Salisbury took this as an opportunity to siege the castle. What a great chance hey, while the man of the house was away, it must be a doddle!

by Thomas Heath Robinson, 1910

The siege lasted until the 10th June that same year, a whole five months. The winner being…… Agnes and her castle full of awesome and loyal supporters and soldiers. Take that! There are various “fun” anecdotes of the siege, yes I know… a ….fun…siege anecdote? Sieges are by their very nature, horrific! But everyone loves an underdog tale.

At one point, one of the boulders launched over the walls was dropped back over the edge right into the top of a siege tower, crushing most the soldiers inside. They gave back what they got and much more! It is said that her handmaidens, dressed in their finest gowns would be at the ramparts flamboyantly dusting with lace handkerchiefs. This is the psychological warfare I can get behind.

Salisbury even threatened the death of her brother, to which she responded along the lines of “Whatever, I’m his heir anyway”, which reminded me of the tale of Caterina Sforza (who we make a mini of already!) where her children were captured and being threatened, she lifted her skirt, grabbed her crotch and declared that she possessed the instruments to make more. Casually brutal.

Cam I early, Cam I late, I found Agnes at the gate.

Designing the Miniature

This is another I thought would be straight forward as there are already great depictions of her already that are similar to each other. However I didn’t want to just duplicate without knowing why certain details are there. You know what I’m like, I want it to be right! So even if I do all the research and it ends up like the above picture, I will at least know why, and can explain it confidently.

Hairstyle. Around this era it’s largely a variety of plaits tied around the head, sometimes with ribbons, and with nets or cages called crespines or crespinettes and a veil or wimple. I’ve decided to go with the almost Princess Leia style as it’s in almost every depiction I could find, and fits reasonably within the time frame. It’s correct enough and recognisable enough as Black Agnes. Unfortunately the best “photo reference” I could find is Isabella from Braveheart I KNOW PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

The circlet, hair and crespine are going to be the same, as they will look super on a miniature and different from our Jeanne de Clisson from the same era. The wimple will be different. I THINK it would be called a veil and gorget, as they will be separate, whereas a wimple is one piece, but happy to be corrected. Also the top of the hair covered by the veil.

Clothing. The kirtle (dress) will be quite plain with a surcote on top, sort of like a tabard. Tippets will add some detail, they are the ties of fabric above the elbow that drape down. The surcotes by this time were getting laced or stitched down the side, giving them a bit more of shape, so we’ll go for this. This will all be quite simple but allow for a manner of creative paint jobs.

Pose. I struggled with a pose but happy with the outcome! The tippets make it difficult regarding casting but I am probably overthinking it, I am sure there are minis in the range with the same sort of hanging strands! Having quite a closed body means they will be much easier to cast, but I might enquire about whether hand on hip would work. Tippets can be quite large so it could work – what do you think? Hand on hip or around waist? Forgive the mitten hands, they will look better! That’s quite a splayed hand on chest as a common laughing pose. Yes she’s laughing – you know I love a laughing mini. It suits her I think as “ha, call that a siege!”. The wimple/gorget is tucked in so you can see the nice hem on her dress, which laces up fairly low. There will be more waves in the surcote of course, not a solid cone!

What do you think? – Annie

by badsquiddogames

Designing Julie d’Aubigny

Who was she?

La Maupin, L’Heroine
Cover page of the French magazine “Le Matin,” 1910s

I’m back! We have a wild character today who I’ve been wanting an excuse to make a miniature of for so long, so her being chosen is excellent, hooray! Julie d’Aubigny was also know as “La Maupin”, that was her opera stage name. She was here from 1670 – 1707 though records vary and as we will come to see, her story is somewhat muddled into legend! Much like Mad Max (also always wanted to start a sentance with that) tales of her would have been spread by word and almost certainly been embellished or added to, crossed over with other events. For example “Did you hear they’re saying the boat was blown up by Mad Max I mean, La Maupin?” when she might have just been sat at home watching a painting.

However! Her story is cool enough that it warrents telling, and I’d like to think every single detail is accurate as it makes for a tale of awesome proportions.

Julie is known for being the sword fighting, opera singing, law breaking bisexual temporary nun. What a title. Taught to fence early on by her father, she was a handful from the beginning, and after a failed matchmake because the chap was too boring, she ran away and began her life of scandal. She made money basically by busking around with a mix of operatic singing and swordfighting demonstrations, which was of course a delightful spectacle for the public with her being a woman, so probably raked in some decent coin.

For most of her life, Julie dressed in men’s clothes, it’s impossible (probably) to know exactly why, as with many historical characters it could be for practicality and getting around town easier, it could be she had a different gender to that assigned at birth. The book “Female Husbands” by Jen Manion covers this topic really well. I’ll be referring to her as she/her as there is nothing to say the contrary.

Her story is a whirlwind of romance, stabbings and a very short attention span! She was pardoned by King Louis XIV TWICE. Once for burning down a convent (after romancing a woman who was sent to a nunnery as punishment then Julie joined the nunnery to continue the romance) and second for stabbing (some accounts say killing) a bunch of chaps at a Royal Ball. The first due to her dad’s status, the second because Louis just thought it was very entertaining.

Designing the Sculpt

To be honest, I was so tempted to phone this one in. I think partly because I spent so long on Harriet Tubman, it’s 6pm at time of writing, and I wanted to get all 6 done today (ha, sweet summer child) but I’m not too disappointed as I am really enjoying this, and starting was most of the battle. By “phoning it in”, the image above, at first, I thought was perfect! Very rarely do we just make a painting into 3D, but it being public domain and “would make a cracking figure” was very temping.

HOWEVER. Then I got down the rabbit hole of 17th century fashion! What a rabbit hole indeed. So first I looked up images of her, how other people had represented. Many were in skirts, which would make for great miniatures, but if she dressed as a man her whole life, it’s inaccurate. I will do some sword fighty dress ladies at some point though don’t worry.

This made the research all about late 17th Century Men’s Fashion. Which the more I looked, became more and more of a minefield. This was very peak “fashion” time. The wealthy were changing their minds every decade pretty much on what the look was going to be. Big boots to small shoes, big flappy trousers, tight ones, ruffs, cravats, everything!

These were the closest I could find for around 1685-95 when a lot of the scandal was occurring! It really does change that quickly. The musketeer boots had gone out of fashion and the little red heels made popular by Louis XIV are just darling, so they’re going in. Justaucorps had replace the tighter doublet (of the first image), they were longer coats with a cinched waist. It was all less “flouncy” that a decade before, though still very elaborate compared to today’s tracksuits. The breaches no longer were as poofy and ribboned, as the coat covered them anyway.

Of course, all this fashion is for those of high society. I decided to dress Julie in the gear of a high society man due to her upbringing status, and the fact she was documented socialising at a Louis XIV Royal Ball. I figured with her other criminal activity, she may have done the odd theft to make sure she had enough to keep up with the times in a fashionable suit, and I get the impression she would have been quite proud of her appearance.

Ok it’s time for the reveal of my next terrible sketch. I am leaning into the terrible sketches now. Of course to the sculptor, this is accompanied with lots of descriptions and reference!

The pose is the same as the first image from the article. I think it’s great and suits the character. The clothes are a mixture of largely two of the clothing above, largely that of the khaki suit (which is part of the V&A collection) but with the actual justaucorps being from the one in red as you can’t see the other from under the cape. Leaving that undone to the belly button area I think will help with the shape, and it was a common way of wearing it.

Casting Concerns

I’m slightly concerned about the sword, even though it will touch the base making it stronger, I don’t know if it will be a liability, so I’ll discuss this with the caster and sculptor before we go ahead. It will be thicker than “at scale” as it would be needle thin, but I don’t want it to look like a big stick either! A workaround could be changing the wind so the cloak is floating behind the sword, a pose I am sure you are familiar with across many ranges! We shall see!

That’s all for now, I’m sure there will be an update on how we’ve adapted from the “first draft”. I am thinking of doing the Black Agnes write up next, but I’m going to have my tea and a walk first, before my eyes fall out. – Annie

by badsquiddogames

Designing Harriet Tubman

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

by badsquiddogames

It’s Alive! Plans with New Artist (ooh!)

Hello all, thanks for sticking around! The last few months have been absolutely intense, and with still one Annie as the main staff, I’ve had a chunk of time off ill due to it all. Not the Community Miniatures Project’s fault, but running Bad Squiddo Games day to day is a huge thing. I’ve started working with more freelancers though to take some off my plate, which is working great, and one of the bonuses is we can make some progress with this.

One of the things that set me back and put me in a bit of a block was people seeing my rough concept art! Even though I keep saying that it doesn’t need to be refined, so long as the sculptor knows what is going on, showing just one made me feel super self conscious and stressed, as usually just the sculptor sees them, so it was weird with a big audience.

Artists

I’ve been chatting to several artists to get on board with this and make it a bit… fancier? Our main artist is Martin Whitmore and we love him very much, but he often gets busy on large projects either for us or other people, so it needed to be someone with a faster turnaround.

Derval Chambers

Welcome Derval to the gang! Everyone has to have a bit of a test to see if we can work together on both quality and accuracy, but also communication, especially when working with a concept piece. The test piece I chose was Aethelflaed, a miniature we already have.

I got him to draw her in a different pose to the mini, first as a rough sketch.

The style is perfect! I had him make a couple of changes, which was a good test for our communication as well – to switch the direction of her left hand, and remove the curls on her shoes. He had to fill in some blanks just having that photo to work with so this is all grand and he switched it straight up (you’ll see in the next image).

I’ll mostly be using him for these types of line art, but out of curiosity and for future projects, I asked Derval to colour her in, and the results are…wow!

This makes me very happy! It’s lovely to see minis in different poses, it really brings them to life. Talking of which….

We also got this sketch sheet of different expressions, which gives me SO MANY IDEAS! This was mostly just for fun, and it is so fun! Angry Aethel!

How does this fit in to The Community Miniatures Project?

It means I have someone else to help visualise the character. And something more coherent that you can look at before the mini is sculpted. So you can have an actual idea of what is coming which is much better than my scribbles and rambles.

The sculptor Alan is busy on WW2 Soviets for us at the moment and the next job after that is to tackle all the decided Community Minis so we can get caught up and back to a less manic pace. This means while he is mentally over at the Eastern Front, we can get a good crack on researching these ladies and getting the art together so he has something solid to work with as soon as he’s ready to. I gave Derval the heads up that it’ll probably end up being around one a month after the first load, and he is totally up for this and excited, which is super cool. It gives me a fresh wave of enthusiasm!

Sorry again that it’s taken a while to get this off the ground, but I totally feel it’s worth the wait, and is something that we’ll be doing a long time, once we’ve got the hang of it!

Thanks so much, and stay tuned!

Annnniiiiie

by badsquiddogames

A lil check in!

Hello! A quick check in to say I’ve been super spread in many other directions as well as a chunk of time off ill, but we will be progressing with this soon – I’m holding off the next round of voting til we have more progress with ones already voted in. Then even if we get ahead with a few, they can all be voted and designed in their own batch.

TLDR: It’s all cool!

Thanks all!
Annie

by badsquiddogames

Community Mini #5 and #6 decided!

Congratulations to Ching Shih and Harriet Tubman!

YAY! These two will make cracking minis!

I have a bunch of ideas for how they will look but will set up their own threads in Baggy’s Cave. Thanks for being patient, I am currently juggling a whole bunch of Bad Squiddo work, including some brand new releases (they’ll pop up here!)

The next blog update should have links to all 6 of the minis so far where we can discuss and refine their design.

While Harriet is unlocked as mini #6, no sculpting can begin until the current target is hit, so go on – you know what to do!

Catch you soon!

Anniiie!