634 votes this time, which is less than last time BUT only for one figure, whereas the last was for two, so this is a good number!
Congratulations, Mary Read!
It was very head to head for a while with Matilda, who was also close in the last round, so she would be a good nomination for the next round as she is clearly popular.
Mary Read has 78 votes, which is reassuring, as, from the next mini onwards (not Mary) we’ll need 60 pre sales before she can be sculpted. A vote isn’t a pledge to buy, but it SHOULD be a good indicator of popularity.
Ann Bonny and Mary Read convicted of Piracy Novr. 28th. 1720 at a Court of Vice Admiralty held at St. Jago de la Vega in a Island of Jamaica.: a copper engraving. From Defoe, Daniel; Johnson, Charles (1724) A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates
Yaarrrrrr
From my perspective, Mary winning is ace! I’ll already be researching Anne Bonny and their tales and so interlinked, it means I won’t have to stray too much. I’ll probably do my research on the two as a bit of a pair (though of course they have unique stories) and then of course Olga and her flaming pigeons.
Thank you everybody for nominating and voting. By the time it’s mini #14 we’ll be doing things a bit differently but I’ll keep you updated on all that.
As part of our relaunch to streamline everything, I’m putting information into useful sections for a master page that links to all you need to know, so in this article, we’ll cover how to nominate somebody as the next Community Miniature.
When?
Each round of voting requires fresh nominees. You may only nominate for the current round, once nominations have been declared open. It’ll be announced on this blog and social media when it’s time.
You may re-nominate anybody who has “previously-ran”, whether it was you who nominated them previously or someone else. Everyone deserves another chance!
Where?
Technically, you can nominate from anywhere, but outside of the designated thread at the time on Baggy’s Cave, there is a chance I will miss it, so that is the best place to be sure. The second best way is to email me, but I still highly recommend the FB Group to be 100%. Only in the nominating window though, otherwise people will be shouting ladies’ names at me all the time and get lost.
How?
There are specific details you MUST follow for your nomination to count.
You must include:
Full Nameand any other names
Birth Date and Death Date, if known. Approximate century etc if not known.
A short summary of what they were known for/who they were.
You can then add as much information as you would like including links and pictures to help sway the vote. Too much information might not get read, so there’s a sweet spot in the middle. If you quote anything external please do credit/link.
Who?
Make sure your person fits all the following:
is dead. It’s just easier for so many reasons! Sorry alive people.
has at least SOME basis in fact and history. Entirely mythological characters aren’t being included… yet!
is a woman or potentially another marginalised gender. The focus is largely on women (which, of course, includes trans women), but there can be a murkiness around the past when there wasn’t a particular vocabulary to describe different genders. For example, there are many “women who disguised themselves as men” who, by today’s wording, could be known as a trans man or perhaps non-binary. They also could have simply preferred the social benefits of being seen as a man. Unfortunately, we cannot ask them individually as they’re no longer around, but they can be included in this project for sure, as sensitively as possible with the information we have.
Any other terms and conditions?
Bad Squiddo Games reserves the right to exclude any nomination from the polling stage without giving reason. In the unlikely event of this happening it could be due to the person being inappropriate, too controversial, already part of our range (or being sculpted), not following one or more of the nomination rules or something else that we haven’t considered yet!
Your name will be listed in the thanks for that round of nominations, if you don’t want your name listed – or it already has been and you want it retracted or changed, please do tell us and it’ll be sorted.
Tips to help your Nomination.
You’ve chosen the person who you would LOVE to see and buy as a 28mm pewter miniature… now how do we get them to win? More than the basic information will help. For example “Queen of Blah” doesn’t sound too compelling. “Queen of Blah, who is known for…” is much more so. What cool things did they do? Is there an extra compelling story of an occasion they made their exceptionalism known? What games would you use them for? What would make them extra interesting to paint? Do you have a diorama in mind? What does that person mean to you?
This information isn’t essential, but it will help. (Also I like to read it!) Are there any cool artworks (please do credit) or photographs of them? You can share additional information as extra posts in our Facebook Group where most the magic happens. You can do this whenever, though when a round of nominations or voting is on it will have the most effect.
This is the fun bit! You’re campaigning! And the side effect is that we’ll all learn more about these incredible women from history!
What if your nomination doesn’t win the poll?
Aw, it’s ok, there probably was some pretty tough competition. You can regroup and nominate them again next time, or perhaps try out somebody else. We’re hoping to run this project indefinitely, so there will be lots more chances. And you still got to tell people about someone incredible, which is excellent. You did some teaching!
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I’m going to keep this page updated if I think of anything else, so this can be the go-to rules. Please do comment if you feel there’s something not covered or have any questions,
Thank you to the contributors (listed below) for submitting these twenty four suggestions. The most popular will be made into a miniature! Please have a read through them all and have a think about who your favourites are! You will be able to vote for as many as you like, but please only vote for your favourites, IE what you’d REALLY like as a mini.
VOTING WILL OPEN 7PM WEDNESDAY 6th MARCH AND CLOSE 7PM SATURDAY 9th MARCH on our Facebook group
Click here to be taken directly to the poll. Only votes on that will count.
Images: Images are not necessarily how the minis will be dressed, just chosen for an easy glance and public domain, you are encouraged to look up more photos and information, we just haven’t gone in full detail for everyone or it would take a long, long, time!
Notes: Most of the text below is written or sourced by the contributors – you wonderful people via our Facebook group where such decisions take place, some may have more written about them, as that person just submitted more information.
Admiral Grace Hopper(1906 – 1992) “the grandmother of the computer age” Mathematician and Computer Scientist. Worked on UNIVAC and created the first computer code compiler, without which modern computing could not exist. During WW2, she was told that she was too short, and at 34 too old, to serve in the US Navy. But persisted, secured an exemption, and eventually rose to the rank of Rear Admiral, retiring for a third (and final) time in 1986 as the oldest serving member of the Navy. She was also a teacher and credited with writing the first technical instruction manuals that helped others understand computers.
Captain Nieves Fernandez (1906-1997) – aka “The Silent Killer” who fought in WW2. Nieves was a school teacher and local businesswoman in Tacloban City, Philippines, who became a legendary resistance fighter after the Imperial Japanese brutalized the people of her town. She organized a guerilla unit that ended up having between 100-200 fighters, and personally killed dozens using a homemade shotgun and her bolo knife. Her trademark tactic was a quick kill with the bolo, earning her the nickname “The Silent Killer.”
Christina, Queen of Sweden(1626 – 1689), Queen of Sweden from age 6 until her abdication at age 27, after which she lived a life of intrigue in France and Italy. She was known for dressing in masculine clothes, was a patron of the arts, converted to Catholicism and was guest in Rome of successive popes, defended Jews and Huguenots from persecution. She never married and her sexuality is debated.
Countess Charlotte Stanley (née de La Trémoille)(1599 -1664). French noblewoman who married into an English family before the English Civil War and famously held the line at the Siege of Lathom House and later the Isle of Man, the former being the last Royalist stronghold in Lancashire and the latter being one of the last Royalist holdouts in the British Isles. By all accounts an extremely fierce and intelligent woman, the sort that could hold off armies for months at a time in her husband’s absence.
Deborah Sampson (1760 – 1826) Served in the AWI under a false name, operated on herself to avoid detection from a surgeon.
Ella “La Jaguarina” Hattan(1860-19??) aka The Amazon of the Age. USA. An actor trained to fence by Col. Monstery who went on to beat over 60 male opponents in sword combat on foot and horse. When she ran out of worthy adversaries she then had a successful vaudeville career displaying her sword skills, then returned to acting.
Empress Maude (Matilda) (1102-1167) Queen of England & Normandy, Rightful queen usurped by her cousin
Ethel St Clair Grimwood, (1867 – 1928) A British woman who became known as “the heroine of Manipur”. is a British lady who became to be known as the Heroine of Manipur in the History of modern Manipur. She is main person behind the devising of plans for the escape of Tikendrajit Singh from the several capture attempts of the British Army. She is the authoress of the “My Three Years in Manipur and Escape from the Recent Mutiny”, published in 1891, the same year of the outbreak of the Anglo-Manipur War.
Flora Sandes(1876 – 1956) A British nurse who ended up as a Sergeant Major in the Serbian army in WW1. In June 1919 she became Serbia’s first female commissioned officer.
Fu Hao(around 1200BC) Lady Fu Hao was one of the 60 wives of Emperor Wu Ding of ancient China’s Shang Dynasty. She broke with tradition by serving as both a high priestess and military general. According to inscriptions on oracle bones from the time, Fu Hao led many military campaigns, commanded 13,000 soldiers and was considered the most powerful military leaders of her time. The many weapons found in her tomb support Fu Hao’s status as a great female warrior. She also controlled her own fiefdom on the outskirts of her husband’s empire.
Gertrude Bell(1868 – 1926). A true adventurer in parts of the world where men often feared to tread. For and against causes often at the same time but wise enough to see the need to think far into the future for what a people need and sane enough to see the need to see a people and not just maps and statistics. She crossed the laths of Churchill and Lawrence and both had to admit respect for her. She spent her life trying to be her own woman and believed women could be whatever they wanted to be (without the vote – at first, at least – the perils of privilege, as I say) and died as miserably and forthrightly as she had lived. Always fascinated me and struck me as a wonderful example of how posh ladies could be every bit as barmy and adventurous as posh men if everyone just let them get on with it and allowed them to be the people they could be. She would have been a celebrity and a pundit and an icon today. A contrarian powerhouse of passions. An inspirational figure.
Hatshepsut(1479 – 1458 BC). Egyptian queen regent/pharaoh. There is evidence that Hatshepsut led successful military campaigns in Nubia, the Levant, and Syria early in her career. The conquered lands being taxed and looted made Egypt rich.
Henrietta Lacks(1920 – 1951). African American housewife who passed away of cancer. Her cells were taken during a cervical tumor biopsy without her permission (which was legal at the time, but is highly controversial for a few reasons). For some unknown reason, her cancer cells had a high reproduction rate without dying, which was unheard of. This cell line, known as the HeLa line, allowed scientists to conduct research that was impossible before, and led to the development of the Polio, COVID-19, and HPV vaccines. HeLa cells are also used for cancer, AIDS, and genome/chromosome mapping. More than 70 years later (2023), her family has finally settled a lawsuit against medical companies, which have made billions off of Henrietta’s cells with zero compensation. I feel like Henrietta deserves a mini, as she was a woman who *everyone* alive benefits from, but has no idea about. She was more than just cells, and she deserves to be seen as a whole human.
Jeanne Hachette(1454 – ????) An emblematic figure in the history of the French city of Beauvais’ resistance to the siege laid by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. She is said to have helped to repel a Burgundian attack on the town of Beauvais with a hatchet and, in popular history, has been elevated to the rank of French heroine. During a Burgundian attack on July 22, Jeanne Laisné is said to have wielded an axe in order to push back a Burgundian who had planted a flag upon the battlements. Axe in hand, Jeanne flung herself upon him, hurled him into the moat, tore down the flag, and revived the flagging courage of the defenders
Juana Azurduy de Padilla(1780 – 1862) She fought for Bolivian and Argentine independence alongside her husband, Manuel Ascencio Padilla, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She was noted for her strong support for and military leadership of the indigenous people of Upper Peru. Today, she is regarded as an independence hero in both countries. Famously fought a battle while pregnant and later continued the campaign with her child on her back.
Lady Kʼawiil Ajaw(617-682), Ruler of Cobá, Mayan city state, for over 40 years. Although not the first female ruler of Cobá, she was one of the most powerful. She bore the title kaloomteʼ (‘superior warrior’), which was a very high title in contemporary Maya culture, and not worn by all rulers. She commissioned the longest road on Mayan history, the Coba-Yaxuna Sacbe (white road), a feat considered on par with the Mayan pyramid. A 62 mile road that connected Cobá to Yaxuná and intermediate towns and villages, it always likely an attempt to establish control over the centre of the peninsula.
Linda Smith(1958 – 2006). Comedian and President of the British Humanist Association – 2002 “Wittiest Living Person”. Linda started her career touring a show Token Women and doing benefit gigs for miners during the miners strike. She went on to become one of the stalwarts of British Radio and Television comedy until her untimely death from ovarian cancer at 48.
Maria “Marusya” Nikiforova(1885-1919) Ukrainian anarchist, commander of a large chunk of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Russian Civil War, more famous than Nestor Makhno was at the time, bank robber, terrorist, revolutionary, fierce fighter for freedom and liberty of the oppressed and the workers.
Mary Read (unknown –1721), fictionally known as Mark Read, was an English pirate about whom there is very little factual documentation. She and Anne Bonny (who won the last round) were two famous female pirates from the 18th century, and among the few women known to have been convicted of piracy at the height of the “Golden Age of Piracy”.
Queen Amanirenas of Kush. (DoB is vague but reigned Kush between 40-10BCE) Halted the Roman empire’s expansion into Africa.
Sarraounia Mangou(late 19th Century) – African warrior queen of the animist Azna subgroup of the Hausa, who fought French colonial troops of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission at the Battle of Lougou (in present-day Niger) in 1899.
Senior Sergeant Mariya Sergeyevna Borovichenko(1925 – 1943) During WW2 fell in with the 5th Airborne Brigade where she was accepted into service as a field medic because of her nursing background. Fighting at Konotop during the Kiev encirclement she noticed the Germans attempting to rush infantry across a damaged railway bridge. Realising that would cut off the brigade she helped drag a Maxim into action and acted as spotter and loader. This delayed the enemy allowing the brigade to fight them off and escape the larger encirclement. After this she continued to serve when the survivors of the brigade were reformed into the 87th Rifle Division and was then awarded Guards status as the 13th Guards Rifle Division. She was featured in the newspapers when on a scouting mission she was responsible fir the capture of ten enemy soldiers. She continued to serve with the division fighting at Stalingrad and at Kursk where she was killed by an exploding tank shell as she covered one of her patients from enemy fire.
The Begum Samru / Joanna Nobilis Sombre / Farzana Zeb un-Nissa(1753 – 1836) India, ruler of Sardhana, only native Catholic ruler, Was a young wife of a Swiss mercenary general in India, who died. She took over his kingdom and his army, and ruled them for almost 60 years, including leading them into battle (on horseback). Her army fought against Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) at the Battle of Assaye, his first major victory (her wing was the best part of the army he beat – although it’s not entirely clear if she was there, but hey)! She was only 4 1/2 feet tall. There’s an awesome painting of her whole army on parade, with her on elephant back. I really want the tiny Indian warrior queen.
Yoshioka Myōrinni, (16th century Japan), She was a warrior nun and military leader and strategist who was instrumental in securing victory for the Ōtomo clan over an invasion by the Shimazu in 1586–1587, first organising castle defense and training all the inhabitants to fight and then organising and leading raids and field battles that turned the tide of the war. While there is no image of how she looked in life, there is a statue honouring her in Oita City with her Buddhist robes and naginata for sculpting inspiration, perhaps in a more active combat pose.
Thanks to the contributors: In no particular order…Gregg Cabe Bond, John Cunningham, Will Bailie, Myles Howard, Adam Carriere, Phil Crawley, Chris Cooper, Chris Loisel, Christopher Downes-Ward, Nick Cooper, Andrew Fachau, Dan McLaughlin, Ian Brumby, Hannah Walter, David Themistocree, Phil Leedell, Peter Melvin, Anthony Waddington, Felicity MacLeod Cullen, Alistair Thompson, Andy Banks, Alex Wood, Jamie N. Bunni Fishwick-Ford, & Cat O’Mighty
After this miniature, the Community Minis Project is getting a massive revamp to make it easier for everyone, so keep an eye out for that. I’m also intending to make a survey to gather your thoughts on the project so far.
The results are in! Thank you everybody who voted, we had 897 votes which I think is a record for us so far. Here we go…..!
Congratulations to Anne Bonny and Olga of Kiev!
I’m sure they would have been delighted!
A quick lowdown, enough to keep you satiated until the full posts:
Olga of Kiev: She is fooling nobody with this “butter won’t melt” pious nun role, for she was a fan of setting everything and everyone on FIRE. Including pigeons. There will be at least one pigeon on the model!
Anne Bonny: A feisty Irish pirate of the Carribean doing all the usual piratey things! There must be pirate fever from the Salute 51 mini of Stormin’ Annie, so it’ll be excellent for Alan to sculpt a pirate that everybody can have access to.
The next stage will be figuring out how these miniatures will look. Please do post (Facebook group, comments here, or any other of the social media or email) any information or wishes you have for any of them – ie if there’s a certain way you’d like to see them as a mini or some common misconception you need to scream.
I’ve raided the Bad Squiddo Library for any information already to hand, which has resulted in this little stack which will make a nice starting point. There are many brilliant documentaries of them both on Youtube, so I am already working my way through those. I’m hoping to have a day at the library in the week so I can get started on these sooner rather than later, in hope we can be ready to “relaunch” to project by Salute.
Big Changes?
There will be big changes coming to The Community Minis Project when it is relaunched – though nothing to fear! It will be to make everything easier, and so I can explain how the process works in a few sentences, rather than a short essay where everyone is still confused by the end.
Nominations for Mini #13!
They’re up already! 13 is the last of the pre-funded miniatures, so if we get her in the sculpting and art batch with these, it means 14 will be ready for the fresh start. No time like the present!
You can nominate your person here. Voting will start Wednesday at 7pm UK time so make sure you get yours in the list. You can nominate previous “also rans”, in fact – I encourage it!
Wave 2 Minis
There will be an update soon on Wave 2 minis as well and when they’ll start landing on your doorstep, so stay tuned!
Thank you to the contributors (listed below) for submitting these twenty four suggestions. The two most popular will be made into miniatures! Please have a read through them all and have a think about who your favourites are! You will be able to vote for as many as you like, but please only vote for your favourites, ie what you’d REALLY like as a mini.
VOTING WILL OPEN 7PM WEDNESDAY 28th FEB AND CLOSE 7PM SATURDAY 2ND MARCH on our Facebook group
Click here to be taken directly to the poll. Only votes on that will count.
Images: Images are not necessarily how the minis will be dressed, just chosen for an easy glance and public domain, you are encouraged to look up more photos and information, we just haven’t gone in full detail for everyone or it would take a long, long, time!
Notes: Most of the text below is written or sourced by the contributors – you wonderful people via our Facebook group where such decisions take place, some may have more written about them, as that person just submitted more information. Some with low levels of info I, (Annie) have written a bit more to give them a fighting chance.
NOTE ON BERNADETTE DEVLIN: She won’t be in the poll due to being…alive. This sounds macabre! I hadn’t realised til I was typing up. Unless exceptional circumstance & permission, we’re not making any body who is still with us, for a variety of reasons. She slipped through so I’ll keep her in this list though!
Anne Bonny (1670-17??) A female pirate, operating with her lover Calico Jack Rackham. Together with Mary Read, another female pirate, she was captured in 1720, tried and sentenced to death, but given a stay of execution because she was pregnant.
Bernadette Devlin (1947 – Now) Irish. The youngest MP elected at age 21. When asked by an all-male press corps if she intended to apologise to Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, Devlin said: “I’m just sorry I didn’t get him by the throat.”
“Captain” Nieves Fernandez(1906-1997) Nieves was a school teacher and local businesswoman in Tacloban City, Philippines, who became a legendary resistance fighter after the Imperial Japanese brutalized the people of her town. She organized a guerilla unit that ended up having between 100-200 fighters, and personally killed dozens using a homemade shotgun and her bolo knife. Her trademark tactic was a quick kill with the bolo, earning her the nickname “The Silent Killer.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker(1832-1919) Doctor, Spy (probably), and advocate of women’s dress reform. One of the earliest women in the US to have a medical degree. When war broke out in 1861, she went to Washington D.C. to offer her services as an army surgeon. She was rejected as a woman, but stayed as a volunteer nurse in local army hospitals. She wore a “uniform” of her own design incorporating trousers under a skirt. Always favoring men’s trousers to ladies dresses, by the end of her life, she’d taken to wearing full men’s suits. She remains the only woman in US military history to have received the Medal of Honour.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady and social activist (before marrying FDR and long after his death). She was definitely a fighter for social justice, racial equality, women’s rights, and SO many other things.
Eleonore Prochaska (1785-1813) A German soldier who fought in the Prussian army with the Lützom volunteer Jaegers, disguised as a man. Strongly idealized as a chaste heroine and honoured as “Potsdam’s Joan of Arc”
Empress Maude (Matilda)(1102-1167) Queen of England & Normandy, Rightful queen usurped by her cousin
Gerda Taro (1910-1937) Frontline photojournalist from the Spanish Civil War. Hanno Hardt described her work with Robert Capa: “Taro and Capa helped invent the genre of modern war photography while fueling the vicarious experience of the spectator by offering an approximation of life in the conflict zone.”
Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd(1282-1337) Princess consort of Deheubarth. Led a revolt against the Norman invaders at Kidwelly Castle. She was betrayed by a fellow countryman, captured and beheaded. The Welsh vowed revenge, leading to the Gwent Revolt of 1136.
Isabella of France(1295-1358) Also known as the She-Wolf of France, was the daughter of Philip IV of France (The same Philip who conspired with Pope Clement V to destroy the Knights Templar), the wife of King Edward II and the mother of Edward III.
Jeanne Laisné “Jeanne Hachette”(1454- ????) Axe-wielding peasant heroine of the siege of Beauvais
Margaret Ann Bulkley (James Barry). (1789-1865) Spent most of their life as the male surgeon James Barry, having qualified from the University of Edinburgh in 1812. They went on to work at St Thomas’ in London and then joined the army as a medical officer. While in South Africa they performed the first successful caesarean in 1826. In 1857, they became the inspector general of military hospitals in Canada and did lots of excellent things improving health and welfare. They died in 1865 having been forced to retire from the army medical board in 1859.
Maria Nikiforova (1885-1919) also known as Marusya, Atamansha Marusya, and probably other names as well. Ukrainian anarchist, self-described terrorist sentenced to death four times by two different governments (once before she was old enough to be executed), leader of at least one Black Guard detachment of the Makhnovschina (the Ukrainian Revolutionary Insurgent Army, the anarchists), bank robber, train robber, bomb-thrower, one of Nestor Makhno’s most trusted commanders – and, in fact, more famous at the time than he was – orator and revolutionary.
Marie Catherine Laveau(1801-1881) Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo, herbalist and midwife who was renowned in New Orleans
Marie Marvingt (1875-1963) Athlete, mountaineer, aviator, and journalist. A hell of a woman!
Marsha P Johnson(1945-1992) Pivotal American LGBTQ+ activist. “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”
Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. (1105-1161) She was one of few women to be queen in her own right in the twelfth century (and even the entire medieval period) and ruled during a transitional period in the Latin East, including the fall of Edessa and the Second Crusade. Moreover, her costume would be interesting because it would likely be a fusion of western and eastern styles, given she was of Armenian and Frankish descent, lived her entire life in the Middle East, but was married to a prominent west Frankish lord.
Milunka Savić(1889-1973) A Serbian war heroine who fought in the Balkan Wars and in World War I. She is the most-decorated female combatant in the recorded history of warfare.
Nicola de La Haye(1150-1230) Landowner, administrator, constable, sheriff of Lincolnshire. She defended Lincoln castle twice against sieges.
Olga of Kiev (later Elena) (890-925) Regent of Kievan Rus, viking descendant, canonized saint, and vengeance incarnate. After the murder of her husband, Olga went on a revenge spree against the people that had killed him(and their prince that wanted to marry her). I’m pretty sure her life basically inspired several key moments of Game of Thrones!
Puabi of Ur(Around 2600 BC) Possibly a Queen and/or Priestess. She was buried with a large number of attendants who were ritually slain to accompany Puabi in the afterlife. Puabi’s skull and headdress, along with some grave goods is in the British Museum. Well worth a visit and to pay respects to Puabi.
Queen Nanny, or Nanny of the Maroons ONH(1686–1760) Jamaican Freedom Fighter. She led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons. In the early 18th century, under the leadership of Nanny, the Windward Maroons fought a guerrilla war over many years against British authorities in the Colony of Jamaica in what became known as the First Maroon War.
The Siberian Ice Maiden / The Altai Princess(Around 500 BC) A Scythio-Siberian woman from the 5th C BC, famous for her magnificent burial and tattoos! Sadly, we don’t know much at all about her life, but she must have been remarkable!
Chevalier d’Eon(1728-1810) Fencer, spy, soldier, diplomat, socialite and badass. Presented in all these roles as both male and female, with much very public conjecture on the topic (the Stock Exchange took bets!) but successfully had their gender transition recognised by not one but two national courts (France and England).
Thanks to the contributors: In no particular order… Carole Flint, Chris Cooper, Phil Leedell, Marianne Wells, Mark Jenkins, John Cunningham, Phil Gregory, Nigel Higgins, Adam Aaron, Alias Zug, Jack Hiscock, Michael J. Thomas, Ben Caile, Ben Owen, Magnus Guyra, Judith Burke, Felicity MacLeod Cullen, Christopher M Garcia and Phil Crawley.
Refresh on Nominations
Thank you to anybody else who made suggestions. If yours wasn’t included here, it is most likely because you didn’t submit all the required information needed for the nomination. We do this not to be mean, but to make the project more manageable. Even typing out and ordering the nominations here (and double checking info, finding pics etc) takes a lot of work and time, so it’s to make sure all nominations have been highly considered by the nominee. That was a word salad, sorry. Please don’t be discouraged, there will be future rounds, we’ve unlocked number 13 already, so stay tuned.
For future reference, the MINIMUM to nominate a person is:
“YOU MUST 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.
YOU CAN ONLY NOMINATE UP TO TWO PEOPLE EACH.“
Bad Squiddo Games reserves the right to remove any suggestions from the poll for any reason.
Thank you to everybody who voted! 790 votes in total, which is impressive for sure. Third and forth were shimmying back and forth a bit while the poll was open but first and second were pretty much winning from the get-go. I am surprised by some results, yet not by others.
Over a quarter (29%) voted for the first four, so winning by a good margin. Special mention to Jeanne Hatchet who was SO CLOSE.
So the winners are….. ADA LOVELACE, MARY FIELDS, AUDREY HEPBURN AND JEANNE D’ARC
The next stage will be figuring out how these miniatures will look. I’ll make threads one at a time for each, but feel free to post (Facebook group, comments here, or any other of the social media or email) any information or wishes you have for any of these four – ie if there’s a certain way you’d like to see them as a mini or some common misconception you need to scream.
You can’t please all the people all of the time.
Apologies if who you really wanted to see as a miniature wasn’t voted for, it is the nature of the beast. She isn’t gone forever though! You can nominate her in the next round, and the next round, and the next round….! They won’t automatically be added to future polls, but so long as you nominate them, they will be there.
This means you have more chances to convince everybody why your suggestion is excellent. You can keep posting about them, maybe sharing other information and pictures and things. The joy of the project is it’s a neat trick way we can all educate each other. What’s the worst that can happen – oh no we all know a bit more about interesting women from history oh no!
An embarrassing amendment
When I was catching up after the hiatus, I miscounted the totals and therefore how many we unlocked. It said we are currently unlocking number 14, but it is actually 12. So 11 are currently unlocked. I wasn’t going to say anything so as to not look silly/unprofessional but in fact, covering it up and funding those extra two myself would be THE silly/unprofessional way! The totals raised don’t cover the whole miniature in terms of sculpting, moulding and production, but it’s enough for us to subsidise the rest after each total – ie you do X amount and we do the rest. SO it’s not a “free” project for me, if that makes sense. So adding two more wouldn’t have been a good thing for the project – ie massively overstretching myself/Bad Squiddo!
So hopefully you can understand my humble apology, again for the teething of this as a project. It means there is currently just one more to unlock, but well on the way to the next after that.
Contrary to this though, I do have one extra miniature that will be free to anybody who added to the ko fi before a certain date. I need to sort the date, but pretty much up to now-ish. She will be available as an extra purchase for everyone after this too. More information soon!
Thank you for supporting this, and I appreciate it can be confusing as I keep sending you all across the internet, but we will get there. I’m super happy to be able to bring these next four to life, and have you all help me with the deep, dark research!
SPOILER: I actually already made a start on Ada Lovelace and Audrey Hepburn while the poll was still live, NERD!
As always, any questions, let me know, and this blog is the best way for a concise “what is happening.”
I know I know it sucks. But our group has the biggest captive audience of actual customers & a community, rather than it being open to random people across the web. The reason for not adding votes from elsewhere is to keep it transparent & less confusing.
For example, like Eurovision, someone could be clearly winning & then suddenly votes pile in from elsewhere & it doesn’t feel fair/clear. And it’s just messy. And I could cheat! (Hey er John from Hockley just tipped the votes to the one I want to make)
The reason for showing you the nominations before voting time was so you could get a chance to know them rather than voting on instinct for famous ones. But I might just slam them out next time!
Thanks for sticking around while it’s teething, it will smooth out!
One of the important things is to make sure you’re voting for you who you would like to see (and even buy!) as a miniature, rather than who you like the most.
Thankyou to the contributors (listed below) for submitting these THIRTY suggestions. The four most popular will be made into miniatures! Please have a read through them all and have a think about who your favourites are! You will be able to vote for as many as you like, but please only vote for your favourites, ie what you’d REALLY like as a mini.
VOTING WILL OPEN 6PM WEDNESDAY 10TH MAY AND CLOSE 6PM SATURDAY 13TH MAY on our Facebook group. I’ll make a post here when it’s live with the direct link.
Images: Images are not necessarily how the minis will be dressed, just chosen for an easy glance and public domain, you are encouraged to look up more photos and information, we just haven’t gone in full detail for everyone or it would take a long, long, time!
Notes: Most of the text below is written or sourced by the contributors – you wonderful people via our Facebook group where such decisions take place, some may have more written about them, as that person just submitted more information. Some with low levels of info I, (Annie) have written a bit more to give them a fighting chance.
Dates: All dates are CE (Common ERA) unless stated.
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) Mathematician and Scientist, considered to be the first computer programmer,
Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) British citizen born in Belgium, a fundraiser and supporter of the resistance in the Netherlands, as well as well known performer and actress.
Caroline Amelia Nation AKA Carrie Nation AKA Hatchet Granny November 25, (1846 – 1911) Women’s Rights Campaigner & radical Temperance member. Known for refusing to wear a corset against the standard of the times & for smashing up establishments that served alcohol with a hatchet in the name of the Temperance movement.
Charlotte de la Tremoüille (1599 – 1664) Famous for her robust defence of Lathom House (late February to late May 1644), and the subject of the song “They called her Babylon” by Steeleye Span, which appears on their 2004 album of the same name.
Clémentine Delait (1865 – 1939) “the most illustrious and celebrated bearded lady in France”, icon and feminist
Cleopatra (70-30BCE) Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, built up the economy establishing important trade deals, personally commanded fleets, and much more.
Eleomore Prohaska (1785 – 1813) A German soldier who fought in the Prussian army with the Lützom volunteer Jaegers disguised as a man. Honoured as “Potsdam’s Joan of Arc”
Emilia Plater (1806-1831) Polish–Lithuanian noblewoman and revolutionary, national heroine in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus
Fu Hao (1240-1200 BCE) Royal consort, military general and high priestess of the Shang Dynasty. Buried in her own grave (unusual for royal wives) with both precious goods and 130 weapons including two (or more) massive bronze axes.
Henrietta Maria (Queen) (1609 – 1669) English Civil War provocateur, nicknamed the generalissimo by Charles the 1st, got up to some shenanigans both useful and hurtful to the royalist cause.
Jean Ross (1911-1973) Journalist and political activist. Remembered as the inspiration for Caberet’s “Sally Bowles”, which she was not fond of. She was a journalist in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 – 1938.
Hypatia (Between 350 and 370 to 415) Alexandrian philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. Teacher, editor, commentator (not sports), and counsellor to the powerful. Though a pagan Neoplatonist philosopher, she taught Christians including a future bishop but was murdered and torn to pieces by a Christian mob as (probably) part of a political conflict.
Jeanne d’Arc (1412 – 1431) More or less got France back into gear to kick out the English in the Hundred Years War. Got captured and executed in the end. Patron Saint of France as a result of all that.
Jeanne Laisné “Jeanne Hachette” (1454 to ?) Axe-wielding peasant heroine of the siege of Beauvais
Kate Ter Horst (1906-1992) The “Angel Of Arnhem Her house was used as a regimental aid station, and she helped out nursing and scrounging potable water.
Kenau Simonsdochter (1526-1588) Folk hero defender of Haarlem, later led an army of 300 women against the Spanish.
Khutulun (1216-1306) Great-great-granddaughter of Genghis Khan and first cousin once removed of Kublai. Noblewoman of the Chagatai Khanate. Renowned athlete, archer and warrior. Accrued a herd of more than ten thousand horses in competitions and by defeating suitors in wrestling matches. Was her father’s chief advisor and preferred successor but this was prevented by her male relatives. Still became the army’s commander on his death. The probable basis for the character of Turandot in various Western works of art.
Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) She was a British woman who travelled widely in the eastern Mediterranean, the Levant and the Middle East, usually wearing male Turkish/Ottoman clothing. She was an archaeologist, an antiquarian and and explorer. She lived in what is now Lebanon for many years until her death. She was the first person to carry out an archaeological dig in Palestine, at the site of Ashkelon, although she was probably trying to find a legendary treasure that didn’t actually exist. Her narrated memoirs were published after her death by her physician Dr Charles Meryon.
Lucy Parsons (1851-1942) Anarchist, labour organiser, founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World, called “more dangerous than a thousand rioters” and an active writer, editor, orator and firebrand right up until she died in a house fire aged 91.
Madam Yoko (1849–1906) Madam Yoko was a leader of the Mende and was also a member of a secret women’s society which provided her with access to a whole load of traditional knowledge. A few marriages later, she became essentially a tribal chief and was negotiating with the British in her late 20s. She trained young women as influencers and wives and so was able to make and maintain alliances. Unfortunately seems like she got a bit too cosy with the Empire types and she ended up rich but seemingly not happy.
Maria Bochkareva (1889-1920) WW1 Russian army officer, formed the 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death. She was the first Russian woman to command a military unit.
Mary Fields “Stagecoach Mary”, (1832-1914) First black postwoman in the USA, carried multiple firearms, most notably a .38 Smith & Wesson under her apron to protect herself and the mail from wolves, thieves and bandits.
Mary Smith (1862-1946) A famous East End ‘knocker-up’, used a pea shooter to hit windows and wake people up early.
Nadezhda Durova (1783 – 1866) Born in an army camp at Voznesenskoe, Ukraine, her father was a major. Disguised as a man, she joined the Russian army in 1807 as a lancer and later became a lieutenant of Hussars. She survived the Napoleonic wars and later published her biography.
Nicola de La Haye (1150-1230) Defender of Lincoln castle against TWO seiges
Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande (Queen) (1583-1663) Queen Nzinga was an emissary to Portugal and eventually queen. She was very firm about presenting the Kingdom of Ndongo as an equal player in negotiations with the Portuguese, using her linguistic skills, wealth, and opulent clothing to prove a point. When she turned up to a negotiation and found chairs were provided for the Europeans and a mat for her, apparently she had one of her attendants go on hands and knees so she could sit on him and talk eye-to-eye. She rose to power and led a series of military campaigns against the Portuguese.
Rosalin Franklin (1920-1958) Discovered critical information about DNA that led to the famous double helix model, largely uncredited.
Taytu Betel (1851-1918) Empress Taytu Betel was essentially the person in Ethiopia who said, “Pull the other one,” when the Italians tried it on. She noticed that the treaty they’d been given to sign in Amharic didn’t quite match the one the Italians were scrutinising in Italian, in which Ethiopia would have become an Italian protectorate. So she hard-noped them, and saw them off.
Tomyris (?-520 BCE) Queen of the Massagetae (a Saka-Scythian tribal confederation). Cyrus the Great of Persia sought to acquire her kingdom through marriage but she was having none of it. So he attempted it by invasion. The tribes routed his army so he set out a great banquet with lots of wine. When the pursuing warriors found this and got drunk, the Persians ambushed and slaughtered them. Tomyris swore vengeance and led her army to crush the Persians in battle. She sought out the corpse of Cyrus, cut off his head, and shoved it into a bag filled with his soldiers’ blood, proclaiming ‘Drink your fill of blood!’. Which was nice.
Wu Zetian (624 – 705) personal name Wu Zhao, was the de facto ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right.
Thanks to the contributors: Alan Monk, Alistair Samson, Andreas Persson, Carole Flint, Claire Hearn, Donnie Kelly, Edmund Kyberd, Felicity MacLeod Cullen, Kh Ranitzsch, Marianne Wells, Phil Leedell, Sarah Arnold, Simon S, Skodster Dbg, Staffan Gustafsson, T Micha Trout and Tim Edwards. Anybody can make suggestions, while it’s currently closed for figures 7,8,9 and 10, you will get another chance when we choose the next three, keep tuned.
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.
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!
Community Miniatures Project 