Still more Women of WW2

 These are some more minis from the Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 range.

As you can see, they are members of the Women's Land Army, and are going about various farming-related duties. 

They are fun figures to paint, and I've taken a few liberties with the colours I've chosen to paint them. I particular, the one on the left with the pig has a blue hat. Presumably she has lost her official one or maybe just likes the blue one better? I know that I've got the overcoat colours wrong too. It seems to have been a mid-brown shade, but I rather like the green better. The woman with the string of dead rats has a brown coat anyway. At least the jerseys and trousers are the right colours!

Not sure where these will fit in, gaming-wise, but they were a nice project to work on. I think that they'll have a role in my "Went The Day Well?" scenario, if it ever happens.

WW2 women War Correspondents

 These are three female war correspondents from the Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 range.

And here they are from behind, to show off more of the excellent details on these sculpts. Look at that Rolleiflex TLR on Lee Miller.

I actually painted these a couple of months ago, but forgot to post them here. 

I will let Annie Norman tell you who they are in her own words;

Ruth Cowen (left)

Her new boss’ first words of greeting were, “Get that woman out of here!”. Despite being the first accredited female war reporter (along with Inez Robb), Ruth had been a reporter for 19 years before she began covering warzones. She paved the way for over 100 who would follow her during the course of WW2, fighting her own side skirmishing against sexism. Cowen worked in North Africa then onto England and France, and enjoyed boasting about her she kept her blonde hair topped up by mixing the dye in her helmet!

Lee Miller (centre)

Probably the most famous female war reporter, Miller had an established career as a model and then photographer for Vogue. She switched as soon as the Blitz began, as she was in London at the time. From London, she travelled further onward to France and Germany covering many distressing events with her evocative photography. In this model I have shown her lowering her helmet while witnessing the aftermath of the Dresden bombing.

Toni Frissell (right)

Another photographer for Vogue and the stars, Frissell began volunteering for the American Red Cross, stating in 1941 "I became so frustrated with fashions that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do a real reporting job.", later she became the official photographer for the Women's Army Corps (WAC). As well as documenting the European front, her work covered the women and African-American men of the US army, who had been previously overlooked. 

I will add that Lee Miller, who was an amazing woman, had lived in Paris before the war, between 1929 and 1932, becoming a photographer and model working with Man Ray, who was also her lover and mixing with many of the avant garde of pre-war Paris, including Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Paul Eluard. In 1937, Miller returned to Paris where she met the Surrealist painter Roland Penrose, who became her lover, although she was married to someone else at the time. 

After the war, she lived with Penrose in the UK and became pregnant with their son, Antony. After divorcing her Egyptian husband, she and Penrose married. They lived in East Sussex until her death in 1977.

Of course, you can use these figures as any war correspondent you like and they could be useful in other settings than WW2.

Five more gunslingers.

 Here are the next five figures for my Wild West project. Again, these are all Artizan Wild West minis.

I really like this guy on the left. He's got the look of a saloon bar piano player about him, but possibly one with a bit of a hot temper, always ready to settle an argument with a pair of six shooters. He's definitely got a bit of an attitude in this pose. A really nice sculpt.

This figure is my only female gunslinger, at least so far. She isn't going to take any nonsense from anyone. A tough and uncompromising woman in a tough male world.

Next, here are three useful generic gunfighters who will find work in whatever posse or gang needs new recruits. They could also represent a rancher and two of his ranch hands, protecting the herd from rustlers.

These are the end of my Artizan figures, but I have two gangs of minis by Great Escape Games in my Dead Man's Hand starter box set, one of lawmen and the other of outlaws. I will get them done at some point, but now I fancy a break from the Old West.

Three stereotypical Western Characters

 Again, these are all Artizan Wild West minis.

The two right-hand figures are from the "Frontier characters" set and the left-hand one is one of the "Hired Guns". I decided to paint him as an Indian Cavalry Scout, because that is exactly what he looks like to me.

The other two are staples of many Westerns; a grizzled gold or silver miner, most likely down on his luck and just hanging around town looking for a few opportunities to make a dollar or two, and an even more grizzled hunter in a bearskin coat and with a long breech-loading rifle with a telescopic sight. Of course, you can shoot more than just bears with a weapon like that .....

I am really impressed with these Artizan figures. The sculpts have bags of character and are a joy to paint. I know that I've said it before, but it is worth repeating.

These will all work for the usual range of games, but I'll admit that I keep looking at the Cavalry figures, the OK Corral characters and the spooky Western Horror ones in the Grim Prairie Tales range too.

I know. You start a project which is a sensible size and then scope creep sets in. I spent long enough working in IT to know how it happens.

Pinkerton Agents

More Wild West figures from Artizan; 

These are Pinkerton agents, but could also represent US government secret agents.

The organisation was founded in the 1850s by Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish detective and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker as the North-Western Police Agency. It later changed its name to the Pinkerton Agency.

It was founded to help enable businessmen control and monitor their employees and to prevent industrial action and strikes. The Agency also worked with the US government as a supplement to the government's own Secret Service. In addition to its activities in strike-breaking and spying on unions and labour organisations, Pinkerton agents were also involved in crime-fighting in the Wild West, notably against bank and train robbers.

These figures are clearly suitable for use in all manner of settings, especially in games of In Her Majesty's Name and other VSF and Steampunk, as well as western gunfighting games.

OK, so you got a tin star now ..................

 ........... but does that make you the Law around here?

After the previous posts, it seems appropriate to offer up the men whose job it is to keep the bad guys in check. 

These are two Sheriffs, ready to take on the outlaws, hell-raisers and trouble-makers who ride into town. Once again, they are Artizan Designs figures.

Of course, they can expect (hope?) to rely on the other law-abiding citizens around for moral and actual support when the bullets start flying, but who knows what'll really happen when the piano player stops playing?

Once again, these will see plenty of action in all kinds of games.

The Preacher rides into town

... but will he save souls or damn them to Hell? Only time will tell.

The vengeful unhinged Preacher is a real cliché of the more Gothic end of the Western film genre, but it is one of those clichés that I think really works within a narrative gaming setting. 

The Man in the Long Black Coat comes into town to dispense the Lord's Justice or maybe to save the sinners and innocents from an unknown Dark Menace. Either way, there a few game scenarios there.

Of course, the Preacher needs his Acolytes and what better than two hard-bitten believers with rifles and shotguns?

Once again, these figures are by Artizan Designs from their Wild West range. The Preacher is one of three "Frontier Characters". The other two will feature later on in this small project.

The Preacher will be equally at home in traditional western skirmish settings, but also ideal for more fantastical settings, such as In Her Majesty's Name or even ones involving Cosmic Horrors, Zombies and other eldritch scenarios.