Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: Annie on July 24, 2015, 06:40:03 PM
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This is my latest picture from The Believable Female Miniatures Project (http://thedicebaglady.net/female-miniatures)
I've a growing pile of unseen sculpts at the moment that I'll be revealing! I'm in the process of switching my production from all resin to mostly metal in order to keep up with demand (and to be able to sell through other stores too, especially overseas) So currently just gathering them up until I have enough for a master mold...then spin spin spin. I've been keeping things back in fear of everyone "ooooh"ing, but by the time it's out the hype has gone. Alas, it's about time I show some stuff! ramble aside!
This is purposefully kept relatively simple and not too locked to anything in particular, so she can be used for historical or fantasy. My shop has been bustling with Frostgrave customers lately, so she could be good for that, or perhaps even a bodyguard for Margaret of Anjou?
Sculpted by Mark Evans, and will be popped onto Paul Cubbin's increasing pile of stuff to paint as soon as I have some casts :D
Watch this space!
Annie
The Dice Bag Lady
Bad Squiddo Games
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKsVpxrVEAQfzk9.jpg)
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Not half bad.
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I like that. :D
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I'm not normally the biggest fan of plate armour, but that's a really nice miniature. Seriously nice.
She'd look even better in chainmail and surcoat of course! :D
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Nice. Any indication of height? I have a feeling that with a haircut, she could be from Tarth.
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I haven't! Once she's up on the site I'll put some measurements though. I'll be doing more knights, as there aren't many that aren't laden with fantasy stuffs - swirls and jazzies :D And of course, the dreaded boob armour.
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I like this figure a lot. I would love to see a High Middle Ages knight. Mostly we hear about warrior Queens in history but it is likely that a lot of wives/daughters/widows defended castles. I found this list of Medieval women.
https://womenshistorymonth.wordpress.com/resources/women-and-series/women-and-war/female-warriors/
While the Greeks did sculpt chest armor to look like an idealized masculine chest, doing the same thing with a female chest has the unfortunate result of actually directing blown into the center of the armor. So, boob armor kills.
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This range is developing rather nicely. If I manage to make it to Warfare this year I will have to put a few £ your way.
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Nice, keep them coming, looks like something to keep an eye on :)
and some money :(
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Very nice.
My wife says "Hurrah!" for the Believable Female Miniatures project.
G.
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Apart form Joan of Arc I have not read about one woman in armour on a battlefield from the medieval period, I have been to many museums and never saw one female set of armour, children's yes, females no, yes some commanded castles in the absence of their husbands but not on the parapets wielding a sword or bucket of hot oil. The list clutches at some fairly elusive straws. Margaret of Anjou was indeed a fearsome and strong willed woman, but she did not have a female armoured bodyguard, she didn't need one, she had, like everyone else, an all male retinue.
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There are reports of quite a number of women in armor on the battlefield in medieval times. There was Joanna of Flanders, for example, who personally led a sortie during the siege of Hennebont and burned the enemy camp. There are some others and also reports from the crusades.
For references, have a look at the bibliography on my blog: https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/wargaming-warrior-women/bibliography/ (https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/wargaming-warrior-women/bibliography/)
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You have certainly put a lot of work into that lot, there will however me no 'monstrous regiments of women' in moi's armies lol
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Apart form Joan of Arc I have not read about one woman in armour on a battlefield from the medieval period, I have been to many museums and never saw one female set of armour, children's yes, females no, yes some commanded castles in the absence of their husbands but not on the parapets wielding a sword or bucket of hot oil. The list clutches at some fairly elusive straws. Margaret of Anjou was indeed a fearsome and strong willed woman, but she did not have a female armoured bodyguard, she didn't need one, she had, like everyone else, an all male retinue.
The use of 'Monstruous Regiment of Women' is quite ironic, seeing that it was part of the title of John Knox's diatribe against Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots and Mary Queen of England, the independent (and Catholic) women rulers of his day. Needless to say it was also read by Elizabeth I, who did not take too kindly to it when she succeeded her sister... his impact on English Protestantism was negligible as a result.
Caterina Sforza was one woman warrior. Her armour had a flared waist and wide thigh protection to accommodate her dress. She trained her own militia and indeed was present on the battlements when Cesare Borgia came calling at Forli.
In Tortosa (Catalonia) in 1149, the women of the town dressed in male clothing and armour to assist in the defence of it against the Moors. The Order of the Hatchet was created for them, allowing them to have the same rights as knights as a reward for their efforts.
Sichelgaita, a Lombard princess, donned armour and fought in the defence of Dorazzi in 1081, apparently taking part in a sortie from the town. There are others. such as Petronilla de Grandmesnil and Ermengard Viscountess of Narbonne. No female armour required, they wore gambesons under mail hauberks, like their menfolk.
Imad-Ad-Din, the Moslem chronicler of the Crusades, describes female crusaders captured;
"On the day of battle, more than one woman rode out with them like a knight and showed (masculine) endurance in spite of the weakness (of their sex); clothed only in a coat of mail they were not recognized as women until they had been stripped of their arms".
You are unlikely to see a 'woman's armour' as typically they would be no different to that worn by a man. Add in an arming doublet and linen strapping for breasts in lieu of a sports bra and they were good to go. I don't doubt for a minute that women were few and far between overall, but to deny those few their place seems somewhat unfair and indeed un-historic. I doubt the female camp-followers at Agincourt stood idly by while the French ransacked it, albeit it is extremely unlikely they had any armour.
I do wonder if there is a need for 'female knights', given it would be hard to tell them from men, especially when you get to the Late Medieval Period and long male hair styles; but then again what harm does it do? Certainly it is preferable to the infamous 'stab-me-in-my-bare-stomach-or-ass' boob armour with slinky mail add-ons style of figure.
:)
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I could run a fun game around the Order of the Hatchet which may or may not have Dr. Who show up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Hatchet
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I'll be getting one, and some more in a similar style would be welcome. It's pretty difficult to find characterful knight miniatures.
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Apart form Joan of Arc I have not read about one woman in armour on a battlefield from the medieval period, I have been to many museums and never saw one female set of armour, children's yes, females no, yes some commanded castles in the absence of their husbands but not on the parapets wielding a sword or bucket of hot oil. The list clutches at some fairly elusive straws. Margaret of Anjou was indeed a fearsome and strong willed woman, but she did not have a female armoured bodyguard, she didn't need one, she had, like everyone else, an all male retinue.
Perhaps this purchase isn't for you then...
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I like her. Only thing I would change is the grip on her sword it looks odd the way she is holding it. I think the look would be greatly inproved by removing the bit between her hand and the crossguard.
There are lots of medieval manuscripts that depict women in full or partial plate.
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That's a nice characterful miniature. My only concern - how exactly is "she" a female? "She" looks exactly like any 15th-century male knight (minus the weird crotch defenses) with customary long hair. Which, to correct myself, is not a concern at all - I would kill for a male knight like that and might even buy this when available - to serve as a male captain :)
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What's in a name? It's labelled as a female knight, but could easily be painted as a male... I don't suppose Annie will hunt you down for it. ;)
My point earlier was that once you add helmet and all the padding and what not, it would be very difficult to tell male from female. Personally I would swap the sword for something less hefty, whether I was depicting male or female... but otherwise it's a nice figure.
Apparently the description of Joan of Arc's armour gives us something like this;
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dwGGGNfjPO4/VbeISBEomhI/AAAAAAAAVR0/kKEP9-3Z_h4/s512-Ic42/19cqphvl5l5nmpng.png)
Could you tell if there's a man or a woman there?
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Cheers guys!
Of course you can use it as a long haired chap too!
It's a huge part of my point with the project, that under armour, and especially in such a small scale, it "technically" would impossible to tell the difference most of the time. So yeah you could just say a big chunk of your Perry troops are women. It's not as fun though, and "male" is the default...for everything. So a miniature needs to be recognised as female, even if it is simply just through the name, for the female miniatures awareness, and general awareness of women in combat to work.
There are miniatures in the other ranges I stock like this - that unless I was told it was a female model, I wouldn't know. Because, you know, you normally know it's a woman because of the boobs and skirt and handbag (??). I've put in a few re orders recently and double checked the catalogue to see if there's anything I missed... hells yes. I can't believe I had skimmed past the excellent troopers by Crooked Dice, they were so good - I missed them! I even missed Asha Greyjoy (http://thedicebaglady.net/asha-greyjoy/) on about 5 restocks because she wasn't so "obvious".
And yeah, that's it. It's all about women in combat, wearing protective gear, doing their thing. They don't need sculpted boob armour, or to be awkwardly posing on rocks, or pouting, or lifting a skirt up the knee. One of my checklists is "a year ago, if I saw this in a shop, would I buy the hell out of it?", and so far everything has ticked "I sure would!"
I'll keep you updated as to when she is out (or he, if you want!)
Cheers
Annie
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Of course male is the default, there is a reason why there's a 'his' in history and that it's not called herstory. ;)
I would actually like to see some 15th C. female camp followers and villagers. As far as I know these are limited to 'fantasy villagers' who must inhabit some place where there is a shortage of cloth... for women at least. I do expect a strumpet to display her wares, but I can't believe everyone barring Old Jenny the Hag was in 'Carry-on Henry' mode.
:)