Women of WW2: Resistance KS by Bad Squiddo: LIVE NOW - USA Friendly

[Annie]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badsquiddogames/antifascist



"Bad Squiddo Games has announced a Kickstarter for “Women of WW2: Resistance”, which will launch on the 27th August 2025 and run for two weeks.
This exciting addition to their successful range of Women of WW2 pushes their reach beyond representation of Britain, USA and the USSR to include a whole heap of territories such as France, Italy, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Denmark, Germany and even more. There is even promise of more if the campaign is a success.

Established in 2015 by Annie Norman, Bad Squiddo Games has become a well recognised and respected manufacturer of specially femme presenting miniatures, with their goal to increase the choice of miniatures available for the tabletop.

This campaign will cast a broad net across the world to highlight the stories of specific individuals showcasing the many ways that women fought against the Nazis in WW2. This is everything from commanding substantial amounts of troops to smuggling leaflets in baguettes.

Annie says, “If folk love this project as much as I do, we have further plans to expand this much further in various follow-up campaigns. These names and tales need to be known now even more than ever. It’s taken us so long to really get our teeth into partisans and resistance as I’ve been so eager to make sure each figure represents a real person. I find this far more evocative than making generic partisans, which we could have done years ago.”

Alongside these miniatures will be a brand new book by Jon Hodgson of Handiwork Games called “World War Ruins” which will first be exclusively available from this Kickstarter. The ruined cityscapes will compliment these miniatures but also be extremely versatile for many projects across modern eras and locations.

Jon says: “I’m delighted to be once again teaming up with Annie and Bad Squiddo! These are not only really great figures, (I know, I’ve painted some of them already!) now, more than ever, is important to remember and celebrate these key figures of resistance to fascism, in all their glory, tragedy and complexity. Handiwork Games and Bad Squiddo share the same commitment to delivering for our customers and doing our homework on the history that inspires us so much, so it’s a privilege to be a part of this campaign.”



The Kickstarter for “Women of WW2: Resistance”, will launch on the 27th August 2025. Sign up to be reminded of the launch today."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badsquiddogames/antifascist

[Dubar]

Timely!  I was recently searching actual (not hollywood) women warriors, found the female fighters from Greece very interesting.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Any pics of the new figs anywhere?

[malto cortese]

Excellent idea! I am sure you are aware of this book, but just in case:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/747060/women-of-war-by-suzanne-cope

And if you are looking for the only woman who parachuted across enemy lines in Italy, here is Paola Del Din:

https://www.telefriuli.it/cronaca/compleaano-paola-del-din-partigiana-cento-anni

[has.been]

I'm interested.

[Khusru2]

Any pics of the new figs anywhere?

Just seen 5 figures on my Wargames Illustrated Observation post email.
They will fit into either my A VBCW Primrose League Militia or Suffragette Regular Army

[Annie]

Launches today at 8!

I'll post a bunch more pics, currently running to get it all ready in time

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badsquiddogames/antifascist

[Annie]

yay we're live!

John is furiously painting some, but you can see all the minis now.

Eva is one of my favourites.

[Khusru2]

I've backed it

[Pattus Magnus]

I’m tempted. I don’t play WW2 in 28mm (went with 20mm), but I can see these working for pulp adventure heroines. The ruins backdrop book looks very interesting, too.

[has.been]

I have gone for the backdrops, well I have all the others, so it seemed rude not to.

[Dubar]

To hell with the tarriffs, my pledge is in!!!  I want the full set of figures, they look great!

[Annie]

Thanks all, you rock! I'll do some flickthrough videos of the backdrops, and should have a tariff update early next week - it really came at the worst time for me but what can you do! I'm confident that it won't have too big an effect though. The bonus is that everything we make is made in the UK - that includes the books and texture rollers.

---

Wow. What an incredible first day!

Firstly - please keep tuned on these updates as I am gonna cram them with information!

We're running this for two weeks so there's plenty of time to show and tell LOADS about these ladies (and Hans!). Most of the page currently shows the greens, but we've had the first batch test cast and sprayed , so you can see what you'll get - they're sprayed black with a dusting of white over to show the detail a bit better as metal is so shiny.

Our painter John is working his way through a set, though currently rocking back and forth because I've made him paint argyle socks (it's his fault for being so good or I wouldn't have asked!) and we have some others arriving in person and in pics from guest painters who got some early copies too.

Thank you to Fenris Games who made us this looooooovely floor and wall set from their existing range.



We can reveal some of the stretch goals now!

and one is smashed already!

Pearl Witherington's....bunny?

When elbow deep in research and often reading of all sorts of war horrors, occasionally something will "hop" out at me and demand to be a miniature. This time it is Pearl Witherington's bunny.

Pearl, though an exceptional shot in training (one instructor said the best they'd ever seen), never took a gun out in the field. With just her voice she commanded over 3,500 Maquis (rural French and Belgian Resistance) while serving in the S.O.E and co ordinated the surrender of 18,000 German soldiers.

This is all very cool - BUT SHE HAD THIS BUNNY, RIGHT! She said the bunny became desensitized to the sound of the machine guns, which I can definitely believe, as my guinea pig Dave often chooses to lie near a speaker in the living room (though I don't play machine gun sounds very often).

So everyone who's getting Pearl Witherington, gets a bunny! Not a fresh bunny, but one from our existing pack - it will be a random bunny from our pack of 8. You won't need to do anything, Pearl just comes with a bunny now.




I've been aware of Pearl for a long time but only during this project came across her story, and she is such a badass. Look at her here, it's like straight out of a movie.

Pearl (furthest right) with a bunch of other French Resistance leaders:

EEEEEEEE!

If you know anyone into WW2 modelling or gaming, or someone interested in history that could be converted... please do let them know! The better this goes, the more we can make! And I want to make looooooads more.

Thanks everyone. I am more passionate about this project than any so far, and knowing that you are absolutely up for this is powering me on!

Anniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!

[Annie]

I've decided that you've all been so good that you can have the downloadable Colouring Sheets now.
They've been unlocked and I have the files so... why wait?

 I've popped them up on the website. (link on the ks update or new section on the site)
There are also some other free downloads there too if you're new to us!

Thank you to Martin Whitmore for the fantastic artwork, he's an absolute pleasure to work with.



So the next stretch goal is Hannie and Truus in disguise which would be so cool.

I love this photo of Hannie Schaft in disguise. I mean - Hannie Schaft and a mysterious person.



Hannie Schaft and Truus Oversteegen would go out in disguise as a couple (Truus dressed as a man!) to conduct some resistance business - especially once the heat was on Hannie - she was known as "the girl with the red hair" so simply dying the hair was enough to throw off plenty of troops..

These two and Truus' sister Freddie were a deadly trio in the Netherlands. They worked tirelessly in the resistance on sabotage, smuggling and... seduction. The latter getting the most attention as folk do love a good femme fatale tale! They would flirt with German soldiers and take them somewhere "more private" and then... pew pew. They also blew up railways, smuggled Jewish children, assassinated targets, and so much more. They are very much the "shooty" type of resistance. And very stylish, Hannie stated “I’ll die clean and beautiful.”

A good book I can recommend on these is

Seducing and Killing Nazis: Hannie, Truus and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII by Sophie Poldermans ISBN: 9789083003412

AND it's great to read on public transport while nodding.

Freddie and Truus survived the war and lived long lives, continuing to help others, while Hannie unfortunately was executed near the end of the war. Making these miniatures is my way of honouring these women as well as making sure more people know who they are and what they did, so thank you.




THIS WEEKEND


I shall be at IWM Duxford for their History Festival! I am there as a punter but will have a bunch of Kickstarter stuff with me, so if you are coming and see me about - please come say hello as I will certainly have something cool to show you.

The aim is get more research on a bunch of topics from the stalls and reenactors, as well as the many talks - including from Clare Mulley who is the biographer of Krystyna Skarbek (who we have a mini of) and Agent Zo (who is in this KS!) and whom I fangirl over.

There's even a group doing Norwegian Resistance which I will be brave and show my Eva Kløvstad and Anne Margrethe Strømsheim minis too!

[Annie]

Hi all! I am currently typing to you from a hotel! I am away at Imperial War Museum Duxford for the weekend as it's their Festival of History. It's mostly talks from authors with a bit of reenactors, and of course, set in Duxford Airfield around lots of super cool planes.

Last year I met author Clare Mulley at the launch of her "Agent Zo" book. We had a brilliant chat and I decided right then that Zo (aka El?bieta Zawacka) needed to be a mini. I kept in touch with Clare and I've been SO INSPIRED to see how she's made Agent Zo so well known through her book and waving her book everywhere, and if I can manage a fraction of that with my minis, I'll be elated.

Today, I got to hang out with her and another incredible historian Jenny Grant, after watching their excellent talk on Poland 1945 and beyond. I showed them the minis from the campaign and it was really exciting to have their encouragement.


Tomorrow Clare is involved in some more talks, including Agent Zo....


L-R Clare Mulley, Jenny Grant and meeeeee Annie Norman

Our Agent Zo is taking shape!

She is armless at the moment, but should be finished, or as good as - by tomorrow! She is coming along really nicely though. The other two from the initial figures yet to be sculpted are Hedda Lundh and Else Marie Pade - we'll have some sketches and sculpts in the works once Zo is complete.




I met these lovely chaps reenacting the Milorg and they loved the Eva and Anne minis! I'll be pestering more reenactors tomorrow!





Paul from Berlintuesday has painted up Hannie, Truus and Freddie and they're lovely, here's a photo I've taken of them in the woods




I'm very tired as I had to get up super early, so I'm going to go and enjoy the hotel telly! And a new book I bought "SOE in 100 Objects"...couldn't resist! THE TITANIC IS ON SOON AS WELL!

Coming up...

I'll be updating something tomorrow, hopefully to say we've unlocked Truus and Hannie in disguise, that would be cool! That update might end up being Monday actually, depending on my tired levels!

SHIPPING PRICES - The major ASAP task for Monday is getting price estimates for shipping, I'm confident they will be fine, I just didn't want to state numbers before I was 100%.

LOTS MORE PHOTOS - John and a few other guest painters have been colouring in these ladies so I get to stage them in various cool scenes, using the new backdrops from this campaign as well as some of the existing ones, such as woodlands.

MORE INFO - More on who these were and what they did, and why on the design choices. I'll brush my hair and make some videos and everything.

Catch you soon, thanks again!
Annie