Elizabeth

No, not another of Annie's Bad Squiddo women, this is from Grey for Now Games, makers of 02 Hundred Hours.  This is HRH Princess Elizabeth (as she was in WWII), in her uniform as a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service.  This is my second miniature of the late queen, as I have previously painted a version of her from Bad Squiddo.

Eva

This is Bad Squiddo's version of Norwegian Resistance fighter, Eva Klovstad. She worked her way up through the resistance, eventually becoming the leader of a unit of 1,200 fighters.  The photo that this figure is based on (it can be seen here) shows her with wearing socks with an Argyle-style pattern.  There was no chance that I'd try to duplicate that pattern, so instead she's got striped socks.  She's lucky that I painted the Norwegian flag on her arm!

Slightly blurry but here's the flag!

 

Cartagena de Indias

There is a thread on LAF at the moment that includes a discussion on "pirate buildings", or more broadly buildings that could be found in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, roughly 1650 to 1720.  This has inspired me to dig out these photos from my visit to Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, back in 2007.  These photos are all from the historic town centre, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Lots of pastel coloured buildings throughout the old town.

The Puerta de Reloj - gateway into the old city, which dates to 1738 - so, regrettably, after the end of the Golden Age of Piracy! 

Here's a detail of the cobblestones!

The next series of photos are of the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, overlooking the old city.

Blas de Lezo, one-armed, one-eyed and one-legged Lobo del Mar, who led the successful defense of Cartagena through a 67-day siege by a British fleet during the fantastically-named War of Jenkins Ear.

Back to the city walls!

Vera

Czechoslovakian Vera Oravec (she became Vera Laska after she married Andy Laska after the war ended) started her resistance against the Nazis at age 15 when she helped to smuggle refugees out of occupied territories.  Read here for more on her fascinating life.  

I got a bit carried away the red and yellow colours on her skirt and socks - I've no historical basis for this choice but it was fun to give her a splash of colour!

Elzbieta

Next up for the Bad Squiddo Women of the Resistance is Elzbieta Zawacka, aka Agent Zo. Elzbieta was a member of the Polish Resistance and a member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British agency that trained and supported resistance to the Nazis in occupied Europe.  She is seen here stripping out of her SOE 'striptease suit', which was a coverall suit for parachute jumps, designed so that it could be swiftly removed and buried by SOE agents after landing behind enemy lines.  She already has her spade in hand so she can hide the suit before infiltrating back into Polish civilian life.

Her jump helmet is by her right foot, to be disposed of along with the striptease suit.