Greetings Terrans, welcome to the fourth annual Fembruary round-up, intentionally timed to coincide with International Women’s Day. IWD has the mission statement to ‘Celebrate women’s achievement; Raise awareness against bias; Take action for equality’… Some of the posts below showcase cool female minis (which is excellent to see & is an important sign of progress in the ranges provided by manufacturers), but other posts have more historical or symbolic depth to them & resonate more with this mission statement… that is really gratifying to see, and I urge you to follow the links or get on the googly-machine to learn more about some of the subjects presented.

Also, the usual disclaimer – this post will showcase everything that I could easily find… Please keep in mind that curating posts like this is time consuming and difficult, with lots of link checking, photo grabbing, picture editing, etc. Please don’t be offended if I missed anything, just ping me a link in the comments section & I’ll fix it 😊

So here we go, in no particular order!

First up we have Blax the Kleric with a mini called ‘Kayo the Bouncer’ painted up as a super-heroine called ‘Mother Russia’… not sure if this is a homebrew heroine or if it’s the same Mother Russia from Kack-Ass2, but either way, she’s a kick-ass mini:

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Next we have Roger from rantingsfromunder with a lovely chibi rendition of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (apparently a 1988 comedy horror – I must admit, this one passed me by). Not only did Roger paint a lovely mini here, but, (in a Fembruary first), he only went and bloody sculpted it too!! Respect!

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Next up is a group of 5 Bad Squiddo SOE agents by Marvin from suburbanmilitarism: Nancy Wake, Annie Norman, Krystyna Skarbek, Noor Inayat Khan, and Virginia Hall… Ok, so Annie Norman (with the polka dot dress) isn’t an actual SOE operative, she’s the amazing ‘Dice Bag Lady’ behind Bad Squiddo & a true champion of believable female miniatures so great to see her here with her own mini… As for the rest? Well, I recommend you grab a coffee, click the links & read up about these incredible women:

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Dave Stone from wargamesulptorsblog, has heavily converted three Dark Elder Homunculus (homunculi?) themed on female Cenobites from the Hellraiser stable… that’s a creepy as fuck concept & a very cool execution:

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Next up is a superb pair of minis from Dave, (aka TIM, The Imperfect Modeller) – ‘Almah, Merchant Princess’ (Reaper Miniatures) and ‘Glory’ (Hasslefree). What I really love and admire about TIM’s work is that every miniature is actually a micro-diorama, with the base being every bit as important as the mini itself… combine that with the rich tones & colour choice, and TIM rarely disappoints: 

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Matt from pmpainting has painted up a lovely quartet covering a range of genres & manufacturers, each has a real attitude and presence, and in the case of the Daemonette, some real OldHammer street-cred! May I present ‘Pulse’, ‘Lewdbeast’, ‘Kyrie’ and ‘Destiny’:

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Next up is some pieces from Man of Tin – ‘Rosie the Riveter’ made famous by the now-iconic US wartime poster campaign, and some 54mm plastic army Women’s Revolutionary Army of Parazuellia. Man of Tin’s work is outside my usual hobby zone, so it’s always a joy to see what he brings to Fembruary:

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Joe M of Joesavestheday has painted up a lovely trio of minis – Rasputina (for Malifaux), an Adepta Sororitas Imagifier for his daughter’s army, and a rather spiffy Yvraine. Some classic & well poised minis, and in the case of Yvraine, bloody terrifying to paint! Well played sir:

Steve from Dreadaxe Games has converted & painted an indomitable female Company Commander for his growing Imperial Guard army… Guard are my first love, so I always enjoy seeing a new regiment being founded – especially when it’s led by such an excellent character! I’ll be watching this project with interest:

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Jonathan E from malediction.games has painted up a range of female minis for his gaming projects – GW Dryads & Sylvaneth (although not used as such – there is a ton of depth to Jonathan’s projects!) plus a cracking version of Isabella von Carstein. I particularly like the blue ethereal glow he has on his Dryads – very effective and very cool:

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Next up we have a very cool diorama from Ericritter from ‘Candore et Labore’ – a Bretonian Damsel, which I think is a sorceress from before the end-times? (yup, I’m not a WHFB expert!). Anyway, she’s a lovely mini, converted from (I think) a Vampire & perfectly poised on her barded horse, while the bridge is actually built of individual bricks! The whole piece is really nicely done:

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Azazel (and his eponymous bitz box) is a stalwart supporter of Fembruary, and he hasn’t disappointed this year with an entire kickstarter’s worth of Bad Squiddo Shield Maidens, and a rather fabulous ‘Morgana, Forest Healer’ to lead them:

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John R  has posted a lady with shopping trolley on the oldhammer forum… Nicely done, but sorry John – I know nothing about this mini at all!! Drop a comment below & educate me if you see this:

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The Bovine Overlord has painted Lady Aiyana & pledged her to Fembruary – she’s a really cool mini for (I think) Warmachine , and I love the shock of bright pink with the yellow – nice one mate:

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Next up is a female Chaos Space Marine from Ernesto (facebook link). I love that Ernesto has stuck a middle finger up to depressingly numerous neck-beards that froth over THE LORE around Spess Marines being a boys only club… good for you dude, and a cracking mini:

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Now we come to Wudugast from convertordie… Wudu is a real Fembruary legend, (and 2019 winner no less!), and he has put in a monumental shift this year to produce 21 spectacular female minis… I’m not going to go into details here, the range is too diverse, but go check out his summary – absolutely superb:

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Our last entrant is none other than Luke, aka the Imperial Rebel Ork… a legend in his own lunch break, IRO never fails to go all out for Fembruary… He actually won the inaugural Fembruary back in 2018 with a hauntingly good diorama, and has entered dioramas ever since, plotting his (actual) daughters growing up in a zombie apocalypse of his own imagining… yeah… he goes all in 😊 This year IRO has created ‘The Ark – Treehouse’ as a refuge for his daughters, his wife, and himself… This is off the fucking map in terms of detail and sheer effort, and I’m not going to even attempt to do it justice here, just go check out the link for his reveal post:

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And finally, one more more plug for my Son’s efforts this year – a selection of female minis from the Mythic Battles: Pantheon game. You can find out more about these & my own offerings here, but here’s another look at his efforts:

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So that’s Fembruary done for another year – and what a year it has been!! Congratulations all & a huge thank you to all those who took part this year. It is so good to see people painting minis & getting involved despite everything else that is going on, so seriously, thank you.  

Now the tricky bit – trying to pick a winner out of this lot! Well… I couldn’t pick just one – the range is too diverse, so I’m going to choose a winner* in 5 categories this year:

1: Best Diorama

2: Best single figure

3: Best ‘force’

4: Best conversion

5: Most thought-provoking entry

*Disclaimer – you don’t actually win anything, just bragging rights & kudos*

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So firstly, best diorama has to go to Luke for ‘The Ark – Treehouse’… The family unit is central to the theme here, with the girls firmly in charge of the situation, (it’s interesting that Luke chose to place himself in the scene, but as a wounded bystander rather than as an alpha male). The whole thing is insanely aspirational as a model, and I absolutely love it. As if that wasn’t noteworthy enough, this is IROs second Fembruary win!! I reckon he gets to have the annual Fembruary Diorama award named after him for that 😊

Secondly, best single figure… a much tougher field, with some bloody brilliant competition, but in the end I’m choosing ‘Glory’ by TIM. I really like how Dave paints anyway, but I think this mini is particularly gorgeous. For a start, it is a superb model choice – a no-nonsense fighting woman, well balanced and posed. The cool blue tones to the armour work beautifully with the warmer browns and golds used in the face & hair, and the whole thing is finished with an excellent base… Beautiful work TIM!

Third, best ‘force’ – i.e. a cogent unit, gang, band, team, etc. has to go to Azazel and his ferocious band of Shield Maidens, (plus Morgana to lead them). There is still some historical debate as to whether Viking Shield Maidens were a thing or not, but personally, I don’t find it hard to imagine. As a painting project, Azazel’s freehand shields are a particular joy, and this, combined with his crisp painting & smart colour choice, is what really makes this unit stand out. Well done mate – long overdue & well deserved.

Fourth, best conversion has to go to Roger’s Elvira: Mistress of the Darkness… Ok, so it’s a fan sculpt rather than a conversion, but anyone who can fully sculpt his own mini has this nailed as far as I’m concerned. As for the subject matter itself, I’m not familiar with the film, but having read up on it, it turns out that the film has some serious feminist credibility Nicely done Roger!

Finally, the most thought-provoking entrant has to be the collection of SOE agents by Marvin from suburbanmilitarism… Apart from the fact that they are lovely minis, it is the incredible stories behind these heroines that really makes this entry stand out. Of all the submissions, this one resonates most with the IWD mission statement, so if you haven’t already, go read up about these extraordinary women – it is truly humbling.

So there we are for another year! Again, well done & thank you to everyone who took part. I hope you enjoyed the round-up, stay safe & catch you all soon.

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Late edit – some more pics & links – a lovely female Guardian from Warburton:

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A female fighter as well as an undersea mermaid diorama from Dead Dick’s Tavern:

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A fantastic Corvus Cabal member, beautifully painted up for Ghost Archipelago by Mikko:

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And a whole host of entries on the this German hobby forum!

Greetings Terrans, how goes it? It has been a while since my last post, but it has been a very busy month in the Leadballoony house, where both my youngest son and I have been both been working hard on our Fembruary offerings. That means that you lucky buggers get to have a double-helping of pics to enjoy, so grab a beverage, strap in & get comfy.

Starting with my stuff & working in chronological order, I kicked off my Fembruary with a trawl through my Bad Squiddo stash & I grabbed ‘Patti’ the Ogre:

I actually converted Patti a bit – the original model is wearing arseless chaps and knickers (I kid you not – go check for yourself), but I sculpted over that little detail to give her a proper pair of troosers. I went for green skin instead of the usual human skintones – no particular reason really, I just fancied painting some different coloured skin, with the face being a particular joy to paint. Finally, I painted the patches of armour in all sorts of different colours & designs, including turquoise & white cheques in the left shoulder – an idea I pinched from krakendoomcool’s Orks, (I never would’ve thought to put those two colours together, so cheers mate!).

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Next up is a Bad Squiddo Alien called ‘Trinity’:

Not much to say about Trin – the mini is quite hard to interpret in places & it took me a while to settle on colours that I was happy with. Not my favourite mini ever, and not even obviously female, but she’s done.

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Next is another Bad Squiddo piece – the B.I.T.C.H. Cyborg:

Again, not too much to say here – she’s a nice mini, very week ankles, nice to paint & was good fun.

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Next up is more Bad Squiddo goodness – the ‘Junkyard Kids’:

I really like these lil’ minis – they kind of remind me on my nieces. I decided to put them on a single base rather than base them individually & painted them nice & bright. The one in blue looks very innocent, until you realise she’s hiding a crowbar behind her back!

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The next three are also Bad Squiddo minis – the ‘Wrenchmouth & Handlers’ set:

I went with a desert raider type scheme for these ladies & I’m really happy with how they turned out. Not sure if the Wrenchmouth itself is female, but I’m guessing so because of the baby one that is being held by one of the handlers.

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Here they all are together, ready to join my all-female gang ‘The Banshees’:

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Next we have a slight change of genre & project. I was looking over my ‘Island of Dr. Moreau’ inspired Ghost Archipelago warband, and I noticed that ‘Niamh Stormcaller’ from the Pantheon of Chaos range was female, so I got her painted up:

She’s is a cracking mini, but there was quite a lot of chopping & sculpting needed to de-chaos her to my satisfaction & then make her more piratical. I’m really pleased with how she came out – more anthropomorphic bird-woman than a ‘because chaos’ Beast(wo)man. A nice tropical colour scheme suits her well I think, and I painted that cool trident dagger with a bit of ‘magic glow’™. She joins my fledgling Ghost Archipelago crew as a Storm Warden… how could I not with a name like Stormcaller!

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Also… while searching my leadpile, I found the 2^nd set of Karr-Keel Zombies, and noticed that there are a couple of undead ladies in the set so I painted the set up. I’ll share the whole set in a separate post, but for now, here are the lady-Zombies:

These are lovely minis to paint – Kev Adams at his best if you ask me. I always paint my Zombies the same way – washes only, very messy, loose & free. Now I’ve added Contrast paint to that method & can reliably smash minis like this out really quickly… I’ll never win an award with them, but I just love painting in this way.

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Finally, I managed to squeeze in one last Fembruary piece – this is a special mini I have converted to represent a character in my Spero Secundus campaign – Marog the Sump-Witch:

She is based on the lady-Ghoul from the Warhammer Underworlds Ghoul warband ‘The Grymwatch’. More on the rest of the warband in a later post, but suffice to say that I’m not a fan of the look of GW Ghouls these days – all the bone piercings & skull-bling is just a bit OTT for my taste. I de-cluttered Marog, sculpted some rags on her, and then I painted her in a similar way to my ‘Goblins of Goblin town’ set. One day me & my Droogs are going to play out that bit of the campaign for reals 😊

So that’s it for my Fembruary efforts, but we also have my youngest’s offerings to look at! He’s such a cool guy, so when I explained the concept of Fembruary to him he wanted to take part. We looked through his Mythic Battles: Pantheon minis & picked out 6 female models that caught his eye. First up is a three-fer (a Throuple?) of sisters – Deino, Enyo and Pemphredo, collectively known as the Graeae:

These witches, made famous in the classic ‘Clash of the Titans’, were blind, but they shared one eye and one tooth between them. My Son and I played about with a creepy pallid flesh & after watching the original movie, (where they are portrayed as cannibals) he wanted to add some gore. I’m glad he did, because that brightens these minis up & adds a nice bit of interest.

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Next up is Medea – the love-interest in the classic ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ film:

In the film she is portrayed as the sultry daughter of King Aeetes & high priestess of Colchis. Spoiler alert – she falls in love with Jason & helps him steal the Golden Fleece (too soon?). That’s a nice image to hold on to, but it’s a good job they never made a sequel! There are a few versions of the story in the mythology, but in all of them she is a sorceress, a woman scorned, and generally quite killy, (including killing off her own children with Jason when he buggers off & marries another lady!). The mini itself is a weird one… I had to go look at the original artwork to see what the heck she was supposed to be holding – the picture shows something like a flower disintegrating into soot, so we just painted a kind of black smoke effect. Not the greatest mini ever tbh, but a fun bit of research & worth painting.

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Next up, we went big… like Goddess big, with Athena and her owl:

We had great fun with this mini, and painting at a bigger scale is really nice to do. It’s also pretty useful as a teaching tool, so we took our time & talked through the shading & highlighting process at some length. As a result, there is probably a bit more of my time been put into painting the flesh here, but still mostly my Son’s work.

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Finally, the one mini that my Son was most excited about – the undisputed star of Clash of the Titans & Ray Harryhausen’s finest creation in my opinion – Medusa:

My Son was determined to paint this one by himself as much as possible, so of all the minis, this one has the least parental assistance. We watched Clash of the Titans together for inspiration, we talked about colour schemes, and we planned out how best to approach the mini. I am so proud of what he achieved here – using all the techniques that we had practised together, he worked independently to produce a fine paintjob that is far better than anything I was doing at twice his age… he has just turned 11 btw, so you can see why I’m so impressed! Here’s a final pic of all his efforts this month:

Well, that’s the Fembruary offerings from the Leadballoony clan – I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what we’ve achieved – I reckon that’s 17 female minis painted between us, (or 20 depending on the gender of the Wrenchmouth, Wrenchmouth pup, and Athena’s Owl)… Not too shabby!

Next post will be a round-up of all the Fembruary efforts from folks that contributed from all over the world. I’ll curate the lot as best I can & present them all as a celebration of the event – hopefully this will coincide with International Women’s Day! (wish me luck because we have a record number of entrants, so it’s a big job this year 😊)