Downtime & a Pair of Aces

I’ve been doing more painting lately than playing games or writing stories. Not all of my figures are game pieces, some I have collected because they were interesting or part of a collection. A few years ago, I went all in on Bad Squiddo Games’ WWII Soviets kickstarters. And I still have several remaining to paint. But today I finished the figures relaxing behind the lines and a pair of fighter pilots.

The Dancers & the Accordian Player

Music was an important part of maintaining the morale of soldiers in all armies whether live music, radio, or records. Bad Squiddo has a pack of two dancers and a pack containing an accordian player.

The Serenade

Not all of the music were toe tappers – ballads and love songs were also popular among the soldiers. Bad Squiddo does a small vignette piece called the serenade.

A Pair of Aces

The Soviets formed three all-female squadrons – the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, and the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment. Bad Squiddo games makes two packs of pilots, one that can be used for the 586th & 587th regiments and one for the 588th regiment. Why two packs? Well, the 588th flew obsolete biplanes for low level night bombing and didn’t have parachutes until late 1944.

• A note about the plane – the plane known as “yellow 44” was a YAK-1. Soviet pilots had to share planes with other pilotes, so Lilya Litvyak had to share this plane with other pilots. While flying “yellow 44” she scored four of her twelve kills in the spring of 1943. The model is a Revell kit and was assembled and painted as a gift from my youngest brother.

Fun facts about Lilya Litvyak: You know how in the movie Top Gun, Maverick enjoys buzzing the tower? Well, when Lilya returned from a mission, she would buzz the field and put one an exhibition of aerobatics which enraged her commander. She would send her friend to the hospital to raid the stock of hydrogen peroxide so she could continue to bleach her hair. She often flew with flowers in her cockpit. She was last seen battling eight German fighters. Her body wasn’t found and identified until 1990.

I will probably never use these figures in a game, but they were a joy to paint. Do you have any figures in your collection that are more for dioramas than gaming? Are they sitting in your pile of shame?

As always your comments and suggestions are welcome, let me know what you think.