When bombers flattened her village in 1941, she persuaded the commander of a cavalry regiment to take her with them to the front line, claiming to be 18 years old when she was in fact 16. In 1943, she was appointed the one and only female commander of a marines platoon. Her platoon was repeatedly […]
Russians
Meet the Heroes: Grigory Jefimowitsch, Codename: Rasputin
Please meet Russian Partisan Leader Grigori Jefimowitsch, Codename: Rasputin. Grigory is a purely fictional character so he doesn’t really fit the bill for our category historical heroes. He also isn’t inspired by any movie or TV show, so he’s really completely made up and never existed. Well, actually he is a bit inspired by this […]
Stoessi’s Blitzdepesche – Dick Winters & Special Guest Partisan Leader Grigori Jefimowitsch
So, let’s talk about the two “mystery miniatures” from my last workbench-update post. One of them is a test cast of Captain Winters and I think it’s looking quite good actually. A friend of mine pointed out that he looks a bit like the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. So here he is then…. Gerhard […]
Stoessi’s Heroes Medal of Recommendation: The Tightheadprop Painting Studio
Remember that we have this cool version of Mariya Oktyabrskaya coming out? Well, for the second pose I obviously needed a nicely painted T34 tank and while I had the model, I couldn’t find the time to work on it. Very frustrating. 🙁 So to the rescue came…. Carsten Schwejda, or better known as THE […]
Meet the Heroes: Soviet Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov
Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov was a Soviet Red Army soldier who became a Hero of the Soviet Union for his role in defending “Pavlov’s House” during the Battle of Stalingrad. On September 27, 1942, Pavlov’s platoon recaptured a four-story building, seized by the German Army and defended it against continual attack by the Germans until relieved […]
Meet the Heroes: Soviet Army Guards Senior Sergeant Mariya Oktyabrskaya
After the Germans killed her husband, Mariya wanted revenge for his death and for the death of the Soviet people. For this purpose she deposited all her personal savings – 50,000 rubles – to the National Bank in order to build a tank. She then wrote Stalin the following letter: “My husband was killed in […]
Painting Liudmylla… step-by-step
As this miniature was started as part of a painting jam with a few friends in my basement, I didn’t take any pictures of the first steps, except the first one below. At this stage I had painted most of the face already and I had applied a thin layer of Russian Green for the […]
Pre-view of Lyudmilla Pavlichenko – Russian Female Sniper
Proudly presenting Lyudmilla Pavlichenko, one of the most successful (deadly!) Russian Female Snipers in history. With 309 credited kills, she was certainly a force to be reckoned with and Stoessi’s Heroes is paying due respects to this courageous woman: Coming soon! Stay tuned!
Spring in Russia – Bolt Action Battlefield Pictures
Spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon with friends playing Bolt Action and having a BBQ. Some impressions from the our small scenario which had ~800 points on each side – Germans vs. Russians. The Germans defended a little village somewhere in Western Russia 1943 and the Russians tried to cut this German resistance pocket off in […]