All for One...

Introduction

I'm still working on figures and terrain for Congo, but I won't be writing about any of that tonight.  Instead, here's a little diversion; a report on some models that I have just prepared for my Song of Blades and Heroes "Witch Hunter" setting.  They're not quite the right time period, being maybe 25 years too early, but I couldn't resist the thought of some flamboyant Frenchmen providing another faction to go up against my dour, Puritanical witch hunters.  Any guesses yet?

All for One and One for All!

Athos, Porthos and Aramis

In case you hadn't worked it out already (or if you're not familiar with the works of that literary giant, Alexandre Dumas), these are the Three Musketeers: Athos, Porthos and Aramis.  They were swashbucklers and rakes of the highest order and loyal members of the King of France's regiment of Musketeers.

The models are from the U.S. company Brigade Games; in the UK they can be obtained from North Star Miniatures.  They produce quite a range of assorted Musketeers and their arch-enemies, the Cardinal's Guard.  Also available are various civilians who can readily be used to represent other characters from the books (Milady, Cardinal Richlieu, servants, townsfolk...)

I made my bases rather hurriedly from some textured plasticard glued to the top of a steel washer.  I should have used some filler around the rim, though: the joints between steel and plastics show a bit.

The Other Two

D'Artagnan and Leroux

Most of Brigade's range of swashbuckler figures come with 5 models in a pack.  I already needed a 4th miniature to represent D'Artagnan (the young hopeful who wishes to join the musketeers), so that was good.  As for the 5th man, there didn't seem any point in leaving him out so I painted the figure and named him Leroux.  He doesn't appear in the books, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's doomed to die early and pointlessly in any game, does it?

Conclusion

When I stat these models up for Song of Blades and Heroes, I imagine that they'll be fairly powerful.  After all, I only have 5 figures for the entire warband, so they'll need to be very competent to stand much of a chance against the larger numbers of Puritans (or Witches, for that matter).  The trick will be to make them all unique, I think.  There would be nothing more disappointing than for them all to be just clones of each other, with identical abilities!

Of course, I might end up with 3 or 4 real heroes, whilst Leroux just uses whatever points are needed to make the warband up to the right cost...