Since my Three Musketeer figures have now arrived I decided to get on with painting them. These 40mm Eureka miniatures are quite amazing in terms of detail. They are based on the appearance of the characters from the classic 1973 Richard Lester movie.
I went with an initial order of the Musketeers themselves, plus D'Artagnan, Rochefort and the hired blade, a figure based on the swordsman who picks a fight with Porthos on the road to Calais.
The scenery for this project is a one off I had a pinboard, 40mm by 55cm. Covering this with some brown card was the first step. Next I covered this surface with square Flagstones, and then used pva to seal the surface. This represents the inside of an inn, a street or town square or the courtyard of a palace or castle.
With this as the playing surface I added surrounding wall sections for two sides. This is very much a film set idea, and the background only needs to be suggested. The walls are L shaped, allowing them to stand independently, although the flat pack with a big clip to hold them onto the board in storage.
Actually I did an extra wall so that I could divide the area yet again, perhaps to denote an inside and outside area. In fact I also created a ship template, so that the scenery can depict a docked vessel, a nod to Disney's 1990s Three Musketeers.
Turning to the figures I am mightily impressed. These are fabulously detailed miniatures. My Cardinal's Guard are still in the post as the second tranche, but with the first six figures alone I can enjoy some varied games.
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| The first figure I tackled was Christopher Lee's Rochefort. The Cardinal's Blade is a snazzy dresser. Wearing red velvet and red leather, a red hat and even a red feather, he is a challenge. The secret was to go with shading. He needed different reds, on different garments, but shades of those Red's in those areas too. I gave him the white lace highlights, but added in black lining to make it stand out. The figure is difficult to get to the point where it doesn't look like it was easy to paint, just a red wash. I finally got Rochefort to the point where I was happy, although the face and eye patch were a challenge. |
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Next up Micheal Yorke's young D'Artagan. The Gascon adventurer wears much poorer clothing than the other characters. He is in poor homespun browns and beige shades. I went with G.I colours from WW2, although the Red leather hanger and slightly more red brown boots add some colour. The blond hair was also a challenge since I wanted to get it right. The facial features actually do closely resemble the actor, and the fighting pose is far more loose and would than the controlled stance of Rochefort. |
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The fight director of the 1973 Three Musketeers was Richard Hobbes, a legendary Hollywood sword fight master. For the movies he used original seventeenth century Rapier moves, from the period when fighting with these swift fencing and thrusting weapons were coming to prevalence. Hobbes recognised that the forms that Fencing later fell into were not yet established, and thus we get the different styles from the controlled Rochefort to the wild enthusiasm of D'Artagnan. Hobbes appears in the movie as the "drunken" assassin who challenges Porthos on the road to Calais. The figure of the hired blade, using a sword in each hand, is based on Hobbes. It gave me a template for painting. |
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| Richard Chamberlain's Aramis is all about style. Tall and slim, with lots of black clothing, white buttons and lace. The figure is sculpted with his weight on the back foot about to launch a lunge and the left arm high as a counter balance. It's identical to a renaissance illustration of rapier fencing. |
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| The fussy and ostentatious Porthos of Frank Findlay was one of the most difficult to complete. He wears and brocaded jerkin style jacket, with slashed sleeves and posed ready to spring. It's and portly figure that really does resemble Frank. I lined the jacket in white and hat in yellow. |
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The last of my figures is Oliver Reed's Athos. In many ways the most difficult because of the preponderance of black. He has some white in lace and the shirt and collar under the jacket, but I needed to vary the black with washes on the different garments. One particularly difficult colour to get was his leather jacket covering only the torso. It's a shiny texture I could only achieve with a gloss varnish on that central area. A great figure, he looks like a leader, "Softly Gentlemen!'" |
My "easy take" on the 'And One For All' rules.
INITIATIVE
Roll off d6 for the quality of insult or wit highest wins.
Insults
1. Your poor fashion sense
2. Your dubious paternity
3. Your Mother's good looks
4. Your face
5. Your horse
6. Your Mistress' bosom
Banter
I intend to gather some banter quotes from a Multiplayer game.
Proposed list.
1. Really?
2. Whatever!
3. F*ck off big nose!
4. My middle finger salutes you Sir!
5. Your Father smells of elderberries.
6. I fart in your general direction.
French School Fencing
Extra dice if players utilise the correct terminology
In "Swashbuckling"
Allez Monsieur! Come on Monsieur "Lead on"
Touché a hit, a palpable hit.
Attaque de fer, on the opponents blade
Prets? ready
Croisé crossing blades. A pass.
Flick cut at the face with the point (poor form)
Press opponents blade out of line
Presént offer the blade for engagement - playing to the gallery
"Attacks"
Lunge Attack moving forward with the point - impetus
Thrust Attack in line with the point
Swashbuckling.
Figures move in straight lines.
Perform swashbuckling actions, or free move and select another figure.
Pass by rolling d6 for first action, 2d6 for second 3d6 for third etc... Roll a 1 fails and loses initiative.
Lose initiative or stop and you lose the accumulated swashbuckler dice.
Actions directed at enemy figures, they roll their rating dice to duck or avoid.
Move into contact, may still insult, kick slap, feint, slash or fence.
Examples of actions:
• Dodging an object or person.
• Picking up and throwing a plate
• Pulling a rug, tapestry or curtain
• Leaping onto or off a table or barrel or other object
• Leaping over a table or barrel
• Jumping and grabbing a chandelier
• Swinging on a chandelier
• Sliding down a banister
• Rolling a barrel
• Running up or down a flight of stairs
• Slapping or punching or kicking
• Insulting and taunting an enemy
• Feint with your blade
• Slash with your blade
• Play to the gallery
• Make a brag
Some actions may be split into two separate actions if you wish, eg picking up an object, then throwing it, or pushing over a barrel, then rolling it. The reason for doing so is to accumulate swashbuckling dice
Opposed Actions & Ratings
An opposed action is one which is directed at an enemy figure, such as throwing a plate, rolling a barrel, punching, kicking, insulting, etc. In this case, the enemy figure rolls dice equal to its Rating:
4 Superb: Rochefort & D’Artagnan
3 Magnificent Three Musketeers
2 Dashing Cardinal’s Guards
1 Good Other figures
Attacks
Duels are declared as attacks. Roll your rating dice and any or all swashbuckling dice earned. I see this as lunging, stabbing with the point.
Each dice higher than the enemy is a hit. Two sixes increases to 7, 3 to 8.
5A. Swashbuckling Hits table
1st hit Pushed Back
2nd hit Stunned
3rd hit Dropped Weapon
4th hit + Wounded
5B. Duelling Hits Table
1st hit Pushed Back
2nd hit Wounded
3rd hit Dropped Weapon
4th hit + Wounded
* Attacker takes hits if he loses.
Three wounds figure drops, unconscious.
Stunned, and dropped weapon recovery are swashbuckling actions
Duelling Bonuses
Figures may get bonus dice to their duelling rolls:
Elevation: +1 dice
Each extra friendly figure in contact with enemy: +1 dice
Opponent Weaponless: +1 dice
Impetus: +1 dice (if in a lunge attack must follow up - both opponents gain the +1)
When the attacking figure finally duels, both players roll dice. The duel consists of one round of dice rolls.
The attacking figure rolls its accumulated swashbuckling dice plus its Rating dice, plus any bonuses.
The defending figure rolls its Rating dice, plus any bonuses.
The results are worked out similarly to opposed swashbuckling actions, ie the highest roll on a single dice wins. The difference in totals is the number of hits taken by the loser. Note that the attacker does take hits if it loses.
Attacker must press forward if a lunge was used.
Shooting
Only ever get 1 action dice for an aim. Roll your rating. No reloading with these weapons.
Markers
Markers should be placed beside a figure to indicate setback. To indicate wounds, simply adjust the base on the figure. Dropped weapons (swords) Stunned - black disc marker under base.
Roll off d6 for the quality of insult highest wins.
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