The Three Musketeers - The Duke of Buckingham Faction Overview

Georges the Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, was the British prime minister and a personal friend of his Sovereign. Being responsable for waging war on France and rumoured to be the recipients of the French queen's affections, he was no favourite of King Louis. His clandestine visits to France to see the queen make him a good candidate to build a separate faction around.

In this post I will try to keep a complete list of the figures in the "Duke of Buckingham" faction. It will be updated with new pictures as and when I add to the collection.

The collection so far...

1. Georges Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham.

Source: King and Country - PnM076 - The Duke of Buckingham

2. The Captain of the Duke's bodyguard

Source: King and Country - PnM028 - The Laughing Cavalier

3. The Duke's bodyguards.

Source: King and Country - PnM065 - English Civil War Duellists 

Source: King and Country - PnM062 - Sergeant-At-Arms, The English Civil War

The Three Musketeers - The Duke of Buckingham

Georges Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham was to British politics what cardinal Richelieu was to France's. Being responsable for a permanent policy of war against France (and Spain) didn't endear him to King Louis. Rumours of him having an affair with Queen Anne probably even less so.

Pictured here with some members of his personal bodyguard, on those sneaky visits to Paris that are described in Dumas' novel.

The model is King & Country's interpretation of the character in 65mm, and a very nice one at that.

A clandestine appointment with the queen in the park. He'll only be able to steal a few minutes, but it will be worth it.

The Three Musketeers - Captain of Buckingham's bodyguards

As we all know the Duke of Buckingham likes to sneak into Paris for some quality time with a certain queen, his bodyguards have their work cut out for them to get him back home safely in time for tea and biscuits. This dapper fellow is the captain of those bodyguards, one of the finest blades of England, and plenty of charm and wit to go with it. If he'd been born in France, he'd probably have been a member of the King's musketeers.

The model is King & Country's "Laughing Cavalier" from the ECW range. He's been recast here in a role that will suit him well.

The Three Musketeers - King Louis and Queen Anne

The King, His Majesty Louis the XIII, known as Louis the Just, with his queen, Anne of Austria, daughter (and later sister) to the king of Spain and rumoured to have a soft spot for a certain Duke of Buckingham, another mortal enemy of France. Not an easy mariage. Both models are from King & Country.

The King, the son of Henri IV and Louis XIV...

The Queen. I added a small base to the queen, as K&C robed figures tend to be supplied without one, but I feel that looks a bit odd next to the other figures.

It's not easy being the Queen of France and a sister of the King of Spain

The King and Queen taking a stroll through the park, followed by their courtiers.

The Three Musketeers - The Royal Courtiers

The Royal court of King Louis is of course frequented by a myriad of greater and lesser nobles, hoping to catch the King's eye and favour. This gentleman and his wife are the Duke of Vendôme, César de Bourbon, a half-brother of our beloved sovereign no less, and his wife Françoise de Lorraine. Having dabbled in intrigues and conspiracies, he will spend a larger part of his life in exile, but that's just the way of the 17th century courts.

The models are actually King & Country's (prepainted) ECW King & Queen, but after having them originally pegged to stand in for our benevolent rulers, they have been recast in new roles. I added a base to Françoise, as I felt she was missing something without it.

I have just as much royal blood as Louis, well, on our father's side anyway.

I married a King's brother, because of a treaty between Henry IV and my father, Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine

Robin Hood - Nottingham Castle

I apologise for the bad quality of the pictures and the lack of a proper background, but I only got to open this package late at night and couldn't resist putting it together with a couple figures for a few quick shots to judge the scale.

The model is the currently unavailable Barzso Nottingham Castle. It is a huge beast made out of lightweight hardfoam for 1/32 figures. While technically speaking underscale, the height of the doors is tall enough for the King and Country 1/30 (or closer to 1/28) figures, so it works well (and you're not likely to find a bigger castle with this kind of detail anywhere.

The castle is only about 90% assembled here, I haven't attached the chains for the working draw bridge and the piece of foam at the bottom right should go inside the castle gates as a floorpiece. Shown here with the mounted Sir Guy, the Sheriff of Nottingham and a man-at-arms for scale.

I'm still debating whether it worth it to repaint it at some point for an even better look. Not sure at this stage as it seems rather daunting to redo such a big model, so perhaps I will just pick out some details like doors and tiled roofs and leave the brickwork alone. I would like to build a base with a moat around it though, to do full justice to the drawbridge and interior. I have a roll of textured wallpaper that should work well for the inner courtyard.

Robin Hood - Richard & The Crusaders - It Starts

With the majority of the Merry Men being armed with bows and most of the Sheriff's men being armed with handweapons and shields, I wondered what could be done to make the forces more balanced. Then I remembered the end of the Adventures of Robin Hood movie, when Richard returns in disguise with a few fellow crusaders.

As King & Country already has an extensive Crusaders range (as wella s a few variants of King Richard), I would add a third faction, that could be combined with the Merry Men. I will aim to collect only the models with matching livery, to maintain a semblance of uniformity. This is the first of those. The fact that it incorporates green is a nice bonus as a tie-in with the Merry Men.

Look at the size of my pointy stick, it's huge!

 As usual, loads of character and lovely detail from K&C:

I thought when I got home, the fighting would be over...