Anno Domini 1666 - The Old World without the Warhammer

Portho was renowned for his love with life and his generally carefree personality and outlook.  He loved to indulge in celebration, eating and drinking and did so with as much fervour as he engaged in battle – his eating abilities even impressed King Louis XIV.  He was known for his physicality, his size and strength but throughout his adventures with the other musketeers, his stature and character grew to match his physical presence.  Despite outwardly appearances,  he is fiercely loyal to his fellow musketeers and takes that friendship very seriously.  He supported his friend Aramis’ plot to supplant Louis with his twin brother Phillipe (the man in the iron mask), a plot which ultimately failed, forcing both he and Porthos flee to a place known as Belle Île.  The island had been fortified by one of Aramis’ allies – the Superintendent of Finances, Nicolas Fouquet, a man who would later be arrested by D’Artagnan.  After Fouquet’s arrest, D’Artagnan was ordered to then arrest Aramis and Porthos but out of love for his former comrades, he deliberately delayed, granting them both time to escape. The deception was uncovered by one of D’Artagnan’s rivals who took matters into his own hands and tried to arrest the two fugitives himself. As Aramis and Porthos attemptes to flee la Bell Île, Porthos was shot and killed, leaving Aramis to escape to sea alone.  Porthos’ death affected Aramis deeply and he was said to have felt remorse for the first time in his life.

Porthos is based on the historical character, Isaac de Porthau.  There isn’t tonnes of information about him online, although I am sure if I had more time I could find more.  However, he was a notable member of the Muskteers, specifically the “Black Musketeers”, which, combined with Dumas’ own heritage, has given rise to the idea that Porthau was black or mixed race.  It is unlikely that this is the case and the confusion arises from the fact that Alexander Dumas’ own father was a high ranking black French officer known as “the Black Musketeer” or “the Black Devil”.  The “Black Musketeers” were a company within the Mousquetaires du Roi noted for their black (as opposed to blue) uniforms.  You will see these uniforms on the musketeers in the final act of the film, The Man In The Iron Mask. He was the First Cousin Once Removed of Captain Troisville (meaning Porthau’s father was Troisville’s cousin, if anyone is wondering) and served a few years in a different regiment before earning a spot in the musketeers.  Unlike his fictonional counterpart, Isaac de Porthau lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1712, aged 95

I have to say I have no idea where the inspiration for these comes from.  When I look at the other factions in the game, you can often see resemblance to images from films, so I find it strange that the musketeers, whose story has been told on film many times, don’t seem to be have been drawn from one.  Anyway, curiosity aside, I opted to deviate slightly from the artwork with the skin.  As mentioned, there are lots of theories that Porthos may have been mixed race – Alexander Dumas himself was also of mixed parentage – and while I doubt very much that they were true, I leaned into a bit here.  Partly because I like Howard Charles’ portrayal of him in the BBC series and also because I just fancied trying out the new Army Painter Fanatics dark skin tone paints.  Overall, I think it’s turnout really nicely considering the general quality of the PVC models that come with this game (Seriously – anyone looking at this as something they might be interested in, buy the metal stuff).  The red uniform that Porthos is wearing here is probably inspired by later, 18th century musketeer uniforms, which featured a red jacket and trousers under a blue vest or sleeveless jacket.  During the time period of the game and the novels, the uniform was a basic shirt and pants underneath a sleeveless, blue soubrevest lined with red.  Still, the red is quite striking and provides a nice contrast to the darker tones of the rest of the models