After my last large diorama (Mylae) now back with a small one. Inspired by William Shakespeare's famous play "Richard III." with the even more famous quote "My kingdom for a horse".
Historical Background
The struggle for power in medieval England culminated in the Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1485), the name derived from the badges of the two leading parties - the house of Lancaster (red rose) and the house of York (white rose). In the year 1485 Richard III. of the house of York was the king of England and had to deal with Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, of the house of Lancaster. The two armies met at Bosworth for the decisive battle. After a bitter fighting Richard lost his life and throne and Henry became the new regent, founding the house of Tudor (the badge being a white rose within a red rose), which ruled England for the next 118 years.
The moment depicted is the final stand by Richard III. with his last few men. The scene happened after a cavalry charge spearheaded by Richard failed and he and his men were partly driven into marshland. After losing his horse from exhaustion and wounds the famous quote by William Shakespeare "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" should have happened here. He wanted his horse not for fleeing but for reentering combat on horseback (so the legend says). The pursuing Lancastrian foot soldiers chased after the retreating Yorkist knights and killed them one after the other. Richard's standard bearer holds his banner high till the last moment, although he had lost both legs. Finally the king was overwhelmed and perished.
The diorama
The figures are from MiniArt (very flat) and the horse from Airfix. The positioning of the figures was quite difficult for not creating a strange looking effect owing to their flatness. The horse was a major conversion as it is orginally for a british hussar of Waterloo.
I was unable to find a satisfying description how English marshland in the 15th century really looked like, so several modern day pictures were the base for the recreation. As there are many different kinds of marshes, this is only one possible approach.
The marshland was made of MIG texture dark mud, MIG acrylic water clear, Faller foliage and grass, Busch reed and some colour variations.
Here can see the final diorama:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ_T6yN5veU
Pictures: http://tkr172.blogspot.com/
And here a few teasers:
Greetings from Austria
Thomas Krug
Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze)
