Written by Avorian
aka Radiks
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Furthermore they make a very decent army with one of the best cavalry in the Old World that really doesn't have much to fear. Other knights like Empire cavalry is just a speed bump for these guys. And for anyone who likes to paint they're a dream, if you can stand the Happy Happy, Joy Joy colour schemes. For the people who like all these happy colours, a full blown painting guide is included later on. I hope you will enjoy this bit about the Bretonnian army. Don't forget to Mail Me with comments and suggestions.
First the sad part. The army of Bretonnia is for the most part a one trick pony (no pun intended), you have very little different troop types to choose from. No war machines, no really good infantry, no character with stats up to the ceiling and back again. No, no, stay....don't hit that back button just yet
First the Lance Formation, this one is great. It allows to field your knights in a triangle shaped formation. This allows more Knights to strike in close combat. As a bonus this unit doesn't have flanks anymore, so no more charges from the side. The downside is that a Lance Formation isn't allowed to take turn, your can only wheel with one. The same formation can also be done with bowmen, then it's called the Arrowhead, allowing all bowmen to shoot even those in back ranks and even if they they are in the middle of the unit! Sadly these bowmen kinda suck, so don't expect wonders from these guys.
The second special rule Bretonnian Knights have are Knightly Virtues, these virtues are skills that a Knight has picked somewhere along his career. Most knights have only one virtue and it's even fixed, boo... But characters are allowed to have two, one of those is fixed again, so only one virtue can be chosen from the list. But some of them can really make a difference during a battle. Here are my favourites:
Virtue of Purity
A spell cast upon the Knight or the unit he is with is dispelled on a 4+. Beat that. Very useful since your opponent will try to stop your force before his army is trampled.
Virtue of Knightly Ardour
The Knight and his unit can counter charge if being charged. Both units will count as charging, but it's far better than being charged. You need than +2 strength bonus from your lances. No need for this virtue if you're sure your won't get charged, but if you are you'll wish you had chosen this one..:)
There are quite a few virtues to choose from, some are very handy in combination with magical items. For example one virtue gives you an additional attack for each hit you've scored from your original attacks. Gives this Knight a blade of Leaping Gold, giving him +3 attacks and you will be throwing quite some dice.
Then there are the Bretonnian war horses. They aren't affected by
armour, so their movement stays at 8. which is very cool, Empire heavy cavalry can really
move at snail pace. Not that good for cavalry.
Also very nice for high point cavalry is that standard bearers and musicians don't cost any extra. So no longer a 80 points standard bearer, you will get it for free!!
One last thing is that Knights aren't affected by fleeing commoners. Also very handy, although the Knights have fairly high leadership it would be painful to see them charging off the table due to a screaming peasant.
No real surprises here, just normal standard human stats. A nice thing is that Knightly Virtues don't count as magical items, so that gives Bretonnian characters an edge over some other races. Being not too expensive you can field quite a few of them, even more so because you are allowed to field up to 75% characters.
I rather like him, his stats are average but he can be pumped up by virtues and items to make him quite nasty. Although he will never strike fear into the hearts of your opponents like some Chaos generals will. Compared to Elves, i think he's quite all right, his stats are slightly lower, but even Elves have only a Toughness of 4. So they're as likely to die as our Bretonnian General, and he's a fair deal cheaper.
I personally think you must always include a battle standard in your army. Makes it somewhat more lifelike and gives some flavour. But this guy isn't making me very happy, only a toughness of 3. If a Chaos Warrior as much as sneezes, this guy is dead. Just put him in a unit of Knights and hope his save of 2+ is enough to keep him from dying.
Stats wise not too hot, but being fairly cheap you got to love these. Toughness of 4, same as an Elven Hero costing 40 points more. May choose a second virtue after the first fixed one. A Bretonnian character doesn't need magic armour, a 2+ save is enough most of the time, so it means you can really give some offensive items to your characters.
Don't make my heart beat any faster. You do get slightly better stats than rank and file. Just normal champions, can't choose a virtue, come with a fixed one. One magic item. Really, these guys hold no surprises.
Just wizards. Now are most wizards not intended for Hand to Hand combat, but keep sure your Bretonnian wizard doesn't bump into anyone, he's most likely to die. Since most cavalry will enter combat as soon as possible, and infantry is almost non existent in a Bretonnian army you have a problem. The solution i've been using is an item called CLoak of Mist and Shadows, the wearer can move 24", ignores terrain. The wearer can cast spells but isn't allowed to strike in HtH. Best of all, he can't be harmed to non-magical weapons. This items gives you a hyper mobile Wizard that can pop up anywhere if needed. Make sure he's also protected against hostile magic...
This army comes with no less than 4 flavours of Knights. In my humble opinion only two have a real use. One cool thing is that most Knights have a Strength of 4, higher than Elves, same as Chaos Knights. This is really important because higher strength means you're more likely to wound. So while charging their strength is a whopping 6!!.
Expensive, but also very good. These Knights have fairly high stats and come with the Grail Virtue which means they are unaffected by psychology. Not a bad thing with all these Daemon Princes around these days. Will eat a large amount of points out of your whole army budget to field a good unit of them. Most of the time it's worth it.
Costing slightly more than the next Knights these are alomst never included in my army. Their virtue has very limited use. These Knights are unaffected by the panic rules. Again Chaos it's nice, most of the time it's points wasted.
The GI's of this army. Come with the Knights Virtue makes them ignore fleeing troops that are not Knights. Just good solid cavalry that can make use of all the special rules there are for the Bretonnian army. These will make the backbone of your army in most cases.
Would be knights. I simple don't see any use for these guys other than to die horribly. They cost 32 points, come with dire stats. Their only hope to stay alive is the 2+ saving throw. Also have the Knights Virtue. I really would rather field a slightly smaller unit of Knights of the Realm than a unit of Errant Knights. Miniatures are also harder to paint because they don't wear helmets, painting faces isn't the most easiest thing. Being metal miniatures they also cost more.
Commoners are the guys that cost next to nothing but are all hopeless in terms of stats or performance, you have been warned. They do have use in a Bretonnian army, your Knights being so bloody expensive they need to be protected from nasty things like Fanatics and Chariots. This is where Commoners come in handy.
Useful, may skirmish and are dirt cheap. 5 Squires cost only 50 points, use them to lure out Fanatics. Or take a slightly larger unit and use it as a screening force for your Knights. Even if the Squires are broken and flee in panic your Knights will be unaffected by such an event. Nice.
Never fielded any of them.
Same stats as these poor Squires but with some weapon options that give them a little more bite. With a halberd still costing only 7 points, so you can field a large unit of them. Don't go for shield and/or armour, points wasted. Don't expect wonders but sometimes they can hold their own against lesser infantry.
Again, stats to start crying right away. But with the Arrowhead formation somewhat useful. And it's always nice to have something to do in the shooting phase. Even more so if you can shoot a volley of 26 or so arrows. It will make your opponent worry first, after that just laughter. These guys tend to hit only thin air.
A Bretonnian army has more room for monsters than any other army. That 75% character allowance comes in handy when buying monsters. With the new 5th edition rules for un-mounted monsters i never field those anymore, But buying a hero to sit on a monster shouldn't be much of a problem, the Hero is quite cheap, and you have an allowance for character of 75%. A Hero on a Pegasus can deal with that war machine before it starts to rip up your Grail Knights.
Somehow i don't see a Bretonnian general sitting on a Dragon. Dragon are for Elves or maybe Chaos. Tend to be expensive for a normal sized army anyway. Overpriced too.
Same here, Elven stuff. But far nicer than your average dragon.
They released a nice miniature for a Bretonnian general on a Hippogriff. The beast itself isn't to bad either. A shame is the 3 attacks, 4 would have been lovely. Nice to deal with nasty war machines or charge an unit in the back while your cavalry is chopping up the front.
One of the best monsters in Warhammer if you compare his stats with the point cost. However i don't see a lawful Bretonnian riding one. Yes i know, so what? But i like my armies to have to real feel to it, sorry. If you decide to field one it will last you a long time, make sure the guy on top doesn't get killed.
The cheapest option to get a Hero flying. A hero on a Pegasus would only cost you 115 points, give him a nice sword and you will be up in the air for 150 points. Even if he doesn't hack that Bolt thrower to bits, he will stop it from shooting your Knights to bits. I find it a very useful monster. Like the Pegasus miniature better than the Empire or Elven one.
Never play with them. I don't see the connection with Bretonnia. Nice for Skaven, Undead or maybe forest Goblins.
Cool monster, unfortunately can only be ridden by the Fay Enchantress.
Hmmm. Evil monster in my opinion, no use in a good army. Stats aren't too hot either.
Well that's it. My humble view of the Bretonnian army list. Comments or suggestions are always welcome, just Mail to Avorian.
Avorian aka Radiks