5th ed. Bretonnians

I started these prior to the Age of Nurgle, probably mostly painted in 2018/19. But I hope to get back to them soon! Weighing in at 1200 points if I load up on unit champions for the infantry, this is not a bad little force. I was (and still am) a Joan of Arc junkie so theming my army around Repanse de Lyonesse was not really optional. Note: it was only the 5th edition Brets that got me into fantasy at all. Bretonnians were so neglected in 4th that, as a 40k only player, I thought they were a brand new race in 1996!

The theme is, Repanse leads force of Questing Knights knights who are just passing through her land, and Knights of the Realm who are doing their annual 40 days' service. She's using them to do armed patrols around the border of Lyonesse, checking in on her ducal garrisons. So the infantry will be painted in variations on her blue/red/gold colors. I'll also paint a unit of 2nd and 3rd son errant knights in her colors who are stuck doing garrison duty as a profession, for lack of their own land. So the army will be her armed cavalry patrol and the garrison of the fort she's momentarily checking in on.









I will expand it in $50 chunks using my 1997 price guide. Like in Tale of Four Gamers. It took about 50 dollars to buy 25 pounds worth of Citadel minis back then.

The army grows!

I added 6 errant knights. At this point the army is precisely 1,194 points (up from 1,002!) before adding such optional things as light armor for the bowmen, promoting leader figures to unit champions/knightly heroes, magic standards, and magic items for said "promoted" models. I've got 3 small cavalry units for outmaneuvering the enemy, a line of spearmen for simple jobs like guarding a deployment zone or stoppering up a gap between scenery items, and big enough archer unit. Next up I will probably expand the infantry. I will want a good square of spearmen led by a hero so they can really fight, and at some point I have to more than double the number of bowmen in the army most likely. As Phillpe de Commynes said, "Archers are the most necessary thing in the world for an army. But they must be counted in the thousands, for in small numbers they are useless."



Sometime in the month of June, I will post another $50 worth of models as chosen from late 1990's mail-order price guides.

Well we're all caught up with this army's June installment. I've expanded the questing knights to a nice big wedge of 10 models. The great dynamically posed metal horseheads for this unit, frankly, is why they're my favorite old Bretonnian knights, so having lots of them was a no-brainer. This also gives my general a big scary unit of elites to lead into battle.

I've increased the spearmen to a block of 20 led by a knightly hero on foot. I imagine him as the castellan of the fort Repanse is checking in on. All the infantry and the errant knights are under his personal command for the defense, and day to day operations, of the castle.

I also added 5 foot squires. The army was feeling ungainly so some skirmishers should help with that.

The astute will notice I "spent" around $75 instead of $50. I've decided to give myself an extra $50, spread across the final two months of army growth. I did this because in the original Tale of Four Gamers, they frequently took advantage of big sales and the like. I've now got well over 1500 points, and will expand the army to 2,000 next month. But how?

At this point the army is very vulnerable to light cavalry. Students of Archer Jones will know, there are only two ways of dealing with light cavalry. You can stalemate them with your own light cavalry, or destroy them with light infantry. I'm also somewhat vulnerable to heavy infantry. Light infantry is also an effective way of dealing with that particular threat. So, no matter what else I add next month, it's going to have to include at least some number of additional light infantry: I could expand the foot squire unit, or, I could start a new unit of longbowmen, or both. I could also add light cavalry of my own: mounted squires with bows! I'm also tempted to expand the Knights of the Realm to a full 10 models. We shall see.

Tauntaun Scout":3eseexvq said:

... in the original Tale of Four Gamers, they frequently took advantage of big sales ...

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those were the days. i think it's been two decades since the last of those in the uk.

That's a superb looking army - I've always loved the Bretonnians!

Nice, crisp, clean . . . very lovely looking!

symphonicpoet":2k62obce said:

Nice, crisp, clean . . . very lovely looking!

Click to expand...

The trick is drawing the lines on first with pencil or pen before painting!

I am on the fence about what to add next though it will probably be lots more infantry. The army's meant to defend a castle, or walled village, after all. Besides I think medieval armies looks best with around 3 footmen to every mounted man. This will mean 15 more archers (if I can find the metal trooper poses I want!) and 10 halbrediers or perhaps convrted men at arms with hand weapons.

Glorious glorious colour! How did you do the shading on the yellow?

Caradepato":fj7dzscp said:

Glorious glorious colour! How did you do the shading on the yellow?

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For this army, I have started using Iyaden Yellow contrast paint as a shading wash over the old 1990's Sunburst Yellow. Sometimes, I use just the contrast paint but I use pure white primer under it instead of off-white or grey. For Bretonians and such anyways.

So normally I would hold off describing exactly what I add till it's painted, but I think announcing it ahead of time will help ensure I get my painting done this month! I always loved the Bretonnian Hunting Party boxed army. So I am simply going to collect the rest of that stuff, plus a few odd models to round up the army. I've already got 5 foot squires and more than enough errant knights. So I shall paint a champion to lead the knights of the realm, paint 5 mounted squires to give a little shooting to the mounted patrol, and round the foot squires w/longbows up to a unit of 10, more than clinching the old boxed army. With my few remaining dollars I'll add a damsel on foot to help lead the defense of the castle.

This will make a nice, big, ducal army in blue, red and gold for Repanse to lead, much like the old blue & silver ducal army of the studio. Eventually I'll bulk the knights of the realm up to 10 then 15, and I'll make up another noble or two and paint them each a smaller retinue of commoners in their liveries.

Nothing like seeing a well painted Bretonnian army, really like the vibrant colour scheme you've gone for.

The army is "done" (though I am already working on 15 more archers and 3 more KOTR! Just like the original 4 gamers, I'm already planning expansions). With this, the final installment. I've added a wizard, knight of the realm champion, 5 more foot squires and 5 mounted squires. Now it seemd to me that the 5th edition Damsel just didn't match up well with Repanse de Lyonesse. I needed some sort of holy grail priest or something instead. So like the Fat Bloke himself "I rang mail order" (ok, I searched eBay) and found an older Citadel model that fit the bill.

The army now consists of:

Repanse de Lyonesse
Questing Knight Champion
8 Questing Knights

Knightly Champion
5 Errant Knights

Knightly Champion
6 Knights of the Realm

5 Mounted squires with Bows, Spears, w Standard & Musician

Wizard Champion

Commoner Champion w Longbow
9 Foot Squires w Standard & Musician

Commoner Champion w Longbow
14 Longbowmen w Standard & Musician

Knightly Hero with Heavy Armor, Hand Weapon, Questing Virtue, Virtue of Purity
Commoner Champion w Spear, Light Armor, Shield
18 Men at Arms with Spear, Light Armor, Shield w Standard & Musician

That takes us to precisely 2,000 points. More armor for the commoners, promoting or demoting the wizard, magic items for heroes, and magic standards for the knights gives us plenty of room to play around with lists for different scenarios. Moreover, I'll be expanding the KOTR to 10 (then someday 15), and painting infantry until they outnumber the cavalry by three to one. At that point I'll have a suitably large force to adapt to different editions and non-GW rules sets. But the REAL boost is going to come in the form a Bretonnian castle. I really like the new Renedra one, so I will paint a tower or two, several wall sections, and a bunch of medieval houses. Thus I can fence off part of a table and fill it with buildings to defend a section of a walled town. A castle can't really be made to proper scale, but a small section of a walled town can be done convincingly.

I can't tell you how long I've looked at this army. It's incredible! Very well done.