Considering starting bretonians?

[King Damo]

So, I'm considering starting a fantasy army while im in the UK and I've arrived at Bretonians, but before I buy the book and battleforce, I wanna hear what current players have to say.

I guess I like the fact that the miniature range is largely unmolested by resin, and that I run an entirel, mounted army if I so choose.

So without further ado, what say you?

[MDSW]

My first and foremost army. They do need a bit of strategy since 8th with cavalry getting a little nerf, but they are still playble and we may get a new book this the very of this year or next.

[saltrock36]

My first and foremost army. They do need a bit of strategy since 8th with cavalry getting a little nerf, but they are still playble and we may get a new book this the very of this year or next.

Ah i love the smell of optimism in the morning. We have to have been saying "next year is our year" for at least 5 years now and it hasnt come, but for once it looks like Brets could be on the cards. Expected armies this year are Empire and Warriors of Chaos, maybe with dwarfs sneaking in at the end of the year to maximise sales with the film release of The Hobbit, but after then its all open ground so its the best chance we have yet.

Anyway, Brets are unaffected by resin as the majority of thier characters simply look a bit rubbish, and as for the metal units, its not worth GW making them in resin as the amount they would sell in return wouldnt be worth the cost of doing so. What is likely is that exsiting metal units will get an all new resculpt in plastic with the next Bret release, probabley in the same box with optional weapons (so Questing or grail knights), with all other plastic units remaining untouched.

An all mounted force can be done with Brets, but i recomend in 8th edtion that if you want anything other than small games that you dont. Cavalry just dont cut the mustard these days, when you charge a unit of 12 knights into a unit of 60 goblins you are going to bounce off. It also means you cnt capture and hold buildings in senarios, you can only dismount and clear buildings before having to mount up again and leave them. Idealy you need infantry, even if its one or two big blocks of men-at-arms or bowmen.

With lances only good for the first round...if you charge...more people are taking questing knights with GWs aswell these days for a constant high strength attack. It does mean you drop your armour value and you are always striking last, but it has had some good results.

Brets are a nicely themed and nice looking army, fun to play if you can manage some tactics that you will need to use to stop you from loosing. Brets are no longer just a point and click army where you charge everything forward and throw 2 lance formations into enemy units to win a game, you need to think about capturing objectives, holding a deffensive line with pesants, and charging both the front and flanks of units at the same time.

[King Damo]

Ah objectives... I havent played fantasy since 7th ed, where it was mostly just a bloody melee and carnage across the old world... I remember the only 8th ed game i had before i left aus was my orcs+goblins against a full mounted empire army and i only won coz i managed to capture the tower and hold it...

The thing that i like about the Bretonnians is that you have so much versatiity when it comes to painting them... you dont do a uniform unit of knights...its individuality in one unit... you only conformity you have is the smelly rags of peasants and the lords heraldry on his men at arms.

I guess a question to ask is, do the Brets have anthing going for them in 8th ed? Or are they sorely needing an update?

[saltrock36]

Game wise, a good player can hold his own in most games, but your not going to win a game through walking forward and getting some lucky rolls like you can with alot of armies.

Massive concensus on this issue is that brets need an update, and have done realisticaly for about 5 years, but ever more so since the release of 8th eddition. One thing alot of people cant understand is how 8th eds author, a big brettonian player and fan, has somehow allowed cavalry to slip so far down competative level that its stupid. Back in 7th ed you would only expect the most elite cavalry to be of any real threat to bi units, but now it seem that all cavalry suffer. One argument has been that cavalry armies need less models, which means you buy less, which means GW cant make more money from you. All 8th edd rules, from getting the game average up from 2000pts to 2500-3000, to increasing the normal size of units you would see from 20-30 models to 30-50, the increased devestating power of maigc in games, and the ease of war machines to target and destroy troops, is all geared to make you need more and more models. But that can come off a bit cynical.

Brets being a cavalry army (and thus less models sold) is also another reason gw is likely to have put off bringing out an update.

[Allonairre]

If you are looking to build a Bretonian army on the cheap is there anything that you would recommend.

I am considering starting an army here and Bretonians are an interesting choice paintwise and have some cool models. My budget is however extremely limited...

You talk about it being cheaper to build an army but how many models are you looking at in 1000 points?

Are there any models that I just couldn't do without either ruleswise or gamewise or they are just too awesome looking not to have?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[MDSW]

The Battalion box saves some money and gets you a good start. With the B box, you will need a couple more boxes of knights, more M @As (if you field them) and possibly a few more Peg Knights. You will also definitely need a Treb, but can be scratch built from balsa for next to nothing and throw a few M @As on it for crew. I scratch built two and I like them much better than the $75 metal models.

There are a few strategies to play and it depends on your likes. I like a unit of 3-4 PKs, some people don't. I like a large unit of MAs, some don't. In any case, lots of knights is the order of the day. And, don't think you need to spend for the metal GKs and QKs - I kitbashed both from KoR kits and they came out great. Here are a few pics of some scratch and kitbashed work:

I use these fellows as both GKs or KoR:
Crusaders 2.jpgCrusaders 1.jpg

Here are some kitbashed QKs I did with some leftover Empire arms. I have the unit completed, but don't seem to have a pic of the whole unit right now...
Quest Kn 1.jpg

Here is one of the scratch-built Trebs
Trebw1.jpgTreb 4.jpgTreb 5.jpgTrebp2.jpg

And here is my kitbashed King on Griffon (of course swiped from the IoB set...)
BretLord3-1[1].jpgBretLord2-1[1].jpg

[Allonairre]

I was thinking that Empire Great Swords might be a good source of arms and weapons for Questing Knights. Reading here it seems that they may be sort of important particularly for sustained combats.

I was thinking that I would base the knights around Templar Knights, it looks like you have gone a similar sort of route.

Those are some great scratch builds MDSW, thanks for the ideas.

[MDSW]

Yeah - the puffy sleeves were only a minor problem. I sanded them down a bit, but they seemed to blend in just fine. I did put a significantly larger blade on, since the Empire GS swords seemed a little skinny. Anyway, I will try to find a pic of the unit together (or snap another one..) I did them all in a uniform color scheme, since my thought was to have them as a Lord's personal guard, so they would all have the similar livery.

[Allonairre]

I am thinking that Grail Knights and Questing knights will have similar schemes, Black on White for Grail and White on Black for Questing. Not so much that they are ersonal guard more that they are professional soldiers rather than some land holder like the Knight of the Realm who I think would all wear their own colours.