The Flying Beaver:
Post your tips for fighting Brettonian armies here.
Two Earthshakers. I can’t stress that enough. Slow up those knights, and blast them with Bolt Throwers. Make sure to protect your crews from Pegasus Knights.
You arn’t striking first (or at all, most likely) against Knights. This means you’ll want to maximize toughness and armour hoping to reduce your casualties as much as possible, just so you can survive the first round of combat without fleeing… Then, get some Hobgobbos to outnumber and flank the Knights.
I think you are right, BBs aren’t going to do much here. Go for solid 25 US units, and position yourself to make flank charges. I might even suggest a BSB to help prevent that first round of combat break test you may be making a lot.
Good luck!
Xander
BOLT THROWERS, SIX OF 'EM FOR 180PTS! Bretonians hate them as much as a Dwarf hates being sober. They ignore armour saves, meaning that his brets only get their ‘blessing of the lady’ ward save. If you pack your army with themthen that negates any non-shooty kit he may have. Also since the bretonians use the lance formation (deploy three wide, any model on the outside file gets to attack if they charge) they generally have more ranks than most cavalry and thus suffer even more from bolt throwers.
I agree with everything Xander said. Make sure you use your earthshakers to stop him hitting your lines too fast, giving you more turns shooting with your bolt throwers. With luck on its side, each bolt thrower can take out a third of a unit of knights. Also, don’t forget that if the Bretonian player takes the blessing, you automatically get choice of first turn, so use the extra shooting!!
If you want to be really mean, take a Taurus or Lammasu in your army and land it right behind his knights when they first start towards your lines (make sure its NOT where you plan to target your earthshaker and use the Terror test it inflicts to try and break some units. If a unit flees it loses the blessing and thus its only protection against your bolt throwers. If you take a lord on a Taurus then use him to counter Pegasus knights.
Wolf riders are also useful as Bretonians really suck if they don’t get the charge, and have long flanks to protect for their knights. Also remember they get rank bonus for each three knights in any rank when in lance formation, but that means killing one is normally enough to cost them a rank.
Big units are your best hope in CC. Hobbos w. light armour, HW&S are preferable to Big’uns, as they are much cheaper and have the same save. Since what you waqnt is to stop the lances then flank them, a unit which can take lots of initial casualties and keep its full rank and numbers bonus is a real plus. I’d take units of 30-40, just keep your general and BSB nearby to make sure they hold. A banner of slavery wouldn’t go amiss either (remember you can give this to a unit of warriors) Other than that blorcs w. shields and warriors w. GWs are the only other units i’d take, for their flexibility
Whew! tirade over :cheers
Oh, I forgot two other things, if any knight turns down a challenge then ALL knightly units in that combat lose the blessing. Also the blessing is only available to knights and damsels. Their peasants have low leadership but can use the leadership of any knights within 6". These guys are horrible when they charge with or just after the knights, but if you can seperate them out then they die easily
AGPO
Pegasus knights are good but are killable use magic missiles to take them out and make them your priority. Keep your units together and just make damn sure you go in with a starting CR of 5 and a decent save. Units of US 25 min are essential, as are hitting those knights in the flanks. Lastly… :hashut ARTILLERY ARTILLERY ALWAYS ARTILLERY :hashut Knights die when hit by giant spears, shells and rockets. They die when hit by DoW cannons, they die they flee, and they lose that sodding blessing. A good cannon ball or blt thrower caqn kill a third of a unit in one shot. Kill the posy knights and remember, big hats may look silly, but brightly coloured clothes and enormous mascots stuck on your helmet spell target in any language (including Sweedish)
HASHUT!!
AGPO