Thommy H:
So, you may recall my earlier Chaos Warrior army, which I famously scavenged from my bitz box. Now I give you my second such force, this time some classic Bretonnians. Anyone who got into Warhammer during 5th Edition will recognise the core of this army as coming from the boxed game at that time �?" those models easily form the basis of a decent 1,000 point army with the addition of some characters and command groups, and that�?Ts what I�?Tve done here. I actually did these a couple of months ago but I only just got �?~round to doing the bases, so here they are
Nothing too complicated with these guys. The advantage of heraldry is that models can look pretty striking without any fancy highlighting or anything, so mostly I just did a couple of layers.
Les Défenseurs du Béniterre
Béniterre is a fair barony just north of Athel Loren. It is a land of craggy bluffs and deep forests, with many sacred glades, pools and springs, which attracts many Questing Knights seeking the Grail. Though part of the duchy of Quenelles, it is actually much closer to Parravon, which means that the barony has a fair amount of autonomy. It has been ruled over by a noble and just line of Barons for almost five hundred years, who were raised to nobility and given stewardship of the region when the previous Baron, Xavier, was stripped of his lands and title after killing three knights in the Mêlée event.
In the background of this shot is some terrain I�?Tve made. If you recognise the Bretonnians from the 5th Edition box set, you�?Tll also recognise what I modelled this terrain on �?" they�?Tre both based on the card buildings that came in that box.
Gaston, Chevalier de Graal, leading Les Chevaliers de la Ceinture
Gaston is the eldest son of the previous Baron, Luc, the golden child of the family. He won his spurs as a Knight Errant and then immediately embarked on his Grail Quest, relinquishing his claim on Béniterre. He retuned as a mighty Grail Knight and took up a hermitage in an old Grail Chapel on the border of Athel Loren. All this earned him the abiding hatred of the next eldest brother, David. David had always been jealous of Gaston, but intended to find a domain far away from Béniterre after becoming a Knight. However, Gaston�?Ts abdication meant he was expected to become the next Baron, and was therefore forced to remain in a Barony in which the people would always think of him as the second son. David could go on a Grail Quest of his own, but the truth is that he enjoys the good life too much �?" feasting, drinking and hunting. Gaston always rushes to the defence of Béniterre in times of peril, leading the army into battle, further adding to David�?Ts constant humiliation.
Gaston is a Paladin with the Grail Virtue, Grail Shield and the Virtue of Discipline. He�?Ts the one in the middle of the front rank. David is the unit�?Ts Gallant (champion) on his right. The story of the two brothers came about when I was painting heraldry �?" since there is only a finite number of combinations of metals (yellow and white) and colours (red, blue, black, green), there were always going to be few guys with the same heraldry. I decided early on that anyone with the same colours would come from the same family and this, combined with the fact that my general couldn�?Tt actually be the Baron (since he was a Grail Knight, and they usually become hermits unless they�?Tre Dukes or the King) just led naturally to the story of David and his jealously. This unit also contains the youngest brother, Guilliame (the one in white on the back right). If I�?Tm playing a small game that requires using David as a Paladin instead of Gaston, I�?Tll use Guillaime as the unit�?Ts Gallant.
Thiabault l’Immaculé leading Les Chevaliers de la Voile
Thiabault l’Immaculé was Gaston�?Ts companion on his Grail Quest �?" often Questing Knights will band together to seek the grail, and this was one such pairing. Gaston was injured in a battle with vile beastmen and Thiabault bore him away to a sacred glade. When the Lady appeared, Thiabault lifted Gaston up so he could sip from the Grail instead of himself. Since then, Thiabault has returned to Béniterre, where the Questing Knight hopes to earn the Lady�?Ts favour on the battlefield, serving Gaston as the Standard Bearer of his army. Riding alongside Thiabault is Anton, another of the Béniterre brothers (the third eldest), who rules his own domain and Francois, Luc�?Ts illegitimate son. Francois was raised as a commoner, but came to the castle claiming noble lineage. David offered him the opportunity to prove it by besting any of the trueborn Béniterre sons in combat, and it was Anton who stepped forward. Francois defeated him in a joust (knocking off one of the antlers of his crest) thus proving the truth of his words. He was acknowledged as one of the Béniterre brothers, albeit a baseborn one. Anton and Francois became fast friends and the two enjoy a good-natured rivalry with Anton leaving his crest damaged as a way of reminding Francois that, one day, he will get his own back.
The Questing Knight BSB in the middle is Thiabault obviously, and the guy in red and white with the missing antler is Anton. Francois is the one in black and white. The logic is that he took up his father�?Ts heraldry (quartered red and white, a modified version of which is worn by Gaston) but replaced the colour with black because he�?Ts a bastard. This gave Francois the nickname �?oMagpie�?�, which he then adopted as his crest. Anton is officially the unit�?Ts Gallant, but I sometimes use Francois instead.
Marcel le Doux
Marcel le Doux is a courageous and dashing Questing Knight from one of the Bretonnian colonies in the Border Princes left over from the Errantry War after the Crusades. The region is considerably harsher than Bretonnia, and its scrubby grass does not support mighty chargers. For that reason, Marcel does not have a horse. Walking around on foot, and also coming from such a harsh land where nobles and peasants must struggle side-by-side to survive gives him an unusually egalitarian attitude, an inspiration to the commoners of the army.
Marcel has the Virtue of Empathy so I can run him on foot and wears the Gromril Great Helm �?" the idea there is that his realm in the Border Princes is somewhere near Barak Var, so he�?Ts had dealings with the Dwarfs. The model is the Warhammer Quest Bretonnian Knight which I bought when they released those models in blisters (along with the Pit Fighter, Troll Slayer, Warrior Priest and maybe a couple of others).
Isabelle du Béniterre
Isabelle is David�?Ts daughter. Like all Bretonnian girls with magical talent, she was spirited away by the Lady at a young age and returned as a powerful enchantress years later. She promptly retired to the Grail Chapel with her uncle which she maintains diligently. Unsurprisingly, David took this personally too.
Isabelle is a Damsel of the Lady with the Prayer Icon of Quenelles (which I guess is that stick thing in her hand) and a dispel scroll.
Les Grand Non Lavé
The peasants of Béniterre are the usual downtrodden bunch, though David maintains a trained corps of longbowmen instead of men at arms rather than the usual peasant rabble. The bowmen are accompanied by David�?Ts minstrel, Claude, who extols them to feats of bravery with his inspiring lute-playing.
These are old, uniformed bowmen, hence the bit about them being trained. Claude is from hasslfree miniatures and I think he�?Ts just great. The banner is one of my representative ones, which actually works pretty well for this unit as they�?Tre not supposed to move (if they do, they lose their defensive stakes). The stakes are made from kebab skewers.
Gardes de Jeu
David�?Ts squires are very important, as they range ahead of him when he goes hunting. Despite his dependence on them to keep his domains nice and tidy, he has no hesitation about sending them into battle.
That�?Ts �?okeepers of game�?�, if you didn�?Tt know. As should have been obvious by now, I�?Tm not exactly a natural Francophone. It�?Ts schoolboy French and a bit of help from Babelfish. I don�?Tt think it matters that much �?" Old Bretonnian isn�?Tt exactly the same as French, I figure. These guys are my Marcel Delivery System (MSD): they act as ablative armour for him until he can get close enough to charge in and challenge someone. There would be more metal squire models, but some of them ran away to join a Mordheim Witch Hunter warband. Further evidence of my intentions to use Bretonnians as Mordheim figures can be seen in the leader, who�?Ts had his head replaced by that of an Empire militiaman (veterans may remember exactly this idea in White Dwarf 225, which had the first warband rules for Mordheim, before it was an official game).
So far these guys have done pretty well. Bretonnians are a good army for me �?" really fun to paint (I love heraldry: each knight is like a character) and require almost no tactical nuances. You just wait for the enemy to get close enough and then run at them. Then they fall over and die. Then I win. Yay.
