[Archive] Okay, this is quite different

Thommy H:

So, here we go. Last update for a while most likely, as we’re now at 2,000 points:

Yvette le Hautain





Yvette is Gerrard le Taureau’s sister. As arrogant and vain as her brother is savage and cruel, she is nonetheless an accomplished sorceress. Though the two siblings present an outward image of unity and support, the truth is that in Gerrard’s domain, life is a bitter power struggle between the two of them. Yvette is the elder, but being both a woman and a Damsel of the Lady, cannot claim any land for herself. Therefore, despite being more older, more capable and more intelligent than her brutish brother she is technically required to serve as his adviser, never allowed any true power of her own.

This was a bit of a nightmare model for some reason. It took until I was nearly finished for me to feel like I’d ‘cracked’ her. All the way through I was thinking, “I’ve messed this figure up…”, but she turned out okay in the end. There are still issues though: the plastic horse she came with has an erect head (oh er…) meaning she has to perch right on the edge of the saddle to fit. The figure looks unbalanced from the front, and it’s not very stable. Oh well.

Gardes de Jeu



Just a small update here: this unit now features my ‘spare’ musician and a monk from Spyglass Miniatures (now sadly unavailable). My units contain lots of monks for some reason.

Jaspere le Jongleur







Jaspere, along with the minstrel Claude, supply the entertainment in David’s court. Together they make quite the comedy duo, but in times of crisis even court favourites are turfed out and expected to fight. Jaspere provides moral support for the Men at Arms, supplying them with off-colour jokes and crude ditties of just the kind that the common folk of Bretonnia enjoy.

Jaspere is the Jules le Jongleur model painted in my army’s colours. In contrast to Yvette (who I bought at the same time), he was ridiculously easy and fun to paint.

Father Grumpmas:

Only just looked at this thread. The army is looking very nice I must say.

I particularly like the use of the old hero quest tomb and the flagellants to make battle pilgrims - consider the idea stolen should I ever do bretts :hat off

Thommy H:

More stuff from the land of chivalry!

Les Serjeants



While Bretonnian knights may like to think that theirs is a society divided simply between the nobility and the peasantry, the truth (as always) is rather more complex. For example, there are those individuals who are not bound to the land they farm, but are also not nobles. They are freemen, the owners of smallholdings who, instead of paying taxes to their lord, perform service in the knight’s household. Their sons will be pages and squires, their wives and daughters maids and serving girls while they themselves ride in the knight’s retinue serving as scouts and outriders. In peacetime they lead the garrisons of Men-at-Arms as Serjeants, or serve as wardens and gaolers, keeping their lord’s lands safe from threats within and without. David has a cadre of Serjeants at his command who fulfil this traditional role in his army. They ride much smaller draught horses than those belonging to the knights, making them less formidable, but much faster and more manoeuvrable.

These Mounted Yeomen models come from the Perrys, who sculpted the 5th Edition Bretonnian range. They’re true-28mm though, which means they’re a little smaller than everything else - especially the horses, which are made to be a closer reflection of real medieval horses (which were smaller than modern animals). However, this is covered by the fluff - Yeomen are supposed to ride smaller horses anyway. The models are almost identical to the Bretonnian mounted squires (now known as Mounted Yeomen, and horrifically overpriced) and fit perfectly with the rest of my army. The whole unit cost me about £15 - this would have bought me about two proper Mounted Yeomen models :stuck_out_tongue:

Gardes de Jeu



Another update for these guys. I decided to repaint them in green. The musician has remained in the Baron’s livery, the idea being that he holds some kind of official position rather than being one of these ordinary grubby peasants. I’m still deciding whether to make these guys a group of outlaws (a la the Bowmen of Bergerac) or just be dressed in camouflage for practical purposes. Hmm.

Tarrakk Blackhand:

Looks excellent Thommy! I like the colours of the guys and how you based them.

My reguards to Sammy Snail! :smiley:

Kera foehunter:

great work Tommy h!! i like the paints job too

Fequiil:

Gaston, Chevalier de Graal, leading Les Chevaliers de la Ceinture


Thommy H
lol, "de Graal" is dutch, and that's a lot of frenchmen.:P
i guess, around that time, the french were waging war agianst the Dutch(Dutch for the win:)):P

Thommy H:

Well, Babelfish seems to think “Graal” is French for “Grail”. I have a feeling I heard or read somewhere that there’s actually no real translation, but since Bretonnia (at least in the modern background) is more of a mish-mash of traditional medieval cultures than straight up French, it’s probably not that important.

cornixt:

From what I remember, the grail stories were all originally written in French (there were dozens of variations of the language at the time, no idea which ones it was) and it still isn’t all that clear what the word meant at the time. It was only a few hundred years later that it became defined as a chalice.

Thommy H:

" Etymology

The word graal, as it is earliest spelled, appears to be an Old French adaptation of the Latin gradalis or gradale, meaning �?o ‘by degree’, ‘by stages’, applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal�?�.[6] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, after the cycle of Grail romances was well established, late medieval writers came up with a false etymology for sangréal, an alternative name for “Holy Grail.” In Old French, san graal or san gréal means “Holy Grail” and sang réal means “royal blood”; later writers played on this pun. Since then, “Sangreal” is sometimes employed to lend a medievalizing air in referring to the Holy Grail. This connection with royal blood bore fruit in a modern bestseller linking many historical conspiracy theories (see below)."

Wiki-wiki-wah

Fequiil:

wow, i didn’t expect that to happen…

but as it stands: de Graal is a word in Dutch that, in English, means: The Grail

Thommy H:

Yes. And, as I said, it’s really not important.

Loki:

Great looking army Thommy, they have come out really well :slight_smile:

Thommy H:

Amélie de la Gens Communs



The genetic trait for the ability to manipulate the Winds of Magic, intrinsic to all inhabitants of the Warhammer World (even Dwarfs), occurs at random. While there is a hereditary aspect and it is possible to detect a vague correlation towards “wizard families”, the truth is that “The Talent” can arise almost anywhere, without concern for wealth or station. Amongst the hierarchy-obsessed Bretonnians, this can be the source of great conflict. Fortunately, the Fay Enchantress spirits away Bretonnian children who display the hallmarks of magical ability and returns them years later, changed beyond recognition - at least if they are female. No matter who they were before, when they return they are invariably beautiful women of fair complexion and steely gaze. They are no longer part of Bretonnian society, but stand aside from it, always advising, but never participating. In the Empire, it is a common joke that the reason Bretonnian Damsels are transformed into such beauties is so they can more easily manipulate the simple-minded Knights who rule over the land, who think of little more than fighting and rutting. There may be some truth in this…

However, even though Damsels and Prophetesses are theoretically reborn anew when they return to their homes, it is impossible to ignore the fact that they were once the sisters and daughters of those they now necessarily look down upon. This is especially jarring when a Damsel was once a simple peasant girl - a ruddy cheeked, comely village maiden, now emerged as a butterfly from a chrysalis, possessing as she surely will a kind of otherworldly, fey beauty. Amélie is just such a girl. As a child, she was a yeoman’s daughter, an ordinary inhabitant of Béniterre town, with few prospects except marriage to a farmer with his own smallholding or, if very fortunate, a Knight’s page. But she began to display strange powers and, upon her fifteenth year, she was taken by the Fay Enchantress to the Otherland. It was six years before she came back, changed, and now clearly a servant of the Lady of the Lake. She took up position as an advisor to the nobility, but she had always been beautiful and in appearance she was no different than the young girl who had hauled water back to her father’s house from the pump in the town square. Well did the Knights of Béniterre remember the pretty maiden who had blushed at their bawdy jests and hurried on her way as they rode through the town. To take advice from a slip of a girl whose father wouldn’t be fit to brush down their horses is not easy for the proud Knights of Baron David’s court…

Still more resistance to Amélie’s new status comes from Yvette, whose strong will and considerable magical ability has led to her becoming the informal leader of Béniterre’s Grail Damsels. From noble birth herself, she especially resents the down to earth and commoner-born Amélie who she suspects may have the potential to outstrip her magical skill in the years to come. The arrogant Yvette would never suffer a peasant girl - joined to her in the Lady’s sisterhood though she may be - to be her equal, let alone superior. On the other hand, Isabelle has become a firm companion to Amélie, helping her to navigate the politics of the ruling classes and hold her own when dealing with the proud Knights. Amélie has been growing in confidence, and has started to use her influence to help the peasants of Béniterre, earning the Old Bretonnian epithet “de la Gens Communs”: or “Amélie of the Common Folk”.


I’m in the process of moving right now, and all my figures are packed away in boxes in the new house. But I had my bitz box here still, and there are a good few complete figures hiding in there, including this one, which came with the mounted Damsel (Yvette) figure. I never had any cause to use her before, but as I come to the end of my time in this flat, I liked the idea of symmetry: I’ve painted the better part of three armies since I first moved here two years ago, but the very first model I painted was Claude, the minstrel from Hasslefree who serves as the musician for my bowmen. So, for the last thing I’ll paint here, I wanted it to be Bretonnian and I wanted it to be a character model. She’s the only painted figure I’ve got here now, and she’s living on the table right in front of my computer screen until we finally reach the point where we can move into the new place (probably Friday). She’s going to be one of the last things to come, I think. So forgive this little flight of whimsy, but Amélie is a significant figure and I think she turned out pretty well. Her colouring is based on Emma, my fiancée (can you make out her freckles?) and green is her favourite colour, hence the dress.  

So, you know, careful with the criticism, all right? :wink:

cornixt:

The face has come out great, very haunting.

zobo1942:

These miniatures look fantastic!

I have never had any luck basing properly… could you explain how you got your grass to look so good? I’ve tried a few times to make a table and maybe I’m using the wrong stuff - it’s more like a green, flakey, powdery stuff than actual grass. Could you tell me the type you use?

Awesome work!

Thommy H:

I use static grass - it sounds like you might be using flock instead. It’s incredibly easy stuff to use: I just put on a layer of brown flock, then when it’s dried I just put on a few blobs of PVA and dip it in the tray of static grass. Blow off the excess and it’s done.

Nazhur:

Just found this army from your signature and I must say it looks very good. Also I really like the background story you got to every unit! That´s awsome. Will try to do something similiar to my army too.

btw, are you going to update all your armies now when it´s 8:ed?

Vash:

brettonia was the first warhammer army a friend of mine showed me. he was always talking about it, but faced by so many knights, it looked awesome (even though it was unpainted). seeing it was the reason i started warhammer, although i started lizardmen… and still play with them. seeing a brettonia army is always nice, especialy when it’s as nicely painted as this one. you’ve done a really great job on painting all the knights in their own heraldy.

and all the little stories each unit has is a nice touch.

Minos:

I have been drawn there by the french title and I have to tell you it’s a very nice army (well, in fact, future slaves…). I like the colour scheme and the whole look.

I read you didn’t aim to give ‘real’ french names, but if it can help, here are the right words (I wouldn’t like to learn french if I had to…) :

Yvette le Hautain → Yvette la Hautaine (she’s a girl)

Gaston, chevalier de Graal → Gaston, chevalier du Graal (and Graal is actually the correct translation for Grail ; le “Saint Graal” for the Holy Grail))

Thiabault l’Immaculé → Thibault l’Immaculé (but it gives an ‘old sound’ if you like it)

Marcel le Doux → correct, but weird for a warrior :wink:

Le Garnison du Béniterre → La Garnison du Béniterre

Serjeants → Sergents

Chevaliers de la Ceinture → ? Ceinture means ‘belt’. Strange, but you could call them Chevaliers de la Ceinture d’Argent for example (silver belt) or something else. It would sound better.

Chevaliers de la Voile → strange too. “La voile” means ‘sail’ (of a boat). “Le voile” means ‘shroud’ or ‘veil’, I don’t really know (the piece of tissue women put on their face). Far better IMHO. Les Chevaliers du Voile.

Les gardes de jeu → I don’t know what you mean, but maybe “les gardes-chasse”, that is, people in charge of a piece of land, who regulate hunting and wood-cutting.

Les Grands Non Lavés → weird too, but funny. “Les Cradingues” (or “Les gros cradingues”) would fit perfectly: it’s a true slang term to define very dirty people.

Amélie de la Gens Communs → Hard to translate. Poetically, this could be “Amélie des gens simples”, which would mean she comes from the common people and is loved by them. Or “Amélie la Gueuse”, an old (and not very friendly) term for the peasant.

With all that, you could proudly throw your list at a French and laugh !

Redhammer:

Well, if/when I build be Bretonnian army, I know who to ask for help with names!

The Knights of the Girdle (similar to knights if the belt) were a historic group of knights that tried to emulate the legendary Sir Gawain, named after the belt of invulnerability he wore when he faced the Green Knight’s axe. I wonder if this was the intention, and if so, good reference Thommy!