An Analysis of the Bretonnians Army List

Bretonnian Warhorse [3 pts] The Bretonnian Warhorse is one of the best parts of the whole army book, imho. Give one to everyone you can. Not only aren't they slowed by armour, they are also just as good in combat as a man-at-arms without a special weapon. I have seen all 7 of my knights miss, and then scored 4 wounds with my warhorses. DON'T FORGET YOUR WARHORSES. REMEMBER TO ROLL FOR THEIR ATTACKS. And remember to give them a good rubdown after every battle. Final Analysis: Warhorses for everyone! You have the chance to be one of the most mobile armies around, don't turn it down.

Men-at-arms [5 pts] The man-at-arms is your basic rank n' file unit. I disagree with GW's assessment that the bowmen fill this position. A bowmen unit can't bail your knights' bacon out of the fire when they don't do so hot on their charge. The bowmen aren't any good to interpose between knights and an enemy unit that really isn't worth their time. Bowmen are defense, men-at-arms are offense. The Bretonnians aren't a very good defensive army. We don't have war machines, and our best units are nearly helpless on defense. If we take up a defensive stance, the enemy will eat us for brekkies. Bowmen are okay, but I still love my men-at-arms. After loading up on men-at-arms, you have to choose their equipment. Your choices are as follows: Spears: [1 pt] Spears allow two ranks of men-at-arms to attack, but ONLY if you just hold your ground and let yourself be attacked. If you move AT ALL, you lose this bonus for the first turn of combat. Guys, what did I say about defense? LEAVE THAT TO THE DWARVES! They will chop you to little pieces if you fight a defensive battle with our army. I kid you not. Let's say you let your opponent charge your nice little spearmen. Guess what, he automatically gets first shot at you. Any casualties you take cannot fight back, they're DEAD. Your men-at-arms have crap for armour, so they're gonna take heavy casualties if you stand there. DON'T. Go after the enemy. What I'm saying here is that unless you REALLY feel that you can win on defense, don't waste your points on spears. For every five spears you don't buy, you can have another man with a sword. The only exception I might make is versus an army whose rank n' file has a toughness of 4+. In this instance your battles are guaranteed to last longer, and your spear advantage will come up whether you stand still and let them hit you or not. If you do this, however, get shields as well, as your front line can't hit the enemy if they're dead. Shields: [1 pt] Let's look at the economics of this for a minute. A shield costs 1 point and gives you a 6+ save. Unless you add in a banner of shielding, or other magical device, this means that for every 6 wounds you take, 1 man will live to return the attack. However, for every 5 shields you don't buy, you get an extra man. This means it is slightly more economic to buy an extra man than shields for your current men. Don't jump to conclusions yet. Remember what I said, dead men don't get to attack back. I think this pays for the small probabilities difference in there. I may recommend the shield, but let's look at our other options first. Light Armour: [2 pts] Hmm. This costs twice as much as a shield, yet gives a 6+ save, just like a shield. Seems odd, doesn't it? Well, I see why. The halberd, below, precludes the use of a shield. If you take the halberd and you want a 6+ save, then you have to buy the light armour instead of the shield. BUT, we look at the economics again. Let's say we spend 70 points on men-at-arms. With light armour, we get 10 men, with a 6+ save. Without it, we get 14 men, with no save. If each unit suffers 10 wounds, we can maybe expect 2 of those with light armour to live, while 4 without remain. Again, this is not a clear cut thing. There is a small advantage to numbers over armour using these point costs. But it is hard to say how the "dead men don't return fire" rule skews this. It obviously sways things a little towards armour, but how much? Maybe enough for the shield's cost. But I doubt the light armour is worth it. Get the extra reinforcements instead. Whatever you do, don't get both shield and light armour. This reduces your already pitiful move of 4 to a 3. You'll never keep up with the cavalry if they outpace you even more, and you've got to be there for them. You simply must. Halberds: [2 pts] Halberds are a tough choice. They are expensive, at 2 pts, and their only benefit is a +1 Strength. So, to analyze this, let's spend 70 points on two men-at-arms regiments again, one with halberds, one without. Okay, we'll assume they're fighting normal humans with light armour and shield. So, they all hit on 4+, the swordsmen wound on 4+ and the halberdiers wound on 3+. The enemy have a save of 5+ versus the swordsmen, and 6+ versus the halberdiers. So, here we go: 10 Halberdiers: 50% hits (5) 66% wounds (3-4), of which 16% are saved (0-1). A total of 2-4 wounds. 14 Swordsmen: 50% hits (7) 50% wound (3-4), of which 33% are saved (1-2). A total of 1-3 wounds. Now, bearing in mind that this is by not means exact (I eyeballed it out.), the halberdiers have a slightly better chance of wounding, at the expense of having a few less bodies to absorb blows. But me, I like offense. That's one of the big reasons I choose to play the Bretonnians. Of course, you have to weigh the odds that your men-at-arms are going to be shot at by archers. When archers are chewing up your ranks, the extra strength does you no good compared to a better save. If you can keep the enemy's attention focussed on your knights, this is a solid thing to equip your men-at-arms with. If not, get the shield instead, and increase your ranks slightly. Final Analysis: This is a 'touchy-feelie' sort of analysis, but here are the equipment combinations I will recommend: Men-at-arms with Shields: A cheap 6+ save is good against archers. Men-at-arms with Halberds: The odds of wounding are slightly better with halberds than without (assuming that you would use the halberd points to bulk up the unit.) Men-at-arms with Spears and Shields: But only against high toughness armies where the spears will regain their second rank attacks after the first round of combat. Against toughness 3 or less, the battle will be over relatively quickly. The shields will keep the enemy from whittling away your extra attacks advantage too quickly. Remember, "Dead men don't return fire." I do not recommend the light armour. It is too expensive for what it does. For every 2.5 men wearing light armour, you could have another man. The light armour will only save 1 in 6 men, and I don't believe that works out very well economically. I realize that I am not taking into account everything here, such as the fact that an extra man with a halberd costs 7, and not 5 points, but I am going by gut instinct and some vague math here. Squires [5 pts] The squire (and mounted squire) are the only units in your army that can skirmish. What does this mean? Here is an itemized list of the effects of skirmishing, lifted from the rule book, sorta: Minis placed up to 2" apart. No penalties for difficult or very difficult terrain. Always move at marching speed. Cannot exceed normal speed if shooting. Minis are considered man-sized characters when being shot at, and so are at -1 to hit. No combat bonus for rear ranks. No flanks or rear in combat. No turning or wheeling, minis are just moved in any direction up to their full marching move. (But they must stick together.) Cannot use General's leadership, champion's leadership, or battle standard re-roll. (You're stuck with Ld 7 unless you get a champion with a magic item.) As for equipment, your choices are as follows (pick only one): Spears: [1 pt] While I can see some reason to give spears to men-at-arms, I don't see any to give them to squires. Your squires will be scouting, dealing with rough terrain, and that sort of thing. Their ranks are going to be poorly maintained, and they get no rear rank combat bonus, PLUS they are almost forced to test on their miserable Ld. 7. Guess what guys, don't get into HtH with your squires! You will get your butt stomped into little pieces. So what does that say about spears? Utter, utter waste of points. Longbows: [3 pts] If you take squires, this is what you arm them with. You can hide them in woods and fire out, you can perform firing withdrawals with them (a personal favorite of mine, particularly when fleeing across very difficult terrain.), and you can keep them out of HtH. No rear rank bonuses, normal human stats, Ld of 7. Please, please keep your squires out of HtH unless you are in deep doo-doo. They suck at HtH, in every sense of the word suck. Final Analysis: Squires are best armed with longbows. Don't bother with sending them into HtH combat in skirmish formation. Without their rear rank bonus, they will almost certainly lose, and with their miserable 7 Leadership, they will almost certainly fail their break test. However, there is one very cool thing to do with Squires. Put them at the edge of some difficult terrain, like shallow water, whatever will slow down the enemy without obscuring the squire's shots. When the enemy starts getting too close for comfort, pull the squires back across the obstacle and continue to fire. If you are forced into HtH, choose your terrain carefully. Put the squires behind a low wall or other obstacle that forces the enemy to roll a 6 to hit them. You are fast and not slowed by terrain, use this to pick the battleground.

Bowmen [8 pts] Okay, in the past, I've been awfully mean to the bowmen. They aren't all that bad. I don't like them as much as my men-at-arms, but they aren't totally worthless, if you take enough of them, that is. In disgusting quantities, your bowmen are bound to hurt SOMETHING. Plus, their arrows are all S3 hits. You can pretty safely fire into a melee involving your knights. (If they have a standard of shielding, they can't be hurt by your bowmen.) This is pretty cool to do, and almost always causes your opponent to give you the hairy eyeball the first time. The arrowhead formation is most useful if you stand still, so that all your archers can shoot, not just the front 'V' of them. This means deploy them somewhere where they won't need to move, like on a hill. If your enemy has fliers, most likely you won't have to worry about it, what with your knights drawing fire up front. But if they do decide to come play, you at least have your small frontage and oh so easy to get rear rank combat bonuses. Your sole option is light armour. Ignore it. For every 4 archers you dress in it, you can instead buy one archer without it. Considering that you only get a 6+ save (1 in 6 wounds saved), them's bad echo-gnomics. Final Analysis: I can take em or leave em.

Mounted Squires [10 pts] Just like squires, only a bit bigger and chewier. They ride normal horses instead of Bretonnian warhorses, which is cause for sadness. They wield bows instead of longbows, which is more sadness. But, they can get light armour and shields, which is not neccessarily cause for joy. Revising my earlier opinion, I've come to enjoy mounted squires more than ever. They are a swell target for your enemy to beat upon. Spears: [2 pts] The only reason to give spears to the mounted squires is the +1 Strength bonus when charging, like a mini-lance. Very Bretonnian. With this small hit and run style of unit, I could see recommending this in addition to bows. Pepper the enemy from the cover of woods while the knights close to combat, then rush out and charge their flank once they are all tied up with the knights. Definitely stylish. Bows: [4 pts] A must. Why else get these guys? Shields: [2 pts] Worthwhile in this instance. Go for it. The echo-gnomics say that you're better off getting the shields than more men. Light Armour: [4 pts] No. Even with spears, bows, and armour (20 pts per figure) that's only 5 men armoured before you can buy an extra man. The extra man is the better deal. Final Analysis: I recommend mounted squires with spears, bows, and shields. At 18 pts. per figure, they are a lot more expensive than normal squires, but I'd rather lose these guys than my knights. If you take a unit of 10 or of them, that's just under 200 pts, which as can be so important in a cutthroat tourny, keeps them down to 1 VP. (Plus, 10 is a good size.) Take these guys, screen them in front of your knights. You'll draw out goblin fanatics and the enemy archers/bolt throwers will have to play with you before they can bite into your tender lance formations.

Commoner Champion [30 pts] Let me first note that you are paying quite a bit extra for a champion here, compared to a standard human. However, you are paying for the increased WS, BS, S, I, and A. The extra attack itself just about doubles the value of the character. Remember that you must still pay for all your equipment, and arm the champion exactly like the normal rank n' file he's accompanying. For your convenience, here are the costs of the different commoner champions for units I have recommended (along with some cheap recommended magic items.) Men-at-arms w/ Shield Champion: 31 pts. Men-at-arms w/ Halberd Champion: 32 pts. Men-at-arms w/ Spear and Shield Champion: 32 pts. Squires w/ Longbow Champion: 33 pts. Bowmen Champion: 33 pts. Mounted Squires w/ Spear, Bow, and Shield Champion: 34 pts. (This is assuming I am reading the points values rules right for mounted characters.) [Recommended items include: Crown of Command (50), Van Horstmann's Speculum (35), Amulet of Fire (25), Blade of Leaping Copper (25), Blade of Slicing (20), or Spellshield (50). No commoner units are allowed a magic standard, so that's out. Try for items which improve the unit as a whole. Of course, that's difficult without magic standards, but try anyway.] Final Analysis: If you bother with a commoner champion, then buy him a magic item. Otherwise the points that you for his increased stats wouldn't seem to me to be worth it, especially since he STILL has a wretched 7 Leadership. The other stats are cool, particularly the extra Attack, but you are paying the same for one guy as for about 6 men-at-arms. Echo-gnomics again.

Knights Errant [32 pts] The cheapest of the knight units. For 7 pts. per figure more, you get the Knights of the Realm, who have a WS and S of 4, but cannot get the Errantry banner. A small unit of Knights Errant, with the Errantry banner, is not that expensive, and are effective when charging units armed with missile weapons. A unit of 6 Knights Errant costs you 192 pts. Unlike the commoners, the knights are always pre-equipped. You get no choice in the matter. But at least they are equipped with a great 2+ save, considering that the Bretonnian Warhorses aren't slowed down at all by all that armour. The Knights Errant get the Knights Virtue, which means they do not require panic checks when commoner units near them break or are destroyed. Unfortunately, with their low Leadership, they themselves can break and force your knights of the realm to make panic checks of their own. Final Analysis: Unhappily, there is no capacity to customize our knight units with two-handed weapons or the like. The only options we are allowed to play with are the choice of magic banner, and the possibility of a Knightly Champion with a magic item. Good magic banners for Knights Errant are: Errantry Banner (10), Banner of Courage (25), Banner of Shielding (25), and War Banner (25). The Errantry Banner is the cheapest, but not neccessarily the best. Bear in mind that even though you may have any number of Knights Errant regiments, only one can be given a magic standard. Which standard you use really depends on what you're going to do with the Knights Errant. Charging Empire soldiers armed with pistols is only a good idea if you can keep them from shooting you until you get within charge range. Remember, the Lady's Blessing is only good 50% of the time, and against pistols you only have a 4+ save. As for possible uses, I would say that the Knights Errant are good to send after dangerous missile units as long as you have another, more impressive unit nearby to draw attention away from the Knights Errant. On their own, I think they'll get chewed up too much. If you think they're going to take a beating, get a unit of 10 rather than 6, and try and keep your Knights Errant away from your Knights of the Realm just in case they DO panic.

Knightly Champion [35 pts] This is the Champion you can buy for either your Knights Errant, or your Knights of the Realm. Included in the point cost is the 5 points for the Knight's Virtue, which makes him immune to panic caused by commoners. Now, your Knightly Champion, without a magic item, will run you 48 pts, as GW didn't think to include the cost of their equipment (Which is always the SAME. You GET NO CHOICE, HELLO GW, anyone home?! If there is NO CHOICE, why not just give us the frigging total cost? Argh!) Sigh. Anyways, I was about to tell you about the Knightly Champion's strengths before I went off on my rant. Okay. Compared to a Knight Errant, the Champion has 1 better WS, BS, S, I, and A. Compared to a Knight of the Realm, he has 1 better BS, I, and A. Another interesting thing of note. Why do the knights have a BS greater than 0? They are forbidden to use missile weapons of any sort. There are no spells or anything else that I know of that test against your BS except for shooting missile weapons! Again, a big sigh here. I suppose that's just standard for humans. As for your choice of magic item, the best ones are still pretty much the ones I listed under Commoner Champions. I try to save the really cool Bretonnian-only items for my better characters, like my wizards and my General.I prefer to try and protect my knights from magic or flying creatures, so the spellshield (50) or the talisman of ravensdark (50) are probably good investments here. The thing that really burns my bacon about the Champions of the Bretonnian army are that they get no virtues other than their basic anti-psychology virtue. If they were allowed other virtues, like purity, there would be a lot more potential here for some strategy. I suppose you can give them favours from Morgiana, but I really wish that the Bretonnian's standard magic had been some form of Fey Magic instead of Battle Magic. Aiding the knights in combat would be far more in the style of the Bretonnian army, and I really hate using special characters. The best thing about this Champion is that he's only a few more points than a normal KotR, and yet he gets an extra Attack and a better Initiative. The BS should in no part influence your decision. It's useless. Final Analysis: Get a Knightly Champion for all your Knights of the Realm units. You get almost an extra knight with the extra attack for only 9 points more. The better initiative is only good against human-like characters. Against elves and dwarves and such, it makes no difference. The decision is harder for a Knights Errant unit, but not that much harder. Again, the extra point cost is relatively small (16 pts) for a very reasonable return (extra WS, S, I, and A.) Plus you can outfit the guy with a cheap magic weapon to make him more likely to hit or get in the first attack.

Knights of the Realm [39 pts] The first question to ask is: Why are Knights of the Realm 7 points more expensive than Knights Errant? They have +1 WS and S, that's why. I feel that's well worth the extra points, for the extra chance of wounding the enemy. Again, you are forced to take the so-called "Knight's Kit" of equipment, including (thank goodness) a Bretonnian Warhorse. This type of knight will likely form the central core of your knightly forces, as they are the best knights you can buy more than one unit of. On the down side, they *STILL* have that Leadership 7. What is up with that wretched stat? You would think that the valient knights of Bretonnia might not be scared of their own bloody shadows! Oh well. That's what the Crown of Command was invented for, I suppose. And hey, free standard and musician for all the knightly units, that's something. They get the knight's virtue, so they ignore panicking commoners. Plus, they have that terrific 2+ save. I use these guys as my largest unit of knights. I'll put 15 in a unit and give them the Dread Banner. Being the largest unit, they are the most likely to outnumber their opponents and get that automatic break thing going, which is one of the only ways to beat that damn Crown of Command. For a unit of 14 Knights of the Realm (leaving room for a Champion) with the Dread Banner, it costs 596 pts. That's a sizeable chunk of a 2,000 pt. army, so be sure to protect them against magic with the Champion's magic item. If I am not feeling like using that strategy, I get two units of 6 Knights of the Realm apiece and don't give them any banner over 25 pts. 6 Knights with a 25 pt banner cost 259 pts. Final Analysis: Either get one large unit (10-15 Knights) with a Champion and a good Banner, or get two smaller units, and go easy on the magic standards. The two smaller units strategy is good for backing up a unit of Grail Knights that you particularly like. You stick one KotR unit on either side of the Grail Knights, slightly behind them, like in the tactics section of the army book. This keeps the Grail Knights from getting hit from two sides at once. Even though they have no flank, they can still be squished by a good pincer maneuver, whatever Tuomas Pirinen might say to the contrary. Another thing, don't assume that just because you're engaged in combat with the enemy that your opponent won't shoot at your knights. If you are caught fighting an inexpensive or very numerous enemy, a good opponent will realize that your knights are too important to you not to kill, and may well open up on you with rocklobbas, arrows, pistols, and anything else he has, writing off his own figures as martyrs to the cause. I sure would. But then, I shouldn't give advice to the enemy, eh?

Questing Champion [40 pts] Again, we have to tack on the cost of equipment, bringing our Champion to a grand total of 53 pts before magic item. Happily, we get the Questing Virtue, which makes the knight immune to panic. PLUS, we get an 8 Leadership (HUZZAH!) However, the only thing the Questing Champion has over his normal counterparts is one extra attack. The attack comes at a cost of 12 points. Comparing this to the Sword of Leaping Copper (25), we see we're getting a good deal here. The Questing Champion doesn't need the Crown of Command as much as the other Champions, so I'd give it to one of them instead. I might consider the Sword of Parrying as a good choice. If one of your enemies has a magic weapon that can mess you up, take one of his attacks away from him at least. For the Questing Champion, I don't think I would take any item over 30 pts. These knights eat up enough points as it is. The only major point I agree with Tuomas on is that you need to bulk up your units more than you need to get a 50 pt magic item for one figure, unless you're talking about a figure already worth over 100 pts without any items at all, like your General. Final Analysis: He's cheap, and he gives you another attack for your Questing Knights unit for only 12 pts. Go for it. If you give him an item, keep it as inexpensive as possible. Many of the cheaper items are very effective when used at the proper moment. Keep this figure's total cost below 80 pts and remember the importance of arming your champions with items that benefit the entire unit. Again, the Questing Champion has few options. He can't get any virtue other than Questing Virtue, and his equipment is set in stone. The only thing you have a choice in is whether or not to take him, and if so, what magic item to give him.

Questing Knights [41 pts] The Questing Knights are a bargain deal. They are only 2 pts more than the Knights of the Realm, and in exchange you get 5 pts more in virtues and an extra pt of Leadership. I'll be honest. If you don't plan on taking many seperate units of knights, take the Questing Knights as your large unit instead of your Knights of the Realm. The extra cost is minimal, and the returns are great. Instead of just ignoring panicking commoners, the Questing Knights never test for panic at all, a far superior virtue. Now, remember how a unit of 14 Knights of the Realm with the Dread Banner was 596 pts? Questing Knights in the same configuration are 624 pts, just 28 pts more to ignore both panic AND fear, as well as increasing your Leadership to 8. But remember, you only get one unit of Questing Knights. If, like me, you prefer many smaller units of knights as opposed to one big unit, you will be unable to use all Questing Knights. Sad but true. I recommend getting together a unit of 10 of these guys, including a champion, and outfitting them with a 25 pt magic standard, and giving a 25 pt item to the champion. This comes in at a total of 472 pts, which may be too large for most 2,000 pt armies. The same thing with 6 total knights instead costs 308 pts, which might be more palatable for you. Final Analysis: An essential unit. For 2 pts extra you are giving a Knight of the Realms 5 pts in virtues and a free pt of Leadership. It's a great deal. Of course, don't forget to look at the Grail Knights, who are also a bargain at just 4 pts more.

Grail Knights [45 pts] The Grail Knights are also an excellent purchase. We are now up to 6 pts more than Knights of the Realm. However, compared to those knights, we are getting 10 more pts of virtues, +1 WS, +1 I, and _+2_ Ld! The Grail virtue is worth it all by itself. Everything else is just extra icing on top, particularly the +2 Ld advantage. These are some lean, mean knights, folks. Watch out, though. The Grail Knights are the favorite target of everything from war machines to wizards to dragons to hearts of woe. Your opponent knows that this is your most expensive unit, and he's going to try and take it out any way he can. Happily, they ignore ALL psychology, period. No fear checks, no terror checks, no panic checks. The only thing you gotta worry about is break tests. With the Grail Knights, I'm gonna say go ahead and splurge. Get them a 50 pt magic standard. The Banner of Defiance, and the Banner of Arcane Protection are your best choices. That way you either get a 4+ dispel and some protection from daemons, or you double your rank bonuses and never pursue an enemy unit (which I have since figured out can be a good thing. It lets you get crappy units out of the way quickly without following them into charge range of the opponent's better forces.) If you don't like spending that many points, the Standard of Shielding (25) and the Banner of Courage (25) are also good choices. The key with your Grail Knights is to charge enemies that cause fear or terror among normal troops. Almost anything that does that will be expensive enough to be worth beating upon. Dodge around rank n' file units and go for the gusto. Stuff like war machines, bound monsters, wizards, dragon ogres, and such. Just be sure you can run up some reinforcements if things get too sticky. Final Analysis: Get your unit of these and keep them alive. Nuff said.

Grail Knight Champion [50 pts] The Grail Knight Champion, with his equipment, costs 63 pts. This is 18 pts more than a standard Grail Knight and nets you +1 A. That's it. Oh, well you can count the +1 BS if you want, but I'm not gonna. It's useless after all. On the bright side, that's still cheaper than the Blade of Leaping Copper. On the bad side, for 30 more points you can get a hero to lead your men instead. (And yes, I do recommend something of the sort for your Grail Knight unit. Either your General or a Hero is appropriate.) If you can't afford the extra 30 pts (shame on you) then you should arm your champion with a magic item geared towards keeping the unit alive, like the Spellshield (50), the Ring of Corin (50), Skull Staff (35), Dispel Magic Scroll (25), and other things like that. Final Analysis: I'm not sure a Grail Knight Champion isn't better replaced by a Hero for 30 pts more. The hero gets some advantages that the Champion only dreams of, and the cost difference is minor. PLUS, and most importantly, the Hero can take a second virtue of your choice, much like your General can. The virtues are good enough that this is a very strong argument for taking the hero instead.

Pegasus [50 pts] Since I try to play tournament legal, that means no unridden monsters. Well, that's okay, because I would never pay for a monster unless I was going to protect my investment with a Hero at the very least. In the case of the Pegasus, you are only after increased movement for either a Hero, a Wizard or your General. With everyone shooting at you, is it any wonder that you want to get someone behind enemy lines as fast as possible? With Flying High, you are guaranteed to reach any spot on the board in two moves (barring unforeseen 'accidents'.) Thus you can drop onto that crew of orcs manning the rocklobba that's taking your army apart one piece at a time. Better yet, you can fall out of the sky onto your opponent's biggest wizard before he can let loose a spell that might wipe out your regiment of Grail Knights. The pegasus is recommended if you are having problems dealing with wizards and war machines. If the enemy has a lot of archers then watch out for the Sky Arrow of Naloer (might even be a good thing to give YOUR Bowmen Champion, if you have one!) Anyways, remember that the pegasus isn't much good in a fight. It has enough wounds to keep it alive long enough for you to get where you need to go, and that's about it. You might well lose it after that, and be stuck trudging around on foot. But as long as you take out more than your character's point value in enemies, the pegasus will have proven its worth. Final Analysis: Good for rushing in to beat upon long range troops like wizards and war machines before they can ravage your knights. Also a good buy for any character you make in order to kill bound monsters with.

Wizard (lvl 1) [56 pts] The first, and the crappiest, of our wizards. Let me break down the oh so wonderful Battle Magic deck for you: Total Cards: 20 (5% odds of getting any one card.) 1 Blast Card 2 Bless Cards 1 Curse Card 2 Destruction Cards 2 Fear Cards 2 Fireball Cards 2 Heal Cards 1 Hold Fast Card 1 Move Unit Card 2 Net Cards 2 Protect Cards 1 Shield Card 1 Teleport Self Card Of these, for a Level 1 Wizard, Teleport Self is patently useless. What's the sense of teleporting a wizard around the board unless he is moving into range for another one of his spells? You have a 5% chance of drawing this card and so rendering your 56 pt Level 1 Wizard almost completely worthless. So, 1 in 20 of your 1st level Battle Magic wizards will be a waste of space. Ugh. Aside from that, most Battle Magic is decent, if pathetic compared to any other race's spells. Again, I'm very disappointed we don't get some sort of Fey Magic instead. Ranking the other spells from best to worst (imho) we have: Great Spells (25%) Hold Fast: (5% odds) - "Hold that pose for a moment while we charge you." Protect: (10% odds) - "Special 4+ save? Why yes, thank you, I'd love one." Net: (10% odds) - "Now there's a polaroid moment, boys." Decent Spells (40%) Move Unit: (5% odds) - "Whaddya mean my wizard has to go too?" Bless/Curse: (15% odds) - "Hey look, a Banner of Might, sorta." Shield: (5% odds) - "Hmm, a spare Lady's Blessing. Neat." Blast: (5% odds) - "BOOM!/Boom. Boom. Boom." Destruction: (10% odds) - "Bang. Bangbangbang." Yucky Spells (30%) Fireball: (10% odds) - "Ping." Heal: (10% odds) - "That's great. Unfortunately I've got like 4 guys with more than one wound." Fear: (10% odds) - "BOO!" "Enh, I think the knights do it better." Tallying this up, we find that 35% of the spells are useless or near useless, particularly for a Level 1 Wizard. That's pathetic. That's like having a wizard who enters each game with 1 spell only if you roll 3+ on a D6. The rest of the time you get a man-at-arms instead. Sheesh. The decent spells are just that: decent. Pretty much all of them have a better version elsewhere (some even have a better version in Battle Magic itself!) Considering they make up 40% of your spells, you'll need to come up with some good uses for them. Finally, we have the tiny minority of spells, the good/awesome ones, one of which is only Power 2 (but has a Power 3 version of itself.) These are spells that will either hold the enemy while you hit them, or give one unit of yours a 4+ special save (Just like Nagash, neat!) Sadly, these spells only make up 25% of the total Battle Magic spells. Only one game in four will your Level 1 Wizard be a real help to you. After that brief look at Bretonnians and Battle Magic, let's look at the Level 1 Wizard. For 56 pts, you get the basic model, no frills. That's a 1 in 3 shot at getting a man-at-arms with +1 T, +1 I, and a useless/near useless spell. Obviously, give the man a Bretonnian Warhorse right away, without thinking about it, as well as barding for the warhorse. Next, we have to look at what we can give him in the way of armament. Your choices are a lance, and a two-handed weapon (wizards are armed from the knightly characters equipment list.) Anything else spoils your spell. So, might as well look at the rules on two-handed weapons. Hmm, no shield, +2 Strength, and always strike last. I'd say take a pass on that, at least for our Level 1 Wizard. With 1 wound and a mere 5+ save, you'll be dead before you can return fire. So, our wizard is decked out with a lance, a Bretonnian Warhorse, and barding for his steed. This is a grand total of 65 pts. But what about magic items? Don't bother with the Book of Ashur at Level 1. For 12 more points you can get a Level 2 Wizard instead of the Book. That means +1 W and +1 S. Definitely needed for a low-level wizard (I would say even more than getting High Magic (though I'm sure many disagree.) It's just that I would rather not use the Book on anything less than a Level 2 Wizard. You save more points that way. Avoid wards except the Jade Amulet at level 1. Too many points to invest in protecting a 1 W character. The Ring of Volans (25) is a thought, since it is the cheapest way to get an extra spell for your wizard, even if it is only 1 use. This makes sure you don't get stuck with that wretched Teleport Self spell as your only one, and is a lot cheaper than getting a Level 2 Wizard. Other than that, just don't invest too many points in a Level 1 Wizard. Trust me, you're asking for it if you do. With 1 W, your opponent is going to stick an arrow in him sooner or later if he gets to be too big a nuisance. A dispel magic scroll (25) is a good pick to go along with the ring or amulet. A Heart of Woe (25) might also be a fun trick to try with a Level 1 Wizard, if not very practical. ;) Final Analysis: Keep magic items cheap and sweet. Save important items like Black Amulet and such for higher level wizards. You might consider giving the Black Gem of Gnar (25) to a Level 1 Wizard and tricking your opponent into attacking him. If you catch a big enough character, your General can spend his time annihilating your opponent's units or wizards instead of toying with with a nigh-invulnerable General. Over all, unless we get a different type of magic besides Battle Magic, a Level 1 Wizard is a big gamble to take. You can end up flushing all those points down the toilet for what is essentially an overstuffed rank n' file figure.

Hero [65 pts] Your Heroes are all knights, and are in fact the least expensive figures that will let you get a second virtue of your choice. They also have 2 W, 3 A, 4 T, and happily enough, an 8 Ld. Better yet, you can givethe Grail Virtue to all your heroes! (There was much rejoicing! yay.) Let's compare a hero to a Grail Knight Champion, the rank n' file figure that comes closest to it. The Grail Knight Champion is 15 pts cheaper, at first glance. But then you throw in the Grail Virtue, which makes the difference actually 30 pts. I overlooked that at first. So, your base Hero with Bretonnian Warhorse w/ Barding, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield, and Grail Virtue, is 93 pts. What you get for this is +1 T, +1 W, +1 I, +1 A, and -1 Ld. The extra Wound is terribly valuable, as is the extra Attack. The other two bonuses are less important but still very useful. Overall, it's definitely worth it. The thing is, with a Hero, you need to create a purpose for him to carry out. You can't muddle your strategy up with a general purpose Hero, he only gets two magic items, after all. Here are the heroes I like: Monster Slaying: This hero is the one you send after dragons, wyverns, that sort of thing. Since all these creatures cause fear of one sort or another, you'll want to give him the Grail Virtue right off the bat. I like mounting him on a pegasus, so he can chase down all those flying monsters, or even confront them in the air. As for virtues, there are only 2 I really like for this type of hero. Either the Virtue of the Joust, or the Virtue of Valour. I generally go with the Virtue of Valour. Now that the Hero will hit monsters a fair amount of the time, we need to do something to make sure he'll actually wound them, like increase his strength. The potion of strength (10) is one way to try and do this, but it is very temporary, useful only if you are up against only one monster. I prefer to turn to the Ogre Blade (40) which gives our man +2 Strength. With a Strength of 6, he has a chance to wound even the Emporer Dragons. Lastly, we need something to keep the little weiner alive long enough for us to get in a wound or eight. You might try the Whip of Agony (25) versus monsters with low Ld. Remember that you get to re-roll missed hits with the Virtue of Valour. Of course, most monsters have a Ld of 8, which means the whip will probably fail a lot. So what else is there? You can try the Black Amulet (50), the Golden Crown of Atrazar (50), or my favorite, the Ring of Darkness (40). Since monsters never have magic weapons, they will always need a 6 to hit your hero. That's a good thing, I'd say. Of course, if you don't have any confidence in your ability to keep the Hero alive, slap a Heart of Woe (25) on him. Maybe you'll get lucky and take the monster with you when you go. Or hey, there's always the Black Gem of Gnar (25), if you're feeling nasty. Wizard Slaying: I give this guy the Grail Virtue and the Virtue of Devotion. It's expensive, but he needs it for the job he's out to accomplish. You may have to give this Hero a Bretonnian Warhorse, because I don't think Devotion helps out a ridden monster like the pagasus. Anyways, now he's immune to magic of all sorts (and so is his Warhorse, if you gave him one.) Now you'll want some thought into your two items. A favorite of mine is Aldred's Casket of Sorcery (50). That way you can steal spells, then use them against your enemies. The Ring of Corin (50) is a good way to destroy the Black Amulet before going into melee. You might consider the Tormentor Blade (40) as a good way to ensure you'll be able to hit your opponent even if he's only hurt by magic weapons. Plus, one wound and his wizard is inflicted with stupidity. Or how about the Bone Blade (35)? It's cheap, and since wizards have such miserable armour saves anyways, it's pretty effective. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. I send my General after those. Leader: This hero is used as a leader of men, perhaps of a block of 30-40 men-at-arms? So, he needs to be able to keep his men from breaking. First, you give him the Crown of Command (50). He's got to have this item. The 10 Leadership and unmodified 10's on break tests are just too good to pass up for a Leader Hero. That's good for a start. You can either say the heck with it and give him the Grail Virtue (which won't help his unit but might let him stand up to certain enemies) or just argue that since his unit is gonna run, might as well just give him the Knight's Virtue and save the 10 pts. Totally your call here, I've done both, as the mood takes me. Next, there are two virtues to choose between. Either you can give him the Virtue of Purity (15), and get that 4+ natural dispel, or give him the Virtue of Discipline (10), and re-roll any Leadership tests you actually manage to fail with the Crown of Command. Once you have that, you're talking about a unit that's nearly impossible to break. It's more likely to be killed off than to run. I'm hard pressed to say which virtue I prefer in this case. They are both extremely useful. But, if forced, I guess I'd lean towards Discipline. Purity is good, but I prefer to have my wizards deal with the enemy's spells (They usually pack a dispel magic scroll or two just in case my opponent gets a seriously ugly idea up his butt. Then I just hope he doesn't get that dang Total Power card.) Anyways, your unit is now unbreakable for 65 pts. Now you want to use your last magic item to pump up your hero a bit more. There's always the Spellshield (50), Dragon Blade (50), Morning Star of Fracasse (30), Blade of Leaping Copper (25), Sword of Swift Slaying (25), Parrying Blade (20), Staff of Flaming Death (50), etc. Or you might just decide to get the little ol' Potion Sacre' (5) to use when your Morning Star is trying to break the enemy's 75 pt magic weapon. There's really no limit to what you can do with your heroes. These are just a few examples. You might make a hit n' run hero, a sacrificial lamb hero, or a hero whose whole purpose is to tie up a nigh-invulnerable enemy unit for as long as possible. Let's just say that your heroes are your most versatile characters and leave it at that. Final Analysis: Very handy. Pick a specific job for each hero and stick to your plan. Equip them with the best tools and virtues for the job you can manage. The strategies you can use with a hero are really too numerous for me to go into more detail here. But let me just say that you should use characters in moderation, probably no more than 30-40% of your points should go into them (That's 600-800 pts. for a 2,000 pt army, more than enough.) Your knights are very vital to the well-being of your army, as are your rank n' file units. Don't neglect them to get a shiny character if it means you are going to be that much more outnumbered. Mighty heroes are great, but remember, they only have 3 W. A unit of men-at-arms has a heckuva lot more than that.

Battle Standard [80 pts] Okay. Let's see. Battle Standard rules....+1 combat result is Battle Standard bearer is fighting with unit, re-roll of break tests if within 12". That's not too shabby. Unfortunately, his stats are. Look at this. He's a Knight of the Realm with +1 I and +1 A for 80 pts. (98 if you give him the standard knight items, and the Knight's Virtue.) Doesn't seem very useful, considering the cost. However, with a Battle Standard, you can give a magic standard to a unit of commoners, who normally can't have one. Plus they'll get a re-roll on their Break tests (which obliviates the need for the Virtue of Discipline.) Bad news, the Battle Standard only gets one item. If you want the Crown of Command, you won't be able to get a magic standard. But, seeing as how the magic standards aren't all that great anyways, what the hey. I say outfit this guy like you would a Leader Hero. Give him the Crown of Command (50) and the Virtue of Purity (15). That way, for 163 pts, you have a nearly unbreakable commoner unit that dispels magic on 4+. Stick this guy in with about..oh.. 20-40 men-at-arms, I'd say, and let them loose on the enemy. Should be a lark. Final Analysis: Take advantage of his built-in leadership abilities to turn him into a Leader Hero for your main unit of commoners. That way they won't turn tail and run all the time, leaving your knights high and dry. Plus, since you will be keeping your men-at-arms near your knights, the knights should get the benefit of the break test re-rolls as well. A pretty happy thing all around.

Unicorn [90 pts] (As this unit is useless without Morgiana, I will not be analyzing it. However, if you read my still-to-come post on using Fey Magic as an optional magic, you will be able to mount 1 fey enchantress on a unicorn per 1,500 pts in the army. Battle Magic is so boring. :) I'll see if I can keep it weak enough that your opponents won't refuse to let you use it after the first time.)

General [100 pts] Ah, our lovely General. It's so nice to see someone in our army with 4 Attacks, isn't it? And look, a Leadership of 9. Just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. :) He even has 3 Wounds. Basically, he gets +1 in WS, W, I, A, and Ld over your Hero characters. I'll pay 35 pts for that any day of the week. Besides, you have to have a General anyways. There's no choice in the matter. :) So, what can we do to make our General vicious and mean? Well, first of all, Grail Virtue. Let's not have General Louis running from a bunch of stupid undead. Next, give him the main bits of the Knight Kit. Heavy armour, lance, and shield. After that, you must choose between a Bretonnian Warhorse with barding, or a monster of some sort. To be honest, I have a lot of affection for the Bretonnian Warhorses. They're just such a cool thing, I try and use them whenever possible. But, if you really have to have a flying General, whip out a pegasus. Can't say that I care much for bigger monster mounts. Now that you've decided on your mount, give the General the Tress of Isoulde (35). This is a no-brainer. It's the best item you get as the Bretonnians by far. Now to pick his second virtue. Me, I like the Virtue of Knightly Temper (25). It lets you get up to double your attacks in. Others might prefer to put the General in a unit and give him Knightly Ardour (30), which lets the unit countercharge. Either is great. Also good are the Virtue of Devotion (50) and Virtue of the Joust (25). Now, unless I'm really having the King of Bretonnia lead my army, I feel guilty about using his magic items. So I leave out the Crown of the Bretonnians and get Armour of Protection (50) instead. The special save of 4+ is very, very good. Don't forget that this saves you that 3 pts earmarked for his heavy armour. Now for the last item. It's best to get a magic weapon that ties in well with the Tress and Knightly Temper. Me, I get Warrior Bane (35). Each wound it inflicts reduces the enemy's Attacks by 1, permanently This is a beautiful thing, and can be very funny to watch. Since you can wound up to 8 times with the Tress/Knightly Temper combo, many opponents will never have a chance to swing their sword if you charge them. Even dragons can be rendered pathetic in just a few wounds. Best of all, no terror checks, no nothing. As long as you get in the first shot (and with a pegasus this is frighteningly easy,) you're almost guaranteed to win. Just watch out for enemies who automatically go first, or have some other insidious series of events in store for whoever attacks them. If you get too predictable, you can be sure someone will have a character with your General's name inscribed on his weapon. Overall, you can get your General, a pegasus, lance, shield, Grail Virtue, Knightly Temper Virtue, Tress of Isoulde, Armour of Protection, and Warrior Bane for 313 pts. If you mount him on a Bretonnian Warhorse with barding instead of the pegasus, you will pay 270 pts for your General. A very economic, and effective one, at that. I have also traded in the Tress for the Black Amulet before, giving the General the Virtue of Devotion (50) or Knightly Temper (25), Armour of Protection (50), Black Amulet (50), and a magic weapon of your choice (swift slaying is good.) Final Analysis: Hey, you've got to take him. If he dies, your whole army might have to take Panic tests (well, not the Questing and Grail Knights.) Make sure he stays alive. He's also the best fighter you get, so try and use him effectively, aiding your forces where they need it, trying to keep that 12" rule working for you, and taking detours to kill big nasty things that might utterly annihilate your average Knight.

Swarms [100 pts] Rather than list all these swarm types, I'll just go briefly into the ones I like the best: Insects: No armour saves allowed versus them. Bats: Can fly up to 8". Scorpions: The fastest moving Strength 4 swarm. Your mileage may vary. I can't see a Bretonnian army using these figures (except maybe a swarm of enchanted frogs :) so I don't use them either. Maybe I'm being a little pigheaded about this. I mean, I could see the usefulness of a monster with 5 S3/S4 attacks and 5 wounds. But well, for the cost of 1 swarm, I can arm a disgusting number of men-at-arms, and that's just so much more fun I can't resist. Final Analysis: Take 'em if you want 'em. Me, I don't care much for 'em one way or the other. I haven't used them enough seriously to develop much of an opinion on the matter.

Wizard (lvl 2) [118 pts] The Level 2 wizard costs 62 points more than a Level 1 Wizard. You get +1 Strength and +1 Wound, plus a second spell, which is pretty much the highlight of the day. I'm not going into too much detail here folks. I already covered the Level 1 Wizard rather extensively, and this guy is exactly the same, only a little bigger and chewier. With a Level 2 Wizard, I would consider the Book of Ashur to get a Level 3 High Mage. Remember that the Book doesn't give you extra Wounds though, and Wounds are very, very valuable. Same advice for this guy as for the Level 1 Wizard, only you don't have to feel bad about spending more points to keep him alive. I'd say investing about 25 pts in keeping him around is good. His other item you'll want to either be the Book of Ashur, or some device for holding on to extra WoM cards, or the Skull Staff (35), since that gives you +1 on your dispels, as well as spying out magic items for you. Final Analysis: Yada yada. Try and keep him alive. You know the drill. It's just another boring old Battle Wizard.

Hippogriff [145 pts according to a GW Q and A post I saw] Well, 95 pts more than a Pegasus, and you're getting +2 WS, +2 S, +1 T, +2 W, +2 I, +1 A, and +3 Ld. Probably worth it, between all that stuff. The trick is, we are reaching the point where I am reluctant to spend this kind of points on one model. When you add in the cost of a rider, you are quite possibly talking about a 500 pt character here. This is just too damn much in my opinion. I like smaller characters and larger numbers of troops. Final Analysis: It's your call. I say the point value works out to a decent buy, but I am opposed to spending so much on one figure.

Griffon [150 pts] For 5 pts more than the Hippogriff, you get -2" Movement, +1 I, and +1 A. Pretty decent deal, considering that with the ability to fly, you will hardly ever notice the difference. Oh, actually, I take that back. If you are forced to flee on the ground for some reason, the Hippogriff gets to move 3D6", while the Griffon moves only 2D6". A small, but significant disadvantage. Could be trouble. But, it IS a really cheap +1 A. Final Analysis: Depends on how cautious you are. Me, I'd stick with the Hippogriff, since putting this many points in one model makes me nervous enough without a possible 2D6" fleeing distance.

Wyvern [180 pts] I'm not even going to attempt to compare this to the Griffon. It's 30 pts more, gets -1 S, +1 T, -1 W, -3 I, -1 A, and -3 Ld. Normally I'd say no way, but it also has a built in 5+ armour save and a weird sweeping tail attack that is good against dwarves and useless against elves. What in God's name in I supposed to say about that? Final Analysis: It may seem to you that I'm slacking off here towards the end of my Army List analysis, but the fact is that I just don't like Large Monsters in my army. They hog up my points, draw out specially designed anti-Large Monster characters, and generally annoy me all around. The biggest monster I'd take is a Hippogriff, and I'd be wishing I'd taken a Pegasus if I ever did that. I like my battles carried by my rank n' file and my knights. It's more satisfying that way to me.

Wizard (lvl 3) [190 pts] This wizard is 72 pts more expensive than the last one. You get +1 W, +1 A and +1 I. Pretty good, really. Another good candidate for the Book of Ashur. This is the largest wizard I will normally buy. Final Analysis: What, again? How many times do I have to analyze what is essentially the same character? ;)

Manticore [200 pts] Hmm. An insanely enraged creature barely controlled by a spell. Why yes, that's exactly what I want to ride to war. Geez, who thinks of this stuff? Leave the Manticore at home. That's my recommendation. There are more exciting ways to spend 200 pts. Final Analysis: Yawn. It's late, and Large Monsters bore me to tears.

Wizard (lvl 4) [287 pts] Weighing in at 97 pts more than the last Wizard, this Wizard gets a shiny +1 W, +1 A, +1 I, and +1 Ld. But it's also a terrible vacuum of points. I prefer several smaller wizards to one big one. Not so many eggs in one basket. Final Analysis: Oh, bugger off.

Dragon, Great Dragon and Emperor Dragon Knights and Dragons fighting on the same side? How novel. If I were to take a Dragon, I'd mount my General on a normal sized White Dragon, and use its breath to hold my enemies still so my knights could charge them. I wouldn't bother with any other type of Dragon, and I'd hate to put more than 450 pts into one. That's bad enough as it is. I could have an entire unit of Knights for the cost of one Dragon. To date, I have always chosen the Knights over the Dragon. Why? Because they're more interesting to me. I mean, you could blow 2,000 pts on just two dragon riding characters and a unit of knights easily. But what good does it do you if one of your dragons is killed or driven off? Too many eggs in one basket. That's all I'll say. Final Analysis: Go ahead and take one. But don't be surprised if your opponent has a very inexpensive dragon-slaying hero put together for just such a contingency. WHAM, there goes 450+ pts. Can you say, bye-bye 1/4th of your army? I wonder what would happen if I surrounded a Dragon with ordinary old men-at-arms in vast quantities, and simply beat upon it for all I was worth?

Anyways, if you've made it this far, congratulations. You've now put up with my ramblings for longer than anyone has a right to be expected to. Checking my calculator, I see that I've written around 20 pages on the Bretonnian Army List, which I had no intention of doing at all. But I guess I got carried away. Sorry to make you sit through all that, and I hope I didn't offend anyone's favorite tactic/large monster in here anywhere. I wanted mostly to concentrate on the uniquely Bretonnian forces, and really didn't find the Dragons and such that interesting, so I tended to sluff them off.