Repanse de Lyonesse

As she appears in Total War: Warhammer II

Repanse de Lyonesse was a not-Joan of Arc character from the Bretonnia faction of Warhammer Fantasy. How much of a Joan of Arc rip-off? The French version of the game didn't even bother changing her name and just called her "Jeanne/Joan of Lyonesse".

The Legend

Repanse de Lyonesse won fame as the dreaded "Damoiselle de Guerre" (French for "Maiden of War"). When she raillied the battered armies of Bretonnia during the kingdom's (second) darkest hour. When King Louis the Brave was slain in battle before Couronne fighting a vast Chaos horde that invaded Bretonnia from across the Sea of Claws. Louis' army was all but destroyed. The capital was besieged and the kingdom was placed in the hands of Louis' son. A child too young to lead the nation. Chaos raiders spread out across the land burning, raping and slaughtering every town, knight and peasant in their path.

Meanwhile, in the ruins of a small village in remote Lyonesse, Repanse saw the Lady of the Lake. The Lady appeared saying something like "Repanse, these savages offend mine eye. Wouldst thou mind killing the shit out of them?" Despite being only seventeen, and a sheep herder, not a knight and definitely not a soldier, Repanse was inspired by the vision. She corpse robbed a slain Knight for his armor, grabbed the reins of his warhorse and with the Lady's blessing. Broke into the local Grail Chapel and took up an old Grail Knight's sword she found within. Snatched a tapestry, fastened it to a lance and road off to face the Chaos Horde. Alone.

When a band of retreating knights saw a child recklessly charging off to do battle with the warriors of Chaos, they were so shamed by their cowardice they decided to join her in what should have been a suicide charge. Yet blessed by the Lady (or because of the stolen Grail Knight sword) Repanse proceeded to RIP AND TEAR her way through the Chaos horde. Not content to stop at one big ass pile of dead Norscans she and her band proceeded to make their way across Bretonia, gathering with them more survivors/Peasant meat shields as they went. Fighting all the way to the gates of Cournne. Word arrived slightly ahead of time that The Damoiselle and her rag-tag army were on their way, when they arrived the Chaos army had nearly beaten down the walls. In a desperate attempt to save the city Repanse and the rest charged into the flanks of the Chaos horde pinning them between the walls of Cournne and a lot of pissed off knights.

Repanse fought her way through them, all the way to the leader of the Chaos horde and challenged him to single combat. Where she or The Lady cheated, blinding him with a sudden magical aura and giving her a window to slice off his head. Saving Couronne and routing the Chaos army. But Repanse wasn't done so she turned right around and chased the fleeing Chaos warriors back into the sea, killing anyone too slow to get on a boat and start rowing back to Norsca. In gratitude for her absolute badassary Louis the Young bestowed upon Repanse all the honours of knighthood and the Duchy of Lyonesse. (okay the books call it a Dukedom but the books are stupid!)

Clearly all of this SHOULD make her a Grail Knight but somehow it doesn't? The Lady gave her a quest and Repanse did it. She even still has The Lady's blessing, which gives her a brilliant aura of holy radiance. Though that might be coming from her stolen Grail Knight wargear If that's the case why does The Lady also protect Repanse's iconic fluer de lis banner? Using her Elf magic to keep the thing as bright and spotless as the day the Maidens of Lyonesse stitched it. Literally all that's missing is letting her drink from the legendary sippy cup of holy lake water.

Total War: Warhammer II

Repanse is back and is evidently traveling through time in Total War: Warhammer II, as she has found herself in 2502 helping out Bretonnian Crusaders in Araby. That's a good 500 years in the future, which you'd think would screw up the timeline, but it's fine given that putting her there wouldn't affect anything too major in the Warhammer world (and to be fair, it's also not the most implausible magic bullshit that's happened in the setting). She fights against the Greenies, Ratties and Skellies in the Southlands as FLC alongside The Shadow and The Blade. She gives AP, Physical Resist and Attack buffs to Peasants, turning them from worthless Chaff to an actually efficient fighting force. Battlefield wise she serves as a Tank with dueling capabilities against other lords, though doesn't have the monstrous mounts of Leon and Alberic. She will also have a water mechanic, that makes her immune to desert attrition for five turns after being in a city, which she really needs considering she's in the goddamn desert. She has a talent to give everyone in her army flaming weapons when fighting undeads.

It is regularly agreed that it's utterly tragic she was not modeled actually holding her Fleur De Lys banner, though the SFO mod gave her option of holding her signature banner in-hand like everyone wanted - sadly, not available as a standalone mod yet if you don't also want the overhauling gameplay changes that the SFO mod has.

On The Tabletop

310 points

M4 WS6 BS6 S4 T4 W3 I6 A4 Ld9 Weapons/Armour:

Repanse is armed with the Sword of Lyonesse, heavy armour, and a shield.

Rides: Repanse rides a barded Bretonnian Warhorse.

Knightly Virtues: Repanse is a Knight and thus has the Knight's Virtue. She also has the Virtue of Devotion.

Special Rules: The Halo of Maidenly Wrath

Repanse causes fear as described in the Psychology section of the Warhammer rulebook.

Repanse carries two magic items, the Sword of Lyonesse and the Fleur de Lys Banner.

The Fleur de Lys Banner Magic Standard-100 points The standard is the army's battle standard, and all the usual rules for battle standards apply. In addition, it has the power to draw magic from the enemy and to turn it against them. In each magic phase, including the magic phase of the enemy player, the Bretonnian player may remove one random winds of magic card from his opponent's hand. This card is then discarded. If the card is a power card or Total Power then the Bretonnian player adds +1 to the combat result of all combats in the following combat phase. If the Drain Magic card is drawn then the magic phase is ended immediately. If any other card is drawn there is no further effect.

Sword of Lyonesse-50 points The Sword of Lyonesse has the Power to defy all magic items except magic weapons. The magic items of any enemy models in base contact with the wielder will not work, unless they are magic weapons, in which case they work normally. The sword will therefore negate the magical powers of all wards and magic armour.

Gallery

• 

  Repanse's Games Workshop model.