Warhammer/Tactics/6th Edition/Bretonnia

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Why play Bretonnia?

Bretonnia delivers on the feeling between crunch and flavor of playing an army of knights. Powerful in their strenghts, but with a few drawbacks to represent the honourable oaths that your characters take to battle.

Pros:

• A range of detailed 5e and 6e minis (most of them sculpted by the Perry brothers) that deliver on the "fantasy arthuric knight" archetype, with the possibility to use more historical miniature ranges if you are having trouble finding what you're looking for.
• Powerful cavalry and interesting tricks to perform with morale between knights and peasants.
• Grail Knights give a run for their money to other elite cavalry units, with arguably some of the best stats in the game.
• Highly customizable characters and units for fluff purposes, thanks to the Virtues which grant additional effects beyond magic items.
• One of the armies where ward saves are more prominent (albeit only 6++/5++). Still, army-wide ward saves for your knights will save your bacon more times than you might think.

Cons:

• A well painted army of Bretonnians can take a lot of time to put together by virtue of individual heraldry on each knight.
• Bretonnia really is an hyperfocused army with a single plan: field cavalry and deliver devastating charges. No ifs, ors or buts. This is a cavalry army, with infantry and ranged support.
• Army that quickly loses steam after charges, having few units (pilgrims, questing knights and grail knights) that perform well in prolonged combats.
• Character's aren't at the top of the power scale, although the Virtues help. A Bret Lord can fight a Chaos Lord but might need some thinking to even the odds.
• No magic supremacy, and outside of the Fay Enchantress, limited to Heavens, Life and Beasts. Cannot compete on the same field as HE, Lizardmen or VC.
• Lacking in the monster department, with Pegasi and Hippogryphs as the only options. Still, they benefit from the Blessings' Ward Save, being one of the very few monsters with native ward saves.
• Limited ranged options (bowmen and trebuchet).
• Everything is OOP. Call your recaster if you want to play with the soul-infused original minis.
• If you play with historical elizabethian knights in full plate barding I'll find you and break your kneecaps.

Army Special Rules

Lance formation Bretonnians use an unique formation for their (non flying) knights called lance. Any knightly unit in ranks of three models wide is considered to be in lance formation. They get rank bonus for those ranks and in a charge all the models in the sides can attack too on a turn in which they charge. So 3 x 3 unit of knights, nine models, all but two can attack on charge. Characters must be placed in the front rank, except damsels and prophetesses, which can take a safe spot in the midst of knights (middle spot in second rank). As an exception to usual rules, command groups can be placed on second rank and still benefit from banner, in case three characters take the whole front rank.

Vows of Bretonnia Bretonnians go to battle undertaking certain vows of honour, which grant some benefits to the units that take them.

Keep in mind that Vows work in a hierarchical scale: characters from a lower Vow cannot join units with a higher Vow, but characters with a higher Vow may join units with a lower one.

• The Peasant's Duty: Not really a vow per se, but enables your low Ld Peasant units to use the Ld value of a non-fleeing knight within 6". Going from Ld5 to Ld8 or 9 is a great boon to keep your backline in place when things start to go awry. Additionally, their dirty banners don't confer additional VP for being captured in combat.
• The Knight's Vow: The baseline Vow for all knight units and characters, allows them to ignore panic tests caused by friendly Peasant units. Really good to prevent your expensive Knight units from fleeing, and allows you to use Peasant units as screens safely, knowing that their fleeing won't cause trouble for your Knights.
• The Questing Vow: Second tier of Vow, allows Knight units to ignore panic tests caused by friendly Peasant units, and may re-roll Psychology tests. Forbids the use of a lance of any type, magical or mundane.
• The Grail Vow: Third and last tier, gives the unit Immune to Psychology and turns their weapons magical. The unit or character with the Vow shall always start the game with the Blessing of the Lady active, even if your army didn't pray.

Blessing of the Lady Before any game, the Bretonnian army may kneel to pray and every unit of knights and characters will gain the Blessing of the Lady. Doing this will automatically concede first turn to your opponent, and so you will always go second (unless you field the Fey Enchantress, which automatically grants you the Blessing).

The Blessing is simply a 6++ ward save, 5++ if the attack is strenght or more. Unfortunately the Blessing can be lost: either by fleeing for whatever reason or by refusing a challenge (in any case in which a knight character could accept a challenge, if no character accepts the challenge, all Bretonnian units involved in the combat lose the Blessing instantly.

• You basically always want to play with the Blessing activated, so you'll always go second. This isn't bad per se, since an advancing enemy could be exposing itself to turn one charges by your knights and flying units.
• The Fay Enchantress always gives you the Blessing (and an additional bodyguard Grail Knight unit beyond its usual 0-1), so consider taking her if you want to go first and retain the Blessing benefit.
• Keep in mind that gunpowder weapons (Empire, Dwarves) are the bane of your knights. At S4 and Armour Piercing, your knights will be saving at 5+ with a 6++ ward. One of the few instances in which you can consider forgoing the prayer if you can go first, trying to get turn 2 charges if possible to reduce shooting enemy turns.

Virtues of the Chivalric Knight

Virtues are one of the factors that makes Bretonnian characters special and flavorful. Each provides a passive bonus for a cost, similar to Chaos Marks. Since they are limiting in some cases, and others bear special mention for certain character builds and purposes, we'll list them in detail. It should go without saying, but only Paladins and Lords may take Virtues.

Keep in mind that the same Virtue may be taken by different characters in the same army. Since Bretonnians are individualist posh cunts, this further increases the cost of each additional duplicate (So the first character with Virtue of Empathy would pay 10 points for it, the second one 20 points, and so on.)

• Basically turns any Virtue above the 20 point mark into an overpriced purchase. Virtue of Discipline has some merit as a good duplicate Virtue for its increased price, but not much else.

Keep in mind that Virtues take points allotment as magical equipment (So paladins are limited to 50 points total, and lords 100 points total, including Virtues and Magical items).

• Virtue of Empathy 10p. - a Virtue which allows you to field your character on foot, instead of being forced to purchase a mount for him. Cheaper than a barded warhorse by 4p, but that's not why you take it. A knight with this Virtue which is not your General (so it will almost always go to a Paladin) extends his range of Ld bubble to peasant units from 6" to 12". A cheap paladin with this Virtue will help you anchor your battleline whilst your knights charge forward to wreak havoc, preventing units fleeing from terror or panic thanks to his high Ld 8. Take it on a mounted knight to accompany units of peasants around the field, or an on-foot knight in a unit of Men-at-arms for a surprisingly effective infantry unit.
  • Albeit seemingly useless at first, this virtue allows you to skip purchasing Peasant champions to keep morale. These are almost always prohibitively expensive and lacking in stats.

• Virtue of Discipline 15p. - enemies don't gain +1 for outnumbering in a combat in which a character with this Virtue is present. A good cheap virtue to even the odds against big infantry units, which will almost always outnumber your knights.

• Virtue of Purity 20p. - Always grants the Blessing of the Lady to the character, even if the army didn't pray, and also makes the Ward save a 5++ flat against all attacks. A bit of a dud at first glance, could potentially be useful if you are up against a lot of s4 AP attacks or other defensive magic items are already taken.

• Virtue of Noble Disdain 20p. - Hatred against all enemies using missile weapons, including war machine crews. Also grants immunity to Panic by 25% casualties. Not bad for a Paladin on pegasi hunting backline enemy units. Secondary effect is also very useful to keep a pegasi knights unit on the field when suffering losses.

• Virtue of Confidence 25p. - The Knight must always issue and accept challenges when possible. Grants re-rolls to all failed rolls to hit and to wound. Very good, obviously this goes on a challenge-focused character.
  • This will be discussed further below, but this author is of the opinion that challenging characters (Big expensive Lords with armour-ignoring weapons, usually on the 250+ side of points) are a bit of a points waste, since ideally they'll want to bash themselves with other big challenging characters with killer rules. The result is a more or less equal chance of killing or being killed, which is not a reliable way to spend so many points on.

• Virtue of the Joust 25p. - The knight may re-roll failed rolls to hit when charging and using a lance (including magical lances). Solid Virtue, combos well with the Heartwood Lance for re-rolls to wound too, albeit the 60 point tag will limit this build to Lords.

• Virtue of Duty 30p. - Only one of these per army, may not be taken by your General. So long as your General is alive, grants +1 to combat resolution in any combat in which the character is present. Basically an additional battle standard, this virtue is fantastic on your BSB.
  • You may take it on your BSB with a morningstar and the War Banner for a flat +3 combat resolution, which really tilts the scales in your favor to win combats and break enemies on the charge.

• Virtue of Audacity 30p. - Against enemies with higher Strength than himself, the Knight re-rolls failed rolls to hit and wound. Since most of the Chaos and evil armies will sport higher Str than the humble human statline, this isn't too bad to take on a properly kitted character, and doesn't limit your options on magical weapons.

• Virtue of the Impetuous Knight 35p. - The Knight and his unit adds +D6" to the first charge they declare. A bit too expensive for it's one time use, could be good to setup a turn one charge but otherwise a bit swingy.

• Virtue of the Ideal 35p. - If you want to field a Lancelot du Lac expy you take this Virtue. Turns a Lord into a combat monster with +2WS, +1 Initiative and +1 Attack, forbades the character from being your General, and any other units using his Ld and within 6" substract -1 to their Leadership.
  • This Virtue wants to be on a Grail Vow Lord with an armour-ignoring weapon. Give him ways to ensure hits and re-rolls (with Heartwood Lance and Cuirass of Fortune, for example) and enjoy the ensuing carnage. He will murder armoured troops and characters alike.
  • The Ld debuff can be sidestepped by putting him in a Grail Knight unit, being Immune to Psychology. Keep him away from other knights, and you're good to go.

• Virtue of Stoicism 35p. - The Knight and his unit re-roll Break tests. Although a bit expensive, helps in keeping your units on the field if you are far away from the BSB. One of the worst Virtues.

• Virtue of Heroism 40p. - Grants Killing Blow only against Large targets. Forbades the usage of magical weapons. Although a bit expensive and situational, one of the most flavorful and cool Virtues in the book.
  • Albeit risky, you'll usually want this one on a Paladin on pegasi to go monster hunting. A bit fragile, but a better investment than an expensive Lord trying to make back his points.

• Virtue of Knightly Temper 40p. - one of the most expensive Virtues, and an absolute gamechanger for Lords. Turns wounds delivered by a charging character into extra attacks (so a Lord with 4 Attacks could reach a potential of 8 attacks on the charge). Requires building your character accordingly with the right magical items, but VoKT Lords can be absolutely terrifying on the charge. Mind that you cannot use magic weapons with this Virtue.
  • Magical items that combo well with this Virtue are the Cuirass of Fortune (to ensure wound re-rolls) and Tress of Isoulde (for a round of character or elite unit combat). Give that to a lance-wielding Lord and enjoy the devastating charges.

• Virtue of the Penitent 40p. - Makes the character Stubborn, but he cannot join units, use magical items, or ride Pegasi nor Hippogryphs. Probably the worst Virtue, and expensive to boot. Flavorful if you want to play a Penitent Lord that'll refuse to leave combats till he is killed.

Magic Items

As an exception to regular magic weapon rules (which must always be used before mundane equipment), Bretonnian characters with a mundane lance will use it in a turn in which they charge, and then switch to their magical weapon for subsequent combat rounds, if they have any. Magical lances will be used in all turns, regardless of other equipment the character may have.

• This rule is a good way to diversify your equipment choices, something characters from other armies cannot do. Equipping a character with a lance and a cheap magical weapon will ensure that he can keep delivering wounds if his unit gets stuck, something that can prove essential in prolonged combats.

Common Magic Items

Some of these bear mentioning as specially valuable in the Bretonnian roster.

• Sword of Might 20p -good on characters on horse that go in units. +1S helps you keep the wounds rolling when the initial charge fails to break the enemy, and it's then when your characters must pull the weight of the unit and help win the fight. Ideally this weapon should go to a paladin or BSB with nonmagical banner.
• Sword of Might 15p - Grants Armor Penetration (-1 to saving throw). can work as a similar purpose as the Sword of Might, in case it has been already taken by another character. Again, good for a secondary paladin.
• Enchanted Shield 10p - A +2 to your armour save is a very good deal for its price. Good on all manner of characters, but usually your Lord will have a better magical armour.
  • You cannot give this to your BSB, no matter what you found in 2000s WHFB forums. It is a Shield, which a BSB cannot take by mundane means, thus losing access to it. Same with the Orcbane Shield and Grail Shield.
• Dispel scroll 25p - Scroll caddy damsels are a must in any army. Get one lvl 1 Damsel with one or two scrolls, specially since you are not in the "big league" of magic armies, and you'll be forced to play on the defensive most games.
• War banner 25p - +1 to combat resolution. Give it to your Questing Knights or Grail Knights, since those are the units that can get stuck in combat for prolonged rounds, and it gives them an edge to win and not depend too much on characters.

Magic Weapons

• The Silver Lance of the Blessed 65p - Cavalry lance that auto-hits so long as your hero retains the Blessing. Good, but expensive, and you have other ways to obtain re-rolls. The fact that you can lose the effect if you lose the Blessing is also pretty iffy for such an expensive weapon.
• Sword of the Quest 50p - Good old Armour Ignoring weapon. May be used as a hand-weapon together with a shield, or as a two-handed weapon in case you need more Str to wound your target. SotQ may only be given to a hero with the Questing Vow. Excellent, and the cornerstone of all duelling Questing Lords, together with Virtue of the Ideal or Virtue of Confidence.
• Sword of the Lady's Champion 40p - Always counts the bearers Strength as one higher than the targets Toughness, and modifies armour saves accordingly, effectively always wounding on 3+. Only for characters with the Grail Vow. A good weapon that can surprise high T opponents such as monsters or Chaos Lords.
• Sword of Heroes 35p - Your monster-killer weapon. Against T5 or more, bearer gains +1Str and each unsaved wound turns into 1d3. Give it to a cheap Paladin for a scary monster hunter hero.
• The Heartwood Lance 35p - An excellent weapon, which allows you to re-roll wounds in all combat rounds, not just on the charge. Good on a Paladin or a properly built Lord with the Virtue of the Ideal.
• Birth-sword of Carcassonne 35p - An okay-ish weapon, +1Str and forces enemies to re-roll successful armour saves. Not bad, but not as good as The Heartwood Lance.
• Morningstar of Fracasse 25p - The most despised magical weapon in your repertoire. +2Str on the charge, and if the enemy hit has a magical weapon, roll d6 for each hit suffered (not wound). On a 4+, his magical weapon is destroyed. Give it to a cheap Paladin in a unit and send him against big heroes to reduce their threat significantly.
• The Lance of Artois 25p - A lance that grants +2Str as per usual, and also Killing Blow on the turn the character charges. Scary, but losing the buff after one turn makes it unreliable. Unless you can direct it towards a lonely hero that cannot refuse your challenge, or you bring the Gauntlet of the Duel, leave it at home.
• The Wyrmlance 20p - Humble Wyrmlance, acting as a regular lance that once per battle allows your hero to spit a Str3 flaming template. Can be of some use on a flying Paladin on Royal Pegasus to hunt skirmishers and beasts, or dryads.
  • After your use the template, the lance remains engulfed in flames, granting Flaming Attacks. Good against Trolls and mummies.

Magic Armour

• Gilded Cuirass 55p - A regular heavy armour that grants Regeneration (4+++). Stacking another save on top of your Blessing Ward save can make your Lord extremely resilient. Expensive, but very good. Only for characters with the Grail Vow.
• Armour of the Midsummer Sun 45p - The armour that Hippogryph Lords must buy. -1 to ranged attacks to both user and mount go a long way in protecting monsters, which are already penalized for being a Large Target.
• The Grail Shield 35p - Upgrades your Blessing ward save to 4++, and counts as a regular shield. Really good on duelling Lords. Only for characters with the Grail Vow.
  • It was FAQ'd that the upgraded Ward save does not extend to mounts. Refer to the Armour of the Midsummer Sun for your Hippogryph-protecting needs.
• Gromril Great Helm 30p - Really good, has a similar effect to the Enchanted Shield. Effectively granting a +1 to your armour save that can be stacked with mundane heavy armour, shield and barded mount, this takes your hero to 1+ armour save territory, and allows you to re-roll failed armour saves.
  • The Enchanted Shield is more cost-effective, but if it's already taken, the GGH can help improve another hero armour save.
• Armour of Agilulf 25p - Heavy armour which includes a shield (so the cost of the armour is a better value on Lords, since their shields are more expensive) and grants WS 10. A good armour for duelling purposes, but your hero will be lacking on the defensive side. Do not take it with Virtue of the Ideal, as it already upgrades your Weapon Skill to a more than respectable WS8.

Units Analysis

Lords & Heroes

• Bretonnian Lord: Powerful combat heroes, Bretonnian lords equipped with the right combination of items and virtues are more than capable of squaring off against Lords of other armies. Be mindful that their human statline puts them at a disadvantage against monstrous lords like Chaos, Beastmen, Orcs or Lizardmen, to name a few... but Bretonnians usually have a trick or two through a well-chosen Virtue to give them an edge in combat. If things go awry, challenge with your humble unit champion, and let your Lord slaughter enemy troops.
  • Of note, you can spend a fuckton of points into your Lord, but usually the best combination of cost-effective lords will be around 250 points. More than that, it can be very hard for them to earn their points back.
  • Bretonnian monsters are nowhere near the potential HE dragons, but they have something most other lack: a Ward save. By virtue of being the mount of your Lord, his Royal Pegasus or Hippogryph gains a 6++ (5++ against S5 or more attacks). This can help, with some luck on your side, to stop cannonballs and other usual methods to kill monsters, but you shouldn't rely on it too much. Try to hide from dangerous threats and deliver flank charges where needed.
  • Of the two, the Royal Pegasus is the most justifiable mount. With 3W and S4 attacks, it isn't too bad for 50 points. Include the Lord in a unit of Pegasus Knights and you have a terrifying unit all by itself.
  • At 200p, the Hippogryph has a below average monster statline that can be easily singled out and deleted by warmachine fire. It is a very tough sell for your lord, who will be more protected inside a knight unit. If you do take a Hippogryph, give your Lord the Armour of the Midsummer Sun for extra ranged protection.

• Prophetess of the Lady: Prophetesses are your Level 3 (with option of Level 4) wizards. Not a bad pick for a support Lord instead of a purely focused combat one, but try to keep her cheap. You are not on the big league of magic armies, and if you want a great caster Lord, you'd take The Fay Enchantress.
  • Mind that Aura of the Lady grants Prophetesses and the units they have joined Magical Resistance (2), very useful to protect big units of knights against magical spam.
  • They have access to Heavens, Life and Beasts, and honestly, Beasts is probably the winner of the bunch here, by virtue of Life being somewhat limited to on-field scenery and Heavens being a directly offensive lore, in an army which needs supporting spells.
  • Beasts powers include The Oxen Stands, which can help prevent fast-moving mounted units from fleeing the battlefield. Of special note is The Wolf Hunts, granting an extra movement/charge phase to a unit can help bring your knights into combat after a failed charge.
  • Heavens mostly includes differents forms of ranged attacks, but Portent of Far can be a powerful buff to a large charging knight unit, ensuring hits and wounds.
  • Life's The Howler Wind and The Rain Lord can help you protect your army from ranged attacks (TRL helps specially against the dreaded gunpowder weapons). If you can soak an organ cannon, you can rest easy, as you have effectively reduced its threat by a substantial amount.

• Paladin: Your bread-and-butter, multipurpose cheap heroes. At 60p. they already have stock heavy armor, which makes them similar to an Empire Captain if not for their native Ward Save thanks to the Blessing. Each one of them should fulfill a purpose in your army, and how you equip them is essential. Giving a Paladin the right Virtue and weapon can turn him into a very interesting character.
  • You must take one Paladin as BSB. He does not count toward your hero limit, and the BSB upgrade is free. One of the best perks of the Bretonnian army. Give him a horse and a magical weapon, plus the Virtue of Discipline, and send him into the thick of the fight together with a big lance. He'll help you keep units in place, and tip the balance towards your knights in fights.
  • The most typical mounted Paladin is built towards ensuring wounds during combat on a charge whilst within a knight unit (With the Heartwood Lance) or helping your units in prolonged combats (Questing Paladin with greatsword or a similar role). These should be kept cheap, with a single magical item at most.
  • A "foot paladin" with the Virtue of Empathy can also work in a big unit of infantry. Give him a two-handed weapon and keep him cheap, and he'll keep your peasants in line whilst killing in the frontline.
  • There are multiple uses for a Paladin on a Royal Pegasus. You can give him the Wyrmlance for a cheeky quasi-gyrocopter flushing enemy bowmen with his flaming breath attack, or give him the Virtue of Noble Disdain to accompany a unit of Pegasus Knights on harassing duties.

• Damsel of the Lady: Damsels are your Scroll caddies, you should always include at least one with one or two Dispel Scrolls. The same rules for Prophetesses apply here, but they should be even more focused on support than their more powerful mistresses. Try to keep them cheap.
  • As with the Prophetesses, Damsels grant Magic Protection (1) to any units they join, a good way to keep valuable units protected from enemy magic.
  • A lvl 1 Damsel of Beasts can be a very reliable way to ensure your units remain on the field if they fail their break tests.

Named Characters

• Louen Leoncouer:
• The Fay Enchantress:
• The Green Knight:

Core Units

• Knights of the Realm: Must have 1+ in the army.
• Knights Errant: "Must" have Errantry Banner
• Men-at-arms: Cheap and doesn't cause panic. A very useful unit in supporting role. One nice trick is to give them Blessing with Prayer Icon of Quenelles. With full ranks they should be able to withstand almost all chargers. Warriors of Chaos either Chosen or with Mark of Khorne are the only real threats, besides Bretonnian Knights in case of civil war.
• Peasant bowmen:

Special Units

• Questing Knights:
• Pegasus Knights: The star of the army list. They propably won't win the game for you but they'll harass the enemy, block march moves, hunt lone wizards and war machines. An amazing unit. Also never ever forget their ground movement of 8". Being skirmishers they can't be marchblocked. They can gallop in forests without problems with their 16" charge.
• Mounted Yeomen:
• Grail Reliquae and Battle Pilgrims:

Rare Units

• Grail Knights: They are EXPENSIVE! Being 38 points each, losing this unit will be a huge blow. On the other hand, they will provide ridiculous amount of damage with their A2. Only huge blocks of enemy charging to flank or rear could be relatively sure to win a combat against these.
• Field Trebuchet: A very cheap and effective stone thrower. If you are planning to win, I'd highly recommend taking these.

Alternative Army List

Bretonnia got their own variant army list in the Storm of Chaos book, focusing on Knights Errant.