Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Bretonnia (section)

==Unit Analysis==

===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

* '''The Green Knight:''' An ethereal unit with M8, decently killy for price and with the ability to teleport. 2+ armour and the ward means he's reasonably tough against magic attacks too. Can lose wounds via combat resolution but he can also return each time (House rule: if you don't resurrect him with the immortal words "tis but a scratch" he is immediately removed from play). So why isn't he a no brainer? The issue with him is that he excells at killing things Bretonnia can usually handle well (cavalry and monsters, basically: things without static combat resolution) but sucks at killing the things that usually give you trouble (massed infantry, tho his Terror may help). He has his niche, but he shouldn't be a first pick. It is worth noting that he may have some use as a warmachine hunter also if there is a skullky wizard skulking around he can pop out of the nearest puddle murder them and then dash off into the nearest hedge.

* '''The Fay Enchantress:''' She has an incredibly high price of entry and given that one of the major advantages of a Prophetess is they're cheap, it's not usually worth it. On the other hand: +2 to cast Lore of Life is a great bonus, she grants 1 extra power and dispel dice every magic phase, she drops a random Lore of Heavens spell for free every turn and has a multitude of special abilities (fear, automatic blessing for your army,...). If you can pay for her unreasonable price of entry at say, 3000 points and up, she could easily be worthwhile. Not a great choice however.

* '''King Louen Leoncoeur:''' Cost well over 700 points when you put him on his hippogryph Beaquis. For all his cost, he doesn't do enough, especially against troops that have a decent leadership. He also does silly things to the rest of your army and usually not things you want to happen (eg. the entire army takes a panic test when Louen dies). Plus, for all of his cost, he'll get knocked out by someone who costs about 2/3rds of what he does. He may be fun to field against another hugely overpriced named general, but in terms of winning a battle: skip him.

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' Bretonnian knights are already deadly as hell on the charge. Therefore, every character in your army, from lords to damsels, are best used to protect knights, help them get the charge or give them some killing power after the charge, NOT make the charge deadlier (although there's nothing wrong if they can do both). 

*'''Bretonnian Lord:''' Basic combat Lord, nothing special. Magic equipment and Vows will be discussed elsewhere, but just be aware that any Lord or Hero you take should be kitted out for bear, as he can't refuse challenges without losing the Blessing of the Lady. If your enemy is aware of it he can and will use it to kick your Lord's head in, so he needs to be ready to resist challengers. This guy's basic function is to provide a LD 10 leadership bubble (give his unit the banner of discipline), so he has to have good survivability. After that, there are many options available to him, but favour character (and monster) killing potential over rank and file murdering, because the only other unit capable of damaging combat heroes/lords consistently is one of Questing Knights, and they are too expensive to lose against things that outright ignore their armour. 

*'''Prophetess of the Lady:''' Prophetesses are your basic Lord level caster so all the usual rules apply: Always tick up to Level 4, protect her in a unit, usual shit. What's important to understand is that you are not, repeat NOT, High Elves, Tzeentch Chaos, Vampire Counts, etc. You can mount a solid defense and do okay on your own casting, but don't try to out-magic the big guys. Still, this gal's cheap and effective for her cost. They get the ward save from Blessing of the Lady just like your knights, plus an additional magic resistance(2). Lore of Life is a favorite, though Lore of Beasts can be used to create some nasty tricks if you build your army appropriately.

*'''Paladin:''' You are required to have at least one Paladin to act as your BSB. Apart from that, they're a solid combat Hero but be careful taking too many for unit babysitting. Remember, like the Bretonnian Lord, if they ever refuse a Challenge, the ENTIRE UNIT, ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHERS IN THE COMBAT, loses Blessing of the Lady, so you need to kit them out for combat, because with their basic statline, a lot of Heroes can kick their skull in (Empire, Beastmen, Skaven and Wood Elves are pretty much the only ones you don't have to worry about, and even Beastmen and Skaven can be threats under the right circumstances). Remember that with the lance, most units are forced to allocate at least two attacks to your paladin: this is usually to your advantage. 

*'''Damsel of the Lady:''' Cheap and good for beefing up the LD of your background Peasants. Benefit the most from Lore of Beasts, always tick up to Level 2. They also get the ward save from Blessing of the Lady, along with magic resistance(1) that can't be lost. Scroll caddying and item bearers are fine. As with above, don't get drawn into a big magic duel with any of the magic-heavy armies, they can and will outcast you. But Damsels are still a damn (HAH) fine choice. While you usually want them in a lance of knights for support, they can be placed in a unit of Men at Arms or even Bowmen if you intend to roll power dice left and right for miscast damage control. Another note: it's usually a good policy to have the damsel take the same lore as the prophetess and roll for spells first, so you have the spells you need on the prophetess (mainly throne of vines if you pick life).

* '''Mounts:'''
** ''Bretonnian Warhorse:'' You know it and love it. Most of your Paladins and Lords are gonna be riding these, so learn to love 'em. 
** ''Royal Pegasus:'' It's decently priced and has a good statline, but you can't join units of flyers, i.e. other pegasus knights. However, there is no restriction on a monstrous cavalry character joining a different unit, though they will be stuck on the side due to clashing base size. Keeping him 3 inches from a pegasus unit will let him benefit from a look-out-sir role, so they are not as vulnerable to shooting as you might think. A paladin on a pegasus is not as effective as pegasus knights in most cases, but since without using a (mostly non-competitive) RAF you are limited to one unit of those, take him if you need two units covering the skies. Other than that, there are two reasons for taking a pegasus (and always on a paladin, never a lord). The most obvious one is to give him a bit more of a punch: the bloody horse has 2 S4 attacks and Stomp (the lower armour, 3+ instead of 2+, is mostly compensated by 3W instead of 2W, especially with lore of life). The other is to get yourself a wizard killer: a paladin on a pegasus, equiped with the gauntlet of the duel, can fly over the enemy, strike a mage's bodyguard and then force said hapless mage into a challenge (after killing the unit champion). He will then either flee combat or die, but it will be worth it for you either way, since dominating the magic phases is so important. And don't let your opponent trick you: even if you aren't in base contact with the mage directly, he will be forced to accept the challenge so long as he is in the unit in combat with the paladin.
** ''Hippogryph:'' Buckbeak is a good Hippogryph. Too bad it's not a good mount choice. It's expensive (200 fucking points, only 10 less than the Lord itself) and it's statline is strictly mediocre for such an expensive choice. It can do alright against basic units, but so could a bodyguard unit of Knights of the Realm that cost about the same. Nevermind that your EXTREMELY expensive Lord now has a target on his head the size of a 'worth 500 or so victory points' sign and that almost any other monstrous mount, from Manticores on up, will rip your Hippogryph's head off. Skip it. Except if you're playing just for fun. Then grab it.
** ''A note on monstrous mounts: Remember that they get the blessing of the lady as long as the rider has it too. While this doesn't make them any more decent in melee combat, if you want to troll your trigger happy dwarf/empire opponent, get a couple of bowmen, place them in front of the lord, and get him the insignia of the quest. Then watch him scream as two cannon balls are stopped by the fences and the third one triggers insignia of the quest. Bonus points if the ward saves the monster too. Again it isn't a competitive choice, but it's worth doing at least once for the amount of miniatures that will get thrown in your direction.''

===Core Units===
*'''Knights of the Realm:''' FAQ'd to remove the 1+ requirement, but they're not a bad unit, so it's alright either way. Best in units of 9, or rather 8 with a Hero/Lord, with a 2+ armour and the Blessing save, they're decently survivable. Beware, like all knights in this army, their striking power tends to run out after the charge and heaven help you if you get flanked. Still, overall a good core unit that should, through sheer perseverance, eventually route hordes of low S opponents.
*'''Knights Errant:''' <strike>Idiot Knights constantly throwing themselves into dangerous situations</strike> Young, headstrong knights eager to prove themselves. Kinda like Silver Helms from High Elves, only cheaper with worse stats. While their Impetuous rule looks bad on the face of it, there are VERY few situations where you don't want these guys charging, and even if you do get pulled into a bad charge, you can usually do okay so long as you don't get flanked. They can replace knights of the realm as your main unit as long as you keep them near your BSB and general: otherwise their impetuousness may well cost you the game. Remember that one of these knights can carry an errantry banner while still remaining cheaper, meaning they are actually better against heavily armoured infantry (and high toughness buggers, particularly so when you take into account their immunity to fear/terror when they charge) for a lower cost. You can skip 'em, but taking one unit is helpful against most armies. 
*'''Men at Arms:''' Yeah, they've got terrible stats. On the other hand, they can grab LD from a nearby unit of Knights (which, given that Bretonnian Knight units tend to be realy long is not as far as you might think it is) and don't cause panic to your knights. Also you can grab 4 of them for the cost of 1 Knight Errant. Their job is to grind through hard hitting units that your knights can't break on the charge, occupy buildings or move through difficult terrain. Beware: they are very ineffective for their points unless you give them the blessing via the Prayer Icon of Quenelles: then they become one of the meanest tarpits against S5+ units. The ruby goblet, while not as potent, can give a similar buff to a second unit. Without either, you are better off just taking knights.
**'''Alternate Take:''' With decent built-in armor and equipment, these guys are ridiculously survivable for such a cheap unit and seeing a squad of them tie up a high-level unit for half a game or longer isn't unheard of. Use them to force enemies off objectives and encourage your opposition to waste resources clearing them out. While magic can thin them out pretty quick, anything mundane opposition will actually need to painstakingly kill every one of the goddamned things and keeping even a single Knight anywhere near it means they'll be a tough nut to crack morale-wise. A solid defensive line unit through and through.
*'''Peasant Bowmen:''' Throw enough mud at a wall... At 6 points a pop, with Defensive Stakes and Longbows, these are among the most cost-effective archers in the game. They work well in either minimum sized units, to help you in the deployment, or in 20 ish units to have some standing power (good units for casters if you want to spam power dice). And remember, any effort your enemy puts into killing them is effort not put into killing your Knights. Give them Braziers. It's less than the cost of a single guy and it means that they can fuck up Regenerating and Flammable units, cause fear in cavalry and warbeasts and get a reroll to wound against buildings. Also, never ever, ever, ever give them Light Armor or make them Skirmishers, or bother about musician or standard bearer. If they get into close combat they'll die anyway so don't waste the points. You should always take a few 10 men units, if only to protect the trebuchets behind them from shots/cannon fire.

===Special Units===
*'''Questing Knights:''' 4 points more than a Knight of the Realm and all you get is 1 point of Strength (That does not require a charge and can stay at high str even after turn 1, making them ideal against unbreakable/stubborn troops). Oh and 1 point of Initiative, not that it matters. Under 8th, if you have Great Weapons you have to use them, meaning they'll Always Strike Last, oh really? Okay, so what's the good news? For one, the lower armour isn't that bad against S5+, when the blessing becomes important. Second, the fact that they strike hard even if charged helps them face high mobility units (silver helms, flying monsters). Third, they get to reroll fear/terror. These three factors make them ideal at protecting your flanks, where they will likely be away from the BSB and facing the likes of Vargheists and Chaos Knights. Even if they die, they will bring the pain to whatever attacked them. The icing on the cake is that their shields can be used for shooting, so they can't be shot off the field any easier than normal knights. Many players ignore them, but they do fill a role. 
*'''Pegasus Knights:''' At 55 points a pop, you better be willing to sink some points into them. On the other hand, if you are they can be an absurdly deadly war machine/small unit hunter and can protect an entire flank on their own. 8th edition gave them a boost by giving them stomp, so on the charge each knight is dealing 1 S5 attack, two S4 attacks and one S4 automatic hit. With skirmish and T4, they are tough to kill too without resorting to magic. Do right by them, by keeping them away from things immune to their stomp and by making sure they only attack massed infantry when supported, and they will do right by you, guaranteed. Oh, and NEVER take a standard bearer. Losing 70 points for fleeing combat is not fun.
*'''Mounted Yeomen:''' They seem like one of your worst choices in the army because they compete with the vastly superior pegasus knights. However, this would be looking at them the wrong way: make them work WITH the pegasus and they become much better: their LD becomes 8, their shooting helps deal with the extremely annoying redirectors and you can safely take a standard without worrying about extra victory points. They can also grant cover to the pegasus or be shot in their stead, and both scenarios favor you.  Also, unlike what is commonly believed, it is unlikely that they will lose combat against elven or dwarven warmachine crews assuming you take at least 6 men with a champion and buy them shields (still cheap enough to consider them). If you have the spare points, however, it can be worth to take a unit of up to 12 (two ranks of six) assuming, again, that they are working in synergy with pegasi.
*'''Grail Pilgrims/Grail Reliquae:''' At a glance, costlier Men at Arms with worse weapon options; they lose out on the Men At Arms' Halberds, and cost almost twice the cost , but in turn, have significantly better Leadership and a Ward save courtesy of them gaining the Blessing of the Lady if you pray. This gives these guys a go-to role as objective-holders and makes them pretty good screeners; their balls-out toughness (for a Peasant unit) is often enough to make weedier units think twice about fighting them. They are, however, very expensive for such a role, so make sure that whatever you use this unit for, it's worth it. Otherwise they aren't really worth it.

===Rare Units===
*'''Grail Knights:''' These guys can be uber destructive but oh BOY are they expensive (one of the most expensive Knight units in the game). While their worth has been somewhat reduced in an edition that favours massed infantry so much, they remain a great option to kill monsters and smaller, elite unit. Chaos Warrior statline means they are decent enough in prolonged combat too (although this is a waste of their potential and should be seen as more of a last resort). Like Questing Knights, their immunity to fear and terror helps them greatly in protecting flanks, although they cannot receive charges from monsters as well. Unlike questing knights, they can also be used in the center of your army to punch through enemy units or simply to intimidate your opponent. An option to consider.
*'''Field Trebuchet:''' Do you like winning? Then take this 90 point stone thrower that hits on S5(10). It's one of Bretonnia's only real weapons against Elite infantry who otherwise could tear your low Initiative Knight units apart. Hell, take 2, it'll still cost less than a single unit of Knights of the Realm. An excellent choice. If at all possible, place them behind bowmen so they get the cover from the fence.