Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Bretonnia

Why Play Bretonnia

Brettonians are a tactically unique army with GORGEOUS models, interesting fluff and a fun playstyle. They currently have the most workable cavalry in the game but their units tend to run either overpriced (Knights) or underpowered (Peasants). Still they're not as underpowered as some armies and if you can get them to work they will run roughshod over the competition. An army for veteran Warhammer players.

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: The advantage to the Green Knight is that he's cheap, but that's more or less it. He keeps coming back, which is lulzy, as is his ability to teleport from terrain to terrain (only natural terrain though) but this is countered out by his inability to join a unit, which means he's likely to get knocked out by a dedicated combat unit (or a fair sized regular unit). As we said, he's cheap and he can avoid trouble, but he's usually not worth the trouble.

• The Fay Enchantress: She has an incredibly high price of entry (keeping her out of any game under 2400 points) 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, +6 to cast Lore of Life makes things silly, and she adds +1 power and dispel dice and drops a Lore of Heavens spell every turn and has a multitude of special abilities. 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: King Louen cost of entry in 3000 points minimum, and he disallows any other Lords. He doesn't do enough for that cost to really be worth over 700 points. He also does silly things to your Force Organization Chart and usually not things you want to happen. Plus, for all of his cost, he'll get knocked out by someone who costs about 2/3rds of what he does. 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. Overall, it's worthwhile investing in a Lord.

• 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, Dark Elves, 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, they're cheap and they're effective for their cost. Lore of Life is a favorite, though Lore of Beasts is okay in a pinch.

• Paladin: You are required to have at least one Paladin to act as BSB (yes you're REQUIRED to have a BSB, Bretonnia is fun). 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). If you're worried about shooting, one could be dropped on a Pegasus for War Machine hunting, but be careful with that as your enemy might want to drop him quickly to score some early points.

• 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. 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: a miscast in the middle of a lance can mean the end of an expensive unit, but a miscast in the corner of one of these units just means three dead 5/6 points peasants (truly gamechanging).

• 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. Probably not a good choice for your Damsels however.

• • Royal Pegasus: It's decently priced and has a good statline for your price, but you can't join units, which makes the Rider a bullet magnet. Still, a Paladin can take one and combined with magic items and equipment, he's unlikely to break 175 points, so he could be a kinda ganky war machine harasser (although you could get a unit of Pegasus Knights for the same cost, which would be more resistant to shooting and would be in the less competitive Special Choices). And since the Bretonnian Royal Airforce died the minute it was decided that Skirmishers can't negate ranks anymore, you can safely skip this.

• • 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.

Core Units

• Knights of the Realm: You gotta take at least one unit of these guys, so get used to it. They're not a bad unit, so it's alright. Best in units of 9, or rather 8 with a Hero/Lord, with a 2+ armor 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.
• Knights Errant: Idiot Knights constantly throwing themselves into dangerous situations 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 flanked. While not as good as Knights of the Realm as your mainstay unit, 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 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 reallllllly long is not as far as you might think it is) and don't cause panic. Also you can grab 4 of them for the cost of 1 Knight Errant. They make fantastic cannon fodder, flank protectors and tarpits, especially if there's a Knight nearby. And if you want an example of how cheap these guys can run you: A full unit of 9 Knights of the Realm will cost you 237 points with full command. A unit of 40 Men at Arms with full command will run you 227 points. So yeah, don't disregard them.
• Peasant Bowmen: Throw enough mud at a wall... At 6 points a pop, with Defensive Stakes and Longbows, these guys do fantastic jobs in huge units (something will die if you shoot it enough times). And remember, any effort your enemy puts into killing them is effort not put into killing your Knights. Oh and give them Braziers. It's less than the cost of a single guy and it means that they can fuck up Regenerating units. Also, never ever, ever, ever give them Light Armor or make them Skirmishers. Just don't. One thing to note here is that if you field a large enough unit of these guys (say, 20+ strong), they will be enough of a nuisance that your opponent might decide to attack them, especially if you place a damsel on the unit. Use this to your advantage. Defensive stakes are now fences, and you do have longbows, which means even elves or other BS 4 units will shoot as well as you (read: like crap). Cavalry, which is usually the the main threat, will have to make dangerous terrain tests and deal with your fire attacks, so the peasants might just win their points back, and even infantry will have a slightly harder time killing them. Don't expect to win the game by shooting due to their awful strength, but these guys are extremely useful fire support (they are one of the most cost-effective ranged units in the game) and distractions.

Special Units

• Questing Knights: Hmmm. No. They're too expensive and you don't get enough for it: 4 points more than a Knight of the Realm and all you get is 1 point of Strength. 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 and their lowered Armor Save makes them much more vulnerable to taking casualties in close combat. They are the only knight unit in your army that can be charged without becoming significantly worse... so you could use them as a highly mobile throwaway unit (because you are far too proud to use peasants in your army). They're not horrible taken on their own terms, but you'll probably get more mileage out of fewer points of Knights of the Realm. One thing to note is that they are the only knight unit in your army that may work well without the lance, so you can have them in two ranks if you so desire.
• 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. Just be careful, without barding they're vulnerable to large volumes of attacks/shots.
• Mounted Yeomen: Man the fuck up and find the points for Pegasus Knights if you want a highly mobile unit. Then you won't have to suffer the humiliation of having your War Machine hunters getting their asses kicked by a War Machine Crew (yeah it happens, High Elf, Dark Elf and Dwarf war machine crews will fuck these guys up). Just don't bother.
• Grail Reliquae: The ONLY infantry unit in your entire army that has any degree of staying power without backup or absurdly large numbers (you're capped off at 30 plus the Reliquae anyway). This makes them a perfect unit to hold up enemy units coming in on the flank, as they can operate without knight supervision. Don't forget though, someone needs to have the Grail Vow to take them.

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). They also remain only T3 and 1 wound, so they're vulnerable to getting brought down by large volumes of S3/S4 attacks (keep them RIGHT the fuck away from elite Elf units). If you're careful and know how to use them, they can justify their points many times over, but if you fuck up, they'll get dropped pretty quickly. So, like all of Bretonnia, use them wisely or lose them.
• Field Trebuchet: Do you like winning? Then take this 100 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 and get the craftsman (to help with the indirect fire).

Building Your Army

Start with a BSB Paladin on a horse, any other Hero/Lord character on a horse and a unit of 9+ Knights of the Realm. These are the basics of the Bretonnian army. After that do whatever you feel, use peasants if you want to recreate a peasant rebellion or a Crusades era army.

Buying Your Army

Unfortunately GW knows that you will need boxes of Knights to build your army, you will get neither enough in a single box nor a decent price. The basic plastic set can do either of the Core choices, but in typical GW fashion you will pay much more for Questing and Grail knights. Convert your own out of bits from the basic knight's box instead, the grail knights should be stripped down in terms of heraldry and you'll need to find a set of arms with two handed weapons for Questing knights, who also have less heraldry than Realm Knights.

There is an alternative for those who love mass conversions for themed armies and that is the "Legion of the Grail Damned" route.

Basically you can use a large chunk of the Undead models from Mantic Games' Kings of War game as undead Bretonnians, they're way fucking cheaper than GW prices, they look very similar to French Medieval armour designs and the models can cover most of your unit types: the Trebuchet, Grail Reliquary, Pegasus Knights, Lords and Prophetess/Damsels of the Lady are the only ones you can't do, or rather you can but the model designs look less like fallen from grace and more like actively embracing the dark side.

Army Composition

Aim for a majority of knights, Knights, Knights and Knights. You cannot play this army without Knights, so embrace the men of horse and steel.

Peasants are a secondary concern, but there's room in most armies for some Bowmen and Men-At-Arms. Grail Pilgrims are a solid flank unit.

Magic Items

• Vows of Bretonnia: Remember that a character may not join a unit with a vow higher than his own (ex: lord with knight's vow joining questing knights). Take that into consideration when planning your characters and their bodyguards.

• • Knight's Vow: Your standard vow, it allows you to ignore panic from peasants (who are the most likely to run anyway). Nothing special, but it comes for free and most magic item options are available without the other vows, so this should be your pick unless you want something specific from the other two.

• • Questing Vow: In addition to the Knight's Vow benefit, you can reroll failed psychology tests. This is mostly useless unless your battle standard bearer is far away or dead, but you never know. Still, there are two reasons to pick this vow: access to great weapons instead of the lance, which provide the much needed punch after the charge, and access to two solid magic items (check bellow). Also, remember that human initiative is crap compared to that of most other races, so always striking last isn't as big a disadvantage as it sounds.

• • Grail Vow: MY FAITH IS MY SHIELD MY FURY IS MY SWORD Immunity to psychology is good and so is being able to join grail knights. Also the vow makes all your attacks magical attacks, which is mainly useful on paladins as your lord will most likely take magic weapons but still opens new combo choices for lords (for instance, you can take the virtue of knightly temper and still be able to take ethereals down). The grail shield is also a very solid defensive item (10 points cheaper than the talisman on the book). Overall a good choice, but it costs as much as a knight of the realm, so have a clear goal in mind when taking it.

• Virtues of the Chivalric Knight:

• • Virtue of the Penitent: Ehhhh. If you could take it on a Monster/Flyer Mounted Lord, it might be worthwhile (or if it was cheaper). As is? Nah.

• • Virtue of the Knightly Temper: A bit on the pricy side, but on a Lord, this one could really help you stack up the casualties. Combine with the Tress of Isoulde (and if you wanna go for the overkill Cuirass of Fortune or such), charge an enemy character and put your trollface on. Don't bother on a Paladin though.

• • Virtue of Heroism: Received a righteous buff in our FAQ. Killing blow against all targets? And we can now take magic weapons with it? Yes please. This is a great way to not rely solely on trebuchets to deal with the toughest nasties while still providing a bonus against enemy characters. Recommended.

• • Virtue of Stoicism: Good for a flank unit that will be out of the range of your BSB. Mainline units should be in range of your BSB, so use this guy for flanks.

• • Virtue of the Ideal: Make your guy a chaos lord/exalted hero without the strength, toughness or armour in exchange for making his unit and all units near him more likely to break from a fluffed round of combat. It can work but in most cases it's a pass.

• • Virtue of the Impetuous Knight: Not a bad choice, not bad at all. Remember, if you don't get the charge, you're probably fucked, so anything that helps you get the charge is good. If your opponent moves up turn 1, this could help you get a Turn 1 Charge, which is always funny.

• • Virtue of Audacity: Since the base Strength for a Bretonnian Hero/Lord is 4, this is only going to be worthwhile against Monsters and really nasty units (you wouldn't even get it against most Monstrous Infantry). Hence, it's another casual play Virtue, but in competitive play it would probably end up a waste of points.

• • Virtue of Duty: Yes. Yes, yes and also yes. Once you've gotten the charge, you need to break the enemy and a free point of static CR (as long as your general is breathing) is always worth 30 points.

• • Virtue of the Joust: Decent choice and not too pricey, can be combined with items like the lance of artois to make your charge more deadly. The thing is, Bretonnia needs help AFTER the charge, so you have better choices out there.

• • Virtue of Confidence: Challenges are a place where Bretonnian Lords/Heroes need improvement, but I can really see this one coming back to bite you when you end up in combat with a Tyrant kitted out for Bloodthirster. Or waste all your lord's attacks on a champion that keeps coming back thanks to healing magic. Good, but exploitable.

• • Virtue of Noble Disdain: Good for a Paladin on Pegasus who you want to go War Machine/Shooting Unit hunting.

• • Virtue of Purity: Well it's paying 20 points to up his Ward save from 6+ to 5+ against S4 and below hits. Probably not worth it.

• • Virtue of Discipline: According to the FAQ's this Virtue doesn't exist. Good thing too, as under 8th edition rules it literally did nothing.

• • Virtue of Empathy: Want to help your Peasants out? Then take this. Actually fairly good to help beef up your Men-At-Arms. Just remember, he has to accept a challenge if issued, so kit him out for bear.

• Magic Weapons:

• • The Silver Lance of the Blessed: Holy Lady, look at that price tag. On average, you are hitting with two more attacks while not boosting your ability to wound/ignore armour for an outrageous amount of points. Losing this item if you lose the blessing doesn't help at all either. If you want to hit more often, there are far better combinations for less points (including simply boosting the number of attacks).

• • Sword of the Quest: The mandatory "ignores armour" item of your army. It costs the same as the one in the Big Red Book, but the key here is that you can use it either as a one-handed weapon or a two-handed weapon, so it provides a good deal of versatility. An absolute joy to have against dwarven lords and the like. It is, of course, useless/too pricey if the enemy has low armor saves, so be careful about bringing it to an all-comers list.

• • Sword of the Lady's Champion: An alternative to the virtue of heroism. Instead of being an all or nothing deal, this weapon allows you to reliably wound everything, so it can be used along with a knight charge or a trebuchet shot to deal with the most resilient monsters. Unlike the virtue of heroism, it is of little use against common soldiers (even against dwarves it's just an overpriced sword of might), and most lords immune to killing blow will blast you to kingdom come if you don't have a weapon specifically made to kill them (tip: this one ain't it). To sum it up, it's a decent weapon for dealing with monsters and very tough characters and while it can be better than the virtue of heroism in very specific instances, it's not as good overall.

• • Sword of Heroes: Hmpf. Your third and final choice for dealing with high-toughness enemies and not nearly as good as the others. While it can be hilarious against T5 characters if the lady is on your side (as instant kills always are), not only does it not help against most enemies (like the other two do), but it is nigh-useless against really tough monsters. If you got extra wounds before the enemy saved, then it could actually be worth it in some battles. As it is, skip it.

• • The Heartwood Lance: Decent choice, makes your lord more deadly on the charge for a decent price, especially if coupled with items or virtues that allow him to hit more often. That said, during the charge against the rank and file, and even most characters, the cuirass of fortune does the same for a lower price, so this is only a better alternative in subsequent rounds of combat (when you are unlikely to wound on a 2+) or against tougher enemies. Works nicely with the virtue of heroism.

• • Birth-sword of Carcassonne: An all-around good choice. The extra strength is always welcome after the charge and the armor save reroll is not too bad either. Of course, if you know the enemy will only have 5+ armor saves, you are better off buying a sword of might or the like, but if you are running an all-comers list this is a good item to take, if only to help against characters who will likely have a decent save.

• • Morning Star of Fracasse: A personal favourite and an absolute must when dealing with many enemy lords. Since your lords and paladins have a pretty good armor save and a ward save on top of that, usually the biggest threats against them are magic weapons that ignore armor or offer killing blow, and you can nulify these (usually much more expensive) items for only 25 points. The +2S in the first round of combat is always welcome too, since it works even if you are charged. Just make sure that you either strike first (hint potion of speed hint) or that the enemy character cannot kill you in round 1 (yeah, some of them can do that). Oh yes, combine it with Sirienne's Locket and have fun.

• • The Lance of Artois: Killing blow on the charge for only 25 points. Works best if you have multiple attacks obviously and if you can reroll misses (hint virtue of the joust hint). Same problem as all items that are useful only during charges. Really not much else to say.

• • The Wyrmlance: Can work on a paladin on a pegasus, and it is cheap. That said, the breath attack is only S3, you have cheap flaming attacks from elsewhere (peasants) and it can be used only once per game. You must also protect what will certainly be a fire-magnet, and many characters and monsters will have fire resistance. Again, it can work if you know what you are doing.

• Magic Armour:

• • Gilded Cuirass: Regeneration, you have to pay a bit more than most of those who have an equivalent item in their armies. Since regeneration no longer stacks with ward saves, ignore this and skip right ahead to the grail shield.

• • Armour of the Midsummer Sun: Way too expensive on the average lord or paladin. That said, if you plan on taking a monstrous mount for some reason (there is no reasoning with you, is there, you just want to field that hyppogryph), THEN it becomes worth its points, as it will help protect your mount too.

• • The Grail Shield: Upgrades your ward save to 4+ against all attacks for a very good price. If you want to boost your general defense, this (and the item we will get to next) are your best choices. Remember, though, that since you have to pay for the grail vow, you should only buy this if you were gonna take the grail vow anyway, otherwise it becomes too pricey for what it does.

• • Gromril Great Helm: Do you want to make your character basically immune to the rank and file? Then take this. Combine it with the crown of command and enjoy your enemy's tears. Better than the grail shield against most attacks, but if you are worried about warmachines and other attacks that ignore armour, take the former.

• • Armour of Agilulf: The quintessential item for the duelist. Most enemy combat character will hit you on a 3+ while you hit them on a 4+. Now you've turned the tables around. You've also made yourself more resistant to melee attacks of non-elite infantry and cavalry (and heck, even some monsters). And for a low price too. The only disadvantage here is that you can't use two-handed weapons, but that's not really a problem for most characters.

• • Cuirass of Fortune: Pretty good. It's cheap, and on the charge it's basically a reroll failed wounds. Really, the only reason this item doesn't shine is Bretonnia has other very good choices in this category.

• • Orcbane Shield: Take it if you are facing orcs, don't take it otherwise. Simple, no?

• Talismans:

• • Sirienne's Locket: The closest thing Bretonnia has to a troll item. Get a lord with the questing vow and a great weapon (and if you really want to laugh at your opponent, virtue of empathy just so you can field him on foot) and charge the opponent's nastiest unit (that doesn't have magical attacks). Also helps against warmachines. Yeah, seems like a great idea... except most enemy characters will have magic weapons and if you are gonna charge regular units you might as well use men at arms (who will also likely have steadfast). Not to mention that your lord can still turn tail, run and be horribly massacred. Let it not be said that this item is useless, however; if you are willing to make a build around it. With Crown of Command, you can send your lord against the deadliest enemy unit (as long as it doesn't have magic attacks) and basically hold it for the rest of the game or even kill it off eventually. If you instead take the Morningstar of Fracasse and a potion of speed, you might just be able to hold a much stronger enemy character for the rest of the game (although the gromril great helm works as well for a lower price, unless you are for some reason fighting a chaos lord with a great weapon/potion of strength). And damsels/prophetesses will be able to heal your lord with no problem. Is this the best use for a lord... maybe not, but it can be viable if you play the maneuver game well, turning your general into a point denial machine.

• • Token of the Damsel: Meh. Can help you against a cannon ball or something, but are you really willing to spend 35 points to prevent the first wounding hit before knowing if your armor or regular ward save would remove it anyway?

• • Insignia of the Quest: 3+ ward save as soon as you hit 1 wound? For 30 points? Hell yes! Also, nothing prevents you from healing those wounds afterwards. The only problem here is that it requires the questing vow, which prevents the use of lances, but otherwise this is a great item. This is one of the few items that actually works better on a paladin, as he will reach the 1 wound faster and your lord will likely want less risky (although not as balls-out powerful) defensive items.

• • Braid of Bordeleaux: Too situational to be recommended. It can help you get a charge you otherwise wouldn't be able to (and if you charge a ranged unit they will have a hard time hitting you if they stand and shoot) and the bonus leadership can be handy. But, again, too situational.

• • Dragon's Claw: Like the virtue of purity, only for 5 more points you also get immunity to fire. This one might actually be worth it if you don't have anything else to spend your points on (how did you do that?).

• • Mantle of Damsel Elena: The Morningstar of Fracasse usually does the same and then some for only five points more. The Mantle does protect you against the few killing blows that don't come from magic weapons (if for some reason you find yourself trying to solo a bloodthirster. Good luck with that.) and from poison, so it's not a bad item by any stretch (it costs about as much as items that grant immunity to killing blow in other armies), but if you really fear those you'll likely prefer the more versatile grail shield.

• Enchanted Items:

• • Falcon-horn of Fredemund: Another one of those "what were they thinking?" expensive items. Now, it is true that flyers are faster than your knights, but remember that they are usually either too weak to deal with our knights or are too strong and should be avoided anyway (to the point it may be worth losing the blessing). Not to mention you have the virtue of the impetuous knight, which is cheaper and works against non-flyers. And this is even assuming the enemy has flyers...

• • Holy Icon: No. If you want protection from hostile magic, get one more damsel, as this item is far too expensive. A paladin with this costs almost as much as 6 (!) errant knights while having far less hitting power and sustainability. That leaves the lord, since he has a higher budget. So now you have a lord more resistant to magic, except you'll likely have to keep him out of combat against serious opposition (even some combat heroes) since he just spent half of his magic item points on this item. And we are not even taking into account how nerfed magic resistant got this edition. So no, avoid like the plague.

• • The Ruby Goblet: Usually worthless, occasionally helpful. Since your knights have elven toughness this item is more useful than it would be for, say, chaos, but it is held back by the fact that it requires you to lose models for it to take effect. This means that it would only get its points back in a very large lance or in a unit of men at arms, but unlike the prayer icon of quenelles, in order to get the benefit on the unit the damsel would have to follow the unit to combat, which will likely lead to painful results for you.

• • Mane of the Purebreed: You know you are playing Bretonnia when you have an item that boosts not your soldiers but your horses. This is an interesting item. In a typical lance against most infantry, this item will on average get you one or two kills. This is not enough to earn its points back, but the edge in combat resolution may be what you need... assuming you are able to remove steadfast in a single charge, which will not likely happen unless the unit in question is of Grail Knights or a 12-15 men lance. Thus, it competes with the more reliable virtue of duty, and should only be taken in the two cases above.

• • Antlers of the Great Hunt: Not really needed, you can usually catch enemy infantry anyway and if you need to use this to catch enemy cavalry you have to consider if you are not getting too far away from the main battle line. Not a terrible choice, but you can do better.

• • Tress of Isoulde: Fun little item. Since Bretonnian WS is not very high, you will hit most characters on a 4+, so for 20 points you are basically doubling your hits for one turn. As mentioned before, it combines well with the virtue of knightly temper against a single target (whatever it is you are targeting, 4 hits at S6 that generate additional hits if unsaved will hurt). While it only works for one turn, it does not have restrictions like the virtue of the joust and the virtue of confidence (which basically do the same in certain conditions), so weather you take it or not is a matter of preference (and if you have not used those up in another character).

• • Gauntlet of the Duel: Interesting item combined with the virtue of confidence. While this seems like a pretty fun combo, the problem with it (and to expand a bit on the aforementioned virtue) is that not only can you get stuck facing a big bad while the rest of your unit does nothing, but you have no control on who accepts the challenge. If the unit has a champion, well you just wasted your uber lord/paladin's charge killing a miserable champion. This is extra fun if your opponent can restore wounds to the unit. It -can- be put to good use, but it is easily exploitable by a crafty opponent.

• Arcane Items:

• • Silver Mirror: Like the feedback scroll, only better (unless a truly enormous amount of dice were used, and even then this item has the advantage of dispelling besides dealing damage). Sadly, you cannot take two to troll your opponent, but this is a great item as long as you have some way of dealing the remaining one or two wounds (a trebuchet, archers or yes, a feedback scroll). If you do not, take dispel scrolls instead.

• • Sacrament of the Lady: This item does not exist and neither does this entry. Or you.

• • The Verdant Heart: A fun item, but sadly very expensive. Our FAQ says it only effects enemies now, so that's a plus (it would be kinda ridiculous otherwise) and in the right circumstances can be a real thorn on your opponent's side (is he really willing to risk a unit to kill a bunch of archers with a damsel/prophetess? And, if he is, isn't that an advantage for you?). The +1 to lore of life spells is fun too. But again, it costs a lot and requires the terrain to be in your favor, so this one's most likely a skip.

• • Prayer Icon of Quenelles: The good stuff. Have you ever wanted to turn your men at arms into a true combat unit? Then this is where you should go. As long as you have a big enough unit (why yes, even horde), they WILL hold anything with 5 or more strength. Since they will survive long enough to attack back, they will also hurt whatever bastard dares to attack them (never underestimate an absurd amount of S4 attacks). A very, very solid item for a good price. They also become better at dealing with lots of low S attacks, but in this case you should take spears instead and the item isn't as effective (6+ instead of a 5+ save), but remains decent.

• • Chalice of Malfleur: The russian roulette of dispel. While it does not guarantee a dispel like the scroll does, it works every turn, so it has the potential of being far more useful for a lower price. It also has the potential to kill you. So yeah, take this if you are confident the Lady will be with you.

• • Potion Sacre: Cheap, and you can never argue with cheap, can you? Since it can no longer prevent a miscast, it is not as high a priority as it once was. Still, the chance to turn a normal spell into an irresistable force (or a failed spell into a successful cast) is very good, even if you can do it only once per game. Take it if you can spare the points.

• Magic Banners:

• • Banner of the Lady: Too expensive. +3 (at best) bonus in combat resolution is not worth 100 points especially since it does not remove steadfast. It might be fun from time to time in friendly games but should be avoided in tournament lists.

• • Valorous Standard: Don't bother. It's too expensive and you already have good leadership, so if you start failing tests with the Battle Standard Bearer (don't dare take this in a unit of Grail Knights) around either you are extremely unlucky or doing something wrong.

• • Banner of Defense: A prime choice for a unit of Grail Knights, or for your Battle Standard Bearer if you don't have any Grail Knights. Artillery is a big threat to knights even with the blessing and anything you can do to lessen its danger until you charge is welcome. You will still have to beware of armor piercing ranged weapons though (other low S weapons will generally deal too little damage to stop you until you reach the enemy), but fortunately you have another banner to deal with those.

• • Twilight Banner: Can help you set up a charge, but the fact that you cannot use it on the charge itself really ruins this banner, especially since you can't use it to go through units. Too dependent on the map to be recommended (seems like you have one of those in each category, huh?).

• • Conqueror's Tapestry: For its cost this is a great banner, and on a unit of grail knights it can really help you get the extra edge you need to win. A good way to go about this would be to have the unit's standard bearer carrying it and the battle standard bearer the Banner of Defense, or vice versa. Since grail knights can accept challenges, you are safe from losing either due to an enemy hero, and if you pop a damsel in for good measure then the grail knights will get you lots of points while being pretty resistant to shooting and magic. Fun.

• • Errantry Banner: If you take knights errant and don't take this, you are doing it wrong. True, their initiative is not great, their WS is not great, but their high armor and the blessing and the lance formation (which ensures low frontage) means that at least a few knights will get in S6 attacks. That's enough to ignore the armour of most infantry and wound on a 2+. A must have.

• • Banner of Châlons: Take one. 10 points to stop stand and shoot is an absolute bargain and invaluable against dark elves, empire and such cowardly curs. Sadly you cannot take one with pegasus knights, but all your knight units are mobile enough to benefit from this so there's really no reason not to take one. Between this and pegasus knights, you should have decent anti-missile choices to deal with most opponents.

Magic

• Know your limits - Pretty much your main concern in the magic phase should be protecting yourself. Knights have terrible statistics for their points and a single Purple Sun can earn your opponents tons of points, and the last thing you want is to charge an infantry unit with 3 knights kept alive by the power of love. Accept the fact that many armies will shut your magic phase down, not only dwarves. So for the love of the Lady, take damsels, even if you want to keep them level 1. They can do fine on foot with your peasants but if you have an expensive unit (like grail knights or a particularly large lance) take a warhorse (don't bother with barding) and send her with your knights: she is protected from combat due to the marvel that is the lance but she will still be able to cast spells (just don't spam dice to get the miscast) and has line of sight (FAQ) but, more importantly, she will provide precious magic resistance to the unit (which in the current edition isn't anything otherwordly but is still helpful). Now that you are protected, before you can do decently on your phase you'll have to kill the enemy's casters. Fortunately Bretonnia has her pegasus: a suicide unit of pegasus knights or a suicidal paladin (possibly with the lance of artois and virtue of the joust) are a price worth paying for being able to cast spells. As for your own spells, lore of life is a favourite and should be taken by at least one damsel. Beasts of course has the very useful buffs for your relatively weak characters/knights and is in no way a bad choice (also, you are the horses: you'd be surprised how much difference +1S makes with all those horse attacks on the charge). Heavens is interesting because your army has low static resolution (again, unless you like large lances) and only one unit with magic weapons, so the damage spells are a good way to deal with ethereals like Hexwraiths, but since only your prophetess can cast them, don't rely solely on them.

Tactics

• Prayer: Using Religion to Smash Face - Pretty much you should be praying to the Lady every single battle. Yes this does give your opponent a significant advantage but remember that many players who play defensive armies would rather you go first. The Lady's Blessing gives you some major buffs to units that are already pretty good. Those Knights of the Realms now get a ward save, meaning your basic Knight unit, the most common unit in your army, is now harder to kill. Losing the blessing sucks but its good while you do have it, and because the conditions for losing it aren't exactly signs of an impending victory you shouldn't get worked up if you do lose it.

• Dysentery, or the power of the lowborn: Many Bretonnian players ignore the peasant units (other than the trebuchet) and to be fair it's not hard to see why: they are slow moving units in a fast moving and generally offensive army, made all the worse by the fact that their leadership is miserable if they are away from the knights. Unlike the shinier nobles, they also die to a swift breeze and deal low damage. However, each of them (with the exception of Mounted Yeomen) can do something that no other unit in your army can. The role of men at arms and pilgrims was already discussed: they are the only units in your army that can die without you caring. Sometimes the best way to deal with some units is simply to send these peasants their way: a horde of men at arms with the prayer icon is more effective than the pilgrims but will suffer without a knight nearby, while the latter are more independent and start with the blessing (and stubborn to replace the steadfast). Archers fill a completely different role. While they are still expendable, they are even squishier than the other two and their higher price (compared to men at arms) means they should not be used the same way unless absolutely necessary (but DO charge a unit that is threatening your knights if you can get away with it). Besides the already mentioned distraction and light ranged damage, there are two things archers can do: they can help you in the deployment, and they can scare your opponent. Now, starting with the latter as it apparently makes no sense: who would be afraid of such weak ranged units? Well let's say you have then fire against a dwarven warmachine crew. Statistically speaking, they will deal very little actual damage, but the warmachine is expensive, and the dwarven player does not want to risk losing an expensive unit to a few lucky shots: you've forced your opponent to deal with a throwaway unit, and you've gained an advantage. Using bowmen against expensive units that are relatively squishy is a good bet. The other use for bowmen is to take them in 10 men units, since unlike men at arms they can still do their job in low numbers. Place them first during the deployment: your opponent will have to place at least a few of units vital to his strategy and, since you are deploying your knights after them, you can place your own important units to counter them. So, while your peasants are not vital to your army and you can play Bretonnia without them, they offer you new tactical options and are far from useless. As always, play your army your way, but don't shut your eyes to potential opportunities.

• Using the Lance: The lance is essentially unique amongst warhammer formations and most of your hammer units need to form it in order to be effective. Minimum viable size for a Bretonnian Lance Formation is usually 9 or so (even Grail Knights are liable to get hammered in lower unit sizes) Here are a few tips about using it:

• • Mind the Flanks: The usual minimum viable size for a Bretonnian Knight unit is 9 guys in 3 ranks of 3. A Cavalry model has a flank as long as 2.5 to 2 and 2/3rds the size of a usual infantry unit, meaning a 3 by 3 unit has a flank the length of a unit of 7 to 8 ranks (for context, instead of 9 models, they would have a minimum of 35-40 models). What does this mean? You are ABSURDLY vulnerable on the flanks. A unit that gets pinned doesn't get lance formation, is easy to break it's ranks and will generally start to take casualties REALLY quickly. So you need to watch the fuck out on the flanks. Pegasus Knights on the flanks are great at discouraging small units but will crumble in the face of dedicated combat units above a certain size and strength (20 man units of High Elf special units, for example, will fuck your shit up). You might also want a large unit of Men-At-Arms, perhaps with an Empathic Paladin on one flank and a good sized units of Grail Pilgrims on the other. This might seem like a lot of points to be sinking into protecting your flanks, but trust us, you get flanked you can kiss that unit (and probably most near it) goodbye.

• • Minimum Frontage: The Lance Formation is only 3 guys wide which, aside from compounding the above problem, gives you reallllly small area you can draw line of sight in. This only comes into play with fast moving MSU armies (Elves mostly) but it can cause issues. Seeing you set up a next turn charge could cause a unit to go marching out of your Line of Sight and you wheeling to try and get them back in could screw up your battle line or leave you open to flank charges. A couple ways to avoid this is to stay far off (the farther you are away, the larger your line of sight) and to not be too proud to take a charge you're not as fond of. Unless it's not a fight you can win, taking the charge you want less is better than losing the unit wheeling around too much.

• • Lance Size: Most people prefer lances 9 men strong. Smaller lances generally can't beat anything (ranged units aside) on the charge and their only possible use would be to tarpit things with the knight's 2+ armour, a job that is best reserved for the peasants. Bigger lances have a few advantages. The first is the ease with which they break steadfast: a 15 men (including heroes if you want) lance will generally remove steadfast from nearly everything that costs about as much as it simply because it only takes 3 knights to make a full rank (if you have nothing better to do, like the writer, grab a calculator and simulate 15 knights of the realm or errant knights against 25 high elven swordmasters). They can also lose a few models without losing their efficiency and have a good synergy with items like the mane of the purebreed and the ruby goblet. The problem is that you will have fewer units, which means that you really have to make the most of the charge, trebuchets and archers to rout the charged unit on round 1 of combat, or you will be flanked and destroyed.

• Dealing with Infantry: In the age of the infantryman the Bretonnians have suffered, but not as much as some people would have you believe. However, you do have to play smart because a bad charge will, at best, get your knights stuck in a pointless combat against a tarpit or, at worse, kill your expensive unit. So, know how to identify what kind of block you are facing so you know what you can use against it.

• • Deathstars: By "deathstar" we mean an extremely large unit of potent troops that is often the center of the opponent's strategy. These often have at least one character, often multiple strong ones, and have many ranks so they can have steadfast even after losing a lot of models. An army could technically have multiple deathstars, but this is usually to your advantage as such an army has extremely poor map control and little flexibility. In any case, your opponent expects you to engage this unit, so don't. I don't care what you think your grail knights will do, they won't break them on the charge and then they will get slaughtered. Focus all your trebuchet fire on it but otherwise don't engage it unless you must. If you must, delay them with a mob of men-at-arms with the blessing. The knights should only attack if the deathstar is weakened enough and there are no other threats. The only exception is a suicide unit if killing a specific character in the deathstar is worth losing the unit.

• • Tarpits: Tarpits are units designed to keep your units busy so, again, try not to engage them if you can. The problem here is that, unlike deathstars, tarpits are relatively cheap so you will likely have to deal with one of them sooner or later. How you do so depends on the tarpit. If they are a horde of weak, cheap units, soften them up with archers and then charge with a unit of knights of the realm. The knights will have to grind through it but they are unlikely to suffer losses and as long as they are not flanked they should win combat and eventually break the enemy (key here being eventually). We do not recommend men-at-arms simply because most tarpits are more cost-effective and have more ranks, so the low leadership peasants will cost you. Grail Pilgrims, on the other hand, work well. The other kind of tarpit are things like warriors of tzeentch with shields or dwarven hammerers. These are taken in smaller units and survive by not taking damage (warriors) or by being stubborn/unbreakable (the latter). These should be avoided at all costs by the knights and like the deathstars make good trebuchet targets. In melee they are good targets for men-at-arms, especially if they have the blessing, as they will lose combat but, being cheaper, will have steadfast and won't break for a decent amount of time, and with their halberds they might just deal some damage back.

• • Elite Infantry: Warriors of Khorne, Saurus Warriors, Black Guard. You know 'em, you hate 'em. These guys are expensive but not enough that there are so few on the battlefield you can ignore them. They usually have good initiative and/or armor, two attacks and good strength and leadership. And they are still cheaper than knights errant! These guys are of course still good trebuchet targets but the two former kinds of infantry take priority and thus you will be forced to fight these guys. Men at arms will simply be butchered and knights of the realm will lose models even before they attack, and after the charge it will quickly turn into a massacre. You have three options to deal with these guys. The first is to multicharge. This is the worst of the three because you lose the advantage of the low frontage of the lance formation, but you might just kill enough to break them. The second option is a "massive" unit of Knights Errant. Yes, it is expensive but a unit of 15 knights errant with a damsel with the mane of the purebreed will beat a 25 men unit of khorn warriors with halberds and remove their steadfast at about the same cost while taking relatively few casualties. Not a lot of units can do that. The third is of course grail knights. They are more vulnerable than chaos knights but on the charge they pack the same punch or more by virtue of the lance formation and since they benefit from ranks they can actually remove steadfast on round 1 of combat.

• • Other Infantry: As the name says, your average infantry. Not too cheap, not too expensive, not too deadly, not too weak. These are the ones you want your knights of the realm targeting, on the charge they will deal decent damage and, as with weak tarpits, will grind through them eventually. Multicharging works great here and two units of knights of the realm can punch through the enemy lines if they choose their targets right. They will likely deal little damage to your 2+ armor save and WS4 and ward save. The exception is infantry armed with ranged armor piercing weapons. Either flank them with pegasus knights, or have one of your units carry the banner of Châlons, otherwise your knights will die before they even get close.

• Heroic Wall - The lance only requires three models to count as a full rank. Bretonnian paladins and lords are dirt-cheap. What does this mean? Well, it means that you can protect your T3 knights from melee attacks by making a wall of characters. This is mostly useful for questing knights (and is the only way I found to make them a competitive and not mostly fluff choice), but can work on non-grail knight unit (because the grail vow costs a lot). Get a paladin with an enchanted shield and a dawnstone, another with the insignia of the quest and finaly one with the Gromril great helm. If you want to be safe from characters, upgrade one of them to a lord and get him the morningstar of fracasse. You still have to watch out for attacks that ignore armour of course, so unless you want this unit to dine on all of the enemy's cannon balls from turn 1, give the enemy other desirable targets (preferably with other characters)and don't make the unit too big. Again, 6 questing knights + characters, with a unit of grail knights in the army, is a good idea. Ideally, have a damsel with life nearby (but not in the unit: don't want to lose those S6 attacks!) to recover the odd wound or with beasts to make the unit stupidly dangerous. And the best part? This unit does not lose effectiveness if charged.