# Does anyone play Britonnians?



## arizonajirt (Apr 5, 2011)

Hello, 
Im about to work a deal and pick up some Britonnians and I have been looking on here and have not seen where anyone has them or plays them. I have just starting reading the army book and rule book so I have no clue how fantasy works yet. 
Im picking up The battalion box, 2 paladins, 5 pegasus knights and the king in a trade. 

and tips or suggestions would be very helpful for me since im usually a 40k guy.


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## Deathypoo (Jun 27, 2011)

Bretonnians are fun to play and fun to paint, but they are really weak right now. Cavalry in general isn't so great in 8th edition, and Brets revolve around cavalry. Just a friendly head's up 

When you grow your army, I'd make sure to pick up a trebuchet or 2, a wizard or 2, and more archers. The Bret Trebuchets are far more powerful than other similar war machines. The archers are also points efficient, and magic is fun for everyone.

9 is a small unit of knights, 12 is solid, and 15 is scary. Make sure you understand how the Bret's lance formation is different from a typical formation. Ask here if you don't get it 

Tactics-wise, the main thing is to *try* to not get your knights bogged down in a long fight, and to always get in the charge. Ideally, you'll avoid steadfast/stubborn/unbreakable targets with your knights, because they are amazing on the first turn of a combat they charge, and pretty bad after that. In practice, a lot of things are steadfast/stubborn/unbreakable, and how to deal with it is pretty situational.

Also, make sure to always have your peasants covered for leadership, one way or another. They have some of the worst leadership in the game, and running away in Fantasy is easier and more punishing than in 40k.


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## arizonajirt (Apr 5, 2011)

So what I am understanding is that they look good on the shelf when they are painted and that is where they excel the most?


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

arizonajirt said:


> So what I am understanding is that they look good on the shelf when they are painted and that is where they excel the most?


Lol, something like that. With the right support (you need at least one damsel, and probably a Prophetess), the knights can be good, but you need a fair bit of infantry support these days, which sadly isn't Bretonnia's forte. A couple of blocks of 40 Men-At-Arms are good, trebuchets are excellent (it's possible to convert your own out of wood if you want to), and getting a few more pegasus knights to make a unit of them with the one you get in the battalion box is good.

While I wouldn't recommend them if you want to be a serious tournament player, casually they're fine against most armies. If you can get a good deal on them now, you can also hang out for a new army book, but I haven't heard any rumours yet about when it's going to be out, so probably it won't be until at least next year.


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## muse1c (May 11, 2010)

They are really fun to make themed armies with the background and hearldry in the army book; and good fun to paint to boot
You do need to pick army composition carefully though, to maximise strengths cough trebuchets cough 

Good luck with the army
Cheers


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## olderplayer (Dec 11, 2009)

Bretts are actually pretty competitive if played correctly. The trebs are really very good and worthwhile because of their greater strength s5 generally and S10 under the hole and the new indirect fire and true line of sight rules in 8th edition. 
You get ranks from cav three wide and can take a champ for free and run full command in the first rank. 
The peg knights are really very good for going after war machines and flanking stuff. 
The prophetess is a bit expensive but her access to beasts, life and heavens and the blessing and ability to hide hear in the second rank in a lance formation is really good. 
The damsel is very under-rated with her access to two of the best lores (beasts and life) for the army and the abiity to hide her in the middle of the second rank of a big cav unit and get the blessing is huge. 


The biggest weakness of the army is the inability to get to 1+ AS with lance, shield, heavy armour and barded steed and T3 of the knights. This means it is not difficult to wound knights and they will tend to fail or more armour saves if hit with S3 AP or S4 or higher attacks). Furthermore, the S3 on basic core knights if they do not get the charge off or are stuck in combat is a real problem with the inability to take great weapons (unliike empire knights). The questing knights and grail knights get S4 and improved I plus improved WS for grail knights) but characters pay a lot of points to join those units and cannot be used to fill out core requirements. The questing knights with great weapons are vey good but you lose the shield's +1 AS in combat and suffer ASL as a cost of getting that improved sustained hitting power. Grail knights get +1 attack as well but they cost a lot more and are rare units, which (given the use of rare trebs) limits the unit size and utility. 

8th edition really hurt them because the new steadfast rule allows infantry blocks to survive the lance formation charge in the first round of combat; breaking ranks does not cause a loss of steadfast. 

A pretty common set up is:
1 unit of knights errant (cheapest knights and count towards core)
1 unit knights of the realm
1+ unit of questing knights
0-1 unit of grail knights
1 unit of peg knights (go after war machines, fast cav and skirmishers)
1 to 2 units of bowman with defensive stakes (to protect the trebs; often with a knight on foot in range for leadership boost) 
0 to 1 units of men at arms (also in range of a knight on foot for leadership)
2 trebs
1 lord
1 prophetess
1+ paladin including one BSB
0-1 damsel

If you can get two lance units charging the same unit and one of them has enough ranks to deny steadfast to the unit being charged, then you can run over stuff. The ability of the lance formation to rank up three wide and hit with high S with every knight in the front rank and all the knights in the additional ranks except those in the middle of each rank is huge. For example, you can run a deep rank unit of knights errant (4 attacks by riders from the front rank with the champ and 2 rider attacks from each additional rank at S3 + lance bonus plus the S3 mount attacks) with a much small grail knight unit (5 models will each get 2 rider attacks each with S4 + lances plus the mount attacks) and rock and roll with the attacks when both charge the same unit. In additional, the rider in the middle of the second rank of each unit will get a supporting attack in the new FAQ for 8th edition. Thus, on the first round of combat, a charge by two lance formation units can do a lot of damage on a rank and file unit and break it more easily.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

arizonajirt said:


> Hello,
> Im about to work a deal and pick up some Britonnians and I have been looking on here and have not seen where anyone has them or plays them. I have just starting reading the army book and rule book so I have no clue how fantasy works yet.
> Im picking up The battalion box, 2 paladins, 5 pegasus knights and the king in a trade.
> 
> ...


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## arizonajirt (Apr 5, 2011)

thanks everyone for your replies. im not a big time player, and I have lost every game I have ever played, so winning or losing doesnt matter to me. I think they would be fun to paint either way.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Why not join us at the Round Table of Bretonnia - recently celebrating our five-thousandth member and certainly the place to learn more.


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## arizonajirt (Apr 5, 2011)

Ill be happy to join, just have to do that from home, work computer has most fun stuff blocked. thanks for all of the information everyone provided (especially Azezel). it was very informative and is giving me some good ideas for planning this army. now to just find people in my area that actually play fantasy.


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## arizonajirt (Apr 5, 2011)

well it appears that they guy I was making a deal with has backed out of the deal and didnt say anything after several attempts to contact him. so there will be no Britonnians for me right now. thank you all for your input.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

That's too bad. Reading this thread had me wanting to play Bretts.


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## olderplayer (Dec 11, 2009)

Too bad. Bretts are fun to play. Even with a dated book, an army of the right mix of 3 wide lance formations, the blessing, two trebs and the damsel casters hidden in the middle of the second rank of the lance formations can be a lot of fun to play. It is not an easy army but a few players in our area have had success with them.


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## Ratvan (Jun 20, 2011)

Bretonnians definately require a different playstyle, but once it clicks for you you can pull off some good results. Shame that another lance has not been shouldered for the joust however


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## arizonajirt (Apr 5, 2011)

It is a shame because I know I would have had a great time painting them. hopefully ill get a chance to get a deal on them another time.


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