# Brettonia, any ideas?



## Concrete Hero (Jun 9, 2008)

Hey all, long time 40K player and now our gaming group is going to give fantasy a try.

I love the Bretonnia Miniatures and after having a quick read of their Army Book I'd made up my mind, the 'Honourable questing Knight' theme has always gone down well with me (Crusaders are awesome)

I want to go with a force entirely mounted on Cavalry, probably with no Errant Knights either, just Knights of the Realm and Knights superior to them lol. I realise I may be gimping myself horribly by not taking any bowmen or.... Men at Arms (peasants... _shudder_). But I like to take the look of my army and Fluff into account when making a force. But is this a viable option? 

I probably wont be taking them to any tournaments any time soon anyway.
And if you wise guys have any tips or hints for Using the Knights of Brettonia, I'd be more than happy to hear them 


:biggrin:


----------



## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Tips? Charge, mainly.

Your knights are the strongest 'basic' core - Strength 5 Charge, cheap 4 ranks, large charge, and a free champion. No other Core Cavalry have that ability.

Taking units of 6+ gives you a rank, thanks to the Lance formation.

The Crusader theme has been done several times before - either as the Studio army, where it's made up of many different knights, or as belonging to one order of Knights - much like the Knightly Orders.

Popular ones are the Teutonic Knights with the Black, White and Silver, the other are the 'standard' conception the Crusader with the White and Red Cross.

Trebuchets are very nice units for Knights - as not all the time will a full knight army succeed - such as vs. an all skirmishing Wood Elf army, which can choose its own charges.

While one on one, Peasants aren't good (overstatement), they are good enough that they can tarpit - and with Spears/Halberds, can hold a line well. Grail Pilgrims are alright as well.

Don't expect knight charges to win all the time - there will always be a counter, and sometimes, you may need to reort to your Peasants holding trong, while you charge your knights in to the flank.

However, a fully mounted Knightly army does look gorgeous when painted.

To start with, you will need a minimum of a Paladin with Battlestandard and one other Hero (Preferably another Paladin), and 2 boxes of knights - gives you a good 700-800 pt army, which room for Grail Knights/Pegaus Knights at 1000pts.


----------



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Moved to tactics

I think Vaz has covered most of the basic points well. Generally a one trick pony will stomp some enemies but do really badly against others, plus when your regular opponents get the hang of it you will start winning less and less. That said, if you are going to go for a themed army, Brettonian knightly goodness is a particularly nice one to pick.

Torealis would be a good person to answer specific questions as he is a good Bret player.


----------



## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

The only advice I can offer with Brettonians is to try and have some supporting units ready if a unit gets stopped on the first charge as very few units can take 2 units of knights at once. The reduced size frontage is definately your freind here. Even a few fliers can tip a combat over the edge in your favour.


----------



## Degzi (Nov 10, 2008)

sounds really good. i'm thinkin of starting with brets myself it'll be my first fantasy army i really like the look of them but i'm worried about how much GW update them and the lack of arty they have


----------



## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

If you want Artillery - then Bretonnians are not for you. I don't play Chaos because I like the Hellcannon (which despite being part way effective, is just a bit too shit for its cost, model and pointwise). I play them because I like Dragon Ogres, Knights and Archaon.

If I wanted Artillery, I'd play Dwarves, Elves, Empire, or Orcs.

I don't, and I win enough games, as do many other Bretonnian and Chaos Players. 

If you're not sure about artillery (or lack thereof), Empire would be better. You can have the Cavalry, and are also capable of fielding several Artillery units.

However, shooting doesn't win games, like 40K. It's movement, and combat (or lack thereof).

If you're able to stop combat, and keep your troops alive longer, while shooting them, then you're onto a winner.

The charge is important, but it's rare that you can obliterate whole units - coming from Fantasy to 40K, I played my first game, launched a frag missile, it exploded, and killed 3 Nids, and caused a Morale check, which they failed, and legged off the field.
In fantasy, I fire a Hellcannon, and the bugger misses, or caused 10 casualties, and the test is passed.

It's much more different.


----------



## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

Concrete Hero said:


> the 'Honourable questing Knight' theme has always gone down well with me (Crusaders are awesome)


Oh yeah, slaughtering peasants and raping is awsome fun...I'm being deadly serious

An all cavalry army would look uber cool though


----------



## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

imm0rtal reaper said:


> Oh yeah, slaughtering peasants and raping is awsome fun...I'm being deadly serious
> 
> An all cavalry army would look uber cool though


I suppose jihads are alright then, because their great great grandma got raped?

I'm being serious in that Fantasy is way too Blue Peter to include that, and to make it far more obvious, they are seen as the chivalrous knights. Hell, they don't even have sex - they have someone else do it for them, while they're fighting Orcs and shit, away from the eyes and ears of 13 year olds.


----------



## Concrete Hero (Jun 9, 2008)

Thanks for all the tips guys! And yeah, I thought it should have _probably_ gone in tactics. 

Having never even SEEN a game of fantasy being played, I can only speculate, but from the rulebook and Army books it looks like a lot more things get killed than in 40K.
Both the Grail Knights and the Pegasus knight look very nice to me.. Might have to get both and try them out accordingly

Still getting to grips with the rules... :biggrin:


----------



## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Word of Advice - If you're expecting to face a lot of Chaos, don't take Grail Knight Lances as huge Hammer units.

I've fought a unit of 12 with my Knight Champion, and thanks to some lucky rolls on Eye of the Gods, (gives boosts to your stats), I was forced to challenge your Knight every turn, and despite killing off the rest of the Chaos Knights eventually, the knight champion managed to kill 12 Grail Knights in one on one challenges, countering the loss of ranks, banner and outnumber with wounds caused.

So yes, Grail Knights should be used as flanker against Chaos, or not at all.

Fantasy is a fantastic game because of its complexity - which turns many away, so it's good to hear of a new player. However, the best way to learn is by practical application, and getting battered over and over again.


----------



## Concrete Hero (Jun 9, 2008)

Thanks. I _may_ be facing a Chaos opponent regularly, but he may go High Elves, not sure yet. The other will be Vampire Counts and the last Dwarves (Prizes for guessing who _that_ is)

Yeah, cheers for explaining things. Probably wont have a game until after the new year but I intend to buy a big heapload all at once (still determined to build up a Grey Knight Force first though...

Thanks again!


----------

