Getting back into it, Brettonians?

[andys]

OK, so after a gap of many years, I'm thinking of getting back into collecting Warmaster stuff. Allowing for the "minor" problem of GW pulling it all, I'm looking at doing a 2000+ point Brettonian army, using TB Line's Central European range. The figures I'm considering are:

TB4163   Command Group of the Teutonic Knight = Command figures for Knight units & Characters
TB4164   Teutoni Knight = Grail Knights
TB4165   European Heavy Knight = Knights
TB4166   Light cavalry with lance = Squires
TB4169   Light European infantry = Extra figures on Men-at-arms & character bases?
TB4170   Heavy European infantry = Men-at-arms
TB4178   Knights on foot = Command for foot units & extra figures on character bases?
TB4179   Armed peasants = Peasants
TB4180   Peasants with bow = Bowmen

I like the look of these figures and they aren't stupidly expensive, unlike GW's stuff! I reckon I can get an army for something like £70-£90 (plus postage, however much that would be, say £100 max?).

As a toe-in-the-water, I've ordered the character and hero on pegasus blisters from GW - their website says they are still available and I've got an email saying the order has been shipped. I guess the next few days will tell how true that is!

I need to totally re-equip, I've no brushes, glue or paint any more. I intend to do the characters, see how I feel about it all and if it appeals, buy a batch of stuff from TB.

The other armies I've got, (Empire, Orcs, Undead and Dwarves) are all over 2000 points, allowing for variation of army composition. So maybe I want 2500-ish points of Brettonians at the end of the day.

So a question for Brettonian players, what do you recommend I buy to get a decent 2000 point army, with a few hundred points of "spares" please?

Paints - what range do you guys recommend? Previously I used GW stuff, watering down as the stuff got thick in the pots! Is Vallejo's Game Colour range suitable for Warmaster scale?

[Lex]

You will need some damsells and preferably one on a unicorn, but the character blister  should fix that.
Also, remember the squires can shoot too, so some mounted archers would help to remember.

In general I would say aim at a good mix of cavalry (at around 60% of your force)

[andys]

Lex,

Thanks for the reply. When you say 60%, do you mean points or units, given that the BP for Brettonia is based on the number of Knight units?

[Stormwind]

You'll need a couple of trebuchet!  Where do you plan to source them from?

[andys]

The army list says only 1 trebuchet per army and at 150 points, you could get a unit of knights (increasing the BP) and peasants. Assuming peasants are of any use?

Edit: Hmm, with Knights always using initiative to charge, do you need fewer characters in a Brettonian army? If most of your units will just steam into combat, presumably you only need orders to get them into range? Or just stand until the enemy move into range. So a general, hero and sorceress should be enough for a 2000 point army? Or am I reading it wrong?

[Stormwind]

I completely misread the rules - I thought you HAD to have trebuchets! Sorry.

[Lex]

The army list says only 1 trebuchet per army and at 150 points, you could get a unit of knights (increasing the BP) and peasants. Assuming peasants are of any use?

Edit: Hmm, with Knights always using initiative to charge, do you need fewer characters in a Brettonian army? If most of your units will just steam into combat, presumably you only need orders to get them into range? Or just stand until the enemy move into range. So a general, hero and sorceress should be enough for a 2000 point army? Or am I reading it wrong?

You will need (cheap) infantry and squires to make sure your knight initiative when YOU want them too........
For 2k General, Hero & Damsel could be OK...  it kinda depends on the flexibility you want....

[jchaos79]

Vallejo colours are great quality and have a wide range of colours. Vallejo also have the Game Colors line, which are brighter and have pigments more intense, they are good also.

I have heard that Coat D'arms is the same pigment that citadel and half price. It is more than a rumour, but do not have coat d'arms so I could not verify by myself. If you are used to old citadel colors, maybe its worth giving a try to CoatD'arms.

You have pegasus (AC31) and unicorns (AC32) in pendraken accesories range.

About the points of the army... I recommend go for 2000 + 2000 of TB line arby figures    two armies of fantasy  and the possibility of playing Hattin if you want to ;P

[andys]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was having a root around yesterday and found a part-used can of Chaos Black spray paint! No idea how much is left in it. If it works, I'll probably use it to undercoat the characters when/if they arrive. Bought a few brushes and some superglue yesterday as well, so things are starting to move, albeit slowly.

The Coat D'arms paint look good. There's a games shop near me I'll visit next weekend (SWMBO permitting!), to see what paint ranges they do.

Does anyone know of anywhere in the UK that stocks TB line figures, or are they just a mail order outfit?

[spiritusXmachina]

Which army rules will you be using? Are Pegasus Knight Units an option? I would consider taking them (good flexibility and give BP).

I always found it more fun to use a good mix of infantry and cavalry with bretonnians. Nice thing is you can boldly order the non-BP-units forward to soften up the enemy and send in the knights afterwards to (hopefully) finish him. A good idea is to look for a breakpoint higher than the number of knights you use in a brigade (so that your opponent does not finish you by just wiping out one brigade).

And yes, you need a good number of commanders despite initiative. You will prefer to send your knights to exactly the point you want to the right time, won't you? Nothing worse than a brigade of knights caught on the wrong foot (and chance of that is much higher if you need to spread out your commanders too much).

[andys]

Useful tips spritus, thanks  .

As Pegasus Knights are a bit on the pricy side, sadly I don't think I'll be getting a unit. £21.60 plus postage for 3 bases/figures is too much for me. For that price, I could get 4 packs of basic Knights and 3 Knight command groups (57 figures total) from TB Line. If I only put 3 knights per base, (in "lance" formation?), that'd be 6 units of Knights plus 3 spare for characters.

Infantry will mostly be TB's European Heavy Infantry, with some Peasants and using European Light Infantry to pad out the Heavy units and provide command figures for the peasants. How many I'll get I haven't yet decided.

The GW characters I'd ordered arrived yesterday - ouch, I'd forgotten how small these things are 

[wellspring]

Useful tips spritus, thanks  .

As Pegasus Knights are a bit on the pricy side, sadly I don't think I'll be getting a unit. £21.60 plus postage for 3 bases/figures is too much for me. For that price, I could get 4 packs of basic Knights and 3 Knight command groups (57 figures total) from TB Line. If I only put 3 knights per base, (in "lance" formation?), that'd be 6 units of Knights plus 3 spare for characters.

Infantry will mostly be TB's European Heavy Infantry, with some Peasants and using European Light Infantry to pad out the Heavy units and provide command figures for the peasants. How many I'll get I haven't yet decided.

The GW characters I'd ordered arrived yesterday - ouch, I'd forgotten how small these things are 

One useful trick I've heard about is to do a conversion with HE giant eagle wings mounted onto conventional knights.

[Stormwind]

Some helpless maidens!
http://www.pendraken.co.uk/AC2-p5121/

And some wild unicorns!
http://www.pendraken.co.uk/AC31-p5150/

Shame that there's no picture of the maidens. =-/

Annnnd a trebuchet!  Not sure what to do for crewmen, though:

I've read people saying that Eureka has some Pegasus Knights.
http://www.oldgloryuk.com/disp_item.php?c=343&oc=4162

[kyussinchains]

Eureka definitely do Pegasus knights

Had it confirmed from them direct, currently you get a pack of 15 for $15AUD they're going to be officially released in 2-3 months, but you can order them now

I scratchbuilt me a trebuchet from matchsticks and GS, will sort a pic out soon, I'm planning on using the light inf and peasants and snipping a few weapons off for crewmen

Kallistra also do a trebuchet, which will probably be quite big and therefore fit the size of the bret one nicely

[Stormwind]

http://www.oldgloryuk.com/disp_item.php?c=343&oc=4160

Just realised OG do crewmen as well - Western and Saracen flavours.  No pictures but they're passable apparently.