Welcome to the Round Table of Bretonnia!

A Brief History of the Glorious Realm that is Bretonnia
By Viscompte AdamG

Bretonnia is a long established realm in Warhammer.

It’s first inklings were seen in 1^st Edition, published under the title of “Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Massed Combat Rules” in 1984. (Happy 22^nd birthday!). It was combined with what was to become The Empire, as “Men of the West”.

The fluff notes that “Men of the West live in well ordered communities” also passing comment on the nobility being “Valiant, chivalrous, cultured and bigoted” All obvious characteristics of Bretonnia! Troop types available were (Foot) Knights, Men at Arms, Bowmen, Crossbowmen, Light Infantry, Peasants and mounted Knights and MAA. Tactics were noted as being “To get the armoured knights into battle asap” What more obvious characteristic of Bretonnian tactics could there be? Heraldry is also quoted as being strict & colourful, knights “Always bearing their own badge or arms”

To the shame of GW, our beloved Bretonnia vanished in 2^nd Edition. The original “Ravening Hordes” army lists of 1987  had The Empire, Nippon and Norse as distinct human races. Bretonnia did appear in WHFRP rules of 1986, our major cities of Anguile, Bordeleaux (Oo-er missus! What were our GW “heroes” thinking of?), Brionne, Couronne, Gisoreaux, Parravon (described as “Mysterious… where death stalks the night-time streets”, Quennelles and “…thrice-accursed Moussillon” were described.
Moussillon may have been the “blackest”, but the others were little better than islands of beauty in a sea of disease and corruption, the taint of Chaos working its insidious ends!
Our nobility were debauched and selfish, carrying for nothing but where and when the next goblet of fine wine, joint of meat or whore were to come from!
These fine cities were a complete contrast to the countryside, being run by corrupt, embezzling officials. The King who presided over this miasma was Charles de la Tete d’Or III.

It’s only when WHFB v3 is launched, that Bretonnia again flowers and in its full glory!

It’s noted that “All over the Old World, Knights look to Bretonnia as a model of chivalry and knightly virtue” Knights were always ready to charge, too ready possibly! Infantry were looked down upon, not just due to knights being mounted on their lofty mounts and surveying their realms from a high battlement.
The army displayed a marked difference between the richly bedecked nobility and the sack-cloth clad peasantry. In-between, the city militia might have worn tunics bearing the heraldry of their town or city.
Nobility were divided into Duc, Compte, Viscompte, Marquis and Baron, with “levels” of 25, 20, 15, 10 &5 respectively. Wizardry were similarly split in Maitre Mysterieux, Grand Sorcier, Enchantier, Charmier and Amorcieux. (None of this girly-magic here, such creatures would be doubtless looked upon as “witches” and treated accordingly!
Knights were divided into four divisions. At the top of the tree, as “Personal friends and supporters of the King” were the Chevaliers d’Honneur, the equivalents of today’s Grail Knights, possibly even rarer! Next came Chevaliers de Notre Damme de Bataille, a class of knight without equivalent in WHFB v6. Noblesse d’Epee dropped in next, noted as being “Warrior Knights from the rural provinces”, thus direct equivalents of the Knight of the Realm. At the bottom of the heap, were Chevaliers Rampant, “Young knights looking to make a reputation” – obviously Knights Errant!

The riff-raff were headed up by Chasseurs de la Mort, mounted MAA, equivalent to current Squires. The foot-slogging commoners were split between the peasantry and townsfolk. The latter were lead by the Villains, who were the local militia, with support from Ribbalds, recruited from knightly households and Arblasters, with their crossbows, who hailed from both town and countryside. The latter weapon was banished to the Empire subsequently.

The peasantry had an elite (if any such filth-covered scum could be covered as “elite”) who were the Rapscallions, these had “The presence of mind to bring bows”. The complete scum, were the Rascals, “scum of the lowest order”. Support came from Brigands, “Fighting ruffians who eagerly join Bretonnian armies during warfare” As to what they did the rest of their time, it’s anyone’s guess! A few units of Arbalastiers, Brigands or Rapscallions could also skirmish.

The army, like many others, could have a War Altar, containing “The bones of a revered individual”, so much like the current Grail Reliquae, but without the distasteful visible parading of these sacred mortal remains by grubby, disease-ridden, mentally unstable degenerates that has been spawned by the unclean mind of the heretic Reynolds! The War Altars were carried by 2-5 “Religious Fanatics, who would defend the altar with their lives and were immune to all psychology and rout tests if within 6” of the altar. Friendly troops within 12” added +1 to their hand to hand combat scores and a +2 to their Leadership scores. If the altar should be captured or desecrated, then all friendly units within 12” had to take a rout test. It could also be mounted upon a cart to speed its movement amongst the adoring masses.

One marked difference from v6, came with the ability of proud Bretonnia, to sully its colours with both the hiring of mercenaries and pleading for “allies” to aid the cause. The concept being that these Allies could watch on and applaud the Bretonnian nobilities’ prowess of arms and even join in - as long as they don’t steal too much of the glory!, whilst the sell-swords could compensate for the derisory fighting abilities of the Rascals. These scum, especially the mercenaries, included not just gold-hungry Dwarfs and other races of men, but even such degenerate races as Ogres and Half-Orcs. Those who claimed to be allies of Bretonnia, were Wood Elves, Old Worlders (i.e. Empire) and Halflings. The motives of these races must be considered at least suspect! The Halflings looking after their waistlines and the others, their own inglorious realms - if not their own pockets and purses.

Another complete anathema for the v6 Bretonnian general would be the inclusion of “L’Ordinance”, yes cannon in our ranks! Up to 4 of these field pieces could be taken, manned by a body of the King’s own servants. (It doesn’t do to hand control of such powerful weapons over to potential usurpers!)

A wizard in the Grand Army of Bretonnia could bind a “Monstrous Host”, these included dragons, various giant amphibians and swarms of frogs etc.

One oddity, that all armies in v3 could take, was a Baggage Train, one cart and 5 followers per 1000pts of army. Interesting modelling ideas here, especially for those of us with extensive collections of old Citadel D&D type models of villagers (Oh, C46 Villagers and Townsfolk, a glorious and much missed range)
The rules for v3 included both a version of the Lance, which could penetrate ranks and potentially completely pass through and disrupt the unit it attacked, and the Arrowhead for archers, allowing more of the unit to shoot. 

So, what did a v3 Bretonnian army look like? The marvellously illustrated “Warhammer Armies” book, that contained all v3 armies, allies and mercenaries in one tome (Would but such a tome make a reappearance), has a proud (if in need of a wash, shave and haircut) Dave Andrews, hovering behind a mighty 3000pt Bretonnian force. (3000pts being the normal army size for v3)

Bretonnia had an enormous pantheon of heroes and heroines, 14 in all! Our glorious King Louen headed the list, upon his Hippogriff, wearing the Crown of Bretonnia, Armour of Brilliance, Tabard of Kings and wielding the mighty Lion lance. The Green Knight put in his first fearsome appearance too. Supporting characters included Repanse de Lionesse, waiving the Fleur de Lys banner and brandishing the Sword of Lyonesse. Her maidenly aura striking fear into the enemies’ ranks! Strange heroes abounded, the double act of Baron Odo d’Outremer with his retainer Suliman le Saracen, with the Morning Star of Fracasse making its first appearance. Tristran le Troubadour sang his way across the Realm, with his jester Jules Jongleur’s biting wit assailing our enemies.
The peasantry had their own heroic characters, with Bertrand the Brigand and support from Hugo le Petit and Gui Gross to lead the famed Bowmen of Bergerac. Any resemblance to that mythical character Robin Hood, being pure coincidence!

The Fay Enchantress appeared under the guise of Morgiana le Fay, riding her unicorn, bestowing favours upon a worthy knight. Beware all enemies of her Spiteful Glance, lest you are turned into a frog! She had her own deck of spell cards, the other Bretonnian Wizards making do with Battle Magic along with other human magi.

The overall composition of a 4^th/5^th edition Bretonnian army differed little from that of the 6^th, if the structuring differed somewhat. The four major Knightly groups were present, but with Grail and also Questing being limited to one each per army, with a General as a must and an Army Standard Bearer may have been taken too. Peasantry were represented by Squires, either mounted or on foot (the latter skirmished) and Men at Arms and Bowmen. Pegasus Knights were absent, the Pegasus being reserved as a mount for heroes and wizards. War machines were barred from the army, but monsters could be taken. Allies from the races of  Wood or High Elves, Dwarves or Empire could be taken too.

Rather than the sections of “Common”, “Special” and “Rare”, there were percentage restrictions, up to 75% on characters, at least 25% knights, up to 50% commoners and up to 25% monsters and 25% on allies.
The Lady could grant her Blessing upon our Knights, making those who’d cowardly try to shoot at our brave nobility, fail if they rolled 3 or less. Not much help against that frothing horde of followers of Khorne!
Virtues appeared too, aiding Knights to fight their foes. The Knights fought in the original “Lance”, very powerful, having no flanks to attack, making it very difficult to counter-attack. Archers used the “Arrowhead”, enabling more of the unit to fire. Again they lacked flanks and like the “Lance” had ranks’ bonuses for each full one behind the single model in the van. Thus a unit of 10 would get a full +3 CR, whereas a normal unit would need a full 16 models to achieve this. All knights carried lances and any unit of Knights of the Realm could have a magic standard too.

So, our current proud knights share many similarities with those of the past.