The Bretonnian army offers two lord choices, the Bretonnian lord and the Lady`s Prophtess. This article will discuss all aspects, good and bad, concerning using a wizard lord in a Bretonnian army. This will be done in several chapters:

1. Purpose: why take the Prophtess, 2. General: Is the Prophtess fit to be the general, 3. Level: is it better to take level 3 or 4. Mount – which mount to choose, 5. Lore - Which lore to choose., 6. Magical items – suggestions on heirlooms., 7. Magic ressitance , 8. Miscasts – risks of high level wizzards

Purpose

It is tough choice, to give up the fighter lord, and take a wizard. There are few main reasons for this fact.

(A) Firstly you lower the army leadership to a maximum of 8, which the Bretonnian lord as a general would spread, and such a choice inflicts many consequences. Rally tests with musician will be done at a maximum of 9, terror tests at a maximum of 8 and this psychology deficit is the biggest downside of this choice.

(B) You loose the opportunity to have a virtue which the lord might take.

(C) You get a more fragile lord who can be easily hurt, instead of a lord who can endure great amount of hits.

All these arguments are well put, and no amount of tactic will erase them, but if you choose a wizard you make sacrifices on one hand, in order to gain benefits on the other. So by choosing the prophtess you gain: (a) An extra slot for a paladin, because the lord mage can produce the same amount of magical defense as two damsels. (b) You gain the opportunity to take extra arcane items, combined with all the scrolls Youre army will need. (c) The offensive magic, is greatly strengthened because the Prophtess can cast spells with 4 or 5 dices depending on level. (d) You gain the ability to use the lore of heavens which is an excellent tool if you want to stay far from the battle because spells do not require range.

When these elements are combined, they should make a clear picture in a generals head wether he wants, or doesn’t want to try out the power of magic over the power of steel.

General

Given into account how the Prophtess doesn’t  have superior leadership to the knights, there is no use making her the general. It would be a better idea to make one of the paladins a general so that the victory points get distributed more evenly, and this could perhaps take off some heat from the fragile prophtess from the enemy side, although such a scenario is not likely. The main prerequisite of using this lord choice is making sure she does not enter the battle.

Level

The choice between level three and level four should be pretty easy to make. A mere 35 point difference, makes a big difference in game: one more power dice and the possibility of casting spells with 5 dices, which is the main benefit of using the prophtess. Using a level three mage would be contradictory to the purpose of using the lord wizard.

Mount

There are three possibilities of mount choice: (A) No mount – On foot, (B) On a warhorse, (C) On a Royal Pegasus.

(ad A) A model which fights on foot has several benefits.( I.) The first benefit is that the mage has 360 deg. line of sight. This enables him to have good line of sight for casting.( II.) Also the small base size makes her easier to hide. ( III ) The next benefit is that she moves through terrain without any penalty to movement.. ( IV.) Also, if you have peasent infantry unit, you can use them to secure youre mage. Ofcourse this shelter is of limited security and it aplies only to those peasent units that arent endangered by enemy heavy units. ( V.) Last but not least, is the spell Bears Anger, the first spell of lore of beasts, which can only be cast on a US 1 model.

The bad part of this choice is that youre mage may get stranded, cut off from any of her troops, has smaller movement rate and could be trapped by a cunning flyer, fast cavalry or single lone enemy hero. Theese are the dangers that you have to watch for if you choose to take the wizzard without a mount.

(ad B) A model which fights on a warhorse, which should be barded, is likely and almost exlusivly destined to join a knights unit, which will now act as a guardian to the ladys emessery. She has the option to ride in the middle of the lance formation. With such a choice, she will be protected, but will have very limited offensive potency. Spells like Comet of Cassandora will work well, but many spells which have line of sight requirement, and Youre wizzard will loose the opportunity to cast them.

She can also ride in the first rank of the lance formation. This will enable her to cast very successfully, however it will hinder the offensive potency of the unit she has joined. A unit of 5 questing knights would be a perfect choice. The reason for this is that they re roll psyhology and will be able to cope with terror, panic and other tests that may come up, and hence are a better choice than Knights of the realm. They are a more adequate choice than Grail knights, because Grail knights, eventhough immune to all psyhology are far to strong to sit around guarding the mage.

There is also the possibility to use the sythesys of the two above mentioned, and switch the mages position within the unit.

A mage in the unit will also graant a good magic ressistance.

(ad C) A model mounted on a pegasus would be a very mobile unit. Ranges would no more be a problem, and the wizzard would have many options of hiding. However, one false move and the mage might be lost. As well as in previous options it is up to the army concept and the skill of the general to know the best how will he protect his mage best. The thing to keep in mind is: Mage shouldnt be in combat!

Lore

Besides the lore of life and beasts, which damsels can use, you can now use lore of heavens as well. As already mentioned, heavens is a great lore to harras the enemy from a safe distance, and can be quite destructive. Tow types of unlimited range magic missles, always usefull reroll spells, ward save against shooting and the destructive and elusive comet of Cassandora, make a great lore choice. Ofcourse, if you dont have a Falcon horn of Fredeemund in youre army, lore of beasts is the best choice to try to keep the large flyers at bay.

Magical Items

A hunderd points of magical items gives you a broad and creative opportunity range. There are great enchanted items which can benefit the whole army like the Falcon horn. As far as arcane items go, a model on foot could consider the Verdant heart. A peasent heavy list could consider a Prayer icon. And a cunning player could consider the silver mirror which in 7th edition has a potential to grant you half victory points for a hero enemy mage.

Regardless of the generals opinion, the Prophtess should carry 2+ scrolls.

Magic Ressistence

The unit which the prophtess joins will get the magic resistence, (2), i.e. one more than damsels. This is a valid reason to keep the Prophtess in the unit, but its not an apsolute element. If she servers you better wondering alone, she should do so.

Miscasts

Having a wizzard brings its problems. Casting with more dice will increase youre threat in magic phase but you can get burned with a miscast more easily. The general will know best when to risk and when not. On the contrary, you can also get an irrisistable force cast more easily also..

Conclussion

Having a wizzard lord is a challenging choice. It is also a risky choice. However it brings a new dimension and thrill to youre play, and an unexpected element against the opposing army. The wizzard is a fragile figure and the general must take great heed to preserving her, and not risking if possible going into combat with her. The goal of the article was to suggest some options, but the real tactic will grow proportionaly to the amount of games played with the list. In the end, suggestions, tactics and mathematics dont matter. Just wits and the dice.