Warhammer The Old World – Expanding on the Bretonnian Starter Box

The launch boxes for Warhammer The Old World both include a 1250pt army list to get your playing as soon as possible, but we all know that we’ll want to add stuff to the army on release and get playing at bigger points levels. With that in mind I’m going to take you through some options to increase the 1250pt list included in that box up to the 2000pt mark with models which are either coming on the release weekend or we know won’t be a million miles off.

Thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Bretonnian Starter Box

So where’s the best place to start? In my opinion it’s with the 1250pt (1249) list included in the box which is shown below;

Duke Gastille of Brionne – Duke, Lance, Shield, Royal Pegasus, Heavy Armour, Virtue of the Joust (259)

Bors Dufort’s Knights – 6 Knights of the Realm inc Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Errantry Banner (195)

Rolande De Grasse’s Knights – 6 Knights of the Realm inc Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner (190)

Calrad Le Bouffe’s Pegasus Knights – 3 Pegasus Knights inc Champion (172)

Odo Michaud’s Billmen – 18 Men-at-Arms inc Champion, Grail Monk, Musician, Standard Bearer with a Blessed Triptych (121)

Torman Deniaud’s Billmen – 18 Men-at-Arms inc Champion, Grail Monk, Musician, Standard Bearer with a Blessed Triptych (121)

Guillaume Le Veneure’s Archers – 24 Peasant Bowmen, inc Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Defensive Stakes & Burning Braizers (191)

Now we know what we’re working with, let’s see what we can do to improve on the list in the box shall we? I’m a big fan of keeping my hardest hitting models alive long enough to do damage and Gastille has a 100pt limit for magic items which is currently untouched. With that in mind I’m going to reccomend we take the Gromril Great Helm from the Forces of Fantasy book for 40pts. This allows Gastille to add an additional +1 to his armour save (taking him to the cap of 2+) also to reroll any natural 1 when making an armour save roll. This will make him all but immune to small arms fire and provide a little extra protection against War Machines (where the AP value usually caps at around -3) making it real value for it’s points cost.

Moving onto the rest of the list, what it encourages is a hammer and anvil playstyle with 3 blocks of peasants so lets lean into that a little shall we? Lets add in something for those peasants to protect apart from themselves, taking a Field Trebuchet for a nice round 100pts. This gives a really solid foundation to the army and gives you a nice big model to paint up towards the end of the project with the Field Trebuchet‘s release hopefully coming soon.

The armies of Bretonnia wouldn’t be the same without a Paladin carrying the Battle Standard to war. This is an upgrade given to Bretonnia for free where, most other armies have to pay points to fly the standard. The big decision here is what role you want your Battle Standard to take as you’re allowed to keep your Paladin on foot or mount him on either a Bretonnian Warhorse, Barded Pegasus or a prized Royal Pegasus. While the mounted varients are all good the new model on foot might be my favourite model in the range apart from Elise Duchard, so I’m going to recommend him. First he can help keep your Peasantry in line and he can also lead the unit of Foot Knights we’re going to add into the army. The Paladin costs 60pts while his Shield is another 2. We’re also going to give him the Virtue of the Impetuous Knight for 45pts which along with the Impetuous Special Rule also gives him and his unit an additional D3″ on their charge allowing him to get those Movement 4 Knights into combat easier. I’m also going to reccomend we equip him with a magical weapon called the Sword of Might for 20pts which will give him a little extra punch while using his Shield to keep himself alive. This brings his total to 127pts, a little expensive but he brings a lot to the army so it’s worth stomaching.

Next I mentioned the Knights of the Realm on Foot and we’re going to go big here with a chunky unit of 14 arrayed in a 7×2 formation. These are going to be a mix of a Hammer and Anvil unit but allow us a little flexibility which is great as the other units tend to fall into one of the two categories only. 14 of these with additional Great Weapons (so I can either use the Great Weapon or the Shield in combat) come to 182pts and adding command in is another 18 points. These similar to the Pegasus Knights also come with Furious Charge rule granting an additional Attack on the charge and will allow them to strike fear into the heart of the enemy with their I4 Great Weapon Attacks on the Charge.

Magic is such a key part of The Old World and Warhammer life and we’re going to look to take an a character who can make the most of this and channel the winds of magic to her command. I’m going to recommend a more experienced Handmaiden of the Lady in the form of a Prophetess for 135pts who’s going to be taking the Level 4 upgrade for an additional 30pts taking her to 165. Elementalism is my go to Lore when it’s available, and luckily this can be taken by the Handmaidens of the Lady. Due to the new character protection rules in Warhammer The Old World, she can start the game in the unit of Knights of the Realm on Foot before escaping a turn prior to combat, and going and standing near the Bowmen. In addition if she doesn’t have time to get out then she can take advantage of the Shield of the Lady rule and move to outside the fighting rank for protection while still boosting the unit. We’re going to equip her with the Prayer Icon of Quenelles allowing her to dispel from an additional 3″ meaning she can still meddle with  enemy Lv3/4 wizards while being out of range to be affected by their attempts to dispel, something a canny general an certainly benefit from. In addition, this also grants an additional +1 to dispel enemy Hex spells. This nifty little trinket comes in at a steal only costing 25pts. This brings her total to 190pts, leaving us with ~100 points left.

I’m a big fan of having some additional models to annoy my opponents forces which can be sacrificed if needed and the Bretonnian Army has a few options for this and how you choose to spend the points might be more a case of what models you have open to you rather than what is technically the best choice.

1. For 35pts you can pick up 5 Squires who can be further upgraded to have the Scouting Special Rule for 1pt a model. This would mean you could take 2 units of Squires with this upgrade to pepper the enemy and provide cover for your troops by just getting in the way.
2. If you want more archers then for 50 points you can take a full 10 man unit of Peasant Bowmen, these can also be upgraded to have the Skirmish Special Rule allowing them to move around the battlefield quicker. Two of these units are a great addition to the army and while not as great as the Squires (who have the Vanguard rule as standard allowing them to move forward before the game starts). This will set you back 100pts for the pair. We can be sure these models are coming at some point but unless you pick them up from a second starter box they might prove a little difficult to lay your hands on for now.
3. The final choice for this is something which is know is getting a set of models on release day in the form of the Mounted Yeoman. At 13pts per model (before any upgrades) these are the most expensive of the options and as a result you’re only going to be able to get 1 unit of these. 6 or 7 are still cheap enough to be concidered throw away at well under 100pts but are something which can threaten enemy light troops or war machines in their back ranks if you’re able to get through the Battleline. In addition the Feigned Flight upgrade at 2pts a model allows them to auto rally after fleeing a charge letting them get back into the battle faster. 15pts with this upgrade is a great little bargain and 6 of them will make a nice addition to the army available on release weekend. This leaves us with a few points left, not enough for anything major so we might as well pick up Shields for the unit to eat up the last few points for a small bonus.

This gives us the following list with one of 3 options at the end.

Duke Gastille of Brionne – Duke, Lance, Shield, Royal Pegasus, Heavy Armour, Virtue of the Joust, Gromril Great Helm (309)

Catoineine le Ruse – Prophetess, Level 4, Prayer Icon of Quenellas (190)

Guarin le Petit – Paladin, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, Sword of Might, Virtue of the Impetuous Knight (127)

Bors Dufort’s Knights – 6 Knights of the Realm inc Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Errantry Banner (195)

Rolande De Grasse’s Knights – 6 Knights of the Realm inc Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner (190)

Bedivaude Guretcoeur’s Knights – 14 Knights of the Realm on Foot, Great Weapons, Shields, Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer (182)

Calrad Le Bouffe’s Pegasus Knights – 3 Pegasus Knights inc Champion (172)

Odo Michaud’s Billmen – 18 Men-at-Arms inc Champion, Grail Monk, Musician, Standard Bearer with a Blessed Triptych (121)

Torman Deniaud’s Billmen – 18 Men-at-Arms inc Champion, Grail Monk, Musician, Standard Bearer with a Blessed Triptych (121)

Guillaume Le Veneure’s Archers – 24 Peasant Bowmen, inc Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, Defensive Stakes & Burning Braizers (191)

Vieux Fiable – Field Trebuchet (100)

The one of the following 3;

1. Maldruin d’Ardes Troupe, & Jerrod de Chinon’s Troupe – 2×6 Squires, Scouting Upgrade (48, 48)
2. Merevand Belettebarbe’s Billmen & Gornuerret de Gaudillelles Billmen – 2x10 Peasant Bowmen, Skirmishing (50, 50)
3. Bors Pouletteur’s Riders – 6 Mounted Yeomen, Shields, Feigned Flight (96)

There we have it, a completed 2000pt Bretonnian Army list. All these come close to 2000pts and should be able to be completed within the next couple of months as Games Workshop release the rest of the ranges. This isn’t at all meant to be a “build this list” article but something which could easily give you ideas or inspire you to build up your own force with some of the idea’s presented within it.

Just remember to make sure you Pray to the Lady before battle and have a solid footing to build from in battle and you’ll be fine taking your first steps into the Old World at larger points levels.