My history of Warhammer - and Bretonnians!

When I first played Warhammer it was when the 5th Edition boxed set was the entry point into the game (Bretonnians vs. Lizardmen). I'd gone into Games Workshop in Norwich after seeing some lovely colourful miniatures in the window, but didn't really know what it was about. The GW staff were friendly and enthusiastic and offered to show me how the game worked. They had a large board which depicted a valley with some small woodlands dotted either side. I saw knights and archers and some evil lizard guys and thought it looked great!

The staff member suggested I play the knights and archers, while he would play the evil lizards. I was 10 years old and didn't use anything resembling tactics so I just charged my knights in while my archers didn't do a lot. My knights managed to defeat the monstrous lizard people with ease, and the cowardly things ran away and off the edge of the table. I suspect the staff member was going easy on me, but I know any better. I thought it was great!

I pestered my parents about Warhammer for quite a while, and my brother was interested too, so at some point (my memory is fuzzy here) they got us both the Warhammer 40k 3rd Edition starter set. I think we'd been in to get the starter set and saw they'd just released the big exciting 40k 3rd Edition box set - it came with super soldiers, evil aliens and a cool flying tank!

We ended up coming away with the 40k Starter Set, but a part of me still wanted those knights, so at some point in the future I got a £5 box of 2 plastic knights and a £5 box of archers too. I think I was getting £10/month pocket money by then, so you can see where it all went! I was a terrible painter, but thus started my love for the Bretonnian faction.

I didn't manage to do much with my Bretonnians until I went to high school and made a friend by asking the guy I was sitting next to "Do you play Warhammer??" seemingly at random. My friend (Daniel) had a talent for painting and modelling, and he worked very hard at making his armies impressive. I was less dedicated but I still loved the game. My Bretonnians fought games against his Empire army (my Bretonnians usually lost - damn artillery!), they also fought against his Chaos (and usually lost - damn daemonic armour!) and occasionally fought against another friend's (Adam) Goblin army (and usually lost - damn fanatics!). My lads did sometimes have backup from Adam's Wood Elf army, but I don't remember the results of the collaboration. I can only assume my knights died a lot as usual - I wasn't very good at tactics.

I ended up selling a lot of my warhammer at some point in my late teens, but for some reason I kept a few Bretonnians:

- A badly painted Knight of the Realm on foot.
- A badly painted Damsel on foot.
- 7 badly painted archers.
- 7 unpainted & untrimmed men-at-arms with spears.

Not much else survived the purge. Years later when I was getting back into warhammer I discovered these faithful troops again and decided that this time I would do it properly. I'd get a proper 5th Edition Bretonnian army together, and I'd actually paint it this time. I touched up the paintjobs on the existing models I had, but didn't want to change them too much - so they're not the best looking models. Then I set about replacing my erstwhile troops, and getting the other troops I always wanted.

I've now got a decently sized Bretonnian army, although I haven't finished painting it all yet. Most are 5th Edition miniatures, but there's some suitable models from other manufacturers too. Some FireForge sergeants, which I'll be using as skirmisher variants of standard men-at-arms, and Fireforge foot knights too, which I'll use to represent knights who have dismounted from their horses.

There's also a block of metal halberdiers which look very classic Bretonnian, but I'm pretty sure aren't GW models. I need to get these identified at some point.

The entire army. A lot of them are eBay purchases which were part-painted, but some are my originals from when I was a young knight-errant!

The army's heroes. These are both models I bought back in 1999 or so. They were some of the few models I'd actually bothered to paint back then, so in honour of that I decided to neaten them up and apply some washes, but otherwise keep them the same. 

Foot knights made from the Teutonic Infantry box from Fireforge Games. I'm going to paint each knight with their own heraldry and colours.

Foot Sergeants from the same box. For WFB I will be using these as loose skirmisher versions of regular men-at-arms. These soldiers will be painted in red & blue to match one of my groups of archers.

Foot Sergeants with crossbows from the same box. I'll use these as armoured skirmisher versions of regular bowmen probably. I'll paint these in green & brown.

Unknown halberdiers. They definitely look the part but I can't find any reference to these being genuine Bretonnian sculpts so I think it must be another company. They do look a lot like Michael Perry's style though.

A group of 15 Bretonnian men-at-arms I got on eBay recently. I'm going to keep the original colour scheme but they need quite a bit of work before they're ready for battle.

A herald/courtier painted by my partner Laura. He will probably be useful for objectives.

Another Fireforge skirmisher group. I need to add something to the shields but otherwise these are finished. I wanted this group to be an elite special forces squad who perform recon/scouting operations. Maybe a bit advanced for Bretonnia but I'm sure the Wood Elves will have taught them something.

These are my original men-at-arms from the 90s. I recently painted them, but have yet to base them (and I need to do a flag for the standard bearer). I'm thinking of taking 3 of the red & black spearmen and repainting them to match these guys. That way I will have a unit of 10 and a unit of 12 instead of 7 and 15.

14 Bretonnian bowmen acquired from eBay. I've sorted out half of them so far (mostly just through the liberal use of washes!).

The painted models and the musician are some of my surviving original Bretonnians. I got the others from eBay to make this a complete unit of 10 archers.

The musician in the centre was a gift from my friend Rick. Lots of painting to be done here!

I managed to get two mounted squires on eBay for a reasonable price, and they're very nicely painted too! I'm hoping to get a third at some point to give them some company.

Another group of 10 bowmen, also from eBay. Once again I've managed to spruce up a few of them, but there's still work to be done.

The second group of knights of the realm. All of these need painting/repainting.

My main group of 10 knights of the realm. The three command knights were bought already painted on eBay and are pretty decent, although there are some chips in need of painting over. Two of the painted regular knights were a gift from Rick and are well painted too, so I'll just make some minimal adjustments to those. The final 5 are fresh off the sprue and built.

As you can see, there's a lot of work to be done, and only 1 of the units is really battle ready, but quite a few aren't far off, so I'll have finished a small army soon enough.

D&D Heroes

I recently did a commission to paint a set of D&D heroes. It took about 12 hours altogether, and I have mixed feelings about the results. One of the requests was for a black & white pin-striped cloak, so I had to do some freehand on a model which I found quite awkward.

I'm fairly pleased with the end result of the models, but I can see lots of little details which I would've preferred to spend more time on. I was charging by the hour though and didn't want to charge too much in the end so had to cut some areas short. The miniatures are all from the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniature range as far as I can tell, and I really don't enjoy working with that material. The models are a soft flexible plastic and a lot of the parts are quite small and not very well defined. The miniatures do have good poses but they often make it hard to get your brush in where you need it.

As I finished each model, I decided to pose it in a little scene to show to the client:

Here are the finished models altogether (picture taken by the group after they received the models):

The wolf was painted by my partner, Laura and thrown in as a freebie.

Warhammer Fantasy Campaign - Mission 4

Laura and I played mission 4 of our ongoing Warhammer Fantasy campaign over the weekend. I decided to run a more RPG like mission this time, as the last one (Ambush at Schlüsselschloss) was very much standard WHFB regimental combat.

Captain Forlania's Wood Elf army is camped near the Teufel and is about a day's ride from Ubersreik - Forlania is tasked with meeting a Witch Hunter there, in hopes of recruiting him.

However, during the night a scout came to her with worrying information. The Weave is being disrupted in the nearby woods, and something is corrupting the wildlife in the area. This scout has determined that an abandoned house by the river seems to be the central point of the corruption.

Forlania and the scout set off to investigate straight away. Captain Reinhardt, friend of Forlania and erstwhile leader of the Catalan Company, insisted on accompanying her: "You never know when you might need a strong swordsman by your side. No offence to yer scout there.".

The House by the River

The adventurers arrive at the edge of the wood.

The wood is strangely quiet, save for the cold wind howling through the night.

"Captain, the house is just South of here, next to the river."

The river shimmers silver from the moonlight.

The house shows no signs of life.

The scout points out some other points of interest in the area.

"Some old human ruin is in the woods nearby. It looks like goblins have set up a camp in it." says the scout.

"Ruins of the Unberogen tribe, they'll be." Reinhardt nods, then adds "There's usually buried treasure around them."

"There's an ancient Waystone on the hill. We should investigate it if we have time. We might be able to speak to the Council of Ages through it."

The heroes discuss their options and decide where to go.

Reinhardt heads straight to the Unberogen ruins, with Forlania and the scout moving to cover him from within the forest.

Strange noises can be heard coming from the ruins.

As the adventurers approach, they spot a small group of goblins squabbling over something!

"Gimme the fing!" snarls one of them, one hand outstretched and the other clutching a large staff.

"Wot are dey arguin' about?"

"Dunno. Some good eatin' around 'ere though. Ground's propa squishy, gets the worms right out."

"You squashed a juicy one you stupid git!"

"Dis cutta is mine, boss! I found its myself!"

Suddenly, an arrow whistles through the woods and impales the shaman! He's wounded, but not dead.

Reinhardt presses forward, shield raised.

"We's under attack! Drop those worms, let's go!"

"Humies in the wood! Git 'em!"

"Come here you bleeding greenskins, have a taste of Imperial steel!"

Reinhardt engages the goblins. He shield-bashes one in the throat, crushing its windpipe and leaving it choking on the floor.

The shaman starts casting a devious spell whilst Reinhardt thrusts his blade through the second goblin's stomach.

Forlania approaches a tree and begins chanting, speaking to the Weave and imploring assistance from the forest.

A dryad forms out of the bark and shambles forth.

The shaman's spell fizzles and it stamps its feet angrily. Meanwhile Reinhardt heroically sprints up the steps and engages the greenskin leader in a duel.

One of the goblins sneaks its way through the wood and faces off with the Wood Elf scout.

The dryad has more important prey to deal with, and stalks off deeper into the wood.

The goblins are eventually slain, and a coffer of Unberogen gold is recovered. Also, a magical sword with glowing orange runes is found. This appears to be what the goblins were squabbling over. Forlania gifts it to Reinhardt, and he's very chuffed with the acquisition.

With the goblins dealt with. Forlania approaches the Waystone, and finds a High Elf mage studying it. The mage, Larien Starglaive, is wary of strangers in these evil woods. He challenges Forlania to impress him with her knowledge of history - his reasoning is that only those who care about history should be allowed to approach such ancient wonders.

Forlania passes the test, and Larien is so impressed that he offers to join her coterie, so long as he is given interesting curios to study.

Forlania uses the Waystone to speak to the Council of Ages, and through their wisdom she learns more of her magical Bow of Loren, unlocking more of its potential.

The house beckons.

The adventurers approach the house.

Forlania enters and finds a wraith within, it's tearing through the cupboard, searching madly for something.

The wraith had turned on her malevolently, and she slew it with a shot from her bow. However, as soon as she had done so, the living dead began to rise from the earth around the house!

The skeletons quickly grab garden tools and rusty weapons and attack the party.

Reinhardt bravely charges a skeleton, and the dryad begins slashing another apart.

Larien utters words to the heavens, and a burst of fork lightning strikes one of the skeletons, fusing its bones into a charred heap!

The skeletons were eventually defeated, but the wraith appeared again, moments later! Forlania managed to slay it again, but suspected that it would continue to form again unless something was done.

The party searched the house and found body parts scattered around. A dismembered head beneath the bed sheets, an arm inside the cupboard, a leg inside the outhouse... the parts all combined to form a complete corpse. Reinhardt suggested the body be buried, in the Reikland manner.

"Morr will not 'ave him like that, parts of 'im in the reprieve an' all." Reinhardt stated. "He'll need to be laid to rest, proper like. Naw not like that. I'll show you how."

With Reinhardt performing the final rites over the corpse, the wraith finally departed, ready to meet Morr and leave this world in peace.

With the wraith exorcised, the woodland felt more alive already. Some night insects could be heard, and the dryad formed back into it's tree, satisifed that the woodland was safe from foul magicks once more.