New to Britonnia

[Stephen]

I have been playing 40k for a while and now got back into warhammer. I just got a new army, Britonnians, and was wondering if anyone had some advice on playing them. Thanks.

[stonecutter]

I have played Bretonnians for several years since they were my first army and I have about a dozen games in 8th edition with them. Here are some general hints on army design and use based on my experience thus far:

Composition:

I love peasants since someone has to clean up the horse hooey and it certainly won't be knights!! That being the case, I generally aim for about a 2:1 ratio of peasants to knights. The archers are fantastic for their price and the defensive barricade stops the first cannon shot that hits it. The men at arms need to be fielded in a unit of ~30 so that they can have enough ranks to remove an opponent's steadfast when they are combo hit with a lance of knights. The main problem is the number of active wounds the peasants will give up against elite troops so try to have them come in on a flank or as few as possible in contact.

Trebuchet - arguably the best stone thrower in the game since it is S5 vice S3, has 4 wounds vice 3 and costs only 90 points so you can field 2 of them.

The lances of knights should be at least 9 with characters in them. This will give you enough to negate enemy ranks if you hit a flank and have a very effective charge with lots of attacks.

Grail knights - expensive but the only elite unit in the army

questing knights - I still use them but striking last really ruins their day.

pegasus knights - best flying cav in the game and able to take on war machines of missile troops. A unit of 3-5 is almost a must. Now that they have vanguard move, they can actually charge on your turn 1 unless your opponent is wily and lets you have first turn!!

knights of realm/errant - very similar and the size needs to be larger than for grails to give them more ranks/attacks and the lower WS makes them less likely to hit.

Grail relique - twice the cost of men at arms and not worth it since the bigger M@A will be stubborn anyhow with more ranks.

Characters - 4th level prophetess is a must in 8th for the magic defence and you can tool a lord choice into a very choppy character using the various magic items and virtues. The lore of life is also amazing for your wizard. Give your BSB either the dawnstone or gromil great helm to increase his survivability.

Tactics:

You can make an all knight list with large lances (15+ with characters) but I prefer 3-4 lances with 9+ each. Since you will always be praying for the blessing, keep this in mind during deployment.

Use the longbows to weaken your opponent, grind down missile troops or war machines/monsters (with 50+ shots in my army, I have to roll 6s eventually!). Trebuchets work wonders on the tougher opponents and large blocks of infantry.

If you can charge in with a big enough lance to deny steadfast to your opponent, you can do so. For bigger units, it is best to use a combination of M@A and knights. If the knights ever get bogged down, they will likely lose combat as they are not very good in combat in rounds that they haven't charged. With multiple lances and fast movement, you should be able to get into a flank charge position with at least one unit of knights and this is generally the ideal way to hit the opponent - a lance over the front and another from a flank. With 16" move, you can even start from either board edge and move in toward the centre in a 6 turn game.

Well, that should be enough to get you started. Hope to see you out on Thursday nights to get in some practice.

[Jack Shrapnel]

Hey thanks as well for this Frank....

since I'll be fielding Brets for the first time tonight as well....

[stonecutter]

No problemo. I'll have my woodies with me tonight (and the reinforcing bret peasant archers standing in as glade guard!!).

[Jack Shrapnel]

....lol... peasants can only WISH to be as good as glade guard! (but hey, at least they're half the points!)