Reign of the Lichemaster: Dead Bretonnians

 

Duc Tancred II of Quenelles rushed to the relief of La Maisontaal... according to the rehash of the Citadel Journal scenario published in Warhammer Chronicles. Unfortunately he and his Bretonnian contingent were also soundly thrashed by the unstoppable might of the Lichemaster and now serve him in undeath. According to my research blue and white is the 'canon' colour scheme for Tancred's forces. Though the pegasus head I have not adopted, opting instead for a classic fleur de lys motif- defaced with Kemler's orange spider/crab mark.

Mostly Heartbreaker (from their Fantasy Armies Packs range) undead archers with a few RAFM and the Fenryll champion (displaced from Krell's chariot) make up the 'more armoured' archer unit. 

Mostly classic Citadel plastic skeletons with a few RAFM and some Mantic heads make up the 'unarmoured' archer unit. Lead by a Celtos (Brigade Models) miniature.

In death all are equal... and so the elite foot knights have been crammed into a unit alongside regular peasant levy. They have crowded together at the front at least!

Celtos (Brigade Models)

More Celtos

A couple of classic plastics with 5th ed skeleton ram heads, drum from an empire model and 'beater' from (I think) a 6th ed regiment set

Heartbreaker (two different ranges), Grenadier, RAFM and Dark Arts Studio

Classic Citadel

It feels like a Bretonnian force would include a fair number of men at arms with polearms so there are two large spear units. A very mixed unit of spearmen with some light armour and shields...

Mantic plastics. They were cheap so I thought I would check them out. Not a fan really, but they make ok rear rank troops for variation.

RAFM and Heartbreaker. I think these older Hearthbreaker sculpts are now available through North Star.

Hooray! More Celtos

And more Celtos

And yet more Celtos

...and just regular spear skellies. Yet more Celtos! Yes, I did score a job-lot of cheap Celtos skeletons... but I also love them very much and would have bought them new (but perhaps not so many!) had I not been able to pick up the bundle. They're mostly just bone and metal so can be really quick to paint, especially if you daub Modelmates Rust on instead of painting the metal as I have done. I did balance this out with quite a bit of highlighting though.

Some RAFM crept into the middle to bulk out the unit. Their stance is so wide that it was better to put 3 on a 40x40 base rather than try to fit them on 20mm squares!

And the chariots. I guess Bretonnians are not fabled for their chariots? But since these are made of bone they were probably raised by Kemler from some remains of giant oxen preserved in the La Maisontaal vaults and men at arms delegated to crew them. The first plastic kit I ever got was a skeleton chariot (long after the awesome Skeleton Horde box had been discontinued) and I remember it being such a pain to stick together. I love the kit, but even with years of practice it is still a pain to keep assembled and fell apart several times whilst painting! Not helped by the substitution of some metal parts it must be said. These were picked up in a lot of broken skeletons so have had some mending and alterations to get them back on the road.

Alternative Armies chariot driver. A RPE skull (I do love them so!) replaces a lost plastic head on the archer.

Machineries of Destruction steeds replace the plastics for variation. The two-headed, three-armed skeleton was like that in the job lot so I kept him.

Head plate from the Black Coach to add some variation to the plastic horse. Mix of Skeleton Horde and 5th ed plastics in the crew, but not too noticeable I think.

Last but not least, Tancred himself and his contingent of knights. Tancred is a Ral Partha rider but I didn't like his horse, I believe that's a Grenadier one he's riding? Could be wrong. He has an attendant wizard (probably Jade judging by the scythe?) and two champions. At some point I may do a Tancred on a pegasus as he is represented in the Warhammer Chronicles book, Grenadier have a half-decent one but it's not quite right... A project for the future, maybe. Between them these heroes will lead a unit of knights and one of mounted men at arms.

Citadel (and a Mantic) on lovely Essex (now available just as horses) and a RAFM steed

Citadel and RAFM (and Mantic) on Citadel, RAFM and Essex steeds

Classic Skeleton Horde undead horsemen joined by later Citadel riders on Esex and Citadel steeds

RAFM on RAFM and Essex steeds

One more to go next week!

Reign of the Lichemaster: Dead Bretonnians