Filippo's wrap up post

 "I give my body, heart and soul, to the Lady whom I seek. No plea for help shall find me wanting. No obstacle will stand before me. No evil will taint the lands bequeathed unto me. When the clarion call is sounded, I will ride out and fight in the name of Liege and Lady. That which is sacrament, I shall preserve. That which is sublime, I will protect. That which threatens, I will destroy, for my holy wrath will know no bounds. Honour is all. Chivalry is all. Rejoice, for we, the Knights of Bretonnia... will be your shield."

Six month has passed, and from this pile of shame something good has emerged

Even though I didn’t manage to finish all the models I had hoped to complete, in the end I’m very satisfied with the result.

The unit of Squires stayed the same, but over the last month I’ve put together and almost finished a good number of models that I hope to add to the collection soon: about a dozen knights, several heroes, more Men‑at‑arms, and an impossible amount of archers. I even managed to buy Louen Leoncoeur and the General on Pegasus still sealed in the box from some a friend. I’m almost afraid to open them.

The updated list now includes:

1 General of Bretonnia (172 points) 1 Hero (74 points) 1 Sorcerer (56 points) - New Entry! 5 Knights of the Realm (204 points) 5 Errant Knights (176 points) 10 Bowmen (145 points) 10 Squires (124 points) 10 Men‑at‑arms (145 points)

In the last few months we’ve had the chance to dust off and play a lot of 6th edition. The Combat Patrol format has brought in tons of people, both old and new players. I played the Bretonnia list twice, and I even managed to win a game! I was more surprised than my opponent.

(photo shooting by my six‑year‑old son, who wanted to take pictures of the knights because “dad, they’re so cool!, but will you give them to me afterwards?”)

The pile of shame has shamefully grown… who knows what I’ll pull out at Christmas for the next edition.

See you soon, and thanks everyone!

Filippo's Bretonnia - Rank and File 4 (195 pts)

The Crusades against Araby (1448 to 1451 IC)

In the year 470 (1448 IC), the war-torn southern realm of Estalia was invaded by Sultan Jaffar and the armies of Araby. Diplomatic envoys pleaded with Bretonnia to send aid, and the king sent a call to war out to all of Bretonnia. Throughout all the dukedoms, this call to war was heard, and countless knights pledged their lance to their king's holy cause. In his noble wisdom, King Louis the Righteous gave permission for warriors of the Empire to cross Bretonnia on their journey to Estalia, for they too had pledged their aid, despite the lack of unification during the Age of Three Emperors. This military campaign has since been named the Great Crusade, in homage of the zeal of these warrior-knights.

Within time, the armies of Jaffar were pushed back by the more mobile and heavily armoured forces of the Crusading Knights, forcing him to relinquish his hold on most of Estalia. Retreating back to Araby, but leaving a token force of troops around the important city of Magritta, Jaffar's armies were hounded by the Bretonnians, who pursued them tirelessly. The Crusader army eventually reached the sandy beaches of Araby and invaded the major city and trade-port of Copher.

As the crusaders sailed with the aid of Estalian ports and Tilean warships, Jaffar and his men prepared for the coming invasion by fortifying most of the major sea-ports. When they finally arrived in the spice-trading city of Copher, it was heavily fortified and the defenders were well prepared for the coming battle. Yet they weren't prepared for the wrath of the northern kingdoms that Jaffar had brought upon them, and once the defenders first started faltering against the onslaught of knights and siege towers, a breach was made and soon the high spires of Copher were pulled to the ground and much of the population were put to the sword.

Not even the harsh desert conditions could perturb the knights, and their fervour very slowly took its toll on Jaffar's warriors as many desert tribes under Jaffar's control began growing tired of this war of attrition. Despite Jaffar having a vastly larger army than the crusaders, Jaffar's armies began to disband, for many of the tribes of Araby grew weary of the despot's incompetence. After frustrating months of minor skirmishes, the Bretonnians faced Jaffar at the Battle of El Haikk.

Elemental spirits of the deep deserts were summoned to fight alongside Jaffar's armies, and with their numerical superiority, they overwhelmed the outnumbered crusaders on all sides. Just when all hope seemed lost and the army was almost at the breaking point, a host of both Empire and Bretonnian knights charged furiously at the tightly packed army, mowing down the lightly armoured soldiers until finally the armies were scattered by the sudden death of Jaffar by a Bretonnian lance. Disliking the harsh, dry lands, for it proved too vast and hostile to be completely conquered, the Bretonnians sailed back home, with cargo-ships laden with exotic goods and treasures, whilst the Empire knights remained behind to hunt down the remnants of Jaffar's army for another century, which would eventually lead to the creation of several more knightly orders.

Imagine.. wearing a heavy armour over a padded gambeson, a great helm on the head an surcoat on the armour, riding a barded horse under the scorching sun of Araby.

Almost as hot as the weather now in Italy.

This month has been the toughest so far, with little time and condition not great for painting, but still a little progress has been made.

I (almost) painted a small unit of Knights of the Realm. Almost painted because I over estimated my ability to paint the heraldy. It's still beyond me. 

Such a glorious sight

Unfortunately I do not have the original decals, but there are some great options I can buy online, just not in time for this month.

With this unit the project is completed! Not as much as I wanted but still another small army I can play with.

I'll be back in july with some addition, now that I have a little bit more than the core 500 point army I can easily add something to reach 1000 points (and comment on the other splendid armies posted!)

See you in July!

Filippo's Leader Month - Chargeeeeeeee!

I give my body, heart and soul, to the Lady whom I seek. No plea for help shall find me wanting. No obstacle will stand before me. No evil will taint the lands bequeathed unto me. When the clarion call is sounded, I will ride out and fight in the name of Liege and Lady. That which is sacrament, I shall preserve. That which is sublime, I will protect. That which threatens, I will destroy, for my holy wrath will know no bounds. Honour is all. Chivalry is all. Rejoice, for we, the Knights of Bretonnia... will be your shield.

For Leader's month I present you my Paladin

I picked up this model last year, and I immediately fell in love with it. Finally, a model without a lance or a sword, and with an extremely dynamic pose.

I had to use it as a Paladin.

The color scheme was chosen by chance. I was flipping through the old army book and found a white‑and‑red scheme that really inspired me.

“Painting white can’t be worse than painting yellow!”

It is.

The inspiration for the colours

I’m sorry I couldn’t paint anything else for this project, but May is always far too busy because of the many modeling fairs and the various game systems we need to prepare.

On that note, while digging through old rulebooks and talking with my friends about future projects, I remembered Full Tilt, which GW even re-released last February.

Full Tilt in all his glory

So now, more than ever, I need more knights!

Filippo's Bretonnia: Rank and file 3 - 145 Points

"Chaaaaaaarge!"

“Did you have the right pictures this month??”

“Yeah.. sort of”

Last month I wrote an article about the Men‑at‑Arms unit… and I ended up taking the pictures of the archers. Great job, truly a great job.

So this month! Here’s a unit of ten “Archers” :D

The background looks more “realistic” because I managed to ruin the sheet of paper right before taking the photo, and the printer decided that it was fine like that.

Michael Perry’s halberdiers are full of character, and they can hold their own against many more recent models.

It was harder to find the plastic shield..

A great plus of these models is that are really useful with Mordheim! Halberds FTW!

The color scheme is the same as the archers; I’m keeping the same livery for all the main units, but starting next month I’ll begin introducing some variations.

This month I didn’t add anything new to the army, but I did get the chance to paint another band of Restless Dead, sculpted by the incredible Alessio Cisbani.

"Braaaaaaaiiinnnssss"

The first version was done in Mousillon colors; this time I decided to use the same palette I’m using for the rest of the army.

The warband is the result of a failed crusade, sometimes even the blessing of the Lady is not enough to win the day.

The time has come for the Leader's month! 

See you in May

Filippo's Bretonnia: Rank and File 2 - 145 points

Not an haiku this month!

During the last few editions, February has always been the busiest month, which is why I often called a mulligan. 2026 was no different. I actually almost managed to complete my goal, but I preferred to postpone everything to March.

For this month, I prepared a unit of 10 Men‑At‑Arms with halberds, shields, and command group.

For Bretonnia and the Lady!

Choosing the colors was difficult. I wanted to try something unusual, maybe use the colors of my city, but in the end I went with the classic white and blue for two reasons:

1. They’re the colors that immediately come to mind when I think of Bretonnian infantry.

Fifth edition Bretonnia Supplement

2. I bought more monopose archers and Men‑At‑Arms with spears that are already painted and only need a few touch‑ups, so I can expand my army with less effort.

The paint scheme is fairly simple and easy to replicate when I need to increase the size of the unit. Ten models are perfect for a Border Patrol, but I’ll need at least ten more if I want to play larger games.

So simple, yet so gorgeous

Alongside this unit, I painted a Grail Damsel.

This model was also partially started, but I repainted it entirely, using the previous colors as if they were the primer.

I recently managed to get the mounted version as well, which I hope to add in the coming months.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with the work, even if it doesn’t quite capture the fifth‑edition vibe as much as I would have liked. It’s really hard to paint those colors in a reasonable amount of time.

Since I had a couple of fairly free weeks, I got ahead on the work for April, so I’m pretty confident I’ll manage to avoid the field of bones again this time. Let’s hope May doesn’t betray me.

My hopes for May

Filippo's Bretonnia: Rank and File 1 - 176 points

"The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math..."

Okay, we may have a huge problem here. Bretonnia's Knights are waaaaaaay harder to paint as I thought.

"Only five models! It will be such an easy task!" 

I wish I could punch me in the face

Anyway, here are my first knights since the last millenium!

Five Knight Errant (176 points) ready to charge my enemy and HOPEFULLY obtain glory to their King and the Lady!

Now let's go back to some good old infantry..

See you next month!

Charge! Filippo's Bretonnia Army - Introduction post

 

*sound of thundering hooves intensifies

It's good to be back. New year, new OWAC, brand new army. Life is good

For this year I've been granted the opportunity to paint a fifth edition Bretonnia small army. I had the chance to buy a lot of models during the last month and this is the backbone of a much bigger project.

If possibile, I'll do my best to go way beyond my limits. Sleeping is overrated after all.

Here's the list (1004 points)

1 General of Bretonnia (172 points)

1 Hero (74 points)

5 Knights of the Realm (204 points)

5 Errant Knights (176 points)

10 Bowmen (145 points)

10 Squires (124 points)

10 Men-at-arms (145 points)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I may have bought 70 more bowmen, many Knights (Realm, Errant, and Grail), a Green Knight and Louen Leoncoeur. Some are already painted, the idea is just to fix some details without starting from the primer. 

And I still have the undead to finish.. WHAT A YEAR! WHAT A LOVELY YEAR!

My offering is the test models painted many month ago. But in the end I'll stick to the classic blue and white colour scheme

Joe's Bretonnian's- The wizard Gibelin and the dragon Béatrice.

Perhaps unwisely, I've eaten my dessert first and instead of getting some rank and file done this month I've progressed directly to the big gribbly dragon. This is an old Grenadier copper dragon, still for sale probably from one of the companies who still produce old Grenadier stuff. I love the unique pose and the weird wings. 

The wizard Gibelin is widely mistrusted by just about everyone in the Duc's warband, not least by de Rainault himself. The knights are outraged by his refusal to address them with sufficient obsequiousness, and lament that a man without a family tree or even a surname should have risen so high in the Duc's employ. The peasants of the company, deeply superstitious to a man, whisper that his mother was a dwarf and his father half-daemon. This would certainly explain his stature, his beard and his otherworldly demeanour. No-one can deny his usefulness to the Chevauchée though- when you positively, absolutely have to burn every hovel in the village- accept no substitutes!

month 1 - monster month - level 20 wizard on a winged dragon: 540 points.

Maciek's Dwarfs - Bretonnian allies - mounted squires (175 points)

Rank & File month 3

For April, I present you a squadron of allied Bretonnian light cavalry. 

These mounted squires are the scouts and bodyguard of the Bretonnian sorcerers that joins the dwarfs of Karak Varg on their campaign against the green skins.

The colour inspiration came from the Maciejowski Bible, a primary source for mid-13th century fashion and military equipment. The folios (which, by the way, seem like a chronicle of incessant violence) depict a lot of de-saturated primary colours - blues, greens and reds turning to oranges, so that is the palette I went for.

Folio 23, Saul is victorious, sourced from the Morgan Library

Five of the models are mounted squires awesomely sculpted by the Perry brothers, with characterful faces, strong historical inspiration and attention to detail - it was an absolute pleasure to paint them. 

For this month I dabbled with two painting techniques which I have not used before. For riders I tried monochrome underpainting. I did not quite work for me. For the effects to be visible it required the use of translucent glazes so that the shading beneath shows through. But it also meant that colours looked a bit blotchy and were more de-saturated than I wished. To get the effects I wanted, I had to anyway resort to more classic layering, but that covered all the monochrome shading beneath. Not sure I am sold on this technique - happy to hear from the other painters if underpainting works for you and if there are important points to keep in mind, that I may have missed.

For the horses, I tried a bit of wet blending (the 'blonde' horse). It does produce very smooth transitions, but I will have to push the contrast further. Definitely a method to develop and has the advantage of being rather quick - the whole colour (horse) can be done in a single pass. Painting the horses was more time consuming than I expected (even more than skeletal horses last year) so I'll be happy to be back to dwarfs in May.

The coat of arms on the banner is "Nałęcz", which essentially depicts a white kerchief that seemed fitting for a Bretonnian sorceress. It should fit well with my existing 13th century feudal force.

 

One thing I did not finish are the heraldic shields. The red plain shield on the Harlequin rider is a temporary proxy. I will be painting them and upgrading the riders next month.

Accounting: 5 mounted squires with spears, bows and light armour (100) + standard and musician (40) + commoner champion (35) = 175 points 

Speaking of next month I have yet to decide whether to go for the last regiment or do a cannon and "leftovers" to complete the units completed so far (more longbeards, crossbow standard and shields). Thanks for looking and see you next month!

Maciek's Grey Mountains Alliance - Dwarfs & Bretonnians - introduction

 

Hi everybody,

My name is Maciek and for this year's OWAC I will be painting Dwarfs with an allied Bretonnian contingent. Having done an army of walking dead last year, I needed something more lively and colourful for my second OWAC.

The motivation and plan

OWAC V will be another trip down the memory lane with some practical gap filling. Dwarfs were my first fantasy battle army that I started in late 90s during the first year at the university.  Over the years I painted around 50 dwarfs but never made a viable army - they're mostly clansmen and hammerers. What I need now is shooting regiments, war machines and heroes. And longbeards... there is never enough of those grumbling veterans.

Why Bretonnians? Over the years my interests shifted from fantasy to more purely historical themes and I painted a mid-XIII century medieval army. It is painted as feudal Polish with accurate heraldry, matching colours and weapons. It was intended for wargaming the northern crusades and as "realistic" Bretonnians in Warhammer. What it lacks is light cavalry and magic users. This is also just the thing that is missing from every dwarf army, so would make a suitable allied contingent.

I plan to address these gaps and expand both collections. Naturally all this is really just an excuse to paint some lovely old dwarfs and a bit of heraldry to keep things varied. I found OWAC to be an excellent driving force to get myself motivated and organised to paint more lead. This year I planned smaller monthly batches to do justice to the models and keep things manageable.

The force

1) The queen's household guard - 15 x Longbeard veterans with command - 255 points

These models are both the early 90s Longbeards and the 80s imperial dwarfs with similar equipment (all inspired by historical XII / XIII century). Perfect match for feudal Bretonnians and will also make a suitable tribute to the wonderful Wayne England dwarfs.

 

2) Crossbowmen - x 10 - 130 points

3) Thunderers x 12 with command  - 182 points

4) The mighty goblobber! (large stone thrower) - 104 points

5) Cannon - 110 points

6) Mounted squires x 6 -  with full command and all available equipment  -  176 points

7) Heroes - Dwarf queen, a dwarven heroine, a runesmith and a Bretonnian sorceress - 461 points

I like to keep my armies and warbands equal opportunities as much as possible, but due to scarcity of female models in the old- and middle-hammer eras the options are limited. The force will be centred around Dwarf and Bretonian female leaders to slightly redress the balance of these two patriarchal societies. 

There may still be small additions to the units force, if I manage to find or obtain suitable models - especially the battle standard and command for the crossbowmen.

Closing words

Very happy to be taking part in OWAC again! As a ticket for the upcoming ride, here is an offering for our benevolent Overlord Iannick. Sir Sven Pinkisson - a gentleman, a poet, occasional playwright and a mining specialist. First dwarf knight of Karak Varg. Suitably adorned with baby blue and powder pink.

Looking forward to start painting and good luck to all challengers!  

See you all in January!