Budget Bretonnians: Part One
Knights of the Realm
One thing that bothered me about the Bretonnian models that came with the 5th edition Warhammer Fantasy set is that there were so few options considering each knight was supposed to have a unique appearance. Just how many men with a dragon head balanced on his helmet am I supposed to field in a unit?
Looking at the images of the knights of the realm on the Warhammer store, it looks like the models in that pack are the versions from 2003 (the Old World really is old world). They are also 40 quid* for 12 miniatures!
Why would I pay that when there are alternatives? It’s not like I plan on going to a GW tournament any time soon.
*Prices correct at time of writing.
Deus Vult: Teutonic Knights
For 28 Euros* I can get a box of Fireforge Games Teutonic Knights. So that’s what I did. Sort of.
Fireforge Games makes a range of models that would work for my Bretonnian proxies so, alongside the Teutonic knights, I bought a box of Western knights (also from their Deus Vult line) and a box of Albion knights (from their Forgotten World line).
Each of the boxes contains 12 miniatures and cost me a total of £61.68 from local stores (my nearest FLGS didn’t have the Albion knights so I had to pick them up from a different store).
For accurate comparison, the GW knights were £35.20 at my local store (so £105.60 for the same quantity of knights). A big saving when getting three boxes. Was it worth the saving?
*Prices correct at time of writing.
Fireforge Models as Bretonnian Knights
There’s a common theme through the Fireforge Games boxes that I bought in that the core parts of the models (bodies, horses, weapons, shields and cloaks) are common across the kits. This provides me with a degree of uniformity across the army.
From top left to bottom right: Teutonic knights command sprue, Teutonic knights sprue, Western knights sprue, Albion knights sprue.
Where the boxes differ is in the heads for each of the knightly orders.
From top left to bottom right: Teutonic knights helmets, Albion knights helmets, Teutonic knights banners, Western knights helmets.
The Western knights come with a mix of open face helmets and simple closed helmets. Perfect proxies for knights errant.
The Teutonic knights come with a range of closed helmets ranging from simple helmets to the more elaborate helmets you would expect to see on Bretonnian knights of the realm.
The Albion knights come with more ostentatious helmets with a more fantasy feel, making them well suited to take the role of my grail knights.
The Teutonic knights box also includes one sprue with banners instead of helmets. Neither of the other boxes includes any leader upgrades.
Building Alternative knights of the realm
Since my starter list from part one of this series only includes a single unit of knights, intended to mimic the mandatory knights of the realm unit from 6th edition, I used the Teutonic knights box to build a troop with lances, shields and cloaks.
For the price, I think they make perfectly acceptable alternatives for official GW knights. My only complaint would be the limited ability to create a command group.
The first of my knights, ready for painting.
The other sprues were put to one side** so I can turn my attention to part two of my starter army – the peasant rabble.
** I’ll do a follow up with more detail on the different knight boxes when I have time.