Bretonnian Tactica help

[Battle-Ranch]

So I just started a WFB army of Bretonnian's this week to distract me from the seemingly endless amount of boyz I've had to assemble and paint. I bought the battle force with 20 bowmen, 20 men at arms, 1 Pegasus knight and 8 Knights (497 pts total by my estimates) I also got Grail Knight musician, 4 more Pegasus knights and a Battle Standard bearer (got them all Dirt cheap). I'm building for a 2500 pt all purpose list and was looking for some input from you fine folks.

Anyone have any Experience with Bretonnian's that can give me some insight into what are the strengths and weakness of different unit and how they can be best employed

[Drax]

Basically the Bretonnians are one of those armies where subtlety is absent - what they excel at is taking it to the enemy and hitting them hard and fast.

the peasants aren't too bad for their points cost, but the Knights are point for point one of the best.

your best bet is to get at least a couple of units of knights of the realm (you must have 1 anyway). Blessing of the Lady means that you can risk attacking enemies that other cavalry would shy away from lest they prove too much, but it is still worth picking your targets if you can.

with the lance though, it is more important than normal to ensure you get the charge as it makes them even more fragile if they get charged.

[Zeb[edee]]

Peasants are awful
Peasant Bowmen are GREAT! A couple of units of them are great for whittling down your opponent and they are dirt cheap.

Take some bowmen but mostly knights. The Damsels are very good so take a Lord Damsel (Forget what it is called), a Paladin and a Scroll Caddy (Lvl 1 Damsel with as many Dispell Scrolls as you can get) It might be worth getting the battle standard bearer in there too.

Max out on Knights but PICK YOUR CHARGES. If you get bogged down you are stuffed. The whole plethora behind Wine swilling, cheese eating surrender monkeys... Sorry, Brettonians, Anyways! The whole idea is that they get the charge, make them run, chase them down and run away like girls if it seems like a bit too much.

Do NOT be afraid to make a unit of knighs run from a charge only to regroup next turn and charge them annhialating them thoroughly. Never let yourself get flank charged either. As it screws you over big time.

Basically, Magic is your friend, combat characters are not essential as your entire army kicks ass anyway (You need one Paladin though as standard), and don't be afraid to run if you are not 100% sure you can win using pathetic hand weapons. Make sure you get the charge.

Brettonians are either a HUGE success or a diabolical failure. For your first few games it is likely to be the latter but it is true of all armies (Not Space Marines though). Once you get the feel of your army you get wins a LOT easier.

[Drax]

i would suggest that the Lord level Damsel is a bit overkill personally - the brettonions use complimentary support magic rather than offence, at most a couple of lower level damsels should suffice.

as for the regular peasants, they aren't that bad for their points - a nice big unit could tie up the enemy for a turn if lucky.

also a small unit of mounted yeoman could be useful to draw your enemy into your own counter charge in the following turn, though i think they use up a special choice now

by the way, in addition to what Zeb has stated about needing 1+ paladins, one must take a Battle Standard, and as such cannot be the general.

[Irish1642]

Drax is right he needs to take atleast two hero level knights, one being the general and the other the mandatory standard bearer, and if you want some fun throw in some questing knights they have wreaked havoc on so many things in my games, those greatweapons can mess stuff up bigtime. but Drax is right, always make sure you get the charge with your knights and try to break the unit fast otherwise your rather large flanks are very vulnerable

[hairyyahoo]

one weak point of the lance formation is the flanks. the knight unit tends to be much longer in the flanks then other units are, meaning it's a bit easier to get the flank charge on your knights. this is where the peasants can earn their keep. march them up along side your knights and have them block off the flanks, or position them for a counter charge if the worst does happen.

[Irish1642]

hairy has a point there, the peasants themselves may seem pointless at first but combine them with a unit of Pegasus knights or knights of the realm to block flanks and counter charge you should be good, especially with those flying buggers...

[Biadetic]

Remember you only benefit from the lance formation for one turn (the turn you charge)
Alot of people forget this and use it all the time. Just something ive noticed from 1st hand

[Irish1642]

believe me I know that...but hopefully you can break your opponent on the charge otherwise allot of times your quite literally boned...