Bretonnian Knights

Hi there!

Ive made a small rewrite of the bretonnian knights warband as published in tc8. I plan to allow them for use in an upcoming campaign within the moussillon setting.

***changes***
1. Uppped the max warband size to 15
2. Added a new hero with new mechanics, stats and spells, The Damsel.
3. Made Squires 0-2 to accomodate the extra hero slot, okay maybe not perfect by fluff since there will now be a knight without a polish my armor-boy. (open to workarounds )

I hope you like my idea of having a Damsel running around in mordheim And please i need some feedback on the spells/blessings. I really like the idea of an supporting spellcaster in this warband.

Bretonnian Knights
To the Bretonnian Knights, Mordheim is a vile place where virtue and order have been discarded. Where a once proud city stood, now nightmarish fiends wonder the streets and mix with men in dens of corruption. It is then considered extremely virtuous for a Questing Knight, and his entourage of aspiring knights known as Knight Errants, to embark on a spiritual quest to Mordheim to seek to achieve honor in battle and have their courage put to the most rigorous of test. Perhaps once this noble goals are achieved they may earn the favor of the Lady of the Lake herself!
Choice of Warriors:
A Questing Knight's warband must consist of at least 3 models. You have 500 gold crowns to recruit your warband. The maximum number of warriors in your warband may never exceed 15.
• Questing Knight: Each Questing Knight's warband must include one Questing Knight: no more, no less!
• Knight Errant: Your warband may include up to two Knight Errant.
• Damsel: Your warband may include one Damsel.
• Squires: Your warband may include up to two Squires. Your warband may not have more Squires than Knights.
• Men-at-Arms: Your warband may include any number of Men-at-Arms, up to the maximum size of your warband.
• Bowmen: Your warband may include any number of Bowmen, up to the maximum size of your warband.

Special Rules:
Lady of the Lake's Curse: Before entering the battlefield, the Questing Knight's and his entourage will pledge their lives in the fight for honor and justice. If the Lady of the Lake is pleased with the Bretonnian Knights, she will curse the warband's enemies. Before the game, roll a Leadership test against the warband's leader. If successful, any model in the opposing warband who wishes to fire a black powder weapon must roll a 4+ on a D6, or may not fire the weapon on that turn. The opposing player must test each time they wish to fire such a weapon. Models armed with other shooting weapons do not have to make this roll, unless they target the Questing Knight or the Knight Errants (only.)
Starting Experience:
• Questing Knight start out with twenty experience.
• Knight Errant start out with eight experience.
• Squires start out with zero experience.
• Men-at-Arms start out with zero experience.
• Bowmen start out with zero experience.
Bretonnian Knights' Skill Tables
• Questing Knight may choose from the Combat, Strength, Speed or Special Skills.
• Knight Errant may choose from the Combat, Speed or Special Skills.
• Squires may choose from the Combat, Strength or Special Skills.

Bretonnian Knights' Equipment List
Knights Squires
Hand to Hand Weapons Hand to Hand Weapons
Dagger 1st free/ 2 gc Dagger 1st free/ 2 gc
Mace/Hammer 3 gc Mace 3 gc
Sword 10 gc (5 gc for starting warbands) Sword 5 gc
Axe 5 gc Axe 5 gc
Double Handed Weapon 15 gc Spear 10 gc
Morning Star 15 gc
Lance 20 gc

Missile Weapons Missile Weapons
None Bow 10 gc
Longbow 15 gc

Armor Armor
Light Armor 20 gc Light Armor 20 gc
Heavy Armor 50 gc Shield 5 gc
Shield 5 gc Helmet 10 gc
Helmet 10 gc Buckler 5 gc
Warhorse 80 gc Horse 40 gc
Barding 30 gc

Men-at-Arms Bowmen
Hand to Hand Weapons Hand to Hand Weapons
Dagger 1st free/ 2 gc Dagger 1st free/ 2 gc
Hammer 3 gc Sword 5 gc
Sword 5 gc Axe 5 gc
Axe 5 gc
Spear 10 gc
Halberd 10 gc
Double Handed Weapon 15 gc

Missile Weapons Missile Weapons
None Bow 10 gc
Longbow 15 gc

Armor Armor
Light Armor 20 gc Light Armor 20 gc
Shield 5 gc Helmet 10 gc
Helmet 10 gc
Heroes

1 Questing Knight; 80 gold crowns to hire
A Questing Knight is an extremely tough and virtuous individual, who fights to uphold the traditions of honor and to serve the Lady of the Lake. Injustice and persecution of the weak are his enemies, whilst courage and valor are his companions. It is no wonder then that many a Questing Knight will journey to Mordheim.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 4 3 4 3 1 4 1 8
Weapons/Armor: A Questing Knight may be equipped with weapons and armor chosen from the Knights equipment list.
Special Rules:
• Leader: Any warrior within 6” of the Questing Knight may use his leadership value when taking Leadership tests.
• Knights Virtue: A Questing Knight is a chivalrous warrior who is superior to ordinary warriors. He will never panic and break from combat and so does not have to pass a Leadership test for being alone.

0-2 Knight Errants; 50 gold crowns to hire
Knight Errants are the sons of nobles, eager to prove their mettle by feats of arms, and earn their place among the Knights of the Realm of Bretonnia. To do this they must perform valorous deed, so they will often accompany a Questing Knight on his spiritual journey in the hope of adventure and honor.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armor: Knight Errants may be equipped with weapons and armor chosen from the Knights equipment list. They may not ride a Warhorse unless the Questing Knight also rides one.
Special Rules:
• Knights Virtue: A Questing Knight is a chivalrous warrior who is superior to ordinary warriors. He will never panic and break from combat and so does not have to pass a Leadership test for being alone.

0-2 Squires; 15 gold crowns to hire
Knights are served by their Squires, commoners who ride to the hunt with their master, and who accompany him to war. They are chosen from the fittest and youngest of a Knight's retinue, and they are trained and schooled by the knight himself. If a Squire performs some great deed or service to his master he may even be raised to the ranks of knighthood!
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 2 3 3 1 3 1 6
Weapons/Armor: A Squire may be equipped with weapons and armor chosen from the Squires equipment list. They may not ride a Horse unless the Questing Knight and Knight Errants in the warband are riding Warhorses.

1 Damsel; 45 gold crowns to hire
A Lady once rescued by the gallant knights from a tower, castle, dragon, evil lord or some other “almost unsurmountable” quest. She now follows the knights in their quest for glory and bestows them with gifts of the lady.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 2 3 3 1 4 1 7
Weapons/Armor: A Damsel may not be equipped with any except for a dagger, she leaves the fighting to the “real” men and heroes she follows around. She may not ride a Horse unless the Questing Knight and Knight Errants in the warband are riding Warhorses.
Blessed by the lady: A Damsel may cast spells as if she were a spellcaster from the blessings of the lady spell list.
A Damsels distress: When charged any questing knight or knight errant may intercept the charge from as far as 4 inches away. When shot at any knight within 2” of the Damsel may attempt to intercept the projectile at a roll of 4+ treat the knight as the shooting target when succesfull for purposes of wounding and armorsaves.

________________________________________
Henchmen (In groups of 1-5)
0-8 Men-at-Arms; 25 gold crowns to hire
Men-at-Arms are the soldiery of Bretonnia. Every Knight maintains a retinue when he is a lord of a domain, and upon embarking on a quest, this retinue may join him on his journey. Men-at-Arms are determined warriors, ready to fight for honor and justice as much as the Questing Knight they follow.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7
Weapons/Armor: Men-at-Arms may be equipped with weapons and armor chosen from the Men-at-Arms equipment list.

0+ Bowmen; 20 gold crowns to hire
Bowmen are common folk who regularly practice archery at the village butts so as to be ready to repel raiders from their humble cottages, fields and vineyards. When a Knight sets off on a quest it is not uncommon for a handful of Bowmen to be inspired to bravery and join the Knight in his journey.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 6
Weapons/Armor: Bowmen may be equipped with weapons and armor chosen from the Bowmen equipment list.

Hired Swords
The Knight Errants warband may not hire Hired Swords that are evil, uses magic or uses poison.

Bretonnian Knight's Special Skills
• Virtue of Purity: Any spell cast against the Knight will be dispelled on the D6 roll of a 4+.
• Virtue of Valor: The Knight may re-roll any missed to hit rolls against an enemy with a higher strength.
• Virtue of Discipline: Once per game, if the Knight is not Out Of Action, Stunned or Knocked Down, you may re-roll a failed Rout Test.
• Virtue of Noble Disdain: The Knight is subject to Hatred of all enemies armed with shooting weapons.
• Virtue of the Impetuous: The Knight gains an additional +D3" to his move when charging. Roll the dice each time you wish to charge and before moving the model.

Blessings of the Lady
• 1. Plea of Purity: All friendly knights within 6” of the Damsel may dispel any magic attempt made at them at a roll of 5+, this blessing remains in play until the casting players next shooting phase.
Difficulty 7+
• 2. Song of Virtue: All friendly knights within 6” of the Damsel may reroll any to-hit die in melee, this blessing remains in play until the casting players next shooting phase.
Difficulty 8+
• 3. Blessing of Discipline: All friendly knights within 6” of the Damsel that are knocked down or stunned get back up on their feet and gain a 2+ save against any future stunned results for as long as the spell is in effect, lasts until the casting players next shooting phase.
Difficulty 8+
• 4. Blessing of Valour: All friendly knights within 6” of the Damsel may make a extra d4” move, if this move puts them in contact with an enemy model they count as charging, they gain +1 to hit on their attacks in the following combat phase.
Difficulty 8+
• 5. Armor of the Impetuous: All friendly knights within 6” of the Damsel gain a ward save equal to their normal armor save, this effect replaces their normal armor save(not that even ignore armor save effects have no effect on this save), this spell remains in play until the casting players next shooting phase.
Difficulty 9+
• 6. Curse of the lady: Affects all enemy models within 6” of the Damsel must reroll all succesfull to-hit and to-wound rolls and accept the second result, All knights within 6” automatically wound all enemy models affected by the curse on a roll of 4+, lasts until the casting players next shooting phase.
Difficulty 10+

C&c very welcome!

Not to be nit-picky, but there are VERY few warbands that can start with all 6 hero slots filled. The Skaven get away with it because their leadership is so low. I'd say that the Damsel has to take the place of one of the Knights Errant (ie you can have up to 2 KE OR 1 KE and 1 Damsel). Also, I'd lower the bowmen's WS to 2 if they're going for 20gc. Other than that it seems like an ok balance.

its an old fact that brets get more heroes then anyone eles, so with that in mind 6 heroes to start with makes good sense to me. However, I would deny them any hired swords to make up for this

Did the old warband start with six heroes?

After checking, it seems that the old Bretonnian warband rules DID allow for 6 characters from the start, but clearly stated that you could not have more squires than knights, so it was pretty bad if a knight was killed, b/c his squire would have to leave too if you didn't/couldn't replace him.

Hmm, tough choice. If you ditched that rule I would suggest reducing the number of heroes at start to 5 to make it fair. Have the Damsel take over for one of the Squires.

Hmm your three changes improved the warband, especially the max 15 rule is a huge improvement.

i don not like the spells from the damsel very much. I think they are too powerful.

Take a look on Styrofoamkings Bretonnian Chapel Guard. Maybe this warband is something you like.

And his version of the damsel i think is more balanced.

http://sites.google.com/site/styroheim/warbands

Have fun

Cool...

It really looks like my own mod for the warband. I also added a Damsel that casts spells to the warband, but as a hired sword.

Personnally, I also added the Ride warhorse skill for free to the knights in the warband and switched strenght/speed skill list for the knights and squire (squire are supposed to be young men while knights are already full fledged warriors).

Changing the max size of the warband to 15 seems to be a good idea too, I never tought about this.

If you want, you can look at all my stuff here... the damsel is at the end of the home rules PDF.

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t6879-home-rules-new-warbands-pdf

your Damsel has no starting exp listed or skill table.


Also the 6 heroes fluff wise fits Bretonnians a lot but in this case as it's now 4 non young blood's and 2 youngbloods i think it's broken.
Have the Damsel take one of the Knights slots or just have 1 Squire would work... if the Damsel takes the slot of a knight then you may need to dump the no more knights then Squires rule though or have the Damsel "count as a Knight" for this rule.
Another option is not include the Damsel in the warband but make her an exclusivly Bretonnian Hired Sword.
love the "A Damsels distress" rule.
Maybe if your not altering the rule for the Blessing of the Lady (never liked the roll to activate it) have her have a special skill (as a hero) or rule (HS) that lowers the roll needed... or in effect ups the Leadership for the roll.

With out making huge changes to the list I think this over all works.
Maybe also lower the cost of armour when recruiting to get your knights in armour at the start. Much like the Kisav Inheratance rule or Styrofoamkings rule as linked above by SerialMoM