Hobby Table: Battle Pilgrims of Arioch

Although I love Age of Sigmar dearly, there is one faction from Warhammer Fantasy that I miss dearly -- Bretonnia! There is just the wondrous sight of a wedge of knights with their bright heraldic colors charging headlong into an infantry formation to devastate it. Technically, there are war scrolls for Bretonnian units, so I use those for rules purposes. They are a bit outdated in the current competitive meta, but as a narrative player that doesn't worry me too much. 

The other issue is that all of the models are no longer in production. Now, I was able to get some second hand models, but as time goes on this option gets more and more cost prohibitive. But remember, Bretonnia is just a fantasy medieval faction. I bought a Fireforge starter set called Deus Vult, which came with knights, archers/crossbowmen, men-at-arms and foot sergeants. 

These particular models are the foot sergeants, based on 25mm rounds. The main difference between these and the men-at-arms is their weapons and armor. Foot sergeants are equipped with chain mail and various hand weapons such as clubs, axes, and swords. Because of this, they are proxied as Battle Pilgrims. 

In my Silverlight lore, the kingdom of Arequine fills the same role as Bretonnia, and the battle pilgrims serve an important role in escorting pilgrims to and from holy sites. Their home is in the city of Arioch, whose colors are blue and yellow. Despite this, the monks wear white robes and red belts as symbols of their devotion. Their heraldry is the abbey of Arch, which they emblazon on their shields. 

Painting is really easy due to the simple color scheme, requiring only about 5 colors:

• Robes/Shield: Ash Grey base, then a coat of Matt White leaving some of the grey showing through in the deepest folds. The shield only needs the White. 
• Armor/Weapons: Plate Mail Metal base washed with Dark Tone. For gold trim use Retributor Armor. 
• Face: Kislev Flesh washed with Reikland Flesh Shade. 
• Belts: Pure Red base. That's it. 
• Leather/Handles: Leather Brown base washed with Agrax Earthshade. 
• Base to match the rest of your army. 

As I mentioned earlier, there are Bretonnia rules compatible for Age of Sigmar, but they are not the most competitive or up to date. If your opponent is ok with it, you can proxy them into a Cities of Sigmar army as swordsmen. This begs the question of scale though. 

The infantry models hold up well in my opinion. The models above, from left to right: Fireforge Foot Sergeant, Citadel Bretonnian Man-at-arms, another Foot Sergeant, and a Citadel Freeguild Swordsmen. As you can see, they all more or less line up height wise, however, the Fireforge models come on a little plastic base that adds some height. In addition, they are more true scale than heroic scale, so can look a bit thin when compared to say the Citadel Swordsmen. Overall though, I think that they do a fine job and more importantly are actually available at decent prices. 

So who knows, maybe this will inspire you to go out and start your own Bretonnian army!