Sir Armand du Plessis, Knight of the Realm Gallant

It's been a long time since we've had a Knight of the Realm here, so here we are back with a converted unit champion to get this thing rolling again. His WIP was presented HERE.

The idea with him was to make a cardinal-like knight, inspired by heraldry of cardinal Richelieu. Quite a lot of bits were used to make him special, but I think the paint makes most of the work. I had a lot of fun painting all that red, going against my usual multicolored approach to Bretonnians. I also realized that this whole project is a very good exercise in painting basic colors! I hated pure black and yellow for example, but now I find them quite pleasant and manageable!

This guy also starts a big batch of Knights of the Realm, so be prepared to see quite a lot of them here.

Donning the deep crimson of his very wealthy and influential family, Sir Armand de Plessis is very recognizable - and his presence always means trouble to those not devout enough, truly or just perceived as such. While he always proclaims to be driven by love, that’s the love of a very, very strict parent, one’s that not afraid to draw blood when teaching lessons. Acting almost like a male priest in a very important sanctuary, he commands a lot of respect amongst his fellow knights, so it’s only natural to act as their commander. This way he’s also close to his men to search for any kind of foulness or heresy.

Plague Marine #06

Okay, the last Plague Marine of this first batch, probably happy news to everyone already bored with them. Well, I'll try to refine the weathering process on the next ones and include something more exciting next time.

He may be the last, but certainly not least. That that small piece of cloth was a very welcome intrusion, it breaks the dirt and rust a bit and also gives some nice surface to cover with frost and snow.

Errant Knights

We've had one group of knights here some time ago, now it's time to finally show off a full unit! All the knights, full command group and with a character too. They may be just young helmet-less knights, but it's still a good start.

As you can see, I updated the bases on all the knights to have more tufts, more ivy and more stones.

Next ones in the line are two units of Knights of the Realm, 12-knight-strong and 15-knight-strong. This will be a major undertaking, but seeing how nice just 9 of them look, I really can't wait to have them ready on my desk!

While Knights of the Realm are the mainline of Bretonnian forces, every one of them had to be an Errant Knight first. While relatively inexperienced, not as skilled and impetuous, they have the strengths that their older peers do not possess. Eager to prove themselves and not truly understanding the danger, they are truly fearless when charging and fight with heart unlike any older knight that spent too much time managing his lands and politics of the court. Earl Sagremor prefers to lead them himself in battle, using their strength directly to ride around the enemy force and strike their weak points.

The Errantry Banner

I left the toughest topic of the whole unit for last, the standard bearer for my Errant Knights.

Back in WFB Bretonnians had a certain magical banner, unique to this type of knights, that was so cheap and useful, it was a mistake not to use it. It was described as an being tattered and worn, used on many occasions across the history. Eager to try some converting back in the day, I decided to recreate it, while also making it look as if it was stitched from many smaller, torn pieces. I would do it differently nowadays, but I like how it shows a certain stage of my hobby career.

Conversion part was done a long time ago, but the painting is all fresh. Every part of the banner had to use different scheme to reinforce the mismatched look, so it was a bit intimidating, but I somehow managed it. The knight underneath it is really simple - I used a coat of arms that I found a long time ago on the internet, supposedly used in IRL history, but only when actually painting it, I noticed that it's basically Nurgle's emblem. So, even when painting Bretonnia, I can't really escape Nurgle's embrace...

His WIP post can be seen HERE.

The idea of an errantry quest is a very old one in Bretonnia. When there is a big undertaking, one that may not sit well with all the landed nobility, a lord may call upon his much freer subjects to accompany him, all the eager, young errant knights. This not only allows the lords to swiftly deal with arising problems, it also allows the youngsters to earn their spurs. Unfortunately, the reality can be harsh and the history of those quests is a bloody one. When Earl Sagremor took his position, he wanted to remind his errant knights of that fact - so the banner they’re carrying to battle each time is a burned, tattered and stitched collage of all the previous ones that were used during those quests by his forefathers. It may not be as glamorous as others, but this banner is a strong reminder that the knights are carrying a legacy of their predecessors and their history is built upon blood, sweat and tears of those that came before.