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.

Sir Estienne Sagremor, Knight Errant Cavalier

The penultimate member (and a champion) of the Knight Errant unit and the second son of Earl Sagremor, the main leader for the whole army.

Because of this important position in the story, I had to do some simple conversions to make him stand out. A horned helmet for the horse was a must, then a cloak and an extra pauldron. A little, but it fits a champion for an unit of youngsters. He also got that little hawk on his hand - I always liked that bit that came with the knights' box, but I didn't have a good excuse for it - until now.

Also, as you can see, his base is a little more busy than usually. After redoing the bases on my pegasus knights, I decided to bring the whole army in this direction - and Estienne here is just the first one to get it after that change in policy. All the group photos from now one will feature upgraded, fancy bases.

His WIP post can be seen HERE.

Second and youngest son of Earl Sagremor, Estienne had a much easier childhood than his brother. Without as many expectations placed upon him, he had time to develop himself as a person. While he’s prone to jokes, carefree behavior and being led by women way too easily, it would be foolish to dismiss him as a spoiled brat. Estienne still tried to emulate his brother at least a bit, so he still grew into a fine knight and a capable leader. Leading a lance of like-minded Errant Knights, he’s always eager to prove himself in the heat of battle - and so far, this approach worked very well for him. If just his father would let him lead more autonomously, that would be perfect.

Sir Thierry Sagremor, the Battle Standard Bearer

Now it's time to show off the sons of my main guy, Earl Sagremor. The oldest one, presented here is carrying the Army Battle Standard, a big fat centerpiece for not only his big KotR unit, but also the whole army. However, I already did one fancy standard for them, so I had to do something extra here. Not wanting to suffer an even more elaborate freehand, I just built more details around it all. The WIP post can be seen HERE.

The painting was a little annoying, because the banner itself is metal and I had to handle it a lot as a separate piece, there was so much chipping. And because there were so many colors and textures there, it took a fair amount of time too. The brave knight underneath the standard is rather straightforward in comparison, even the freehands around the barding are rather subtle. Still, I am very, very glad he is done.

A small sidenote - his helmet was the origin of the unicorn that appears on the main family's coat of arms.

Fullsize image is in higher resolution than usual. This model is so high, it was quite difficult to take good photos!

First son of the well-regarded Earl Sagremor, Thierry was under a lot of pressure from his youngest years. Friends and enemies, nobles and peasants, everybody was judging him at all times - and to not break under all that, he just had to become the best version of himself. Thierry embraced the rules of chivalry, devoted himself to studies and thrived in battle. With his unwavering faith, he became a Grail Knight in a very young age - a true paragon to be admired. Because of that, there was no one better to carry the banner that Earl Sagremor commissioned when he took his position. Now Thierry can be found always on the front line, bringing not only the banner for everyone to rally behind, but also his courage and unparalleled skill. Unfortunately, to achieve all that success, he had to bury himself as a person underneath all the virtues - in private he’s a very cold, strict man with almost no personality to speak of.

Plague Marine #05

Even more Plague Marines - and once again, this one comes without a helmet.

The sculpt is very good on this one, but he had a Nurgling hanging on the pauldron spike - seeing as I want to avoid those little buggers in this project, I replaced it with a bloody tentacle. The other pauldron had a fine skull print on it, which looked terrible after the weathering round, so I covered it with some bloody meat. Just about everything in this collection could be replaced with something bloody and slimy.