Warmaster – Dukedom of Gisoreux Pt 1

After we have decided for a conflict, the Dark Conspiracy, with the Lizardmen retreaving stolen artefacts by the Bretonnians, it is start to build an army.

Our aim for the armies is 3,000 Points per side, beginning with the Dukedom of Gisoreux.

The Dukedom of Gisoreux has a white stag on a red-black ground, along with stag themed iconography / coat of arms for the several cities and settlements within the Dukedom. That colour combination shouldn't be too difficult to paint, along with the stag being a present icon on the Bretonnian (and historical decals), this is not that impractical either. But more on that later.

For Bretonnians you have a cavalry heavy army list with some low born infantry to support. I can choose between Bowmen, Men-at-arms and Peasants. For 3k points, I have to at least play 3 units of Men-at-arms and maximum of 12 Peasant units, far above what I plan to setup. The core of the army are obviously the Knights, of which I need at least 3 units at 3k points, and another 3+ units of Squires. But the elite Grail Knights are limited to a maximum of 3 units and I am going for maximum amount.

Then there is the artillery option of the Trebuchet, limited to a max of 3 at 3,000 points. And of course the characters, where you have the general as every army does, regular heroes (max 6) and enchantresses (max 3).

I used the Warmaster Armies selector tool and build a list of units, that I wanted to build army around. Four units each of the Bowmen, Men-at-Arms and Peasant, another 4 units of Squires, 8 maybe 9 Knights, 3 Grail Knights and 2 Trebuchets. And the maximum of what I can use in characters. Once again - I don't really care about meta, I do what I think is fitting to the theme or overall idea.

This gave me:

• 4 Bowmen - 220 Points
• 4 Men-at-arms - 180 Points
• 4 Peasants - 120 Points
• 4 Squires - 360 Points
• 8 Knights - 880 Points
• 3 Grail Knights - 360 Points
• 2 Trebuchet - 300 Points
• 1 General on Pegasus - 140 + 15 Points
• 6 Heroes, one on Pegasus - 495 + 15 Points
• 3 Enchantress, one on Pegasus - 150  + 15 Points

This adds up to 3,205 points, without magic items / equipment, so this will provide more than just the 3,2k points. The banners are 30 to 50 points per unit, weapons and magic trinkets are a bit cheaper usually, but this should round up another 300+ points easily.

A total of 23 units, two artillery pieces and 10 heroes. This means the need for quite a couple of 40 by 20mm bases, you can grab a pack of 20 at Renedra for 4 GBP. I have some spares from Perry Miniatures boxes for the 40 by 60 mm for the Trebuchets and a random assortment of round bases for the various heroes. If we round that up, that'd be the initial 20 GBP costs for this project.

As I pointed out, I won't be going for the classic range, as it is rare, expensive and I don't have the "emotional connection" to the miniatures, beyond that the risk of buying recasts is too high in this case. If you want to check out the original Warmaster range of Bretons, you can do so on the Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki. In case of the Bretons / Bretonnians, as they are basically a Agincourt / Hundred Years War range, I could go for historical 10-12mm miniatures, for example like Magister Militum or Pendraken. Post-Brexit and without shows like Crisis, this is not the most attractive option for me. But as I have access to a 3d printer, there are different options for me, buying STL files instead of miniatures.

There are a few options, most known is Forest Dragon, a bit limited range is offered by Excellent Miniatures. The (currently incomplete) Forest Dragon Chivalry Knights army bundle would cost 60 USD plus VAT. If you don't have access to a printer of your own, you can grab a service / licensed dealer like Excellent Miniatures.

A quick interim status on the budget is currently 25 EUR for the bases (~20 GBP) and another 90 EUR for the STLs (60 USD for the army bundle, ~20 USD for the files not included and 20 USD for the local VAT). That's 115 EUR and beside the bases nothing physical to show for - yet.