The Bretonnian Knights (Part 2)

The first part in this 'mini-series' saw be get somewhat distracted by the pictures and articles in White Dwarf. But now that is out of the way,  I can focus on what I am most interested in, which is identifying the heraldry of the knights used in the pictures so I can replicate them in 15mm. 

Knights from heraldry article in issue 136

If I trace things back far enough, it was this picture which is in many ways responsible for what I am doing now. The first ever issue of White Dwarf that I bought was 136 and I was intrigued by the heraldry on display in the pictures and accompanying diagrams.

As such, the main aim of what I am trying to do, is recreate the unit of knights shown in the foreground. Once I have completed these ten, I will be able to move on to the knights pictured in later issues, including the general and army standard bearer. But first things first...

These are the ones...

I've looked through a few issues where the knights are pictured and have found decent pictures of all of them, with the exception of one. Here is a list in no particular order (and please forgive my distinctly non heraldic language):

1) White with red chevron:

2) Black with white axe:

3) Red/yellow quarters with black crescent

4) Red/green halved vertically with white cross

5) Blue/white halved horizontally

6) Green/white horizontal stripes

7) Yellow with green beast

8) Blue/white quarters

9) Blue/yellow halved vertically

10 Black/white quarters with white diamonds

The only knight I could not find a clear picture of is the last one, but there is enough to tell how the horse should be painted, so it is not a huge problem.

Now all I need to do is assemble my miniatures and get on with the painting!

Dryads

The problem with being able to own all the 4th Edition army books for not a lot of money at all, is that I'll pick one up at random, flick through it, and end up wanting to build a new army as a result.

I do have a bit of an excuse this time as Bretonnia is often allied with the Wood Elves, although I am going to have to 'retrofit' the Dryad rules from the 4th Ed book into 3rd Ed if I want to use them with those rules as well, not that that will be too big a problem.

Anyway... I found it really hard to locate something similar to the Dryads pictured in the Wood Elf book. They have more of a 'mini-treeman' feel, whereas available ones, such as from Splintered Light Minis, are more of a 'whispy-tree-spirit' type thing. Nice figures, just not what I am after.

In the end I went for 6mm Treemen from Irregular Miniatures. They are not the greatest figures ever, but when they are painted they do feel quite old-school to me. Perhaps a little on the large side, but they do look like fearsome foes and I like that.

Unit of 5 Dryads

Under the 4th Edition rules, a unit of 5 Dryads costs 175 points. And what's better is that they don't suffer additional effects from fire as they are young living wood, unlike the more ancient Treemen.

In terms of introducing more fantastical elements to my Bretonnian army, I'm going to be looking at things which have a more mythic or folklore feel to them and I think these fit the bill nicely.

In battle against Bretonnians (sorry it's blurry! I need to use a camera with a better screen so I can check beforehand)

They are also a good start to a future Wood Elf army. I'd definitely want to accentuate the 'nature' side of that force, plenty of Dryads, Treemen, eagles and so forth. It is easier to do this in 4th Edition because of all the changes to the army lists (one of the reasons I still like that version of the game). But that is a project for the future (he says, having technically started it already!).