Galadrin's Guide to Bretonnia: BTD Edition!

[Galadrin]

I've had a few private conversations with forum members about this subject, and while reflecting over the quality and quantity of Black Tree Designs sculpts, I thought I might put up a quick guide for Bretonnian collectors to supplement their forces with these great minis. First, two points must be made. One, I'm not connected to BTD in anyway—just thought it might be a useful resource. In fact, I would love to see similar catalogs to be built for other manufacturers (Front Rank would be high on my list!). Secondly, this review will not touch on all BTD miniatures, but only my favorites. In general, BTD can be hit or miss for the sculpts, but many of them are absolute gems and perfect matches for early 1990's Citadel and Maurader Bretonnians. Without further adieu:

For Bretonnian cavalry options, I would tend to go with BTD's various historical ranges. Not only do they present a lot more variety in poses, but the knights in the most obvious Bretonnian look-alike range (their Fantasy "Men of Averaign") are a bit too deliberate for my taste. Thus I recommend taking a look at their Hundred Year's War range (both Early and Late):

HYW1010 Cavalry Knights with Swords

There are many other poses, totallying 6 unique lance-armed knights and 6 knights with hand weapons in the Early War line alone. They even have six sculpts which make for spot on Chasseurs de la Mort (mounted men at arms):

HYW1021 Medium Cavalry (Hobilars)

There are also a couple Mounted Squires in the Fantasy Men of Averaign line that are excellent matches for these Bretonnian mounted retainers:

FA0824 Mounted Squire II

Along the same lines, some of the Norman Cavalry from the Dark Ages line might be worth a look (9 sculpts):

DA1030 Norman Command Cavalry

Their late Hundred Years War line also has some more options (a total of 15 unique sculpts), but seems to have a more distinctly German-feel (which might make for appropriate Empire Knightly Orders). It is also worth checking out their Feudal Crusaders lines. Their 2nd Crusade line have some light armoured knights (without barding) that would be appropriate for Noblesse d'Epee (15 sculpts):

FD1011 2nd Crusades Knights Command Cavalry

In their 3rd/4th Crusades lines, you will find some more heavily armoured knights (9 unique sculpts) that are good matches for Chevaliers Rampants or Chevaliers de notre Dame de Bataille:

FD1029 3rd Crusade Knights Spears Cavalry

For the stylized Chevaliers d'Honneur, however, there aren't a lot of options in the historical lines. If you don't mind the exagerated features of the knights in the Fantasy line, it may be worth checking out the Men of Averaign to find knights with headdresses (torse, crest icon etc):

FA0835 Knights of the Crown IV

Thus ends Part I of this series. In the next part, I'll take a look at infantry options, as well as cannons and ordnance. Au revoir!

 

[stone cold lead]

I've got BTD HYW spearmen, halberdiers and swordsmen in the lead pile. Fairly good matches with the 90's 3rd edition and 5th edition Citadel castings. Each pack seems to have a couple of nice models and one or two real dogs. I have wondered about contacting BTD and asking if they can supply specific models to avoid the shonky ones. Not sure I'll use the spears and halberds as I've got some proper Brets for those units now but I've been wanting to paint up some of the swordsmen for ages.

 

[Blue in VT]

This is extremely helpful...thank you!

One thing I would love to see is some comparison shots of all the horses together...bother BTD and citadel.

Cheers,

Blue

 

[stone cold lead]

This is extremely helpful...thank you!

One thing I would love to see is some comparison shots of all the horses together...bother BTD and citadel.

Cheers,

Blue

I don't have horses but I've got some comparisons with infantry. BTD are all solid bases and the Citadel ones are 90's 3rd edition and 5th edition.

 

[Galadrin]

Black Tree Bretonnia, Part Deux!

Aaaand... we're back! So there is a dizzying array of possible infantry models. For the halberdier-armed villains, the most obvious choice are from the Fantasy line "Men of Averaign," with 12 unique sculpts (including command):

FA0813 Averaign Halberdiers

The historical lines also have a few different options, including Early Hundred Years War soldiers with Halberds, Voulge and Bills (20 sculpts total):

HYW1008 Infantry Billmen

The Late Hundred Years War line contributes another four Billmen models as well:

HYW1033 Late Billmen

For Arblastiers, the best options appear to be in the historical lines, and eight sculpts from the Early and Late Hundred Years War line:

HYW1015 Early Infantry Crossbows

HYW1032 Late Crossbowmen

Another eight unique sculpts can be found in the Feudal 2nd Crusades line:

FD1009 2nd Crusade Crossbowmen

Lastly, there are four Norman Crossbowmen from the Dark Ages line that might be appropriate for a Bretonnian army:

DA1043 Normans with Crossbows

Brigands and Ribalds are general armoured and unarmoured troops, and the options here are too many to describe in detail. Suffice it to say that one should certainly consider the 12 Spearmen (including command) from the Fantasy "Men in Averaign" line:

FA0806 Averaign Spearmen

The Dark Age Normans in Gambison also have an excellent "brigand" look to them:

DA1025 Norman Gambison Hand Weapons

Other than these highlights, it is worth noting that the Dark Age Norman line has 24 (!) potentially appropriate armoured infantry sculpts to choose from and another 8 unarmoured footmen. The Feudal 2nd Crusade adds another 36 (!) armoured and 12 unarmoured infantry (many of whom are spearmen). The Feudal 3rd/4th Crusade series adds 12 more armoured infantry.

It's worth highlighting the Hundred Years War line here as well, as they are probably stylistically the best match for early 1990's Citadel and Marauder Bretonnian figures. The Early war line contributes 24 armoured infantry (with hand weapons, spears and two-handed weapons) and four unarmoured spearmen. In the Late war line, you will find 20 more armoured infantry and four unarmoured swordsmen. Included in these two series are some very nice foot knights that make for good armoured retainers:

HYW1002 Foot Knights with 1-Handed Weapons

HYW1028 Late Knights with 2 Handed Weapons

For Rapscallion bowmen, there are a few choices that present themselves. The most obvious option is again from the Fantasy "Men of Averaign" line, with 12 archers (including command), about half of whom are armoured:

FA0801 Averaign Archers

You will find four similar armoured archers in the Late Hundred Years War series:

HYW1029 Late Armoured Archers

In the other historical lines, you will find an additional four unarmoured archers in the Early Hundred Years War series, eight more unarmoured archers in the Feudal 2nd Crusade line and finally four unarmoured archers in the Dark Age Normans line. If you don't mind their shaggy appearance and sometimes strange clothing, it may even be worth looking in the Dark Age Saxon line for some more bowmen.

Finally, there doesn't seem to be too many options for Rascal peasants. There are a handful of sculpts (maybe four appropriate models) from the Feudal 2nd Crusades line, labelled "Good People of the Land," which would make for decent Rascals. The Early Hundred Years War also has four suitable medieval peasants, but hardly enough to make an army with:

HYW1024 Peasants

Lastly, on the topic of Ordnance, there are a couple notable options. It is worth mentioning here the Helsinian Bombard from the Harlequin Fantasy line. The Harlequin series is generally very good, but I do not like the proportions of their human models and have thus left them out of the discussion at this point. They make their debut simply because the Helsinian Bombard is an excellent match for the L'Ordonnance pictured in the Warhammer Armies Book:

HM1193 Helsinian Bombard

The historical Early Hundred Years War series also has a couple good bombards, which are worth picking up just for the excellent crew models alone:

HYW1019 Bombard and Crew

HYW1025 Light Bombard and Crew

You can even find a Ribaudequin (i.e. Organ Gun) and Ballista in the Late Hundred Years War line:

HYW1036 Ribaudequin and Crew

Well this concludes my Black Tree Designs Bretonnian reveue. What do you think? Are these good matches for expanding a Bretonnian force? Do you have other suggestions from different ranges and manufacturers? What other resources for Bretonnia (or other armies) are out there? Ok, hope you enjoyed it and found this useful!

 

[Blue in VT]

again this is EXTREMELY useful...thank you! In fact this second post is even more important IMO...I already have too many knights to paint...but even for brets I prefer an infantry heavy army...and this is where the additional sculpts you point out will be valuable. the 90's Citadel versions just don't have enough variation...even in my unit of 15 spears I have three of each of the four sculpts...I hate when that happens...I will certainly look at diluting them down now with some of these new BTD options.

Cheers,

Blue

 

[whiskey priest]

I've got a couple of units of those foot knights painted up and they are actually pretty nice models and I can also confirm that avereign spearman do fit size wise with the early 90's Bret's and also front rank for added variation.

 

[Mister Rab]

I've a few of the foot knights and they paint up really easily to good effect. They are slightly taller and bulkier than the Foundry re-issued 80s Bret foot knights, but I'm probably going to mix them in the same unit anyway; the difference isn't that great except for the smallest of those 80s Perry sculpts.

 

[smiler]

Thanks for this, there are some really lovely sculpts in the range.