Debating swapping to Brets: An army list

[Limekiller]

Well, been playing my Khorne Mortals for a while, and wanted to get an army with at least a slightly different feel. I don't want to be known as one of those typical Bret players either, so I went somewhat peasant heavy for this list. I'm sure I'd want to try out Grail Knights eventually, but I just didn't have room for them here.

Anyway, since I've never played Brets, and only rarely plaid against them, I'd love to get commentary on the following 2250 pt list:

CHARACTERS

Lord, Lance, Shield, Grail Vow, Cuirass of Fortune, Mantle of Damsel Elena, Tress of Isoulde, Virtue of Knightly Temper. 268 pts.

Paladin, BSB, Sword of Might, Gromril Great Helm. 126 pts.

Paladin, Questing Vow, Great Weapon, Insignia of the Quest, Virtue of Epathy. 112 pts

Damsel #1, Level 2, Chalice of Malfleur, Dispel Scroll. 150 pts.

Damsel #2, Level 2, Silver Mirror. 145 pts.


CORE

8 Knights of the Realm, Full Command, Twilight Banner. (Lord goes here) 241 pts.

8 Knights of the Realm, Full Command, War Banner. (BSB goes here) 241 pts.

6 Knights Errant, Full Command, Errantry Banner. 161 pts.

23 Men at Arms, full command. (Foot pally and Damsel #1 go here). 142 pts.

11 Peasant Bowmen, Skirmishers, Villein, Musician, Braziers. 92.


SPECIAL

4 Pegasus Knights, Musician. 230 pts.

Grail Reliquae + 20 Battle Pilgrims. (Damsel #2 goes here). 244 pts.


RARE

1 Trebuchet, with Yoeman Craftsman crew upgrade. 100 pts.


Total: 2250 pts.


Basically, the plan is for the sorceresses to use lore of beasts and cast cast bear's anger on themselves, to help give the units they are in some extra bite in HTH. I probably could've gotten away with leaving them L1 for that, but I wanted some added flexibility with them, so that if they get another good spell, they can use it sometimes. (the charge spell for cav, the magic missile, etc.)

The lord is hopefully set up to be a bit of a walking blender against just about anything, whether it's R&F, or if he's going against a single big nasty, he can fire off the tress, and just about guarantee a large number of wounds. BSB loadout is to give him as good a defense as possible (2+ rerollable armor save + blessing save), plus some offense that lasts, with the sword of might. The foot paladin is there to give the Men at Arms some bite since he hits at S6, and the insignia of the quest is there to keep him alive as long as possible.

The knight units will actually be used in conjunction with the infantry as much as possible, especially the BSB's lance, who I doubly want to keep within 12" of the Grail Reliquae unit so they can re-roll their stubborn check.

Anyway, comments from the more experienced?

[@ztech]

Good list. Bret knights are at their best in units of 8 + character, as you seem to have understood. Do you have plans for the Twilight Banner, or is it just filler?

About the Men-at-Arms: give them spears. Spears > halberds

Ditch the Damsel 2's Silver Mirror. Give her two scrolls instead.

I must admit I don't know what the Pilgrims are worth: I never use them. But I don't think you need 20 of them. They're stubborn and that makes them a good anvil, but I wouldn't count on them breaking any enemy unit on their own. If you remove 6 of them, that leaves you enough points to add 10 M@A who hang around them and stay ready to attack the flank of any enemy that charges the Pilgrims.

You should remove from your list all non-essential components (like the Twilight Banner, the braziers, etc.), and then we'll see what we can add instead.

[Limekiller]

Well, the twilight banner was in there to allow for that one charge in a game where I absolutely have to make it, regardless of whether or not terrain is an issue. We tend to play with a decent amount of terrain 5-6+ pieces) so there are cases where a charge would be good, but to hit the target there's a forest in the way, a linear obstacle to go over, etc. Still though, it's not at all vital, for sure. Now the braziers... THOSE were filler. heh.

For the Reliquae unit, 20 pilgrims + reliquae itself + damsel makes it a 5x5 block unit, to match up with the M@A. The assumption was that the more models there are in the unit, the better a tar pit it is going to be, especially if it gets charged by something ugly like chosen Khorne knights, which can easily chew through a 20-block in 2 combat phases, but might need 3 to get through 25.

Spears on the M@A works OK. I honestly didn't care much what they were armed with, since I figured they'd be using HW + Shield 99% of the time, but I can definitely see where spears would be nicer, especially given that I've got higher S attacks handled by the 2 characters.

No complaints about 2 scrolls over the Mirror, really. I can certainly see that one. Just had the mirror in there a) as a slight cost saving measure, and I figured against anything but a wizard lord, the mirror gives me a 2+ chance (assuming T4 or less) to get half points from the caster, since with a few exceptions, every non-lord-level caster only has 2 wounds. That pretty much would guarantee that model paid for itself, heh.

The one unit I wished I could've fit in was a Mounted Yoeman unit, but I just didn't have the points.


So, how about this for changes: Downgrade the Twilight Banner to the Banner of Chalons. (not getting stand & shot at can be pretty helpful sometimes, methinks). Dump the braziers, swap the M@A to spears, and use the free 20 pts I just got to add 4 more M@A, making the unit 29-strong with the 2 characters in there, and giving it the ability to take more casualties before it loses it's static res. Alternately, just add 2 more M@A, and upgrade the 2nd damsel to have 2 scrolls instead of the mirror.