Bretonnian Archers on the Bench, 500 Points in Sight
A funny thing happened in our chat this weekend: one message about “a year ago today” turned into a full-on Bretonnia hobby check-in, with archers, skirmish trays, anti-cavalry stakes, and even a side note about Mordheim weather rules. Which, honestly, is a very us kind of hobby conversation.
Michał kicked things off by dropping a pair of “one year ago” photos — a nice reminder of how these projects tend to grow over time, one batch at a time.
Then Wilini came in with the important update: archery production is underway.
And this is exactly the sort of project we love seeing take shape. Not a vague “someday army” plan, but a concrete target: Bretonnia, with the first goal being a painted 500 points, and expansion later.
That feels like a very healthy way to build an army for Warhammer: The Old World. Get a playable core done, get games in, and only then start adding more toys.
Archers, skirmish, and annoying battlefield jobs
The chat quickly veered from painting into battlefield theory, because of course it did. Michał mentioned that just the day before he had been chasing units like these around the board. The highlight was a wonderfully irritating bit of gameplay: running a Bull after them, spreading Terror, and forcing awkward charge reactions. They kept fleeing, the Bull kept chasing, and before they finally died it turned out the Bull had been tied up for four turns.
Which is honestly a great reminder that cheap or fragile units can still do a ton of work if they mess with your opponent’s plans.
Once the question came up — “will there be many of these archers?” — the answer was very satisfying: 24 in total.
That immediately sounded right for future 1250-point games, and also opened up the skirmish discussion. Because yes: they can skirmish, and apparently people are even using dedicated movement trays for that.
The weather chart above was a bonus find from the same conversation — very cool Mordheim material, and exactly the kind of thing that makes us want to dig through old supplements and side systems again.
Skirmish trays and stakes
Michał shared examples of the kind of skirmish bases/trays he had seen.
And then there’s the other very Bretonnian detail we love: the stakes.
Wilini pointed out that they also have those nice stakes, especially useful versus cavalry. It’s one of those little unit rules and visual details that gives Bretonnian archers so much character. They’re not just “some ranged infantry” — they come with their own battlefield identity.
The current plan: 14 archers on the desk
The most concrete hobby update came a bit later: the whole first chunk of the Bretonnia project apparently isn’t that huge when laid out, and the goal for the week is to push it forward properly.
Right now, 14 archers are on the workbench, with knights potentially next after that. That sounds like a very good place to be: enough bodies to get momentum, not so many that the project becomes overwhelming.
We also liked one very practical point from the chat: for now, it’s perfectly fine to play with a mix of painted and unpainted models. That’s the kind of attitude that actually gets armies finished. If we wait for every last model to be done before rolling dice, projects can stall forever. Better to get games in, keep motivation high, and let the painted force grow organically.
A Bretonnian project we’ll be watching closely
So that’s where things stand at the moment:
- Bretonnia is officially the project
- the first milestone is 500 painted points
- there should be 24 archers total
- 14 archers are currently on the painting desk
- knights may be next
- and there are already thoughts about how they’ll behave in actual games
Honestly, this is the sweet spot of the hobby: painting plans, list-building ideas, rules chatter, and battle stories all feeding into each other.
We’re very much looking forward to seeing this force progress — because a painted Bretonnian army with blocks of bowmen, skirmish options, stakes, and eventually knights charging in? That has all the makings of something properly glorious.