Bretonnian Peasants, Steppe Bases, and the Eternal Fight for Wifecoins
We started out trying to do the classic hobby-group thing: schedule some games for next week. As usual, it quickly turned into a tactical exercise involving league pairings, store bookings, evening availability, childcare logistics, and the ever-valuable reserve of wifecoins. Very relatable stuff.
In the middle of all that calendar wrangling, though, Wilini dropped something much more important: painting progress on his Bretonnians. And honestly, that immediately stole the spotlight.
A base idea that really sells the model
Wilini showed us a nearly finished miniature and asked whether a pseudo-desert / steppe-style base would fit. Our answer was basically: yes, absolutely.
The rough, dusty ground works really well for Bretonnian peasants. It gives them that grounded, muddy, lived-in feel without making the model too dark or too busy. It also feels different from the default bright-green fantasy meadow look, which is always nice when someone is trying to give an army a bit more personality.
What we liked most is that this kind of base doesn’t scream for attention. It supports the miniature instead of competing with it. For rank-and-file infantry especially, that matters a lot. When you need to paint a whole block of “the lads” before you can even touch the knights, choosing a base scheme that looks good and is repeatable is a huge win.
And that was very much the vibe here: it’s taking time, because the peasants also need proper attention, but the effect looks worth it.
The happy little accident: brown became green
Then came one of those hobby moments we all know: somehow, Battledress Brown turned into a green base. Not necessarily according to plan, but somehow it still worked.
Honestly, this is one of the best parts of painting. Sometimes the result is not what we expected at all, but it ends up fitting the miniature better than the original idea would have. In this case, the greener tone still kept that natural, slightly wild feel and looked surprisingly coherent with the model.
That got an immediate “looks great” from the chat, and rightly so.
First Bretonnian peasant: officially presented with pride
A little later, Wilini came back with the real milestone: the first Bretonnian peasant, finished and presented with pride.
And yeah — deservedly so.
This is exactly the kind of model that can define whether an army feels like a labor of love or just a list assembled to unlock the fun units. Bretonnian peasants are never going to be the glamorous stars of the collection, but when they’re painted with this much care, they become a huge part of the army’s charm.
The immediate reaction in chat was basically the only correct one: “miodzio” and “Ale sztos”.
Also, the best part of any finished rank-and-file model announcement was there too:
just 13 more and then the knights can begin
That is such a pure Warhammer sentence.
Project 14 is moving fast
The really encouraging bit is that, by Wilini’s standards, the project is apparently moving fast. There was even a solid chance of finishing project 14 and moving on to the next one soon.
That kind of momentum matters a lot in army painting. Once the scheme clicks, once the basing starts to make sense, and once the first finished miniature proves the whole thing works, it suddenly becomes much easier to imagine the full unit — and then the full army.
We’re really curious how the knights will look once they start getting the same treatment. A carefully painted peasant block with this kind of earthy base scheme should make the more colorful Bretonnian elements pop even harder.
Meanwhile: scheduling The Old World like adults (sort of)
Somewhere around all of this, we also did manage to make progress on actual gaming plans.
There was a lot of back and forth about whether next week would work better on Wednesday or Thursday, whether 2d6 could be booked, whether evening play was the only realistic option, and whether someone would need to spend precious domestic currency to make it happen. Stas, now navigating life with young Henio, summed it up beautifully by explaining that every daytime plan now has to be negotiated with his wife and paid for in hard-earned wifecoins.
End3r ended up doing some schedule Tetris and even moved his Necromunda game to Thursday so that Wednesday would be free for The Old World. That is commitment.
There was also some venue talk: 2d6, possibly playing elsewhere, a joking return to another spot with strict anti-snack policy, and a mention of Xjoy as a genuinely nice place with a good Kill Team crowd — even if getting there during peak hours can feel like a campaign in itself.
And because one system is never enough, we also got a fun little side note that the Thursday Necromunda game would have to be played on a smaller table because the big one would be occupied by… Mordheim. Extremely good energy.
Side quest: a huge Old World battle and a useful list update
Two other bits also caught our attention.
First, there’s apparently going to be a big six-army battle at Matisoft on Saturday: Wood Elves, Bretonnia, and Dwarfs versus two Chaos Warriors armies and Orcs, for a total of 15,000 points on the table, with house rules. That sounds like exactly the kind of glorious nonsense we love hearing about.
Second, there was news that the latest update to the Old World army list collection added almost a quarter thousand lists, including 20 sub-500-point lists. That kind of thing is always great for inspiration, especially if someone is trying to get smaller games going or just wants to browse ideas without committing to a full army immediately.
Also: old Warhammer games are back on Steam
And because the chat never stays on one topic for too long, End3r also dropped a link to the newly revived Warhammer Classics sale on Steam. If you enjoy the hobby in that broad “paint toy soldiers, play games, and also occasionally disappear into old PC titles” kind of way, this is very much in the zone.
The best kind of hobby update
In the end, this whole exchange had a bit of everything we like most: progress photos, basing experiments, accidental color success, army painting motivation, game-night logistics, and the usual reality check that being adults with jobs, families, and responsibilities makes every battle feel like a small strategic victory before the dice are even rolled.
But above all, this one belonged to Wilini’s Bretonnian peasants.
They’re taking time, sure. But if the first one is anything to go by, the effect is absolutely worth it.
And now, naturally, we wait for the other 13.