WARHAMMER THE OLD WORLD BRETTONIANS ARCANE JOURNAL

With the release of Warhammer: The Old World we have also been blessed
with the first two ‘Arcane Journal’ army supplements for this new game. In
this article we’re going to dive into these army expansions and explore what
they bring to the table for the fans of Bretonnia. With the massive and
thorough army compilations in the Fantasy Forces books , what does a
Warhammer army book look like now? Are they a requirement to play the
game in a meaningful way going forward or just nice to have? Let’s check it
out

Thanks again to Games Workshop for providing us the books to review.

What’s in the Book?

Before getting into the content of the book, one thing to mention is the
production quality. The whole release has been tied together with the striking
blue colour and inside they’re clearly a love letter to what has come before
but updated with the polish you’ve come to expect from Games Workshop
during the time the Old World was away. Each page has artwork fading
around the text and while some of the artwork has been reused from
previous editions of Warhammer or Warmaster alongside some exceptional
new artwork from the studio team – the detail in things like the Map of
Bretonnia is just outstanding. These are fleshed out far more than they’ve
ever been before and you can spend a lot of time just looking over them and
planning out stories or campaigns around what’s on the map.

The book begins by expanding on the lore on the knights of the chivalrous
realm and what they’re up to at this point of the timeline, focusing largely on
the war in the Border Princes. Several pages are dedicated to heraldry and
uniforms, which will prove invaluable for those looking for painting
inspiration.

The lore section finishes by setting the scene for the Battle of Matorea and a
narrative scenario for you to recreate it at home. In this scenario the host of
Sir Cecile Gastonne (more on him later) are defending the city of Matorea
from the Tomb Kings of Khemri, while a rescue force led by the Duke of
Brionne is riding to their air supported by Lady Elisse Duchaard (again, more
of on her later). The last section before the additional rules provided within
the Tome are a few full colour page spreads of photo’s of a lot of the new kit
showing off the Knights of the Realm on Foot in all their glory along with the
host of new Forgeworld Resin characters

he Armies of Infamy
The Armies of Infamy are new and thematic ways to build out your faction’s
army lists. They contain new army-wide special rules and unlock access to
new ‘upgraded’ units that enhance a particular style of play at the cost of a
far more restrictive army composition list than what is found in the base
books. Taking an army of infamy invariably locks you out of running
particular units and honestly the Old World rules team has done a pretty
good job of balancing fun and flavour here in particular.

Bretonnian Exiles
Not all the Knights of Bretonnia are exemplars of chivalry. The Bretonnian
Exile lists represent the lords who have suffered exile or banishment from
their lands for acts of dishonour. These forces recognise that that chivalry
can only get you so far and might be looking to employ some less than
knightly tactics or weapons in battle.

Forsaken by the Lady, Characters in this list have to replace

their Knightly or Grail Vow with the Exiles Vow – granting the benefits
of Stubborn and Veteran, while still giving the benefit of not really caring
about the peasantry. Unable to pray for Blessing of the Lady prior to the
game, they can redeem themselves through different in-game acts such
killing a character in a challenge or running your enemy down. Be warned
the Lady will only grant you her favour once and it can’t be regained once
lost in game.

This Army of Infamy doesn’t feature many special rules, but does make the
most of things such as the new Yeoman Guard regiment (at least one of
which is mandatory if not taking Peasant Bowmen), Outcast
Wizards (which give access to different lores from the Damsel), Border
Princes Brigands or the big blunt instrument in the form of the Border
Princes Bombard. Other than that you can also pick up some Mercenaries
sure as the Free Company Militia or Empire Archers from the Forces of
Fantasy Empire of Man list to give your force a few different options.

Errantry Crusade
Representing what we might know as more of a traditional army (in a
Warhammer Fantasy Battle sense) the crusading army lists represents the
King sending out a call to arms and knights choosing to answer before riding
out to achieve a shared goal in distant lands. This is usually answered by
Knight’s Errant riding out to claim trophies that attest to their deeds allowing
them to be honoured and move up the ranks to become a Knight of the
Realm.

Here a bunch of units (in effect, Knights of all variety and Mounted
Yeomen) gain the Crusader’s Zeal special rule which grants them an
additional 1″ to their maximum charge range and +1 to the charge roll while
also picking up the Impetuous special rule. In addition any Knight can
replace their Knight’s Vow with the Crusader’s Vow which grants Veteran to
anyone with it in addition to once again, not really caring about what
happens to Peasants. What this leads to is a very reliable force in terms of
Leadership tests so once you set them to a task their nerves won’t usually be
getting the better of them. In addition any enemy standard captured by a
unit of Knights Errant is worth 100 victory points instead of the normal 50
(leaning back in to that Lore regarding them needing trophies) and Knights
Errant gain the ability to re-roll 1’s to hit while near a model with the Grail
Vow or any Lord of Bretonnia.

Composition wise you’re really playing into the theme with similar characters
to the Grand Army Composition but the Knights Errant become your
mandatory selection at 1+ and the requirement to take peasants is removed
with Men-at-Arms and Peasant Bowmen both moving to the Special
section of the list. In addition you can also take Mercenaries in the form of
the Empire Knights and Inner Circle Knights from the Forces of Fantasy
book. Lets just get one thing straight, this army doesn’t do a reverse gear, it
goes forward and wants to just keep going.

New Units?
The Green Knight returns in Warhammer The Old World and is a force on
the battlefield. He’s not cheap at 275pts but boy, is he fun. You’ve got
yourself a more than capable melee character who doesn’t start on the table,
instead you have dice roll to bring him on (starting at a 3+) and if so you can
place him down in any “Natural” terrain feature and go wild. In addition if
slain in combat you can roll again at the start of your turns to bring him back
on, it just requires a slightly better roll each time he’s slain to return, but
with a 3+ save, a 5+ ward and 4 Wounds he’s not going down without a
fight. His Dolorous Blade is a brilliant weapon with 2 different profiles for
either a flurry of swings for chopping through the enemy rank and file or for
more deadly blows against tougher opponents.

Sir Cecile Gastonne, The Wyrm Slayer. I’m not sure how he managed to
fight a dragon for 3 whole days and nights but he’s clearly some warrior! For
165pts you’re getting yourself a more than competent melee character who
takes up a Baron Slot in your Army. He has a couple of special rules
including The Wyrm Slayer where he can gain Terror if killing the right type
of enemy and has a magical axe called Sorrow’s End which includes
the Monster Slayer special rule which explains how it managed to take down
Norndrak the Tyrant to gain his titl

Lady Elisse Duchaard is the final named character included and takes the
slot of a Prophetess in a Bretonnian force. At 225pts you pick up a Lv3
Spellcaster who knows spells from the Lore of Elementalism (one of my
favourites). She rides her Unicorn Arindir to battle and carries a few handy
magical artefacts to help her. Her Arcane Backlash ability means she dispels
enemy attempts to cast at +1 (in effect making her a Lv4 for that purpose)
and if she rolls a double (excluding double ones) the casting wizards also
suffers a single wound – handy! The Chalice of Brionne means enemy
characters near her who are using any rule which uses their Leadership
suffer a -2 penalty. Get her into the fight near a bunch of Tomb King Liches
and watch your opponent crumble. Finally the Staff of the Elements lets her
take 2 different signature spells, so you no longer have to pick between the
different options, have them all.

Outcast Wizards are the new caster open for Exile Armies, you’re limited to
Lv3 here and they have a special rule which means miscasts are always
going to be slightly worse. In trade for that they gain access to a bunch of
magical lore’s the Kingdom of Bretonnia doesn’t normally have access to.

Yeoman Guard are the most hardened guard of Exiled Barons and have a
slightly improved melee profile over that of the Men-at-Arms. They still
have the benefit of Shieldwall and the ability to take a Blessed Triptych for
the good old you’re not moving combo of Shieldwall and Stubborn. They can
also take Thrusting Spears for those among you who want to convert or have
the really old models with that weapon option.

Border Princes Brigands are an infantry unit and will do anything for coin
when hired. You can arm these with a bunch of different weaponry not
normally available to the Kingdom of Bretonnia with additional hand weapons
in melee or pistols, crossbows or even the blunderbuss at range. They can
also be ambushers or scouts so really are what you want to make them,
they’re a really versatile unit when kitting them out and I can’t want to see
what options people come up with on the table.

The Border Princes Bombard is the big new toy here and is in effect a
cannon. Not seen since 3rd edition his little beauty can be combined with the
trebuchet and let you play as a more ranged/attrition army with mass ranked
of infantry and few units of knights to counter.

Magic Items
There are a host of new magic items here with all categories represented. A
few of my favourites are;

Crusaders Lance which is limited to Crusading armies, providing Furious

Charge and Hatred (all enemies) and magical attacks – allowing your Lord to
really hit harder than the enemy expects.
Lucky Heirloom is limited to Exile Armies but allows the model with it once
per round to re-roll a failed ‘To Hit, To Wound or Armour or Ward Save’. This
will provide you that little extra bit of reliability when needed and is very
flexible.

Banner of the Zealous Knight allows the Exiles Army to have a Vanguarding
unit of infantry. – Great for pushing up a unit ready to receive your
opponents army further away from your solid base of Bombards and
Trebuchets.

Flamestrike Wand allows an Exiles army to have an this Arcane Item which
contains the Fireball spell at Power Level 3. Combined with the Ruby Ring, I
think you’ve just solved most of your enemy skirmishing/harassing troops
issue.