Joe's Bretonnians - The Seamstresses of Clochemerle

When the Duc Giscard de Rainault left his brother's court to commence his chevauchée, he took with him the pick of the castle's bowmen: rough brigands used to a hard life outdoors, most hailing from the wooded vale of Clochemerle. He clad them in bright yellow and green broadcloth- eye catching stuff with a costly sheen. Their comrades mocked them mercilessly, and gave them a nickname meant to ridicule their unmanly finery- but the neat, quick work done with their needle-sharp arrows gave the name a fitting irony, and now they bear it with pride. In any case nothing shows up the dirt of campaign like yellow, and earth, sweat, blood and dysentery has dulled the lustre of their finery somewhat. Their banner tells a grim truth. For many of their enemies, if they know any Old Reman, it's the last thing they ever read.

The Seamstresses of Clochemerle - 12 brigands with bows and banner: 115 points.

For the banner, I tried a technique I remember people using when I was first getting into the hobby: Letraset. I bought a vintage sheet of Blackmoor (a classic fantasy medieval typeface) and I think it worked OK.

Joe's Bretonnian's- The wizard Gibelin and the dragon Béatrice.

Perhaps unwisely, I've eaten my dessert first and instead of getting some rank and file done this month I've progressed directly to the big gribbly dragon. This is an old Grenadier copper dragon, still for sale probably from one of the companies who still produce old Grenadier stuff. I love the unique pose and the weird wings. 

The wizard Gibelin is widely mistrusted by just about everyone in the Duc's warband, not least by de Rainault himself. The knights are outraged by his refusal to address them with sufficient obsequiousness, and lament that a man without a family tree or even a surname should have risen so high in the Duc's employ. The peasants of the company, deeply superstitious to a man, whisper that his mother was a dwarf and his father half-daemon. This would certainly explain his stature, his beard and his otherworldly demeanour. No-one can deny his usefulness to the Chevauchée though- when you positively, absolutely have to burn every hovel in the village- accept no substitutes!

month 1 - monster month - level 20 wizard on a winged dragon: 540 points.

Joe's introductory post - the Chevauchée of Duc Giscard de Rainault

My name is Joe McLaren. My OWAC project will be a third edition Bretonnian army using a variety of minis: some ex-Citadel Foundry stuff, and quite a lot of Essex stuff too.

The reason I've gone for Brets is that I have a lifelong love for Robin Hood, King Arthur, Ivanhoe, Prince Valiant, toy knights, Lego castles, Excalibur, Robin of Sherwood, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, Covington Cross (10 house points if you remember THAT one) and anything of that ilk. A proper army of knights, yeomanry and peasants is long overdue. Also a Bretonnian army will work for different games. In particular, I'm going to build the army so it can break down into the lion's share of two opposing Lion Rampant retinues- so my units will all be 6s and 12s.

Stylistically, I want this army to look mostly historical medieval, but with a certain amount of 80s warhammer wonky weirdness in there, and a good helping of dirt and gloom. As much as I like the bright clarity associated with Bretonnia later on, I'm aiming for something odder and darker here, with touches of Gilliamesque grotesquerie. I don't really care about keeping the army within a particular historical timeframe- I like to see a peculiar mixture of Norman mail and Burgundian plate and everything in between!

Here's my test mini- I think it's a Foundry ex-Citadel knight. This army will be a test of my freehand skills- this is about as sharp as my eyesight and steadiness of hand will allow.

I'm not going to worry too much about stylistic consistency though. Although the basing will be standardised across the army and should help pull everything together visually, I'd quite like the army to look as if it's been built organically over time, throughout the 80s and early 90s. To this end, I've got an idea for using Letraset on a couple of banners, which is something I recall a few people doing in Ye Olden days but which doesn't seem to be remembered now.

My provisonal army list is as follows. I'm hoping to find the time to exceed this points count, but we'll see- no point in setting myself up for failure!

• Duc Giscard de Rainault: Level 25 Duc, mounted on barded warhorse with hand weapon and heavy armour : 143 points
• The Wizard Gibelin, riding the dragon Beatrice: Level 20 Wizard on a winged dragon: 540 points
• The Compact of Gisoreux: 12 Foot Knights with shields and banner: 129 points
• Les Copains de Pireux: 6 Chevaliers de Notre Dame de Bataille with barding, shields and banner: 263 points.
• Les Grand-Mères de Parravon: 6 Chevaliers d'Honneur with barding, shields and banner: 277 points
• The Seamstresses of Clochemerle: 12 Brigands with bows and banner: 115 points
• The Hornets of Hyères: 12 Brigands with Crossbows and banner: 127 points
• La Coquette et L'Enquiquineuse: Two cannon with three crew each: 480 points

total : 2074

Overlord note : Joe will donate a prize at the end of the challenge for a lucky challenger, hence the absence of an offering.