Day 2 - Bretonnian Lances

Welcome back!  Well I made it to day two at least. :)  Today's topic is Bretonnians.  This one is a little different for me because unofficially Bretonnians were my first Warhammer army.  I still have quite a few of the models laying around from back in the 4th or 5th edition days but never got around to playing them.   And apparently I didn't get around to learning the rules too much either.

Rather than just going over the army special rules like I did yesterday, I thought I would cover one of them and then see how it relates to the army.  In this case I'm referring to the Bretonnian Lance formation and how it works with the Knight's of the Realm specifically.  There are other mounted units in the Bretonnian book that can also use the Lance but those will be discussed another day.

So first let's go over the Lance formation special rule.  Each rank in a "Lance" unit is composed of three models.  In our case today, we're talking Knights of the Realm.   When I unit in Lance formation charges, all of the models in the flank of the Lance are allowed to fight.  What I didn't know about the Lance is that casualties are pulled from the center of the back rank first unless that model is a character.  Any incomplete ranks are organized with the models along the flanks so they can be in a fighting position within the Lance. Speaking of characters, all characters with the exception of a Prophetess or a Damsel must be placed in the front rank.  This will in some cases force the champion or other command units to the second rank.  If there is a Prophetess or Damsel in the unit, they can be moved to the second rank or third if there is more than one.  The only time that they would have to move up is if the front rank falls below three models.

So if you're like me you were probably wondering, "Why don't I just rank them up 4 or 5 wide and get more attacks from the second rank?"  So I consulted our local Bretonnian player David, and he told me what I should have already known.  The reason is the same as what we mentioned above in that Damsels would likely have to move up to the front rank and lose their protection from the Knights.  Duh, I just wrote that.   Other benefits include increased number of ranks and the increased possibility of breaking steadfast, less frontage so you have fewer attacks coming back at you, and one you don't think about much, wheeling.  Having a unit 3 wide and 4 deep swings around like a baseball bat.  This can also be a hinderance though if you're tucked in the middle of a bunch of units and the backend of you Lance keeps bumping into things.

Well, that's all for now.  Check back tomorrow where I take a look at the Chaos Dwarfs from the Tamurkhan book.  Later!