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I am new to the fantasy warhammer, and currently building up a bretonnian army. I was just wondering if this unit had any real value/ uses. competative?

Personally, I don't really see much of the draw of the unit. They're fairly pricey, can be broken and are limited to a unit of 30. Not to mention requiring a Knight with the Grail Vow (depending on your build might not be too hard). For the price, I'd rather just a large block of Men-at-Arms.

True a big block at arms are a really good investment, however I wouldn't dismiss these guys right away. They can and are a effective tarpit unit, which is good because I've seen an enemy charge them, get stuck in, and then the following turn get charged in the flank by a unit of knights, a tactic a guy at my store runs usually with good results. If that doesnt work,, they are good for holding down a flank for a couple of turns and are just as good as men-at-arms when it comes to supporting your knight units. Its up to you if you want to run them mate, but this is just my 2 cents.

They get the blessing, so they tarpit better than men at arms.
This matters, because you don't want to be giving up too much combat res when the knights come into the flank.

I like the Grail guys, along with the Prophetess... But then again, I like the lore of beast and turning the Lady into a monster. Yeah, you can get a scroll of power, a 4+ ward, and a healing potion into her allotment.

-Matt

Give the blessing to the men at arms and just use them for a tarpit

No.. Kaime...

Also, they don't need blessing, they get a 6+ wardsave effective from their shield + HW combo.

Men at arms never get a ward save from their shields, because they have a halberd which they must use in combat. Even if you give them spears (so they can use the shield in melee for the armor value) they don't get a ward.

So the Prophetess makes a lot more sense.

Actually, Captain Solon was referring to the Pilgrims getting the 6+ parry save, not the M@A who obviosuly don't.

Personally.... I find them iffy in 8E. Now that any sufficiently large unit can be (effectively) stubborn, they loose the uniqueness of that benefit. They are also quite pricy compared to M@A.

However.

They do get the ward save like the knights; the M@A will require a Damsel with the Prayer Icon to get it. They stay stubborn down to the last man; eventually M@A will loose it when they are out-ranked. You could even run Pilgrims in horde formation; they will still be stubborn.

It is a tossup, really. Your playstyle will determine how useful they are.

Ahh I thought he was referring to Kaime. Of course getting the Blessing save for free that also works vs shooting is a nice bonus on top of the parry.

Depending on where you play, the blessing might stack with the 6+ parry. In some cases your battle pilgrims will be running around with a 5+ AS and a 4+ WS.
I don't believe that is how the ward works, but if they give it to me I will take it. Just take the unit becasue it looks awsome and can hold its own. The hatred helps, and the unit can be runn effiecently as a anvil for you Grail knight hammer.

UNREALPwnage wrote:Depending on where you play, the blessing might stack with the 6+ parry. In some cases your battle pilgrims will be running around with a 5+ AS and a 4+ WS.
I don't believe that is how the ward works, but if they give it to me I will take it. Just take the unit becasue it looks awsome and can hold its own. The hatred helps, and the unit can be runn effiecently as a anvil for you Grail knight hammer.

Ward saves don't stack (except for tzeench where it clearly says they do).

They do look awesome, and don't totally suck; that's a great reason to use them.

-Matt

Matt is right, wards NEVER stack except for the bonus from Mark of Tzeentch. Definite error there.

I was aware of the error, but the people at my FLGS seem to think it stacks. I was just trying to make the poster aware of the discrepencies with the rules there. If anything the 5+/5+ is well worth it.

Men at arms can get the blessing. Take the arcane item on a damsel. Start her in the unit. Before the start of the game say - The damsel uses the item to give the unit the blessing. 50 Men at arms with the blessing seems pretty cool.

Take beast magic and then buff them with the defualt spell.

You really want to screw with your opponent? Don't use the prayer icon right away. Use it just before you get into combat.

He'll underestimate the unit's resilliance that way, and undercommit to its destruction.