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I'm still planning on how I want to get back into WHF. I currently have a DE and a HE army, but I'm not sure that I want to continue them. I have been considering trading both to get a large Bret army.
I've been playing around with army builder, and I think I have a list that would be my typical army for most games. I know most Bret armies follow the same format, so I'm not expecting much advice on the units. But I would love some help with magic items, as I feel pretty lost on them. My current item choices are mostly based off of Rommel44's tourney army (sorry for stealing them ).

Lord:
- Heartwood Lance, Armor of Agiluf, Virtue of Heroism

Prophetess:
- Lvl. 4, Dispel Scroll, Warhorse, Barding

Paladin BSB:
-Gromil Great Helm

Damsel:
- Lvl. 2, Prayer Icon of Quenelles

39 Men-at-Arms: (w/Damsel)
-Full Command

12 Bowmen:
-Braziers, Defensive Stakes, Light Armor

12 Bowmen:
-Braziers, Defensive Stakes, Light Armor

9 Knights of the Realm: (w/Lord, Prophetess, and BSB)
-Full Command, War Banner

9 Knights of the Realm:
-Full Command

9 Knights of the Realm:
-Full Command

12 Knights Errant:
-Full Command, Erranty Banner

3 Pegasus Knights:
-Gallant, Musician

Trebuchet

Trebuchet

The men-at-arms form the center of the line, with the bowmen in front of the trebuchets providing fire. The errant unit and the KotR with the characters will form the heavy hitters, with the 2 squads of 9 KotR helping by either hitting simultaneously or dealing with other units. The pegasus knights will take out war machines or easy characters.

The BSB could do with some more omph, he's currently hitting quite lightly so something like The Sword of Might would do him well.

The Prophetess doesn't need barding, if she is combat then the 5+ armour save will do nothing to save her butt.

The archers don't need light armour, their armour save will be mitigated by pretty much anything you come across.

The Warbanner is pretty cool, but you should already be winning combat but a ton already (Ranks, BSB, Charge Wounds) and it doesn't help you break steadfast. Seeing as you don't have the crown of command, give them the Banner of Discipline, which makes your General Ld 10 so long as he is in the unit.

Might be better to give the Prophetess the Silver Mirror and the Crown of Command so you now have a stubburn unit.

Thanks for the reply

I threw the barding onto the prophetess because I had the extra points. No problem with removing it for other stuff.

I took your advice and switched the army around a bit. Question though: Would it be worth it to get 2 small units of mounted yeomen as redirectors instead of using smaller KotR squads? It would mean that I have to drop a squad of KotR, but I could boost the other 2 squads up to 12.
Here's a reworked list with the mounted yeomen:

Lord:
- Heartwood Lance, Armor of Agiluf, Virtue of Heroism

Prophetess:
- Lvl. 4, Dispel Scroll, Crown of Command, Warhorse

Paladin BSB:
-Gromil Great Helm, Sword of Might

Damsel:
- Lvl. 2, Prayer Icon of Quenelles

39 Men-at-Arms: (w/Damsel)
-Full Command

2 units of 10 Bowmen:
-Braziers, Defensive Stakes

9 KotR: (w/Lord, Prophetess, and BSB)
-Full Command, Standard of Discipline

2 units of 12 KotR:
-Full Command

2 units of 5 Mounted Yeomen:
- Musician

3 Pegasus Knights:
-Gallant, Musician

2 Trebuchets

TOTAL: 2500 points

The benefit to yeomen is that they can flee without losing the Lady's Blessing, whereas proud knights of Bretonnia can do no such thing. Having small units of knights also work however, seeing as they pack more punch than yeoman. Having four buses gives you a good advantage however, basically your mileage may vary.

1) Not so much a fan of your general build. Even with WS10 he's only hitting things on 3s (4s against nurgle princes), and anything WS5 or greater is still hitting HIM on 4s. Moreover, in the charge he's S6 meaning he's wounding plenty of monsters on 4s or even 3s, so that's even fewer reroll attempts.

Why not give him the ASF sword+gromril great helm+Virtue of Heroism. That way he gets rerolls to hit (maximizing chances for HKB) and has a 1+ rerollable save. Then your BSB can have sword of might + charmed shield + dawnstone for a 2+ rerollable save and S5 (enchanted shield would be better, but yours costs 10 points instead of the BRB's 5...d'oh!)

2) I've always been kind of unimpressed by yeoman. They don't quite have the oomph to clear a lot of chaff or take down warmachines, and don't have the most spectacular leadership if out on their own. They're essentially just a disposable redirector / harassment unit that's just a bit too expensive to be truly cost-effective. Especially since you can build a solo paladin for very nearly the same cost with just a lance, shield, and barded steed. Seems like a funner, more flexible option honestly.

That said I've seen yeoman used quite effectively, so I'm sure you could make it work. It's one of those options that isn't necessarily objectively better or worse, it just depends on how good you are with that tool.

PirateRobotNinjaofDeath wrote:
2) I've always been kind of unimpressed by yeoman. They don't quite have the oomph to clear a lot of chaff or take down warmachines, and don't have the most spectacular leadership if out on their own. They're essentially just a disposable redirector / harassment unit that's just a bit too expensive to be truly cost-effective. Especially since you can build a solo paladin for very nearly the same cost with just a lance, shield, and barded steed. Seems like a funner, more flexible option honestly.

That said I've seen yeoman used quite effectively, so I'm sure you could make it work. It's one of those options that isn't necessarily objectively better or worse, it just depends on how good you are with that tool.

Interesting, If you don't use yeomen, what do you use as redirectors? I was planning on using my pegagus knights to warmachine hunt. Do you use small squads of KotR to take the less optimal charges, like I was planning to do in my first list?

Also, thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it, having been out of WHF since 7th edition first dropped.

I don't play with Brets quite honestly, just against them loads. So much of my experience has been coloured by what my friend is running. We theory-hammer a lot too, and while he used to run the yeoman he eventually dropped them for...nothing.

Well that's not exactly true. He traded him for a peg hero with questing vow, morning star, great weapon, HA+shield, dragon helm, gauntlet of the duel, and insignia of the quest. He calls him "Reginald the Bold" and he's a fething monster. Since people can't decline the challenge he can hide in any unit for a round killing the champion and effectively pin them in place. If there's any other characters in there, especially squishy mages, he'll kill them to. While he's back there threatening your back lines he'll often kill a couple warmachines while he's at it.

Oh, and insignia of the quest? feth me is that a broken item. 3++ on his last wound, but if anything kills him before that he gets to take the 3++ to come back to life on 1 wound. That means he catches cannon balls, wrestles with mangler squigs, or takes his licks from Hellebron before standing up to smack her back down. It's pretty ridiculous.

Clearing chaff he uses his pegs (who then just flee), or some of the magic missiles out of heavens, or his two units of archers. Barring that, he just charges them with knights then reforms and if they get charged then he can counter-charge with something else.

I think the really important thing to remember with Brets is that you do NOT have to charge turn 2. The only games I've won against him are essentially the ones where he's done that. Level 4 heavens + dual trebs is actually a pretty threatening combo at range. Soften them up, clear chaff with your flying dudes, then engage when you feel like it. That way you're not hemmhoraging points to useless yeoman that could be spent on more knights.

I've also seen people use naked peg heroes to great effect. With just HA+lance+barded steed they're still fairly cheap and can pack a whallop. Move/charge them out to tie things up if need be and they're great. Especially monsters and such, since 2+5++ is actually decent protection, and with charge+S6++stomp immunity they might even win combat.

Thanks for the advice I have definitely been trying to work out tactics and when to charge, as I haven't had to worry about that too much in 40k.

Looking at the list, I can either run the one listed above with 2 KotR units of 12, 2 units of 5 yeomen, and my character bus, or I can run one with 4 KotR units of 9. I guess I'll just have to play a couple of games and see which one suits me more.

I think the first list is probably going to go better. You need ranks to bust steadfast, and you can only hit a given target with a maximum of three Lance formations anyway... and the odds are one good charge is all you're going to get so you might as well make it a 'maximum effort' charge. After that charge, either you break them and spend the rest of the game avoiding what's left because you don't have enough left to take it on, or you don't break it and loose the game right there.

Okay, thanks for all the advice!
I'll be working on my army over the summer, and maybe I'll be able to get a game or 2 in in between work. I'll figure out whether I like using yeomen or not.

PirateRobotNinjaofDeath wrote:
I don't play with Brets quite honestly, just against them loads. So much of my experience has been coloured by what my friend is running. We theory-hammer a lot too, and while he used to run the yeoman he eventually dropped them for...nothing.

Well that's not exactly true. He traded him for a peg hero with questing vow, morning star, great weapon, HA+shield, dragon helm, gauntlet of the duel, and insignia of the quest. He calls him "Reginald the Bold" and he's a fething monster. Since people can't decline the challenge he can hide in any unit for a round killing the champion and effectively pin them in place. If there's any other characters in there, especially squishy mages, he'll kill them to. While he's back there threatening your back lines he'll often kill a couple warmachines while he's at it.

Oh, and insignia of the quest? feth me is that a broken item. 3++ on his last wound, but if anything kills him before that he gets to take the 3++ to come back to life on 1 wound. That means he catches cannon balls, wrestles with mangler squigs, or takes his licks from Hellebron before standing up to smack her back down. It's pretty ridiculous.

Clearing chaff he uses his pegs (who then just flee), or some of the magic missiles out of heavens, or his two units of archers. Barring that, he just charges them with knights then reforms and if they get charged then he can counter-charge with something else.

I think the really important thing to remember with Brets is that you do NOT have to charge turn 2. The only games I've won against him are essentially the ones where he's done that. Level 4 heavens + dual trebs is actually a pretty threatening combo at range. Soften them up, clear chaff with your flying dudes, then engage when you feel like it. That way you're not hemmhoraging points to useless yeoman that could be spent on more knights.

I've also seen people use naked peg heroes to great effect. With just HA+lance+barded steed they're still fairly cheap and can pack a whallop. Move/charge them out to tie things up if need be and they're great. Especially monsters and such, since 2+5++ is actually decent protection, and with charge+S6++stomp immunity they might even win combat.

Reginald the Bold is happening for me.

Thank you. Thank you lots.