Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey mates. After winning a tournament recently and playing two more games today, both which where victories against Orcs and Empire respectively , the Empire player I beat told him he was surprised to see a Bretonnia player still running around, as it had been a year since he last saw one, which helped in my win as he had no idea how to fight against a Bret Army with a ton of Knights. Now granted I know Bretonnia is an old book, but he went on to say that he heard that GW was planning on disbanding them, as they have started to take out models from the store and now you can only get the Core Units and the Pegasus Knights. Now, although I don't think that GW will can the Brets, as all of the models they have removed where all of the Pewter and Resin models in way for new ones, however I can admit it has planted a seed of doubt and has gotten me thinking if I wasted time and money gathering Brets, because for all I know GW could just cut them off without warning. Anyways, just wondering if anyone has heard anything or if you have any thoughts on this feel free to share. Love my Brets but if I need to, I can always go Empire or maybe even Chaos if things go south.

Bretonnia are rumoured to be the next armybook after Wood Elves.

Seriously doubt it. I would bet they get a book before the end of the year. Only 3 army book remain to be updated, and at GW's new pace, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility to see them updated soon.

Plus, they were featured in the WE teaser video recently released. Unless that teaser video was a precursor to the WE wiping them out completely (which doesn't make sense), I bet we see a new Bretonnia book by summers end.

I am 99.9999999% confident Bretonnia will be redone, however there is that .1% doubt as we haven't seen anything to deal with Bretonnia in any White Dwarfs or anything lately. Plus there is a good posibility that Bretonnia could get passed over by Beastmen as well, as many of those players feel that they are worse off then Bretonnia. Not sure how it is going to turn out but a friend said he wouldn't be surprised if Bretonnia would get passed over again, as since they are a Cavalry-Based army, GW has to find a way to make them more effective then they currently are with the current edition rules favoring infantry, and maybe give them some more variety but I doubt that as Bretonnia is an Army predicated for there Cavalry.

Disappearing models usually means they're going to get repackaged or get a new kit. Usually because there is a new book.

Individual units or models may not survive the transition between books, but the faction is very unlikely to disappear entirely.

Wood Elves and Beastmen need the update worse then Bretonnia, because they're both really struggling right now. We know Wood Elves are due for May, so that's one down.

Bretonnia still performs well because of cheap S5 templates and powerful cavalry formations that actually can be deep enough to break steadfast... and are narrow enough to throw two or three into a target unit to guarantee it breaks.

One could also argue that Skaven need an update more than Bretonnia to actually bring their rules in line. Who knows what the heck GW was thinking when they wrote it; it wasn't terribly well written for 7E and was just plain awfully written for 8E!

There's been rumours of a new army book for 6 years and more now. The book itself is nearly 11 years old - iPhones and Facebook didn't even exist when it was written...

Anyway, nothing has panned out for them in all that time. However, since 9th ed has apparently been pushed back, and with so few armies that haven't been updated for 8th, it might finally be Bretonnia's turn, and the update of Woodelves (another long-forgotten army) along with their teaser video featuring Bretonnians gives some hope that it'll pan out this time.

Maybe.

Yet it remains one of the few codexes to have aged incredibly well. That might be the only reason it has survived for as long as it has.

At the very least I would imagine it going the way of the Sisters of Battle and getting a digital-only fresh Army Book.

They're much in the same position. Mostly metal models and a small but very loyal player base.

 Vulcan wrote:
Wood Elves and Beastmen need the update worse then Bretonnia, because they're both really struggling right now. We know Wood Elves are due for May, so that's one down.

Bretonnia still performs well because of cheap S5 templates and powerful cavalry formations that actually can be deep enough to break steadfast... and are narrow enough to throw two or three into a target unit to guarantee it breaks.

One could also argue that Skaven need an update more than Bretonnia to actually bring their rules in line. Who knows what the heck GW was thinking when they wrote it; it wasn't terribly well written for 7E and was just plain awfully written for 8E!

Beastmen I can see getting redone first over Bretonnia, however I can't see Skaven getting the nod over Bretonnia, as right now the Skaven are still a very competitive army with there book in this edition, so I doubt that will happen mate.

Bretonnia is still quite competitive, but they're not point-and-click. That may be why they're not as popular; you have to work for your victories instead of just charging straight ahead and smashing things.

 Vulcan wrote:
Bretonnia is still quite competitive, but they're not point-and-click. That may be why they're not as popular; you have to work for your victories instead of just charging straight ahead and smashing things.

Agreed. Plus a friend pointed out that many Bretonnia lists are very similar with the exception on the Characters and the Knight formations used. Besides that, most Bret armies have at least 1x Horde of Men-@-Arms, some Peasant Bowmen, and at least 2x Trebuchets and a unit of Peg Knights. I do the same, and I run all Core Knights, as Questing and Grail Knights are too expensive for what they do and die too easily (4x lances of KOTR, 1x Lance of KE at 3,000 points).

Oh, I agree. Brets need more viable options that four knight busses or M@A, knights, Trebs.

The Dark Elf book has wonderful internal balance. Yes, some units are better than others, but none of the choices are really bad, like (say) QK or Grail Pilgrims are.

Funnily enough, I played Warhammer when the Brets first came out, and I distinctly remember them as being the very definition of a point-and-click army...

Oh, yes, they've lost 'power' dramatically over the years to newer books. And when they get their new book they're going to regain that reputation as 'point and click' again as veteran Bret players who can win with the old book are no longer handicapped by it.

It's the new Bret players who will have to demonstrate how balanced (or not) the new book will be. If they think it's point and click, then the new book is too strong. If they have to learn how to use the army to win, then it's just about right.

No matter how much people scream about loosing to veteran Bret players.

Lol I get that all the time. So many people complain on how I can keep winning with such an old Army Book but Brets can do it with a lot of luck and getting a good charge off. And I run 5x buses of knights. 4x of 12x KOTR and 1x 14-man Lance of KE at 3,000 points.

Honestly, I hear more rumors about how beastmen might just go away...brets are still playable. With GW featuring brets in the wood elf teaser I don't think they're going away. I guess we'll just have to see which fantasy army gets the next update.

 Schlyne wrote:
Honestly, I hear more rumors about how beastmen might just go away...brets are still playable. With GW featuring brets in the wood elf teaser I don't think they're going away. I guess we'll just have to see which fantasy army gets the next update.

They better not drop Beastmen. Or if they do, they had better fold them back into the Warriors of Chaos book where they belong. I spent too long getting that army up and running, I'll be so very displeased if it gets Squatted and I can't use the models.

Brettonians were my first Warhammer army (the box set with them and Lizardmen was the reason i got into Warhammer Fantasy) and I'd love to see a new book for them, even though my Bretts haven't seen daylight in about fifteen years. It might convince me to update the army and run them again.

With a new release is it a safe assumption that they're getting new figures? Or is this like an SOB codex where they put in the minimal effort without any new models?

Its likely they'll have some new figures.

Maybe a repackaged knight box that can make multiple types, some sort of new large shiny plastic model(likely a double kit), and some new special characters. Maybe a plastic lord on Demi-gryph who can also be made into Leon Leoncor,