Bretonnie: les chevaliers et les crapules.

Bonjour à toutes et à tous!

To get things started, I would like to say a few things about what this blog is and why this particular project feels so necessary to me as a hobbyist. In short, this page is the brainchild of my good friend and colleague, James Hall. The blog is intended to be, in part, a homage to Warhammer 3rd edition (in all of its unbalanced and comical glory). Also, I see it as an opportunity to collect a number of esoteric and beautiful miniatures. On the one hand, I am interested in (re)exploring the pre-1990s Citadel Miniatures range. On the other hand, gaming outside of the proverbial GW retail store allows me to field some of the excellent 25mm minis being produced by companies like Perry, Old Glory, and Wargames Foundry.

Given the dumbed-down character of Warhammer 8th edition and the emphasis it places upon buying large quantities of plastic men (in tandem with GW’s infamous price-hikes), the rise of Retro-Hammer seems inevitable. In my experience, many hobbyists are facing a similar choice: switch to WarmaHordes, Flames of War, etc. or resurrect the OOP Warhammer rulebook of your choice. Given the affinity that James Hall and I have for the Warhammer world, the solution was an obvious one: paint fewer, higher-quality miniatures and play narrative driven 3rd edition. Done.

For my part, I have already collected an 8th edition Dogs of War army (using a brilliant fan-made rulebook: http://battlereporter.blogspot.fr/2010/10/dogs-of-war-warhammer-army-pdf-released.html), which I barely had the opportunity to use. I am sure that some of those units will make the transition into 3rd edition; however, an important part of this project will be the gradual construction of an Araby Crusade-themed Bretonnian army. At the moment—and I have to stifle my nerd shame in admitting this—one of the major inspirations for my painting project is the first 15-20 min of Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

I’ve always had a soft spot for Morgan Freeman’s deeply clichéed, scemetar weilding Moor, Azeem.

With this in mind, I’ve been lingering on the idea of a group of crusaders returning to the Old World flush with spoils and, of course, with all kinds of bedraggled mercenaries in tow. I admit that the theme is somewhat generic. But, the stereotypes are flexible enough to allow for the writing of some pretty in-depth fluff. At the moment, I’m thinking that my knights will return home to find that their former lord—a Henry Wilcoxon, Richard the First-type character—has annexed and sold their lands to pay his dues to the King’s Crusade and to hire sellswords to combat the Scaven that have been plaguing the region’s urban centres.

Pious to a fault, Wilcoxon makes a good trope for my flawed feudal lord.

Now, with all of that said, it is worth mentioning that I am currently working on a PhD in Tibetan Studies. As such, I am very interested in Central Asian history and would like to incorporate some of my knowledge into the Retro-Hammer project. So, I’ve decided to incorporate a number of nomadic mercenary tribes from the Border Princes. Fortunately, 3rd edition is flexible enough to make room for Mongolian horse-archers, Islamic line infantry, and eclectic heavy cavalry. In any case, here is a look at some of the things I’ll be painting up for future installments— courtesy of Perry Miniatures:

Thematic alternative to basic Bretonnian heavy cavalry.

and

A beautiful and cheap alternative to basic spearmen

and finally.

“Bedouin” Cavalry from Perry Minis

In any case, that’s the plan here in Paris. The gauntlet has been thrown down, sir.