Strategies against Bretonnia?

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Feeblings
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Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:39 am

Strategies against Bretonnia?

#1 Post by Feeblings »

A friend of mine has a large army of Bretonnians and runs a list very heavy on knights (at least 3 big units), bunch of paladins, 2 trebs, and those flanking Pegasus knights. Pretty much all that good stuff.

Just looking at what the army can do, it seems very strong against High Elves. What I can tell from searching is, it's hard to redirect those big blocks of units as they won't wheel next to each other, Pegasus knights are amazing flankers, Trebs are pretty deadly vs bus, and Prayers on knights give them a great ward save vs higher strength weapons.

So what are some good units, magics, and tactics that can put the hurt on the Brets that you guys have experienced?

I'm asking this mainly because most information I found is either outdated or not that specific to HE vs Brets. Also it seems in a 2000 point game he can basically bring everything he wants, while I've had to make some cuts.
theviking
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Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:42 am

Re: Strategies against Bretonnia?

#2 Post by theviking »

Brets are underrated IMO, they have their problems but in the hands of an experienced player they can put up a stiff fight.

Any steadfast/stubborn block is a problem for cavalry, so a nice block of while lions or phoenix guard should do well for you. Even spears can hold up a lance of knights with a bit of magic support, or if they get the charge. Bret's absolutely must get the charge or they get bogged down terribly, and if they get caught by anything half way decent in the flank they really suffer as they will only have a few models fighting. Knight lances have flanks big enough to make a hippo jealous, so it's often possible to set up really nasty flank charges where they have two or three models fighting and you have your entire unit. Don't be afraid to throw in some archers or even a chariot if you get the chance.

Ranked infantry are why nearly every bret list will be sporting a pair of trebs to smash up the big blocks before the knights charge in finish them off. You should be able to get at those turn two with reavers or eagles, either one should be able to handle a treb quite handily. You know the brets will probably pray so you will virtually always have the first turn, so keep that in mind when deploying. If you can draw him towards one side and then drop reavers and eagles last on the other side he probably won't be able to keep them out his backfield. Between vanguards, marching, and flying you should be able to get into a very good spot turn one.

For the knights, magic or elite blocks are probably your best options. A frosty to the flank should do nicely as well, but make sure you know where the HKB virtue is before you commit. As with the trebs, most bret generals will have a HKB guy wandering around looking for monsters.

Any army full of knights dreads searing doom, and metal is an underrated lore anyways so don't feel like you are tailoring if you take it. I know of at least one HE general who swears by metal on his archmage and it does well for him. The usual suspects of life, shadow, and death are also good choices. High magic isn't bad either, especially arcane unforging, but it pales slightly in comparison to some of the others given all the armor you will be facing.
SpellArcher
Green Istari
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Re: Strategies against Bretonnia?

#3 Post by SpellArcher »

It sounds terribly crude but Dwellers and Final Transmutation are a major headache for Brets because their units work best with multiple characters. They should bring a dispel scroll and the Silver Mirror (effectively a Dispel Scroll that also inflicts a S6 hit on the caster) though so it may be hard getting spells through.

Tricks to watch out for include the Falcon Horn (grounds Flyers for a turn) and the Virtue that lets them charge an extra D6".
TheItalian567
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:44 pm

Re: Strategies against Bretonnia?

#4 Post by TheItalian567 »

honestly brets are pretty easy to put down if they smash into any of our specials- even against your core, we have an upper hand.

why? because their charge is not really that effective against ASF. unit of knights smash into a wall of SMs with ASF? going to be a lot of dead knights. if you have razor banner on anything, it's going to buzz right through them too.

RBTs are a god send against them as well. remember, we're a bit more nimble than they are, so if you can position counter-charges or flanks, they crumble right quick.

and yes, as mentioned, metal is a great lore against any heavily armored lists.
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Eltherion2
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Re: Strategies against Bretonnia?

#5 Post by Eltherion2 »

Hi all
Don't underestimate the Brets. They have won a number of Tournaments in the UK, USA and Australia during 2013-2014.

Although the Bret troops are over-costed they are still pretty good if used correctly as mentioned above. Usually this will mean multiple lances concentrating on one of our units to overwhelm them with the number of attacks.

One trick the Brets like doing is a character wall in the front of a lance. This works in a similar way to the Gutstar of Ogre armies where you are only able to strike the characters and have to allocate your hits. So their front rank will be WS 5 with either 2+ re-rollable armor or 1+ armor maybe with a re-roll and then the blessing on top of that.

Most decent Bret lists will run double Treb as mentioned and this will land strength 5 hits on our infantry if a direct hit is scored even WLs will go down in numbers. Reavers are one answer to take out the Trebs but watch out for Pegasus riders and possibly Peasant bowmen if in large numbers (use terrain to give negative modifiers as the BS 3 of the peasants is terrible.

I am one of those HE generals who advocates a Level 4 on Metal it helps my army deal with heavily armored opponents such as Empire, WoC and Brets for example. This will really hurt the Brets especially Final Trans as mentioned previously.

Use RBTs to soften up the Bret lances, multi shots are the way to go as the Ward Save is only 6+ vs. strength 4 shots. Single bolts will get stopped by the 5+ Ward save, but either way shoot at the most expensive knights.

Basic Key to stopping Bretts is preventing them getting the charge. Using Reavers Eagles etc.. to set up our cavalry charges Dragon Princes and Silver helms in their flanks if possible.
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