It is the Bretonnian year 1,017 (Imperial Calendar year 2,007). The lands of Bretonnia are ravaged by foul Chaos invaders and with King Louis the Brave dead, the Knights of Bretonnia, whilst valiantly defending the peasant populace under their protection, are being thrown back at every turn.
*****
Smoke blew in lazy wisping curls from the remnants of the village. The peasants emerging from hiding or from the fields where they had fled when the raiding party had surged through their home. Gone were most of their buildings and possessions, burnt timbers and the ruined walls of the local chapel were all that remained.
Several of the men were organised into a defence lookout, shakily holding scavenged spears and shields from the many dead Men-at-arms which littered the village. Most of the rest of the village whom had survived were working to clear the bodies to a pyre which had been built in order to stave off any plagues which might erupt.
A young girl, no more than seventeen summers old, stumbled down the ruined road into the ruins unchallenged, accompanied by the flock of sheep she had been tending in the hills to the west when she had heard the battle. Tears streaked her face as she saw the aftermath and what had become of her home.
"We're heading for L'Anguille on the morrow girl, nothing left for us now" one of the women said sadly as she spied the girl, "Come, help us".
Ignoring the woman, and still followed by her sheep, the girl picked up a spear as the shield she tried was too heavy for her to lift. Then she took a place among the lookouts, right where she had walked into the village, much to the contempt of the other villagers, particularly the women.
That night, whilst everyone slept around the fire, the girl slept fitfully amongst the few sheep she had managed to persuade people not to eat.
She tossed and turned on the rough ground and bolted upright, instantly wide awake and aware of her surroundings.
A languid mist had crept into the village, coiling over the sleeping peasants and dulling the light of the fire. No-one stirred, not even the watch who she could now see were dozing, leaning on their spears to stay upright.
A golden glow moved into the ruins towards her and instinctively the girl raised herself to crouch and grabbed the spear she had picked up earlier. Only when the glow resolved itself into the image of a beautiful woman, filled with power and floating with her feet dangling in the mists did she realise what this was.
The girl threw herself to the floor in supplication and terror before this image of the Bretonnians Goddess. Even the lowliest of peasants knew the stories of the Lady of the Lake who appeared to the noble Knights of the Realm.
The lady gracefully extended a hand and raised the terrified girl from the ground to look at her.
"Rapanse, Rapanse rid my land of these foul foes. For they do offend me with their presence" the Lady's voice echoed within her mind, even as her lips didn't move.
Rapanse lifted her face, where earlier in the day she had shed tears of sorrow, now she wept with joy for she was truly in the presence of this Goddess of the land, Bretonnia was not forsaken.
After a moment's shock, Rapanse found her voice.
"My lady I am but a shepherdess, not a good one either as I have only three sheep left to tend of my flock. How can I face down the horrors which did this to my village?"
The Lady's fey features softened into a smile as she heard this.
"That humility is your core Rapanse, with it you can do great things for my land. I watched earlier as you took your place in the lookouts, despite being a shepherdess, your willingness to protect against the darkness is what makes you great. I will lead you, but know that it is what is within you that will make the difference".
Rapanse could not find words to reply and just bowed her head.
"Now, follow me Rapanse, I have something for you, something that you will need come sunrise" without waiting the Lady turned and floated off across the mists.
With a last look at the ruins around her, Rapanse started forwards, following the wake of the Lady of the Lake through the mist, her small flock of sheep following behind.
*****
Warhammer fantasy, the classic rank and flank wargame that I guess many of us played at some point in our misspent youth and the gateway to this hobby for a lot of folk out there.
For myself it was 5th edition with the big red box of Bretonnians and Lizardmen where I got started for one Christmas, some twenty-five years* ago now...
Duly the army books for both were bought, and each one was a treasure which I wish I still owned. Each had a full historical chart for the particular army, rules, magic items, and a host of characters as fantasy was very different back then.
In the Bretonnian army book, one of these characters was Rapanse de Lyonesse, a sort of Jean D'arc character amid the Arthurian style of the army**.
Many of the characters never had miniatures, you were expected to convert them up yourself (what a time to be alive!).
However Rapanse was gifted a miniature and I managed to get ahold of this classic sculpt, with original horse, but lacking the paper banner she came with.
A root around and I managed to find a plastic banner from the sixth edition plastic knights sprue which was drilled out and added to the top of the lance.
A little greenstuff gap filling and she was almost ready, something was off however...
I pushed on, and figured I'd try to work out which base she needed. I have a bunch of 75x42mm oval bases as I use those for space marine bikers, alongside which is a 75x50mm chariot rectangular base, both of which seemed slightly too big.
The oval base just felt wrong as really she needed to be on a square or rectangle base for that classic "oldhammer" vibe.
After pondering on this for a week of so, I stumbled upon some resin bases on eBah by a seller which I use quite a lot and grabbed a rocky and ruined Celtic detailed base. I figure the Celtic details are from some island off the coast of Bretonnia where her army is fighting.
Lots of blue and silver in her future it seems.
I'll do three, maybe four posts in the series of painting Rapanse de Lyonesse, the introduction, a dive into the Bretonnian army book of the time and her iterations, a main painting post and lastly a showcase post***.
Well, I'll crack on and get some painting done, I'm going to take my time with her as I want to try to take that step up like I did with the Vampires I painted recently and make her a proper showcase miniature if I can.
Until next time, have nice day...
*I'm old...but both those armies are still some of my favourites.
**In the previous editions when Bretonnia had shown up, they were another Germanic inspired nation, but full of political corruption and bribery when compared to the Empire proper.
Fifth edition turned them into the Arthurian inspired Knights of legend with the lady of the lake and Chivalric Code.
Sixth edition darkened the bright-fantasy of the nation somewhat by showing the poor, illiterate peasantry in more focus.
***The painting and showcase may get merged together, but we'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment