Repanse de Lyonesse, Damoiselle de Guerre - part 4.

 

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.

*****

Four months had passed since the vision of the Lady, and Rapanse had risen from a simple peasant shepherdess to an accomplished warrior leading scores of knights against their foes.

From her first stumbling fight against the Beastmen she now fought as a woman possessed of all the skill and power of a Grail Knight with years of experience.

Chaos warbands had been ridden down and routed to the sea by her forces all throughout the northern coasts of Lyonesse, L'Anguille and now Couronne as they rode towards the capital which was under siege.

Knights had formed up and ridden to her side, daily pledging fealty to her leadership for the duration of the crisis, many recognised instinctively that she had been blessed by the Lady and held her in awe.

Riding along the main thoroughfare, the capital came into sight and the Chaos hordes besieging it were almost without number. Barbarian tribes, clad in thick furs howled and fought against neighbouring Beastmen warbands at the rear of the force. More disciplined and monstrous forces were closer to the city and trying to force a breach.

A brace of stone throwers hurled masonry torn from the town outside at the city walls which cracked asunder. A bronze gilted battering ram was slammed repeatedly into the thick oak gates which had been sealed closed for weeks now.

Rapanse wheeled her horse to look upon her army, the knights forming themselves into one huge wedge formation. She wheeled again and took off at a gallop towards the enemy forces, the loyal knights following, shaking the ground with the force of so many heavily armoured riders bearing down.

Too late the tribes turned from their squabbles, ridden down and crushed into the mud beneath the charging tide. Horses whinnied as they contacted the enemy, but the knights fought on. Lance's impaling those ahead until they splintered under the attack. Swords were drawn and the bloody work began.

Still they rode on, cutting down tribesmen, Norscan's, mutated Ogre's, larger mutated tribes, and they came upon the equally heavily armoured warriors at the core of the force. 

These elite warriors fought back with superlative skill, tearing knights from their saddles as they rode past before beating them to a pulp with their brutal hammers and maces.

As they neared the center of the enemy line, stars exploded behind Rapanse's eyes. She shook her head and realised that she'd been struck with the flat of a spear. The perpetrators arm suddenly separated from his body in a welter of blood and screams, and though she was uninjured, the banner of the lady had fallen.

It had not reached the ground however as a knight riding past caught the falling tapestry and sacrificing his sword he held the banner aloft for all to see. The Blue and Red in stark contrast to his heraldry of pure white.

"Onwards lady, let us cut the head from this vile horde" his voice rang out metallic through his helmet and Rapanse nodded, urging her horse onwards again towards the lord behind this attack.

Reinvigorated, the knights turned and followed her into the fray again, their collective rage at the damage to their beloved country spurring them on. Rapanse, filled with the power of the lady was as a beacon to them, glowing with a golden nimbus of power from the Goddess.

As the Chaos lord swung at her, she turned her horse away from the incoming blow, over-extending her attacker. Mutated animal eyes looked up at her and squinted, reacting to the radiant golden light which played about Rapanse's head.

The moment of hesitation was all she needed and as if guided by the Lady of the Lake, the Sword of Lyonesse passed through the vile mutated warriors neck and separated head from shoulder. In an instant the chaos horde faltered as the power holding it together faded.

The survivors of the lesser tribes howled and fled, the more disciplined elements put up a fighting retreat or died to a man in place as the Bretonnians took them apart, piece by piece.

*****

The final post in my Rapanse de Lyonesse series is the showcase of the completed model.

I'll let the photo's do the talking as I've covered most of how I painted her in the previous posts:

She's been a good project to get finished and I've really enjoyed painting this old model.

I even managed to get some better paint on her face.

I hope you've enjoyed this series, as I have a few bigger projects to start working on now. I may return to Bretonnia one day with a 3D printer army as I've found some good STLs recently, but one thing at a time.

Until next time, have nice day...

*****

As the celebrations began, the great doors to the city opened and the Men-at-arms marched out to secure the entrance road.

Behind them, flanked by his last remaining Grail Knight guardians, the young king of Bretonnia, Louis the Young, bade Rapanse approach and kneel.

"We had heard of your approach and prayed to the Lady for salvation. That she provided is a blessing to all of Bretonnia" he said and the gathering crowd cheered.

"Rapanse, in recognition of your deeds to our fair land these past months and your defence of our people, I hereby knight you and raise you up to be a Duchess of Lyonesse. Arise Rapanse de Lyonesse, rise a knight and Damoiselle de Guerre of Bretonnia" the king cried and the crowed erupted into ecstatic cheering.

"My lady" the knight of white heraldry knelt as she stood, "I believe this is your banner, I kept it aloft for you so as not to sully the colours of the Lady ". Draped over his outstretched arms was the Banner of the Lady, still as fresh and new as when it had first been woven.

"What is your name?" Rapanse asked the humble warrior.

"Henri le Massif, my lady" he replied still not looking up.

"I name you Paladin of my army, the Chevalier's de Lyonesse, you will be my banner bearer and personal champion as I see you have drank from the Grail".

He nodded and rose to his feet, towering a least a foot above her and held the banner aloft in on upheld arm. The breeze caught it and the emblazoned Fleur-de-lis fluttered to the cheers of the Bretonnian populace.

Repanse de Lyonesse, Damoiselle de Guerre - part 3.

 

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.

*****

With banner flying high behind her, glittering sword and armour, and bright blue shield, Rapanse rode with head held high, filled with the power of the Lady of the Lake. 

Her horse kicked up clods of mud from the churned roadway as she followed the tracks leading away from the hidden tomb she'd visited.

Peasant refugee's, first few and slowly gathering in numbers as she rode Northwards parted before her and bowed as she passed. None could believe their eyes as they saw a young girl riding towards the invaders, clad in shining armour and determined look set upon her face.

Children cheered as she passed, men and women shied their gaze away from her passing, however looking upon the banner seemed to lift all spirits as she passed through.

As time passed, she began to hear the noises of battle ahead and the numbers of peasant refugee's dwindled. Discarded belongings scattered the sides of the road, some casualties and unfortunates who had succumbed to their wounds of the battle ahead lay where they had fallen trying to flee.

Steeling herself as the sounds grew in volume, she rounded the corner under a stand of trees and was shocked by her first sight of open battle.

Everywhere she looked Bretonnian warriors struggled to hold back a tide of frothing Beastmen. Men at Arms pushed with their shields and were battered backwards by the raging clubbing of the blood mad Gor warriors.

A unit of archers followed the commands of their Villein and knocked and loosed arrows to bellowed command's, elsewhere other archers fought tooth and nail with their knives as they had ran out of arrows to fire.

The last few gallant knights were preparing a charge and trying to turn their horses back into the fray.

After her shocked moment of hesitation, she heard the Lady's voice whisper to her and spurred her horse forwards.

"Rid my land of these foul foes. For they do offend me with their presence".

With banner whip-cracking in the rush of wind, she charged past the knights with a shouted cry.

"FOR BRETONNIA AND FOR THE LADY".

The Knights quickly brought their horses under control and gathered into a lance formation about her, filling up ranks of each flank charging in behind Rapanse.

Though there were only seven knights left, including Rapanse, they fought like the heroes of old. The power of the Lady and Giles le Breton filled each warrior and they hacked and slaughtered their way through the press of half-beastial foes.

A shaman threw a crackling black ball of energy at them, which was deflected upwards into the banner and absorbed, the banner glowing brighter, ever brighter.

Rapanse wheeled her horse and made for the creature. Rearing up and flailing it's front hooves, her horse kicked the foul thing into the floor and stamped down, ending it's life and breaking the resolve of the warherd which turned to flee.

When all was secure, the knights gathered around and were shocked and humbled to find that they had been led by a young girl. One who not only was obviously blessed by the lady, but one who willing rode into combat to defend her homeland.

Each one knelt before Rapanse and pledged their oath of service to her and to the lady, to see the invaders repelled and to ride with Rapanse to see it done.

*****

Part three of this series about Rapanse de Lyonesse focussed upon the next section of painting.

When last we left our heroine, she had her base coats applied but was looking a little flat and lacking in detail.

This time around I've re-layered the Macragge Blue which is the main base colour, leaving the darker shaded areas under the detailing.

The red got a layer of Mephiston Red on the same principal, likewise the yellow with Iyanden Darksun*.

The white I wasn't happy with at all so it got a fresh base layer of Grey Seer from the pot.

Highlighting started with the blue which was Calgar Blue (kind of on an Ultramarines kick here), and the red got highlights using Evil Sunz Scarlet, in order for them to be bold enough to stand out. My pot of Dorn Yellow* had dried up, but I don't think that the Darksun really needs the extra highlight, if I'd have used contract yellow, then it would have definitely.

As you can see, layering on the heraldry on the surcoats of her horse has really added to the miniature, and keeping with the limited scheme of blue and red with spots of yellow and white draws your eye to the details sculpted onto her.

At this point I hit her with a spray coat of Matt Varnish to protect the paintwork I'd gotten into place, and so that the next step could be to brighten up her armour and bring the sheen back after the shading step earlier. This also had the added bonus of taking the sheen off of her lance and making it look like weathered wood.

I do think her face is going to need some work after looking at this close up though. That'll be in the next and final post in this small series when I get her finished.

*****

I had mentioned that Bretonnia wasn't always the shining chivalrous kingdom it is remembered as, well when originally introduced into the setting, Bretonnia was quite similar in atmosphere and depth to the Empire. Its ruling class were uncaring, the least caring being the King himself, while corruption in every form was everywhere, the nobility (themselves sordidly decadent) were willfully blind to it, preferring to hide their fear and corruption behind extravagance. 

In this version the kingdom is rules by an absolute monarchy and is around 1,500 years old since its founding. Mostly considered a backwater compared to Karl Franz's much older Empire, the kingdom surpassed it's neighbour at some point and was considered a beacon of modernity and progressiveness.

However the previous three rulers (up to the settings current timeline in 4th edition), had let corruption and degradation set into the kingdom and the cities had become scenes of squalor.

Mud and slowly decaying buildings marked a stark contrast to the calm, rolling fields of the countryside outside.

A Bretonnian knight from WFRPG, looking very Empire-esque with those ruffles on his clothes and that 'stache.

Bureaucrats embezzled money which was raised to repair buildings and roads. The nobility were often thrillseekers and unwittingly would be members of chaos cults, and they would willfully turn a blind eye to this to indulge in extravagant balls and banquets.

This is a world away from when the kingdom was retconned into the high fantasy, Arthurian inspired knightly theme it took on in 5th edition onwards.

This is often the most fondly remembered version of the Bretonnian kingdom, and many still lament GW making the range go out of production (I get it from a marketing/IP perspective, as you can't copyright Arthurian Knights). 

I've waffled on enough for now, in the final post as I mentioned I'll have finished Rapanse off, and I'll showcase her properly.

Until next time, have nice day...

*It's strange how some paints dry up and some don't. Iyanden Darksun is an old pot of paint, from when GW made the foundation paints range I believe (I think it's been renamed to Averland Sunset now).

Whereas Dorn Yellow is a newest edition layer paint and that's the one which has dried up fast.

Hell, I have a very old pot of Dark Angels Green which is still good, and is in one of the clear hexagon pots which they used to use about twenty years ago!

Repanse de Lyonesse, Damoiselle de Guerre - part 2.

 

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.

*****

"We're here child, inside you will find the relics you will need to aid you in the quest I have lain before you" the Lady said, turning and regarding Rapanse with eyes of such ethereal beauty that they couldn't belong to anything but a devine being.

Rapanse looked around at the burnt village around her, smouldering ruins of cottages and the local blacksmith still radiated heat. The sorry state of the remains of the local shrine told more of a story then she really wanted to know, judging by the bloodstained stonework. At last her eyes were drawn to the overgrown hillock infront of her, realising only then that this was in fact an ancient barrow-tomb. 

She moved to the inset stone frame surrounding the moss covered door, tracing her fingers of stone worn smooth by time, but she could still make out the engraved marking there.

With a start she stepped backwards from the door and turned to look at the Lady. Who had disappeared into the mists.

Rapanse shook her head and swallowed, the rune was the fleur-de-lis of the Lady, and the grail heraldry of the entombed Grail Knight.

How Rapanse knew this was a mystery as like nearly all the common born people of Bretonnia, she generally did not care about the bloodlines of nobles, apart from her direct lord and his family.

But know this she did, bowing her head in prayer for a moment, she moved to the doors of the long since closed barrow. The doors were sealed closed by age and neglect, but when she placed her hand upon one of the them, it glowed with a soft golden light and the effects of aging wore off. Healthy dark hardwood shone with a polished gleam beneath her hand. Dirt and moss retreated at her passing, the hinges for the door sparkled a bright oily sheen as the rust patina melted away. With a final touch the doors swung open, and the interior was lit with torches, as if expecting her.

At the end of the corridor, laid out in state was the entombed Grail Knight, O'do le Sau'veur. Clutched within long dead armoured hands, and laid down his body was a great warblade, which still looked oiled and as keen edged as the last time it was worked upon a sharpening stone.

"The blade Rapanse, you will need it" came the ghostly distant voice of the lady, as she rose from the ankle deep mists within the crypt.

The lady gracefully leant forwards and gently released the fingers of the knight, lifting the sword free of it's long dead master, she placed it upon a cloth and turned back towards the tomb.

A large Fleur-de-lis banner was released from it's holdings on the wall and draped over the blade.

"This is the Sword of Lyonesse, a sacred blade which defended the duchy in times long since past, it will serve you well Rapanse. It has powers over magical spells and will protect you against them, as long as you believe"

"Next we have one of my banners, gifted to the most valiant of my Grail Knights"the Lady continued, her touch reinvigorating the ancient material as Rapanse watched wide eyed.

"The Fleur-de-lis is enchanted against the magical meddling of enemy Spellcasters, as well as raising the morale of Bretonnians everywhere".

A whinny from the doorway drew their attention and a warhorse was silhouetted upon the road, it's owner slumped over in the saddle, clearly dead.

"You will need armour Rapanse, I cannot allow you to take noble O'do le Sau'veurs' armour as it is enchanted to protect this place from the darkness" the Lady said, raising her hand towards the tomb entrance.

Gathering the sword and banner, Rapanse left the tomb and headed towards the warhorse. She turned as she left the crypt, noticing that everything had transformed back into the aged condition she had found it in mere moments ago.

Though she knew not how, Rapanse instinctively began to calm the horse, and removed the knight from the saddle by freeing his feet and pushing him off sideways, she cringed at the noise the body made as it hit the dirt. Likewise she had never had any armour training, being a peasant shepherdess, but she found her fingers working calmly and quickly to remove the armour from the dead knight.

As she began to don the armour by the side of the road, she noticed the Lady's magic at work once again, each piece she attached seemed to have a faint golden glow to it and shrank to fit her smaller frame, and shone with a freshly cleaned, oiled gleam. Once she had the last pieces attached, she grabbed the unbroken lance and attached the Lady's banner to let it fly high in the wind as she rode. 

After making a rudimentary covering for the dead Knights body, she bowed her head in a last prayer then hauled herself into the saddle of the warhorse and started down the road towards whatever destiny the Goddess of the Lake had set her towards...

*****

Hello, this is the second part of my Rapanse D

de Lyonesse project.

I've not been idle in the time over the new year period, far from it as it turns out.

Rapanse has had all her base colours locked in:

I've worked up the classic blue scheme that she was painted in, mainly using Macragge Blue as a basecoat, the red area's are Khorne Red.

Baneblade Brown for the dun colour of the horse, with the white socks as they are called when a horse's leg changes colour halfway down (yes I had to look that up).

Her armour is Leadbelcher and Retributor Armour for the golden parts, and I wanted her to have a mundane, unpainted lance so it got a coat of Mournfang Brown for the wood, this will get some detail added later.

Next is the step which causes the most anxiety when painting, and that was to drown her with Earthshade to get some shadows and definition on the miniature:

She looks a dirty, dirty girl now...but things will be layered back up and highlighted to get that classic oldhammer look.

Afterall, this was the cover of her army book:

And some of the painted knights inside:

This period of GW's history, 5th edition fantasy/2nd edition 40k was more commonly known as the "Red Period" as most things were either painted a garish full red scheme, or had a lot of red paint on them (no idea why), and nothing screams Oldhammer, like Goblin Green bases!

Army building was very different during this period as well, as seen below:

As you can see, the army was made up of percentages of which, in the Bretonnians case, at least twenty-five percent of your points total HAD to be spent on knights. And you didn't have to spend anything on common foot soldiers for the force if you didn't want to.

Want to take the 525 point King Louen Leoncouer on Hippogriff and nothing but Knights to back him up in 1,500 points, well you could.

Speaking of characters, this time period was a good mine for character entries in the army books, and in the Bretonnian book I counted no less then 14 entries, many of which you were expected to convert yourself!!!!!

Several, including Rapanse, would eventually get models, but many didn't, they were just character sheets like Rapanse, shown below:

The standard layout for the time with the unit stats, background and then special rules and magic items boxed off. For Rapanse, she is very magic resistant due to the banner, but equally she can negate opponents magical armour and ward saves because of the Sword of Lyonesse.

In addition she causes fear in enemies which as well as having the stats of a champion, was a huge boon when facing down enemies in close combat.

A couple of my favourite other characters are shown below, Bertrand le Brigand and the Bowmen of Bergerac are basically Robin Hood and the Marry Men. Hugo le Petit is the big guy with the staff and I forget the Friar Tuck analogue, but he was there and made beer for the unit to make them fearless.

The Green Knight is Bretonnia's mythical defender and could be based upon the Knight which Gawain meets in the Arthurian tales. It is a fantastic miniature however and filled with details, I've seen a few 3D printed versions, o ly one of which I think is better then this original.

Lastly, in the back of every Army Book at the time, GW printed an example 1,000 point army list:

37 models in total, very achievable and a completely playable force. I would kill to be able to own a proper Bretonnian force like this in 28mm without having to resort to 3D printed alternatives, if the rumours about Bretonnians being one of the first armies to be released when GW release The Old World soon, I may take the plunge and build this force just because...

Anyway, enough rambling from me, next update will see the main paint coats going on Rapanse and I'll discuss the army background.

Until next time, have nice day...

Repanse de Lyonesse, Damoiselle de Guerre - part 1.

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.

I also figured out what was wrong with her, and lowered the banner down the lance by clipping some of it off. It was far too tall before and threw the entire model off in proportion.

So with her glued to the base, some sand added and then primed, I grabbed a few reference pictures from Google and the Total War: Warhammer games to work from as I want to paint her in the "official" style.

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.