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...