Now we get into the core section, the section that really needs to be improved to keep Bretonnia anywhere near usable. So, we're going to start with one of my bread-and-butter units of my army, the Knights Errant. So for 20 points, you get a unit that has automatically has heavy armor, a lance, a shield, a hand weapon, and mounted on a barded horse. They're also rocking a stat line of M8, WS, BS, I, S, T of 3, A1, and Ld7. Now, for 20 points, that's a damned good bang for my buck even at this point in time. However, I would like to see them a little cheaper just to allow more models to help deal with those damned Stubborn or Steadfast hordes. You're going to be hearing that a lot in this series by the way. Now, for the cheaper cost of the two mounted knight options in this book, you do have to pay the piper. Their special rule (Impetuous) means they must take a Leadership test to restrain from a possible charge, meaning they can be Frenzy-baited. However, they are ITP on the charge, which allows the Cruise Missile Lance (refer to the Virtue of the Impetuous Knight) to take out nasty things like Soulgrinders and Daemon Princes. They're also one less WS than their big brother in the same section, but being cheaper balances this out for me. Now, they get a champion upgrade for free, but the Musician and Standard upgrade needs to be balanced out with the other army books at 10 points per upgrade. They can take a 25 point magic standard, which I gladly will trade for sole access to the Errantry Banner. Also, the last thing is that they need to have their unit size restriction increased to more than 15. Maybe 21 or something, I don't know if that's truly feasible, I'm just throwing a number out there right now. But that's all that needs to be changed for me. Their stats are fine, their cost is not in that desperate for a decrease, and they're still one of the most effective Core units in the game in my humble opinion. Now we go to their big brother in the Core section, the Knights of the Realm. They have the same stat line as an Errantry Knights, with the exception of having +1 WS and Ld. They cost 24 points a piece, and they have the same equipment as the Errant Knights. They also get a free champion upgrade, and yes their Standard and Musician upgrades need to be upgraded. They can also take a magic standard worth up to 25 points. Again, I have practically the same opinion of these guys as I do the ones above this. They need to be tweaked slightly, but not my too much and they're not in that desperate of a need of an overhauling. I think they should not have access to magic standards, but that's just my opinion. By now you may be wondering why I was so forewarning about this section needing to be fixed. Well, it's coming up right now. Men-At-Arms. These guys seem like a brilliant idea at first. You can take a huge block of these guys as a tar-pit without running the risk of panicking any of your important units. Then you look at their cost, 5 points a piece. You're idea seems even better at this point. Then you get to their stat line. WS and BS of 2, S, T, and I, of 3, M4, A1, Ld5. That's when all hope begins to fail. Then you see their only defense is 5+ armor. These guys are too slow and too weak to actually be even effective at this. They need to be tweaked very seriously in their stat line, and their cost would still be effective in my opinion. They should have WS3 right off the bat in order to make them anywhere near as close to usable as Peasants can get. Just, just horrible. The only redeeming grace of these guys is that they are cheap both points and actual money. Next we have Peasant Bowmen, a much better choice in my opinion. For 6 points you get a Peasant with a BS3 and a Longbow. Having 36" range on anything can really make you a threat anywhere on the battlefield. They also have a really cool ability to take braziers (which means they get Flaming Attacks) and defensive stakes (the best way to make BS shooting units destroy fast cavalry). I will be sad to say that the defensive stakes will probably be gone in the next book, because it's just a little wonky in 8th edition. But still awesome and I would really like to see it stick around. They can skirmish, which is interesting but I've never done it and I know of no one who has. These guys are so much better than Men-At-Arms, it's ridiculous. Having a unit or two of these guys on the board makes your knights a little safer with some shooting to help support them. I have seen these guys with a brazier wipe out Troll blocks. The best Peasant bang for your buck until we get into the Rare section. So, most of our stuff just needs to be repriced and have some slight things re-worked. I don't think we're missing anything except for a fast cav unit. Almost every book nowadays has chaff available in their Core, Dark Riders for Dark Elves, etc. The Mounted Yeomen, those bastards need to be in here in the next book. That's really all I would like to see on our Core section. Stay tuned next time to here about the Special section.
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