Anyway, while I was oogling all these huge and monsterous units, all these Dragons, Spiders, Daemons, War Machines, and Giants; I realized that Bretonnia was the only army without something truly huge.
I know what you're thinking, but they have Hippogryphs! Yes, that is true, but a Hippogryph (and even my monsterous sized mod Hippogryph) still fits on a 40mm base. I'm talking something BIG. Hippogryphs can't match a dragon. They can't take on a Stegodon, and I'm sure they won't be able to go toe to toe with the Arachnarok.
Maybe I just have giant envy. The actual Giant and Skeleton Giant aren't on that large of a base, but their height is what makes them impressive. This got me to thinking.... what could you put in a Bretonnian Army to "beef" up its models?
It came to me real quick. Just look at the army theme already. Sure, you have the noble knights riding into battle, backed up by their peasant foot soldiers, trebuchets, and even a King on a Hippogryph. None of this really lends itself to "BIG", but the Arthurian legend roots (heh) that run through the army does. The Green Knight is a living embodiment of the Forest spirits. The Fey Enchantress is herself a spirit of nature. The Prophetesses of the Lady are similar to druidic priestesses. They use the Lore of Life and the Lore of Beasts.
Being another extension of the living forests and their spirits wanting to protect the balance of nature, these behemoths of wood and lichen would add some much needed brawn to the forces of Bretonnia.
Army's don't have a monopoly on creatures either. Dragons are present in many armies, as are Giants. A lot of the "greenskin" armies share the giants for heavy support.
I haven't yet given much thought to what the stats would be like for these Treants, but I shall ponder this idea over the next bit, and see what I come up with.
In the mean time, I did pick up the generic Ent from the LOtR line, and depending on how well he goes together, I may just pick up a few more and see what I can do to further my tree-huggin' hippy of a cause.
Maybe even Treebeard will make an appearance on the field of battle with the Lords of Bretonnia... We shall see.
Well the wood elves do have tree spirits already. I think a big honking siege engine would be cool or even a kind of, what I like to call a diarama unit, like the dark elf cauldran of blood. maybe a sword in the stone or a bigger kind of grail reliquary.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea. A mobile war engine would fit the army better than a monster but if they did need a monster then maybe something like a huge angel (giant angel) or a massive Phoenix or Roc something unique like the Arachnarok is to The gobbos. Dwarfs dont really have anything big either but if they did they would just slay it anyway.
ReplyDeleteGood points, both SeerK and Noveltyboy. I don't see where an angel would fit though.
ReplyDeleteI still want something BIG. A seige engine and towers would fit, but not like the Araknarok...
Hmmmm.... I'm going to delve into some medieval literature and see if I can get some inspiration.
The angel idea was along the valkyrie side of things, praying and holiness n all that.
ReplyDeletewarmachine wise something like the old empire siege wagon would look cool, full of peasants and militia covered in flails and spikey things to hit in combat like a monster.
is difficult as the french they are based on never made anything cool.
Ok, keeping with the french theme, we could go for a tarasque.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the mythology at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarasque.
Heh. Giant dragon/turtle with a lion head.