Chris Oliver's Bretonnian army.

Chris, 30, lives in Sandbach near Manchester and has been a hobbyist for 15 years, starting with Warhammer 2nd edition and the original Rogue Trader. It's only comparatively recently, however, that he's been on the tournament scene, travelling to the events with a team of friends.

"I've been friends with some of the guys since school," says Chris, "while the rest I've met through tournaments – now we all travel to them together."

Chris and his friends have formed a club called the Terra Nova Gryphons, which has fifteen members and their own t-shirts and dice. "Wargaming has kept the group together," Chris tells us of the longevity of the group's friendship.

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Pegasus Knights: "I wanted them to be part of the display base, flying over the chapel. I also changed the angles on the wings so they look like they're swooping and soaring."

THIRD TIME LUCKY?

This is the third time that that Chris has entered the Warhammer GT and the second time he's reached the final. He's battled with a different army on each of those three occasions, starting with his Dark Elves at his first tournament, the Empire on the second occasion, and Bretonnians in this year's final.

This is the first time Chris has collected and painted Bretonnians; as soon as he saw the Army box he was smitten. "There was a natural connection," Chris says of his choice, "because I really like medieval history and visiting castles with my wife." A perfect choice, then.

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The knights of Bretonnia - Questing Knights and Grail Knights lead the charge across the battlefield.

THE ARMY

Perhaps due to the proliferation of winged beasts (ie Pegasi) in the army, Chris has dubbed his Bretonnians, 'Chapel of the Cloud Riders'. He didn't just have Pegasus Riders in mind when he collected it, though.

"I wanted several types of knights," he says, "but it was the Royal Pegasus that really inspired me," he says. As grandiose as they are, his Pegasus Riders do tend to suffer in battle as Chris confesses, "I think they've got rubberised lances; they can't hit and always fail their ward saves."

Despite this, Chris still finished a respectable 86th in the final (just below mid-table) and keeps a smile on his face – he's such a sporting chap he's won two awards to that effect in other tournaments he's attended in the past. "I mainly go for the social side and to make new friends," he says of his rationale for attending the GTs.

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The Royal Pegasus, ridden by Lord Luxor, actually uses the wings from the steed of the Empire special character Balthazar Gelt.	The standard bearer for the Pegasus Knights uses the banner from the special edition Army Standard Bearer in the Bretonnian army boxed set. It's even got Bog-Off the Snotling, an ancient Warhammer Quest model.

PAINTING AND DISPLAY

In his club, Chris's regular opponents tend to be Beastmen, Lizardmen and Empire but he is the only Bretonnian player – possibly something to do with the fact that the chivalrous ones are pretty tricky to paint.

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The battle standard joins the Grail Knights in battle. Chris has applied 'leaves' cut from card onto the model to make it stand out.

"The heraldry and caparisoned horses make it difficult," Chris tells us, who conducted a lot of research into heraldry and knightly livery to give his force a sense of authenticity.

"I turned to White Dwarf initially, reading the painting Masterclass article of Louen Leoncouer for inspiration and how to get started on the Fleur-de-leys," he says. "The blue and red colour scheme I've used has a royal theme to it and I like to use a limited pallet, so they were perfect. Also, the higher the rank of knight, the more white I've used on them. You'll notice the Grail Knights have got the most and my General on Pegasus, Lord Luxor has a white tabard as well as his own personal heraldry."

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This damsel is based on the original Morgiana Le Fey model. "I cut off the unicorn's horn and added a mane to make it into a horse," says Chris, "then I added Balthazar Gelt's staff."	Another damsel, this one modelled on old movies where the fair maidens in distress had pointy hats!

So deliberate was Chris in his construction and painting on the army that it took him an entire year to put it all together and decide how to incorporate it onto his magnificent display base.

It was always Chris intention to have this army on a display base; the Dark Elves on it are actually from his old army. "I thought it was a nice progression to have my new army beating up my old army." Narratively, Dark Elves are the initial adversaries of the Chapel of the Cloud Riders. "In my back story a Dark Elf fleet lands at L'Anguille and the Duke calls for aid. Lord Luxor and his knights answer the call and destroy the Dark Elves but not before the chapel lies in ruins."

Chris has constructed an enormously elaborate display base for his army!

The base itself is divided into three 'zones': a ruined grail chapel, over which the Pegasus Knights are flying, a small forest where the archers roam and a waterfall. "It's not a picture frame," says Chris, of the edging. "I used decorated moulding from a DIY store and mitred the edges to make it. I then sunk card into the frame and cut out the positions where I wanted the models to go, textured it and painted it." Nice work; and three months in the making, too. But one of the toughest challenges came from finding material to use for stained glass in the grail chapel windows. "It took me six months to find a tiffany lamp from a doll's house that was suitable!"

UPDATE!

Chris has not sat on his laurels since the GT and has been busy adding more units, including some very nice looking Grail Pilgrims. Check out the pictures below!

Related Articles:
Warhammer Grand Tournament 2005/06 Review
Getting Started With Bretonnians | Bretonnian Miniatures Range

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