WILL-O'-WISPS

I like thinking about the Bretonnians and what it would be cool for them to have, as at the moment the Bretonnian army list is very small and full of Commoners and Knights. The only Fantasy things Bretonnians have are mounts for their characters (Pegasi and Hippogriffs) and their magic-users. While this "historical" type of army list appeals to many people (even me), sometimes it is fun to have some more "fantasy" style creatures to use. Chaos Spawn, Rat Ogres, Minotaurs, Kroxigors and War Hydras are usable by enemy armies, so why not something like that for us?

I'm not saying Bretonnians should have access to Giants, Ogres and Trolls, but some Fantasy creatures would be nice. Will-O'-Wisps are an idea I had for a more Bretonnian creature for us to have, they certainly can't fight Orges or Giants. They can, however, annoy low-Leadership enemies with abilities like Possess(Enemy) and Blinding Spectrum that can seriously put a spanner in the works of the enemy armie's plan.

Like with Peasants, Will-O'-Wisps are not supported by Games Workshop and you need your opponent's consent to use them in a game. Will-O'-Wisps are playtested by me but still they might not be fully balanced.

Will-O'-Wisps:

Catagory: 0-1 Rare

Cost: 15 points

Statistics: M(0) WS(2) BS(3) S(0) T(2) W(1) I(10) A(0) Ld(7)

Unit Size: 3-10

Equipment: None

Options: None

Special rules: Fly, Nimble, Nexus, Skirmishers, Magic Resistance(2), Mischeivous Sprites. Will-O'-Wisps have a Unit Strength of 1 per model. Will-O'-Wisps cannot use the General's Leadership and cannot re-roll break tests due to the Battle Standard.

FLY: Will-O'-Wisps magically float through the air. They can fly 20". Due to having no legs, Will-O'-Wisps cannot chose to walk along the ground for movement.

NIMBLE: The Will-O'-Wisps are small and quick. Unlike other fliers, they can end their flying move and begin their flying move inside wooded areas. They may also fly through wooded areas.

NEXUS: Will-O'-Wisps are connected to each other in life and can feel what each other feels and experience everything all nearby Will-O'-Wisps are experiencing. This makes them very aware and intelligent but also vunerable to blind panic in the face of death, which they fear and the fear amongst them is multiplied until they cannot bear it and must run.

Therefore, if one of them is slain in close combat, they will fear the unit that caused the casualty for the rest of the game because they don't want more of the same. Also, if they suffer ANY casualties from shooting they must take a panic test, not just if they suffer 25% casualties.

Lastly, if a unit of Will-O'-Wisps fails a fear test for charging an enemy unit that causes fear, or they fail a fear test for being charged by an enemy that causes fear but does not outnumber them, they must make a panic test as the fear multiplies as each of the Wisps feels each other's fear. If they fail the panic test they flee as normal.

SKIRMISHERS: All Will-O'-Wisps skirmish, like most fliers.

MAGIC RESISTANCE (2): Will-O'-Wisps are resistant to magic. They have natural defenses to Chaos's corrupting power.

MISCHIEVOUS SPRITES: Will-O'-Wisps are spirit-creatures who enjoy making people annoyed or angry by performing minor glamours and illusions to confuse and anger them.

When it comes to unnatural monsters and evil creatures like Skaven, Orcs and Chaos warriors however, Will-O'-Wisps have more potent spells to ward them off. They do this because Will-O'-Wisps live in the Lakes and small forests that Bretonnians treasure and they know that evil creatures would love to destroy and unsanctify their homes.

Will-O'Wisps have no Attacks because they are incapable of causing harm with physical attacks, they are just too small, they can however use one of the following spells in their Magic Phase (but not if they are fleeing). All of these spells are instantly cast without dice and count as Bound Spells with Power Level equal to the Wisp's Unit Strength (so any spells cast by a unit of 5 Will-O'-Wisps will have a Power Level of 5.). Here is the list of spells:

SPELL LIST:

POSSESSION (FRIENDLY): Casting range of 6". The Will-O'-Wisps use their will to destroy all feelings of fear, panic and hate in their chosen friendly unit. The targeted friendly unit is now immune to psychology until the start of their next Magic Phase. Also, if cast on a fleeing friendly unit that could normally rally (i.e it is above 25% of its original number) it will rally if it passes a Leadership test on its basic Leadership.

POSSESSION (ENEMY): Casting range 12". The Will-O'-Wisps use their will to overcome their enemy and confuse their senses. The targeted enemy unit or character must not be in combat and must pass a Leadership test or be unable to do anything in the Movement, Shooting or Magic Phase (caster's choice).

DANCING LIGHTS: Casting range 16". Target one enemy unit, the effected unit is bedazzled and confused by flashing lights and dancing figures and suffers a -1 to hit in their next Shooting Phase. In addition, in the effected enemies following Shooting Phases, they will continue to suffer the -1 to hit until they pass an Inititive test to see if they overcome the confusion. The Inititive test is taken once at the start of each of their Shooting Phases until they pass it. Note that while this spell lasts longer than 1 turn, it is not a Remains In Play spell.

BOLT: Casting range 24", Magic missile. Will-O'-Wisps can produce bolts of energy when they need to that they can shoot at the enemy in times of need, the bolts are not extremely deadly however. Target one enemy unit that is within line of sight, the unit is hit with 1 S2 hit for every Wisp in the unit.

ESCAPE: On self only. The Will-O'-Wisps are very hard to catch and to add to the difficulty of catching them, they can leave illusions and mirror-images of themselves as they run. This means it is almost impossible to run them down in combat. If in combat (which they cannot hope to win), Will-O'-Wisps can try to turn tail and fly full speed away from the enemy with the aid of magic. If cast, the Will-O'-Wisps cannot be attacked or attack in the combats they are involved with but instantly break during Combat Resolution (Even if they win the combat due to friendly troop's assistance). The enemy rolls one less dice when rolling to see how far they pursue them and the Will-O'-Wisps gain a +1 to their Fleeing roll.

BLINDING SPECTRUM: Casting range 8". The Wisps glow brightly and emit a blinding spectrum of light at a nearby combat, temporaily blinding the target. May be cast on an enemy unit in close combat. The enemy unit's WS is reduced by 1 point to a minimum of 1 until the end of your Combat Phase.

The Lady Of The Lake is the patron diety of almost all Bretonnians and it is for this reason that many Lakes and Rivers and held as holy places by Bretonnians. Pilgrims traveling the lands, Knights on holy quests and Peasants in need often pray at these places asking for help or salvation when a Grail Chapel is not nearby or when circumstances are dire.

The Lakes are Rivers that Bretonnians worship at are the homes of small, mystical creatures that live beneath the surface of the water. They need no air to survive and can live on the land or in the water. The creatures, known as Will-O'-Wisps to those lucky enough to see them, glow like tiny moons of pure blue or white which hover mere feet off the ground and only appear during night. Some say to follow one when you see it is to be lead to your doom, others say that they are servants of the Lady who overlook the Lakes of her domain and will not harm her loyal subjects.

Whatever the case, Will-O'-Wisps are not totally benevolent to all people. Those who pollute the waters of their homes or who bring war to their lands meet not face-to-face battle, but subtle sabotage and bad-luck caused by the Will-O'-Wisps, who can be extremly spiteful when need be. Confusing lights, distracting sounds and the magical befuddling of the mind are just some of the tricks the water-spirits use.

When an enemy army seeks to defile their homes or destroy places of worship to the Lady Of The Lake, Will-O'-Wisps will sometimes add their number to a Bretonnian warhost although the General of the army will have no idea why they came or where they came from. Will-O'-Wisps are not warriors though and in hand-to-hand combat any creature can beat them.

Handling Will-O'-Wisps:

Will-O'-Wisps are not combat-monsters, infact, 2 point Goblins with only Hand Weapons would defeat them easily in any combat. Will-O'-Wisps bring in interesting tactics to Bretonnian armies, they can follow behind your units that you think will soon be subject to panic (staring down the barrel of a Great Cannon or Volley Gun is a good clue) or fear and make them Immune to Psychology using Possess(Friendly) and avoid too much unneeded running for their lives.

The Bolt spell is also a bit of a surprise to your enemies, Strength 2 hits? What do they have to fear from them!?! Well, forget about attacking normal troops, but if you can fly to within 24" of the crew of their warmachines (remember, being a flier, Will-O'-Wisps can see over the heads of all foot-troops) they will soon find their unarmoured crew losing members, this tactic is not as good against Orcs and Dwarfs, with their higher Toughness. Remember, even one is more than 25% of three (the usual size of warmachine crew) and panic test can send crew running for their lives. I once killed two Empire Great Cannon Crew with 5 Will-O'-Wisps and the last member panicked and fled, he never got back to the Cannon.

Blinding Spectrum can swing the tide of a battle easily, with a WS 3 enemy being reduced to WS 2, it can help greatly. Even if the spell won't help too much in a battle, it is worth casting it anyway if you have no other viable spells to use on targets, as the one or two Dispel Dice it may draw out could help you get spells from your more potent magicians through.

Escape helps if your Wisps somehow get charged and you don't or can't flee with them (some spells that move troops don't allow charge reactions besides Hold), to get out of a fight without getting run down, even cavalry and really fast troops will follow a maximum of 12" (2 dice maximum roll of 12) and using the three dice +1 that Wisps use to flee, on average you will escape even that (3 dice +1 would flee at least 4" and at maximum flee of 19", average would probably be around 9 or 10)!

Will-O'-Wisp Miniatures:

There are no miniatures in the GW range that could represent Will-O'-Wisps, so only one choice remains. Scratch Build! Look for spare infantry bases, they will be the only piece from GW that you will need. If they have little slots in them, fill the slots up with Green Stuff or Modelling Clay. I used Modelling Clay.

Then, take more Green Stuff or Modelling Clay and put it on the top surface of the base, make sure it is about 3 or 4mm thick and covers most of the top of the base. Next, roll up a small sphere of the Green Stuff or Modelling Clay that has a diametre of 5mm, this little thing will represent the Wisp, put the little fella aside for now.

Almost finally, take a paper clip and straighten it out so it looks like a piece of wire. Watching out for stray flying pieces (they can hurt), snip the clip in half with the cutting edge of a pair of pliers. Using the pliers, twist the bottom of one of the halves of the paper clip into a spiral that can be pressed into the still soft Green Stuff or Modelling Clay on the top surface of the base, press it into the Clay or Stuff. Make sure there is still enough paper clip pointing straight up out of the Clay or Stuff to create a lofty perch for the Wisp. Lastly, push the small sphere of Green Stuff or Clay on the top of the projecting paper clip so that it is stuck on. Now let it all dry.

Good work! Once dried and undercoated, the little Wisp is ready for painting and soon he shall be ready to appear on any board. For painting, Wisps are generally shades of blue with lighter and darker shades of blue swirling around in the centre but still, it's up to you how you paint yours.

For the next Wisp, you could even try adding more than one Wisp on the one base. For all intents and game rules, it is only one Wisp but it looks cool.

Help VS Hindrance:

Will-O'-Wisps can perfrom two roles on the battlefield, they can help your troops fight against fear and terror causing foes by making them Immune to Psychology. They can also offer assistance in fights by reducing the enemy unit's Weapon Skill. Therefore, small units (4 or 5 would probably be best, as they would give enough Power Level to maybe draw two Dispel Dice out if your opponent tries to dispel) can be used in a helpful fashion, increasing the odds in your favour.

Larger units (10 Will-O'Wisps are great, for 150 points they can have Power Level 10, few armies could dispel something those Wisps throw at them and still have reserves to dispel your Damsel's spells) are good at hindering your opponent. Possess(Enemy) can halt the enemy or make a spellcaster useless for one turn. 10 Strength 2 hits is great too, even a Dwarf War Machine crew would be hard pressed to survive that! Dancing Lights effects the enemy long after your Wisps have gone and thus you could effect many units of archers with them all at once.

However you choose to use your Will-O'-Wisps, have fun. Any comments you have on them I'd be more than happy to hear them. Email Me if you have any comments.

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