Front view
For around 30 years, I’ve been collecting Bretonnians for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but one thing I never got round to picking up was the special character King Louen Leoncouer. When I began the army back in the 90s, I was a poor teenager who couldn’t really afford to splash out what was – for me, at least – a lot of money on a single character model. What I wanted to spend on was troops which would allow me to fight decent-sized, tactical battles, not just Herohammer face-offs.
Unfortunately for me, by the time I was old enough to have a little disposable dosh and had enough troops to allow plenty of flexibility in army composition, the original model that I loved so much was out of production, and its replacement just didn’t have the same charm for me. So, for many years my noble knight lances and commoner rabbles lacked a king to lead them to battle.
Although a good few years passed where my Bretonnians did little other than languish in boxes on the hobby shelves, I did return to them from time to time, and on the most recent of these occasions I decided that it was time to rectify the Leoncouer situation. Being that this was before the launch of The Old World, there wasn’t a miniatures available for him through GeeDubs themselves, and at the time of writing I still don’t think he’s been released. As an old skinflint (poor as a kid, cheap as an adult- I’m sure there’s a connection there) I just refuse to pay the prices of greedy eBay resellers for an OOP miniature, so it was time to cast an eye further afield.
One miniature designer that I’ve had some great figures from in the past goes by the name of Ilhadiel, sold through the excellent Sundered Studios. As I seemed to recall that Ilhadiel did a range of pseudo-French/fantasy knights, I popped my nose into their website for a snoop and was rewarded with the Order of the Ancients line. One of their miniatures is called the King on Hippogriff, and if this wasn’t custom designed to fill in for King Louen, I don’t know what is. I love everything about this model: the dynamic pose, beautifully-feathered wings, noble-yet-bestial head, and richly-rendered raiments all combine to make this the perfect fit for the character. It’s even on the scale of the old 4th/5th edition monsters, unlike the current GW trend of colossal creatures which seem to take up half of the pitch (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with those models, but my own preference as an old grognard is for something a little smaller and easier to store). I’m honestly so impressed that I’d say it’s even better than the original, and at the price it’s affordable even for those on a tight hobby budget.
All in all, that little aspect of the project was much easier to accomplish than I expected when it first came to mind, and I think everyone will agree that the finished model is more than worth the price. Now I can finally field the horrendously expensive (points-wise) special character that is King Louen Leoncouer if ever I fancy, and it hasn’t broken the bank to do it. Job done! Well, except for the painting of course…
Rear view