This week, the Battle Report crew turn their eye towards jousting tournaments in old Bretonnia as an updated version of the classic game Full Tilt comes to Warhammer+. What’s more, you can play at home too! We caught up with Sir Nicholas the Tall to give us the lowdown…
Nick: Knights of a certain age may remember a classic Warhammer mini-game called Full Tilt, written and published back in 1997 – in White Dwarf issue 215. Written by the great Nigel Stillman, it pitted teams of Bretonnian Knights against each other in a Grand Tourney to win honour and virtue through the noble art of jousting.
Earlier this year, Warhammer World Events Manager Steve, a veteran knight himself, wrote a new version of the game to celebrate the release of Warhammer: The Old World. Attendees at the game’s launch event at Warhammer World in January formed teams and jousted all day, with much merriment had by all!
And so it is that we present this brand new edition of Full Tilt, which you can download and play yourself. All you’ll need is a deck of playing cards and three Bretonnian Knight miniatures per side, and away you go!*
Joust for Fun
So how does it work? Well, first each player forms a team of three mounted Bretonnian Knights. To each Knight, a Knightly Virtue is assigned, which will give them a bonus in the game.
Roll to see how many Favours each Knight has received from the Lady of the Lake, which are used to re-roll dice. The Knights then charge at each other one at a time, looking to break lances upon the armour or shield of their opponents. Break the most lances, or force your opponent to retire through injury (or the shame of being unhorsed!) and the joust is yours. Win more jousts, and claim overall victory! As you’ll see, the Grand Tourney on Battle Report was hard and honourably fought…
Knightly Teams
Take a look at these glorious teams of Knights created by hobbyists here at Games Workshop HQ, ready to charge into action in Full Tilt!
Creating the Board
Now, you don’t need to create a full-on jousting tournament terrain set, but for our special episode we did just that, courtesy of the talented Warhammer+ Army Painters Andy and James.
Andy: We started with inspiration, looking at Dave Andrews’ legendary 1996 Golden Demon-winning jousting diorama, as well as the original Full Tilt game back in White Dwarf 215. Together, they helped us form a great idea of what we wanted to do, and we started building.
James: I think the overriding principle was that this would not be a standard gaming board, but rather a diorama – a great backdrop to add cinema and narrative to the game. That meant we could really go to town on the detail and colours, aiming to make it look as spectacular as possible!
James: Of course, the action is set in the Old World, and we wanted to visually tie that in. While the Bretonnian Knights have their own heraldry, the theme of the board would centre around Brionne where the grand tourney is taking place, so red and black were the order of the day.
Andy: The tilt (the fence the knights joust over) and the Duke’s box were built from expanded PVC, a great material we use all the time. However, if you’re building your own, you can easily use balsa wood, or even coffee stirrers!
James: We took visual cues for the tilt and the Duke’s box from the Bretonnian Field Trebuchet. It’s built in a high-quality and ornate style, and we wanted that to come across while tying it into the whole Bretonnian range, so we used a herringbone timber design that compliments the trebuchet’s angled woodwork.
Andy: The tents were actually made using guides from old Warhammer scenery books, and are basically built the way you might put up a real tent! First, I made a frame from plasticard, then cut thick paper to form the canvas, draping it over the top, and coating it in thinned down PVA glue to make it set. Then, they were painted in bright blue and red colours to match the heraldry of the knights jousting in the game.
James: Duke Gastille, the Red Hand of Brionne** can be seen watching the jousting from his Royal Box on a rare day off from crusading against the Tomb Kings! He was made from the Bretonnian Questing Knight Paladin, with the chalice from the Priestess kit. His entourage was made using the new Knights of the Realm on Foot, and the crowd is made from the Peasant Bowmen with the Damsel being made from the Handmaiden of the Lady, a Favour being sculpted in with putty after her staff was removed, and modelled to look like she is throwing it to a brave knight.
Play it yourself!
Fancy leading teams of knights into an exciting jousting tournament? Well, great news – you can download it yourself right now. Good luck, brave knight!
More on Warhammer+ This Week
Of course, there’s lots more on Warhammer+ this week! You’d be barking mad not to join Ed on Citadel Colour Masterclass this week, to get your top tips on painting the canine inhabitants of the Warhamer universes.
Thanks Nick! Are you subscribed to Warhammer+? No? Well get on it! There’s awesome new content like this available every week right here.
* Though if you do have an entire team of guys whose job it is to make scenery for you to play on, we do recommend asking them to custom-build you some jousting lists…
** The good Duke Gastille previously appeared on Battle Report in its inaugural Old World clash!