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Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

Hello, fellow fans of giant stompy chivalrous robots! A new Codex is upon us, therefore it is time for a new thread! Here we can discuss Imperial Knights tactics with all of our fellow High Monarchs (or Princeps, if you prefer gears to eagles!) in order to get as much mileage out of the new book as possible. I thought I'd start us off with a discussion of our units and Households.

Note: these are very much "hot takes" and should be taken with a large grain of salt; the intent is to stimulate some discussion. I would absolutely love to hear from some more experienced Knight players on how and why my takes are way off! And predictably as anyone who has seen me around these forums would know, I'm doing this in the form of a tier list.
UNITS
Armiger Helverin: B tier: These guys are probably the lesser of our baby robots; that said they are still decently good. Great for camping a backfield objective and providing fire support with its long range autocannons.
Armiger Warglaive: S tier: Every Knights army should have a few of these kicking around; they are great for going out and grabbing objectives, as having ObSec, counting as five models, and actually possessing decent melee capability make them well-suited for this.
Knight Errant: S tier: Probably the best of the Questoris type, its main gun is powerful for anti-big stuff duty, and its melee is pretty fearsome as well with the new-and-improved Reaper Chainsword or Thunderstrike Gauntlet. It also gives out one of the best Armiger buffs, enabling one of those to absolutely jump across the table and smash something.
Knight Warden: D tier: It's not awful, per se, but its main gun is somewhat meh in the current meta (doubly so thanks to Armor of Contempt on a lot of popular armies), and its Armiger buff is situational at best.
Knight Crusader: C tier: If you want an all-shooty Knight, this is the robot for you. Its Armiger buff is decent but somewhat bland, and it needs to stay out of combat if possible now that the stompy feet aren't as good anymore.
Knight Gallant: B tier: Sort of the opposite of the Crusader, this Knight wants to break stuff up close and personal. Its Armiger buff continues that theme, so it's good for it to be accompanied by at least one of those when it gets ready to get stuck in.
Knight Paladin: A tier: Its main gun isn't quite as good as that of the Errant, but it's not bad at all. Its Armiger buff is quite spicy indeed.
Knight Preceptor: A tier: You don't bring this one for its weapons, per se, although they are certainly decent. Its ability to use Knightly Teachings is the main draw, as those aren't as restricted as the other Questoris Knights' buffs (they are mostly auras that affect all Armigers in range). Plus, they stack with the other buffs for some very potent combos.
Knight Castellan: C tier: Really expensive, but it has immensely scary firepower. Detachment restrictions mean you need to think very hard about whether it's worth bringing one of these to the party.
Knight Valiant: C tier: Honestly I think people are sleeping on this model. It doesn't look as scary as a Castellan on paper, especially given that its guns are short ranged, but once it gets in range it should be able to do some work. Plus, if it gets tied up in melee it can still use its guns against whatever ties it up, which the Castellan cannon due to its weapons being Blast. Still, given the detachment restrictions it's probably not the right choice unless you really have a plan for it.
Canis Rex: B tier: A named Preceptor Freeblade; has a cute gimmick where the pilot jumps out if his machine dies but doesn't explode. Probably not worth taking over a standard Preceptor except in a Freeblade Lance.

HOUSEHOLDS
House Terryn: A tier: The Questor Imperialis allegiance tends to point towards melee-focused lists, and Terryn's abilities definitely lean into that. The Tradition, unique Stratagem, and Warlord Trait are all melee buffs, but the relic is a very nice upgrade to a Rapid-fire Battle Cannon. So be sure to pack a Paladin if you pick this Household.
House Griffith: S tier: The Tradition is basically borrowing a trick from Space Marines and Bloody Rose Sisters, and it is hilarious on a Knight with its crazy melee weapons. The strat is a bit expensive, but easily worth having if you are facing a lot of vehicles and monsters. The Trait is a must on a Gallant (and okay on others), and the Relic is decent but not a must-take. This is definitely one of the stronger Household picks.
House Cadmus: C tier: Cadmus' Tradition is only really good against hordes, but it is really good against them. The Warlord Trait is great, the Relic is meh, and the strat is situational (but great when it matters). Not terrible, but there are better choices.
House Hawkshroud: B tier: Having your Knights not degrade until they are almost dead is very nice, and being able to Heroically Intervene up to 12" with a Knight via the Strat is enough to give any opponent pause. The Warlord trait and relic are okay, but nothing to write home about.
House Mortan: D tier: One of the weaker Households for sure; the tradition and stratagem are pretty meh. The Warlord trait is decent but not amazing, and the relic is quite spicy (but not enough to make you pick this Household over one of the better ones IMO).
House Raven: S tier: This is the premiere shooty Household; being able to advance and still shoot as if you stood still gives you great flexibility and makes it harder for your opponents to hide from you. The reworked Order of Companions strat is much cheaper than the old one, but nowhere near as potent. Still worth it at least sometimes. The Warlord trait gives a Knight Armor of Contempt-lite, which is nice especially combined with the Mechanicus allegiance ability. The relic is certainly not bad either, especially if you like taking lots of Armigers.
House Taranis: B tier: Not terrible, but not the best either. The tradition is fine and does work well with the Mechanicus ability. The strat lets you potentially rez a Knight, but it can be pretty swingy as you have to first not explode and then it's still a 50/50 shot. Expect a salty opponent when it does go off though! The Trait is nice and works kind of like a Sisters Miracle Dice, but it's once per game unless you become Virtuous. The relic is a nice upgrade on a Melta weapon, but not a must-take by any means.
House Krast: B tier: A solid pick overall, especially if you like melee combat, as the Tradition, Stratagem, and Warlord trait all lean towards it. The Headsman's Mark relic is truly excellent and you should definitely take it if you play Krast.
House Vulker: D tier: A pretty meh Tradition and a relic that is basically trash make this a subpar Household pick. The Warlord Trait isn't that good either; Transhuman Physiology-type effects are great on smaller models but won't come into play that much on a T8 Knight except when fighting other big stuff (like other Knights mostly). The strat is honestly the only really good thing about Vulker, and it's nowhere near good enough to make you pick it.

Overall I feel like Knights are a melee army more than a shooty army with this book, although House Raven definitely gives an avenue to go nuts with shooting if that's your jam. I think the army is probably in a good place; I predict that it won't have the impact that Tyranids have over the past couple of weeks but we should see some decently good finishes in tournaments with Knights. We'll see if my predictions come to pass, eh?

Anyway, that's a good start. Let's have some Knightly discussion! List builds, strategies, anything; let's see if we can't wring this book out!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in gb
Aspirant Tech-Adept






You mention the Valiant. I’ve been looking at strategies to make him work. The +6 extra range has me curious. You can take this via the master tactician exalted court buff.

Sisters repentia are the bane of my existence just now so I haven’t given up on old flamey
   
Made in gb
Raging-on-the-Inside Blood Angel Sergeant





Luton, England

I think the valiant is pretty pointless when the castellan is only 10 pts more is has alot better firepower.

The better range is needed on a slow knight and even when it gets up close the valiant still doesn't put out as good quality of shots - the harpoon is just poor.
The overwatch from the flamer is its best selling point up is very easy to avoid with modern terrain and other special rules.

I think Canis Rex is a big improvement over a standard perceptor if he fits in with the rest of the army you are using, alot of baked in bonuses for only a few points more.

40,000pts
8,000pts
3,000pts
3,000pts
6,000pts
2,000pts
1,000pts
:deathwatch: 3,000pts
:Imperial Knights: 2,000pts
:Custodes: 4,000pts 
   
Made in gb
Aspirant Tech-Adept






Oh he’s terrible. They somehow made him worse with the arrival of this book. And he was dog dirt tier before hand.

This book is all about compromise though. If he has to be bad to make our armigers good then he makes the supreme sacrifice.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Can freeblades take exalted court bonuses? Have I read that wrong

Cause I quite like the option of the Valiant coming in out of deep strike with his flamer. And the extra 6” range could make him relevant (maybe)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/05/17 16:27:11


 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



Glasgow

Canis was a solid choice before because with a 2+bs you could max his high intensity shots

Without the preceptor strat his output has collapsed

The main problem is still survivability and they just don't cut it.

It's a real shame because being able to agents of the imperium them could have been a good opportunity to bring them back into the game
   
Made in us
Moustache-twirling Princeps





PDX

So what is a Raven list looking like now? I don't have the Codex just yet, so I'm just hoping I have an army that won't suck too bad.

   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




If I were running Raven, I'd lean into the advance and do things mechanic with 2x Errants and a Preceptor supported with 4x Warglaives. The Warglaives go first keeping the melee threats off of your big knights while everything shoots and picks out a unit or two to soften up for the turn two charge. I haven't tested this yet, but it feels better to keep shooting with Raven than getting an extra attack with Griffith.
   
Made in gb
Aspirant Tech-Adept






What’s the consensus on the raven supplement being legal still? I know engine war is dead but didn’t see anything on the raven supplement

My thinking was a raven errant with the spirit of kollosi and the order of companions stratagem is a reroll master

If you took a freeblade pretending to be house raven you could stack sanctuary in there and a heap of other buffs.

Anyone experimenting with freeblades?
   
Made in de
Crazed Cultist of Khorne




Bremen (Germany)

Since the Tyranid supplements are not "legal" anymore, I would expect that for Knights too.

My tabletop-blog (in german):
http://kubitabletop.wordpress.com 
   
Made in gb
Raging-on-the-Inside Blood Angel Sergeant





Luton, England

 Ideasweasel wrote:
What’s the consensus on the raven supplement being legal still? I know engine war is dead but didn’t see anything on the raven supplement


On their Book legality list its noted as legal "unless superseded by a codex".

Unfortunately its not super clear but I would say that the codex does superseded the supplement as it replaces various rules.

40,000pts
8,000pts
3,000pts
3,000pts
6,000pts
2,000pts
1,000pts
:deathwatch: 3,000pts
:Imperial Knights: 2,000pts
:Custodes: 4,000pts 
   
Made in us
Aspirant Tech-Adept






That is a shame as there was a couple of Raven tricks that would be helpful.

How long till we get our 10th ed book?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Anyone think taking 3 errants and 5 warglaives = 2k on the nose and taking the 5th warglaive is worth the trade of not taking any exalted court upgrades


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also

I see a lot of people online talking about the Taranis mortal wound wombo combo, giving a crusader or castellan all the tricks and modifying 6's also the warlord trait mortal wounds on 6's as well. Some people have the expensive idea of taking a bondman paladin to buff a crusader with the paladins RR1's but that seems expensive and subject to LOS issues

what if a freeblade taking on the taranis details and unlocking access to the Taranis keyword does it better on a budget

The freeblade lance allows the strength from exile stragam to give RR1's to hit and wound as long as he is 12" away from other knights. So saving you 425 points and also since you are taking a freeblade lance you could tax canis rex instead of a preceptor if you were planning on doing so.

You could even take a errant with double relics and give him the mortal wound on 6's to wound relic and sanctuary. that way you have a mortal wound machine in combat and one with guns.

Am I onto something here, do these interactions work?

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2022/05/18 12:00:27


 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Taranis is being thrown around as the best for that combo because their warlord trait gives them access to another automatic 6 to wound. Freeblade Lance could make a knight with the Taranis house trait (6+++) but could not take the Taranis-specific warlord trait. You would be left with the auto 6 from being Virtuous in Lay Low.

That said, a Crusader with battlecannon, endless fury, and the freeblade trait Blessed Arms could use the Blessed by the Sacriscans WLT to throw out reliable mortals even without the strat.

I do like an Imperialis knight in Freeblade with the Helm and Noble Combatants to threaten more mortals in combat. That feels like our best answer to things like Terminators in cover.
   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User





My current thinking is for my shooting-heavy Knights army to do something like that- a backfield Crusader set up to produce as many Mortals as possible via massed firepower from within the home deployment zone.

Crusader w/Battlecannon, two Heavy Stubbers, Icarus Autocannon, Endless Fury, Blessed by the Sacristans, ready to roll out with Calculated Targeting to (attempt to) delete something important in the first couple of turns while sitting back on or near the home objective. Slap Forgemaster on it to keep it alive (or at least punish the enemy for trying to kill it) and have it buff a couple of Helverin's BS as they similarly shoot up the table.

Anything that the enemy sends poking around back there gets a lot of highly-buffed firepower thrown against it, and worse comes to worst the Helverins are ready to take over as home objective holders.

Stupidly points-expensive and it detracts from whatever's charging forward to take the midfield, of course.
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

I was going to get my first outing with the new book tonight, but it didn't work out. I was going to run the following:
Spoiler:
Super-Heavy Detachment: House Raven
Knight Crusader: RFBC, Exalted Court: Princeps, Warlord (Ion Bulwark), Relic: Endless Fury
Knight Errant: Exalted Court: Master of Vox, Knight Baron (Knight Seneschal), Order of Companions (for the damage rerolls)
Knight Preceptor: Meltagun, Relic: Mentor's Seal
2x Armiger Warglaives: 2x Meltagun
2x Armiger Helverin: 2x Cognis Heavy Stubber

Not sure how well this would have done; my friend was going to be running Salamanders Space Marines with a lot of meltas (which is kind of a hard counter to Knights). Having read through the codex a couple of times now, there are a LOT of moving parts in a Knights army. And people thought the Custodes' karate made them complicated! Anyways, my plan was to let the Crusader, as a Princeps, give his Bondsman buff to the Errant (or the Preceptor in a pinch) to increase the accuracy of its gun. The Errant could then give his buff to any Armiger Warglaive on the board thanks to being a Master of Vox, and since the list is House Raven that Warglaive could advance up the board, blast something, and then charge it (or something else if its shooting killed the target).

Not sure how well this would work in practice; as I said it would be my first game with the new book and there is a lot to wrap my mind around. My relic choices in particular are something I'm unsure about; there are so many good ones!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Aspirant Tech-Adept






How are we feeling about custom household trait Strike and Shield? Army wide Trans-hit + a couple of armigers buffed to a 4++ with Herald sounds pretty tanky to me.
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




I think its good. One of the balancing factors for Imperialis over Mechanicum is the quality of their custom households. In my freeblade lance my Warglaives get Strike and Shield. You can also make one Transhuman to wound as well as hit, with the 4++ and -1 damage. Give it advance and charge, Full Tilt it 21 inches before the charge, and make the enemy deal with it instead of your squishier big knights in the midfield.
   
Made in us
Preacher of the Emperor





Hanford, CA, AKA The Eye of Terror

I ran a 1000pt game last night with

Terryn
Gallant +Herald w/sanctuary and ion bulwark for tanking
Warglaive x 4

this was against leviathan tyranids which definitely dulled my Strength advantage in close combat and shooting. I ended up actually tabling my opponent with no losses with a little luck and a lot of tanking from the -1D and 4++ armigers. I didn't realize just how quick these little guys were and with Terryn I was able to charge first turn and hem his entire army in to the corner and claim all the objectives. Mortals were a challenge but I managed to survive for the most part intact once I started charging the psykers.

17,000 points (Valhallan)
10,000 points
6,000 points (Order of Our Martyred Lady)
Proud Countess of House Terryn hosting 7 Knights, 2 Dominus Knights, and 8 Armigers
Stormcast Eternals: 7,000 points
"Remember, Orks are weak and cowardly, they are easily beat in close combat and their tusks, while menacing, can easily be pulled out with a sharp tug"

-Imperial Guard Uplifting Primer 
   
Made in no
Liche Priest Hierophant





Bergen

Could somebody do a very easy and basic breakdown of the different knights? Is it like giants in AoS who play objectives good by standing on them and beeing thick? And how would one of them function of you where to ally them into space wolves?

   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User





 Niiai wrote:
Could somebody do a very easy and basic breakdown of the different knights? Is it like giants in AoS who play objectives good by standing on them and beeing thick? And how would one of them function of you where to ally them into space wolves?


Sure!

Little Knights: Armigers. Come in Shooty (Helverin) and Stabby (Warglaive) variants. They're basically just vehicles- degrading profile, standard rules, etc. They've received the most attention in the new codex, getting ways to layer all sorts of buffs and damage reduction on them, but a lot of that comes from effects produced by the Big Knights, so their allying potential is middling to low. Some factions might make good use of the Warglaives' melee power, but Space Wolves don't have that problem, really. Just take another Dreadnought or two- they do basically the same thing, and get damage reduction automatically. (Though they're notably slower in movement- Armiger long chicken-legs vs. dreadnought stumpy legs do count for something...)

Big Knights: The "Questoris" class. These have the juicy rules that you come to Knights to get: Titanic (so fall back and shoot), Super-Heavy Walker (so move over other models and fall back and charge), 24+ wounds at T8, and Really Big Weapons. There are five varieties, but they boil down to three types: Shooty (two big guns- Crusader), Partly Stabby (one big gun, one big melee weapon- Paladin, Warden, and Errant), and Extra-Double-Plus-Stabby (Gallant, two melee weapons and a WS and Attacks boost). If you're souping into Marines, it's one of these you want- and you'll pay for it, as they're 400-500 points a pop.

Biggest Knights: "Dominus" class. These come in Long-Range Shooty (Castellan) and Short-Range Shooty (Valiant)- both have some absolutely tremendous firepower, both are decidedly meh in melee (they can still fall back and shoot, but have no good melee weapons as their previously effective Stompy Feet just got nerfed). This especially puts the Valiant, with 18" range on its main guns, in rather a tough spot. The Castellan at least has stupidly long range guns and makes a decent back-line firepower hub, especially against few, tough targets. Still, the cost here for either is ~600 points or so, so might not be the best add-on for another army- at that point the whole list is one-third Knight without any of the Knight Army-wide tricks or bonuses.

Anyway. mixing one of these into a Space Wolves army is CP intensive- you have to pay 3CP for the Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment, and AFAIK there's no way to get a keyword on there for a shared faction +2 CP bonus- but thanks to the "Freeblade" rules it won't break your army's overarching doctrine rules (the Knight loses out on its own doctrine-equivalent, but it's not so much a loss). What is a bit of a loss is that you don't get Knight Warlord Traits or Relics, which are pretty good. Still, if you pay those 3CP and ~450pnts, you get a 24+ wound, T8, 5++ vs. Ranged, heavily-armed, Titanic guy that can't hide.

I don't play Age of Sigmar for the Giants comparison, but I don't think Knights are tough enough for their points costs to play by simply being tough. They're more relying on their skew-factor of being an army of nothing but big vehicles, the mobility granted by being Titanic Super-Heavy Walkers that can move over models and fall back and shoot and charge (plus zoomy Armigers), and their attrition factor- they're 'chunky' in that you don't see real gains in stopping their damage output until you completely knock out a knight (24+ wounds), and meanwhile they're all smacking you around. They can kinda-sorta play the objective game with Armigers, but in my opinion it remains a 'table opponent or be tabled' sort of an army, albeit one that plays out over all five turns rather than over the first two.

So, for a Space Wolves soup, the big question is: what would you be adding with getting one? A Knight is the ultimate (and ultimately expensive!) Distraction Carnifex type unit- your enemy is likely to take one look and dedicate all their attention to taking it down, and will be steadily punished if they do not. If that means your Wolfy Dudes get some time to grab key objectives and get into position for a good charge or three, great! If instead you're looking for something with good firepower per point to delete enemy units, or absolute durability per point to make it unworthwhile to remove and hold an objective till the cows come home, I think Space Marines- especially post-Armor of Contempt Space Marines- have better tools for the job.
   
Made in no
Liche Priest Hierophant





Bergen

I am getting a dominus type heading my way. I do not know what to do with it. But I do own SW. So I thought I could ally one in.

The usual space wolves list I run is quite heavy on the dreadnoughts. I have 3 remdeptors and 3 wolfen dreadnoughts (who are really good) who has some good synergi with psyker. But they need long range support, or more dreads. But a big knight could work. Mostly for fun, even if it is jot optimal.

But I do not know if knights are fun to play against? Big units tend to turn the game around beeing all about them. Kill it or loose type games.

As for AoS the giants have so much health they can just stand with their toe on the objectives and they grab all the points. They are not that fighty.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/05/20 14:33:06


   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User





In that case, a Castellan would fit right in. It'd not be the fastest-moving army, but that many Dreads stomping forward plus the Castellan shooting from behind would be neat to see. Though, if you want maximum 'wall of steel', get a Valiant and just toss it into the mix. (Perhaps source a set of just the arms? Knights love magnets, it is known.)

For fun to play against, I dunno, never been on the other side of the equation. It's certainly a challenge, and at least the destruction- one way or the other- plays out over several turns; despite their impressive stats, Knights just don't have the sheer firepower-per-point other Shooting armies can put out, so there's none of the Tau or Mechanicus 'vaporized turn two' issues.

Knights are definitely fighty, but not nearly tough enough for their points to just hang out on objectives daring the enemy to bring it. *(That's currently more the domain of super-heavy infantry like Terminators.) Heck, they don't even have ObSec base- only the Armigers do, and they're more 'fast dreadnoughts' than true Knights.
   
Made in no
Liche Priest Hierophant





Bergen

Thank you for the fine breakdown.

Yes Terminators are definetivt quite good now. I used to take mine with combat shields (space wolves flex abilaty) but they are even better now. My ork opponent had a hard time against it so I dropped it. That beeing said the dreadnoughts - 1 damage is also very rough.

But I like the knights idea. Thank you for the breakdown. It is really hard to read them on a surface level.

   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

I recently watched The Art of War review of the new 'dex, and they seemed to think the book was strong but nowhere near as busted as Tyranids or pre-nerf Harlequins. A lot of the power seems to come from stacking abilities on Armigers, via the Knightly Teachings from a Preceptor, as well as the Bondsman abilities. The hard part of the whole thing, according to them, is going to be keeping the big guys alive long enough to get work done.

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User





Hrm. This suggests that- despite the melee power of the Imperialis Houses- the extra Mechanicus wounds, and especially the Taranis FNP, would be the way to go. A Questoris at one last wound that it only got because of Mechanicus and only kept because it made that 6+++... is still a Questoris providing Armiger buffs and synergies.
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

I tend to agree. Mechanicus has generally better stratagem support too. Personally I like Raven better than Taranis, but both are solid. That being said, Imperialis do have some nice tricks and I generally prefer their Exalted Court upgrades over the Mechanicus ones. Maybe in some cases a good offense is the best defense, in which case pick House Griffith and go wreck stuff!

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




The Battlescribe update for Knights makes you pick Imperialis or Mechanicus for the Freeblade Lance and limits you to one half of that set. That doesn't seem right to me. I've checked the Questor Allegiance rules and they only say that you pick one or the other for each Freeblade unit in your army. The Freeblade Lance Army of Renown doesn't require you to choose an allegiance either.

Sometimes I miss stuff though. Am I missing something, or is that an oversight on their part?
   
Made in de
Crazed Cultist of Khorne




Bremen (Germany)

It is the first version...

My tabletop-blog (in german):
http://kubitabletop.wordpress.com 
   
Made in fi
Fresh-Faced New User




I played my first games with the new Codex this weekend. I played against a tooled-up Grey Knights list with a Paladin bomb, MW Librarian, Draigo and Dreadknights, plus Strikes and a few Interceptors. Imperial Knights won both games, while before the Codex Grey Knights tended to win. We played Tempest of War missions. The list:

++ Super-Heavy Detachment 0CP (Imperium - Imperial Knights) [106 PL, 9CP, 1,995pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)
Chivalric Oath: Oath: Defend the Realm, Oath: Lay Low The Tyrants
Household Choice: Questor Mechanicus
House Raven

+ Lord of War +
Armiger Helverins [16 PL, -1CP, 310pts]
Armiger Helverin: Heirloom: The Bastard's Helm, Heirlooms of the Household, Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber
Armiger Helverin: Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber

Armiger Warglaives [24 PL, 435pts]
Armiger Warglaive: Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber
Armiger Warglaive: Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber
Armiger Warglaive: Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber

Armiger Warglaives [16 PL, 290pts]
Armiger Warglaive: Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber
Armiger Warglaive: Questor Cognis Heavy Stubber

Knight Errant [25 PL, 480pts]: Character (Knight Lance), Exalted Court: Princeps, Heavy Stubber, Heirloom: Armour of the Sainted Ion, Ironstorm Missile Pod, Reaper Chainsword, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Revered Knight

Knight Errant [25 PL, -2CP, 480pts]: Exalted Court: Master of Lore, Heavy Stubber, Heirloom: Sanctuary, Heirlooms of the Household, Ironstorm Missile Pod, Knight Baron, Reaper Chainsword, Warlord Trait: Ion Bulwark

Lessons learned:
- Do not trust Battlescribe blindly, there are still errors in the Weapon Profiles
- House Raven and Knights Errant work very nicely together. The list combines mobility and lethality. I was able to dictate where battles took place, avoiding the scary but slow Paladin bomb, Librarian and Draigo, which did take the central objective, but achieved little else.
- The big knights can and will be focused upon. In the first game the opponent was just able to bring one Errant down on turn 1, but he had to devote all his resources to it and was badly positioned for the counter attack. In the second game, the Errant lived on two wounds. The big knights need defensive relics and stratagems.
- We are a CP hungry army. Stratagems like Martial Power and Machine Spirit Resurgent eat through the CP quickly.
- Armigers with the -1 to damage are a huge nuisance for Grey Knights. The opponent (I think correctly) tried to ignore them and go for the Errants, but never came close to bringing both of them down.
- It was easy to stay Honoured, and getting to Virtuous is not that hard either.
- It is hard to remember which of the Armigers are affected by the Bondsman abilities and which ones are not (I also frequently forgot the +1 to Wound from the Bastard’s Helm). Bring suitable counters.
- When doing charges, pile-ins, consolidations etc you need to remember to keep Errants and Armigers within 12” of each other so that you can use the Bondsman abilities again in your next Command Phase. This is easy to mess up.
- The list worked well. I am not sure the Exalted Court picks are optimal, but otherwise I would not change things based on these practice games.
- Next I will face some Tau. Time to die, methinks.
   
Made in us
Aspirant Tech-Adept






Let us know how you get on. Short of getting the tau players drunk (that's my plan) I just think we lose. If you get paired vs one at GT maybe you just concede and insist they buy you a beer at the bar.

My loathing for tau is unending. We cant even tailor for them to give us a sporting chance.
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




I'm curious as to how the combination of House Raven's Warlord Trait (AP -1 and -2 are reduced by 1 against the Knight) and the Armor of Sainted Ion would work. I'm hesitant because the Armor of Contempt changes will encourage people to bring as high AP weapons as they can.
   
 
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