Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello. I'm getting back into the game and have decided to go with IK as my primary factions. The question now is who to ally with them.

Here are my current thoughts.

Legion of the damned. Pros: Automatically come in turn 2 and get to reroll scatter with new IA formation. Has Ignores cover with all weapons and a 3++ save. Also look pretty damn badass.
Cons: Expensive Points wise. Don't really help vs the Aerial weakness of IK or Psychic power shenanigans

Deathwatch: Pros: Options galore. Access to fliers for anti-air. Special Ammo. Drop pods.
Cons: Limited Psychic dice. Expensive points wise.

Inquisition: Pros: Objective sec with Coteaz, Cheap, Good amount of Psychic dice. Decent Special Weapon options
Cons: Squishy, can't deep-strike easily. Lacking Anti-air

Skitarri: Pros: Nice anti-air with Crawlers. Good medium units in Vanguards/Rangers, Haywire.
Cons: Medium cost. No Anti-psychic defenses. Foot Slogging.

Tell me what you think please. I need to make a decision before the New year and I value your input.

How about Cult Mech or a White Scar Biker force? The former are both fluffy and can repair your big Robot.
The later can keep up the pace of the IK, and are mobile enough to take scattered objectives while your IK keep killing, just bring a Techmarine on Bike and servo harness

Mucolid Spore Clusters.

Cheap anti-air Infantry that can deep strike and auto-attack. I like to model mine as WWII style anti-air balloons.

SJ

IG make excellent allies for imperial knights because their roles complement each other very well. Obviously you won't be able to do all of the below options at once in a single list, but these are just thoughts and ideas.

-Vendettas for -excellent- anti-air/vehicle/MC/GMC/SH/SHW
-Hydras for anti-air (4 TL skyfire autocannon shots with 72" range)
-Valkyries for getting cheap troops where you need them fast
-Cheap obsec veteran troops that you can put in chimeras and kit them out with your choice of special weapons if you want them to keep up with your knights
-Cheap Wyverns for killing literally any infantry
-Blobs for screening enemy melee forces and keeping deep strikers out of melta range when they come in behind your knights.
-Lots of formations to use, depending on how many points you have left to play with. Take a look at the emp's blade assault company for a good obsec formation that will easily keep up with the knights.

Eldar. Accept no substitutes.

How do you want to play your army, what would you generally face, and where do you feel the biggest gap is i your army? I think the problem most people have with army building, is they try to make a one size fits all army. That doesn't really work in general play, and unless your looking to build a tournament army, should not be your real focus. Every army and every opponent you face will be different. Your play style with Imperial knights will be different then the way other people might play.

My advise is to try out a few different options. Hopefully the people at your local game shop are cool and don't mind proxies if you cannot afford different allies. Get a feel for your army, perhaps just play it as a straight army for 2 or 3 games, then see where your army needs help. Get the vibe of your local group and go from there. I am of the mind set that any army can win if you are playing to your strengths and understand the forces you are playing against.

Ravingbantha wrote:
How do you want to play your army, what would you generally face, and where do you feel the biggest gap is i your army? I think the problem most people have with army building, is they try to make a one size fits all army. That doesn't really work in general play, and unless your looking to build a tournament army, should not be your real focus. Every army and every opponent you face will be different. Your play style with Imperial knights will be different then the way other people might play.

My advise is to try out a few different options. Hopefully the people at your local game shop are cool and don't mind proxies if you cannot afford different allies. Get a feel for your army, perhaps just play it as a straight army for 2 or 3 games, then see where your army needs help. Get the vibe of your local group and go from there. I am of the mind set that any army can win if you are playing to your strengths and understand the forces you are playing against.

Lots of Flyers in my area. Lots of FW. Usually I use my knights as mainly heavy artillery. I have 5 magnetized knights for any of the Standard loadouts. 2 Castigators and 1 Atrapos. Castigators can deal with blobs pretty well. And the rest can deal with heavies and other nuisances.

Khadorstompy wrote:

Ravingbantha wrote:
How do you want to play your army, what would you generally face, and where do you feel the biggest gap is i your army? I think the problem most people have with army building, is they try to make a one size fits all army. That doesn't really work in general play, and unless your looking to build a tournament army, should not be your real focus. Every army and every opponent you face will be different. Your play style with Imperial knights will be different then the way other people might play.

My advise is to try out a few different options. Hopefully the people at your local game shop are cool and don't mind proxies if you cannot afford different allies. Get a feel for your army, perhaps just play it as a straight army for 2 or 3 games, then see where your army needs help. Get the vibe of your local group and go from there. I am of the mind set that any army can win if you are playing to your strengths and understand the forces you are playing against.

Lots of Flyers in my area. Lots of FW. Usually I use my knights as mainly heavy artillery. I have 5 magnetized knights for any of the Standard loadouts. 2 Castigators and 1 Atrapos. Castigators can deal with blobs pretty well. And the rest can deal with heavies and other nuisances.

So it sounds like your real issues is just dealing with flyers, unless I'm mistaking. If your issue is dealing with fliers then I would suggest adding in a flyer detachment from Skies of death, this would give you several options as to which fliers you want to add in. The up side, is that not only can your fliers be used to handle other fliers, but depending on which you use, they can also help plug holes when dealing with ground forces. StormHawks and StormTalons are cheap but more on the Fragile side. I wouldn't recommend StormRavens as you are waiting points on a Transport capacity that you cannot use, however StormFangs are a bit sturdier and offer several weapon options but clock in around twice to cost of the Hawks and Talons.

Personally I lean towards the Stormfangs beccause they can take a bit better of a beating, and have PotMS, giving it a bit more flexablity. The StormHawk and StormFang mount 3 weapons over the 2 on the StormTalon. The Fang and Talon both are able to hover, thus becoming skimmers if needed, this is where the Stormfangs PotMS comes in, letting you move and shoot 2 weapons at full BS, rathern than the 1 the StormTalon can shoot. The StormFang does have a transport capacity of 6, so some points are wasted there.

A StormHawk wing (2 fliers min) will run you between 250-300pts, a StormTalon wing will run you between 220-260 points, and a Stormfang wing will run you 440-510pts depending on how you arm them. I usually run my StormFangs with a Twin Lascannon and Skyhammer Missile Launcher upgrades, putting them at 235pts a piece (so 470pts for a wing). So you can fill the gaps as you can afford to both point wise and money wise, as the Hawks and Talons will cost about 2/3rds of what the Fangs will cost.

Ravingbantha wrote:

Khadorstompy wrote:

Ravingbantha wrote:
How do you want to play your army, what would you generally face, and where do you feel the biggest gap is i your army? I think the problem most people have with army building, is they try to make a one size fits all army. That doesn't really work in general play, and unless your looking to build a tournament army, should not be your real focus. Every army and every opponent you face will be different. Your play style with Imperial knights will be different then the way other people might play.

My advise is to try out a few different options. Hopefully the people at your local game shop are cool and don't mind proxies if you cannot afford different allies. Get a feel for your army, perhaps just play it as a straight army for 2 or 3 games, then see where your army needs help. Get the vibe of your local group and go from there. I am of the mind set that any army can win if you are playing to your strengths and understand the forces you are playing against.

Lots of Flyers in my area. Lots of FW. Usually I use my knights as mainly heavy artillery. I have 5 magnetized knights for any of the Standard loadouts. 2 Castigators and 1 Atrapos. Castigators can deal with blobs pretty well. And the rest can deal with heavies and other nuisances.

So it sounds like your real issues is just dealing with flyers, unless I'm mistaking. If your issue is dealing with fliers then I would suggest adding in a flyer detachment from Skies of death, this would give you several options as to which fliers you want to add in. The up side, is that not only can your fliers be used to handle other fliers, but depending on which you use, they can also help plug holes when dealing with ground forces. StormHawks and StormTalons are cheap but more on the Fragile side. I wouldn't recommend StormRavens as you are waiting points on a Transport capacity that you cannot use, however StormFangs are a bit sturdier and offer several weapon options but clock in around twice to cost of the Hawks and Talons.

Personally I lean towards the Stormfangs beccause they can take a bit better of a beating, and have PotMS, giving it a bit more flexablity. The StormHawk and StormFang mount 3 weapons over the 2 on the StormTalon. The Fang and Talon both are able to hover, thus becoming skimmers if needed, this is where the Stormfangs PotMS comes in, letting you move and shoot 2 weapons at full BS, rathern than the 1 the StormTalon can shoot. The StormFang does have a transport capacity of 6, so some points are wasted there.

A StormHawk wing (2 fliers min) will run you between 250-300pts, a StormTalon wing will run you between 220-260 points, and a Stormfang wing will run you 440-510pts depending on how you arm them. I usually run my StormFangs with a Twin Lascannon and Skyhammer Missile Launcher upgrades, putting them at 235pts a piece (so 470pts for a wing). So you can fill the gaps as you can afford to both point wise and money wise, as the Hawks and Talons will cost about 2/3rds of what the Fangs will cost.

Okay thanks for the info this helps a good bit. I do want some Anti Psyker if possible though simply because I have a few players picking up Libriarus Conclaves. Should I just take a Culexus? Assassin or Sisters of Silence? Or maybe my own conclave or Psykana division?

Khadorstompy wrote:

Ravingbantha wrote:

Khadorstompy wrote:

Ravingbantha wrote:
How do you want to play your army, what would you generally face, and where do you feel the biggest gap is i your army? I think the problem most people have with army building, is they try to make a one size fits all army. That doesn't really work in general play, and unless your looking to build a tournament army, should not be your real focus. Every army and every opponent you face will be different. Your play style with Imperial knights will be different then the way other people might play.

My advise is to try out a few different options. Hopefully the people at your local game shop are cool and don't mind proxies if you cannot afford different allies. Get a feel for your army, perhaps just play it as a straight army for 2 or 3 games, then see where your army needs help. Get the vibe of your local group and go from there. I am of the mind set that any army can win if you are playing to your strengths and understand the forces you are playing against.

Lots of Flyers in my area. Lots of FW. Usually I use my knights as mainly heavy artillery. I have 5 magnetized knights for any of the Standard loadouts. 2 Castigators and 1 Atrapos. Castigators can deal with blobs pretty well. And the rest can deal with heavies and other nuisances.

So it sounds like your real issues is just dealing with flyers, unless I'm mistaking. If your issue is dealing with fliers then I would suggest adding in a flyer detachment from Skies of death, this would give you several options as to which fliers you want to add in. The up side, is that not only can your fliers be used to handle other fliers, but depending on which you use, they can also help plug holes when dealing with ground forces. StormHawks and StormTalons are cheap but more on the Fragile side. I wouldn't recommend StormRavens as you are waiting points on a Transport capacity that you cannot use, however StormFangs are a bit sturdier and offer several weapon options but clock in around twice to cost of the Hawks and Talons.

Personally I lean towards the Stormfangs beccause they can take a bit better of a beating, and have PotMS, giving it a bit more flexablity. The StormHawk and StormFang mount 3 weapons over the 2 on the StormTalon. The Fang and Talon both are able to hover, thus becoming skimmers if needed, this is where the Stormfangs PotMS comes in, letting you move and shoot 2 weapons at full BS, rathern than the 1 the StormTalon can shoot. The StormFang does have a transport capacity of 6, so some points are wasted there.

A StormHawk wing (2 fliers min) will run you between 250-300pts, a StormTalon wing will run you between 220-260 points, and a Stormfang wing will run you 440-510pts depending on how you arm them. I usually run my StormFangs with a Twin Lascannon and Skyhammer Missile Launcher upgrades, putting them at 235pts a piece (so 470pts for a wing). So you can fill the gaps as you can afford to both point wise and money wise, as the Hawks and Talons will cost about 2/3rds of what the Fangs will cost.

Okay thanks for the info this helps a good bit. I do want some Anti Psyker if possible though simply because I have a few players picking up Libriarus Conclaves. Should I just take a Culexus? Assassin or Sisters of Silence? Or maybe my own conclave or Psykana division?

If you are looking to just shut down Psykers, then either a Culexus or Sisters should work just fine. I've not used either, so I don't know which is better. I think what it really boils down to is how many points are you looking to spend on this, verses how many psykers you need to deal with and how much of a pain are they. Generally I simply kill them the old fashioned way and not worry about dedicating forces to shut them down. If they are dead, they can't manifest.