Faction Focus: Imperial Knights

Yay for big, stompy robots!

It's my understanding that Imperial Knights are currently pretty middle of the road, with only one or two good builds.  Let's see how 10th will treat them.

Also, hello Mr. Warlord Titan!

OVERVIEW

So right away we're getting a little teaser of how Knights' rules will work.  Like their AdMech allies, Knights are going to be about working together and improving units just by being nearby.  We're specifically told that Questoris will have Bondsman abilities to help with this, while big knights can protect little knights with their Ion Shields.  Reminds me a little of merging shields in Titanicus.

CODE CHIVALRIC

So oaths have been greatly simplified and automatically start with a buff.  It also looks like once you become Honored, you can't lose it.  I'm noting that the 3 CP gained doesn't mention anything about a Command Point limit.  Maybe the limit only applies to CP earned outside of the Command Phase?  Really curious about this now.  I really want to see the full rules for the Command Phase!

Also, of the two Oaths you're probably taking Reclaim the Realm.  Reroll 1s is great on a Knight's big guns.  But extra move and +1 to Advance and Charge rolls is huge.  Plus there's less counter-play to getting into your opponents deployment zone, where as a Warlord can hide all battle.

INDOMITABLE HEROES

Army wide 5+ FNP!  Even while it's 6+, that's still fantastic.  Lets see how many wounds your Knights have . . .

ARMIGER WARGLAIVE

T10 Armigers.  That's a slight buff since T7 is now T9.  They also effectively have 14 Wounds with Indomitable, 16 once they're honored.  At least if FNP works the same way . . .

That Thermal Spear is absolutely wrecking most things you get within 12" of.  Now that's a Melta weapon!  Warglaive melee has taken a bit of hit in the Strength department though, instead of just an AP nerf.  Impetuous Glory still plainly sets these as your main melee troops.  Still, even if you're not ripping up a Land Raider with that Chain-cleaver, you're going to decimate monsters and heavy infantry!

CANIS REX

Oh, and we're getting the named Knight for our second reveal.  Toughness 12, but only 22 wounds?  Still, that's an effective 25 wounds from the get go and 29 once honored.  And Leadership 5+!  I noticed the Warglaive had the standard Leadership 7+, and for a moment I thought this was going to be a 7+ army.  However, my guess is Armigers will be Ld 7+, Knights will be 6+, and Rex gets to be 5+.

That Las-impulsor has a real shot in taking out a Monolith during a game, while its low intensity setting will shred infantry.  Again, there's an anti-infantry weapon with overkill Strength!

But Freedom's Hand strikes at Strength 20!  This is a real monster killer!  It's even got Sustained Hits!  And you get them on 5s!  They definitely want you charging heroically at your opponents' biggest threats.  And honestly you're probably more than a match for many of them.  The free Stratagem is just icing.

Interestingly, you only get our Invuln against ranged attacks.  This means if you don't take out your target, you probably aren't getting a second chance.

Also, we're getting Wargear and Unit Composition on the front of this card.  As an Epic Hero, there's no reason not to I guess.  But this does feel a bit more cluttered.

Oh!  It's so you can flip the card to use Sir Hekhtur!  Hah!

THUNDERCOIL HARPOON

Oh wow . . . That is certainly a thing I just read.  Did you find out how to get a save bonus on your 2+ armor?  Too bad!  Eat -6 AP!  And if a 2+ BS at S 24, and 6 damage with, again, -6 AP, isn't enough, this thing is Anti-Monster and Anti-Vehicle 4+ with Devastating Wounds!

Valiants are going to be a truly awesome sight!

RAPID-FIRE BATTLE CANNON

By contrast, the Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon is . . . well it's a Battle Cannon with Rapid Fire.

Huh . . .

Where'd all my gaunts go . . .

SHOULDER THE BURDEN

Wow, it's Finest Hour as a Stratagem and then some!  And I thought Rex was going to be tough before!  It's 2 CP and you can only use it once or twice, depending on if you can fulfill your Oath.  But this can legitimately change the course of a game.

TROPHY CLAIM

We get a second one too.  This one is a bit all or nothing, like a little mini-Oath in the middle of the battle.  You shout, "This one is mine!" and try and take down the target you want.  If you succeed, you get CP.  If you don't, the Stratagem goes away completely.  Some nice flavor there.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although we don't get to see any specific rules, the article closes exploring how Imperial Knights will work together on the battlefield.  The examples it gives are Paladins granting Lethal Hits and Gallants granting re-rolls to charge and hit.  I can't wait to see more on this.  We also still don't know what Super-Heavy means in game terms

Honestly the only underwhelming thing in this was Rex only getting a 3+ save in Melee.  It sounds like you'll really need to make the most of every unit you have, which isn't surprising considering how few models you get.

Also, with the closing image from this article, it looks like the image above might be meant to be one of the larger knight variants and not a Warlord.

Whoops.