New to Imperial knights would love advice

[Just4uCupCake]

Greetings,

 

I have been playing Blood Angels for 9 years now for 40k and I have a 14k pts army. I have picked up a Knight Acheron and a Paladin to use as Alternate LoW choices. Well now since the announcement of the 3 New knight kits I'm planning on starting up an IK army which I have no clue on how that works. Each knight takes up a F ORG slot? I have so many questions, how do they play, what are the pros and cons, what would you recommend to a rookie knight player to do? any hobby advice? Any books to consider picking up besides the new dex? 

 

Thanks

[CommodusXIII]

Welcome to the Household!

 

At the moment, Knights fill their own Imperial Knight Detachment and are not Lords of War.  Each IK Detachment consists of 1+ Knights.

 

Knights don't play like any other unit on the table, and can be very controversial.  They're very psychological units, and rightly so.  I find that opponents tend to freak out a little bit and make very poor decisions when a Knight is bearing down on them.  Expect grumbling if you field more than one.

 

For pros, Knights are hard as nails.  Your ranged attacks will devistate a squad per turn and crack open transports/light tanks like walnuts.  In close combat you are a god - between the Destroyer attacks and Stomps, there's little that can survive.  The Knight's relatively high armor value, combined with a large amount of hull points and the ion shield mean that you can soak up a surprising amount of firepower.  A couple weekends ago I helped someone practice for a GT with 1750 points of Sororitas with more meltas, multi-meltas and Excorcists than you can shake a stick at.  I was on the verge of messing my pants, but the Knights held up surprisingly well until they started getting surrounded.

 

http://i.imgur.com/2ixS4N2l.jpg

 

I find that they take a good deal of skill to use effectively.  Remember the cave troll fight in Fellowship of the Ring?  Well, you're the troll.  You can easily be tarpitted by cheap troop blobs and, while you're certainly a sledgehammer, you aren't as maneuverable or invulnerable as you think.  Knights attract a lot of attention, so expect to be rolling a lot of ion shield saves.  Be sure to position yourself correctly and don't allow yourself to be outflanked (literally) - the easiest way to bring down a Knight is to surround it and peck away at its unshielded facings.  And don't forget to declare ion shield facing in the first place!

 

Thunderhammers, lances, melta weapons, Haywire weapons, Distortion weapons - these are very bad news for you.  The worst, however, are Necron Scarabs.  God do I hate Scarabs.

 

Modeling-wise, the Knight is fantastic in some regards and lackluster in others.  The legs are stuck in a single pose, so if you have more than one of GW's Knights you'll have to get creative to avoid everyone walking in lockstep.  Other than that, it's a great kit with lots of detail and no obvious difficulties in assembly.  I find it best to build and paint in sub-assemblies:  Legs, torso, carapace, arms, shoulders and armor plates all as separate items.  This will allow you to get all of the detail in the undercarriage without the armor in the way.  Be patient and don't rush yourself - it's a large kit, and an expensive one, and deserves a good amount of attention.

 

If you're interested in the fluff side of Knights as well, I would have recommended the Knight Companion.  It's a wonderful book, though now out of stock.  Maybe it'll be back, maybe it won't - there's always eBay.

 

I'm sure I'll come up with more as I go along, this is all that came to mind at first glance!

Edited April 27, 2015 by CommodusXIII

[jeffersonian000]

The Paladin is not a LoW choice, it's its own detachment, which is neat because you can still take your normal LoW in addition to the Paladin. And due to the Acheron's special rule, it does not fill your LoW slot if you also take the Paladin.

 

SJ

[Just4uCupCake]

Dear lord I had no idea that it wasnt a LoW choice so I can field three of these babys as ALLIES??!?!? 

 

But thank you so very much for the picture and the very detailed answers to my questions! I appreciate it greatly. 

[Carlson793]

Oh, it gets better (or worse - it's a matter of perspective) if you go Age of Darkness* and run a Questoris Knight Crusade Army List (Horus Heresy Book 4: Conquest). That allows a Primary Detachment of 2-14 Knights (plus a LoW) and/or an Allied Detachment of 2-6 Knights.

 

*Come to the Age of Darkness forum... You want to join the Age of Darkness forum...

[CommodusXIII]

You can field as many as you'd like, as long as you have enough points.  You also have access to the Adamantium Lance formation, which consists of three Paladins and/or Errants with some very good bonuses to their ion shield and charge range rolls if they're kept close to each other.  This is what I refer to as "Imperial Knights Easy Mode".

Oh, it gets better (or worse - it's a matter of perspective) if you go Age of Darkness* and run a Questoris Knight Crusade Army List (Horus Heresy Book 4: Conquest). That allows a Primary Detachment of 2-14 Knights (plus a LoW) and/or an Allied Detachment of 2-6 Knights.

 

*Come to the Age of Darkness forum... You want to join the Age of Darkness forum...

 

You mileage will vary - not all 40K metas allow the use of 30K.  Best to ask beforehand.

[Just4uCupCake]

WOW thats simply awesome the new knight codex is going to drop first or second week of may?

[CommodusXIII]

No idea.  The new Knights are coming up for pre-order this weekend, and released on 9 May.  I imagine that their rules will be in this week's White Dwarf.  The Codex... that's anyone's guess.  Could be the week following (released 16 May) if it follows the schedule of the last Imperial Knights release, could be much later.

Edited April 27, 2015 by CommodusXIII

[Just4uCupCake]

So relatively speaking it comes out very soon. Indeed I picked a glorious time to pick up a knights army. 

[CommodusXIII]

Indeed!

[nziv]

I very much hope they have a few more flexible options that add/subtract points to better fit 40k knights to a point cost, similar to 30k knight forces

[CommodusXIII]

Meh, I think they do that on purpose - it encourages the use of allies, especially the Skitarii.  A few wargear options or even relics wouldn't be unappreciated, but I don't expect to see Knights fit perfectly into every point bracket.

[jeffersonian000]

One great thing for new comers to Knights is that FW has the rules for each of their Knights as free to download, netting you the data sheets for the Acheron, Castigator, Lancer, Magaera, and Styrix.

 

SJ

[Just4uCupCake]

Yes I have my eye on a castigator and a lancer for sure

[nziv]

One great thing for new comers to Knights is that FW has the rules for each of their Knights as free to download, netting you the data sheets for the Acheron, Castigator, Lancer, Magaera, and Styrix.

 

SJ

Question,

My understanding is that the FW knights weren't compatible with 40K Knights, and could only be run as a Horus Heresy force. 

Can you plug a Magaera or Styrix for example into you all knight forece?

[CommodusXIII]

There are rules for all of Forge World's Knights for both 30K and 40K in their Downloads section.  Some, if I remember correctly, are still labeled 'Experimental' for 40K.

 

EDIT:  I take that back.  There are currently no 40K-specific rules for the Styrix published.  You can use the rules in HH IV, but again the mixing of 40K and 30K depends on your meta.

Edited April 27, 2015 by CommodusXIII

[Frater Cornelius]

I too am joining in. I have my Acheron which I ordered a month back (and boy was it a good move), which is currently being assembled and magnetized. Got another unopened box with a regular one and I will get the new box. Three fully magnetized Knights for maximum flexibility.

 

Good start I think :)

 

Might also look into Skitarii and AdMech to support them ;)

[CommodusXIII]

After running Knights solo for the past year, I'm looking forward to seeing what trouble I can cook up by adding the Skitarii.  At the very least, it makes me more flexible for off-point games.  I can actually play in levels other than multiples of 375!

[Frater Cornelius]

Skitarii definitely cover Knights weaknesses well. Onager with Icarus laughs at puny fliers. Arquebus Rangers and Arc Vanguards can open boxes very well so that Knights can take on the content. Those units are relatively cheap and they camp objectives.

Dragoons can add to the offensive pressure. And I am sure AdMech will also have useful shenanigans.