Tactica: Imperial Knights (Blood Angels and Cult done)

[alexj89]

you can easily found it online, btw ...! :D

[78zrider]

Yeah he seems so good and I haven't seen him mentioned.

 

Green knight

Pali

Warden

 

Baronial court formation

Edited June 26, 2015 by 78zrider

[Lucien Eilam]

I'm not convinced you can put Gerantius in the Baronial Court.

 

In any case, he's very expensive and you can get most of what he does, with more flexibility, on a Baronial Court Baron with Mark of the Omnissiah for around 100 points less.

[CommodusXIII]

The only reason to take Gerrantius anymore is to sneak in a second Knight with It Will Not Die.  I'm not sure that that's worth the cost, or makes up for his other drawbacks.  Gerrantius was a force of nature with the old Codex and it's a testament to the second printing that he's been so heavily outdated.

[Lord Ragnarok]

What do you folks think about the Magaera knight from Forgeworld?

Also with the new Sm dread rules (squadrons and 4 base attacks) are they viable additions to a IK army?

Edited June 26, 2015 by Lord Ragnarok

[Frater Cornelius]

The Dreads would wreck the IK, but die likely die as well. However, the IK is fast enough to avoid melee with them and disable them via ranged combat.

[Lord Ragnarok]

Immersturm I meant added as allies ;).

[Frater Cornelius]

Immersturm I meant added as allies ;).

Yeah, I need to edit that stuff some time soon.

[Vel'Cona]

The biggest issue I think going forward with C:SM and upcoming C:DA for IK allies is the pure points investment to play GSF or LBSF; for 1500-1850 point lists, those detachments are just such a huge investment that trying to fit an IK in there is unrealistic.  That said, I think RW with IK are going to be a MASSIVE combo, especially since they cover each other's weaknesses so well.  What do you guys think?

[jeffersonian000]

Nothing in the IK codex fixes the issues with the Magaera, it's still the terrible Knight.

 

SJ

[Lord Ragnarok]

Has anybody thought about allying the inquisition forces? I was thinking about Cocteaz, three chimera born acolyte/monkey squads and two FW Valks In fast attack with las cannon upgrades.

[CommodusXIII]

I used to ally in Inquisition all the time to fill out the points gaps between the Knights.  Gun/combat servitors, an Ordo Xeno Inquisitor with a conversion beamer (tech priest), plenty of priests with eviscerators, and I was on the verge of getting a truckload of arco-flagellants as well.  Lately my Skitarii have been filling this role, though, so I haven't fleshed it out any further.

[Frater Cornelius]

Blood Angels

Blood Angels are an interesting army to analyze. They are the mid-point between SW melee and SM shooting. This makes this section both very easy and very hard to write. Easy because I can just point at the SW and SM and say 'Do that.' and hard because finding a unique niche for them is rather difficult because of that. Not hard enough to stop me from doing it though.

 

The first setup is what I like to call the high mobility setup. It focuses on an aggressive combination of Jump Packs and Bikes. Jump Pack units in the BA Codex apply very good pressure and sport good durability. Your premier unit here would be the Death Company. Around two units of ten with two Fists each is a good start. These guys will advance together with the Knights and intercept units that might damage them.

As fast-moving support you want to look at Bikes. While I generally advice against MSU bikes, here they work because they are not the main part of your list. Two Grav for three Bikes per unit, take three of those.

Lastly, there are the fast Vehicles. I recommend fast Auto/Las Predators, TriLas if you have the points. They keep with the theme and provide solid AV13 objective campers and your anti-tank fire.

For Troops, just take two minimal units of Scouts to camp objectives. They are cheap and full your mandatory slots. You can even take the Flesh Tearer Strike Force as it only requires one Troop choice.

 

The second variant that works well with BA is Drop Pod Assault. While they lack the re-rolls of their SM brethren, the BA can still offer a solid impact. Their Tactical Squads have access to a Heavy Flamer, which is very good to remove cover campers, something IK have some problems with. It is also the only Heavy Weapon in the game that can be fired at full strength on arrival (yes, even Grav Cannons must wait a turn to get full 5 shots off). Give them Melta, Combi-Melta and Heavy Flamer, Combat Squad them and you have a very solid unit that is capable of shooting and assaulting.

The next unit of interest is the Assault Squad, or RAS as BA players call them. They are the only Assault Marine variant that can take 2 Meltas per 5 man. You can stick them in a Drop Pod with 2 meltas and either a Combi-Melta or two Inferno Pistols on the Sergeants and fry tanks on arrival.

Lastly, there is the Furioso with Frag Launcher. Another solid cover killers and very tough dis dislodge with his AV13.

This build can score objectives very well and open enemy transports, but once landed, it suffers from low mobility and thus unable to respond to shifts on the table. Plan accordingly. If you position yourself right, you can counter the enemy mobility by having a presence everywhere it matters.

 

The last build I want to mention is the MSU Razorspam. BA are arguably the best ones for that build, seeing as they can upgrade every Razorback to be fast for 10pts. This means they can make full use of the LasPlas variant.

Saturate the board with Tacs and RAS riding LasPlas Razors, give them Meltas and Heavy Flamer and go to town. Very straight forward and effective. You are able to grab objective at will without losing your firepower. Once all of your guys disembark, you will have excellent staying power and models that are sufficiently cheap and numerous to distract from the Imperial Knights. If they are ignored and the opponent focuses on the Knights, you still have enough firepower to clear objectives and win the game regardless.

 

What all these builds have in common is very good unit saturation, good transport busting capabilites and excellent mobility (less so with Drop Pods unless you plan ahead and land accordingly). Capitalize on that and play the objective game first and the killing game second (or both at the same time, your mobility allows it). Overall, one of the better choices for Imperial Knights.

 

Strengths:

• Able to do MSU, Alpha Strike and Melee builds

• Generally good durability

• Excellent mobility and good saturation

 

Weaknesses:

• Their variety means they are master of none (inferior to SW in assault and inferior to SM in shooting)

 

Recommended units:

• Death Company

• Fragioso

• Tactical Marines or Scouts (depending on build)

• Assault Marines

• Bikes

• Predators

• Razorbacks

 

Example lists:

(working on it)

 

http://i.imgur.com/ifppoFs.png

Back to the top

 

Alternative version (credit goes to Kilofix):

You can also run a BA-flavoured version of the March of the Ancients. You have access to a HQ Dreadnought, the magical kind, Cassor the Damned, a DC Dread, as a Troops choice and plenty of Elite slots for the Furioso Dreadnought. To fill out those slots and run more than three Dread you can convert Scouts to look like sevitors and use Tech Marines on Bikes as well. That way you have the scoring power, some mobile repairs and plenty of metal boxes out for blood. Alternatively, if you want to skip the Scouts, you can run the Flesh Tearers Strike Force for a pure Dreadnought Detachment. Just make sure to buy a Fast Attack Drop Pod for one of the Dreads so that you have your mandatory choices covered.

While mostly fluffy, the inclusion of cover-camping Scouts and pretty decent AV13 Dread, this list can perform quite well. Do not expect to win against a cutthroat competitive list, but with a bit of effort you can do quite well, if you get your positioning and facing right.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Immersturm

[Kilofix]

Also, there's the 'fluffy robot' allied BA list which consists of:

 

HQ:

Techmarine or Librarian Dread

 

Troop:

Cassor the Damned (Death Company Dread from Deathstorm)

 

Elites:

Another Dread

 

 

That way you can have all Knights, Dreads and Techmarines. Not the most competitive but fluffy.

 

Edit - forgot to say if you want even more BA Dreads, run the Flesh Tearers Detachment with:

Libby Dread, Cassor, 3 x Furiosos. You'll also need at least one Drop Pod for one of the Dreads to fulfill the FA slot.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Kilofix

[DevineKnight]

I think I missed something in the codex/ BRB I thought because because they were vehicles they couldn't be tied up in melee combat? 

 

Also trying for a balanced against all comers list without forgeworld models. At 1500 pts any suggestions?

[Frater Cornelius]

Also, there's the 'fluffy robot' allied BA list which consists of:

 

HQ:

Techmarine or Librarian Dread

 

Troop:

Cassor the Damned (Death Company Dread from Deathstorm)

 

Elites:

Another Dread

 

 

That way you can have all Knights, Dreads and Techmarines. Not the most competitive but fluffy.

Good find. I will add it ;)

[jeffersonian000]

A good 1500pt build is 3 Wardens, an Errant, and a Gallant, which gives you room to add upgrades.

 

SJ

[Urauloth]

Very useful stuff in this thread, great work. Are you going to cover Chaos Knights when you expand into FW stuff, or just the Imperial ones?

[Vel'Cona]

Eh.  I know Chaos players are all excited to get a legit Knight, but I hope they won't waste money on that awful FW conversion model and just make their own IK conversions.  That thing looks TERRIBLE.

[Frater Cornelius]

I will talk about them when I get around doing the Forge World models. They will get an extra section though, to decrease risk of contamination :D

 

However, right now this guide is put on hold due to exams. Once it is done I will have plenty of time.

[DeStinyFiSh]

Why is this not pinned to the top of the forum ? Very nice stuff in here, kind of sad to search for it every time

[disease]

threadomancy because its too good to die

[Frater Cornelius]

This reminds me, still work to do here.

[alexj89]

hi guys :D Reading the SW alliance part, im wondering to do something like my IK ( 3 of them ) + SW ... but not the usual thunderwolf/wolf lord. but the one with the CC dreadnought instead... how do you do a list like it ? im reaaally in trouble thinking how i can make it work 

[Frater Cornelius]

hi guys :D Reading the SW alliance part, im wondering to do something like my IK ( 3 of them ) + SW ... but not the usual thunderwolf/wolf lord. but the one with the CC dreadnought instead... how do you do a list like it ? im reaaally in trouble thinking how i can make it work

Technically, you can take Bjoern as a HQ in a Pod in the Champions of Fenris Detachment and then stock up on Dreads in Pods until your points run out. Not a high end competitive list, but no slouch either. Someone tried it over on the SW forum and had great success with it a while back.