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Imperial Knight Or Baal Predators?


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Hi everyone, I'm new to this edition of 40k. I played Grey Knights back in 5th, but wanted to change it up for my rejoining the brotherhood. I'm building a 2000 point army. Right now I have three dreads, a full boat of tac marines and scouts and a 15 man jump pack death company squad. I'm planning on making an Imperial Knight to go along with the stuff I have but I was looking for more input from more seasoned Blood Angels players. Should I do that or should I go with Baal preds? The army I have now is heavy on the drop pods, if that makes a difference. 

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Hm. I will comment on your question and totally not recommend a Knight. Nope. No Knights here. Nothing to see here, especially no Knights.

...

Oh, who am I kidding. Of cause you should get a Knight! Do it! Now! biggrin.png

On a more serious note, I would still recommend a Knight, if your gaming group is alright with liberal use of Super Heavies. You see, Predators lack bite, at least in my experience. They may be able to do some damage, but rarely do anything game changing (YMMV). A Drop Pod army should be aggressive to keep the momentum and the pressure going. An Imperial Knight does that better than most units. In fact, very few units will cause the opponent to panic and make wrong decision like a Knight going full tilt towards his lines. Predators simply do not add the required pressure for a Drop Pod army.

I will recommend the Warden. It is a generalist Knight that can melee and shoot very well. Why specifically the Warden? Because the Errant and Paladin have AP2/3 large blasts which can scatter on your own army. The Crusader is too defensive for you. The Gallant is another option. I rate it below the Warden for your army, because SM usually lack ranged bite and the Warden sports a very capable gun and has an option to gets a 3 shot missile launcher on top. However, if you feel like you get more mileage out of a dedicated melee Knight, even though it lacks Alpha Strike, the Gallant is the next best choice.

I would go with the Warden though, simply because it is simpler to use and goes well your army msn-wink.gif

Baals have lost some of their edge in the new codex, particularly now that they compete for Heavy slots. My hunch is that a Knight will serve you better. There is a new kit and codex about to land (may even be out today) which bring a great many more weapon options to the Knight. I would strongly advise magnetizing the kit so you can try different configurations for yourself.

 

My gut feeling is that as BAs are strong on assault, using a shooty Knight in a fire-support role is probably the best option. 2 heavy weapons and a carapace weapon will put out more firepower than just about anything you can get in the BA codex for a similar number of points. Also the Knight is a pretty durable platform and since it is a super-heavy, it ignores those pesky shaken/stunned/weapon destroyed results than can quickly hamper conventional Astartes vehicles.

 

The exact weapon options you chose are up to you and probably depend on the opponent you will be facing. Personally I like Knight Crusader the rapid firing battle cannon and avenger gatling cannon for rapidly taking out light vehicles and big units of infantry up to MEQs (add a carapace weapon to taste). Then let the Blood Angels melt any heavy vehicles with infernus pistols and assault the straggling survivors.

Whelp, that pretty much settles it. Knight it is! I have enough stuff to make him pretty cool and fit in with my army, Transfers and the like will be a great help. I really appreciate the advice guys, I don't know this edition from a hole in the wall and I know next to nothing about the knights except they rock and are expensive.  I think I'll need more spray though. These are big guys and I only have enough spray left for a furioso dread and my drop pods. I'll look at the Warden and Crusader, I surely don't want to hit my own guys. That would prove embarrassing. 

I don't think the answer is that simple. Of course a knight is better than single Baal, no question. However, a knight is also 3x the point cost of a Baal. So...the question is whether a knight is better than three Baal Predators? 

 

I'm not so sure about the new knights, but I've run the Paladin, Errant, and Lancer and would definitely say that, in many lists, one of those knights is not better than three Baal Predators. The predators can fire at different targets, claim multiple objectives, and give cover to multiple units in your army. Also, your opponent can't drop a pod full of haywire or melta and kill all three at once, unlike with a single knight. 

 

So, I guess it comes down to the rest of your army and what slots you have open. Three Baal Predators take three heavy suppot slots, but if you're like me and often light on heavy support, then there is room in your list for the Preds. If your heavy slots are full, then things tip towards the knight.

Valid point. I have no heavy support in the Army at this point. Just lots of Elites. The Preds would move faster, but the Crusader would help me with the fact that I lack AA. Urg. Now I'm back to unsure again. In order to get a crusader I'd have to get rid of my second HQ, and that unit was useful but mainly for fluff. I just found out they got a new Imperial Knights book, and while I'm not adverse to buying another book, the price does add up and the army needs to be ready by Pax Prime. Either way I go I'll have more points to spend on my army. I could always spruce up my tactical marine squad.  This is the list I have so far. I think it's a little under 2000, It's hard to get exact points.

 

Astorath 165

 

C Librarian dreadnought Done 150

psychic pilot 2 25

drop pod 35 july

 

T Tactical Squad  Done 10 Marines 140

veteran sergent 10

drop pod 35 Done

 

T Scout Squad 10 Scouts 110 July

sniper rifles 10

Camo Cloaks 20

Drop Pod 35 july

 

S E Death Company Dreadnought 125 Done

Blood Talons 10

Heavy Flamer 10

drop pod 35

 

Furioso Dreadnought 125 Done

Blood Talons 10

Drop Pod 35

 

S E Death Company Squad (15 Marines) 300  Done  

6 inferno pistols 90

5 plasma pistols 75

Hand Flamer 10

Thunder Hammer 30

Jump Pack 45

 

Knight Errant 370

You sure you want to risk using the Errant with its AP2 pie plate when running a pod-heavy army? I mean, the Errant is a great variant, but this is quite risky if you ask me.

 

Nasty pie plates tend to discourage castling. Letting the Knight deal with a different flank than the pods should be a possibility. 

Maybe a little off topic, but that DC squad has a LOT of shooting weapon upgrades (175 points worth). You may want to consider doing away with all those pistol upgrades and add a power fist instead. Use the points net 150 pts you save to buy a heavy support unit (Baal Predator perhaps).

 

Also, if you're runnning a Baal Strike Force detachment, you may want to consider breaking up your 15 man DC squad to two squads....one of 10 with the power weapons and one of 5 with no upgrades.  

The Death Company are my Gun Bunnies. Sorry to say they've already been built. They will zip around the field while the dreads and the knight/Baals provide heavy support. The Death Company is the heart of my team, protecting the troops from anything from infantry to tanks while they collect objectives. I'm told they were a troop choice in previous editions and I'm sad they changed that. I'd gladly switch out my scouts and then have room for a Baal. I think for starters I'll buy three Baals. I'm already building a Errant for a Space Wolves Army that I'm building for my nephew's use when he comes over. And if the Baals don't work out I'll just use the Errant from that Army while I'm playing anyone else but my nephew. At least until I can afford to buy a Crusader. I really should just hand Games Workshop my pay each month. I spent 140 this month and I'm buying three Baals and a can of spray next month. To top it off I need a new set of dice as my mom's pit just ate them whole. At least she left my templates alone. I forgot how expensive this hobby was. 

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