Knight carapace weapons and suitability

[marvmoogy]

Hi all, 

I'm in the early stages of planning a small knight contingent to my ever-growing ranks of space marines and to give Gerantius a bit of company.  

 

Now, I'm one of those who likes to plan things out before I start spending the rainy day fund and this has got me round to carapace weapons.  Most of the time, the knights will be allies but I plan on being able to field a knight-only army at some point.  That said, I can completely understand taking the Autocannons to offer a little anti-air cover.  Likewise, if I was to take a knight Gallant, I can see the advantage of taking a missile pod of some type to give me a ranged option.  

 

However, I'm curious as to whether the 30 points for the Ironstorm or 40 points for the Stormspear pods are worth it.  Playing an army where points are so easily spent, am I better off putting these to use elsewhere or are they good 'fillers' to get me to the points limit?

 

Finally, what knight variant do you think works well with which carapace weapon and why?

 

Cheers in advance!

Edited May 2, 2016 by marvmoogy

[ElectricPaladin]

I wrote a whole tactica about this, but it's on my other computer. I'll come back and post it later.

 

But the long and the short of it is that your main concern is range, battlefield role, and army composition. Any knight can carry autocannons to give you an anti-air bubble, for example, so the question is what else have you got?

[MoGuy]

I took the S8 AP3 Heavy 3 Rocketlauncher on my Paladin to give him an anti-vehicle weapon. Generally the carapace weapons will either further aid you Knight's battle role (kill vehicles/medium infantry/heavy infantry etc.) or allow him to take on targets that his main gun(s) aren't meant to do. 

 

I also think that the points for those additional weapons are always solid on a Knight since he is a really good weapon platform.

[Spanish_Muffin]

I run a knight household of various knight types, and I've found that the best option for carapace is overwhelmingly, to magnetize.

Now, I'm a pre-planner like yourself. I ask endless questions here on B&C, often about stuff I already know, because I like the feedback to help with my terrible overplanning. 

I also don't like magnetizing and try to do as little of it as possible. I'd rather buy another knight and build them different than magnetize (because then I get to build and paint, which I enjoy, and not magnetize, which I really dislike doing).

However, in my time with knights, the one thing I could never accurately predict was carapace options. I'll magnetize these every time.

Personally, I often run 2 carapace weapons. I like being able to crack open a light transport with the stormspear before I charge it. I like being able to soften a blob of enemies with the ionstorm before I charge it (the lower the models in CC against the knights the better!). I like having another gun to give me yet another charge option when I need it. 

But the biggest reason to magnetize carapace weapons, is simply, because you never know what you'll need in terms of gear and points. 

I often find with a 5 knight army, that I put 2-3 carapace's on stuff, because the leftover 100-110 pts I often have isn't enough to get me anything that could really be helpful. It's not enough for me to ally anything worthwhile in, nor do the Knight relics (even with the exhaulted court) often appeal to me. 

So, in games where I'm playing 3-4 knights, I can leave the carapace off the model and use those pts for allies, and in games where I'm running a full household, I can use the options to fill in the points I have left over.

Often, my list looks like this at 2000;

Atrapos (+Sanctuary) - 450

Warden (+ Ionstorm) - 405
Paladin (+ Stormspear) - 415
Gallant (+ Ravager) - 350

Castigator - 380

 

When I start getting to lower points, the relics and carapace are dropped off for aliies. 

 

You might also check out the guide here for a knight breakdown, along with wargear, options, and (the authors) preference for what gear with what knight;

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/307235-tactica-imperial-knights-blood-angels-and-cult-done/?p=4033402
 

Edited May 2, 2016 by Spanish_Muffin

[shandwen]

From my recent dive into knights my little bit of advice is arm your gallant with the autocannons. After intercepting with it there is nothing stopping you from running.

[Terminus]

The intercepting autocannon Gallant so you can run is an idea, I guess, but I always take the Stormspear.

[Aethyran]

Been interested in getting the Atrapos, does it infact double D a turn? I.e. D shot then subsequent CC also D?

And with the wording also get +1 to "ion shields"?

Edited May 10, 2016 by Aethyran

[Terminus]

Ionic flare shields are described as ion shields in their rules and function the same way, so I don't see why not.

 

And yes, the beam is D followed by lightsaber attacks. The cannon is potentially vortex, which is even better. Muahahahaha! Fear the might of the Omnissiah!