Forgeworld Knight Houses and their best fit in 40k

[Paradigm]

I have been trying to come up with a good approximation for House Orhlacc using the traits in the Knight Codex, and having a bit of trouble. They seem like they are good with melta and flame weapons due to their homeworld's fungal issues, and they have won decorations for valor, but none of the traits really seem to fit well here. They seem to be decidedly not a Mechanicum aligned house during the Heresy, and I don't really see that changing as they seem to be quite powerful with two worlds of their own. 

I'm leaning toward house Griffith simply because it seems fairly generic and I like the trait, though Hawkshroud seems to fit because of the whole Emperor given "Momento Mori" award translating into a sort of, "Hey there dude, remember that you're going to die sometime, maybe. Ok?"

It occurred to me, it might be good to start a thread to discuss what the different FW Knight Houses could use for traits in general after thinking about it.

I'm thinking:

 

House Atrax: House Taranis or Raven

House Hermetika: Taranis

House Orhlacc: Griffith or Hawkshroud

House Makabius: Cadmus

House Malinax: ?
House Vornherr: Terryn?

House Vyronii: Hawkshroud or Mortan

House Ærthegn: Krast or Mortan

Am I forgetting any?

[Charlo]

So I'm using Krast for my Malinax, but that is more of a game perspective with me running a Gallant and two Armiger Warglaives soon. However, they fought in the Rangan Xenocides and would've no doubt encountered some crazy Titanic Xenos in that so there is certainly some merit there. Otherwise Taranis may account for their increased tie to a very powerful Forge World.

[Zamtro]

I'm rolling with Orhlacc and using Hawkshroud rules - They strike me as appropriate (Oath keepers, loyalists, tough as nails coming from Dark Haven)

 

I'm in the process of building 1 of 3 Cerastus knights and might start a WIP thread if people are interested in that kind of thing?

[Stray]

Malinax is hard.

 

As Charlo rightly says, they're a little like a Renegade version of House Taranis in so much as they have deep, deep ties to what might be argued as the Chaos version of Mars.

 

But they're also complete psychopaths. Much of the fluff describes them as being kept at arms length by even other traitor forces who saw them as butchers:

 

'Malinax however did have an entirely deserved reputation as a particularly callous and ruthless Knight House, even in the company of others bound closely to the retinues of the Forge Worlds'.

 

'The armour Itzilnan and its Scion showed little aversion to engaging other soldiers of the Imperium in combat, and is one of a number of Malinax Knights known to have participated in the massacre of the Spire guard remnants at the Airguard Headquarters. Itzilnan is credited with nearly 100 infantry kills in this single engagement, though the accounts of that action paint it as more akin to an execution than a battle. Indeed, it is tales of this and other actions undertaken by the Malinax Scions during the fighting on Prospero that established the bloodthirsty and sinister reputation of these warriors within the ranks of the Imperial Army.'

 

Knight scions typically see combat against infantry as 'un-knightly' in the fluff, preferring to engage more worthy targets. Malinax Scions on the other hand, just seem to find it amusing to turn the field into a slaughterhouse.

 

Krast seems the best fit to me on the Mechanicus side, maybe Mortan or Cadmus if you were running Imperialis rules? 

[Paradigm]

I agree that Krast probably best fits Malinax on the mech side best, I was leaning that way, but didn't feel justified in putting it down. Cadmus might be better, but they are just too mechanicum tied not to give them a proper mech trait. I don't think they align particularly well with Krast, but it certainly fits them better than the others in my opinion. I think Taranis, while reasonable as well, is a harder sell, simply because they point out the even more forge-aligned houses of Atrax and Hermetika.

Hawkshroud might be the best rules for Orhlacc. They just strike me as so hard to place, too. A lot of the other knight houses in the redbooks have reasonable clues to their overall character and it mostly fits. With Orhlacc, they are more pragmatic than dogmatic, but they also fight very hard, and seem to be extremely tenacious, leading to some attributes that are a bit hard to directly align with a 40k House.

The next hardest house for me to place is Vornherr. I'm just not sure here. I think they make sense with Terryn, as a staunchly Ultramar aligned house, that seems most similar to current 40k Knights. However, after Calth, their character seems to change pretty dramatically. I'm not sure if any rules truly represent them well.

 

[Lythronax]

I thought Orhlacc suited Mortan, purely for the 'dark' theme, but as you say they're really hard to place! I guess it depends on what Orhlacc trait you want to emphasise - loyalty, giant fungus monster-hunting etc. Definitely not mechanicum-aligned though!

[Dark_Master]

I was thinking this myself.

 

Orhlacc are difficult to place, I was looking at Terryn as Orhlacc are famous for outflanking with their Cerastus knights, but Hawkshroud fits too with their tenaciousness.

 

Hopefully Forgeworld will bring their own rules out.

 

DM