[IK] warlord traits, characters, and relics

[Feral_80]

So just to clarify, can you confirm if I'm doing this right?

 

Let us say I field a lance: this gives me 1 'free' character among one of those knights.

Provided that character is my warlord, he also gets a warlord trait.

Provided I select an IK warlord, that character can also be given a relic (heirloom).

 

 

Then, I can do the following:

 

- pay 1 CP for the Heirlooms stratagem and have 1 other knight become a character AND take an additional relic. Or 3 CP to do this 2x.

 

- pay 1 CP for the Exalted Court stratagem and have 1 other knight become a character AND take an additional warlord trait. Or 3 CP to do this 2x.

 

 

As far as I understand, 2 CPs net me 3 characters, 2 relics, and 2 warlord traits at the end of the day. Ie, for 2 CPs I can have the following in a 3-knight lance, assuming all 3 are 'big' knights:

 

- 1 character (lance) warlord (free base), with a relic (free base) and a trait (free base)

- 1 character with a relic (extras for the Heirlooms strat)

- 1 character with a trait (extras for the Court strat)

 

I am NOT very sure that the following is legal - but I would say it is not:

 

- 1 character (lance) warlord (free base), with a relic (free base) and a trait (free base)

- 1 character with a relic (extras for the Heirlooms strat) AND a trait (Court strat)

- 1 character with nothing else

 

Do you see it this way as well?

[Stray]

Yep, exactly right.

 

Both of your examples are legal, however in the second one, only two of the Knights would be characters.

[DeStinyFiSh]

Second example is legal as well. There is no rule telling you that the character for the heriloom muste be different from the exalted court one.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Yep, exactly right.

 

Both of your examples are legal, however in the second one, only two of the Knights would be characters.

 

 

Second example is legal as well. There is no rule telling you that the character for the heriloom muste be different from the exalted court one.

 

Both of these cannot be true at once, as so far as either only two of the knights are characters or all three knights are characters (you're both in agreement on that the relics and warlord traits can go where they go)

[Stray]

Second example is legal as well. There is no rule telling you that the character for the heriloom muste be different from the exalted court one.

 

Sure, but unless I'm misunderstanding, that's not what is happening here.

 

He has three characters, when he can only have two. You get to make one Knight a character due to the Lance rule, and then any Knight which has either the Exalted Court, or Heirlooms strategy applied to them also becomes a character. As one Knight has had both applied, you only get two characters total. The remaining Knight has not had either strat applied to it, and therefore doesn't gain the character Keyword:

 

'Each model you choose gains the CHARACTER keyword and can have one Heirloom of the Noble Houses'

 

'Each model you choose gains the CHARACTER keyword, and you can choose an Imperial Knights Warlord Trait for them'

 

You can't use your spare character allowance to nominate a different Knight unless that Knight also gets the benefit of the Relic or Trait.

[DeStinyFiSh]

Ah yes, sorry, I missed the charakter keyword on the 3rd Knight without Relic and WLT, my bad !

 

So this

- 1 character (lance) warlord (free base), with a relic (free base) and a trait (free base)

- 1 character with a relic (extras for the Heirlooms strat)

- 1 character with a trait (extras for the Court strat)

is fine.

 

This

- 1 character (lance) warlord (free base), with a relic (free base) and a trait (free base)

- 1 character with a relic (extras for the Heirlooms strat) AND a trait (Court strat)

- 1 character with nothing else

is not.

 

Correct would be this

- 1 character (lance) warlord (free base), with a relic (free base) and a trait (free base)

- 1 character with a relic (extras for the Heirlooms strat) AND a trait (Court strat)

- 1 with nothing else

 

 

Hope this makes sense.

[Feral_80]

Thanks. So, essentially, if I want to concentrate the buffs I must 'give up' one of the characters. Fair enough.

 

I'm in favour of distributing threats anyway (well, as much as I can talk of 'distributing' in a 5-model army), so I'm fine with option 1.

 

Now I only need to find the best knight patterns/relic/trait/household combinations 

[Zogash]

Just a little extra heads-up

 

Provided I select an IK warlord, that character can also be given a relic (heirloom).

 

That is actually not quite correct: you don't have to give your free relic to your warlord, you can give it to any IK character. So if, for example, you have two Super-heavy detachments, you could make the knight you made a character in one of them your warlord, and give the other detachment's character the free relic. It's all up to you.

[Karhedron]

 

Now I only need to find the best knight patterns/relic/trait/household combinations 

 

Probably as many combinations as players. I quite like the look of the following.

 

Warden: House Krast: First Knight (reroll all 1s to-Hit)

AGC (Endless Fury Relic), Stormspear missile pod, Reaper Chainsword

 

Rerolling 1s with Endless Fury is fantastic, you will average 13 hits at full BS and your Stormspears will benefit too. In close combat, you can reroll misses with either your Reaper or your tap-dancing in the first round of combat and reroll 1s in any subsequent rounds (not that there will be many).

 

Although you miss out on defensive upgrades, you have a powerful, flexible Knight that can move up and tackle virtually any target.

[DeStinyFiSh]

Although you miss out on defensive upgrades, you have a powerful, flexible Knight that can move up and tackle virtually any target.

 

 

That is always my issue. You want Ion Bulwark more or less all the time because it is just too good not to take itr. But things like Landstrider, Senechal and others are cool as well.

Maybe I have to switch my thoughts from "I want my Knight as a bullet magnet" to "I want my Knight to kill as much as possible"

[Karhedron]

Maybe I have to switch my thoughts from "I want my Knight as a bullet magnet" to "I want my Knight to kill as much as possible"

It is a tough call but a dead enemy cannot hurt you . You could argue that sometimes the best form of defense is attack.

 

It also depends on what else you are fielding. If you are running a full or mostly Knight army then defensive upgrades are less important as your army's defense consists of having 120+ T8 Wounds behind a 3+/5++. Is you Warlord going to get picked on more than a Gallant ripping through your enemy's lines? If you are just running a baby Lance (Questoris + 2 Armigers) in support of another faction then Ion Bulwark becomes more essential as the big knight will become the #1 target for every anti-tank weapon on the battlefield.

[Heliomanes]

You also have a limited number of traits and relics that contribute meaningfully to a knight's survivability, so if you bring more than one then you have to spread them around and find good complimentary secondaries for them :)

[TURBULENCE]

I settled my relic/trait combos early. They aren't the most optimal but they will be fun. Though I will only be able to use them in my group, if I play a pickup game it's back to Renegade rules.

 

But, I went with house vulker, warlord valiant with the autofail 1/2/3/ trait and the 2+ armour relic. Because I know I'm facing other Knights, so let's make it as hard to kill as possible.

 

And a warden boosted up to have his Gatling Blessed by Sacristans, and given the relic gauntlet.

[Lysere]

My issue with picking traits and relics is I don't want to commit to anything that could be useful on one of several knights. As an example, Blessed by Sacristans is useful on any weapon with a high number of attacks assuming you aren't taking a relic weapon. Normally my Valiant would take the relic flamer but against Tzeentch I'd rather have the 4+ against psychic mortal wounds relic and take Sacristans on the flamer to help get past their invulnerable saves.

 

Lots of great combos though.

[Crazy Jay]

I’m going to jump in for clarification. Am I reading this right based on the FAQ.

 

Super Heavy detachment

 

Atrapos

Warden

Crusader

Warglaive x 2

Warglaive

 

This nets me 9CP. I use the knight lance to make my Warden my warlord, give him endless fury, warlord trait. Then I spend 1 CP for exhaled court to make the Atrapos a character and give him a trait. Then I spend 1cp on the heirloom strat and give the Atrapos sanctuary relic. I then begin turn 1 with 7CP to use for the battle. All this correct?

[Marshal Reinhard]

I shall tentatively dare a yes in response to this.

[Stray]

I’m going to jump in for clarification. Am I reading this right based on the FAQ.

 

Super Heavy detachment

 

Atrapos

Warden

Crusader

Warglaive x 2

Warglaive

 

This nets me 9CP. I use the knight lance to make my Warden my warlord, give him endless fury, warlord trait. Then I spend 1 CP for exhaled court to make the Atrapos a character and give him a trait. Then I spend 1cp on the heirloom strat and give the Atrapos sanctuary relic. I then begin turn 1 with 7CP to use for the battle. All this correct?

 

All correct, but don't give your Atrapos Sanctuary! It already has a native 5++ in melee, so the relic is wasted.

[Crazy Jay]

Your right, I’d missed that