Knight question

[oldmanlee]

Hi all

In the new year I'm thinking of building all knight list my question is

1 are they fun to play with and against

2 are they semi competitive or better

3 can you make a good list based round the little Knights ?

 

Thanks for looking

[Emicus]

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

Recommend taking minimum 1 Mother Goose knight for the extra CP, relic and warlord trait benefirs though.

 

I'm playing 3 helverins and 1 Crusader in 1k points :)

[Vash113]

1. IMO Knights aren't just fun to play, they are the most fun I've ever had wargaming, I love playing as big stompy death machines. I like having only half a dozen models to transport and deploy, having a handful of big, powerful weapons, instead of scores of lasguns, these are all things that make Knights stand out on the tabletop. I also really like playing other Knight armies however there will be opponents who don't like and won't play against Knights, it is particularly unwise to surprise an opponent with Knights, its better to make clear that you play Knights and only play opponents who are ready and willing to take on your list.

2. As for competitiveness well that depends, are mono-knights competitive? Not really. An army of just Knights struggles against hordes and struggles with holding objectives. An opponent with enough bodies can just sit so many obsec troops on objectives that you just can't kill them all and win even if they never put a wound on a Knight. However Knights have been quite potent in the competitive meta in conjunction with other Imperium elements. Loyal 32 Guard batteries have been common though they are being replaced with minimum Guard Brigades for more CP up front now that CP regen has been considerably nerfed. It is still rather common to see House Raven Dominus Knight Castellan's running around using Order of Companions to dish out the damage while whatever they are souped with holds objectives. Commonly Knights are paired with psykers, smash captains, Custodes Jetbikes, or whatever else helps to add bodies, speed, cc and obj-sec to the list.

3. Armigers are quite good, however alone they don't grant you any CP in Knight lances, you need at least one Questoris or Dominus to get 3 CP from a Knight Lance, or three to get 6 CP. If you want to run mainly Armigers then the Preceptor is not a bad option as it grants the Armigers re-rolls to hit of 1, which is not at all bad, even if the Preceptor itself is a little underwhelming. You can also run the Helm Dominus on any Knight, such as a Crusader or Castellan to provide some supporting fire to the lighter and faster Armigers, or even run a Gallant to draw attention and spearhead a wing of Warglaives. Tactically I would also avoid running entirely Armigers, unlike the larger Knights the smaller Armigers cannot fall-back and shoot or charge so an opponent who knows that can fairly easily mitigate the damage potential of Armigers by getting them into combat with something expendable. The chain-sweep attacks on the Warglaives are an improvement that helps them deal with mobs somewhat but Helverins are going to have a much harder time clearing away even light infantry in close combat.