So Imperial Knights took 6th at a tournament recently

[chapter master 454]

So looking at the Metawatch topic Warhammer Community put up was interesting, mainly because it is fun to see how tournaments are doing and it seems that oddballs love to crop up regularly it seems. Imperial Knights appeared on the list they showed, having taken 6th in the tournament which is quite impressive for such an army. However the one issue I had was the article didn't include his army list, you know, the list for the most interesting thing there in my opinion. So I dug around and found what appears to be the list. I have disentangled it from the mess of a format it was presented as to show it here to discuss. It is an Army of Renown, the new Freeblade Lance from that book of rust.

 

Freeblade Lance (Army of Renown)

Questor Allegiance: Mixed

Stratagems:

 - Exalted Court (-3CP): Two extra warlord traits

 - Heirlooms of the Household (-1CP): One Extra Relic

 - Favoured Knight (-2CP): Extra RELIC on a model that already has one

Legendary Knight: All characters in this deteachment gain this special rule. They Pick 2 qualities and 1 burden.

 

 

Ceratus Knight Lancer (Warlord)

 Character by Knight Lance rule

 Warlord Trait: Land Strider

 Relic: Helm of the Nameless Warrior

 Freeblade Legendary Knight

 - Qualities: Legendary Hero, Sworn to a Quest

 - Burden: Impetous Nature

 

Questoris Knight Magaera

 Hekaton Siege Claw and Twin Rad-Cleanser

 Character by Exalted Court

 Warlord Trait: Echoes from the Past (Cold Fury)

 Relics (Favoured Knight): Armour of Sainted Ion, Banner of Macharius Triumpant

 Freeblade Legendary Knight

 - Qualities: Legendary Hero, Mysterious Guardian

 - Burden: Exiled in Shame

 

Questoris Knight Magaera

 Hekaton Siege Claw and Twin Rad-Cleanser

 Character by Exalted Court

 Warlord Trait: Ion Bulwark

 Freeblade Legendary Knight

 - Qualities: Mysterious Guardian, Sworn to a Quest

 - Burden: Exiled in Shame

 

Knight Moirax Squadron

Knight Moirax

 2 Lightning Locks

 Freeblade

 - Quality: Indomitable

 - Burdens: Exiled in Shame, Haunted by Failure

Knight Moirax

 2 Lightning Locks

 Freeblade

 - Quality: Sworn to a Quest

 - Burden: Random

Knight Moirax

 2 Lightning Locks

 Freeblade

 - Quality: Last of their Line

 - Burdens: Obsessed with Vengeance, Weary Machine Spirit

 

Armiger Warglaive

 Heavy Stubber

 Freeblade

 - Qualtity: Peerless Warrior

 - Burdens: Driven to Slaughter, Impetous Nature

 

 

So that is some list but no surprises, the Magaera is still showing up regularly and showing strong apparently. Got a Lancer in there, not sure how those are doing but he got to 6th so it must of done work. 3 of the Moirax with doubled up Lightning Locks because...well I mean those things look like they can hose entire infantry blocks by themselves, and a cute little armiger warglaive who is geared to just be a jolly little berserker...d'awww look at him run at the enemy with...oh dear emperor ether 16" movement or WS2+? I mean, he is just a warglaive but that is some go juice in that boy.

 

So really the main bread, butter and ham on this army is how did he manage objectives. Well he managed by squeezing in a bunch of ObSec rules via Qualities and one with a relic. Something I do note that I didn't click to was the fact that the restriction on Qualities and Burdens where you can't take copies isn't what I thought it was, you literally just need to take one of each and afterwards you can take as many duplicates as you like which is how he has 3 Sworn to a Quest Qualities. The other bit of magic here is the benefit from the Army of Renown, letting him have Pick 2 qualities and 1 Burden for all his characters (which is all the big boys). Now only the Magaera with the banner gets the better ObSec rule however...when something like a Questor Knight has ObSec of ANY kind, it means it can outright walk up to most units and take the objective, only troops really pose a threat there and...well the Moirax have that covered I would believe.

 

It certainly highlights the importance of ObSec in any army though. Even if you can be outnumbered, ObSec can turn it to your favour and when other ObSec units start arriving then they become a target priority.

Hopefully when knights get their new codex we will see them gain some form of ability to have SOME ObSec...not asking for army wide. Just some means to get access to it. That or a special objective rule where when contesting we count our wounds as how many models we are on the objective.

[INKS]

It's an interesting list. Apparently he came in 4th in a much smaller event not too longer before this. Love seeing Knights on the table and getting some work done. I appreciate you explaining how he was winning as I couldn't quite see it myself.

 

Edit: Now the only issue is getting more affordable Mags.

[chapter master 454]

It's an interesting list. Apparently he came in 4th in a much smaller event not too longer before this. Love seeing Knights on the table and getting some work done. I appreciate you explaining how he was winning as I couldn't quite see it myself.

 

Edit: Now the only issue is getting more affordable Mags.

 

Only issue I find is Forgeworld having them in stock, apparently they are no longer available right now...kind of annoying since they are the new hotness for knights right now

[Lord Lorne Walkier]

interesting that....

 

 

 

<< - Exalted Court (-3CP): Two extra warlord traits>>

 

can be in the same list as 

 

<<Legendary Knight: All characters in this deteachment gain this special rule. They Pick 2 qualities and 1 burden.>>

 

Seems like it is some sort of Exalted Court of Freeblades...  That has to be unintended.

 

 - Heirlooms of the Household (-1CP): One Extra Relic

 - Favoured Knight (-2CP): Extra RELIC on a model that already has one

Legendary Knight: All characters in this deteachment gain this special rule. They Pick 2 qualities and 1 burden.

 

[Xenith]

Tourney results are a little odd, and armies that are actually good can be seen to underperform. I forget where this is discussed, but it came up recently. Things like knights are still a pretty tough match up for many opponents, but there'll always be a paper to the knights scissors - if the IK/CK player gets a bad matchup in round 1, they often go on to play other losers, then simply dominate this loser bracket (in a double elimination). In winners stay on types, the ultimate winner will go something like 5-0, while knights will usually have one bad match and go 4-1, as we see above. They're still super strong, it's just that many of the top players ditched them to play the armies with no weaknesses - the rest is a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

[chapter master 454]

That will be true of a lot of things however, and any result that is an X-1 has to be looked at carefully and considered if that one loss was its first round and thus got to run around loser side or was it later on.

 

However it doesn't stop the fact that knights managed to sneak in and I have noticed they seem to be a bit of a rogue regular in tops. Even saw them when one youtuber was discussing an iron hands list taking a small but still official tournament. That list itself was interesting as it had no ObSec but managed to get a high placing (can't remember if it won or not) which for not having ObSec is impressive, even at a small tournament. Though among the contenders Knights did appear so it shows that people are experimenting with different things.