Wh40k 10th Edition Imperial Knights Index

[TrawlingCleaner]

STOMP

Edited June 15, 2023 by TrawlingCleaner

[Burni]

The Chaos Knight index is at the end of the PDF. Is that an error? Or something from the Codex?

[ZeroWolf]

9 minutes ago, Burni said:

The Chaos Knight index is at the end of the PDF. Is that an error? Or something from the Codex?

Probably because the in the physical cards, they're lumped together.

[Cactus]

One of the WarCom articles said they will still be separate codexes but have relatively few units so were bundled in a single set of data cards.

[Petitioner's City]

10 minutes ago, Burni said:

The Chaos Knight index is at the end of the PDF. Is that an error? Or something from the Codex?

 

To tempt you to the dark side of course!

 

 

 

 

[Sword Brother Adelard]

These look fun. 

 

Now I just need the FW rules for my remaining knights...

[Fenriwolf]

Nothing that really makes me go "wow" but on the other hand nothing that looks terrible on paper (i'm still not fully convinced they "unnerfed" the Dominus-class enough but they took some steps and a lot will depend on points)  

 

Seems they tried to buff Questoris shooting (more or less, considering general edition changes) to not make them overpriced armiger babysitters , both via weapons and the fact they now self-buff too. Time will tell if it works

Edited June 14, 2023 by Fenriwolf

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Am I missing something, but in a world where you can only fight with one melee weapon in the fight phase, why would I take a Gallant?

[Fenriwolf]

+2A on strikes and +4A/+6A on sweeps for gauntlet/chainsword , +1 to hit and it's the only Questoris with rules that both benefit him in close combat 

 

Might argue if it's enough to give up the big shooting weapon, but it's there

Edited June 14, 2023 by Fenriwolf

[Dried]

7 minutes ago, Sword Brother Adelard said:

Am I missing something, but in a world where you can only fight with one melee weapon in the fight phase, why would I take a Gallant?

Hit on 2+ in CC.
More attacks.
-1 to hit rolls to shoot him.
A unique bondsman ability.

No we just need to see the point values.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Dried

[Fenriwolf]

Also forgot to mention it's the only medium chassis that has not been nerfed to 10" movement (he's still at 12") so he's faster to get in melee too

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Thanks guys. It seems the play is also to pair him with a choppy Armiger to re-roll those charges 

[sairence]

The enhancements look pretty amazing. And the big Knight abilities are seem pretty useful across the board.

[Karhedron]

Bondsman Abilities now apply to the Questoris too! That is a pretty big deal. Every Knight is going to want a squire!

 

The Warden looks particularly tasty. 18 2D shots from the AGC with Devastating Wounds and he has the -1 Damage rule as long as his squire is close by.

 

The Dominus both look nice but are they nice enough to compete with the improved Bondsman abilities?

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Please give Cerastus good rules, please give Cerastus good rules, please give Cerastus good rules.

[Mandragola]

I did a bit of a writeup on these on Goonhammer, if you're interested: https://www.goonhammer.com/the-goonhammer-review-the-10th-edition-imperial-knights-index/

 

The Gallant is in an odd place. 12" move and no advance and charge. It does do massive damage in melee but so do most knights. And I haven't done the maths properly but I think Canis Rex might actually hit harder. It also has a Fist that hits on a 2, with one less attack but sustained hits on a 5+, probably resulting in more hits overall. His shooting isn't great but it's better than a Gallant's.

[Fenriwolf]

18 minutes ago, Mandragola said:

I did a bit of a writeup on these on Goonhammer, if you're interested: https://www.goonhammer.com/the-goonhammer-review-the-10th-edition-imperial-knights-index/

 

You have Tank Shock doing MW on 2+, think that should be a 5+ unless i'm missing something

[Mandragola]

2 hours ago, Fenriwolf said:

 

You have Tank Shock doing MW on 2+, think that should be a 5+ unless i'm missing something

Thanks. That’s weird as I knew that. Sometimes the link between brain and keyboard goes wrong. Updated, anyway. 

[chapter master 454]

-cough- shieldbreakers aren't one use only and if you have 2 you can fire 2 at once now. Not a major thing but just nice to know.

 

They really REALLY want to make anti-air units a thing with how hard they go on the Anti-Fly 2+. Granted it will apply to other things but still...give it up GW...if there was ever a part of the range we wouldn't care about...it would be the anti-air units going the way of the Dodo, not the units we actually like!

[Commissar Yossarian]

49 minutes ago, chapter master 454 said:

They really REALLY want to make anti-air units a thing with how hard they go on the Anti-Fly 2+. Granted it will apply to other things but still...give it up GW...if there was ever a part of the range we wouldn't care about...it would be the anti-air units going the way of the Dodo, not the units we actually like!

The anti-fly 2+ is going to make them super useful into things like Eldar of all flavours as well as winged deamon princes, flying bugs etc.

 

Into some meta/builds it could make them a hard counter actually...

 

Also, as an aside it's a bit of a shame that the Paladin probably won't see any play. The Crusader is just a much better platform for the RFBC and Errant/Warden is better for a multi-purpose brawler. The points will be really interesting through. I can see a list wanting 3 questoris and 4 armiger without hesitation, but I would be a bit surprised if that fits into 2k points.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Commissar Yossarian

[sairence]

3 big 4 small fit in the 9th codex and going by the preview games with other armies, points costs have gone down rather than up.

[Mandragola]

1 hour ago, Commissar Yossarian said:

The anti-fly 2+ is going to make them super useful into things like Eldar of all flavours as well as winged deamon princes, flying bugs etc.

 

Into some meta/builds it could make them a hard counter actually...

 

Also, as an aside it's a bit of a shame that the Paladin probably won't see any play. The Crusader is just a much better platform for the RFBC and Errant/Warden is better for a multi-purpose brawler. The points will be really interesting through. I can see a list wanting 3 questoris and 4 armiger without hesitation, but I would be a bit surprised if that fits into 2k points.

 

Realistically you aren't going to have enough Anti-Fly to be a hard counter to things, but clearly it has its uses. I think Questoris knights will want either a Stormspear or Icarus on them. Maybe ironstorm to get rid of people hiding... but then Knights can now see through a lot of stuff so that might not be such a big deal.

 

I think Imperial Knights will be a powerful faction in 10th, at least based on these indexes. Frankly the indexes as a whole don't seem that balanced. Eldar are a major outlier on the top but Knights might be somewhere not too far below them. Being able to see a lot of the battlefield thanks to the new towering rules and having a lot of seriously powerful guns will go a long way. Nobody wants to go second against Knights, I think, even Eldar. And once they get a 5+ FNP they'll be pretty tough as well. 

 

We won't really know power levels till points are revealed but I do like how the army seems to work. I'm a big fan of the bondsman mechanic, in particular.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I think for me, the best things about this is each knight having a special rule unique to its chassis, it makes so much sense!

[Commissar Yossarian]

@sairence Good to know. Haven't put a list together for them in a few years. They just seem strong vs most of what else has been shown so I assumed they would be limited more so.

 

@Mandragola Agreed that its not enough to single handedly turn off a skew list, but 2 Helverins into a target with the strategy should be enough to end any non-titanic flyer out there. And it's not like the other big guns are bad at killing flyers too, just the 2+ flex makes the little ones more dangerous that they have a right to be against many things.

 

Points will tell, but Knights really do seem powerful, and able to bully many of the index factions.

[Lord_Ikka]

I've got some thoughts, but I'm pretty happy with the overall index, GW did a good job of condensing and refining the somewhat bookkeeper-heavy 9th ed codex into a form that still feels very similar but with some nice updates and twists.

 

Army Rule

Code Chivalric is good, it gives you two decent options to buff your army. Lay Low The Tyrants is a very simple, concrete buff that helps increase firepower without relying on CP re-rolls, while Reclaim The Realm makes Knights more mobile. The deeds required to get to Honoured are similarly "easy" to accomplish, with LLTT possibly being harder depending on the enemy's Warlord/strategy for the game and Reclaim being easier to get quickly if the enemy chooses to hide their leader. I do think LLTT needs clarification, as it can cause confusion due to whether or not you are re-rolling every single roll of 1, or simply one to Hit and one to Wound roll of 1 (not going to go into it here, but it does need to be very clearly distinct to avoid any issues). 

 

Detachment Rule

One of the better former Noble House rules, the 6+ FNP will keep your Knights nice and healthy far longer than they should. Even better will be if you manage to accomplish your deed and get the 5+. Not much to say as it is an extremely good benefit, and as a House Taranis player for most of 9th, I can vouch that it is very much worthwhile.

 

Enhancements

A decent slate of upgrades. Two of the three (Mythic Hero and Unyielding Paragon) are Questoris only, with Mythic Hero giving you the ability to have two Armigers under a single Questoris Knight's Bondsman ability (pretty much an auto-include if you are taking more than 3 Armigers), and Unyielding Paragon giving Armor of Contempt to make your Knight a little tougher to kill. Mysterious Guardian allows you to remove your Knight from the field at the end of the enemy's and then deepstrike it in your following Movement phase, Revered Knight buffs surrounding models' Leadership, and Banner of Macharius Triumphant gives sticky objectives to the Knight it is on. Most of these are pretty useful, and depending on cost I can see lists running 2 or 3 pretty regularly. My top two picks would be Mythic Hero and probably Mysterious Guardian, as the first has a very clear use/benefit and I think Mysterious Guardian might make for some fun shenanigans. The only one I'm not really sold on is the Banner; while it may be useful I don't think relying on sticky objectives is really the way to go for Knights.

 

Strats

Six decent strats, some of which will be familiar to Knights players already. Rotate Ion Shields is back, this time notably not costing more CP for a Questoris/Dominus chassis to use, and Thunderstomp has returned in a slightly lesser form (just giving Devastating Wounds instead of straight mortals on a hit, but at least there is no negative to Hit incurred). Of the others, Shoulder the Burden is expensive at 2CP but takes the place of Machine Spirit Resurgent in offsetting the negative to Hit modifier of being "bracketed" while also giving some nice additional bonuses to M/T/Ld/Sv/OC. It could also be useful to pop off on an only slightly damaged Knight and help them survive a run to complete the Reclaim the Land Deed, thus allowing you to use the strat a second time. Valiant Last Stand, Trophy Claim, and Squires' Duty are all going to be useful, so Knights came out pretty great in the strat department. 

 

Armigers

 

Helverins - Your ranged squires are going to be pretty much exactly the same as what they were before- good anti-heavy infantry and anti-light vehicle killers. Their autocannons lose the variable shots for a guaranteed amount, which for me is a net positive, while remaining 3 damage to chip off damage to vehicles and take out heavy infantry models on a single failed save. The loss of AP for the shots is alright given that AP in general has gone down a bit, so right now Helverins stay in their same place in Knights lists; very useful for staying in the backfield and launching fire downrange (the anti-Fly is just a bonus, but might help vs armies like Aeldari and Tau).

 

Warglaives - These also stay similar to what they were in 9th, they are your objective grabbers and provide a lot of anti-tank firepower with their thermal spears. In melee I see Warglaives becoming much better vs hordes with the Sustained Hits 1 on the charge helping out, while being slightly worse against mirror-match T10 than they used to be (wounding on 4+ rather than 3+ like they were doing in 9th due to the chain-cleaver not going up in Strength relative to Armiger Toughness). Doesn't mean that they will be bad in melee vs tougher opponents, just that wounding them is slightly harder than it was earlier. Still think that they will be a mainstay of most lists, with between 4 and 7 being a good number depending on points. 

 

Questoris

 

Paladin - In my opinion the Paladin will replace the Errant as the "default" big Knight of choice. The RFBC got a great glow-up, now having a more consistent amount of shots and doubling those shots in 36" range, which is a trivial range for Knights to reach. The Bondsman ability of the Paladin seems lacking at first, only giving Lance and Lethal Hits, but Lance gives Warglaives back their 3+ to Wound vs T10+ and Lethal Hits is just a decent buff to have on anything. The personal ability, Seasoned Noble, is very powerful- with once per phase re-roll of Hit/Wound/Saving Throw you wind up relying on CP-costing Command Re-rolls to squeeze out that needed save or wound re-roll. 

 

Errant - The other default Knight of 9th edition, the Errant came out a little less useful in the index compared to its 9th ed version in my opinion. It is still a nasty anti-anything shooter with the thermal cannon, but its Bondsman ability of re-rolling Advance rolls/giving out Assault is less useful than the Advance and Charge it had previously. It still very much has a place in lists, especially with players used to running House Raven and loving the Advancing/Shooting combo, but I'm just not as convinced that it is as good. The Aggressive Assault ability also falters a little in that it may be difficult to get the +1 to Hit on units you truly want to use your thermal cannon on. Still good, just not as good as it was.

 

Gallant - Never a staple of lists, the Gallant is what you use when you want to throw a berserk Knight at your enemy's frontline while your other units maneuver to line up shots and take objectives. Its heavy amount of attacks, good WS, and Bondsman/chassis abilities take full advantage of this; re-rolling Charges and to Hit (making it hitting on 2s, re-rolling 1s) for the Bondsman ability that will also be useful for Warglaives, and making it harder to hit in melee with a -1 to Hit. If it is cheap enough, I can see Gallants taking the place of a couple of Armigers as a big distraction/melee monster.

 

Warden - Probably the biggest change from 9th in terms of Questoris, the Warden is now a viable choice to have in a list. The avenger gatling cannon puts out a massive salvo of 18 S6 -2AP d2 shots designed to just vaporize SM squads, while its Bondsman ability gives out the -1 damage buff that all Bondsman abilities had previously. Now, we need a FAQ on whether or not the -1 damage just playing up ignores 1d weapons, but right now RAW it does- so your Warden and his little buddy will be immune to small arms fire. The Warden's Thin Their Ranks ability that gives ranged shots Devastating Wounds as long as you aren't shooting Monsters/Vehicles just doubles-down on its use as an infantry killer. Dependent on a FAQ, this might be the best change for a chassis in the index.

 

Crusader - Your all-around shooting monster, the Crusader has not changed from its 9th ed incarnation. It still has a Bondsman ability that buffs ranged attacks, though this time a flat to Hit bonus rather than a BS bonus, and if you don't move it you get Sustained Hits 1 on the Knight's guns. So pretty much the same, but with the changes to both the RFBC and the gatling cannon, the Crusader becomes quite a bit deadlier. It has always been the most expensive Questoris chassis to field, and I doubt this will change, but it will definitely see some play.

 

Preceptor - The Preceptor is...ok. Losing out on the Mentor/Knightly Teachings took away a lot of its utility and it has now become a Leadership-buffing Knight. Giving out =1 LD and +2 OC through its Bondsman abilities is decent, but I don't think that it is good enough to really beat out some of the other Questoris. The las-impulsor weapon is again, ok, but not as good as a gatling cannon or thermal cannon in either of its shot types. The ability to designate a unit at the start of the game and re-roll all Hits against it is also decent, though it just doesn't feel as powerful as you want it. For me, the Preceptor is just a Knight. Not great, not terrible, probably very useful against Chaos Knights' Leadership tricks, but just average all around. I'm not going to do a segment on the Canis Rex, but if you have a Preceptor model (that you didn't magnetize) just use the Canis Rex. It has better chances to hit with its weapons and more useful abilities in general.

 

Dominus

 

Castellan - The Castellan got some help with the index. You now no longer will lose more than 3 Wounds from over-charging its plasma decimator, and shieldbreaker missils are now really, really deadly to other Titanic stuff- especially since the Castellan re-rolls damage rolls of 1 vs Monster/Vehicles. Clearly designed to fight against other Knights, the Castellan (and the Valiant) actually give out a buff to Armigers now, as the former Ion Aegis strat is now just a 6" aura that gives the Benefit of Cover. Not quite as good as a Bondsman ability, but not nearly as bad as 9th when they gave out no benefits. 

 

Valiant - Valiant weapons all got a good boost. The harpoon now does 12 of mortal wounds to Monster/Vehicles on a 4+, and the conflagration cannon ignores cover and will be an excellent weapon to use on Overwatch (especially with the 18" range). Plus, you can make one enemy unit take a Battle-shock test after you hit it, a nice little bonus. I don't think we'll see a ton of Valiants at the top tables, but it and its cousin the Castellan are now legitimately options for Knights players to test out and use. 

 

 

I'm genuinely excited for the Imperial Knights in 10th. I do want to see what will show up with the FW Knights, but right now almost all Questoris Knights are useful and even the Dominus aren't hurting Knights players for bringing them like they were in 9th (losing 1/2 possible Bondsman damage reduction really hurt synergy). I can see multiple styles of lists opening up, from the former standards of 1 Questoris/9 Armigers or 2/7 to using 3 big Knights and only 3/4 Armigers or even just 4 big Knights- due to obsec no longer being a thing and Questoris/Dominus being able to both weather and dish out a lot of damage to units contesting an objective. There really isn't a bad unit in the index, and even those units (Preceptor) that are less than the others should pull their weight on the battlefield. Its a good time to be a Knight player!