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Imperial Knights - simple list help


Torg

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OK - looks like I will be getting 3 Imperial Knights on trade shortly - 

 

I've always liked the idea of Knights - but as an Eldar player I have avoided spending any money on them… until now.  I'd like to build a small stand alone force around the 3 knights (not sure on variants as of yet)… but here is the loadout -  3 Imperial Knights (1 thermal cannon/Chainsword, 1 Battle cannon/Chainsword/TL auto cannons, 1 Gatling gun/Gauntlet/missiles).

 

I'd like to build a 2000pt list - stand alone (never planning to upgrade it really)  It needs to be competitive - without being too OTT (lol with 3 knights I know lol).  Thinking "coolness" eye candy force maybe?  Anyhow, I was initially thinking some sort of stoke force - like Grey Knight allied force…. but as I have nothing besides the Imperial Knights at this point I thought I would post this up.

 

What could be a good list - small model count - "coolness" eye candy list.  Perhaps a Dark Angel bike list or mechanicus??  I have no clue at this point.  Just want the basic concepts - so I can look at the costs - vs what I want to paint.  I am thinking this will be a good side project for me to build a quick throw down army.   Must include the 3 Imperial Knights :)

 

-d

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So my lore based Imperial Knight army is pretty fun to play.

 

2 Knight Errants

1 Knight Paladin

 

2 Full units of Skitarri Rangers

 

Depending how you kit the above it gets around 1,500 points and uses both codex specific detachments. From there you can plus up the Skitarri with the crab tanks for more punch and bring it up to 1,850.

 

Is it tournament worthy? I couldn't tell you since I tend to stay away from tourneys like the plague. But I CAN say that it is fun, and low model count. 

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What could be a good list - small model count - "coolness" eye candy list.  Perhaps a Dark Angel bike list or mechanicus??  I have no clue at this point.  Just want the basic concepts - so I can look at the costs - vs what I want to paint.  I am thinking this will be a good side project for me to build a quick throw down army.   Must include the 3 Imperial Knights :)

 

There are essentially three "plans" you can use to pair Imperial Knights with something else in a way that will work. First off, you can use them alongside another aggressive army; this is the simplest of the three and is pretty easy to grasp. Basically, just take other fast, short-ranged (shooty or assault) units to go with them and use the fact that you're throwing a lot of units at the enemy's face quickly to try and overwhelm them. Drop Pods, bikes, anything with Scout, and similar units are what will make this work best.

 

Second, you can do the opposite and pair them up with something that has excellent ranged shooting but very little melee defense, such as Imperial Guard, Inquisition, some types of Space Marines, etc. In this variant the Knights act as a "wall" to keep the enemy away while your other guys do their work unhindered. The support army also serves as a way to score backfield objectives, which Knights otherwise struggle with.

 

Third, you can leverage the Knights' toughness by taking a primarily-mechanized force so your enemy has nothing but vehicles to shoot at. Again, multiple different armies can do this in different ways, but each has their own strengths and weaknesses.

 

In terms of the Knights themselves, the Crusader (minigun) is typically the best of the "standard" Knights, although the others can have their place as well. Adding in the FW variants means that at least some consideration must be given to the Acheron, which has a S7 AP3 Hellstorm weapon (though that may very easily be too much if you are playing more casually) and Castigator (who lacks Str D on its melee, but can double up successful wounds on enemies.) The Thunderstrike Gauntlet, while cool, is actually a significant downgrade from the normal sword and should typically be avoided unless you're willing to live with that penalty (or if you really, REALLY wanna throw a Land Raider.)

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Excellent points - as I just finalized the real I have yet to think to far on this - let alone get the codex. I was right in thinking it would be great to get some starting points. This will be good food for thought.

 

Essentially, I have no imperial or other things to join up with the imperial Knights - so it's a blank canvas for this project as far as allies go.

 

-d

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Excellent points - as I just finalized the real I have yet to think to far on this - let alone get the codex. I was right in thinking it would be great to get some starting points. This will be good food for thought.

 

Essentially, I have no imperial or other things to join up with the imperial Knights - so it's a blank canvas for this project as far as allies go.

 

-d

Can Eldar not ally to Knights?

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The Thunderstrike Gauntlet, while cool, is actually a significant downgrade from the normal sword and should typically be avoided unless you're willing to live with that penalty (or if you really, REALLY wanna throw a Land Raider.)

That said, I have used it to throw someone's Land Raider on top of one of their Predators, and it was frickin' awesome. Well worth the extra hits I took from some Hammernators in the Game before to make that happen :D

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I suppose - but what fun would that be?  I have Eldar armies - I am wanting to build something that is not Eldar related :)

 

-d

Was just double checking. I totally understand the appeal of doing something different from your usual armies.

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In the OP… the way the Knights are kitted out is how they are modeled already - not sure if it would be easy to change that yet.  For giggles - I figure they will remain as they are.

 

-d

Aren't you the guy that reposed his metal Wraithlords to more awesome poses...

 

"Not easy to change their weapons" huh? I think you could do it just fine.

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I have seen the mechanicus sort of set up with the knights - which seems cool.  Also, I like the idea of the Dark Angels with bikes and fast striking force as well.  What about Grey Knights?  drop in quick strike with limited count… I haven't played anything like that before either.  The more I think about the project the more I feel like I need to think out the fluff and background for this incursion force.  Maybe something as a counts as Rouge Trader force. 

 

-d

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I have seen the mechanicus sort of set up with the knights - which seems cool.  Also, I like the idea of the Dark Angels with bikes and fast striking force as well.  What about Grey Knights?  drop in quick strike with limited count… I haven't played anything like that before either.  The more I think about the project the more I feel like I need to think out the fluff and background for this incursion force.  Maybe something as a counts as Rouge Trader force. 

 

-d

Grey knights are a pretty solid pairing if you want anti-psyker support. Most units can deep strike, most contribute warp charges, and they can be quite impressive against certain types of opponents. 

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I own three knights and have been running them as a baronal court with a space marine CAD or formation. One of my favorite lists (though not my winning-est so far ) has been a SM CAD with a command squad deathstar. I have run the marines as Iron Hands with the standard th/shield eternal chaptermaster beatstick on a bike and with a command squad with storm shields/bikes and an apothecary. Mixed in techmarines or librarians for extra wounds. A 4+ FnP on a unit like that is a lot of fun and there is always a chance it will get invisibility if I take a libby. The iron hands techmarine with a servo arm is also super sweet synergy for your knights with a 3+ blessing of the omnissiah. 

 

Anyway, the point is that bikes have been fun to play with knights in my experience so far:) 

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hmmmm I will have to look through some books at the CAD options … I am thinking about a "counts-as" Rogue Trader force - backed up with the Imperial Knights.  I am enticed by the models for the Horus Heresy - and would really like to get a limited amount of them for flavor.  ( I love the jet bike SM stuff- as well as some of the other units.)  I'm not sure if I can have a 3 formation army in 2000 pts… but that will be my focus I think.  Looking at grey knights as well as either space marines for core units and then possibly Inquisition for HQ stuff.  Basically, "rule of cool" as far as models go - then trying to fit them into a mold of a Rogue Trader themed force.  

 

The key to this will be a good rogue trader - HQ figure - and which rules to use for them.  I like the teleporting troops for elite CC - the grey knights fit that role too… it just boils down to getting a unit of jet bikes (counts as space marine bikes) into the mix.  I would like to do this as not an UNBOUND army if possible :).

 

- Back to the codex sifting!

 

-d

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The Inquisitional rules are pretty good for representing a Rogue Trader household; they've got lots of wacky options and can be as cheap or expensive as you're looking for. Mechanicum could also work well, as they have all sorts of goofy wargear to make use of. Marines are probably not going to be as good a fit, since they don't have the "human" statline that the other factions do, but depending on how you flavored (and modeled) it you could probably get away with things.

 

Grey Knights are a solid addition to a Knight detachment; DSing in a bunch of tough guys turn 1 to help back up Knights is a good plan.

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Another point with GK allies is that GK can field entire terminator armies, which if you are running Imperial Knights with battle cannons, will never deny your allied GK armor saves, so you can fire at point blank without much fear of hurting friendlies.

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hmmm I am sorta of thinking about an army I played at WoW a few months ago - in prep for OFCC.  This guy can't be on the boards do to security reasons with the internet  (Facebook or forums such as ORDO).  He is active military - and feels he would be at a high risk (long story I can't get into because I don't know why… lol).

 

Anyhow, It was a marine force - all drop troops (jump packs - etc.) - it was like 6 units - which dropped all over the board (into positions of supporting each other and cover).  My fast army of Eldar had nowhere to hide - and keep its distance.  I always had some unit close enough to be a thorn in my plans.  I had to spend several turns of concentrated fire to clear those damn small squads away… before I could work on the rest of the opponents force.  I also had to worry about clearing these units so I could work on getting objectives that came up on the cards.  - It was pretty frustrating (he said it was an insurgency style or something… and had to do with how our paratroopers were trained in WW2 - invasion tactics).

 

Anyways - I am thinking about either teleporting Grey Knights - or doing something similar with drop troop style marines.  Obviously the marines will be cheaper than the grey knights, and IG would be cheaper still than that.  But I don't want a ton of troops to paint.  I think Grey Knights again may be the best option for this sort of tactic - small but substantial units of experts - hard to remove - hard to ignore.  Locking down objectives - etc.  Hmm thanks again for the ideas guys!

 

-d

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  • 2 weeks later...

hmmm I'm really thinking I may go with Grey Knights as an added force to these - but after adding up all the costs - I am starting to wonder if I should just go with 2 more Imperial Knights and call it good lol.  Anyone run knights as a stand alone 2k force?  I am thinking it will have major issues in the objective claiming game - but could still be fun just for kicks games.  As well as a ready to go Apoc list addition.

 

-d

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If you are thinking of a Deep Striking Support force, has anyone suggested Legion of the Damned  yet? Arguably just as elite as Grey Knights, bring lots of invulnerable saves and Ignores Cover, and could be really cool looking thematically (all flames and bones) with the Legion coming to rescue the Knights.

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