Chivalry is nowhere to be seen in today’s preview of new detachments for Knights of all kinds in 40k.
Games Workshop kicks off the third week of Faction Focus articles with a twofer and a video overview. Both Imperial and Chaos Knights are featured today, each with three new detachments. The article starts with a look at Loyalist Knights, but as they point out in the video, the new detachment system is a boon for all knight players. It’s easy to justify a single Detachment Point use for a model as big as a Knight, even as an allied detachment.
Dominus Foebreakers
This detachment is for your biggest knights, the Dominus-class. Terrain seems like it’s going to be a pretty big part of the new edition, but there’s nowhere to hide from these giants. A simple +1 to hit rolls against targets in a terrain area through saturation fire looks really solid to me. Consider that Knights will typically also enjoy a bonus from the new Plunging Fire rules, and it seems you’ll be able to reliably deal with even dug-in enemy infantry.
They’re already durable, but this enhancement adds a straight-up +1 T. Up to three of your knights could benefit from this, reaching the dizzying heights of 13 Toughness in some cases!
Foebreaker Firestorm is a new, unique stratagem only for this detachment. For 1 CP you can temporarily swap a unit’s BLAST attacks for +1. This neatly circumvents the problem of being unable to fire your BLAST weapons into close combat. Since Dominus-class knights lack dedicated melee weapons this will go a really long way to keeping them on the board even when the enemy gets up close.
Questor Forgepact
Originally released as a free update with the holiday “Grotmas Calendar” this detachment focuses on the close-ties between the Adeptus Mechanicus and Knight Households. The 40k devs have re-envisioned it for 11th edition focusing it more closely on combined arms forces of Knights and Skitarii in specific.
This detachment allows you to bring a complement of up to 500 points of Skitarii and Tech-Priests to screen and tend to your big guys. Supporting Skitarii gain +1 BS and HEAVY while fortified by the presence of a Knight within 6″. Meanwhile, your Tech-Priest can heal a knight for D3 wounds once per command phase. I am an absolute sucker for mixed detachment armies, and if I’m interpreting this right, this detachment could perhaps be added to another force such as Space Marines or Sisters of Battle to make a really thematic army.
A nice little buff for your Tech-Priest, this improves their ability to heal knights by 2, for a total of D3+2. Knights can already take some real punishment so this looks like a strong option for making sure your big guys stay on the table.
I’m also a sucker for armies with abilities that punish their opponents and this looks like a good one. Your opponent finally killed your knight? Good for them, now you can spend 1 CP to mark the unit that did the dirty deed and your supporting Skitarii and Tech Priests can re-roll wound rolls against them for the rest of the game!
Throne-bonded Outriders
A true support detachment, Throne-bonded Outriders buffs the effectiveness of your Armiger chassis in some interesting ways.
If you’re playing effectively, your Armigers will usually benefit from the Bondsman ability of your larger knights. When this is the case they’ll benefit from the IGNORES COVER ability. This is a pretty big deal as Armigers are too small to enjoy the Towering keyword and therefore Plunging Fire. Ignores Cover will really help your Helverins fire effectively even against entrenched enemies.
A nasty little enhancement for your armigers, Ancestral Overbleed turns them into lethally effective screening units for your larger knights. Reducing the command point cost of two reactionary stratagems ensures that your armigers can run interference through counter charges or a punishing hail of fire during your opponent’s turn.
Armiger pilots are the lesser bondsmen of their Knight Household, and their betters are not afraid to remind them of it. This stratagem lets you hold the line for just 1 CP, dropping the battle-shocked status of an Armiger unit on demand.
That’s the last of the Imperial Knight previews but something stirs in the darkness of the Hell-Forges…
Bastions of Tyranny
The forces of Chaos have access to only a single Dominus-class knight, but it’s a good ‘un. The Knight Tyrant is armed to the teeth and this detachment only makes it meaner.
The forces of Chaos love to prey upon the weak, a philosophy at the core of this detachment. Your Knight Tyrants will enjoy +1 to hit against battle-shocked units. This is a nice bonus available both in melee or at range and given all the ways Chaos armies have to potentially inflict battle-shock it seems like it could be a strong choice of detachment.
This looks crazy-good to me. Knight Tyrants are loaded with a ton of weapons that shoot a random number of attacks. If you’re like me you are very capable of rolling a handful of 1s to determine the number of attacks (some would say it’s a skill). Being able to bump those numbers up with a re-roll is going to really increase the reliable effectivness of these giant and expensive units.
This looks like another big “quality of life” improvement. Knight Tyrants have no dedicated melee weapons so being able to disengage via fall-back move without sacrificing their shooting is massive. Your opponent better hope they can destroy your knight in a single turn of combat because it is going to just walk away and unload its arsenal if they don’t.
Hunting Warpack
A chaotic counter to the Armiger detachment above, this detachment leashes your usually independent War Dogs.
Detachment-wide, all of your War Dogs become effective spotters for your bigger Chaos Knights. As we’ve seen in previous Faction Focus articles, the new Hidden rules are a big part of the game now. Many units are going to be difficult to target while dug-in but now your War Dogs can increase the detection range of nearby units. Your bigger knights can capitalize on this, bringing their guns to bear on troops they’d usually be unable to target.
An enhancement just for War Dog Executioners provides a nice little bonus to accuracy. Armed with a pair of War Dog Autocannons, Executioners are likely to be further back on the table and Ignoring Cover will really help bring their firepower to bear.
For 1 CP you can grant a War Dog a little extra resilence in melee with Feel No Pain 5+. Karnivores in particular are likely to be mixing it up in close combat and this could really help keep them on their feet.
Iconoclast Fiefdom
A Chaotic counterpart to the Questor Forgepact, this detachment lets you take Chaos Cultists as cannon fodder to screen your Chaos Knights. Again, I love this kind of really thematic mixed-force detachmentand this is a fun one.
This detachment lets you add up to 500 points of DAMNED models to your army. That’s potentially a lot of cultists to hurl into the jaws of death while your glorious Chaos Knights decimate the enemy. As a bonus, these cultists can re-roll their quesitonable leadership which should help keep them on the field, dying for your greater glory.
Turn up to three of your Chaos Knights into walking blasphemous idols with this interesting enhancement. You’re likely to have a ton of cultists running around screening your knights and getting essentially free use of the Heroic Intervention stratagem seems juicy. Just tying up the enemy with chaff troops could dramatically increase the longevity of your knights.
For 1 Command Point you can trade the lives of your Damned fodder for repairs to your knights. Incredibly thematic this also seems really powerful to me. Sure, your cultists are dropping like flies but who cares when your knights are benefiting from their suffering. Somebody’s gotta make those thirsting gods laugh, right?
That’s it for today but Games Workshop promises to return tomorrow with the next Faction Focus, this time starring the Emperor’s Children!
Will my Armageddon Blood Angels need some Knightly support? Signs point to yes…
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Simon Berman has been a wargamer since 1993 and has worked in the tabletop games industry since 2008 as a staff writer for the first three editions of WARMACHINE and HORDES. These days he’s the General President of the Brush Wielders Union, a worldwide organization of miniatures painters of all skill levels, a freelance games writer who has contributed to a number of roleplaying games like Eclipse Phase, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and The Hammer and the Stake. He runs his own small-press publishing company, Strix Publishing, and paints more miniatures than he can keep track of. Simon lives with his wife in Tacoma, Washington along with a number of cats and a pack of savage wiener dogs.
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