So we are all aware that the new Knights are out and that
their codex is a normal one and is not a lord of war slot etc... So I guess the
question is, “do knights have any place on the tournament scene”. I'm going to go through the pros and cons of this...
The Knights
So there are 2 types of Knight both very similar but with
different weapon load outs.
Let’s take a look at their basic rules first though. They
are super heavy walkers (move 12”) with AV 13 front, with 6 hp’s this means you
have to strip them all before it explodes and you can’t do any weapon destroyed
or immobilised results to it. They have stomp attacks in combat, and a 4++ save
that can be facing in one direction only. They have basic marine stats and 3
attacks.
Reasons for: THEY LOOK AWESOME...they are
not as hard to kill as a lot of the stuff in escalation, 2 drop poding melta
guns could put one of these things down, but it would mean people need to start
bringing a bit more dedicated anti-tank again. They can get pinned in combat by
a horde and it would take them a while to break through.
Reasons against: 2 main reasons, firstly the
stomp rule, this rule could be done much better if it didn’t just wipe out a
model on a 6 and the knights don’t look like they could stomp on a wraith
knight which it can and would kill it outright on a 6. The second reason is
that it explodes as all super heavies do which is an apocalyptic blast that can
be strength D in the middle this effectively means if you are a combat army you
run a massive risk killing one of these let alone 3.
Weapon options
They both come with a strength D ap2
combat weapon (no drama yet please). In terms of shooting one has a rapid fire
battle cannon (2 shot battle cannon), one has a melta cannon S9 ap1 melta 36”
range large blast, and a heavy stubber or 2.
Reasons for: No ability to kill flyers and
the weapon options they have in terms of shooting can be negated by taking time
to deploy and spread out effectively. D weapon only usable in combat means it
still has to get there and a fearless horde just wouldn’t care. People would
have to think before running combat deathstars.
Reasons against: D weapon in combat makes it
hard to run an elite combat army against it as due to D weapon, stomp and the
explosion you could lose you combat unit by beating it even.
Points cost
They are 370+ points each so quite an investment but probably worth it as a primary so they can score.
Reasons for: They are very expensive with
you able to buy 2 riptides for around the cost of one of these.
Reasons against: you can still bring 3 of these
for 1100 pts and they could be scoring, allowing a lot of flex for allies to
buff them up.
Using the Knights in games
They can be taken as a primary detachment of between 3-6
knights with one as the warlord and all scoring. They can also be taken as an ally
but using their own slot a bit like inquisition can but with 1-3 knights and
they aren’t scoring.
Reasons for: It would be awesome to see a
knight household on the board at your local tournament, great for painters and
for people who enjoy playing fun games.
Reasons against: Having these scoring could
make it very difficult for people to take objectives with the fact that they
are so hard to kill and if they do die they make take your scoring unit with
them. This combined with the fact GW purposefully
made it so vehicles couldn’t score or deny in 6th Ed.
Summary
YES...I feel that they are useable in tournaments and
would love to see people running knight houses. I even don’t mind the D weapon
and stomp (though they may need a little FAQ by TO’s to clarify wound
allocation etc). The D weapon has to get in combat to use and that means
getting into melta range and potentially missing a charge etc and leaving you
in a bad position.
The one thing that worries me is the explosion
(this seems like its best weapon and defence), as it rules out units killing it
in combat or in melta range. I think if it just exploded as a normal tank or
with s6 or something it would be ok.
The student nationals wargaming and role-playing tournie has just banned them, then again they banned escalation and the av15/sd stuff in stronghold... Honestly I'm happy they aren't being there, there are a number of rules issues with them we know GW won't FAQ.....
ReplyDeleteI think this will be the same as escalation, only at dedicated events and GW events myself.
As a standard codex release how can they be banned? If TO's go down that route why are they any different to say a farsight bomb or jet seer council?
ReplyDeleteIt is much like banning Stronghold Assault, but then using the building rules from it, (which are far better than Main rulebook so that is good). Really with that book all you need to ban are the 2 Strong points (with D weapons and AV15) and maybe void shields. The rest of the book is fine, but it often gets tarred with the Escalation brush and both get banned. Just my opinion, perhaps I am not aware of everything that book effects also.
ReplyDeleteFun, fluffy, reasonably, costed, the embodiment of 40k Grimdark, the Melee D weapon gives all the 2++ re-rollable death stars out there something to think about, and they can somewhat wrestle with wave serpents (at least they can survive the waveserpent alpha strike). What's not to like?
ReplyDeleteEven fighting three to four of them they can be tied up and are not denial units (they also die horribly to haywire witches). I would be happy to face four of these rather than serpent spam any day. Not to mention their movement get's reduced to 3d6" pick the highest whenever they touch terrain. They have a hard time getting cover, and their shield only protects one side meaning you can split your army and force some difficult choices onto the knight player, hitting side armour and without shield protection.
I really don't see why people are having such a knee jerk reaction to them.