Knight Worlds are insular domains that stick to their ancestral teachings and the faded trappings of chivalry, and so their battle plans tend to involve lots stomping forwards and swinging chainswords, and not much else. Luckily, the upcoming Codex: Imperial Knights is much more imaginative than your average feudal lord and contains four markedly different Detachments to test your mettle.
You’ll still be swearing Oaths on the Code Chivalric, but these are a good bit more flexible this time – letting you choose the Deed and the Quality separately.* You also get an extra option for each, and if you randomly determine your Oath, you get the full three Command point reward when it’s fulfilled.
Deed D6
We vow to lay low the tyrant…
At the start of the battle, select one Character model in your opponent’s army. This Deed is completed at the end of a turn if that Character is destroyed.
We swear to reclaim the realm…
This deed is completed at the end of your opponent’s turn if you control more objective markers than your opponent.
We pledge to reap a great tally…
This deed is completed at the end of a turn if the number of destroyed enemy units is greater than the battle round number even if those units are subsequently returned to the battlefield (for example, two destroyed enemy units in the first battle round).
Quality D6
…with our martial valour risen over all.
Each time this model is selected to shoot or fight, you can re‑roll one Hit roll and you can re‑roll one Wound roll.
…and we are eager for the challenge.
Add 2” to this model’s Move characteristic and add 1 to Advance and Charge rolls made for this model.
…yet shall our legacy be unsullied.
Improve this model’s Objective Control characteristic by 2 and its Leadership characteristic by 1.
If fulfilling those Oaths sounds like a right lark, you’ll love the Questoris Companions Detachment, which lets you do it over and again throughout a game. Normal Imperial Knights armies are content to call it a day after one Oath, but your Heroes of Legend will swear another one on the spot and add its bonuses to the pile.
DETACHMENT RULE
HEROES OF LEGEND
To those who quest for honour – in service to their liege, to avenge atrocities, to wipe clean the stain of disfavour – there can be no end. The Imperium’s foes are legion, an endless horde from which more arise. As one quest ends, another always begins.
At the start of your turn, if your current Oath is fulfilled, determine an additional Oath as described on pg 74, with the exception that you cannot select a Deed or Quality you have already selected (if you are randomly selecting the Deed and/or Quality and roll any result that you have already selected, select a Deed or Quality you have not already selected instead). If you cannot determine an additional Oath because you have already selected each Deed and each Quality, do not determine an additional Oath.
The Qualities from Oaths you have fulfilled continue to apply to all models in your army with the Code Chivalric ability. When the Deed for an additional Oath is completed, you instead gain 1CP, regardless of how you selected the Deed or Quality.
This constant push to renew their Oaths is reflected in the Enhancements, and each offers a powerful one-use ability that’s restored whenever you successfully fulfil one of your Deeds. Giving a Knight Gallant with the Pennant of Silvered Fury Sustained Hits 2 on its 18-attack sweep profile – which already has Lethal Hits – is guaranteed to cause carnage, while a good blast of the war horn makes everyone around the Herald of Triumph quake with fear.
ENHANCEMENT
HERALD OF TRIUMPH
This Noble’s arrogant challenges herald a feat of victory, a promise of death that blares from their suit’s emitters.
IMPERIAL KNIGHTS model only. When the bearer ends a Charge move, it can use this Enhancement. If it does, this Enhancement is expended, then each enemy unit within Engagement Range of the bearer must take a Battle‑shock test, subtracting 1 from the result.
ENHANCEMENT
PENNANT OF SILVERED FURY
This circuit‑etched pennant marks a slayer of hordes and is linked to a glowing electoo beneath the pilot’s skin.
IMPERIAL KNIGHTS model only. When the bearer is selected to fight, it can use this Enhancement. If it does, this Enhancement is expended, then until the end of the phase, melee weapons equipped by the bearer have the [SUSTAINED HITS 2] ability.
The Stratagems are all about charging your Knights deep into the enemy’s ranks. Hero’s Tread lets you leave an objective unattended, safe in the knowledge that the odd sneaky character or small unit won’t wrest it away in your absence. Opponents won’t even be able to gum up your gears by throwing hordes of disposable wretches in your way, as Moment of Glory and Unstoppable Warrior let you surge on through their lines whether you wipe out your foe or not.
HERO’S TREAD
QUESTORIS COMPANIONS – EPIC DEED STRATAGEM
It is said that unalloyed heroism can purge the foulest dishonour, that the very footsteps of those of noblest purity are enough to sanctify their path.
WHEN: End of your Command phase.
TARGET: One IMPERIAL KNIGHTS TITANIC model from your army that is within range of an objective marker you control.
EFFECT: Your Level of Control over that objective marker is 5 (unless it would otherwise be higher),
until your opponent’s Level of Control over that objective marker is greater than yours at the end of a phase.
MOMENT OF GLORY
QUESTORIS COMPANIONS – EPIC DEED STRATAGEM
Veteran pilots waste no more time exalting their victory than the Code Chivalric demands before
powering back into the fray with the long strides of the selflessly determined warrior Noble.
WHEN: Fight phase, just before an IMPERIAL KNIGHTS TITANIC unit from your army Consolidates.
TARGET: That IMPERIAL KNIGHTS TITANIC unit.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time your unit Consolidates, models in it can move an additional 3" provided your unit can end that move within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
UNSTOPPABLE WARRIOR
QUESTORIS COMPANIONS – EPIC DEED STRATAGEM
Death is a distant priority when heroism’s favour awaits. A breath to seize a new perspective, a new angle at which to tilt towards the foe, permits only a brief reprieve for the enemy of a true warrior.
WHEN: Your Movement phase, just after an Imperial Knights Titanic unit from your army Falls Back.
TARGET: That Imperial Knights Titanic unit.
EFFECT: Until the end of the turn, your unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge in a turn in which it Fell Back.
Not all Knights are impetuous questors, however, and some are content to tenaciously defend their sovereign territory like true guardians of the weak and vulnerable. These Dauntless Defenders – mustered as a Gate Warden Lance Detachment – draw a literal line in the sand and stand firm on their foundations, blasting anyone who comes near with a hellacious hail of firepower.
DETACHMENT RULE
DAUNTLESS DEFENDERS
With a rigid, strategic intuition born of the unyielding fortifications defended by their ancestors, the Nobles of a Gate Warden Lance hold their ground with an arrogant superiority. While even one defends the marches of their claimed realm, they will fight to the ends of their honour to hurl back the besiegers.
At the start of the first battle round, select two objective markers on the battlefield to be your foundations. When you draw a line from any part of one of your foundations to the other, if any part of a model’s base (or any part of a model’s hull, for a model without a base) crosses that line, that model’s unit is said to be on your defensive line.
While an IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit from your army is on your defensive line, that unit has the following ability:
Against the Horde: Each time a model in this unit makes an attack that targets a visible enemy unit, you can ignore any or all modifiers to the Hit roll, and weapons equipped by models in this unit have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability.
Each time one of your foundations is removed from the battlefield (e.g. by a Primary Mission rule), just after it is removed, select a new objective marker on the battlefield to be one of your foundations.
Three of their four Enhancements kick in when your Knights stand on this defensive line, the Acquisitor-at-arms pumping up their attendant Armigers’ Objective Control characteristic. The other two improve your close combat and ranged attacks respectively, but our personal favourite is Vengeful Tread, because slamming a Knight into the enemy for a pile of mortal wounds is always the correct course of action.
ENHANCEMENT
ACQUISITOR‑AT‑ARMS
This stern Noble serves their household by seizing territories and domains deemed the property of their lord. They are a grim and fearsome agent who inspires their charges with an unwillingness to relent.
IMPERIAL KNIGHTS model only. While the bearer is on your defensive line and there are no enemy units on your defensive line, add the bearer’s Objective Control characteristic to that of each model affected by the bearer’s Bondsman ability.
ENHANCEMENT
VENGEFUL TREAD
The punitive anger of this pilot towards those who dare defile their realm is terrifying to behold. War horns blaring, they barge and trample forward, crushing their lessers in a terminal lesson of humility.
IMPERIAL KNIGHTS model only. Once per turn, youncan target the bearer with the Tank Shock Stratagem for 0CP.
As you might expect, the Stratagems let you weather attacks and boot out interlopers like a champ, with Lancebreaker blunting all those big guns that just happen to materialise whenever an Imperial Knights army is knocking about. If anyone does manage to make it up close, a one-two punch of Drive Them Out! and Titanic Bombardment ensures you’ll paint your defensive line a fetching shade of crimson.**
LANCEBREAKER
GATE WARDEN LANCE – STRATEGIC PLOY STRATAGEM
With a command, experienced Nobles can lock huge actuators into position, bring reserve power cells into wakefulness and shunt extra shielding into place to make their Knightly steed a bastion of defiance.
WHEN: Fight phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets.
TARGET: One IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the
attacking unit’s attacks and is on your defensive line.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time an attack targets your unit, if the Strength characteristic of that attack is greater than the Toughness characteristic of your unit, subtract 1 from the Wound roll.
DRIVE THEM OUT!
GATE WARDEN LANCE – BATTLE TACTIC STRATAGEM
Drawing upon their indignant fury at a repugnant incursion into their realm, Nobles pilot their Knight
suits in an aggressive purgation of the breach.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase or the Fight phase.
TARGET: One Imperial Knights unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot or fight
this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit makes an attack that targets an
enemy unit on your defensive line, an unmodified Hit roll of 5+ scores a Critical Hit.
TITANIC BOMBARDMENT
GATE WARDEN LANCE – BATTLE TACTIC STRATAGEM
Like an imperious artillery captain atop their gatehouse, the Noble directs a deluge of apocalyptic firepower into the enemy’s seething tides.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase.
TARGET: One IMPERIAL KNIGHTS TITANIC unit from your army that Remained Stationary this turn, that
is on your defensive line and that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, ranged weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [SUSTAINED HITS 2] ability.
Beyond these, you also have the Valourstrike Lance Detachment, which borrows a lot of the old Noble Lance but swaps the army-wide Feel No Pain that all of your opponents loved for Advance re-rolls and the Assault rule on guns when Advancing. Armiger fans can instead fill the battlefield with noble squires in the Spearhead-at-Arms Detachment, giving the diminutive Knights Battleline and letting your Bondsman abilities affect up to three models instead of just one.
We’ll be back soon with a look at how your Imperial Knights will be doing in Crusade campaigns, which involve a very cool system where your pilots improve over time and can move into different Knights independently of their datasheet. Codex: Imperial Knights is up for pre-order this weekend.
* You even get to pick which Character is the ‘tyrant’ you’re targeting, rather than sticking to the Warlord.
** Put it on a Knight Crusader with an avenger gatling cannon and a rapid-fire battle cannon to start chucking Ork levels of dice.
