Warhammer 40,000 Faction Focus: Imperial and Chaos Knights

The Faction Focus series continues with another two-for-one special, finding out what three new detachments each for the Imperial Knights and Chaos Knights will do. 

Imperial Knights

Once upon a time, Imperial and Chaos Knights weren’t so different, but they’ve since diverged into their own distinct factions with wildly different rules and play styles. Let’s start our rundown with the Imperial side.

Dominus Foebreakers

As the wielders of some of the most impressive weapons in the Imperial Knights’ armouries, Dominus-class Knights such as the Knight Castellan are a true force of nature that can rip gaping holes in enemy armies. Their weapons are so powerful that the protection of ruins and tree lines turns against their targets, as explosive blasts resound off the walls and annihilate anyone caught in the maelstrom.

It’s no coincidence that the Rain of Devastation rule neatly counteracts the Ballistic Skill penalty for firing into cover, and with many of the Dominus Knights’ best weapons, such as the thundercoil harpoon, having a low shot count, this boost ensures those shots aren’t wasted. It also stacks with the Ballistic Skill increase* from Plunging Fire, which now applies to a TOWERING unit like an Imperial Knight when they’re within 12” of their target.

Such an impressive war machine is already an absolute bastion on legs, but we can make it even tougher with the Blessed Plate stratagem. With many popular anti-tank weapons like lascannons being Strength 12, increasing a Dominus Knight’s Toughness to 13 is a massive improvement. Even their own insanely powerful, Strength 24 thundercoil harpoon will now only wound on a 3+!

Since both the Knight Castellan and the Knight Valiant have no real melee weapons to speak of – resorting to stomping their giant feet and hoping for the best – it’s vital that they can still use their guns while engaged. Most of the ones you’d want to use have the Blast ability, so they couldn’t be fired at the chattel around your feet, but the Foebreaker Firestorm stratagem cuts through that by stripping Blast from them and bumping up the number of shots they make to compensate.

Questor Forgepact

Originally part of the Grotmas Calendar detachment release, the Questor Forgepact shakes up Imperial Knights armies by allowing a small group of Adeptus Mechanicus units to march alongside them. This new update gives a fresh look at the co-operation between Knights and Skitarii, starting with an aura that provides a two-tiered boost to the bonded infantry’s accuracy.

Assisted Targeting effectively returns part of the Skitarii’s Protector Imperative rule to the unit despite being outside their faction. As the Heavy rule increases the Hit roll, it stacks with the Ballistic Skill boost to make Rangers and Vanguard hit on a 2+ whenever they move 3” or less – especially useful when you take the squad’s Omnispex wargear so all their weapons have Ignores Cover too. 

The ability to heal lost wounds also moves from the Knights to the Tech-Priests, allowing a specialised Magos Questoris Enhancement to further increase the number of wounds they can repair.

So what do zealous tech-worshippers do when one of the divine idols that walk in their midst is struck down by vile heretics? They get really mad, of course, and stop at nothing to wreak destruction upon the poor fool who thought they could spit in the Omnissiah’s eye and avoid the Vengeance of the Machine Cult.

Throne-bonded Outriders

We can’t ignore the little guys, though, and the (relatively) diminutive Armigers get their own time in the spotlight with the Throne-bonded Outriders detachment. Unlike the existing Spearhead-at-Arms detachment that puts Armigers in a more front-line role, this one focuses on their ability to support Questoris Knights with harassing fire and to protect them from incoming attacks.

The detachment rule is quite straightforward. Since your Armigers will often be under the effects of your Bondsman abilities anyway, it allows their shots to punch right into cover, so that their lack of the Towering keyword – and Plunging Fire rule – doesn’t affect their accuracy. Armiger Helverins will especially love how it doesn’t need them to be close to the enemy, and they can sit back at long range as usual.

While they’re nearby, Armigers can also interdict enemy forces looking to take a crack at your big Knights, whether it’s by blanketing onrushing enemies in Overwatch fire or leaping to their lord’s defence with one of the two Heroic Intervention options.**

Of course, you can’t entirely rely on Armiger pilots to hold their ground when times are tough – they’re only the rabble, after all. It’s a good thing that total compliance is beyond their ability to refuse, and a quick sting of the Neural Lash is enough to bring a panicking pilot back in line.

Chaos Knights

For all that Imperial Knights are noble and chivalrous, the Chaos Knights are villainous and cruel. They get a major boost in this edition now that it’s harder to shake off battle-shock,*** and they’re taking real advantage of it.

Bastions of Tyranny

We’ve seen what Dominus-class Knights can do for the Imperials, but they’re really devastating on the Chaos side too, though they’re condensed down into a single datasheet – the Knight Tyrant. Like many daemonically infused Knights, it’s especially effective when attacking battle-shocked units, whether they’re in harpoon range or on the other side of the battlefield.

With the Harbingers of Dread abilities worsening Leadership and forcing battle-shock tests for nearby injured enemy units, Annihilate the Unworthy works particularly well at close range, where you’ll also get the benefit of Plunging Fire. 

Now, these accuracy boosts don’t mean much for the huge darkflame cannon, which has Torrent, but you can get something even better – the ability to re-roll the number of attacks it makes with the Hate-filled Dominion enhancement. In fact, every possible weapon besides the twin meltagun and gheiststrike missile launcher has a random amount of attacks, so you’ll get massive value from the enhancement no matter how you equip your Tyrant.

They still don’t have much to do in close combat besides kick people, though, so getting them back into a good firing position is vital when the real melee specialists close in. Lock in your Pitiless Focus and nonchalantly stroll away – you’re a Chaos Knight, who cares about chivalrous combat anyway?

Hunting Warpack

Unleashing roving packs of barely-controlled War Dogs is a time-honoured Chaos Knights tradition, though they’re usually left to their own devices as the corrupted pilots act like their namesake beasts. The Hunting Warpack brings them under a bit more control, so you can flush out enemies for a long-range bombardment from your larger Knights.

Most variants of the War Dog chassis want to be up nice and close anyway, so Scenting Fear is a nice ability to slot into a list alongside other detachments that cost 1 or 2 DP, whether you have a couple of War Dogs or a crowd of them.

Some of the individual patterns also get their own boosts, like the Snarling Rivalry enhancement that can be applied specifically to War Dog Executioners. This variant packs a pair of long-range War Dog autocannons and tends to support from afar, so being able to Ignore Cover helps keep their accuracy up.

You may prefer to throw your hounds into close combat, though, especially if you bring a Karnivore or three to the party. War Dogs are so addled by the need for constant bloodshed that they will frequently ignore grievous damage, pushing through mounting wounds on their metallic chassis so they can kill to the last drop of blood.

Iconoclast Fiefdom

Where Imperial Knights enlist the aid of skilled and disciplined Skitarii, Chaos Knights instead attract a throng of baying rabble that surges around their feet, chanting prayers to the Dark Gods. Having hordes of human chaff to delegate objective-holding to is immensely useful for such singularly powerful machines, as they no longer have to divert their attention away from all-out slaughter.

No Chaos Knight is expecting their Wretched Thralls to do more than simply exist in a place that’s advantageous to them, so making sure they get there fast and – more importantly – stay there is priority number one. Re-rolling leadership tests keeps battle-shock at bay so they don’t lose their all-important OC while camping on objectives, while the Iconoclast Idol aura ensures the wretches rush to defend their lord against foes who stray too close.

Sure, they might be small and weedy and practically impossible to keep alive, but if nothing else, mobs of Cultists are useful material for Dark Sacrifices. Using their life force to heal your important Knights is the most value you’ll ever get from the unwashed masses, and let’s be honest, one of the better outcomes a Chaos thrall could expect in the 41st Millennium.

All of these detachments, on both sides of the aisle, can be taken alongside many of their existing options to create some really specialised army compositions when you combine 1- and 2-point detachments. As very low model count armies, Imperial and Chaos Knights get more than any other faction from using an entire Detachment Point on a single powerful unit, so the flexible army building system lets you really focus on your favourite Knights. 

There are still plenty of factions to cover, so we’re back tomorrow with another Faction Focus starring the flashiest Chaos Space Marines of them all – the devilishly stylish Emperor’s Children.

* The maximum bonus or penalty to your Hit roll is still capped at +/-1, but changes to Ballistic Skill get around this as the target number is changing, not the roll. It’s the same as in the current edition, don’t worry!

** We covered the changes to Heroic Intervention in the Space Marines Faction Focus.

*** Now you have to pass a Leadership test in your Command phase to remove battle-shock, it doesn’t just go away like before.