Imperial Knights on Crusade – Develop your pilots and upgrade their Knight

An Imperial Knight isn’t just a nobleman swanning around in a building-sized war machine – it’s a complex symbiotic bond between a chosen pilot and the legacy of those who came before. Anyone who sits in the Throne Mechanicum must be judged and accepted by spectral vestiges of previous warriors.*

In exceptional circumstances, pilots can move to a different Knight chassis – especially when an Armiger pilot distinguishes themself enough to be granted a full size Questoris Knight. The new Crusade rules in Codex: Imperial Knights let you track it all, and will have your legendary pilots embark on perilous Chivalric Quests to earn further advancement.

In addition to the regular way of tracking Imperial Knights units through the Crusade campaign – they can still earn Battle Scars and Crusade Relics as normal – you’ll also create a Pilot Crusade card each time a unit is added to your roster. Naturally, you have to give them a name, something suitably regal, and an alignment that narrows down some of their later choices.

That’s all you need to start out and begin questing. Making and completing sworn oaths is how your pilots grow into the peerless warriors they are destined to be. You can pick one Chivalric Quest at a time, tasking you with accruing tally marks across three battles until your final score is checked and the corresponding number of Chivalric points are awarded. Just don’t earn fewer than four, though, or you’ll be Dishonoured and have to drop everything to regain your integrity.

There are four Chivalric Quests to choose from, each of which rewards you for doing exactly the kinds of things you want to be doing anyway – knocking out vehicles, killing characters, and muscling the enemy out of the midfield. To Raise High the Pennants of Victory even gives you points just for holding objectives, and if you’re not doing that, you kind of deserve the dishonour.

TO RAISE HIGH THE PENNANTS OF VICTORY

Ingrained in all Knights, even those with no household, is the drive to proudly plant their

heraldic blazons upon the ruin of their enemies.

While this Chivalric Quest is active, at the end of each battle, add 1 to its tally for each objective marker you control. For each of those objective markers that is within your opponent’s deployment zone, you gain 1 additional tally mark.

Tally Rewards

4-6: 1

7-10: 2

11+: 3

Chivalric points are spent to advance a pilot's skills through their Mastery, chosen when they get their first point allocated to them. Masteries are unique skills that slowly increase in power as more Chivalric points are added to them. There are eight to choose from,** including Mastery of the Clarion, which extends the range of Bondsman abilities, and Mastery of Tuition, which grants other units on your roster bonus XP after each battle.

MASTERY OF THE CLARION

To convey the voice of one’s liege is a privilege. Such Nobles are adept at relaying commands – suitably couched in imperious authority – to Bondsmen within their lance. Though they may use augmented vox‑arrays or flocks of servo‑troubadours to extend their reach, it is their voice that elicits obedience.

TRUTH’S VOICE

Pilot of a TITANIC unit only. Each time this unit uses its Bondsman ability, it can select

a friendly ARMIGER unit that is within 18" of and visible to this unit.

NUNCIO OF OBLIGATION

Pilot of a TITANIC unit only. Each time this unit uses its Bondsman ability, it can select

a friendly ARMIGEr unit that is within 24" of and visible to this unit.

EMISSARY OF THE COURT

Pilot of a TITANIC unit only. Each time this unit uses its Bondsman ability, it can select

a friendly ARMIGER unit that is anywhere on the battlefield and visible to this unit.

MASTERY OF TUITION

Ancient lore and the martial wisdom reaped from countless battlefields must be harnessed and passed on. A robust lineage only prospers when hard‑won knowledge reaches those who rise in succession.

WISE MENTOR

At the end of each battle, if this unit gains any XP, you can select one other IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit from your Crusade army that survived that battle. The selected unit gains 1XP.

MARTIAL TUTOR

At the end of each battle, if this unit gains any XP, you can select up to two other IMPERIAL KNIGHTS units from your Crusade army that survived that battle. The selected units gain 1 XP.

MASTER‑AT‑ARMS

At the end of each battle, if this unit gains any XP, you can select up to three other IMPERIAL KNIGHTS units from your Crusade army that survived that battle. The selected units gain 1 XP.

On top of all this, you still have the usual suite of Crusade Relics, Requisitions, and Crusade badges to earn, and if you pick the Hand of the Sacristan Requisition, you can even swap out their Knight for a brand new one.

HAND OF THE SACRISTAN 2RP

As the needs of the lance change, a Noble can petition the Sacristans who serve their needs to transplant their

bonded neural interface – whether Throne or Helm –from one suitable steed to another.

Purchase this Requisition when you add a new IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit to your Crusade force. Select one of your pilots with a Level of Honour that is Esteemed or Virtuous (pg 104). That pilot’s assigned IMPERIAL KNIGHTS model becomes vacant, and a model in the new IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit becomes that pilot’s assigned model. If the vacant IMPERIAL KNIGHTS model is an ARMIGER, the new IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit must be an ARMIGER unit, or if your pilot has a Virtuous Level of Honour, the new IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit must be a TITANIC unit. The new IMPERIAL KNIGHTS unit gains 6XP, and gains the Blooded rank.