Knight Conquistador (transport)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I now await the day a LRC gets a vision from the Emperor and goes full Emperor's Champion on something.

Crazy: build a Knight, replacing the entire torso with a land raider, then strap arms to it on sponson sides. Transport Knight!

You asked for it!

 

Knight Conquistador

 

The moment Cadia fell, Iron Warriors Warsmith Kalash rushed to the forge world of Promethean, seeking to avenge the humiliation he suffered in a failed attempt to seize Promethean's Land Raider manufactories during the 10th Black Crusade. The forge world of Poseidon sent House Triton's Knights to aid in Promethean's defense, as did Black Templars Marshal Teller. Learning from his earlier defeat, Kalash used drop pods to deploy Daemon Engines into the loyalists' rear, inflicting heavy casualties; Black Templars strike cruisers quickly destroyed Kalash's battle barge to deny the Iron Warriors reinforcements, but not before the Warsmith seized and then fortified the forge world's main spaceport.

 

Promethean's Magi, House Triton's Sacristans, and Black Templars Techmarines salvaged the wrecks of Knights Gallant- which suffered for their lack of ranged weapons- and Land Raiders to create a transport capable of transporting the Templars over Iron Warriors defenses, allowing Marshal Teller to fight and kill Warsmith Kalash in the spaceport control tower.

 

The Templars named the resulting vehicle the "Knight Conquistador," after pre-Imperial warriors who ventured into the unknown, not only to conquer, but to spread their faith; the Sacristans nicknamed it the "Megapode." It mounts a Land Raider chassis atop a Knight's legs, replaces the las-power generators with a Throne Mechanicum, and relocates the sponson-mounted weapons to the arms. A skull helm- its orbits framing twin-heavy bolter muzzles, its mouth an omniscope- denies the enemy cover and concealment. Two front winches and two side winches allow passengers to disembark via rappelling. Enlarged feet grant all-terrain capability at the expense of speed, compared to other Knight patterns.

 

As it is technically not a Land Raider, the Knight Conquistador's use soon spread to the Adeptus Mechanicus' Skitarii legions.

 

23 power, 435 pts

This is the Knight Gallant's points value, plus two twin-lascannons and one twin-heavy bolters' points value, minus the heavy stubber's points value.

M *, WS *, BS *, S 8, T 8, W 28, A 4, Ld 9, Sv 2+

The number of Wounds is that of a Land Raider's plus half of a Knight's, to account for the latter's arms and legs. I think this is reasonable. Thoughts?

<> Damage

Some of this model's characteristics change as it suffers damage, as shown below:

 

Remaining W 15-28, M 10", WS 3+, BS 3+

 

Remaining W 8-14, M 7", WS 4+, BS 4+

 

Remaining W 1-7, M 5", WS 5+, BS 5+

With the Land Raider chassis weighing it down, I figure this Knight's movement will be reduced by 1/6, the way a Marine's movement will be reduced if he dons Terminator or Gravis armor.

A Knight Conquistador is a single model equipped with a godhammer chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral twin-lascannon), a godhammer gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral twin-lascannon), a twin-heavy bolter, and titanic feet.

 

<> Wargear options

This model may replace its godhammer chainsword with a hurricane chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral hurricane bolter) or a flamestorm chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral flamestorm cannon).

 

This model may replace its godhammer gauntlet with a hurricane gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral hurricane bolter) or a flamestorm gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral flamestorm cannon).

 

<> Abilities

Omniscope (see Centurion Devastator Squad entry in 'Codex: Space Marines')

 

Smoke Launchers (see Land Raider Crusader entry in 'Codex: Space Marines')

 

Frag Assault Launchers

 

Ion Shield (see Knight Gallant entry in 'Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus')

 

Explodes

 

Super-heavy Walker

 

<> Transport

This model can transport 10 <Chapter> Infantry models. Each Jump Pack or Terminator model takes the space of two other models; each Centurion model takes the space of three other models.

The Knight's Throne Mechanicum replaces the Land Raider's lascannon generators, which are now mounted in the Knight's upper arms. Changing the forearm-mounted weapons will not affect the Conquistador's Transport Capacity.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Any thoughts on how to model this? Beyond replacing the Knight's torso with a Land Raider chassis, I thought of using plasticard and/or green stuff to make the skull helm (with heavy bolter muzzles in the eye sockets, the omniscope lens in the mouth) and to enlarge the Knight's feet, so it can stand by itself. Alternative names for the model include "Knight Missionary" (for the Space Marine Chaplain-like skull helm) and "Knight Megapod" (literally "Bigfoot", for... you know).

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I added details to the fluff, which now reads:

Taking advantage of Cadia's fall, the Iron Warriors Warsmith Kalash attacked the forge world of Poseidon. House Triton's Knights stood in the forge world's defense, with Black Templars Marshal Teller's aid, but the Traitors' Daemon Engines inflicted heavy casualties upon the loyalists; this allowed Kalash to establish his headquarters in the forge world's main spaceport, though the Marshal's ships prevented the Iron Warriors from shuttling reinforcements to the planet. Salvaging the wrecks of Knights Gallant- which suffered for their lack of ranged weapons- and Land Raiders, House Triton's Sacristans and the Black Templars Techmarines collaborated to create a transport capable of transporting infantrymen over the Iron Warriors' defenses so they may assault the spaceport control tower, allowing Marshal Teller to fight and kill the Warsmith.

 

The Templars named the resulting vehicle the "Knight Conquistador," after pre-Imperial warriors who ventured into the unknown, not only to conquer, but to spread their faith; the Sacristans nicknamed it the "Megapode." It mounts a Land Raider chassis atop a Knight's legs, replaces the las-power generators with a Throne Mechanicum, and relocates the sponson-mounted weapons to the arms. A skull helm- its orbits framing twin-heavy bolter muzzles, its mouth an omniscope- denies the enemy cover and concealment. Two front winches and two side winches allow passengers to disembark via rappelling. Enlarged feet grant all-terrain capability at the expense of speed, compared to other Knight patterns.

 

As it is not, strictly speaking, a Land Raider, the Knight Conquistador's use soon spread to Poseidon's Skitarii legions and the defenders of other worlds under the Adeptus Mechanicus' influence.

 

"Marshal Teller" is named after Charlie Hunnam's character in 'Sons of Anarchy'. Edited December 7, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I edited the fluff, which now reads:

The moment Cadia fell, Iron Warriors Warsmith Kalash rushed to the forge world of Promethean, seeking to avenge the humiliation he suffered in a failed attempt to seize Promethean's Land Raider manufactories during the 10th Black Crusade. The forge world of Poseidon sent House Triton's Knights to aid in Promethean's defense, as did Black Templars Marshal Teller. Learning from his earlier defeat, Kalash used drop pods to deploy Daemon Engines into the loyalists' rear, inflicting heavy casualties; Black Templars strike cruisers quickly destroyed Kalash's battle barge to deny the Iron Warriors reinforcements, but not before the Warsmith seized and then fortified the forge world's main spaceport.

 

Promethean's Magi, House Triton's Sacristans, and Black Templars Techmarines salvaged the wrecks of Knights Gallant- which suffered for their lack of ranged weapons- and Land Raiders to create a transport capable of transporting the Templars over Iron Warriors defenses, allowing Marshal Teller to fight and kill Warsmith Kalash in the spaceport control tower.

 

The Templars named the resulting vehicle the "Knight Conquistador," after pre-Imperial warriors who ventured into the unknown, not only to conquer, but to spread their faith; the Sacristans nicknamed it the "Megapode." It mounts a Land Raider chassis atop a Knight's legs, replaces the las-power generators with a Throne Mechanicum, and relocates the sponson-mounted weapons to the arms. A skull helm- its orbits framing twin-heavy bolter muzzles, its mouth an omniscope- denies the enemy cover and concealment. Two front winches and two side winches allow passengers to disembark via rappelling. Enlarged feet grant all-terrain capability at the expense of speed, compared to other Knight patterns.

 

As it is technically not a Land Raider, the Knight Conquistador's use soon spread to the Adeptus Mechanicus' Skitarii legions.

The forge world of Promethean is mentioned in my Steel Crusaders Codex supplement. One of its products is a Land Raider variant with an Earthshaker cannon shoehorned into its hull. Edited December 8, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I decided to write rules for the Knight Nereid, a variant to equip the Order of the Trident, my Order Militant of the Adepta Sororitas. (FYI, the Order is actually a unit of female Skitarii. I described them as being "raised on the forge world of Poseidon during the Age of Apostasy, given arms and armor similar to the Brides of the Emperor so they may defend the Mechanicus' interests from Goge Vandire's excesses.") The Knight Nereid bears a Charybdis chainsword and a Charybdis gauntlet, which have integral twin-multi-meltas. (The name chosen because "melta" is an Old Norse verb meaning "to digest," and Charybdis is a big eater.) The Sisters have the option of mounting an Exorcist missile launcher on the Knight Nereid carapace. Edited December 11, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Knight Retiarius/Nereid

 

Techmarine Morrow and Magos Nereus designed a carapace mount for the Knight Conquistador, which sacrifices some transport capacity so the Knight suit may provide covering fire for its passengers. Morrow named the Thunderfire cannon-armed variant "Knight Retiarius," propagating its use among loyalist Space Marine Chapters; Nereus didn't name the Exorcist missile launcher-armed variant, which the female Skitarii of the Order of the Trident named "Knights Nereid" in the Magos' honor.

 

<TBA> power, <TBA> pts

The original "Knight Nereid" lacked a carapace-mounted weapon. I gave it a points value of 440 to account for the twin-multi-meltas' costs, though I admit it's three points lower than it should be. The final points value will be noted when the Sisters of Battle get a new Codex

M *, WS *, BS *, S 8, T 8, W 28, A 4, Ld 9, Sv 2+

 

<> Damage

Some of this model's characteristics change as it suffers damage, as shown below:

 

Remaining W 15-28, M 10", WS 3+, BS 3+

 

Remaining W 8-14, M 7", WS 4+, BS 4+

 

Remaining W 1-7, M 5", WS 5+, BS 5+

 

A Knight Retiarius is a single model equipped with a godhammer chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral twin-lascannon), a godhammer gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral twin-lascannon), a Thunderfire cannon, a twin-heavy bolter, and titanic feet.

 

<> Wargear options

This model may replace its Thunderfire cannon with a Whirlwind castellan launcher, Whirlwind vengeance launcher, or Skyspear missile launcher.

Other options are identical to the Knight Conquistador's.

A Knight Nereid is a single model equipped with a Charybdis chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral twin-multi-melta), a Charybdis gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral twin-multi-melta), an Exorcist missile launcher, a twin-heavy bolter, and titanic feet.

 

<> Wargear options

This model may replace its Charybdis chainsword with a hurricane chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral hurricane bolter) or a flamestorm chainsword (reaper chainsword with integral flamestorm cannon).

 

This model may replace its Charybdis gauntlet with a hurricane gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral hurricane bolter) or a flamestorm gauntlet (thunderstrike gauntlet with integral flamestorm cannon).

 

<> Abilities

Omniscope (see Centurion Devastator Squad entry in 'Codex: Space Marines')

 

Smoke Launchers

 

Frag Assault Launchers (see Land Raider Crusader entry)

 

Ion Shield (see Knight Gallant entry in 'Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus')

 

Explodes

 

Super-heavy Walker

I may replace some of these with references to comparable units in an Adepta Sororitas army, when the Codex is available.

<> Transport

This model can transport 6 <Faction> Infantry models. Each Jump Pack or Terminator model takes the space of two other models; each Centurion or Kataphron heavy battle servitor model takes the space of three other models.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I changed the Knight's twin-lascannon-equipped reaper chainsword and thunderstrike gauntlet's names from "lightstorm" to "godhammer," and made the Knights with carapace-mounted weapons distinct variants.