14 replies to this topic

[sneakybamsen]

Hi guys,

I'm going to a tournament in just over a month, and the Dark Angels + friends list I had planned doesn't seem to be able to do what I want it to, so I am considering bringing knights + admech for this. FW units without macro weapons will be allowed for this ETC event. Apart from that it's 2K with max 3 detachments. I have been a fan of running pure knights for a while, but the lure of having some backline objective holders or screen is too good to refuse. Also gives much appreciated CP.

Seems the meta is gravitating more and more towards Taranis, and I am willing to give that a go, even though I am very fond of Krast.

So far I am looking at this:
Taranis Super heavy detachment (+6CP) - (-4 for extra WL trait and relics)
Cerastus Knight Castigator (warlord, Landstrider and Armour of the Sainted Iron) - 430 pts
Crusader with RFBC, Endless Fury and Ion Bulwark - 478 pts
Errant with Fury of Mars, Ironstorm Missile Pod and Reaper Chainsword - 409 pts
Gallant - 352 pts
Warglaive - 162 pts
Stygies VIII Battalion (+5CP)
2 Techpriest Enginseers - 60 pts
3 5 man ranger units with galvanic rifles - 105 pts

What do you think? Choosing the Castigator as WL does save the CP one can expect to get from Monitor Malevolus over the course of a game, if not more. I know it means my WL will also be more likely to award STW, but not having to hide a character thoughout the game, means he can do something else. Also knights benefit hugely from their relics and traits. And who doesn't enjoy the turn 1 charge bomb of a knight? especially a gallant, or if needed, the Castigator (32" average charge with landstrider and full tilt).

Edited by sneakybamsen, 04 May 2019 - 07:39 PM.

[Clingy]

Any particular reason you opted for stygies 8 on so few units?

Imo you should swap that out for Graia for steel mind iron logic stratagem. It gives you a bit of flexibility vs psyker problems.

I won’t add anything useful on your knights but I play Taranis and I can confirm it’s maybe not the jazziest of households but it does put in a shift (mine were painted as such. OG hipster hehe)

Edited by Clingy, 03 May 2019 - 04:55 PM.

[sneakybamsen]

I don't have the admech codex, so I don't know the admech part very well. To begin with, it's for CP. But I heard it mentioned yesterday as well, and changing to graia for that might very well be worth it. Either way, having -1 to hit on them won't matter much, as they are there for maybe screening, but primarily objective grabbing.

[Clingy]

Give it a try sneak

The deny is on a 4+ and you can reroll if you fail so it’s fairly reliable

[sneakybamsen]

I'll give graia a go for the Admech. For the knights I am considering going with either two crusaders, a gallant, the castigator and an assassin of choice, or instead go with Castigator and 3 crusaders. Think it could work?

[Clingy]

Cool. My current competitive list features 3 crusaders so I can’t fault the selection process. ☺️ I haven’t had any experience with a Castigator though but it’s a nice looking model

[sneakybamsen]

They look like this:

 

List 1

Taranis Super heavy detachment (+6CP) - (-4 for extra WL trait and relics)
Cerastus Knight Castigator (warlord, Landstrider and Armour of the Sainted Iron) - 430 pts
Crusader with RFBC, Endless Fury, Ion Bulwark and Ironstorm Missile Pod - 494 pts
Crusader with Fury of Mars and Ironstorm Missile Pod - 468 pts
Gallant - 352 pts
Stygies VIII Battalion (+5CP)
2 Techpriest Enginseers - 60 pts
3 5 man ranger units with galvanic rifles - 105 pts

Assassin of choice - 85 pts

 

List 2

Taranis Super heavy detachment (+6CP) - (-4 for extra WL trait and relics)
Cerastus Knight Castigator (warlord, Blessed by the Sacristans and Armour of the Sainted Iron) - 430 pts
Crusader with RFBC, Endless Fury, Ion Bulwark and Ironstorm Missile Pod - 494 pts
Crusader with Fury of Mars - 452 pts

Crusader with Thermal Cannon - 452 pts
Stygies VIII Battalion (+5CP)
2 Techpriest Enginseers - 60 pts
3 5 man ranger units with galvanic rifles - 105 pts

 

I love the gallant, but often it gets picked on for some reason. I also really like crusaders. But being able to get a Culexus when you need one, and a vindicare when you do not, or even an eversor in a pinch, is a really nice thing, as it can definitely help counter some of the inherent weaknesses of knights. But I also feel a Gallant and the Castigator will end up being alone against most experienced opponents, unless I will not be screening the crusaders with admech. That said two crusaders with thermal cannons might be way too much in a lot of matchups, as thermal cannons are really only good for killing vehicles and monsters. On the other hand though, 52 S6 AP-2 D2 shots do impose some fear...

 

On a side note, one could consider going Krast instead of Taranis, simply because it grants access to headsmans mark and makes the feet of the triple crusader variant a lot scarier.

Edited by sneakybamsen, 06 May 2019 - 12:56 PM.

[sneakybamsen]

I've had more thoughts, as I often do, about this and it seems to me to be even better if I replace the Castigator with a Gallant and bring in an Assassin via stratagem. I will have to paint up my fourth questoris knight or borrow one and culexus + callidus to make it fully functional, though.

 

List 3

Taranis Super heavy detachment (+6CP) - (-2 for extra WL trait and relics)
Knight Gallant - 352 pts
Crusader with RFBC, Endless Fury, Ion Bulwark and Ironstorm Missile Pod - 494 pts
Crusader with Thermal Cannon - 452 pts

Crusader with Thermal Cannon - 452 pts
Stygies VIII Battalion (+5CP)
2 Techpriest Enginseers (one is warlord with Monitor Malevolus, the other has Pater Cog-Tooth) - 60 pts
3 5 man ranger units with galvanic rifles - 105 pts

Operative Requisition Sanctioned - 85 pts (-2CP)

 

This one sits at 2000 on the nose. If the need arises, Gallant can have Landstrider and Armour of the Sainted Iron. One of the Errants can have Fury of Mars for those knight lists or tank/monster heavy lists. This list looses the fast 27w monster with 14 s6 shots the Castigator is, but gains a real melee threat vs other big targets and an assassin of choice, which is a really strong option right now.

[Clingy]

Looks fun. Have you tried Graia yet?

[sneakybamsen]

Unfortunately not, but I'll run 3 games with it next friday to see how it works out. Got a mini event at the club with 7 others.

[Clingy]

It’s a very cheeky addition that could be a real game changer for denying a Jinx/doom etc

[sneakybamsen]

3 game event yesterday saw my last posted list against Sisters + Krast Crusader then Orcs with souped up shocka and smasha guns and finally raven guard + BA marines.

 

Game one quickly became onesided as his 3 exorcists and crusader did nasty things to my knights. After 2 turns I knew I couldn't claw back, but we played on and managed 6 turns with time to spare before it was undeniable: a 20-0 loss on points.

 

Game two was somewhat more even, and I even thought after my second turn, that I'd get a win, but I was to be disappointed. Had his 6 smasha guns done what they should, it would have been nasty. He had so many units I just couldn't stop him from getting away on points, as I quickly lost 2 of my knights to the souped up shocka. Killpoints meant it was only a narrow defeat, however (12-8).

 

Game three my dice just stopped working. First two games they were fine, I had luck slightly on my side, but apparantly they had gotten tired. It meant an aggressor survived two thermal cannons over two turns. An eversor with 5 wounds remaining tanked an avenger gatling, a heavy stubber and a heavy flamer with only taking one damage. His two smash captains took out a knight each, and one of them would have been alive if I hadn't paid the CP to make my knight explode. I probably did deploy too far back, so my opponent again was able to get away on points, but this time killpoints turned things halfway around and we ended up with 22VP each for a draw.

 

All in all I had 3 games against nice opponents, but I felt a bit robbed from game two and onwards. My first event playing knights with more defeats than wins. Assassins didn't do anything. Tried the Callidus in games one and three, but didn't get much benefit. Vindicare in game two who managed to do 0 damage in shooting and died to Kommandos in CC. Admech died all three games unfortunately, so I didn't have enough models on the table at crucial times. Cards become obscenely hard to score when your backliners get killed off.

 

Therefore I decided to revisit the list. Assassin of choice is gone, as the points and CP are just as well spent on knights. Also, thermal cannons are really neat against t8 targets, but didnt do much in any of the games. So to replace the two I decided I would rather not take the Gallant, but instead get my Castigator, as the threat range of one of those is so massive, especially with House Raven. His sword is not great, but if he needs to advance while shooting to full tilt charge into something turn 1, when he and his buddies have cleared any screens in the way of a juicy target, noone does that better. The third crusader becomes a warden with fist. Households now include both Krast and Raven, as I prefer offensive output with knights to durability.

 

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Adeptus Mechanicus) [18 PL, 8CP, 165pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +
Battle-forged CP [3CP]
Detachment CP [5CP]
Forge World Choice
. Forge World: Graia

+ HQ +
Tech-Priest Enginseer [3 PL, 30pts]
Tech-Priest Enginseer [3 PL, 30pts]

+ Troops +
Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 35pts]
. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle
. 4x Skitarii Ranger
Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 35pts]
. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle
. 4x Skitarii Ranger
Skitarii Rangers [4 PL, 35pts]
. Ranger Alpha: Galvanic Rifle
. 4x Skitarii Ranger

++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Imperium - Imperial Knights) [25 PL, 494pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +
Household Choice: Questor Mechanicus
. House Krast

+ Lord of War +
Knight Crusader [25 PL, 494pts]: Character (Exalted Court), Character (Heirloom of the House), Heavy Stubber, Heirloom (Krast): The Headsman's Mark, Ironstorm Missile Pod, Warlord Trait (Krast): First Knight
. Avenger Gatling Cannon w/ Heavy Flamer: Avenger Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer
. Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon w/ Heavy Stubber: Heavy Stubber, Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon

++ Super-Heavy Detachment +6CP (Imperium - Imperial Knights) [73 PL, , 1,335pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Detachment CP [6CP]
Exalted Court [-3CP]: Exalted Court: 2 Extra Warlord Traits
Heirlooms of the Household [-3CP]: Heirlooms of the Household: 2 Extra Heirlooms
Household Choice: Questor Mechanicus
. House Raven

+ Lord of War +
Cerastus Knight-Castigator [25 PL, 430pts]: Castigator Bolt Cannon, Character (Knight Lance), Heirloom: Armour of the Sainted Ion, Tempest Warblade, Warlord, Warlord Trait: Blessed by the Sacristans
Knight Crusader [25 PL, 494pts]: Character (Exalted Court), Character (Heirloom of the House), Heavy Stubber, Heirloom: Endless Fury, Ironstorm Missile Pod, Warlord Trait: Ion Bulwark
. Avenger Gatling Cannon w/ Heavy Flamer: Avenger Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer
. Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon w/ Heavy Stubber: Heavy Stubber, Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon
Knight Warden [23 PL, 411pts]: Heavy Stubber, Thunderstrike gauntlet
. Avenger Gatling Cannon w/ Heavy Flamer: Avenger Gatling Cannon, Heavy Flamer

++ Total: [116 PL, 8CP, 1,994pts] ++

[sneakybamsen]

I'll try to get a writeup done of the tournament in the near future, so you might sift through it, if it could be of interest. I can say though in advance, that it worked out better than I had expected - I am far from one of the best danish 40k players.

 

 

Writeup in the Admech forum: http://www.bolterand...-gt-etc-format/

Edited by sneakybamsen, 12 June 2019 - 01:18 PM.

[jeremy1391]

I’d say your army just suffered new model syndrome

[sneakybamsen]

Well, given it is almost two months ago the tournament took place, you may be right. But unlike some, I think the Castigator got away from the FW knight update fairly well. Flanking speed was never that big for me, it was basically only an incentive to go Raven. I suppose that's the model you are referring to?