War horns blare amid crackling warp storms and twisted flocks of pterrorshades amassing on the sickly horizon. Yes, the Chaos Knights Army Box is making its implacable advance, and the Noble pilots of the Imperial Knight Houses are twitching with righteous fury – both factions will be getting their new codex soon.
How can any warrior hope to take down a baleful machine bearing the Favour of the Dark Gods, you ask? The only way to fight such beasts is through steel and honour. To that end, the new Codex: Imperial Knights helps these valiant pilots draw upon the Code Chivalric, a stringent set of martial codes they follow during battle.
For a true scion of a Knight world, victory only matters if the code is upheld – even against the treacherous Dread Households. If every unit in your army has the IMPERIAL KNIGHTS keyword,* and they’re all from the same Household (or FREEBLADES, who come and go as they please), then when building your army you must swear two different Oaths, chosen from a pool of four.
Each Oath comes in four parts: a Pledge, a Troth, and two Chivalric abilities.
Fulfil your Pledges, and you’ll earn Honour points throughout the battle. You begin with one point, giving you access to Honoured abilities, but work your way up to five (or six) points and your Knights will gain powerful Virtuous abilities as their chivalry shines through.
Guard your virtue carefully, though. If you fail in your duties, you may commit a Troth and lose precious Honour points – even becoming Dishonoured and dropping your Chivalric abilities entirely.
So what sort of Oaths can you swear? Take Refuse No Challenge as an example. This Oath is all about getting stuck in – you Pledge to destroy two or more enemy units with melee attacks each battle round. However, if you Fall Back from combat like a craven, the Troth condition is activated and you lose an Honour point.
Honourable armies with this Oath can use Noble Display, an Honoured ability which adds 1 to each hit roll your Knights make for melee attacks if they charged, are charged, or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn. It’s perfect for putting down a rabid War Dog Karnivore in close combat.
Once you’ve revved up those upgraded chainblades to cut through a swathe of foes, you’ll qualify for the Oath’s Virtuous ability. Mighty Display lets you re-roll Advance and charge rolls, ensuring you’re not stranded after stomping on your enemies – and making it all the more likely your Noble scions will end up in close quarters, where they belong.
Not every Oath requires you to kill the enemy – Imperial Knights are the shield of the Imperium, sworn since ancient times to defend those unable to fend for themselves. After all, if the peasants all get eaten by hungry aliens, who’ll till the fields for you?
Those who take an Oath to Defend the Realm must secure the Imperium’s territories, and so Pledge to control more objectives than the enemy. Conversely, the Troth kicks in if you cede an objective, costing you an Honour point if you end the turn with fewer objectives than you started it with.
This Oath is ideal for armies that pack in Armigers to surge forward and take objectives before the enemy can mobilise. The Honoured ability here is Duty and Wisdom, which gives you an extra Command point in each of your Command phases, to fuel your powerful Stratagems.
Safeguard your objectives long enough, and you’ll activate Duty and Honour – a Virtuous ability that makes you even harder to dislodge by giving your whole army Objective Secured. Models that already have that ability, such as Armigers, count as three extra models when determining control.
The two remaining Oaths, Protect Those in Need and Lay Low the Tyrants, offer your Noble pilots even more codes and rules to which to adhere – and their own tasty bonuses for living up to the Code Chivalric. and come with their own tasty bonuses.
The new Codex: Imperial Knights also includes plenty of other ways to gain and exploit your Honour points – across both matched play games and Crusade campaigns. How virtuous and pure of heart is your Household?
That’s not it for all things big and stompy. There are more rules previews on the way for Knights of both shiny and spiny varieties, as these two ancient enemies prepare for the tourney to end all tourneys.
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* Excluding AGENTS OF THE IMPERIUM or UNALIGNED units – even Inquisitors know not to get in the way of a massive war machine.