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Warhammer 40,000 Faction Focus: Imperial Knights

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The 41st Millennium is a dangerous place, so wouldn’t you rather experience it from the safety of a giant walking war machine the size of a house? If the answer is yes,* the Imperial Knights have a seat with your name on it, and a dataslate full of smashing new rules to coax your honourable side out.

Bigger is better, and Knights are the biggest.

Overview

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You know where you stand with the Imperial Knights – big, stompy walkers with world-shaking weapons and enough armour to cover a tank regiment. However, in contrast to their traitor cousins, Imperial Knights are all about working together, with Questoris Knights shepherding smaller Armigers to success through improved Bondsman abilities, while larger Dominus Knights grant them the protection of their wider ion shields.

The all-round increase in vehicle durability has paid dividends for Imperial Knights, who can sit on objectives all day with huge OC characteristics and fewer penalties once damaged. 

Faction Rules

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As well as their massive weapons, Imperial Knights are known for their unflagging duty and honour. All knights follow a stringent set of rules known as the Code Chivalric, which governs notions of fair play and bravery, even in the nightmare conflicts of the Era Indomitus. 

An Oath chosen before battle is joined provides both a powerful, persistent ability and an associated Deed to complete. Success grants a sizeable bounty of all-important Command points to spend, as well as interacting with many other Imperial Knights rules and Stratagems.

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The Noble Lance Detachment makes extra use of Honoured status by improving the Feel No Pain rule it imparts, rising to a fantastic 5+.

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Unit Spotlight

Armigers are the closest thing Imperial Knights have to line troops, and a much-welcome upgrade to Toughness accompanies a generous Objective Control characteristic of 8, making sure they can hold ground just as well as other armies – at least, once a few foes have met their fate at the end of a reaper chain-cleaver.

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The legend of the Chainbreaker continues as Canis Rex makes a sizeable fist-shaped impression in anything foolish enough to get in his way. Freedom’s Hand is a mighty everything-masher of the highest order, able to knock 45 damage into something big or delete entire squads of elite troops with a contemptuous wave.

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And in case you’re wondering, Sir Hekhtur can still jog around after his noble steed falls – his datasheet is on the back of the Canis Rex card.

Weapon Spotlight

In an army where even your Knights’ feet are the equal of other specialised close combat units, it can be hard to pick out a particularly eye-catching weapon. Or at least it was, before we saw what our old friend the thundercoil harpoon was up to these days.

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Anyone who’s piloted a Knight Valiant knows that this big spiky beast was absolutely glorious on the off-chance it got close enough to actually fire, and its track record of being a hyper-intimidating if impractical threat continues with imposing statistics. Look on my harpoon, ye Vehicles, and despair.**

On the more utilitarian end of the scale, the Knight Paladin’s rapid-fire battle cannon returns with – of all things – a fresh new Rapid Fire rule. It trades the wide variance of its old profile for a more consistent number of shots, with the new Blast rule still giving it some extra-spicy kick against larger hordes.

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Stratagem Spotlight

The pursuit of glory can make a man do outrageous things, and pushing their iron steeds just a little bit further than is safe is par for the course for hard-pressed pilots. Knights live for the moment they can rise unbowed in their darkest hour, ready to Shoulder the Burden in pursuit of victory, and those already spurred by honourable deeds can even do so multiple times per battle.

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This desire for glory is ever a gamble, however, as the need to claim noteworthy trophies can push a Knight beyond the bounds of reason. Should they succeed, their duel will be remembered for an age, but should they fail, dishonour will dog them until redemption can be won.

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The Word from the Studio

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“With the Code Chivalric army rule, we wanted to reinforce the narrative of Imperial Knights pledging themselves to honourable quests,” explains James from the Design Studio. “As well as endowing your war machines with powerful benefits throughout the battle, these Oaths also offer 3 Command points should they be accomplished. Command points are a much more precious commodity in this edition, so this is a substantial prize that could unlock all-important extra Stratagem plays at critical moments.

“On top of this, we were keen to ensure that the Imperial Knights function as a cohesive tactical force. Their hefty OC characteristics enable them to claim objectives even when outnumbered by lesser foes, and the Bondsman abilities offer a variety of interplays between your larger and smaller models, ranging from the Lethal Hits and Lance abilities dished out by the Knight Paladin to the re-rolls to Charge rolls and Hit rolls conferred by the Knight Gallant.”

Black Library

The noble houses of Adrastapol march to war in Kingsblade by Andy Clark, an action-packed tale where Knights of all ranks – from High King to Knight-Errant – must pitch in to save a recently corrupted world from the grip of the Word Bearers. The follow-up novel, Knightsblade, follows the legendary Freeblade Knight of Ashes as he hunts down his own mother for turning their entire household traitor, while Knights of the Imperium by Graham McNeill is a tasty preview of what Knight-versus-Tyranid throwdowns look like as Hive Fleet Hydra invades Vondrak on House Cadmus’ watch.

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The Knight households of Kamidar also take centre stage in the latest novel from the Dawn of Fire series. The Iron Kingdom by Nick Kyme follows the war-weary Battle Group Praxis as they deliver a fallen heir to the Knight world’s ruler, only to be caught up in a vicious feud stoked by the forces of the Archenemy.

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Want to see how the other factions of Warhammer 40,000 are doing in the new edition? Plenty of Faction Focus articles are available to read right now, and more are coming every weekday this month. Xenos fans rejoice – it’s the turn of the T’au Empire tomorrow, and they’re packing some serious heat.

* And if it isn’t, what’s wrong with you?

** Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Oath of Moment pointing at your Valiant in mad panic.