During the colossal battles of the Horus Heresy, the Loyalist and Traitor forces brought every weapon they could muster to bear. The war was fought in multiple theatres, where titanic war machines strode alongside infantry companies, the sky thick with beams of energy and salvos of apocalyptic ordnance.
In Legions Imperialis, you can deploy Knights and Titans to support your Legiones Astartes and Solar Auxilia. They might be small at this scale, but make no mistake – the Knight Households are nothing less than lethal.
While your Primary Army List of Legiones Astartes or Solar Auxilia must account for 70% of your total points, the remaining 30% can comprise allies, including Knight Household Lance Formations. Questing knights, leggy knights, knights that look like walking eggs, even miniature Armigers – you can have them all.
This Formation is made up of a single Knight Banner, which consists of one pattern type – Questoris, Cerastus, or Acastus – with the option to customise them. You can add extra Knights of the same chassis, upgrade a Cerastus into an Atrapos, or have a swarm of Armigers to tag along.
These towering mechanical warriors are tough combatants – even the Armigers have a sturdy 3+ save, while Knights Acastus get 2+, effectively as budget Titans. On top of this, every Knight is also equipped with an Ion Shield, which neuters the AP of enemy weapons firing at their front arc.
But if you’re facing off against these towering terrors, how do you take them out? Make careful use of battlefield positioning to bait your opponent into revealing their vulnerable rear arcs, then unload everything you’ve got. There’s no need to worry about side arcs in Legions Imperialis, everything just splits down right across the middle of the base or model.
Naturally, Knights are for more than just tanking damage, they’re equally able to dish out destruction on their own with a vast array of weapons, and a Close Assault Factor of +8 at minimum.
Weapons like the Thermal Spear, the Thermal Cannon, and the Atrapos Lascutter all come with the Engine Killer (X) trait, which makes them ideal for hunting super-heavy armour, dealing an additional number of wounds equal to the value in the brackets, in these cases enough to crater a Baneblade in a single shot.
Knights are far from the biggest thing on the field of battle, and even these noble steeds may find themselves in danger once the Titan Legions power up their reactors and stride into battle.
We’ll have more coverage of Legions Imperialis next week, when the Titans walk and air support is cleared for take-off.