40K: Knight Gallant – Close Combat Wrecking Ball
Imperial Knights are massive warmachines on the tabletop capable of bringing a torrent of fire on their targets. But there is one version of the Knights that goes against the grain and focuses (mostly) on Close-Combat. The Knight Gallant is a complete wrecking ball once it closes in.
When you take a look at all the Knights that are out currently, for me, most of them all sort of blur together. They are titanic and carry a massive payload typically in the form of some very impressive firepower. However, there is one Knight that always sticks out in my mind: The Knight Gallant. While it’s not totally without some long-range firepower, it much prefers to charge headlong into the fray and pummel the enemy to death. It’s an up-close-and-personal type of Knight. But is that a good thing in modern Warhammer 40k?
When you compare it to other knights, it costs roughly the same point wise, but it is “only” 20 power level. That’s one thing to consider – It would have been nice of GW to shave a few points off the Gallant for Matched Play, but then it would be come the default chassis if you wanted to run some “bare-bones” knights in your army…I understand the reasoning but I can see an argument to make it cheaper. Anyways, the Gallant does have some tweaks in other ways.
For starters it has an additional attack vs other knights with 5 base attacks. It also has a starting WS of 2+ which is one better than it’s peers. It’s a specialized Close-Combat Knight that actually has the stats to reflect that – I think that was a step in the right direction! Now, some folks might be thinking “5 attacks, that’s really not that many for a single model.” Yeah, that’s a fair point. But don’t forget vs infantry, you can use your Titanic Feet and river-dance your way to victory. Each Attack converts to 3 hit rolls – that’s a total of 15 dice! And those are at strength 8, AP -2, and each does D3 damage. You’ll get your damage in there!
But that’s just one option. Once you start exploring the rest of the codex, you’ll start to notice other things that seem tailor-made to make this one of the deadliest weapons of war in the Grimdark. For example, take a look at the Paragon Gauntlet:
This relic weapon has some big benefits for the Gallant. First off, the damage is a flat 8 vs the Thunderstrike Gauntlet. That’s two extra FLAT damage per punch. Next, this weapon does not have the built in -1 to hit that Thunderstrike Gauntlets have. Again, it’s starting WS is 2+ with 5 attacks. A quick math check means that’s potentially 40 points of damage from this thing! At Strength 16 with a -4 AP….yeah. Oh and if your target was a vehicle or monster you still get to toss it at an enemy unit with 9″ for an extra D3 damage!
But what if you want to really make this thing deadly. Make it your Warlord for some extra flavor and pick Knight Seneschal:
Now we’re at 6 attacks with the Paragon Gauntlet. Hitting on 2+ with a statline that will make Mortarion do a double take. Oh, and that’s just ONE of the Warlord trait options. But I like the extra attack on this guy for the simple elegance of doing 48 damage. By the way, a Warhound Titan “only” has 35 wounds and is 75 power-level. If you can get to it, that Titan is going to have a bad time.
But lets say you aren’t a fan of that option. Well there is also the Ravager to consider:
The Ravager’s big advantage is that you’re getting to re-roll hit rolls of 1. Oh and it’s now ALSO strength 16 with a -4 AP. If you’re really into not-missing, you could also opt for the Cold Fury household tradition and re-roll all your misses…but you start at WS 2+ so that might be overkill. Then again, your to-hit does degrade as you take damage…
The biggest problem this Knight has will be getting into combat. But there are Knight Households that will certainly assist with getting across the table.
Anything that adds speed to this beast is going to help with that issue. Or you can just prepare for the charge and get yet another attack:
On the charge, that’s 7 attacks for 56 damage potential. At that point, you could also take a pop-shot with your melta going in and suddenly you’re in Reaver Titan killing range. 60 Wounds? You got this!
Will the Knight Gallant ever be the most competitive option? I don’t know. But if you want a highly specialized Knight that can pulverize anything it can get in close-combat, consider the humble Knight Gallant.
Cue The Music.
