Warmachine: Bane Knights Under New Management
The Cryx Bane Knights have a new Command Attachment that’s looking to shake things up. Let’s take a look at the new Bane Knight Officer now available for Cryx.
Like the standard Bane Knights, the Officer is a small based model.
Let’s take a look at the Bane Knight Officer’s rules.
Just for a refresher, here are the Bane Knights cards.
Four Points – Four Abilities
For the cost of 4 points, the Bane Knights gain four new abilities. That’s a pretty great deal.
Granted: Reposition[3″]
This will let the Bane Knights make the most out of their Wall of Steel ability. In the early game they will be running and staying B2B(base to base), but once they start charging into enemies it can be harder to maintain B2B contact. Now they can charge/walk into melee, make attacks, then Reposition back into contact with each other.
Granted: Touch of the Grave
Having access to Remove From Play can be critical in some matchups. A tool to help deal with things like a Revive, Thagrosh1’s Feat, or something like Skorne’s new Abidan The Keeper solo is a welcome addition.
Serpents Coil
The Bane Knights have now gained a nice mini Feat! For one turn the Knights gain Defensive Strike. We’re only talking about unboosted MAT 6 POW 12 attacks which is enough to scare off other single wound trooper models, but heavier targets aren’t going to be too worried.
However let’s not forget that Cryx is one of the best debuffing factions. With access to things like Dark Shroud, Mortality and Parasite there are many ways to make these Defensive Strikes a problem for all enemy models.
“Did someone say Debuff?”
Tactics: Coordinated Movement
We’ve seen a decent amount of units that can move through each other in the game. This takes it one step further, allowing all friendly models to see and move through the Bane Knights. Most abilities like this are Faction only, so it will be interesting to see if there are any Mercs that can take advantage of Coordinated Movement.
Coordinated Movement has a number of good uses, such as allowing the Bane Knights to be the front line and letting the back line heavy hitters move through them when it’s time to strike. It also makes the Knights a good choice for bubble wrapping your caster. When your caster activates there are no order of activation issues, your caster can simply walk through the Knights and do whatever they need to do. Then the Knights can run and bubble wrap them again if needed.
Wrap Up
The Bane Knights have taken a more Defensive role in mk3, and access to these new abilities really solidifies that concept. In the Dark Host theme they gain Prowl and you get to put out two 4 inch clouds. This means they can be Stealth, DEF 14 vs charge attacks and ARM 18 without any outside help. In addition, the Bane Knight Officer can be one of your free cards in Dark Host, making all these abilities incredibly affordable.
What caster do you think runs Bane Knights best?
