Goatboy’s 40K: About Those New Knight Rules
Goatboy here again – with 40k thoughts on the new Chaos Knight FAQ as well as the updated set of rules for all the Forgeworld Knights. Let’s get stomping!
It is a bit of a somber time because we lost a good player, good friend, and just an overall cool dude in Geoff Robinson. I just want to say he is hugely missed and I am sad. So a moment of silence for our fallen friend before we jump into the new rules for 40k.
This week saw the new Chaos Knight FAQ come out, as well as an updated set of rules for all the Forgeworld Knights. I think the knights still have some play – but overall you should look at this as the future for some Forgeworld rules to come out (cough cough… Custodes tanks?). Let’s look at the FAQ first because it there isn’t a ton to go over, and really nerfs what could have been an interesting, situational, and overall non game breaking rule.
Chaos Knight FAQ
First of all they had to answer why the points for a full close combat knight started higher than a normal knight. I read it that way when we got the book, but I guess a ton of people were confused. I know why they didn’t change the name for the close combat option as there is a balance in using basic knights, but the close combat gains an extra attack and an extra weapon skill, so that is a pretty obvious reason to have the points be a bit higher. I am hoping the Gallants go in this direction too so everything feels balanced.
After that the big FAQ is to Diabolic Rift from the Infernal Household Ambition. We lost the ability to cause perils on all rolls and had it updated to only on doubles. This is not worth 2CP anymore, so it is kind of upsetting. I didn’t think it was that powerful as players can easily play around it with the idea that Smites have longer range. It is still upsetting as it pushes things more towards Iconoclast as the default strong Ambition.
The most interesting answer is how Forsaken means you can only not use stratagems you control – not your opponents strats targeting the model. I never thought of reading it that way – so the answer is weird to me, but I am sure some weird player would try to read it that way. There are a few out there that love to try and push and pull on the rules.
There is not a ton on the FAQ beyond a few nerfs – but I expect a short one just due to how the Chaos Knight codex was written. It is a very simple, clean codex that I hope we see more of in the future. I like all the options in some books, but we all know most of the time we only pick out of 2-3 options and the three others are just left on the side. Instead of doing it like that – it would be more interesting to see Strats that would activate similar rules and thus be more sideboard like.
Forge World Knight FAQ
Now let’s jump into the Forgeworld Knights. My big thought on all of it: they don’t want knights with tons of movement combos to get a 2d6 advance. Every Knight lost that ability as well as their 4+ inv save. This locks them all to match regular knights with the basic 5+ save – and thus they feel fair. Also, both the Chaos versions and the Imperial Versions are the same. There are no more random – wound regeneration monsters as well as other odd things. These knights feel very much within the normal Knight rules. I think they are a bit over costed most of the time, but they do have a large number of wounds and a better set up to use Strats and other options available to their Knight armies.
All of the skinny knights still move 14″ and have more wounds. Those extra three wounds can be huge – especially if you match them with Infernal Ambitions and making their usually extra shotgun more powerful. This is where you see a lot of the interesting bits in this game. All the guns seem to have gotten better. You add more shots, more damage, or just the ability to get that +1 strength and +1 damage. Let’s look at the clear winner out of the models.
The Castigator seems to have won the rule update as its gun gained two more shots and its Warblade now makes extra attacks when throwing down without the Tiny Feet of devastation. That 16 shotgun seems pretty good as you can dump infernal into it – get it up to strength 7 and throw out a 3 damage gun. Mix that with being very fast 14″, being fairly cheap at 430 points, and it having fatter pants (more wounds) means this might be a worthy addition to add to your evil bad guy Knight list. He fits into the normal gun-based combos you see as its gun is good, its warblade can be deadly, and heck it wouldn’t be a bad dread blade.
The other options feel too expensive, as well. I like the idea of The Acheron, but man is it so expensive. It sits at almost 500 points – which is where you look at a fully loaded double Gatling Cannon knight. Heck, I wonder if the double thermal cannon knight is just better overall than a ton of these tall, lanky knights.
The War Dog Moirax seem appealing as they are pretty cheap and you have some odd weapons. The Lighting Lock seems interesting as it causes more hits on an unmodified roll of a 6. Just like the Orks – this auto 2 hits off of a 6 seems interesting. I don’t know how it will do – as others seem to like the idea of these small Knights running around. It’s something to think about.
Overall I think the FW knights need some point changes to be more effective – The Castigator being the only really strong one. I’m sure I will have one kick the crap out of me at an event. I think we’ll see a lot of FW get moved into more niche roles in the future just due to rules not matching the normal game options.
~What is your take on the Forge World Knight changes?
