Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: – Tournament-Worthy Chaos Knights
Goatboy here with my final Chaos Knight tournament list. Let’s dive into how the naughty giant robos work.
I played an event last weekend and while I tried a few things I also failed a lot of things. Such as remembering rules to my detriment. Still it was a good outing and I learned a lot of stuff. The big thing I learned is that having more than one big knight means your ability to protect two big knights is a lot harder and most likely not doable. Being able to protect one big knight though – is a heck of a lot easier. This leads me into what I think ends up being the best mark – Warp-Borne Stalker.
Chaos Knight Tricks & Tips
Mark of the Warp-Borne Stalker is the mark that allows you to put a Knight into the Warp to deep strike in later. This is huge because you can easily set up your big Knight to always come in, get turned on with buffs (Spells etc), and hopefully punch something in the face. We all know how the Abominant can be made to be a pain in the butt… but it can die just as easily too. If it doesn’t get a chance to turn on its spells no terrain is going to hide that big beast. This leads me to the idea that all the Marks are cute but what can really keep it protected is ensuring it gets to shoot and cast spells before the opponent can do something to it.
On top of that there is another little bit of secret sauce too in a Dreadblade set up that helps cover some damage potential. I talked a bit about it on Monday but the Warp Vision War Dog Executioners seem to solve a lot of problems this army can have with enemies deep in cover. The Tyranid match up can be a nightmare if they have cover saves and other bits. But these guy come in so hard with the flat 3, ignore cover, and -2 damage. Heck since you mark one Tzeentch you can use the auto wound option to punch things thru and maybe cause a Perils of the Warp on the bigger psychic monsters.
War Dog Odds & Ends
Beyond that the rest is a bunch of War Dog Stalkers and then a lone Karnivore kitted out to be a a suicide machine with a Relic, Blood Shield, and a bad Attitude. The list is trying to play the games on turn 2-3 as it sits back and throws out some damage depending on the army. The Big Knight ends up hiding and coming down like a warp Comet of doom who hits, takes a lot of attention, and hopefully kills 2-3 things on the way out.
Enough talk lets look a the list and then my Secondary Load out. I went with Infernal as it is really a shooting army and I needed the Executionars with the Warp Vision set up. The Vextrix household is very powerful in that each unit gets a free Hit reroll and wound Reroll for shooting. This is just bonkers for those War Dog Stalkers with Daemonbreath Meltaguns as it just shoots their efficiency to the moon. They also have a good Stratagem to ignore ballistic Skill Modifiers which can be handy. They also have a very nutty little Relic that can amp up my Abominat’s damage potential. That is where the other changes could be in dropping that relic for a 2+ armor save but that really depends on testing. The shell of the list though – feels just about right.
Chaos Knights – Competitive List – Infernal Cannon Ball V.1
Super Heavy Detachment – Infernal Household – House Vextrix- 0CP
-Stratagems-
Arch Tyrant (-1CP)
Corrupted Heirlooms X 2 (-2CP)
Tyrannical Court (-1CP)
-LoW-
Knight Abominant – Warlord – Eager for the Kill, Knight Diabolus, Relic – Heretek Power Core, Psychic – Winds of the Warp, The Storm Malevolent, Mark of the Warp-Borne Stalker – 460pts
War Dog Executioner X 3 – Diabolus Heavy Stubber X 3, Mirror of Fates, Dreadblade – Warp Vision, Relic – Helm of Dogs – 465pts
War Dog Stalker X 3 – Daemonbreath Spear X 3, Reaper Chaintalon X 3, Diabolus Heavy Stubber X 3, Pyrothrone, Warlord Trait – Warp Haunted Hull – 460pts
War Dog Stalker X 3 – Daemonbreath Spear X 3, Reaper Chaintalon X 3, Diabolus Heavy Stubber X 3 – 435pts
War Dog Karnivore – Diabolus Heavy Stubber, Blood Shield, Relic – Blasphemous Engine – 170pts
PTS: 1990 CP: 8
Using the Chaos Knights
The idea here is the Abominant is floating in the warp turn 1-2. He comes in as the biggest distraction Carnifex you have ever seen and tries to stay around till turn 3. If it is still alive turn 4+ you should be doing pretty well. The Executioners are hanging out back throwing firepower down the lane. The Single Pyrothrone/Warp Haunted Hull War Dog is there to allow me access to Warp Ritual Secondary which gives me access to something else to try for. The army can struggle with Secondary’s as Strangehold and their version Ruthless Tyranny are good but we really need that 3rd pick. Now I can safely take Strangle/Tyranny, Grind them Down, and Warp Ritual as methods to allow me some measure of points in a game.
The Karnivore is set up to go very fast, always act crazy, and maybe surprise someone with a 17 inch rush forward and punch in the mouth. Plus it is fun to run that guy and just see how much damage he can do as he gets going thru the opponents army.
I love the Big Knights they just don’t really work as well as you want them too. They can’t really hide that well, have issues with terrain, and end up being a huge point sync a lot of the time. The teleport can really help with that as it doesn’t cause you to spend CP to put them in reserves and you can throw them where it can do the most damage. The other thought would be to swap it out for a Rampager to have some fun with it but the Abominant just seems better as it still has a gun that can do some damage.
For the Warmaster!
