Goatboy’s 40k Hot Mess – Chaos Knight Abominant
Goatboy here and today’s 40K hot mess is all about the Chaos Knight Abominant. It needs a glow-up big time!
The Chaos Knight Abominant is a model I loved when it first came out. I was so excited to paint it up, throw it on the battlefield, and then watch it not do a whole lot. Heck, I don’t think it was ever any good, as I never rolled a 10 plus when trying to cast its FNP bubble. Now, of course, it is even worse now in 10th Edition. So this begs the question: how the heck do we get this thing to actually be good?
A hot mess is a frustrating thing in this game as these models are not always easy to build, nor cheap to buy, and hard to paint up. The Abominant is all of these things mixed in a body with a pain-in-the-butt set of tentacles that feel like they should do more than they do. That gun is also just a weird thing as it looks cool but feels so worthless when you shoot it. I wonder can we even make this better? Let’s pull up our bean bags, throw on our thinking caps, and ponder how can we make this Chaos Knight Abominant better.
Let the Knight Abominant Be a Storm
I always thought the overall rules for Chaos Knights were half-baked. The original updated book was so awesome in its set-up, even if the rules didn’t always work. You had this cool storm that you manipulated, and tried to pick the right effects per turn. It was a cool rules mechanic and could have easily just been tweaked for the new edition. Right now, the rules don’t really work, so why not create some kind of cool storm mechanic that builds as the game moves on? Make it like the Shadow of Chaos for Daemons and have units within its “range” be affected by it. Things like -1 to hit your Chaos Knight as the winds lash your enemy’s weapons. Or maybe lightning crackles through the giant machine as its weapons all of a sudden have Sustained Hits.
All kinds of weird thing scould happen if GW makes the Abominant the center of this storm. Heck, make it the focal point for the army as its storm surge billows out from it, and you are able to push your Storm of Chaos around. They could be just like little Be’lakor for the army with cool Aura options that work off of the storm and let you, as the Chaos Knight player, control your destiny on the tabletop.
Fix the Knight Abominant’s Cannon
Now, this Cannon is an awesome-looking thing, and it really should do more than just have a chance at Devastating wounds. I really like the idea of amping up some of its options and maybe allow the player to pick different things as it unleashes it on the enemy. You could have something like Sustained Hits with Hazardous or things that cause its target to be marked. You could do all kinds of beneficial stuff with just the gun beyond simple damage – and help the Knight Abominant be a central part of the army and an important leader.
Let the Knight Abominant be Dark Mechanicus
I love the idea of the Chaos Knights having things like strange powers that they activate through a turn. They could all of a sudden do a quick Hazardous roll, gain an ability, and then get to do something. It could be things like gain Advance/Charge, over power their weapons, increase their storm surge, or just make them tougher to deal with. I would look at how Dark Pacts are for CSM. Then continue it into the Chaos Knight aspects as they cry out their metal roars for whatever Chaos God will listen to them. Or just bet on Vashtor to help push their mechanical prisons to great acts of violence and despair.
I really want the model to be good and right now it just feels like a hot mess of garbage. It isn’t a centerpiece model for the army. It doesn’t really help any of its little War Dog friends. It also just costs too many points even to put in your army.
So let’s make the Chaos Knight Abominant a cooler thing and create a cool engine of Chaos for the tabletop.
