‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Heavy Cavalry Units
Warhammer: The Old World wouldn’t be a fantasy game without some great knights, and these are the best heavy cavalry units you can take!
We’ve all had our hands on The Old World for a bit. The game is starting to shake out. We’ve gotten a decent look at what is good and bad and how people like to play. Today we are continuing our series looking at the best units form various categories. We’ve looked at basic core infantry, elite heavy infantry monstrous infantry and ranged infantry. That’s covered most of the infantry in the game. Now lets take a look at some heavy cavalry.
These are some of the heaviest units in the game that still get to rank up. Brave knights and chaotic champions that dominate the battlefield. When you need to break an enemy line, it’s often heavy cavalry that you call on. Unlike my previous posts, because not all armies get Heavy Cav, we are going to include legacy armies and look at the five best heavy cavalry units, though we are going to leave out Monstrous Cavalry
5. Inner Circle Knights – Empire
Starting at the bottom of the top five we’ve got Empire Inner Circle Knights. On the straight stats there are some other units that aren’t on the list that do beat them out. They have big downsides with T3 and WS 4. However, they do form a good baseline for the “good” heavy cav and have a few nice things going for them. S4 and lances gives them the all important S6 on the charge, Counter Charge is a must have, and Veteran is great. They also get a 2+ save, not super common, and re-roll 1s to hit. They also lack any negative rules like Stupidity or Impetuous (Cold One Knights lose out to me due to lacking Counter Charge and having Stupidity). All of that, and being fairly cheap, earns them a place on the bottom of this list.
4. Dragon Princes – High Elfs
Next up we have the High Elf Dragon Princes of Caledor. Now, I will admit that Dragon Princes are a bit of a mixed bag. They are stuck at S 3 and T 3, meaning they are only S5 on the charge – a major downside. Even worse, they do have Impetuous, which can be played around with, but is a major downside. On the upside, they are fast, have 2+ save and 2 attacks. Without the 2 attacks they really wouldn’t be worth writing home about, but with it, they can be pretty scary. On top of that counter charge, combined with their I5 and +1 I in the first round of combat, means that Dragon Princes of Caledor are almost always going to be hitting first, even if the enemy managess a charge vs them.
I’d be a bit remiss if I didn’t throw out a quick shoutout to Silver Helms here. While Dragon Princes aren’t a must take, there is a solid argument that Silver Helms are. They are arguably the best core choice High Elfs have and a great cheap heavy cav unit. In the sense of best unit to always take in an army, Silver Helms are way up there, but in terms of fighting prowess, it’s the Dragon Princes.
3. Grail Knights – Bretonnia
Bretonnia is of course the knight faction, so it would be odd if one of their units didn’t make the list. As everyone knows, at the top of the list of Bretonnian Knights are the Grail Knights, paragons of virtue and combat. Now, these guys, and gals, hit like a ton of bricks. Two attacks and WS 6, with S4 and lances (and the lance formation) can do a ton of damage. They’ve got a decent set of special rules and are Immune to Psychology, and can take a lot of magic items/banners. It’s a pretty solid unit and if they charge you, its not great. However, they do have a few downsides.
While the blessing does give them a Ward save, clutch, they are stuck with just a 3+ normal save and only T4. This makes them a bit vulnerable for their price. An even bigger downside is their place in the army. As they aren’t Core, you will end up finding them competing with the generally much better Pegasus Knights for points. Meanwhile, the cheaper core knight units are going to see a lot of play. So, despite them being a powerful unit, you may not see Grail Knights a ton, which is kind of a problem with heavy cav.
2. Blood Knights – Vampire Counts
Whats better than Grail Knights? How about EVIL Grail Knights! That’s basically what Blood Knights are – corrupted paragons of knighthood. The two units are very similar with both rocking S4 and T4 and two attacks. Stat-wise Grail Knights are actually better, with high WS, I and M. On top of that they have a ward save vs the Blood Knight’s regen. However all of that still leaves Blood Knights in a strong place with 2 S6 attacks on the charge and a regen save.
Blood Knights can also upgrade to a 2+ save and can get drilled. Of course, the main advantage Blood Knights have is being undead, this gives them Fear, makes them Unbreakable and also lets the unit be healed. It’s much less scary to spend 40ish points on a 1 wound model if you can bring them back! They are a unit that hits super hard, is great to stick people in, and is pretty durable as well.
1. Chosen Chaos Knights – Warriors of Chaos
Lastly we come to what is likely an unsurprising choice, Chosen Chaos Knights. These mean guys get all the things we are looking for in a really good heavy cav unit. They have 2 attacks, can get a 2+ save, have a ward save are S and T 4 and have Counter Charge. They can also get Drilled and come base with Stubborn giving them good sticking power. Ensorcelled Weapons helps them on turns they aren’t charging. Plus, of course taking them over the edge, they can get Marks. All of the Marks have some nice buffs, with Khorne making them the only unit on this list that can rock up with three attacks (without some magic buffs), though of course, Frenzy has its downsides.
On top of that Chaos also has some of the best characters to put into a unit of Chosen Knights, with a ton of crazy combos allowed there. Both Diabolic Splendor and Enchanting Aura can rally buff this unit. The faction also has access to some really great buffing magic, and can even get the unit up to 4 attacks… which – ouch! Overall, even without buffs, Chosen Chaos Knights are a flexible, maneuverable, hard-hitting, and tough unit without any real downsides (other than being limited to 1 per army) with great potential to do even more.
Let us know what your Heavy Cavalry list would be, down in the comments!
