About My Blog

Ave Omnissiah!

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My blog is primarily my own personal fluff in the Warhammer 40,000 universe regarding the Draconis system such as the Knight House Yato in Ryusei, their Household Militia, the Draconian Defenders, and the Forge World of Draconis IV with its Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood, Cybernetica cohorts and Skitarii legions, and the Titan Legion, Legio Draconis, known as the Dark Dragons.

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Retrospective: Imperial Knights

Today, we're going to a Retrospective on...Imperial Knights! I mean, this is primarily an Imperial Knight blog, so obviously if I'm ...

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Konor Campaign Battle Report 1

And so my very own Konor Campaign kicked off today! I mobilized my Imperial Knights in defense of the hive world, Astaramis, but...well, it was weird because I was unable to find an opponent for the past 2 days. Eventually, I managed to find a friend who agreed to play with me, but he didn't bring his Chaos army along. So he made do with a borrowed Necron army. Oh well, not exacctly Konor Campaign, but hey, Games Workshop said the xenos will enter the conflict with their own agenda, right?

Oh, right. Yesterday I posted on the Citadel Case, but I forgot to include pictures. Here's a couple of photographs as evidence that I managed to fit 3 Imperial Knights and a bunch of Adeptus Mechanicus forces into my medium-sized Citadel Case.

Three Imperial Knights, 4 Kastelan Robots and 3 Kataphron Destroyers all able to fit inside one medium-sized Citadel Case!

The rest of the infantry - the Skitarii Vanguard, Skitarii Rangers, 2 Tech-priests Dominus and 2 Cybernetica Datasmith. And dice.
So it turned out to be a 1,000 point game between Imperial Knights and Necrons. I brought my usual 2 Imperial Knights from House Yato, a Knight Paladin with a Stormspear rocket pod and a Knight Warden with a twin Icarus autocannon. Opposing the two Knights was a Necron army with Imotekh the Stormlord (no, not the Imperial Guard super-heavy tank with Vulcan mega-bolters) leading 2 10-men (or undead) squads of Warriors, a single squad of 10 Immortals (who died pretty easily), a Cryptek to boost their Reanimation Protocols, and a Triarch Stalker with a twin heavy gauss cannon for anti-tank. And trust me, that damned Triarch Stalker is pretty powerful. Ugh.

This turned out to be a killpoint game because my opponent didn't bring his actual army, and could only get the rules off his smartphone. I brought along my Imperium II Index, but that wouldn't have helped him with his Necrons. Oh well. So no objectives. I was happy to play against Necrons, because if you remember, my Knights got rekted and utterly destroyed by Necrons in the three-way Battle Report last month. I wanted a revenge match against those Necrons, especially after seeing them crawl back up to their feet via Reanimation Protocols. Grudge match! So I was glad when my opponent agreed to let me use my Imperial Knights against his borrowed Necrons.

Anyway, he got to deploy first, but I chose to go first since I only have 2 units when compared to his 6. However, he succeeded in seizing the initiative! Ouch.

Imperial Knights versus Necrons!

Turn 1

First turn shooting was pretty painful. The Necron Warriors moved up the table and the Triarch Stalker moved into cover. The Immortals had to advance, and the two HQ units followed the Warrior squads, presumably to buff them. Apparently Imotekh grants a squad BS2+, and allows for all units to re-rolls To Hit rolls of ones, so best to keep them together. My opponent did some Imotekh once-per-battle ability where he rolled to deal 2 mortal wounds to my Knight Paladin. He used a Command Point to reroll and got 1, which dealt 0 mortal wounds, and I gave him a chance by saying that doesn't count. I mean, I brought 2 Imperial Knights to the table, so...yeah. I'll just take the 2 mortal wounds.

The Triarch Stalker took off about 4 or 5 wounds from my Knight Warden, but I managed to save all the wounds from the Warriors. I can't remember, but I think the Warriors failed to hurt my Knight Paladin as well. Oh well.

My turn, and I retaliated by mowing down about...5 or 6 Warriors, I think, with my Knight Warden. My Knight Paladin also killed a bunch of Immortals, maybe about 6 or so. I can't remember the exact number. Whatever the case, I failed to kill them all in one round of shooting and I tried to charge, but I failed my charge. My Knight Paladin took a wound or 2 from the Warriors' overwatch while my Knight Warden thankfully emerged unscathed. It sucks that I failed both their charges though.

Turn 2

The dice rolls went well for my opponent. He managed to revive a good number of Warriors and Immortals and almost brought them back to full strength. I believe the Triarch Stalker and all the other guys, including Imotekh, focused their fire on the Knight Paladin and brought him down to 15 wounds. The Immortals and their tesla weapons really hurt. I failed quite a few armor saves. Sigh. On the other hand, only one Warrior squad fired on my Knight Warden and failed to do anything.

Again, I failed to wipe out both the Warrior and Immortal squads despite shooting them. Damn, but Necrons are tough. This time, I managed to make my charge, and despite my best efforts, my Knight Paladin failed to wipe out the Immortal squad, and reduced it down to just one Immortal. Damn, but I failed. My opponent spent 2 command points to negate the effects of battle shock for the Immortal. On the other hand, my Knight Warden utterly destroyed the Warriors in close combat, stomping them to oblivion with his Titanic Feet. Woohoo! One unit destroyed! Finally!

Turn 3

Reanimation Protocols kicked in and the Immortal squad had a good number of guys standing back up again. The Immortal squad fell back. This time, everyone including the Triarch Stalker fired on my Knight Paladin and destroyed him. First Blood to the Necrons, while I still haven't killed a single unit on the Necrons' side. Things were not looking good for me.

Fortunately, my Knight Warden turned out to be my MVP. As if to avenge his fallen brother, the Knight Warden stomped toward the ravaged squad of Immortals and succeeded in wiping them out with shooting. Then he charged into the final squad of Warriors and stomped them to death with his Titanic Feet. 4 survived, and were forced to fall back.

Turn 4

As I said, 4 Warriors survived and they fell back to shield Imotekh from the angry, vengeful Knight Warden. Imotekh failed to do any damage, the Triarch Stalker missed his shots or something, and the Cryptek was out of range.

I killed the 4 Warriors with shooting, but failed my charge toward Imotekh. Well...stuff happens. Sigh.

Turn 5

Another round of shooting, and I think my Knight Warden shrugged off most wounds, taking only maybe a couple from the Triarch Stalker, but the Cryptek and Imotekh failed to wound him at all. My opponent decided to charge both his Cryptek and Imotekh, and my Knight Warden killed the former in overwatch. Twin Icarus autocannon dealt 2 damage, and even though only one round of the Avenger gatling cannon hit, it also dealt 2 damage, and the Cryptek cried and died. Imotekh, funnily enough, failed his charge.

So I shot him, and he actually managed to survive most of the shots, thanks to him being in cover and having a 2+ armor save. I then charged him in combat and proceeded to stomp on him with Titanic Feet, and this time he failed 3 of his saves (because cover doesn't work in close combat). I rolled 3 D3, and did about 8 or 9 wounds. Instant death for poor Imotekh and Slay the Warlord for me.

Turn 6

This turned out to be a dance of death between the retreating Triarch Stalker and my remaining Knight Warden, who was trying to chase him down. He managed to take several wounds off my Knight, reducing him to about 15 wounds, I think?

My Knight then fired at him, and despite having Quantum Shielding a 3+ save that turned into 2+ in cover, he failed all his saves and took 8 wounds. Ouch. Admittedly, the AP -2 of the Avenger gatling cannon turned that into a 4+ save.

Turn 7

The game continues! The Triarch Stalker fired again, and this time managed to reduce my Knight Warden down to 11 wounds, dropping his movement speed, ballistic skill and weapon skill. In retaliation, my Knight Warden continued to lumber forward, albeit at a reduced speed, and fired his twin Icarus autocannon. Never mind my Avenger gatling cannon. Just one round of the twin Icarus autocannon penetrated the Triarch Stalker's hull, and he failed both his armor save and Quantum Shielding, and took 2 damage. That destroyed him. My opponent was finally tabled.

Phew, that was a tough game. I barely managed to win. My Knight Warden was below half his health, and if we are to assume that each Knight is worth 3 kill points, my opponent has 4.5 to my 6 kill points. Not to mention he gained an extra point thanks to First Blood, so it's actually 5.5 to my 6. Well, I should get 7 since I slew his Warlord, and regardless of kill points, it automatically becomes my victory the moment I tabled him. But damn, he made me work hard for it, and there were many moments when I thought he would win, especially when he destroyed my Knight Paladin even though I failed to kill any of his units...

Wait, what? Hey, now that I recount the battle, I actually have First Blood because I destroyed one unit of Warriors before he destroyed my Knight Paladin. That's not right...well, whatever. I'll just give it to him and assume I remembered wrongly. It matters not, since I won in the end anyway. Give him that little concession. Never mind.

Anyway, Astaramis is safe and firmly in control of the Imperium, at least under the jurisdiction of Battle Bunker at Bugis+. This will probably be input into the Battle Log and registered as an Imperial victory. We'll continue to keep an eye out for Chaos or xenos invaders, and defend the hive world at all costs! For the Emperor! I managed to get my friend to bring his Chaos army next week, so maybe we'll have a more fluffy and thematic match befitting of the Konor campaign then! I'll keep you guys poseted!

Forces deployed:

Imperial Knights (House Yato of Draconis III, Draconian System) - 50% casualties

Necrons (presumably Sautekh Dynasty) - completely destroyed

Friday, July 28, 2017

Making a case for Citadel cases

The Konnor campaign has begun! Or so I thought, but when I dropped in at my local gaming store, there was no one there. With no opponents and no enemies to fight against, my Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus support battalion ended up stoning inside a case.

That's right. You heard me right. I've gone and purchased a new Citadel case.

I didn't even need the biggest "Citadel Crusade Figure Case". I went and bought a new Citadel Battle Figure Case for SGD $120 (apparently it's USD $83), the medium sized one, and I managed to fit all 3 of my Imperial Knights in it (okay, the 4th one is languishing somewhere at my friend's storeroom). That was awesome. I thought I was going to need the Crusade Figure Case, but that would cost SGD $180 (or USD $124), which is 50% more, and a bit out of my price range. But voila! Look! I could fit all 3 Imperial Knights into the medium sized case, so I don't need the large sized one. Besides, I would need to order the large one, and it would take 2 weeks to arrive. With me flying off on August 14th, I don't think I can wait that long (in case there are delays in shipments and stuff), and I realize I don't need that big a case anyway, I thought it prudent to buy the more affordable medium sized Citadel case.

So anyone who has Imperial Knights and are racking their brains on how to transport them around, worry no more! The medium-sized Citadel Battle Figure Case is more than enough to store three Imperial Knights! Not only did I put 3 Imperial Knights in there, I even had space to store all my Adeptus Mechanicus support Battalion, a total of 20 Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers, 2 Tech-Priests Dominus, 3 Kataphron Destroyers, and included an extra bunch of 2 Cybernetica Datasmiths and 4 Kastelan Robots in case I want to go down the Legio Cybernetica route. I'm still waiting on Forge World's Imperial Armor: Fires of Cyrostax or however they spell it, so I might swap out the Skitarii for a couple of Castallex Battle-automata and a Thanatar Siege-automata eventually. I love giant robots.

Since I don't have my gaming fix for Warhammer 40,000, I'm stuck playing Starcraft 2 for now, and funnily enough I play as Terran, and my only strategy is Hellbat-Thor-Siege Tanks. Yeah, I play mech. So lots of giant robots. Siege tanks = Leman Russ tanks, Thors = Imperial Knights. I guess one's personality/preferences will inevitably dictate one's gaming style.

Monday, July 24, 2017

First mission for Fate of Konor

We're going to Astramis, people!

Week-1

According to the Warhammer40000.com website, this is what lies in store for us:

"Astaramis is a well-ordered and heavily defended hive world, the largest center of population in the Konor System and a potent symbol of Imperial dominance.
Having gathered significant momentum with their early victories on the outskirts of the Konor System, the armies of Chaos spread out across the region like poison seeping into the blood stream of the Imperium.
A vast segment of the Chaos armada descends upon Astaramis, the most populous planet in the system. With its teeming cities arranged in vast concentric rings, the well governed and prosperous hive world exemplifies the grand dream that is Ultramar. However, even Astaramis’ formidable orbital defence platforms and veteran garrison are not enough to hold back the oncoming tide. The Chaos armada launches waves of magmatic torpedoes, and macro-cannons obliterate planetary fortifications and engulf entire regiments of defenders in searing firestorms. Heretic Astartes and their allies slam to earth in blistering drop pod assaults, blasting apart anything that moves even as they march implacably onwards towards targets of strategic value.
During the Great Crusade, the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman made landfall upon Astaramis. In the centuries since, the population has come to regard him as a saint, raising vast statues and temples in his name. Hearts emboldened by the revelation that Guilliman has risen from his millennia-long slumber to defend Humanity once more, they fight on bravely in the face of an unceasing onslaught. From the shrines of Saviour’s Landing to the vast and imposing Quintus Gate, the streets echo with the unceasing chatter of las-fire and the dull thud of bolters and high-explosive rounds.
Yet for all the tenaciousness and devotion shown by the people of Astaramis, they cannot stand alone. With every passing hour, the invaders push further inward, taking hab-block after hab-block. Xenos forces have also been spotted planetside, exploiting the confusion of battle in order to kill, loot or pursue their unknowable ends. Imperial forces have already been forced back as far as the hive’s innermost spires, and the outer districts are little more than a rubble-strewn wasteland. If reinforcements do not arrive soon then Chaos will have gutted the Imperium’s greatest source of manpower in the Konor System, and destroyed a potent symbol of Imperial faith."

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Codex

Big news! Warhammer Community released a post on codex today! Well, the first four codexes will be Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Grey Knights and Death Guard.





For the rest of us, Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Guard and Imperial Knights players, we will have to wait. Games Workshop is aiming to release 10 codexes before Christmas this year, and the Space Marines codex will drop in July.

The Index will remain viable, so don't throw them away yet. It's not like you'll get all the codexes for all the armies in the indexes right away, so hang on to the indexes for now.

But what can you expect from the codexes? You will get army specific Stratagems, Relics, Warlord Traits, Tactical Objectives and psychic powers. You can pick your own Warlord Traits and psychic powers, which allows you to customize and tailor your characters and armies to your own playstyle.



Apparently we also get Sub-Faction rules, which means we get bonus rules for playing a specific Forge World, Knight House or Imperial Guard regiment. Sounds awesome! I can't wait!

For more details, visit the Questions page that Warhammer Community wrote for the codexes.

Monday, July 3, 2017

Imperial Armor Index

My Imperial Armor Index has finally arrived! It's thinner and lighter than expected, and does not contain a lot of fluff. Instead, it's filled with datasheets. Lots of them.

Here's some takeaways that I find interesting. The Vendetta gunship is now armed with 3 twin lascannons, so now they shoot 6 lascannon shots at BS 4+. Awesome. On the downside, it's pretty expensive now. It costs 230 points if you include the 3 twin lascannons, which cost 40 points each. Phew. However, the good news is that Vendetta gunships can now carry up to 12 infantry models! A huge buff! The last version in 7th Edition had them reduced to 6 infantry models, but now they're back to 12! WOOHOO! Nice!

Otherwise it's pretty identical to a Valkyrie. Yeah. Only the weapons are different, and it's pretty cool. We also have the Vulture gunship, which is better at anti-infantry if you give it the twin punisher gatling cannons. It now fires 40 shots. Wow. It also has the strafing run rule, which the Vendetta gunship does not, so you can add +1 to your To Hit rolls against units without the Fly keyword. It's also much cheaper at 160 points. So it depends on what you want.

The Death Korps of Krieg look like a cool army, and you can now take Death Korps Grenadier Storm Squad as Troops. Wow! They are almost the same as Storm Troopers and are armed with hot-shot lasguns, and can take special weapons. However, they can't take hot-shot volley guns for some reason. Oh well. Anyway, they ignore models slain in the Shooting phase when taking Morale test as an army-wide rule, which is pretty useful and fluffy. Their orders seem a bit melee orientated, with one allowing an infantry or Calvary model in the unit who is killled in the Fight phase to immediately make a single attack, and another, Without Mercy, turns their lasguns and hot-shot lasguns into pistol 2, which means you can shoot them twice when locked in combat. However, you probably will be taking them for their special Death Korps units and not the orders.

Elysian Drop Troops have a new Aerial Drop ability that allows them to Deep Strike more than 9" away from any enemy units. But they lose the Valkyrie/Vendetta as Dedicated Transport thing. Oh well. That sucks. They have one new order which allows them to ignores models who get killed during the Shooting and Fighting phase when taking Morale tests. That's about it. Probably the only reason why you're taking them is to have an entire army that can Aerial Drop. And no more spamming Valkyies or Vendettas for Dedicated Transports, I guess.

Titans are awesome. A Warlord costs a whooping 4,000 points, including wargear. Reaver Titans are 2,400 points and Warhounds are 1,500 points. Have fun!

Saturday, July 1, 2017

The Fate of Konor has begun!

Warhammer Community has a new post letting us know that the Fate of Konor campaign has begun!



I'm definitely taking part in this, so I'll let you guys know the results of my games or whatever.

As you know, I'm an Imperial Knight player, so I'll be fielding my House Yato's Lances. I want to try out my Onager Dunecrawler Spearhead support alongside my 3 Imperial Knights and see how they fare against the Death Guard or whoever comes up against me. I can't wait! You already saw my army rosters in an earlier post, so I'm using those.



I won't be able to do much, only a couple of weeks, before I'm recalled back to America for the new semester, so we shall see what I can do! Maybe I'll just bring my Imperial Knights to America.

3-way battle report

I call this a 3-way battle report, but it was actually a 2 versus 1 battle report. Basically, 3 of us played 1,000-points armies, but my 2 opponents ganged up on me. I deserve it, to be fair. I brought 2 Imperial Knights to the table.


I brought my usual Knight Paladin with a Stormspear rocket pod, and a Knight Warden with a twin Icarus autocannon. One opponent brought Necrons, with an Overlord, a Cryptek, some other guy, and 3 squads of Immortals and 1squad of Warriors. The other brought Death Guard, with a Plaguecaster, 2 squads of Poxwalkers, a squad of Plague Marines, 2 Hellbrutes and a Daemon Prince of Nurgle.


Needless to say, the two of them ganged up on my Imperial Knights, and they took 4 turns to kill both of my Imperial Knights. Keep in mind, within these 4 turns, they did not shoot or attack each other at all. They were both focused on killing my Imperial Knights. Yet I lasted 4 turns against them. Phew.

In return, I wiped out the Death Guard's Poxwalkers, he only had one poor guy left at the end of it. I annihilated one squad and almost took out the other. I killed both Helbrutes with my Knights, but that's about it. I think I only killed 1 or 2 Plague Marines total, which was pretty bad rolling on my part, and my opponent made all his Disgustingly Resilient saves. On the other side, I almost wiped out one Necron Immortal squad, took out a few here and there, but Reanimation Protocols meant his entire army resurrected again right after he took out my Knights. Oh well. But at least I killed a lot. The Death Guard had less than half his army left.

I made a mistake by not concentrating on the Necrons first. Whoops.

Anyway, that's what happened. I'll try to get a game with the House Yato's Houkai Lance one of these days, and see how the Onager Dunecrawlers support fare. I've no idea how it will work out, but we shall see. Thanks and I'll let you guys know more when I get another game.


Army Roster

Warhammer Community released a downloadable Warhammer 40,000 Army Roster yesterday.

So I downloaded it, printed it and now I have them here on hand.  I even filled them out. Here are two versions!

The first army roster is the House Yato's Shuugeki Lance Army, which consists of the House Yato's Shuugeki Lance Super-heavy Detachment and an Adeptus Mechanicus Shuugeki Support Battalion.






The second army roster is the House Yato's Houkai Lance Army, which consists of the House Yato's Houkai Lance Super-heavy Detachment and an Adeptus Mechanicus Houkai Support Spearhead.





I think that's about it! What differentiates the Shuugeki Lance (襲撃) is that it's meant to be a Strike Lance. The Knights, as you can see, do not have carapace weapons in Shuugeki Lance. They are meant for quick, speedy deployment alongside Skitarii infantry and Kataphron Destroyers.

On the other hand, the Houkai (崩壊) is a Destruction Lance. Armed with carapace weapons, these Imperial Knights pack even more fearsome firepower and their role is to obliterate and destroy everything with overwhelming firepower...uh, why am I repeating myself? They fight alongside the neutron lasers-equipped Onager Dunecrawlers to form an Adeptus Mechanicus armored column, so an armor army in one sense, except that we use Skitarii tanks instead of the conventional Imperial Guard Leman Russ ones.

Go download your army rosters and fill them up today!