Questoris Knight Crusade Tactics

 After the untimely demise of 1d4chan, I am attempting to put together at least some bits of tactica here and there. I know the tactica is precisely the main draw of 1d4chan, so like the Magos Explorator of the Adeptus Mechanicus I am, I will attempt to recover the lost knowledge and scraps of data. Obviously, most of my focus will be on Imperial Knights and the Adeptus Mechanicus (or Mechanicum in Horus Heresy). Ave Omnissiah!

Knights of the Imperium...we march!

Well, this particular post will be dedicated to the Questoris Knight Crusade Army List. For the last couple of years, every time I participate in a Horus Heresy campaign (the latest one being the Janus Campaign), I bring an Imperial Knight army. Ahem...I mean a Questoris Knight Crusade Army. The reason is simple. Because I don't have any other Horus Heresy models. Well, strictly speaking, actually I do have a couple of Magos Macrotek and their servo-automata, I have 20 Secutarii Hoplites (which don't count as compulsory troops because I don't have a 28mm scale Titan), and a bunch of battle-automata in the form of 4 Castellax-Achea battle-automata (which I'm running as regular Castellax battle-automata with Darkfire cannons), 2 Thanatar siege-automata and a single Vultarax stratos-automata. I could technically use my Tech-priest Dominus or Cybernetica Datasmith as an Archmagos Dominus and form a minimum-sized Horus Heresy army, but I don't have enough models to form a proper army. Like, okay, that would be 1,545 points. Not enough to play a Horus Heresy game.

But Knights...now that's a different story. I love my regular 9th Edition Warhammer 40,000 games (I'm very different from most Horus Heresy players in that regard, the majority of them seeming to swear off 9th edition and focus solely on Horus Heresy), and my Knights allow me to have my cake and eat it. I can freely swap between them in Horus Heresy and the 41st Millennium 9th Edition without needing to make any major adjustments. Best of all, they are magnetized, so if there's no Knight Preceptor in 30K? Easy, I'll swap his arm for a thermal cannon or rapid-fire battle cannon. Or make him a Knight Crusader!

That is one of the best strengths of a Knight army - you can play them in both 30K and 40K without needing major model changes or weapon swaps (it's hard to play a 30K Space Marine Legion in 40K, even if you go entirely Firstborn, especially with volkite weapons missing and all the special units, and obviously Primaris Space Marines aren't in 30K, nor are Centurions and a lot of stuff). Hell, even Imperial Militia and Cults are hard to convert between 30K and 40K. I can't use my Leman Russ Executioner tanks in 30K, and if I go Solar Auxilia, I can't take sponsons. Just...wow. So Knights it is. And I haven't even brought up the Mechanicum problem that has been plaguing us. WHY AREN'T WE GETTING 40K RULES FOR MECHANICUM ROBOTS AND UNITS?! I love my Cybernetica models. I really do. But it hurts to see them on the shelf, unable to play them in 40K. I could theoretically play them in 30K and I intend to do so...eventually. But I'll need a lot of new Mechanicum models to make up the shortfall, which isn't compatible with my Adeptus Mechanicus army. It baffles me that the Skitarii show up frequently in Horus Heresy lore and novels (Mechanicum, Cybernetica, Master of Mankind and Know No Fear being many of them) but they just don't show up on the tabletop because there simply are no rules for them! Apparently the Road to Terra Podcast is doing beta rules for the Skitarii, but right now they're still fixing errors that I've pointed out to them, and they have yet to update it. Maybe they'll update and upload a new version once the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex comes out, and they can add the Skitarii Marshal to their ranks. I hope. I'll write an article on it one day.

Best of all, Adeptus Titanicus is supposed to take place in the Horus Heresy (though you can also play Adeptus Titanicus matches set in the 41st Millennium). And I play a Knight Household Army. So I have both big Knights and small Knights. I can literally use the same army for my Questoris Knight Crusade Army and Adeptus Titanicus Knight Household Army in the Horus Heresy, especially in these campaigns! How cool is that?

Why Play The Questoris Knight Crusade Army?

Two words. Giant robots.

Giant robots piloted by the most badass, noble dudes in the Imperium. Okay, you have Traitor Knights who are...well, not so noble, and you have ruthless Mechanicum overlords who command tyrannical houses of Knights such as House Malinax (the archenemy of my House Yato).

Their rules are fairly simple. You don't have to worry about the Vehicle Damage Table, so no crew stunned or shaken. Only thing you have to worry about is losing D3 hull points on an Explodes! result, but that's about it. They Move Through Cover, they are super-heavy walkers, they can fall back and shoot and charge, they can fire their weapons at different targets (but you can only charge at a unit you fired at least one of your weapons at). They can stomp! Also, the robots have beaten the kaiju! So if Tyranids do somehow show up in the 31st Millennium (courtesy of the Pharos machine in Sotha), you'd want a Household of Knights on your side.

Also, they pack heavy firepower, have easy access to Strength D weapons, are fairly sturdy (though your opponent can still easily take them down with enough anti-tank weaponry and Haywire - I lost like 6 Knights to Iron Havocs with Tank Hunter). Some people claim they are unfriendly, but hey, make sure your opponent knows what they are facing and allow them to tailor their list, and it should be a close battle. Even if you're facing a load of anti-tank, you still stand a good chance of winning as long as you know how to use your list well. Knights are strong, flexible and durable. They might not be as durable as in 40K (24 Wounds is a lot better than 6 Hull Points, and an all-round 5++ invulnerable save is sometimes better than 4++, plus there are no Strength D weapons in 9th edition), but they certainly pack a punch and can stomp your opponent to the ground if they are unprepared.

QUESTORIS KNIGHT CRUSADE ARMY WARLORD TRAITS

You can roll on the table when determining Warlord Traits for your Knight Seneschal.

1. Hell Rider: In the first turn, your Knight Warlord and all Knights within 12" of him gain +1 to their Movement, and +1 on To Wound and Armor Penetration rolls. Sweet! Allows your Knights to move faster and their ranged weaponry become deadlier. It'll be hard to pull off a charge on Turn 1, but even so, weapons like thermal cannons and rapid-fire battle cannons would benefit a lot from this.

2. Glorious Renown: Your opponents get -2 penalty to their Leadership tests when taking Fear tests against your Knight Warlord, while your allied units within 12" may re-roll failed Morale checks. It's okay, I guess? Should be good for Imperial Militia allies.

3. Favored of Mars: Choose one of your Knight Warlord's weapons to be Master-crafted. Nice. House Taranis rides again! Also very useful on a Reaper chainsword or Strength D weapons.

4. Lord of the Abyss: The Knight Warlord gains Monster Hunter and Adamantium Will. Would be great if you have more Monstrous Creatures running around in 30K, but I guess it works well against Mechanicum robots (ouch, Legio Cybernetica lists had best watch out) and maybe Primarchs?

5. Pussy...ahem, I mean Puissant Commander: Add +1 to your Seize the Initiative roll, and opponents' reserve rolls suffer a -1 modifier. Pretty good, especially in missions where your opponent has lots of units in reserves. Also helped me seized the initiative when I rolled a 5 (by the Emperor's grace, I got this Warlord Trait during one of the Janus Campaign missions). Hah!

6. Indomitable: It Will Not Die. My personal favorite. Nothing like seeing the look on my opponent's face when I tell him my Warlord just gained a hull point after rolling a 5+.

QUESTORIS KNIGHT CRUSADE ARMY FORCE ORGANIZATION CHART

Now, one of the things you must take note when playing a Questoris Knight Crusade Army - you are not using the normal Force Organization Chart. You have to use a special Force Organization Chart unique only to Knights. That means...

What this means is that, unlike regular Force Organization Charts, you only need to take one HQ and 1 Troops as Compulsory units. So you don't need to take 2 Troops. Yay. You can build an army with a minimum of 2 Knights, and then fill the rest out with an allied detachment or something. Also, because your Knights are not Lords of War, you don't have to worry about the Price of Failure in many missions. So field as many Knights as you want! Also, you can field a Legio Titanicus Titan as a Lord of War choice for a Questoris Knight Crusade Army.

You have 2 HQs, 5 Troops, 3 Elites, 2 Fast Attack and 2 Heavy Support choices. But you're playing Knights, so you don't have to worry about how seemingly restricted that is. Also, you'll need to use Household Ranks for the Knights, which would determine which slot you're using them for.

HOUSEHOLD RANKS

The Household Ranks work by you allocating a specific Knight to a particular Household Rank, and then adding the points cost of the rank to the basic cost of the Knight. So let's say you select a Cerastus Knight Lancer as your Warlord. He's your HQ, so you need to purchase the Seneschal or Lord Scion rank for him, and if you choose the Seneschal rank, you add the 50 points on top of the Knight Lancer's basic 400 points for a 450-points Knight Lancer Seneschal with BS5, WS5 and a 3++ invulnerable save.

HQ

Seneschal: For 50 points, you can upgrade your Warlord into a Seneschal, but you can only take 0-1 of him in a single army. He gets +1 to his WS, BS and invulnerable save. Also allows you to re-roll your Warlord Traits (something that helped me a lot).

Lord Scion: For 25 points, you can get a budget HQ that also adds +1 to his WS and BS, but not your invulnerable save. No re-rolls for Warlord Traits either. And you can only take a maximum of 1, just like your Seneschal.

ELITES

Preceptor: Another 25 points, your Knights in Reserves all add +1 to their Reserve rolls. Also, your Preceptor and any Knights within 6" of him get the Interceptor rule and may fire Overwatch. Cool. Useful if you want to shoot Deep Striking Terminators when they show up in your deployment zone.

Aucteller: Can only take a maximum of 1, and comes at a costly 35 more points. What do you get in return? Well, the Aucteller can choose a single Warlord, Lord of War that isn't a Flyer, a Super-heavy Walker (remember, Knights don't count as Lords of War if you take them in a Questoris Knight Crusade Army), a ground vehicle or a Gargantuan Creature as his Sworn Enemy, and if he destroys that unit, you get additional D3 victory points. Of course, if some other Knight kills the Sworn Enemy, you don't get any additional victory points. This comes at a cost, however. If the Sworn Enemy is still alive at the end of the game, your opponent gains +1 Victory Point. Damn. Oh, and if your Aucteller is destroyed in combat with his Sworn Enemy, you may make an additional single close combat attack as one act of spite. Heh.

Legendary Freeblade: Um, this serves as your unique characters for Knights. You don't need to add any additional cost, unlike the other Hosuehold Ranks, but the costs have already been baked into them. I mean, look at Gerantius! He costs 500 whooping points! You just add him or other Freeblades into your army with their innate points and they take up an Elite slot. That's about it. I have no idea what Freeblades there are in Horus Heresy. The closest I can think of is Gerantius from 7th Edition, but yeah. I guess they'll add more unique characters when they come up with new books, but I won't be holding my breath. It all went quiet on the Horus Heresy front after the Thramas campaign (Book Nine: Crusade).

TROOPS

Scion Martial: No additional cost, you get a vanilla Knight in the Troops slot. In other words, he's Scoring because he's Troops. Yay! I think.

Scion Aspirant: If you're on a budget and are looking to cut costs from your Knights, you can take a Scion Aspirant and shave 35 points away. But he'll end up have -1 to his BS, WS and invulnerable save. Also, there's a limit to the number of Scion Aspirants you can take - they must not be more than half of your Knight army in terms of ranks (so if you have 6 Knights, only a maximum of 3 can be Scion Aspirants). But he also can score!

Scion Auxilia: The Household Rank for Questoris Knight Armiger Talons, no additional cost, but they don't benefit from the Warlord Traits that target friendly Knight models. They can score, so yay! Non-compulsory Troops, however. Unlike the other Knights, you can take up to 3 in a single slot.

Scion Amuntar: The special Household Rank for Mechanicum Knight Armiger Moirax Talons, they come at no additional cost, but you can't hold them in reserve and must deploy them more than 6" away from a friendly Questoris Knight if possible. Sometimes it's not possible because of how small your Deployment Zone is and how many models of super-heavy Knights you have, but given you can move your big Knights 12" and these guys only move 6", it shouldn't be a problem after your deployment. Other tthan that, they are non-compulsory Troops...again. Still very useful and flexible, so often worth giving them that slot.

FAST ATTACK

Scion Dolorous: For 25 points, you get a Knight who can re-roll failed charges and failed Sweeping Advances. Also, you must charge an enemy Knight, Walker, Monstrous Creature, Primarch, Super-heavy Walker or Gargantuan Creature. Pretty good for a Knight Gallant or a Cerastus Knight Lancer.

Scion Uhlan: For no additional cost, you get a Knight with Scout and Hit and Run, but they reduce their front armor by 1 (so AV12). Unfortunately, they can only make Snap Shots with their ranged weapons at targets more than 24" away. Again...Knight Gallant or a Cerastus Knight Lancer, given how pitiful the range of the latter's weapon is. At 18", he's not going to be bothered by that rule. The Knight Acheron is worth a shot, but be careful about firing his heavy bolter at targets over 24" away.

HEAVY SUPPORT

Scion Arbalester: For 25 more points, your Knight gets Tank Hunter. Woo! I love this Knight. Especially awesome on a Knight Crusader with thermal cannon and Stormspear rocket pod, not to mention 12 Rending Avenger Gatling cannon shots. Also not bad on his rapid-fire battle cannon, and with Ordnance, you can roll 2 D6 twice, discarding the lowest each time. Not only that, if you decide to have your Knight stay still, his weapons can have Skyfire. So your Stormspear rocket pod and Avenger Gatling cannon will be shooting flyers out of the skies (and if you're close enough, so will the meltagun). Don't forget that you still have Tank Hunter on top of that! Do take note that blast weapons might not benefit from the Skyfire rule...so no thermal cannons, I think.

Scion Implacable: For 35 more points, your Knight gets +1 to Building Damage table rolls, cumulative with the weapon's AP. Uh, very situational, I guess? But you also get a guy who can stomp infantry better, which means re-rolling results on the Stomp table. Not only that, he has a 5++ invulnerable save against melta bombs and grenades in melee, but at the cost of not making Sweeping Advances.

IMPERIAL KNIGHT CHASSIS

Imperial Knights are divided into many chassis and variants, each with their own weapons. Do take note that any chassis can be selected for any Household Rank, but keep in mind that there are restrictions for specific chassis. If there is, I'll note them down below. But for now...let's get into it!

ARMIGER CHASSIS

Questoris Knight Armiger Talon: We can take Armiger Knights from 40K as a Scion Auxilia choice in a Questoris Knight Crusade Army! As Troops! Scoring Walkers! Hooray! That means we can take 1-3 of these baby Knights in a single slot, starting from 175 points but an additional 150 points for each subsequent one. Unfortunately, they cannot be taken as compulsory Troops, so you must have at least 2 big Knights already in your Detachment before you take them. They are essentially Dreadnoughts with 4 Hull points, but AV12 on front and side, and AV11 on the rear. They can take a 5-point heavy stubber or 15-point meltagun for carapace weapons, and swap any of their "close-combat Dreadnought weapons (what?!)" for an Armiger thermal spear (10 points) or Armiger autocannon. The former is a single shot Strength 8 AP2 at 36" range with melta, and the latter has two modes for their Heavy 2 64" Strength 7 AP 3 autocannon shells: armor-piercing rounds that have the Sunder rule, or incendiary rounds that Ignores Cover. You can give their heavy stubbers bio-corrosive rounds for 10 points for Poisoned (4+), but considering that you'll be wounding most Toughness 4 Space Marines with the Strength 4 AP6 heavy stubbers on 4+s anyway, it's usually a waste of points unless your opponent brings lots of Monstrous Creatures (but they will have Cybernetic Resilience, so...). Still a pretty good choice, very flexible and fast. Oh, and they have an ion buckler that gives them a 5++ invulnerable save without worrying about facing. So no more arguing on where your opponent is shooting from.

Mechanicum Knight Moirax Talon: Similar to the normal Armiger Knights, we can take a Mechanicum Knight Moriax Talon as a Scion Amuntar choice in a Questoris Knight Crusade army, complete with Scoring. Yay. They don't count as compulsory Troops, however. Starting at 185 points, you can take up to 3 in one slot, with each additional Knight Moirax weighing in at 155 points. Like the Armiger Knight above, he has front and side AV12 and rear AV11, and 4 Hull Points. Basically a Dreadnought, then. But unlike the regular Armiger Knights, the Armiger Knight Moriax have 2 Construct Shields that have an AV11. So mini-void shields that collapse and don't come back online once they are taken out. They also have an ionic flare shield that gives them a 5++ invulnerable save without worrying about facings, plus reduce the Strength of non-Destroyer and non-Haywire blast and Template weapons by 1.

 - They have a sweet suite of weapons to choose from for their arms. Any 2 would be amazing, but since this is Horus Heresy and you can only shoot both weapons at the same target because the Armiger Knight Moirax is not a super-heavy walker (he can get immobilized - both Armiger Moirax Knights in my talon got immobilized when I rolled two ones in a row when traversing dangerous terrain, damn), you might as well take the same weapon for both arms. That said, it's a good idea to keep one as a melee weapon in case of close encounters.

 - - The Gyes Siege Claw is your melee weapon that hits at Strength 10 (yeah, Strength 7 x2, but caps at Strength 10), AP2 and has Wrecker. It comes with an in-built rad cleanser that is a Template Strength 2 AP 5 weapon with Fleshbane and Rad-phage, so pretty cool especially against infantry. If your Armiger Knight Moirax is armed with the claw, though, you should be charging vehicles with him, so it's kind of hard to choose between shooting that rad-cleanser at infantry or just shooting it at a vehicle and then charging it.

 - - Lightning Locks are 36" range Small Blast (3") Strength 6 AP 3 with Rending. Not bad, especially against Space Marines. But nothing fantastic either, I think, especially when you compare it with the 40K rules.

 - - Graviton Pulsars have a shorter range at 24", but fires 2 small blasts (3") with Concussive, Graviton Pulse and Haywire. A death sentence against vehicles if you don't scatter. AP4 is okay, but sucks against power armor and Terminator armor. Plus Graviton Pulse means you have to roll a D6 and hope it's above the target's Toughness, so you have 1/3 chance of wounding a Toughness 4 Space Marine, who will have 2/3 chance of saving the wound (5/6 for Terminators). So point that weapon at vehicles instead of armored infanty. On the other hand, turning their position into Dangerous Terrain might be hilarious.

 - - Volkite Veuglaires, my personal favorite. An upgunned version of the volkite culverin, this baby fires 5...yes, five, Strength 6 AP4 Deflagrate shots from 36" range. The amount of dakka means that even Space Marines would buckle from the superheated Martian death rays.

 - - Armiger Conversion Beam Cannon...a miniaturized version of the conversion beam cannons mounted on the super-heavy Acastus Knight Asterius. Up to 18" is a small blast (3") Strength 6 AP - shot, which does nothing much but tickle infantry (well, might be cool against Militia infantry, I guess?). 18' to 42" is a bit better, improving to Strength 8 AP 4, so goodbye Solar Auxilia. But you want to keep your target as far away as 42"-72" for that's where the Strength 10 AP1 small blast will really kick in. Though at that point, you might as well be firing at vehicles and rolling on the vehicle damage table for that sweet explosion (I doubt Terminators would ever end up more than 42" away from your Armiger Knight Moirax, and if they somehow end up remain hiding in your opponent's deployment zone throughout the whole game, he's playing them wrong).

QUESTORIS KNIGHT CHASSIS

Questoris Knight Errant: He comes with a Strength 9 AP 1 Large Blast (5") Thermal cannon, heavy stubber that can be swapped for a meltagun, Strength D Reaper chainsword and an ion shield. As with his Questoris counterpart, he gets the occular augmetics option and can upgrade his heavy stubber with bio-corrosive rounds that shoot at 6" less but with Poisoned (4+). No point taking the bio-corrosive rounds since you're already wounding Toughness 4 Space Marines on a 4+ anyway. Good against Terminators, good against vehicles. Has 3 choices of caparace weapons like all plastic Questoris Knights (meaning not the Knight Styrix and Magaera), which ranges from the 72" Ironstorm missile pod that fires a large blast Strength 5 AP4...with Ordnance for some reason (no Barrage or Ignores Cover...what?), the 48" range Stormspear rocket pod that fires 3 Krak missiles (Strength 8 AP 3), to the 48" range Icarus twin autocannon that fires two twin-linked shots at Strength 7 AP4 with Skyfire. So if your opponents bring a ton of aircraft (like Fire Raptors), you can try to bring them down with the Icarus autocannon.
Questoris Knight Paladin: Same as above, almost the same as his 40K version in 7th edition (how time flies, it's already 9th edition). Almost. Instead of the normal rapid-fire battlecannon that we all know and love, we can exchange that 2-shot Ordnance S8 AP3 Large Blast for a 3-shot Ordnance S6 AP3 Large Blast, both at a range of 72". I personally like the 3-shot better for more dakka. Except that when I played him in reality, the Strength 8 variant did a lot better...especially against vehicles and Titans. Well...funny how things work out sometimes. Also gets access to occular augmetics for night-fighting, but quite a meh upgrade, and for some reason the bio-corrosive rounds for his heavy stubber is 2 times more expensive than the Knight Errant - EACH, so it's actually 4 times more expensive if you upgrade both. Argh. Not worth it, unless you're up against Monstrous Creatures and high Toughness units, but this is 30K and so the only Monstrous Creatures you face are Cybernetica automata with Cybernetic Resilience...which makes the whole Poisoned pointless. In any case, a very flexible Knight with much-needed long-range weaponry that you can tailor to be a complete Space Marine killer with his Questoris battle cannon, or capable of performing anti-vehicle duties and Instant Death-ing Space Marines with his Ordnance rapid-fire battle cannon if you so prefer. Can also take carapace weapons, so people tend to take the Ironstorm missile pod to complement the 72" range of the battle cannon.

Questoris Knight Warden: Dakka. Just...dakka. You know why you're getting him...that sweet Avenger Gatling cannon that fires 12 Strength 6 AP3 shots with Rending. This guy is a Legiones Astartes killer. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, it comes with a heavy flamer! Though the only reason why you'd take a Knight Warden over a Knight Crusader is if you want that Strength D Reaper chainsword or Thunderstrike gauntlet. Which makes sense, given the Primarchs, Titans and other super-heavies running around in Horus Heresy. Can swap his heavy stubber for a meltagun, but let's be real, you want more dakka, don't you? Can take carapace weapons as well, so if you need anti-air in a pinch, grab an Icarus twin autocannon and dakka the aircraft in question to death.

Questoris Knight Crusader: The dakka Knight. Armed with the same Avenger Gatling cannon as the Knight Warden above, he swaps out his melee weapon for either a thermal cannon or a rapid-fire battle cannon. The ideal bulwark for your army, plant him in your deployment zone and have him hose Legionnes Astartes down with 12 Strength 6 AP 2 Rending shots or blow them up with the battle cannon. The thermal cannon is good against vehicles (even if they have Armored Ceramite, Strength 9 is nothing to scoff at) AND Terminators. And trust me, you need all the anti-Terminator weaponry, especially since people love their Rites of War that give them Terminator Troops. One of the best support Knights. He's no slouch in melee either, with Strength 10 AP2 attacks in close combat (thanks to Smash rule that comes with super-heavy walkers) and Stomp, so don't be afraid to charge him in. Unless the other party is a Primarch, then...yeah, keep him far away from the Primarch as possible and shoot him from afar. The carapace weapons might depend on what armanents you take for this guy. A battle cannon? Perhaps the 72" Ironstorm missile pod might suit your Marine-hunting task well. A thermal cannon? Then maybe the Stormspear rocket pod would be better for ant-tank. And if you're desperate for anti-air, then Icarus twin autocannon would do the job well.

Questoris Knight Gallant: The choppy Knight. Dedicated close-combat Knight armed with a Reaper chainsword and Thunderstrike gauntlet, that means he has an additional attack (so 5 on the charge, yay). Given that they are Strength D, anything you send him into combat with is most likely dead. Unless it's a Primarch, then you better pray you roll 6s on the Destroyer table. Heh. Also the cheapest, so if you happen to be playing an Questoris Knight Crusade list (like me), that's where you can spare the points. I think. Usually don't take carapace weapons for this guy (because you're obviously taking him to cut down on points, and the cheapest Ironstorm missile pod is at 30 points, the Icarus autocannon at 35 and the Stormspear rocket pod is at a whooping 40 points, which is probably the only thing you would take to complement the Strength D weapons against a tank or vehicle).
Questoris Knight Styrix: Already blessed with Blessed Autosimulacra, this fellow comes with a graviton gun for Haywire, an ionic flare shield that reduces the strength of shooting attacks by -1 and -2 if it's a Blast or Template weapon (no effect on Haywire or Destroyer attacks, though) in addition to a 4++ invulnerable save and can be upgraded with a Hekaton siege claw with a twin-linked rad cleanser. But his most noteworthy weapon is the Volkite chieorovile, which fires 5 Heavy S8 AP3 Deflagrate shots at 45". A Space Marine killer, he can be awesome in a gunline, but not so good in melee with I2, so keep him at the back and wipe out those annoying Marine squads! With Deflagrate, he can potentially kill twice as many Marines as he hits!
Questoris Knight Magaera: What happens when a Thallax evolves? He becomes a Knight Magaera! As with above, he has an ionic flare shield and Blesed Autosimulacra and the option to upgrade his reaper chainsword into a Hakaton siege claw with twin-linked rad cleanser, but that's as far as the similarities end. He has the same lightning cannon as the Krios Battle Tank, firing a S7 AP3 Large Blast with Shred and Rending at 48". In place of a graviton gun, he has a phased plasma-fusil, and this makes him another Space Marine killer. As with the Knight Styrix, he's not so hot in combat with I2, and should also keep his distance. I've no idea which is better, but this guy has Shred and Rending at least while the other one has Deflagrate, so it depends if you want to stack the number of wounds, or you're worried about wounding something.

CERASTUS KNIGHT CHASSIS

Cerastus Knight-Lancer: Cerastus Knights have the Occular augmetics upgrade for 10 points, if you want, and Flank Speed, which allows them to make a 3D6" Run during the Shooting phase. The Lancer excels at killing Characters and Gargantuan Creatures, you want this guy to get into close combat to prod things to death with his Strength D Cerastus shock lance. Swift Strike gives him +1 to Initiative when he Charges into combat, and his ion gauntlet shield protects him in close combat at 5++ at the cost of not being able to cover his rear against shooting (still gets 4++ against shooting on the front and sides, though). He also forces close combat attacks by other Super-heavy Walkers and Gargantuan Creatures to suffer a -1 to hit, which is sweet. His shooting is decent, with 6 S7 AP2 Concussive Heavy attacks at 18" for killing Terminators.
Cerastus Knight-Castigator: As with above, he has Flank Speed and can get occular augmetics for 10 points. Unlike the Lancer, he has an ion shield and a Castigator-pattern bolt cannon that fires 8 S7 AP3 Heavy shots at 36", more rounds than the Knight Styrix but without Deflagrate and the extra 9" range. His Tempest warblade is the only Knight close combat weapon without Strength D, being S10 AP2 instead but with Deflagrate, Tempest Attack and Sunder. Can kill blobs with Deflagrate and Tempest Attack, the latter allowing the Knight to make a single special attack at I2 instead, but automatically inflicts a single hit against each model in base combat with him at S10 AP2. The tarpits will get scared off, and Deflagrate potentially kills off two times as many models as your hits.
Cerastus Knight-Acheron: Again, with Flank Speed and an ion shield, with an occular augmetics option, but has a Strength D Reaper chainfist with an inbuilt twin-linked heavy bolter. This guy is different in that he uses an Acheron pattern flame cannon that uses a Hellstorm template to dish out S7 AP3 Ordnance attacks. Unlike the Knight-Castigator, this guy can roast blobs without needing to get into combat, and can even wreck vehicles with the high strength and Ordnance Hellstorm he unleashes on them. He's also decent in close combat, but if you do so you might want to Charge stuff with an Armor value to make full use of his Machine Destroyer Reaper chainfist. He's not a bad choice, and is flexible like the Knight Paladin.
Mechanicum Cerastus Knight-Atrapos: An amazing Knight who can take down Warhound Titans if you're lucky (my Knight Atrapos actually rolled 6s on his singularity cannon AND the vortex that resulted from it), he's the only one who actually benefits from the occular augmetics upgrade, which allows him to re-roll ones on the Destroyer table for his shooting attack at less than 12". And the maximum range of his weapon is 8". Yay. Unlike the others, the Knight Atrapos comes with an innate Blessed Autosimulacra, which means you recover a Hull Point on a roll of 6 at the end of your turn and the same ionic flare shield as the Knight Styrix and Knight Magaera. Meaning -1 Strength to shooting attacks and -2 if they are Blast or Template, as long as they aren't haywire or Strength D. This guy's Atrapos lascutter fires an 8" beam at Strength D AP2, and can also be used in melee as a Strength D AP1 Wrecker close combat weapon. He also carries a Graviton singularity cannon that fires at 36" range with a S8 AP2 Armorbane and Concussive Large Blast. Not only that, it has the Collapsing Singularity rule, which basically means you open up a Black Hole on a roll of 6, planting a Vortex right on top of the target. Be careful, on a roll of 1, the Knight-Atrapos loses a Hull Point with no saves allowed (ouch!). Being a Super-heavy and Gargantuan Creature hunter, he has Macro-extinction Targeting Protocols, which turns all his shooting attacks against them Twin-linked! Beware, if he dies, his Catastrophic Destruction adds +2 to the Catastrophic Damage table, so you don't want any friendly units around when he blows. Good for kamikaze-ing him into a horde of enemies PLUS Superheavies/Gargantuan Creatures, and laugh when he dies as he leaves a Strength D explosion right in those 5 stupid Wraithknights' faces. The catch? You can only take 0-1 of them per 2,000 points in a Questoris Knight Crusade army, so no spamming them. Not that you need more than 1 of them...

ACASTUS KNIGHT CHASSIS

Acastus Knight Porphyrion: The beefiest and most destructive Knight on the block. At about 500 points, he has 8 hull points, a front armor of AV14, and is armed with two twin-linked magna lascannons, which means 2x2 Ordnance large blasts of Strength 10 AP 2 that can reach from across the table with his 72" range. Can take either lascannons or autocannons or irad-cleansers, though you might as well go all the way with las weaponry if you think about it. Also has the same Ironstorm missile pod that regular Questoris Knights have, but you can swap it for the Helios Defence missiles for anti-air if you want. However, you cannot choose a Knight Porphyrion to be a Scion Aspirant or Scion Uhlan (why the hell would you do that, anyway?).

Acastus Knight Asterius: Same as the Knight Porphyrion, but instead of twin-linked magna lascannons, you get twin-linked conversion beam cannons. Oh, and radioactive warheads in the form of Karacnos mortar battery. Same as the Ironstorm missile pod, but with rad-phage and fleshbane, at the cost of a small blast instead of large blast. Wait, rad-phage? Simply means the poor victim who survives the blast gets his Toughness permanently reduced  by 1 for the rest of the battle. Combine that with the two volkite culverins (4 Strength 6 AP5 Deflagrate), that's some serious anti-infantry firepower. Before I get ahead of myself, let me talk about the conversion beam cannons. They are all Strength 10 Ordnance, but like conversion beam weapons, improve over range. 0-18" gets AP3, small blast (3"). 18"-42" nets you AP2, large blast (5"), Wrecker. 42-72" gives you AP1, massive blast (7"), Wrecker AND Sunder. So essentially, whatever tank you look at from long range...dies. As with the Knight Porphyrion, you can't choose him to be a Scion Aspirant or Scion Uhlan, but nobody would be crazy enough to do that. I hope.

DOMINUS KNIGHT CHASSIS

Questoris Knight Dominus: Unlike their 40K counterparts, the Dominus Knights in 30K are quite underwhelming. They are certainly sturdier, with front and side AV13, rear AV12, and 7 Hull Points. They do cost 360 points, and that's before you start adding the costs of their main armaments. Armed with up to 3 twin-linked siegebreaker cannons, which are essentally twin-linked autocannons, you can swap any of them for two one-use shieldbreaker missiles each, which are 48" Strength 9 AP3 missiles that ignore invulnerable saves. Then you have 2 twin-linked meltaguns, which is...cool, I guess? You can get an 80" Strength 9 AP2 Blast (3") volcano lance for 45 points....wait, why isn't this Strength D? I know, right? It's so...weird. The better option is the plasma decimator for 55 points, being a 48" Large Blast (5") Strength 8 AP2 with Gets Hot. The Conflagration cannon is another amazing choice, with Hellstorm Strength 7 AP 3 Ordnance. And it costs only 30 points. Go figure. Then you have the Thundercoil Harpoon, which is 12" Strength 10 AP1 with Ordnance, Armorbane, Fleshbane, Instant Death, Sunder and Harpoon. What the f is Harpoon? It means you can only fire the damned Thundercoil Harpoon, which costs a whooping 50 points, once every two turns. Yeah, you read that right. Not only do you have to pray that the single shot hits, you can't fire it in your next turn. And it doesn't ignore invulnerable saves unlike the shieldbreaker, so you have to pray that your opponent fails his invulnerable save. On the plus side, if your opponent fails the save, or you were smart enough and lucky enough to hit a tank or vehicle without any invulnerable saves, you deal D6 wounds or hull points to that single model. That's a lot of praying to the Omnissiah or the Empror that you have to first hit (you have 1/3 chance of missing) and your opponent failing his invulnerable save (50% chance of making it) for a weapon that can only shoot every other turn and costing 50 points. A hard pass.

Best to arm him with two conflagration cannons or 2 plasma decimators or a conflagration cannon and a plasma decimator...if you can get them, that is. I guess the volcano lance is still worth a shot, but it's a small blast lascannon, so...still underwhelming. You've got to be one hell of a gambler to risk the harpoon, though.

ALLIES

Questoris Knight Crusade armies count as Mechanicum on the allies chart, so...

Sworn Brothers
 - Iron Warriors
 - Iron Hands (notice both Iron legions made it to this list!)
 - Sons of Horus (NOOO!)
 - Salamanders (for some good old flamer and melta lists)
 - Raven Guard (while the Knights take on the enemies, the Raven Guard sneak around in the shadows)
 - Mechanicum (makes sense if you think about it, and they're essentially the same faction. Not to mention your Knights rely on their Battlesmiths to repair them, and your Mechanicum allies benefit from long range firepower and AV13, ion shield and super-heavy durability)

Fellow Warriors
 - Dark Angels
 - Emperor's Children
 - White Scars
 - Space Wolves
 - Imperial Fists (you would think House Taranis would be buddies with the other siege warfare Legion, not to mention their close proximity to Mars during their defense of Terra)
 - Night Lords
 - Blood Angels
 - World Eaters (they eat up any technology they find, and those they can't swallow, they break. Damn Khorne worshippers)
 - Ultramarines (basically House Terryn)
 - Death Guard (well, they're also obsessed with the death of flesh)
 - Thousand Sons (psychic powers and robots don't match...cough Castellax-Achea...cough)
 - Word Bearers (freaking Traitors)
 - Alpha Legion (don't know what they're thinking)
 - Imperial Army
 - - Solar Auxillia: A great idea if you need bodies on the table, especially since you're lacking a lot of models whenever you play Knights. Claiming Objectives would be easier with them.
 - - Imperial Militia and Cults: Very flexible allies with a wide selection. You can make pseudo-Skitarii with a combination of Survivors of the Dark Age and Cyber Augmented! Throw in lots of cheap, expendable soldiers as bodies, if that's your fancy, the way you spam Solar Auxillia Lasrifle sections, and again, tanks! They also have a Malcador if that's what you want.

TACTICAL DISCUSSION
Er...I don't think I'm qualified to talk about this. I mean, I did okay with a pure Questoris Knight Crusade army during the Horus Heresy campaigns I participated in, and I can tell you one thing. If your opponent isn't prepared, it'll be one-sided. If your opponent is prepared, then it won't be one-sided. You just need to adjust the facings of your Knights to make sure they tank the most devastating hits on their ion shields. Be careful of Strength D weapons, they can really ruin your day, but unless your opponent rolls 6s on the Destroyer table, which is unlikely, don't be overly afraid of them.

Against other vehicles, Knights excel in close combat. Between Strength D close combat weapons and Stomps, you should have no trouble clearing tanks and infantry. Be careful of Terminators with power fists and armorbane weapons. And one thing you must beware of - haywire. If your opponent is spamming haywire, keep your Knights far away from them or you'll have a really bad day. You'll realize that 6 hull points aren't enough, especially against haywire.

Make no mistake, Knights are incredibly strong in 30K, but they are by no means invincible. Fellblades, Shadowswords, Fellglaives, even Titans (Warhound Titans) and other Knights exist in great numbers during the Heresy, and a single Primarch or Terminator squad with armorbane weapons can ruin your day. Drop pods filled to the brim with meltaguns and combi-meltas would also be killers, and Iron Havocs and other support squads (basically 30K's version of Devastators) armed with lascannons, missile launchers and Tank Hunter will wreck your Knights, even with ion shield saves. Sometimes it's a good idea to charge them across the table and stomp on them with your titanic feet. Or lock them up in combat so that they can't shoot.

Don't be afraid of Price of Failure. Unless you bring a Titan along with your Knights (you might as well play Apocalypse by then), you don't have to worry about Price of Failure because your Knights don't count. So if your opponent is trying to claim 4 extra victory points for killing 4 of your Knights, nope. That's not how it works. Do remind him that in Blood Feud, he does get extra victory points for destroying Super-heavy walkers, so the game is balanced even with Knights in it.

So that's basically all I have for you guys. Thanks for reading, and if there are any changes I need to make, please let me know.

Other Links:

Taghmata Omnissiah Fluff and Organization

Legio Cybernetica

The Ordo Reductor

The Titan Legions

- Legio Draconis, "The Dark Dragons"

Questoris Knights

Mechanicum 30K Tactics

Questoris Knight Crusade Tactics

Knight Household Army

Forge Worlds

- Draconis IV

Imperial Knights Fluff

- House Yato

Skitarii Fluff

Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard Fluff

The Draconis Coalition and the History of Draconis III

Updated the Mechanicum Tactics page

 I don't know what on Terra happened to the 1d4chan page...all the Tactics are gone. 1d4chan has been down for weeks now, and I do not know when it will ever come back. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I did a copy of their Mechanicum Tactics page on my blog, so if you are missing 1d4chan and their Mechanicum Tactics for Horus Heresy, by all means, please proceed to this page. I basically copied the 1d4chan tactica (well, not exactly, I ended up writing my own), but they should be very, very similar.

I'll see if I can do more tactica pages, but I doubt it. Other people will do it better. Goonhammer should have better pages than me, and besides, I don't think anyone wants me to do it. In fact, I've received comments from readers telling me to shut up and stop posting on my blog...because, I don't know, they think I'm lame or retarded or something. Well, too bad, I guess? I'll only do on Knights in the future, anyway, because...well...I'm primarily an Imperial Knights player. What do you want me to say?

Nah, I might do a tactica page on Adeptus Mechanicus once I buy the codex. To replace 1d4chan's now missing archives. Ouch. Anyway, the Mechanicum 30K Tactics are still up, so yeah. I updated them with new units, which includes the Armiger Knight Talons, Acastus Knights (Asterius, in particular) and Warbringer Nemesis Titan. Let me know if I'm still missing anything and I'll add them. Not that anyone will be reading this, so never mind.

1d4chan might be gone, but I'll continue to preserve little bits of tactica here and there! If you look toward the right of my blog, just below the header, you'll see a Blog "Wiki." All the tactica and fluff should be listed there. It is impossible for me to replicate the entirety of 1d4chan on my blog, but at the very least I can preserve a tiny amount of 1d4chan styled articles, posts, fluff and tactica on my blog. For obvious reasons, I will be focusing only on Imperial Knights, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperial Guard or Astra Militarum, along with their Horus Heresy iterations (Questoris Knights and Mechanicum). So don't expect too much from me. Sorry.

Painting Disaster

 I finally added snow (Valhallan Blizzard) onto my Knight Castellan's base today. Oh, and I did the smiley faces for my new Knights. Well, they are no longer "new" because I have them for a while now, but they are my latest addition to my Knights. Anyway, they have smiley faces now. In the grim darkness of the far future, you need a sense of humor to survive the Long Night.

I also finished painting my Archaeopter Stratoraptor. Finally! Unfortunately, he was quite the pain to paint and I screwed up. I think the wings were very badly done and I had to repaint them a few times before I gave up. Sorry, I'm the lazy type of painter. Also, I spilled Runefang Steel paint onto my tablecloth AND somehow got some paint onto my t-shirt, so I was forced to hand-wash the both of them before the paint dried and stuck onto the fabric. I hung them up to dry in the bathroom...only for someone to take my t-shirt. Now it's missing. I'll have to ask my housemates later if they took my t-shirt, but come on...why the heck do you have to take my clothing? You're short of clothing? My shirt isn't going to fit you anyway.

But at least my Archaeopter Stratoraptor is fully painted now, so that's a plus. I hope. With the Adeptus Mechanicus codex coming soon, I can't wait to see what new tools and weapons they will bring us! I'm tempted to get a new Start Collecting! Skitarii along with the Skitarii Marshal, probably because I might need a third Skorpius Dunerider/Disintegrator, but...we shall see. I'm also looking forward to buying the Loyalist Legios and Warmaster Titan for Adeptus Titanicus next week, so I'm strapped for cash. Again, we'll see. Sigh. Priorities and all that.

Warzone Charadon: The Book of Rust Lore

 By now I think everyone has read Warzone Charadon: The Book of Rust, and if you haven't, most likely you don't intend to do so. By any chance you do want to read up on the lore, then be warned, I'm giving spoilers. Well, duh. What else am I supposed to talk about if I don't give spoilers and details of the book? The weather?

So it began with the prophet of doom on Heliotyr in the Audax System only for him to get killed by Enforcers. Then you had a sleeper chaos cult - seeded by the Alpha Legion - rise in Dhaku in the M'bor System, only for them to get annihilated by Genestealer Cults. Yeah, the Genestealer Cults are here, and so are the Alpha Legion (who allied with several of the Word Bearers to form the Disciples warband).

Plagues broke out in Ferryk in the Feiror System and St Espin's Gift in Rhodior and the cardinal world of Alexistor. Meanwhile, daemons appeared in Kobolt in the Gildras System, but fortunately the Excruciators Chapter was on hand to purge them. Unfortunately, Fabricator General Heptus Khleng of Metalica sent his most zealous arch-magi to conduct Exterminatus on these planets, sending three eradiation arks to unleash maco-rad-leanser batteries. St Espin's Gift was scoured of all life. The eradication arks also attacked Borthreas in the Alumax system and the prison world of Unhallow in the Brezantius System. Unfortunately, before he could Exterminatus Alexistor, the Death Guard showed up. Damn.

Needless to say, the Death Guard won.

If you've been following the Flashpoint articles in the White Dwarf magazines, then you will know what's going on. The Charadon Sector all but fell to the Death Guard and their Chaos Space Marine allies. They conquered Martyr's Rest, Dyroch's Reach, Torthusa and Alumax. They wiped out the Cadians at St. Bartolph's Throne. They took Resplendis and finished off Magnifiria, which had been bombarded by one of the eradication arks earlier. Thanks to the short-sightedness of the archmagos and Fabricator General Khleng, their zealous desire to wipe out all biological life, there weren't many defenders left to protect the planet from the Death Guard, but before they died, they destroyed the erdication ark with an orbital battery as revenge. Hah! They deserve it.

Fortunately, Imperial Forces held Sabhira, forcing Lord Thraxoplasmox - one of Typhus's most trusted lieutenants - into a stalemate. The Excruciators helped the Vostroyans recapture Resplendis. Space Marines retook Sustace. The three Metalican Gates held, thanks to massed Metalican forces, their Defence Cohorts, Legio Cybernetica and Skitarii macroclades driving back the Death Guard and other invaders. Even better, a fleet from Deimos arrived in the Rhodior System alongside Grey Knights. Oh, the Deimos Skitarii are led by Cryptoemissarius Presumptor Uchultor L'au, a Deimosian Archmagos whose Skitarii marcoclades are armed with daemon-banishing weaponry. Yeah, you heard that right. Skitarii daemonhunters. Whoa. Battlefleet Charadon also helped, driving the plague fleet away...only for orks to show up and drive the final nail in the plague fleet's coffin. Apparently Typhus lost another of his favored lieutenants here when a Kill Kroozer smashed his flagship apart. Ouch.

And then...the Knights.

The Knights of House Raven showed up in the Duralim System in force, trampling upon the Death Guard and Black Legion forces, which was led by the Lord Discordant Zeid who brought a whole host of daemon engines with him. So the Imperium won a temporary victory. Phew. Unfortunately, while the Death Guard had retreated, they had left a whole bunch of Miasmic Malignifiers behind on the worlds, which proved to be disastrous for the Imperial defenders. Ugh. Not again. Alumax System fell to the Death Guard despite the efforts of the Excruciators and other Space Marines. One by one, the Metalican Gates fell. Even the plague Titans of Legio Morbidus and Chaos Knights showed up to join the fun. Fortunately, a bunch of Freeblades, known as the Forgotten Company, fought alongside the Titans of Legio Metalica, the Iron Skulls, and stalled the Legio Morbidus Titans on Plenitas. Everywhere else fell and Metalica stood alone.

Right. I forgot one thing. While all this was going on, there was another tear in real-space, from which plague fleets and daemons poured forth from. It's called the Sore, and I suspect it's a miniature Rift. Not sure what that's about, but apparently Zhleng realizes that reinforcements will not be coming and that Metalica is all alone. His stupidity and stubborness caused the Imperium's loss. In contrast, the Death Guard draws strength from the Sore, with more plague ships and daemons coming from it.

Seriously, with all the defeats, casualties, losses and whatever that the Imperium suffered, I'm surprised there's still anything left on Metalica to defend the forge world. Well, apparently the majority of the Iron Skulls Titans have remained there, along with the veteran macroclades, but this doesn't bode well. Then again, the whole grimdark thing and overwhelming odds have left me jaded. Happened in Warzone Pariah, happened to Cadia, happened every freaking where. Boohoo, the Impeerium is doomed, billions of Chaos cultists and their Chaos Space Marine masters are attacking, everything looks grim, we're going to lose. At this point, it's...I don't know. When you raise the stakes too high, everything kind of falls apart after that. You no longer care what's at stake because apparently they've been pulling this high stakes thing over and over again for so long.

Besides, even though the book ends with Metalica standing alone against the Death Guard and impossible odds, we know the Imperium will win. Wait, how do I know that? Because the result has already been written in stone.

"Wait!" I already hear some of you crying. Where did you get that from?! Well...from the Adeptus Mechanicus codex in 2017. I guess they really were trying to visit all these major warzones and events in 9th edition that they hinted at in the beginning of 8th edition, but never really got around to doing so. Still better than nothing, I suppose. I suppose we'll be seeing Warzone Stygius eventually, eh? The Thousand Sons invaded the Stygius Sector in force, so...yeah, I anticipate another campaign detailing the exploits of Magnus and his sons. Looking forward to that. Yay. Might actually get a supplement for Mordians there, which would be amazing!

Horus Heresy Janus Campaign

I had a great weekend at the Horus Heresy Weekender, which was organized by the Frozen North Horus Heresy group - thanks to all the organizers and participants who made this a reality even during Covid-19 circumstances! It was a lot of fun, and it was great to see everyone. I'm so glad I joined the fun, and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Nonetheless, it is my honor to present to you a battle report for the Janus Campaign!

We were basically waging war on a planet called Janus...apparently, the Warmaster sent a huge detachment of Traitors to invade Janus because of its strategic importance - it is an industrial (hive?) world that manufactures vehicles and ammunition for the Imperium, and Horus Lupercal wishes to seize the resources for himself. To achieve that end, he dispatches Angron of all people, along with the Red Angel's own World Eaters and a large contingent of Iron Warriors led by Perturabo, plus supporting militia. The engimatic Thousand Sons company, following their Magister Ruhak, also end up helping the Traitor cause, and to ensure the annihilation of the Loyalist defenders, Horus also diverted several maniples of Warhound Titans bearing the colors of Legio Audax.

The Lion apparently heard the astropathic distress calls for help and detoured a sizable detachment of his fleet to Janus. Saghuri Khan's Brotherhood from the White Scars too find themselves on Janus, reinforcing a Loyalist Iron Warriors detachment that is led by Warsmith Telecus, who stubbornly stands in defiance of his Traitor brothers under the command of Warsmith Sekor van Ultragos. They are further reinforced by the Tallarn Imperial Army regiment, commanded by Colonel Abdi Al-Bashir. And of course, you have my Imperial Knights from House Yato of Draconis III, lorded by Daimyo Yato Yousuke in his venerable Cerastus Knight Lancer, Yatogami.

Funnily enough, Janus first came under attack by orks from Waaagh! Gorzag, the ambitious warboss smashing his roks into the barren deserts of the Seeryik Wastes Empire, famed for its fuel refineries and promethium wells. There, Saghuri Khan's White Scars raced to meet them on their jetbikes, and after a gruelling battle against scrap vehicles, smoking bikes and heavily armored nobz, they finally slew the savage warboss and purged Janus of all xenos taint.

Meanwhile, Warsmith Telecus was placed in charge of the defense of the Hegemonic Kingdoms of Januslaw, fortifying the bastion and repelling a brual World Eaters assault. The early victories of the Imperium solidified their grip on the heavy artillery complexes in the Hegemonic Kingdoms and offered the citizens of Janus some hope, though the elation wouldn't last long.

Warsmith Telecus then relocated his forces up to the northeast, having learned that his Traitorous brother, Sekor van Ultragos, intend to invade Sar Molitor and gain access to its transportation hubs. Unfortunately, his resistance was crushed brutally by the tactically astute and ruthless van Ultragos, who overran his brethren and dealt a blow to the Loyalists.

To make matters worse, Legio Audax had landed in the Ulanti Conglomerate with overwhelming force, trampling over all resistance and claiming the tank factories for the Traitors. Legio Draconis, who were stationed there, were ambushed and outnumbered vastly by several maniples of Warhound Titans, and despite the best efforts of their allied Knight lances House Yato to valiantly extricate them, the single maniple of three Titans (a Reaver and 2 Warlords) fell to the precisely coordinated plasma barrage from the merciless Warhound Titans. With that, the Loyalist Titans were annihilated off the face of Janus, and Legio Audax ran supreme, losing only three Warhound Titans in exchange for destroying 3 much larger foes. Fortunately, even though they failed to save their Titan allies, the vast majority of Imperial Knights survived, retreating and swearing vengeance on Legion Audax for this disgrace.

Unfortunately, the two major losses marked the start of brewing dissent within the population of Janus. Even in the Hegemonic Kingdoms of Januslaw, firmly held in the hands of Loyalist, whispers of fear and resentment drifted along war-torn cities, with beleaguered citizens wondering if they had made the right choice to stand by the Imperium.

Imperial morale was dealt another blow when the World Eaters boarded and seized the Battleplate Platform above the atmosphere of Janus. Despite the Loyalist Iron Warriors having garrisoned the orbital defense platform, they were swiftly overrun and butchered by the berserk warriors of the XII Legion. With the Battleplate Platform under Traitor control, they were given free reign to rain down lance strikes anywhere on the surface of Janus.

All was not lost, however, for Colonel Abdi Al-Bashir had arrived with an entire regiment of Imperial Army armor, the 236th armored host rolling over the granite rock of the Nor Col Conclaves. While Al-Bashir had come to Janus in order to answer a debt, for the tank regiments of Janus had come to their aid during the defense of Tallarn, he had a more personal reason. His vendetta against the Iron Warriors for despoiling his homeworld had driven him to seek them out for vengeance. However, instead of the IV Legion, the Tallarn armor came across the mysterious Magister, Ruhak, whose Fellowship of Thousand Sons had somehow found their way in Janus. What their purpose was, only the Thousand Sons knew, for they retreated in the face of the relentless armored assault of the Tallarns.

Meanwhile, the Knights of House Yato, having retreated from the Ulanti Conglomerate in the face of fierce firepower from numerous Warhound Titans, attempted to regain their honor by assasulting the Goetian Syndicated States, which were defended by the Iron Warriors that Al-Bashir was looking for. This time, Perturabo himself personally took charge of the IV Legion as he masterfully fortified the sprawling cities of the Goetian Syndicates, erecting bastions and fortresses that were heavily protected by void shields. Buoyed by their victory over the Loyalists among their brethren and believing them to be purged, the Iron Warriors assaulted the Knights with heavy weapons. Fortunately, their ion shields allowed them to deflect most of the anti-tank barrages, and they eventually overran the Iron Warriors, even grievously wounding Perturabo and forcing him to retreat, escorted off by his Iron Havocs - for even his Tyrant Siege Terminators were unable to withstand the incredibly devastating power of the Knights. The gravitor singularity cannon of the Cerastus Knight Atrapos had created two swirling vortexes in the Iron Warriors' line, sucking any unfortunate legionnaire into a black hole, while the sheer volume of firepower from the thermal cannon, battle cannon and Avenger Gatling cannons from a pair of Knights Crusader mowed down the Primarch and his entourage of Tyrant Siege Terminators. Perturabo would play no further part in the campaign, having been evacuated off planet in order to recuperate. The Knights' victory was not without cost, however, for at least six of their venerable machines had been downed in the brutal firefight against the IV Legion's deadly siege weaponry, which included Perturabo's personal super-heavy Tormentor tank that...uh, tormented the stalwart scions of House Yato. With the Iron Warriors in flight and their Primarch mortally injured, the surviving Knights began to gleefully tear down the meticulously crafted bastions, hacking through ceramite and plasteel with their reaper chainswords.

However, the Imperium had stood steadfast and weathered most of the Traitor assault so far. There was more cause for optimism when a fleet of Dark Angels, led by Lion El'Jonson himself. The first thing they did was to assault the Battleplate Platform, in order to deny the Traitors the use of their orbital lance weaponry. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Silas Estrael and his Stormwing boarders, they were unable to repel the Iron Warriors stationed there, the siege masters of the IV Legion having turned their genius into turning the orbital defense platform into a deadly maze of traps and ambushes. Even though Estrael's boarders fought their way to a bloody stalemate, the Battlefront Platform remained firmly in Traitors' hands.

The Loyalist Iron Warriors, in order to make up for the debacle in the Battleplate Platform, launched an attack on the Ulanti Conglomerate. Teleclus's ambitious schemes would see his battered grand battalion acquire much-needed tanks, but his strategy was thwarted yet again by a ferocious assault from the World Eaters and a single Warhound Titan from Legio Audax. Teleclus's battalion had nothing that could stand up to the immense firepower of a Titan, especially when his tanks were blown up in salvo after salvo of turbo laser destructor fire. The Loyalist Warsmith voxed for reinforcements, but his allies were embroiled in other assaults and couldn't break off to help him. Suffering another bitter setback, Teleclus was forced to withdraw, unable to reclaim any tanks for his grand battalion's use. Ironically enough, the World Eaters couldn't be bothered with the tanks, their infantry recklessly hurling themselves at Teleclus's retreating gunlines, ignoring the risks of getting disintegrated by friendly fire from their allied Warhound Titan.

While a single detachment of Iron Warriors held the Battleplate Platform, the IV Legion had sent a much larger militarized force to invade the Hegemonic Kingdoms of Januslaw, partially as revenge for their bitter defeat at the Goetian Syndicated States, though most of them cared not that their Primarch was slowly recuperating in orbit. Fortunately, Teleclus had foreseen this and had fortified the Hegemonic Kingdoms well, and the Sprakkan Combine stationed there held off the brutal attack, weathering artillery and siege weaponry.

Meanwhile, the Knights of House Yato responded to a distress call from the Seeryik Wastes Empire, sending two lances to investigate. There, the smaller lance found Magister Ruhak conducting a ritual. The Knights were at first badly outmatched by the Thousand Sons' psychic powers, Spartan asssault tank and Sicaran Venator tank destroyer, but when a Cerastus Knight Atrapos blew up from the zealous use of psychic power, he scattered into the Magister and his accompanying Terminators, obliterating them instantly. With only one Questoris Knight and one Armiger Knight Moirax left, the former managed to angle his ion shield and deflect the tremendous anti-tank firepower from the pursuing Sicaran Venator tank destroyer, retreating to safety. The casualties were not without cause, for the beleaguered Knights had successfully halted Ruhak's ritual and put a stop to whatever the engimatic warlock was scheming.

Meanwhile, the bigger lance of Knights encountered two Warhound Titans who had strayed away from their brethren, one of which had taken part in the siege of the Ulanti Conglomerate earlier. Having been sent by the Princeps Senioris of Legio Audax to scout the Wastes Empire after defending the Ulanti Conglomerate, the two Warhound Titans were running reconnaissance before the Knights of House Yato ran into them, almost by accident. Seizing the opportunity to take revenge for the disgrace they suffered earlier at the Ulanti Conglomerate, the lance of Knights ran down the two Warhound Titans and successfully slew them, thus regaining a huge measure of their honor and also taking revenge for Teleclus, having responded to his request for aid too late. It mattered to them not that they outnumbered the scout Titans, for the Emperor only acknowledged results.

For a time, it appeared that the Imperium might prevail, but disaster struck.

The Sprakkan Combine, just only having thrown off the Traitor Iron Warriors' assault earlier, suddenly defected, declaring for the Warmaster. Dissension had reached its peak and the weary defenders were sick of the fighting, or dying for an uncaring Emperor nowhere to be seen. Apalled, Teleclus returned to reclaim the Hegemonic Kindgom for the Imperium, but he found his own skillfully constructed defenses turned against his forces and he was forced to retreat once more, licking his wounds and cursing his misfortune. Meanwhile, the Sprakkan Combine, having defeated the Legiones Astartes not once but twice, began to seriously consider their ambitious schemes of conquering the whole of Janus and unifying the planet under the rule of the Hegemonic Kingdoms.

The Dark Angels had attempted to asault Sar Molitor, only to find the surviving Thousand Sons forces there. The bulk of their infantry had remained in Sar Molitor, having sent their armor to the Seeryik Wastes Empire earlier, and despite a ferocious attack, the Dark Angels were unable to dislodge the stubborn Thousand Sons from their position, their kine barriers and telekinetic might holding strong against the sons of the Lion.

Meanwhile, a large detachment of Imperial Knights was transported to Janus's moon, Cerberus, which had come under assault by the Iron Warriors. While they cleared most of the mortal militia that were used as chaff by the vicious IV Legion, they were unable to repel the Terminator-suited veterans in the void. Despite the majority of the Knights surviving, they were forced to break off the assault, Imperial Command having recalled them to the surface of Janus for one last colossal clash. The strategicians reasoned that the moon was no longer of any strategic importance, and instead prioritized the reclamation of Janus. Though they were loathed to leave the battle unfinished, the Scions of House Yato were zealously loyal to the Emperor and His representatives, and thus they grudgingly left Cerberus in the hands of Traitors and returned to their bulk landers to prepare for a return to Janus. The Traitor Iron Warriors, having suffered colossal casualties after being razed by the Knights and obliterated by the Sprakkan Combine on the surface of the planet earlier, opted to withdraw. Pertuarbo, growing surly at being left out of the fight while he was forced to convalescence, ordered his sons to withdraw, which they bitterly heeded. By now, the only Iron Warriors that remained in the Janus system were Loyalists.

Shortly after that, a blitzkrieg assault by the White Scars broke the lines of World Eaters still massing at the Ulanti Conglomerate. Saghuri Khan, having finally answered Teleclus's repeated requests for assistance, took the head of Gladiator Champion Crucius Pire, driving the XII Legion out of the tank factories and allowing the beleaguered Loyalist Iron Warriors to finally replenish their dwindling supply of tanks. The White Scars then mysteriously pulled out, Saghuri Khan having to fulfill another vow to his wife so that he could get back home to Chogoris in time for Easter...ahem, I mean his Stormseer heard the call of their Primarch and they pulled out quickly before their bewildered allies could so much as thank them, their fleet slipping away unnoticed by both Loyalists and Traitors.

The fate of Janus would all rest on one, single climactic battle in the ruins of the Ulanti Conglomerate, with the Traitors seeking revenge, first the World Eaters for being driven out of the tank factories, Legio Audax en route to the Seeyrik Wastes Empire when they discovered the loss of two of their engines, the Thousand Sons for their own enigmatic reasons, and the traitor militia of the Hegemonic Kingdoms of Januslaw, realizing that they need the tank factories of their Conglomerate were they to solidify their reign over the whole of Janus. The Traitors opted for a massed armor assault, Traitor Secutarii Hoplites escorting three braying Warhound Titans of Legio Audax, and the treacherous Sprakkan tank regiments rolling out en masse to confront the armored might of the Tallarn. The World Eaters, led by Angron, largely chose to stage an orbital assault, with the Red Angel shepherding his sons into drop pod and Kharybdis assault claws. Angron strapped himself into one of these massive drop pods, accompanied by an elite retinue of Terminators. What remained of the Loyalist Iron Warriors had gathered next to the Dark Angels to weather one final storm, having replenished their ranks with a Fellblade. Lion El'Jonson himself took to the field, escorted by a slew of Dreadnoughts, both Loyalist Iron Warrors and Dark Angels.

Unfortunately, the devastating firepower of the Titans and Sprakkan super-heavy tanks was far too much to bear. The Tallarn regiment lost their super-heavy tanks after volleys of plasma and turbo-laser fire obliterated them. Fortunately, the Baneblade, Shadowsword, Leman Russ Vanquishers and Fellblades managed to take down one of the Warhound Titans. But most of the Tallarn tanks lay in smoking ruins, the Iron Warriors and Dark Angels suffering further casualties when drop pods of World Eaters slammed down into their lines, spilling berserk warriors that hacked through everybody they saw. To complicate things, Thousand Sons Terminators teleported into their ranks, attempting to assassinate Lion El'Jonson himself.

Then the Knights of House Yato arrived.

Having deployed from Cerberus after a hasty retreat from the departing Iron Warriors, the bulk lander carrying the Knight suits braved through volleys of anti-air flak, the pilot heroically weaving through shells and las to deposit the precious cargo in Loyalist lines. The ramp slammed down and the Knights poured out, charging at the Warhound Titans in revenge for their defeat earlier at Ulanti Conglomerate, as well as to finish the task that they had started at the Seeryik Wastes Empire prior to their redeployment to Cerberus. In the skies, an Avenger Strike Fighter bearing the colors of Tallarn and a Loyalist Iron Warriors Xiphon inteceptor dueled with a Thousand Sons Fire Raptor.

The first thing the Knights did was to cleanse the area of World Eaters and Traitor Sprakkan Combine, a combination of their ranged weaponry, reaper chainswords and stomps obliterating Red Butchers, berserk legionnaires and mortals alike, relieving the beleaguered tactical squads of the Dark Angels and Iron Warriors. One particulaly brave Sprakkan sergeant attempted to throw a melta bomb on a Knight, and he was rewarded for his insane bravery when the machine's adamantium plates buckled from the intense heat. Unfortunately, his triumph did not last long, for he was stomped into oblivion by the furious pilot. The lance of Knights then slowly turned their fire toward the Warhound Titans, whose void shields flickered before finally collapsing under the volume of high ordnance shots.

However, even with reinforcement from the Knights, the Loyalists were still outgunned and outmatched. This changed when the World Eaters, so caught up in their rage, began murdering Sprakkan guardsmen in a frenzy. Caught entirely by suprise when their erstwhile allies turned on them, the Sprakkan abhumans were massacred. Realizing the World Eaters could no longer distinguish between friends and foe, the horrified Sprakkans began retreating en masse in a disorderly fashion, leaving themselves open to a merciless onslaught from the remaining Loyalists, who were determined to make them pay for their treachery. It was a lesson the Sprakkans learned the hard way, for they now knew that the Warmaster was just as aloof, uncaring and dismissive of their lives as the Emperor. Worse, the insane Traitors were more likely to turn on them and offer them as blood offerings to whatever mad god they worshipped than simply expending their lives to win a war in a cold and methodical fashion.

Concerted shooting by the surviving Tallarn tanks and the Knights wore down the second Warhound Titan before it was finished off by a brave Tallarn commander, his Dracosan speeding forward to shell the staggering engine and finishing it off once and for all. The victory did not come without cost, however, as both Fellblades had been destroyed and the Sprakkan Shadowsword was rolling upward. Meanwhile, Lion El'Jonson slew the Thousand Sons Terminators who sought to assassinate him, pulling his sword out of the praetor's corpse in contempt. With another of their leaders brutally killed again, the surviving Thousand Sons had enough and quit the battlefield, deserting the dwindling number of Traitors on the battlefield. Whatever they had come to Janus to do, they must have realized that they would never be able to realize it now, so they decided to cut their losses. Moreover, they had seen the pointless slaughter of Sprakkan soldiers, and they had grown disillusioned with their allies.

Though two Knights fell, the Cerastus Knight Atrapos opened up a vortex with a shot from his graviton singularity cannon, the miniature black hole enveloping the final Warhound Titan and crushing its bulk into scrap (basically rolled a 6 on the Strength D table).

While the battle raged on, Lion El'Jonson and Angron finally met in the middle of the wrecked city. There, the two brothers clashed, and after an epic duel, the Lion finally laid the Red Angel low, his skill at arms being superior. Just like Peturabo before him, Angron was carried off by his elite Terminators while the heavily wounded Lion El'Jonson hurled curses at him, promising to finish him off the next time they met, be it Terra or anywhere else. Despite their fallen Primarch's rage and their lust for battle, the World Eaters found themselves surrounded by the triumphant Knights of House Yato, Yato Yousuke's venerable Cerastus Knight Lancer having smashed through a building to spear the remaining Shadowsword with his shock lance and flipping it onto its back. Deserted by their allies, both the Sprakkan Combine and Thousand Sons leaving the battlefield in horror and disgust, the World Eaters were forced to into a hasty exit, following the Traitor Iron Warriors' fleet into the warp.

Janus thus remained firmly in Loyalists' hands, the vital industrial world denied to the Warmaster. Horus's ambitions would not be realized here, two of his brothers having suffered grievously in this campaign. The Loyalists had sustained just as horrific, if not worse casualties. Millions lay dead in the rubble, and the number of Knight armor suits of House Yato was further diminished by attrition. The 236th Tallarn was a shadow of its former self, most of its vehicles obliterated and its reserves of super-heavies near empty. The Loyalist Iron Warriors under Teleclus was on the brink of annihilation, and Lion El'Jonson himself had not gotten off lightly. Whole companies of Dark Angel Legionnaires had been wiped out, mingled among the corpses of World Eaters and Thousand Sons. As for the White Scars, none knew of their fate, simply that they had gone to look for their Primarch.

In time, Janus would recover and be restored as a bastion world, its manufactorum once again producing great quantities of tanks, artillery and ammunition for the Imperium. But for many years following the Heresy, the people of Janus would struggle to rebuild. The rogue Sprakkan Combine regiments would be hunted down by the vengeful battalion of Loyalist Iron Warriors who would be permanently garrisoned there, where they would eventually split off from their parent Legion to form a successor Chapter of their own - one that would make heavy use of tanks and armor. The survivors of Janus also owed the Dark Angels, the Tallarns and House Yato a great debt, which they promise to repay later in the form of tanks, armor and even knight suits.

But first, they must cleanse their scar-pitted world of Traitors.

The folks of Frozen North Horus Heresy!