 |
| Baronial Court |
Right, I've gotten the new Imperial Knight codex, which is why I went and continued building my Imperial Knight army. I plan to get all 5 Imperial Knights, one of each type, and go around using them because I'm a Knight player!
So right now I have a Knight Errant, a Knight Paladin with Icarus autocannons (will swap for Stormspear rocket pods soon) and a Knight Crusader with rapid-fire battle cannon and Stormspear rocket pods. I'll get a Knight Warden with a Stormspear rocket pod next week, along with a Leman Russ Vanquisher for my Imperial Guard allies, and the final Knight Gallant with meltagun next month once I get more funds. I ain't blowing all my cash in just one month, sorry.
So five Imperial Knights, barely fitted inside 2,000 points for my Exalted Court. Right now, I can have 3 in my Household detachment or Baronial Court if I want the Ion shield bonuses, but I'm planning on getting the Exalted Court and raising all of their Ballistic and Weapon Skills to 5 (and 6 for the High King).
Forged narrative, basically the Imperial Knights of the Draconis system, as I said before, follows the Imperial Guard instead of belonging to a typical Knight household. That said, it's not as if they don't have one. They belong to House Yato, which has heavy Japanese influences. They are ruled by a Shogun, who is basically their counterpart of the High King or Princeps of other Knight Houses. The Barons are replaced by Daimyos, and the Knightly Vassals are replaced by Samurai Vassals. So all in all, House Yato is basically a Japanese styled Knightly House that doubles as a military commander. The Shogun, the current Shogun being a Takeda Yoshinobu, doubles as the Lord General of the Draconis Imperial Guard regiment. So both the Imperial Knights and the Imperial Guard are under his command.
Basically, the Samurai, all of whom have different ranks, are vassals of the great Daimyos (the Japanese "Baron"), who in turn serve the Shogun (the High King/Princeps). Similarly, this Shogun serves as the Lord General commanding a whole different military branch known as the Draconis Imperial Guard Regiment. The Daimyos are given equivalent ranks such as Lieutenant-Generals, Colonels, and the Samurai vassals vary from Majors to Second Lieutenants. As they are "nobles" or officer candidates, they are all ranked higher than the standard Imperial Guard trooper.
However, as Draconis has comparatively few humans when compared to other Astra Militarum regiments - the vast majority becoming Imperial Knights, almost the entire Draconis regiment is an armored regiment, with very few infantry troops supporting their vast armored columns. The Draconis regiments believe in heavy armor, and try to incorporate as many soldiers into armored units such as Imperial Knights or Leman Russ tanks, or even Vendettas. So the emphasis is on armor, not infantry hordes.
Draconis III is the knightly planet with abdundant resources, and where the Imperial Knights and Draconis Imperial Guard regiment live and train in. Draconis IV is a Forge World, unique even among the countless forge worlds in the Imperium of Man. They aren't afraid to stray into forbidden technology and territories, sometimes incurring the wrath of Inquisitors who force them to stay in line, and are able to successfully replicate cheaper versions of lost technology. That's why they are able to mass-produce less efficient plasma executioner cannons for their Leman Russ Executioners, by studying the forge world Ryza's Leman Russ Executioners, and coming out with their own miniaturized, cheap versions. They are also able to successfully replicate the lot Vanquisher cannon, though not as successful as the original, but at least tech priests no longer need to resort to tearing off Vanquisher cannons from destroyed tanks and placing them on Leman Russ chasis. The tech priests in Draconis IV are different from their Martian counterparts in that they prefer to remain human, choosing to eschew augmentics. To them, machines are tools, and are meant to be separate from humans. They view the Emperor as the Omnissah, and justify their belief in near-heretical technology and replication methods by claiming that the Emperor wants progress, not stagnation. This incurs the wrath of many of their Adeptus Mechanicus counterparts from other forge worlds, especially Mars.
House Yato is one of the largest Knightly houses in the Imperium of Man, second only to House Raven. They are also one of the most loyal houses to the Emperor, second only to House Hawkshroud - they are so fanatically loyal they don't mind driving kamikaze attacks right into the thick of enemy formations. So you have lots of Knight Gallants crazily charging into the enemy vanguard, heedless of their lives and all the while shouting "Emperor BANZAI!" or something. Of course, there are also the cautious ones who sit back spraying long-range ordnance with their Knights Cruader and Paladin, and the moderate ones who don't mind sticking it in, but also holding out at medium range like the Knights Warden and Errant. Being one of the biggest Knight houses, bested only by House Raven, the numbers of their Knights show in the huge variety of Knights they have, having equal distribution of Knights Paladin, Errant, Warden, Gallant and Crusader. Once in a while, the Shogun comes in to battle with his four legendary Daimyo, known as the Shitennou (Four Heavenly Kings), the splendid sight of these five brilliantly colored and designed god-machines striding into battlefield and wrecking devastation to enemy lines and utterly annihilating foes. The Shogun and his Shitennnou have yet to be defeated in battle, something that will be put to the test when they are finally deployed into Cadia to push back Abaddon's thirteenth Black Crusade.
Well, they also make full use of the Daimyo Court...I mean Baronial Court, Tripartite Lance and Skyreaper Lance while supplementing their Knightly forces with Imperial Guard allies. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of the Emperor's foes more than seeing a heavily armored column of Leman Russ tanks rolling forward with mighty Imperial Knights marching in their wake.
House Yato follows the technology on Mars closely, replicating the technology used for House Taranis successfully and combining it closely with the Standard Construct Template that has remained in Draconis III and zealously protected in Draconis IV for fear that the Martian Adeptus Mechanicus will one day confiscate their valuable technology because it is supposedly heretical. However, it means the pilots for House Yato do not need surgical neural connections to pilot their Knights. They still have a Throne Mechanicum, but it is more advanced than most other Knight houses, and like House Taranis, does not require neural connections or sockets.
This is Draconis. This is House Yato. This is the Draconis Imperial Guard Regiment.
FOR THE EMPEROR!
No comments:
Post a Comment