Imperial Knights after the FAQ

Now that the dust has settled, and a lot of people have gotten over the nerfbat that the Knight Castellan took, let's see what will change. Surprisingly enough, despite the 100 points hike and other stuff, when I went to ebay, I couldn't find many second-hand Knight Castellans going for cheap. Looks like the meta-chasers and power-gamers that people claim to populate the Warhammer 40,000 community aren't as many as what was believed.

How does this affect me personally? Not a single jot.

As you can see, I don't have a Knight Castellan in my Household. Might think of getting one now after the nerf, so that people won't complain about me getting a Knight Castellan, but I doubt it. Not because I can't find any second-hand Knight Castellan for cheap, but simply because I already have a Shadowsword and Leman Russ Executioner tanks, and the Knight Castellan overlaps with them. Okay, the Knight Castellan is better, maybe, but for almost the same number of points, I can get a Shadowsword and a Leman Russ Executioner tank commander, which puts out roughly the same amount of long-distance fire (maybe more). So honestly, I'll probably just stick with what I have for now. Maybe.

My current roster of Knights: Questoris Knight Crusader, Questoris Knight Errant, Questoris Knight Gallant, Dominus Knight Valiant and Cerastus Knight Lancer, supported by a pair of Armiger Helverins. I can swap the arms on my Knight Gallant to make him a 2nd Crusader or a Paladin or Warden (or goes Renegade Knight with dual Avenger Gatling cannons). But I doubt I'll do that, the Knight Gallant has been so fun to play with. So nothing changed, I don't need to swap anything out for anything. I did toy with the idea of getting a Knight Castellan to run alongside my Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion, now that Knight of the Cog has been confirmed to affect a single Knight even if he's inside a Super-heavy Detachment with 2 other Knights who don't get the stuff - can you imagine getting the Canticle of re-rolls of 1s for your Knight Castellan? - but that just sounds cheesy. Nonetheless, if I ever get the money, I might consider it. We'll see. Eventually. But I would almost rather get an Acastus Knight Porphyrion because I'm hoping we'll get that for Adeptus Titanicus eventually, and I woould like to have both the Knights representing my Household for normal 40,000 and Adeptus Titanicus.

Speaking of which, while crunch-wise this doesn't do anything to affect my list, fluff-wise (especially with Adeptus Titanicus influencing my ideas), I've been changing and shifting around the stuff in my story. I think I'll go for House Griffith's Household Tradition Glory of the Charge for House Yato after all, instead of House Taranis's Omnissiah's Grace. Mostly...unless I field my Knights alongside Skitarii and Adeptus Mechanicus. So it'll depend. I like a fluffy army, so if I play my Knights by themselves, or alongside Imperial Guard, I'll stick to Questor Imperialis. If I play my Knights with only Skitarii allies, then I'll go Questor Mechanicus (House Taranis!) just for the entire theme. Good thing it's a homebrewed Household, so I can be pretty flexible when it comes to this. Obviously I'm not going to change it according to my opponent, just when I choose to field them alongside Skitarii or Imperial Guard (or by themselves).

So if I go House Griffith's Glory of the Charge for House Yato, I might as well make them more thematic. House Yato will probably be known as the Dragon Slayers, and this ties into the Adeptus Titanicus fluff as them and their branch clan House Kanda always going to war against other Titans. They pretty much go around hunting "Dragons" or other Titanic opponents (Colossal War Engines, Daemon Engines, Monstrous Creatures, Greater Daemons, other Knights, Titans, etc.). I'm thinking that in their homeworld, they often battle massive Ryuu (Dragons) from the seas, lakes and rivers, duel against enormous serpentine Orochi (Serpents) in the forests, especially the Yamata no Orochi, which is an eight-headed dragon or hydra, dwelling in the deepest heartlands of the densest forest. Hell, I could make it that the Shogun is decided by the Knight who slays the Yamata no Orochi. That will be cool. There will also be plenty of other behemoths for the Knights to fight against in Draconis III, such as the Tengu (something like Heldrakes, but less daemonic), Oni (massive humanoid beasts like the ones House Devine fought against in Molech), Gaikotsu (Skeletal monsters the size of a hab-block) and more. Might as well throw the chimera-type Nue and gigantic spiders like the Tsuchigumo while at it. Huh, Draconis III is becoming more of a Death World, but then again it seems that a lot of the Knight Worlds are Death Worlds, which is why they require the Knights to protect the population anyway.

Thanks to that, we'll have a more Dragon Slayer themed Knight House for House Yato, which also explains why so many Knights are enthusiastic to be bonded to their local Titan Legion (Legio Draconis) and rush off to hunt Traitor Titans!