Featuring the Knight Houses of Ryusei and their household militia, the Draconian Defenders, and the Skitarii maniples, Cybernetica Cohorts and Titan Legions of the forge world, Draconis IV.
Today, we're going to a Retrospective on...Imperial Knights! I mean, this is primarily an Imperial Knight blog, so obviously if I'm ...
Again, I'm going to be posting about obscure Black Library stories...well, not all the time. I mean, sometimes I'll write about the famous ones that everyone's going to talk about (like The Iron Kingdom) or something, probably because I want to share spoilers about what happens in the Knight World. I'm a Knight player, after all. But sometimes, I'll be discussing stuff that happens in the more obscure stories such as Less than Human, by Steve Lyons. It features - you guess it - the infamous Death Korps of Krieg.
Steve Lyons is a great Black Library writer, and he has been around for a very long time. Surprisingly enough, he's not as well known as say, Dan Abnett or Graham McNeill. He's more like a Sandy Mitchell, you know, where he's known for writing Astra Militarum stories that become favorites with Imperial Guard fans. Everyone knows Sandy Mitchell because of Ciaphas Cain, even though he's often not mentioned in the same breath as Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill and Aaron Dembski-Bowden or even Guy Haley. Similarly, Steve Lyons is known for the more...uh, obscure Imperial Guard novels - old timers might remember his Death World and Ice Guard, but what he's really, really famous for is his Death Korps of Krieg novels.
Everyone remembers Dead Men Walking? I do. That was the second Warhammer 40,000 novel I read right after the Ciaphas Cain omnibuses (Defender of the Imperium, Hero of the Imperium), and boy, oh boy, because I was reading the humorous and hilarious - as well as parodic - stories of Ciaphas Cain, I didn't expect to be hit with a large dose of grimdarkness in Dead Men Walking. Actually, I believe I wrote a book review on Dead Men Walking all those years ago. Holy Terra, it was back in September 2015, about 7 and a half years ago. Time really flies. Oh, and the review also included Ice Guard, which fits because they are both by Steve Lyons. Additionally, he wrote several Death Korps of Krieg short stories, including Left for Dead and The Strong Among us.
The Colonel requested that they be sent to the most toxic warzones because they have been trained and bred for it, and they wanted to atone. Apparently, when the Inquisitor asked for his name, he was puzzled. Because Krieg soldiers do not have names. In any event, the Lord General is relieved to have a world providing fresh regiments of guardsmen to a beleaguered Imperium, and so they decided not to investigate further, despite the Inquisitor's doubts.
The origin story is written in flashbacks, and in between, they also talk about the Death Korps of Krieg fighting alongside the Cadians to take back a world from the Orks in the Octarius sector. Apparently, the Orks found a cache of atomic munitions, and the Krieg were sent to reclaim it or detonate it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Right, those munitions were coincidentally directly under a hive that the Orks have captured, and despite the Imperium's best efforts, they have yet to capture it despite shelling it to oblivion.
Not wanting the nukes to fall into the hands of the Orks, the Imperium sent the Death Korps of Krieg - a strike team (well, Kill Team, I guess?) to either reclaim it or deny the Orks. Long story short, they find it, blow it up and obliterate the entire hive, including the Orks. The atmosphere becomes radioactive and the Cadians and other Kriegsmen were evacuated from the world. There's a female Cadian guardswoman who was influenced by the fatalistic attitudes of the Krieg, and...she dies from radiation poisoning shortly after getting off the world. Grimdark.
Less than Human details a story on some backwater world where the Death Korps of Krieg are tasked to take it back from the T'au. Instead of charging suicidically into combat with shovels, they actually plan ahead and slowly capture territory inch by inch, meter by meter. What the Death Korps of Krig have in abundance is patience, and they are willing to spend years slowly consolidating their gains instead of charging forward recklessly and throwing away lives wastefully.
Unfortunately, the Munitorum aren't happy with the pace of their progress and they attempt to speed things up by sending a Mordian regiment in to hasten the conquest. The Mordian Captain, a lady, doesn't like the Kriegsmen much, and she plans to destroy the T'au in 48 hours. Like, whoa, lady. Chill. Anyway, she orders the Krieg to charge in before her Mordians support them from the rear, thinking that they would gladly sell their lives, but the acting Captain of the Krieg basically tells her that he already has a strategy in place. Instead of wastefully throwing away his men's lives, he has his engineers dig tunnels toward the T'au encampment and plots to blow up the ground underneath them, thus securing a relatively bloodless victory. For the Imperium, I mean, and not so much for the T'au.
Unsurprisingly, the Mordian captain refuses that and orders them to just charge. The Krieg acting captain tries to protest, and this is where it gets really interesting. He points out that the Krieg understand the value of each human life. It is expendable, yes, but they aren't wasteful. They are efficient. If they can obtain victory with less casualties, then they will do that.
This, of course, goes against all the memes and cliches that people make about the Death Korps of Krieg online. They are not some caricatural, one-dimensional maskless zealots who charge in because you tell them to. They are certainly extreme, but they aren't...incompetent and wasteful. They know good tactics, they will reduce casualties to the minimum if they can, and they don't just commit suicide for paltry gains. They are loyal to the Emperor and will sell their lives dearly for the Imperium if necessary, but they recognize the value of each expendable life and how best to spend it, rather than recklessly throwing away soldiers' lives for the sake of it.
I believe this is one of the best and most impactful themes of Steve Lyons's Death Korps of Krieg stories. Much like what Aaron Dembski-Bowden did with his Black Legion series, he turns characters notorious for their memes and cliches into something with depth.
Anyway, the Death Korps of Krieg appear to be fleeing from the T'au, and the Mordian lady captain rages at their cowardice, surprised yet affirming her beliefs that their notorious reputation is overblown and exaggerated. As it turns out, the Kriegsmen were actually feinting, leading the T'au straight to the guns of the Mordians. While the lady captain is pissed that Mordian lives were lost, she realizes that she was about to sacrifice the Kriegsmen to the T'au guns and she has no right to complain. The new Krieg acting captain - because the previous one died during the charge - even informs her coolly that their feint and impromptu strategy - the field commanders saw an opportunity when fighting and took the initiative - reduced projected casualty rates by 22%. So the Kriegsmen don't throw their lives away for nothing. They choose the most efficient and least wasteful way to obtain victory. Also, there's a cool bit where they actually acknowledge that a Krieg life is worth just as much as a Mordian life - all expendable, but not to be expended wastefully.
Oh, and here's an interesting tidbit. The Mordian captain believes that her homeworld, Mordia, has fallen. Those of you who have caught up in the lore would be aware that Mordia and the Stygius Sector around it has been conquered by Tzeentchian forces, led by Magnus and his Thousand Sons. Apparently, Mordia was the only world that had yet to fall, with the Mordian Iron Guard fighting hard to defy the armies of Tzeentch and Chaos, and they were relieved by the Crusade of Iron, led by the Iron Hands and their successors. Last I heard, the Iron Hands and their successors have helped the Mordian Iron Guard lift the siege and they are fighting back to retake the systems in the Stygius Sector, but the captain's pessimistic appraisal of the fate of her homeworld has me a little worried. I guess Mordia has fallen, despite the Iron Hands and their Xth Legion successor chapters' efforts? Damn.
Oh, and I thought I should summarize the short stories that appeared in Tales for the Loyal Guardsmen last month. You know the eShorts bundle with five stories? Less than Human happens to be the fifth one.
Hell Fist is a continuation of Justin Woolley's Catachan Devil - hopefully you had a chance to read that one. I did, and long story short, it's about a team of Catachans sent to infiltrate a jungle planet to take out a bunch of Orks known for their brutal kunnin'. Basically Ork Kommandoes headed by Sneakyguts. Colonel Haskell Aldalon and his veteran squad have to escort Trooper Torvin - the sole survivor of the poorly trained Skadi regiment - back to where his regiment was ambushed by kunnin' Ork Kommandoes and basically decapitate the leadership. Catachan Devil is about Torvin's growth as he earns the respect of the Catachan Jungle Fighters, kills Orks, and joins their regiment permanently despite being a "soft-worlder." Oh, and there's this thing with Haskell's daughter being in the same squad and her trying to earn the recognition of her father while not wanting to have it easy just because of nepotism.
Anyway, they succeed, and the short story Hell Fist follows on from there, where two Orks are training to be Kommandoes...only to be ambushed by Haskell and his squad and killed. There's also a flashback where Haskell and his squad ambushes a much larger Kommando squad who were reconnoitering to take out the hive city and its defenses, springing a trap and killing lots of them before melting back into the jungle through the clever use of smoke grenades. And the Orks think Hell Fist can actually turn into smoke. Heh.
Blood Sands is about a Sentinel squadron crossing the desert to locate a Genestealer Cultist hideout and plant an ident beacon there so that the missiles can strike the place and destroy them. During their journey, they encounter ambushes from Genestealer Cultists and even purestrain Genestealers at a supply outpost, and even though no one should know about their mission and the route they take, they keep running into ambushers and traps, leading the Sentinel pilots to suspect that the general or Commissar heading the mission is a traitor. So after planting the indent beacon, they return to the command center and try to figure out who the traitor is. Unsurprisingly, it was the general, and the Commissar kills him before taking over command and launching the missiles to destroy the Genestealer Cultists' base. The fight has only just begun, and the commissar requests that the two surviving Sentinel pilots requisition a new Sentinel squadron and get back to the desert to continue the war.
The Sum of its Parts is a story chronicling the long life of a Leman Russ tank, Sebastian's Lance. It was first manufactured on a forge world, where the Tech-priests decide to assemble it instead of leaving to the servitors because all of the servitors had been repurposed to repel an invasion (I think from Dark Mechanicum traitors, it's alluded here but not specified). So the tank is built, and they left an eptigraph on it, which is really touching.
NO BOLD ACT IS TOO SMALL TO BE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE.
By the way, the forge world gets destroyed from orbit by the Mechanicus fleet because they deemed the resources required to take it back aren't worth it. Grimdark, as usual.
Anyway, the tank is passed around. First, it's passed to a Cadian regiment and saw fighting through a few wars where its tank crew emerge victorious, growing from whiteshields to veterans. After that, the tank is then passed to Catachan Jungle Fighters, who discover it in a world being raided by the Drukhari. Even though the Catachans aren't trained to be tank crews like the Cadians, they make use of Sebastian's Lance to kill a couple of Hellions and achieve victory on the world, especially after they capture one of the Hellions and interrogate it for key enemy positions before bombarding them. Nice. Then it's sent to an armored tank regiment where the crippled tank commander takes it as his command tank and lead it to victory against the Orks. In the final engagement, he uses his command tank as bait, luring the Orks to an ambush, only for them to get smashed from behind by the full might of his armored regiment. Unfortunately, both the commander and Sebastian's Lance perish in the combat, being blown apart by the Orks before they were exterminated. They recover enough of Sebastian's Lance to put it in a museum, only for a collector to bring it to a world that is then victim to a Genestealer Cult uprising. Funnily enough, a Genestealer Cult squad steals the tank from the collector's garage (?) and drives it around to help bring the world down, only for the Tyranids to descend.
The Genestealer Cultists then realize their horrible mistake, that the Star Gods - the Tyranids - they worship aren't who they thought they would be. Not saviors or deities, but...ravenous entities out to devour everything. They end up driving Sebastian's Lance right into a warzone where the Iron Hands battle Tyranid organisms, and having a change of heart, they shoot the hull lascannon right into a Carnifex or something. Though it doesn't kill the huge monster outright, it wounds it enough for the Iron Hands to butcher it mechanically. They then kill the cultists - what remains of them, anyway, after the Tyranids damaged the tank - and then one of them places a beacon on the Leman Russ tank for it to be recovered as thanks and respect. The Iron Hands think it's a warrior, and they recognize that it fought well, helping them against the Carnifex.
The Great Rift tears the galaxy apart, and the logistics barge that Sebastian's Lance is being transported in is then requisitioned by the Munitorum and an Astra Militarum command staff to try and reclaim the galaxy. One of the logistics clerk who finds the Leman Russ tank marks it as good to go, and parts from other tanks - such as a precious Carnodon tank - are cannibalized to make Sebastian's Lance fighting fit. The clerk is promoted to driver, and he drives Sebastian's Lance, but in the orbital drop to reclaim a world, an accident happens, and the entire crew save for the driver is killed.
The clerk-turned-driver wakes up alive in the wreckage of Sebastian's Lance and he turns it into a fortress in the no man's land, and his act of defiance turns him into a hero. When he is rescued by relief troops, he is the sole survivor of the administrative division sent to staff the logistics barge, and he's promoted. He buys an administrative posting, but he brings one last remnant of Sebastian's Lance back with him, a peice that he treasures more than the medal they gave him - something he pawned when he returns home. Instead, the inscribed plate of steel that was once part of Sebastian's Lance stands proudly on his desk.
No bold act is too small to be without consequence.
That, along with Less than Human, are my favorite short stories. Well, I like Blood Sands too, as well as Hell Fist, which showcases the awesomeness of the Imperial Guard.
In any case, I do recommend that you guys buy the eShorts and read the stories for yourselves if you enjoy the spoilers. Yeah, I might have told you guys what happened, but that's only to whet your appetite and get you to actually buy the books. Speaking of which, the price increase next month only applies to plastic and resin models, as well as other stuff, but not to eBooks, codex and novels. So continue buying Black Library novels instead! They are cheaper, save more money, and in a way, uh, more educational? Reading is a good habit and a great hobby, and it's why I got into the whole Warhammer 40,000 hobby in the first place. So yeah, I encourage you guys to buy more Black Library novels!
And before you call me a Games Workshop shill, I'm not. I'm just as annoyed at the price increase as you guys are, and I currently lost my funding in my PhD program, so...no source of income for me to buy new models. Also, I'm returning to Singapore in the near future, so I've to find a way to send my models and armies from Minneapolis back to my original home. So that means cutting down on purchases. Ugh. Never mind the space, I need to worry about finding alternative sources of funding. Damn. Point is, the price increase hits hard, especially in this time of crisis. I can afford books, though, so yay, but asking me to spend US$60 on an Arks of Omen book? And 5 of them? Yeah, sorry, but nope. Not in this economy and not in my current financial situation. Furthermore, the Arks of Omen books - as much as I love the lore, and I really enjoyed what happened in Angron - are kind of thin. I'm not paying 60 bucks for 80 or so pages, not when I can buy like 4 full length novels with that kind of money.
I'd rather save that for The Death and the End and The Iron Kingdom. Hell, even if I buy those two novels together, they're a bit over half of what I would have otherwise spent on a single Arks of Omen book. Good God. Anyway, enough waffling from me (I've been too influenced by Valrak), and have a nice day.
"Fear me! For I am Aku, the Master of Masters, the Deliverer of Darkness, Shogun of Sorrow, Heterodox, Unmaker of Hierophants, Lightbreaker, Recombinant Sin, Blessed of the Grandfather, and Witch King! Once I was War Warrior, but I have ascended to Daemon Princehood and now I exist as Aku!"
The weird, stick-like Daemon Prince spread his non-existent wings and raised his malefic talons to the air, cackling wildly.
"You're telling me we got called back to Carthage for...this?" Tanaka asked incredulously as he watched the warband of Edgelords march toward the shrines that his Knight had been dispatched to protect. Unfortunately for the Knights of House Yato, the Edgelords had all sorts of warp magick swirling around them, and they charged forward, seizing the initiative and striking first.
"He who strikes first wins!" Aku crowed. "Go, my blessed Possessed!"
The Possessed charged forward, hitting like a truck. As they sprinted, bounding over the difficult terrain that covered most of Carthage, the priests and sorcerers of the warband unleashed empyreanic energies at Kazan. The venerable Knight Errant shuddered as telekinetic forces rammed against its adamantine hull, shearing off parts and severing cables.
For Aku was not alone. The Sorcereress, Vanessa Nightingale, accompanied him, along with Riot the Master of Possession and Darkmakyr Bloodmartyr the Dark Apostle. Chanting hymns, they loped across the dense terrain and shrubs, the power armored Traitor Astartes smashing aside vegetation to charge at the various shrines. Behind them, cultists tried to be sneaky, making use of cover to loop around and reach the shrines, while their dark masters drew the attention of the Knights.
"Ugh..."
Tanaka reeled as Kazan was pummeled by more warp shennanigans from Aku and Vanessa. Not only that, the Obliterators had joined the bombardment, but their fleshmetal guns didn't seem to do much, the esoteric energies deflected by his deftly rotated ion shield. The Possessed were on him before he knew it, and boosted by Riot's dark rituals, they tore his Knight suit apart. He sighed as Kazan went down without firing even a single shot. Well, he did fire overwatch and perhaps took down maybe a single Possessed, but he didn't do much other than...well, succumb to the enemy's claws, tentacles and fangs.
"At least give me one round of shooting," he complained. "I wanted to try out the Calculated Targeting Stratagem!"
In any event, he couldn't do much. Instead, his fellow Knights stepped forward to help. Suzuki piloted Hebi, moving into position to shoot the Possessed with loads of melta, but most of the damage was done by Watanabe. Piloting his Knight Paladin, Tsurugi, he opened fire with his rapid-fire battle cannon and vaporized a good chunk of them. They fell as the shells fell and detonated in their midst, tearing the once noble Space Marines apart in showers of blood and flesh.
The Ironstorm missile pod roared as it fired projectiles that arced over the ruins and fell upon the halpless Cultists, erasing a good deal of them. More melta shots devastated the Traitor Legionaries, with Kanda, Chiba and Sato piloting their respective Armiger Warglaives to the fight. Almost an entire squad of 10 were annihilated to a man, especially when Kanda charged in and hacked them down. Only one survived, the Sergeant holding onto his daemon blade and retaliating fiercely.
Chiba kept his distance, while Sato took out a couple of Legionaries in a 5-men squad, but he failed to take down the guy with the lascannon.
"Damn!" He cursed, only for the legionary to heft the heavy weapon up and return fire with a ruby beam. The las-beam, thankfully, deflected off his angled ion shield and dissipated harmlessly. The Obliterators turned their attention toward him, and their fleshmetal guns heavily damaged his suit, shredding debris off the reeling Armiger Warglaive.
"Just die already!" Suzuki shrieked as he charged Hebi into the Possessed, slashing and hacking them with his reaper chain-cleaver. The Possessed fought like Astartes...uh, possessed, and instead ripped his Armiger Warglaive apart. Poor Hebi ended up becoming the prey instead of the hunter, and Suzuki yelled as his suit was brought down messily.
"You cannot defeat us!" Aku snarled as he flew over with his almost incorporeal body. "Vanessa! Do it!"
"Yes, sir!" The Sorcereress saluted and burned down the shrine in the center, laughing manically as she set it on fire. The Possessed, free from close combat after taking down poor Suzuki, demolished the shrine that he had been protecting, defacing the statues of Saints and smashing the holy place in wicked delight. Even though they advanced, Riot and Darkmakyr Bloodmartyr wielded psychic spells or hymns to continue damaging Kanda's Armiger Warglaive, only for Riot to screw up.
"What in the unholy Eye of Terror?!" He screamed when his body swelled from the excessive amount of warp energy. His body began mutating uncontrollably, and instead of being a Master of Possession, he became a victim of Possession. Daemons tore their way out of the weakening fabric of space-time, infesting his imploding body before he burst apart as a chaos spawn.
But even this brief mutation didn't last long, for his body couldn't handle the excessive empyreanic energies and blew up, leaving naught but a bloody smear in the ground.
"Useless moron!" Aku growled, shaking his great horned head. "I knew I couldn't count on him! I will have to do everything myself!"
The recently ascended Daemon Prince charged Kanda and cleaved the Armiger Warglaive apart with his hellforged sword, sending the staggering Knight suit down.
"Oh no, you don't! Screw you and all you frakking Traitors!" Kanda yelled and slammed his palm on the big red button next to his console. Enacting a noble sacrifice, he blew his Knight suit up and dealt a bunch of mortal wounds to the surrounding enemies. The Sergeant of the Legionnaries barely survived, crouching as flames licked his armor. Aku wasn't so fortunate, and he lost a third of his body from the vengeful explosion. Vanessa appeared to be fine for now, but Darkmakyr Bloodmartyr lost his two acolytes from the blast, the twins throwing themselves forward courageously to shield their master from harm.
"Thanks," he muttered. "I shall remember you two as martyrs!"
"You...!" Watanabe growled, urging Tsurugi to a hasty pace and proceeding toward the Possessed. His rapid-fire battle cannon barked once more, killing another good chunk of them and leaving only three remaining. The heavy stubbers clattered, as did the Ironstorm missile pod, and the last of the Cultists in the first squad were wiped out. Without hesitation, he charged straight into the wounded Aku and stabbed him with the Reaper chainsword.
"Hah! I have the mark of Tzeentch! Your first wound will not do anything to me!" Aku crowed. "And I have Hexammagramic Wards too! You can't hurt me at all!"
Unfortunately, he failed all his saves and...the last stab was enough to obliterate his existence. Aku's eyes bulged in disbelief as his physical body was obliterated and he was banished to the warp. It wasn't just him. Vanessa Nightingale vanished when three melta beams pierced her, wiping her from existence. Darkmakyr Bloodmartyr raised his accursed crozius and waved defiantly, but he was unable to do much to Chiba's Armiger Warglaive, though he survived the retaliation. Meanwhile, Sato missed with his melta shots and only killed another legionary. Fortunately, he made his charge and killed another with his reaper chain-cleaver, but the rest survived.
The legionary sergeant continued to hack away at Tsurugi with his daemon weapon, but failed to do anything. Sensing that they would be no match for the Titanic Knight, the three surviving Possessed ran away and instead decided to work on demolishing a third shrine and achieving victory for the Chaos Warband.
"Ha ha ha ha! We won!" Darkmakyr Bloodmartyr crowed triumphantly. "We have erased more than half of the shrines in this area! We've achieved our objective and obtained a strategic victory!"
"So what?" Watanabe snarled, and with a swing of his reaper chainsword, he killed the legionary sergeant almost contemptuously. On the other hand, Chiba crushed Darkmakyr Bloodmartyr, allowing the Dark Apostle to live up to his name.
Unfortunately, Sato was in trouble. He had just been charged by the Obliterators, and his Knight Suit was damaged further. The Armiger Warglaive responded, almost as if in vengeance, and finished off the ragged legionary squad, allowing him to finally be able to focus on the Obliterators.
"I'm coming!" Chiba yelled. Though the Obliterators survived the melta shots, they were hacked apart by the combined fury of both Sato and Chiba's reaper chain-cleavers, their Armiger Warglaives cutting the two Obliterators into pieces. Meanwhile, Tsurugi fired, exterminating the Possessed while they frolicked in the ruins of the third shrine, and his Ironstorm missile pod and heavy stubbers reaped a toll on the cultists. The cultists, driven to a frenzy by the loss of their masters, charged Sato's Armiger Warglaive, only to be shredded into bloody messes by his whirring reaper chain-cleaver.
With that, even though the Edgelords technically won, they were wiped out by the vengeful Knights. Still, it didn't seem like the battle was over.
"What's that?" Chiba asked, noting something on the auspex. The three remaining Bushi spotted the Noctlith Crown that the Edgelords had constructed on the edge of the battlefield.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good," Watanabe remarked. "Let's destroy it."
The three Knights turned and strode toward the Noctlith Crown, superheated lances spitting from their melta weapons. The Noctlith Crown's barrier shimmered as it attempted to withstand the devastating melta weapons, but a few inevitably got through. Chiba then charged his Armiger Warglaive into the slowly crumbling structure and chopped it down with his reaper chain-cleaver. With one last growl of his rapidly spinning weapon, he sent the accursed structure toppling.
"That should do it," he muttered.
"Yeah," Watanabe agreed with a sigh. "We might have lost the war, but we took revenge by annihilating the entire traitor warband. Let's hope it'll be enough to save Carthage."
Unbeknownst to them, the Edgelords had reappeared in the planet shortly after the Knights withdrew to recuperate and repair their damaged suits and for the pilots to heal...but the Ultramarines had shown up to stop them. And though, like the Knights of House Yato, the Ultramarines once again annihilated the Edgelords, this time they achieved complete victory and fulfilled their agendas.
Not that it mattered to the beleaguered Knights, but at least they could take comfort in the fact that the system was safe from the Traitors.
...for now, anyway.
Here's a little tidbit of information that I've gotten from an Astra Militarum short story, titled Transplants. Basically, "pure-blooded" Cadians call the adopted recruits in their regiments - basically, soldiers and Imperial Guardsmen recruited from other worlds - "Transplants." It doesn't matter what world you're from. Corporal Darya Nevic was born in Cocleratun and joined the Coclerati Janissary before being recruited into the Cadian 217th. She was chosen for her sniper skills (just like the men and women of Tanith!), and has an exemplary record.
The Cadians recruit the best of the best from other regiments, but that doesn't stop the so-called trueborn Cadians from discriminating against the outsiders and calling them Transplants. They are angry over the fall of Cadia, and with each new intake of recruits from other worlds, they feel the identity of Cadia lessen and dilute. But they have no choice, because of attrition and all that. New Cadians are being born in fleets because you have mixed Cadian regiments, and...you know, men and women do what men and women do. They reproduce. But that doesn't seem enough to maintain a growing Cadian population, so they take the cream of the crop from other worlds. Even so, the Transplants will always be Transplants. Some, like First Sergeant Ilya, has come to terms with it, but others, such as Meric, have not. Oh, well.
Anyway, I thought this would be a nice tidbit of information for all you guardsmen out there. So keep on fighting! Cadia Stands!
By the way - spoilers for Garro: Knight of Grey. I first read about Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro in Flight of the Eisenstein like 14 years ago. Maybe 13. I can't remember, but it has been a long time, and I was introduced to the Death Guard for the first time. I really like Garro, and hated Typhon and Mortarion because they were so...sickening, whereas Garro was honorable. I'll admit, Space Marines don't really interest me much, so I didn't really follow Garro and his adventures as a Knight Errant all that much. I thought he was an interesting character, but I like Graham McNeill's Mechanicum and A Thousand Sons a lot more. I found the tragedy of the Thousand Sons more compelling, and Ahzek Ahriman was just so...cool. So I preferred the Thousand Sons. Plus, Magnus was a better Primarch than that traitor, Mortarion. Funnily enough, Magnus turned traitor eventually, but...he's still better than Mortarion if you ask me.
Again, spoilers, so don't read beyond here if you don't want me to spoil it. During the Siege of Terra, after being freed by Malcador, Nathaniel Garro runs around to help Imperial Army regiments and bastions that need help, reinforcing them and trying his best to either repel the enemy or allow Loyalists to escape. Eventually, he gets news from Helig Gallor, a fellow Death Guard (or should I say, former Death Guard) that Euphrati Keeler has been spotted preaching to Imperial Army units, stirring up their faith and allowing them to throw back the enemy with minimal forces. Basically, she's causing miracles.
Right now, Keeler is at one of these bastions - unfortunately, I can't remember the name or the unit - but she rallies the Imperial Army company to throw back a horde of mutants and cultists serving as auxiliaries to the Death Guard, and despite being outnumbered like over three to one or more, the Imperial Army wins and repels them. The commander refuses to leave because she has been ordered by Rogal Dorn to hold that bastion no matter the cost. Garro and Gallor arrive just in time to help them finish off the stragglers that had already been routed by the Imperial Army soldiers, and they try to convince both Keeler and the commander to leave the bastion. The commander insists that she has to obey Dorn's orders, and Keeler also explains that she is doing her duty and what she can to help the Imperial Army soldiers.
She and Garro discusses some matters on faith, with Keeler revealing that she is close to breaking down. Garro reassures her, reminding her that she was the one who helped him find his way, and now he's doing the same for her. Meanwhile, Gallor says they need reinforcements to hold the bastion, and the commander laughs and tells him that they (the Imperial Army unit she commands) are the reinforcements. There will be no one else coming, and they are on their own.
There are some intervals where Garro (?) has a flashback of himself going to Barbarus for the first time to witness how the citizens react to the newly transformed Astartes legionaries of the XIVth Legion. Typhon being one of them, and they discuss, with the first captain telling Garro that he probably needs to see Barbarus - the planet where Mortarion grew up on - for himself. He then promotes Lieutenant Garro to the rank of captain of the Seventh company.
Mortarion decides not to bother with the fodder anymore, instead committing his main force to attack the bastion after receiving a report from a fleeing cultist that the Imperial Army unit in that area had rebuffed their attempts to take it, despite statistically having the numbers to overwhelm them several times over. He basically devours the poor guy's brain and sees the dude's memories of Garro and the Saint, and he's tempted by the prospect of turning Garro and sacrificing Keeler to the Garden of Nurgle. He has seen the significance of ritual after receiving the grandfather's mark, so he doesn't just level the place with Titans from Legio Mortis even though he can. No, the Chaos gods demand spectacle, and Nurgle isn't satisfied with simple victory - he wants sacrifice. Tribute. Ritual. This will be the undoing of Chaos, I suppose. Anyway, he commits another wave, which the Imperial Army units, now reinforced by Garro and Gallor, throw back.
Unfortunately, a Helbrute shows up. Not a Contemptor Dreadnought that's corrupted, but a literal Helbrute from the 41st Millennium, with tentacles for arms, a mutated plasma cannon and all that. Yeah, apparently the Death Guard has early access to Plague Marines and Helbrutes, though you can only technically use those models in 9th edition, and not in Horus Heresy (unless your opponent is fine with it). Anyway, the Helbrute basically vaporizes the poor commander with a plasma cannon, and Garro and Gallor rappel down to fight it. But it has a 2+ armor save that all the Kraken bolter rounds bounce off, so Gallor - despite Garro's orders - cuts his line, jumps on top of the Helbrute, rams a bunch of krak grenades into its mouth after taking a searing blast from its malfunctioning plasma cannon that overheated and backfired when Garro shot the cables, and then blows it up. Oh, Gallor also field promotes the commander's young aide to be the new commander before he rappels down, and orders him to rally his surviving forces to shoot the fodder. Why the Death Guard only sent mutants and one Helbrute, I have no idea, but...plot.
Garro saves Gallor after he was blown off, catching him Mission Impossible style, and then brings him back to the bastion where his transhuman physiology kicks in and heals. His armor, on the other hand, has been damaged beyond repair, so he can't really do much from that point on. At that moment, shortly after Gallor wakes up, the bombardment from Death Guard artillery stops - apparently, Mortarion was annoyed that the single Helbrute he sent got wrecked and he retaliated with artillery while Gallor was unconscious - and Garro senses Mortarion coming.
He wishes to get Keeler out of there, and persuades her to evacuate with the rest of the Imperial Army soldiers on a shuttle. He requests Gallor to escort them, knowing that he can't do much while still hurt and without his power armor, and he leaves by himself to buy the time Gallor needs to evacuate Keeler and the Imperial Army soldiers. Being the badass that he is, he rushes down to confront Mortarion and the Death Guard...all by himself.
By now, Mortarion and his Death Guard have gathered, jumping off the barge to surround the front of the bastion. He has Typhus, the Grave Wardens and a bunch of Plague Marines all pointing their weapons at Garro, but instead of shooting him, he decides to duel Garro one-on-one. Just because. Or maybe he wants to turn Garro. Or there's some ritual significance to sacrificing Garro for the glory of Nurgle. I dunno. Garro's reaction to him is what you would expect. "What have you become?" And when Mortarion says something about saving the legion and cheating death, he sadly shakes his head and asks, "at what cost?"
There's also another flashback where Mortarion attempts to sound out Garro's loyalty before the attack on Isstvan. He offers Garro some cup filled with toxins, a Death Guard thing where they show off their resilience to poison and laugh at death, and Garro accepts it. However, he realizes that Garro's loyalty is to the Emperor as a Terran-born, and he will never turn. So he grudgingly orders Grulgor to kill Garro, after Typhon's urging.
Back to the present, Mortarion attempts to offer Garro the same cup, but this one has more Chaos magick in it so Garro knows he'll turn if he drinks it. He pours the stuff away, which corrodes the ground, and denounces Mortarion as a traitor. Mortarion laughs and retorts that Garro was the one who broke his oaths. After some back and forth arguing, and Typhus shouting from the sidelines that Garro should die (the Plague Marines too), they duel.
As you would expect, Mortarion wins one-sidedly. Garro, even with plot armor, is no match for Mortarion, and a single blow is enough to shatter his body and lay him low. I mean, Garro has first blood, managing to scratch Mortarion's armor, which annoys his gene-father, who promptly loses his patience and smacks him. That single strike is what almost destroys Garro. There was a shootout in between, where Mortarion fires Lantern, and Garro shoots his master-crafted bolter, but then the Daemon Primarch slices off the barrel of his bolter. But instead of shooting Garro, he throws Lantern to one of the Grave Wardens and decides to settle this the old-fashioned way. He is toying with Garro, and wants to prolong his death and suffering, not wanting to grant him a quick death.
However, Garro feels Keeler watching him, almost like he's basking in sunlight. Even so, he is eventually beaten down and defeated. Mortarion, being a typical villain, decides not to kill him immediately and instead tries to possess Garro's body with the Lord of Flies. All the flies buzz over and swarm Garro, the Daemon trying to turn Garro into its host. Mortarion can feel Keeler watching them and laughs, saying that Garro has failed, and he will capture the Saint and feed her to Nurgle.
The story doesn't end here, though. After Mortarion breaks his body, Garro somehow revives and fights again, being filled with faith and the Emperor's light. The flies that swarmed his body get incinerated, and the Lord of Flies withdraw with a shrill screech, the Emperor's protection being anathema to them. Mortarion is nearly taken by surprise, and for a moment, Garro matches him, trading blow for blow. But his opponent is a Primarch, after all, and eventually, he smashes Garro's sword, Libertas, and stabs the poor former Knight Errant in the chest, obliterating his primary heart and all but killing him.
But Garro has one last act of defiance. Despite being impaled in the chest, he grabs Silence and pulls himself up through the scythe, accelerating his death but allowing him to stab the broken remnants of Libertas into Mortarion's neck. That hurt like hell, and Mortarion shrieks in pain and fury. Even though his wound heals almost immediately, leaving just a scar, his pride has been stung. Garro, on the other hand, has defied him, refusing to be turned, and now he dies. In the meantime, he sees the shuttle flies off to the distance, jinking and evading the anti-air las and flak from the angry Death Guard. Gallor has convinced Keeler to stop watching the battle and come with him to the shuttle, which he pilots and escapes from the battlefield. Mortarion has failed to capture the Saint, and Garro can finally rest in Silence.
Yeah, Garro is dead. NOOOO!!!! Then again, the Horus Heresy is a tragedy. What do you expect? Lots of people were always going to die. It...happens. This is the end of Garro's story, and we'll never see him again. We get this cool ending where Garro sees the Emperor after he dies, accepting the God-Emperor's hand and walking into the light to fight by His side for eternity or something. Perhaps Garro will reincarnate someday, maybe he'll be by the God-Emperor's side forever. Who knows? Only James Swallow does. Anyway, that's...about it. Maybe Chapter Master Valrak will talk about this in his channel, but I doubt it. I watch his videos, but I don't think he'll ever read my blog. Which is fine, because nobody reads my blog anyway.
Eventually, they find out the murderer is a Tech-priest Enginseer. Apparently, her brother was sentenced to execution by Fossick, and so she schemed to adjust the gravity controls to kill the dude, suffocating him. She thought Ciaphas would sign off the unsigned documents to push through the execution, not knowing that our favorite Commissar dumped the punishment documents in the bin because he has no intention of signing off on Fossick's punishments. The guy was, to be blunt, a prick, who executed people for wearing their cap wrong (okay, Ciaphas is exaggerating), and the morale of his regiment hadn't just hit rock bottom - it was subterranean. Anyway, she was afraid Ciaphas would sign off on it and tries to murder him, but Jurgen manages to rescue Ciaphas before he can suffocate under the...uh, weight of the Tech-priest Enginseer's crime (I think her name is Palvarian?). Her brother, Roland, is off line facing the firing squad, and Ciaphas decides not to pursue it because the Adeptus Mechanicus is outside the jurisdiction of the Commissariat. So after she resolves the misunderstanding and is relieved that her brother wouldn't be executed, she promises not to hurt anyone, and...is let off the hook. Obviously, the Colonel of the regiment isn't happy about that and kicks her out of the regiment, and Ciaphas and Wells suggest that she find a new job on a starship. All's well that ends well.
Welcome to my blog's tactics page! With the new Horus Heresy 2.0 up and running, and after a few games with my Questoris Knights in the Age of Darkness, I've finally decided to set aside some time to write. Oh, and not to mention, the Liber Mechanicum has been out for a while now, so yeah.
Why Play Questoris Knights?
Because they are cool. I mean, you are literally fielding an army of giant robots. Some might be smaller than others, but essentially, you have a bunch of mechs marching across the field.
You also have scoring Armigers with Line. That's right. Everyone who plays Horus Heresy knows how strong Contemptor Dreadnoughts are. And Armigers are pretty much pseudo Contemptor Dreadnoughts! Basically, you have durable scoring Line troops with high Toughness and many wounds, as well as Eternal Warrior.
Not only that, your super-heavy Knights have relatively high armor values (at least 13 for the front armor), as well as decent invulnerable saves from ion shields that keep them in the fight. That makes them immune to small arms fire such as bolters and heavy bolters, and even melta weapons and lascannons will need their Armorbane and Sunder to wound them.
Their weapons are also terrifying. Knights have plenty of High Strength blast weapons or high volume shots with Rending, that allows them to tackle anything from hordes to Space Marines to vehicles. Funnily enough, the only thing they can't really kill effectively are Dreadnoughts, but you have the stomps for that. I think.
Do take note that you will always have an army with a very low count and few models, so each Knight lost will hurt a lot (even the Armigers, which are your only way of scoring). And despite the ion shields providing survivability against ranged anti-tank weapons, they don't do anything against melee weapons (with a few exceptions), so you're still vulnerable to chainfists.
Warlord Traits
Questoris Knights seem to only have a single Warlord Trait. I mean, some argument can be made that the Mechanicum specific Warlord Traits can be used, such as The Logic of Victory or the Science of Slaughter, but...they don't seem logical or even remotely useful for Knights. They don't get pinned (your Armigers do, but requires them to be within 6" of your Warlord), and obviously you want your Knight to be shooting or in combat, so the Logic of Victory isn't practical. Also, the Science of Slaughter's +1 to Strength isn't useful to a Knight whose Strength is already 8 or 9.
That leave the Seneschal's Warlord Trait, Master of the Household, which allows the Warlord and all Knights within 8" to perform Reactions even though Knights normally can't unless against other Knights and super-heavies. Also gives them an additional Reaction during the opponent's shooting phase. But wait! You cry. Knights are vehicles, and they can only fire defensive weapons in a Reaction! Well, the joke's on you, Legiones Astartes player. Arm mounted weapons like that tasty thermal cannon you see on my Knight Errant always count as defensive weapons.
Wargear and Special Rules
Wargear
Ion Shield: Super-heavy Knights get a 4++ invulnerable save to their front armor and a 5++ invunlnerable save to their sides against shooting weapons. Does nothing in melee.
Ionic Deflector: Armigers get this slightly downgraded ion shield, but you don't have to worry about facings and whatnot. It gives an all-round 5++ invulnerable save, and it's not only against shooting. Unlike regular 40K, Armigers get an invulnerable save in melee as well!
Weapons
Heavy Stubber: Standard auto weapon with 3 Strength 4 shots. Cheap, but don't expect it to do anything.
Meltagun: Expensive, but Strength 8 with melta (armorbane) means that it can reliably vaporize anything you point it at, be it a Terminator or a tank. Well, you probably wouldn't blow up a tank in one shot unless you get really lucky, but there is very little it cannot threaten. Since it's Strengh 8, it'll Instant Death a Terminator too (but not Custodes, funnily enough).
Multilaser: Well, it's a free alternative to the heavy stubber, and Strength 6 is an improvement, but the lack of AP isn't.
Special Rules
Stomp: Gone is the old Stomp table where you can effectively remove a model (or unit) under a pie plate if you roll a 6. Instead, you add D3+ your Knight's Attack Characteristics at Initiative 1 at his Strength, WS and at AP2. Only Knights and super-heavies like Titans, though, not Armigers. Unfortunately, Stomps don't work against other Knights, super-heavies, Titans, Flyers, and models with 8 wounds or more. Don't let that stop you from stomping a Contemptor Dreadnought or a Spartan Land Raider into oblivion, though. This is what you rely on to take out Dreadnoughts when your Reaper chainsword isn't enough.
Flank Speed: Cerastus Knights get this special rule that allows them to add 4" to their movement characteristic (effectively up to 18"), but they can't shoot. They can still charge, though, which is what you want for your Knight Lancer.
Move Through Cover: Your Armigers get this, which means they ignore Difficult Terrain and move really, really fast. Apparently doesn't automatically pass Dangerous Terrain tests, though, but at least your Armigers don't immobilize themselves anymore (like mine did in the old edition). Knights get a superior Move Through Cover, allowing them to ignore Dangerous Terrain completely (and Difficult Terrain).
Fielding Questoris Knights
Any Horus Heresy army can include a Knight as a Lord of War as per normal to the standard Force Organization Chart, but you probably aren't looking at this page to add a single Knight. Nope, what you're looking for is the Questoris Household Detachment.
Questoris Household Detachment
A Questoris Household Detachment allows you to take 2 Compulsory Troops, up to a maximum of 10. For every 2 Troops, you can take a single Lord of War, and you can ignore the max 25% of your army restriction for the Lords of War if you're taking this as your Primary Detachment. You can of course take a Questoris Household Detachment as an allied detachment, but then you'll be subjected to the max 25% restriction.
Household Ranks
When using the Questoris Household Detachment, you may upgrade your Knights (I don't think Armigers count) with Household ranks. Each of these Household ranks come with their special rules, penalties and abilities, so choose wisely. They also turn your Knights into Characters (except the Aspirant).
Seneschal (0-1): You must make this guy your Warlord. He becomes Character, gets +1 BS and +1 WS, and gets the Master of the Household Warlord Trait (see above). It's the most expensive upgrade at a whooping 80 points, but totally worth it as it allows your Knights to make Reactions they otherwise can't.
Arbalester: Gets +1 BS and reroll scatter dice. More accurately, roll two scatter dice and choose one, but you know what I mean. About 10 points more expensive than the Preceptor upgrade, but useful if you're using a bunch of scatter weapons (like the thermal cannon, rapid-fire battle cannon, lightning cannon, etc. - even the magna lascannon or heavy conversion beam cannon).
Aspirant: A discount Knight, giving you a 30 point discount but nerfing your Knight by -1 BS and -1 WS, as well as subtracting 2 from his Movement Characteristic.
Aucteller: Basically the Champion counterpart for your Knights that nets him +1 WS, and when he challenges or is challenged by a Knight, Titan, Primarch, Monster or any model with 8 wounds or more, they get an additional +1 WS (so a grand total of +2 WS) and +1 Attack. Cool against other Knights, but because most Primarchs have WS7 or higher, the additional WS doesn't really do much except ensuring you don't hit on only 6s in combat (though WS5 should technically save you from that). However, with the introduction of Daemons of the Ruinstorm, this should put your Knight on parity with a WS6 Daemon Herald or any of the big Monsters! Best used on a melee Knight like the Knight Lancer or Knight Gallant, though obviously any Knight with a big sword would benefit as well (reaper chainsword, thunderstrike gauntlet, tempest warblade, reaper chainfist).
Dolorus: Gives +1 WS and allows your Knight to perform Sweeping Advances. Cheaper and more reliable than the Aucteller. Obviously, best used on a melee Knight like the Knight Lancer or Knight Gallant.
Preceptor: Gives +1 BS and all Armigers within 6" get better Leadership (9), allowing them to resist Pinning better and they don't fail morale as often. Remember, Armigers are not Fearless. They are only Stubborn, and so they can get swept in combat if you're not careful. Best used in a shooty Knight, e.g. a Knight Crusader. I don't think it works well for something like the Knight Castigator, who already has twin-linked, or the Knight Acheron, who auto-hits with his flamestorm cannon and has twin-linked for his heavy bolter.
Uhlan: Gives +4" movement, Scout and Outflank, but obviously can't be used on Acastus Knights (why would you?). Would be great for Cerastus Knights to increase their already amazing movement, and Questoris Knights also benefit from this too.
Implacable: Your Knight can't lose more than 1 hull point from any attack. As a bonus, gives your Knight an extra Hull Point, but you really want the first ability, which renders your Knight effectively immune to Explodes! results on the vehicle damage table. Second most expensive upgrade, though, so use it on a Knight you really do not want to die.
Troops
Armigers
You can take units of 1-4 Armigers for 200 points each, though a meltagun will cost an extra 15 points. Armigers come with the Line and Skirmish rules, which means they are your scoring units, so keep them alive in games where that matters. They are the Knight counterparts of Astartes Dreadnoughts, having a similar statline, though a bit inferior despite being more expensive. They are fast with an 8" movement and Move Through Cover and Fleet (2), are resilient at Toughness 7 and 6 wounds (so Dreadnought statline). They do get a +1 to charges, so yeah. However, don't make the mistake of thinking they can go hand to hand against a Contemptor Dreadnought. Unlike a Contemptor Dreadnought, they only have a 3+ armor save, WS4 and BS4, and no brutal weapons, which means they will get ripped to shreds in melee by one. In comparison, a Contemptor Dreadnought has a 2+ armor save, WS5 and BS5, and they are cheaper (about 175 points before any upgrades).
Oh, and never forget that Armigers are only Stubborn and not Fearless...because their pilots are humans, I suppose? So the Leadership 7 means they will be pinned pretty often, and there's a good chance they will get swept in combat (especially by Fearless Contemptor Dreadnoughts. Figures).
On the plus side, Ionic Deflector gives them Eternal Warrior, which means you won't be losing D3 wounds from Instant Death weapons. So an in-built Implacable, in other words. Hooray. That does nothing against Brutal weapons, unfortunately, so you still need to make separate saves for all those wounds. And they can score, are more spammable than Dreadnoughts in terms of Force Organization Charts - you can theoretically take 10 units of 4, so...10 Armigers in a 2,000 point game, or 15 in a 3,000 point game, without needing any other units. Why you would do that other than for the laughs, I have no idea.
But hey, I guess it's pretty appealing to have an entire army of Toughness 7 walkers with Eternal Warrior running around, right?
Armiger Warglaive Talon: The melta and melee variant Armiger, he has a twin-linked thermal lance with 2 shots. That's right. Twin-linked with 2 shots. Pretty much a superior version of the gravis melta cannon that Contemptor Dreadnoughts are equipped with, and far better than a multimelta, it has 36" range (thus allowing you to get melta range in 18"). For some reason, the thermal lance is only AP 2 despite being a melta weapon, so it's less likely to blow up vehicles. However, it's still effective in killing 2-wounds Terminators thanks to Instant Death at Strength 8. Additionally, the Armiger Warglaive is equipped with a reaper chainblade that is Strength 9 AP 2 with Shred. Though not reliable in fighting Dreadnoughts or their equivalents, Shred boosts your chance of wounding them, and is actually better against infantry, including multi-wound Terminators who will get Instant Death-ed anyway.
Armiger Helverin Talon: The shooty version with two Phaeton autocannons that are MEQ killers with Strength 7 AP3. They are long ranged, so keep them in your backfield and make use of the 64" range. 2 shots each (so 4 total) with Rending (6+) means they can be a threat to anything, including AV14 Land Raiders (though you have to be really lucky with your armor penetration rolls). Has two different rounds that are either Sunder for tank hunting or Ignores Cover for exterminating infantry.
Lords of War
Questoris Knights: The most common pattern of Knights, they have 7 Hull Points, Front AV 13 and side and rear AV 12. Fairly durable with ion shields as well. They are your most flexible chassis, allowing you to swap weapons out to fit your needs (you did magnetize your Knights, right?). They also come with a heavy stubber, which you can upgrade to a meltagun or swap to a multilaser. With a base Strength 8 (for Stomps), 10" movement, Intiative 4 and 3 attacks, as well as BS4 and WS4, they are an all rounder.
-Rapid-fire battle cannon: Nerfed. Comes with a heavy stubber for more dakka, but being Strength 8 AP 4 Ordnance 2 Large Blast (5"), it's no longer the MEQ killer it once was. Can Instant Death MEQs and TEQs if they fail a save, but AP4 means that's unlikely. Still better than most weapons, and is very effective against clumped up Solar Auxilia infantry or Mechanicum units (though Strength 8 will not Instant Death those Toughness 5 Thallax), and will probably be great against Militia. Not as reliable against vehicles, though Ordnance offers some help in that regard.
-Thermal cannon: The most powerful Questoris Knight weapon, it is Strength 8 AP1 large blast (5"), and like the thermal lance, it's 36" range. Just one shot, unlike the rapid-fire battle cannon, but devastating against vehicles (especially if you can roll a 5 on the Vehicle damage table). But the best use of the thermal cannon is TEQ hunting, for it will not only negate the Terminators' 2+ armor save, but also Instant Death them. Still wounding Salamanders on a 3+ instead of a 2+ and probably not Instant Death-ing Iron Hands because of their -1 to Strength from incoming attacks, but against everything else, go ham with it.
-Avenger Gatling cannon: Comes with a heavy flamer, so yay? 12 shots at Strength 6 AP4 with Rending (6+). Again, nerfed so that MEQs can survive more, but the sheer dakka this weapon is capable of means they'll fail several saves at least. Plus the Rending helps. The only weapon you can take double of (like that Lady noble's Knight suit from Dawn of War 3?), so if you're an Ork player coming into Horus Heresy and you need dakka, take dual Avenger Gatling cannons and let them spray.
-Las Impulsor: Look, I know they want to let us make use of all the weapon options in the plastic Imperial Knights box, but...c'mon. The las impulsor is the most expensive Questoris weapon, and appears the strongest at Strength 10 AP2 with Sunder and Instant Death. That is, until you see that it is only 2 shots and has a 12" range. Not only will you be out of range of most targets, if you miss the 2 shots, then...quite frankly, it's a waste of points. It does have its uses, though, killing Custodes outright, and even dealing D3 wounds to Contemptor Dreadnoughts and automata because of the Instant Death (funnily enough, it has no effect on Armigers with Eternal Warrior), but...2 shots and 12"? Better hope your dice is rolling hot. Admittedly, it's awesome to hit both times against a Contemptor Dreadnought, wound both times, have your opponent fail both invulnerable saves, and then you roll 2 3s for the D3 damage and blow up the damned Contempror Dreadnought in a single volley. Otherwise, if you fail to kill it, you're probably f-ed.
Wait, you cry. The las impulsor has a melee profile too! That's right! Strength 10 AP1 Armorbane and Instant Death looks amazing! You'll totally wreck that Contemptor Dreadnought you just charged! Except that the las impulsor also has the Cumbersome rule, which means your Knight is WS1 when using this weapon and thus is hitting the Contemptor Dreadnought on 6s while it hits your Knight back on 3+s (apparently, you are only WS1 when using the weapon, but when your opponent fights back, they count against your natural WS4). Brilliant...well, at least you will be wrecking tanks and buildings with ease, I guess?
-Reaper Chainsword: Strength 10 AP 2 with Shred makes the reaper chainsword super reliable and a weapon you'll always want to have, allowing you to cleave through infantry with ease and Instant Death Terminators. And ensure they stay really dead. It's only decent against other Knights, and though Shred allows you to near guarantee that you wound Dreadnoughts, their 6 (or 7) wounds make it difficult for you to kill them in melee. On the plus side, you can finish them off with Stomps.
-Thunderstrike Gauntlet: Stronger than the reaper chainsword at Strength 12 AP2, with Sunder, this is the anti-tank and anti-knight weapon. Not as good against Dreadnoughts and automata (weirdly, it lacks Armorbane), funnily enough, but it'll definitely destroy almost any vehicle you charge (except Titans or another Knight).
-Carapace Weapons
--Stormspear rocket pod: 3 shot krak missile. The most expensive option, decent against vehicles and does well with anti-MEQ. Instant Deaths TEQs if they fail an armor save, though that's unlikely. But it can still happen, right?
--Ironstorm missile pod: Strength 5 AP4 Large Blast with Ordnance. Probably wouldn't do much, but it still does well against Solar Auxilia, Militia and Mechanicum. Barrage means you don't need line of sight, but that means it scatters the full 2D6.
--Twin-linked Icarus autocannon: The cheapest option, 2 shots at Strength 7 AP4 with Rending (6+), twin-linked. Skyfire means it can hit flying targets, but that's kind of situational.
Questoris Knight Magaera: Like the regular Questoris Knights, he has 7 Hull Points and front AV13, side and rear AV12, and an ion shield (not the ionic flare shield that Mechanicum has, or It Will Not Die). He has in-built Nightvision, but a worse Initiative at 2. Overtaxed Reactor means he blows up more violently, though. Unlike the regular heavy stubber, he comes with a phased plasma fusil that is Strength 6 AP 3 (Breaching 4+), so good against MEQ and even TEQ, but has Gets Hot! He's armed with a lightning cannon that's a Large Blast Strength 7 AP 3 Rending (4+), Exoshock (4+) and Shred. Awesome. Also comes with a reaper chainsword that can be replaced with a siege claw with an irad cleanser and has Sunder and Wrecker.
Questoris Knight Styrix: Almost identical to the Magaera, the only difference is that instead of a lightning cannon, he gets a volkite chieorovile that shoots 5 Strength 8 AP4 shots with Deflagrate. Basically, like all volkites, it's not that good against MEQ and TEQ, but the high Strength means it will Instant Death Terminators in the unlikely event they fail their saves, and do an extra wound. Better pray for your opponent rolling those 1s, I guess. On the plus side, it is absolutely devastating against Solar Auxilia, Militia and Mechanicum, and is decent against light and medium armored vehicles. Don't expect him to destroy a Land Raider in shooting, though. Use your siege claw for that. Oh, he has graviton gun as well, so you can shoot the volkite chieorovile at infantry, your graviton gun (with Haywire) to glance the Land Raider, and then charge it to wreck it with your siege claw. Nice.
Cerastus Knight Lancer: The Cerastus chassis has base Strength 9, which makes them stronger than Questoris Knights, and 14" movement and 4 attacks, but otherwise they have similar stats to the Questoris. The Lancer is different from all the other Knights in that he gets a 5++ invulnerable save in melee because of his ion gauntlet shield, which also downgrades to a 5++ for his front and side armor against shooting, but hey, it's a good trade off. His shock lance can shoot 6 shots at Strength 7 AP3 with Concussive (2) at 18" range, but that's not why you're taking him. You're taking him because his shock lance is Strengh 10 AP 2 Reach (1) and Exoshock (5+) in melee. With his base 4 attacks (5 on the charge) and Initiative 5 (because of Reach giving +1 to his Initiative), he'll be spearing TEQs and other elite infantry to death (Instant Death). Even Custodes. That's how crazy he is. Usually you would want to put one of the Dolorus or Acuteller upgrades on him to give him WS5 so that he'll hit better. He's also decent against vehicles and other Knights (though there was one match where I had my Knight Lancer stuck in combat against a Shadowsword for almost the entire game).
Cerastus Knight Castigator: Dakka Knight that's meant for anti-horde. Similar in stats to the Knight Lancer, which means he has Strength 9, 14" movement, etc., but the only difference is that he carries a standard ion shield instead of the ion gauntlet shield that the Lancer has. Has the Castigator cannon that's pure dakka, throwing out 18 twin-linked shots at Strength 6 AP4. No Rending, unlike the Avenger Gatling cannon, but has Pinning and Shell Shock. He also has a Tempest Warblade that strikes at Strength 10 AP2 like the reaper chainsword, but lacks Shred. Instead, the Tempest Warblade has Deflagrate, which doubles unsaved wounds, and Tempest, which allows your Knight to automatically hit every enemy model in base contact with him at Initiative 2, thus allowing you to deal more attacks than you normally are capable of doing.
Cerastus Knight Acheron: The flamer Knight whose flamestorm cannon is Hellstorm Template Strength 7 AP4 with Shred. His Reaper chainfist gains Armorbane and is Strength 10 AP2, plus a twin-linked heavy bolter as a bonus. This makes him utterly deadly against tanks and vehicles, and even against Dreadnoughts and automata. He might not be an effective MEQ killer, but he certainly will incinerate any GEQ such as Solar Auxilia and Militia.
0-1 Cerastus Knight Atrapos: The good old Knight and Titan hunter. He retains his graviton singularity cannon, which is a Strength 8 AP2 large blast with Haywire and Concussive (1), allowing him to easily wound Dreadnoughts and Instant Death Terminators. His Atrapos phasecutter is less impressive, being only a one-shot Strength 10 AP 1 with Ordnance at 12" range (much like the las-impulsor). But you're not taking him for that. You are taking him for the singularity cannon, as mentioned earlier. In addition to being anti-TEQ and haywire, you have to roll a D6 - on a 1, your poor Knight Atrapos suffers a hull point worth of damage with no saves allowed (basically Gets Hot!). On a 2-5, the weapon fires normally, but on a 6, you get a f-ing vortex that turns it into a dangerous terrain that inflicts Strength 10 AP1 Armorbane and Instant Death to all models standing in it.
Also, you have twin-linked when firing both weapons at super-heavies, such as Knights and Titans, thanks to Macro-Extinction Targeting Protocols. Unfortunately, he sucks in melee because of the same reason the las impulsor is so bad - Cumbersome means he'll be swinging at WS1 and hitting everything at 6s, so don't depend on the Strength 10 AP1 Instant Death and Armorbane phasecutter to do anything in combat. The good news, though, is that if they do kill him in melee, his explosion is AP1, so let him blow up.
0-1 Acastus Knight Porphyrion: The Acastus Knight chassis has front AV14, side AV13 and rear AV12, along with a whooping 9 hull points. They are also Strength 10 for your Stomps. A great idea for your Implacable Knight. The Knight Porphyrion in particular is armed with two twin-linked magna lascannons, which are large blast Strength 10 AP2 Ordnance 2 (yeah, 2 shots each, and twin-linked on top of that! For a total of 4 twin-linked shots!). Not only that, he has two autocannons that can be upgraded to lascannons for extra anti-tank punch. His carapace missile launcher is the standard Ironstorm missile pod identical to the Questoris Knights', but you can swap it out for a Whirlwind launcher with Hyperios warheads that are 4 Strength 8 AP3 with Skyfire and twin-linked to shoot down aircraft.
0-1 Acastus Knight Asterius: Instead of magna lascannons, the Asterius is armed with two twin-linked heavy conversion beam cannons that are large blasts with Blind, but different Strength and AP depending on the range. Between 42" and 72", they are Strength 12 AP1, but between 18" and 42", they are only Strength 9 AP4, and between 1" and 18", they are only Strength 7 AP-. In other words, he's only useful when shooting at targets really, really far away, unless you're shooting at vehicles. He also has the Karacnos mortar battery, which is massive blast (7"), Strength 6 AP4 Rad-phage, Fleshbane, Barrage, Pinning, Shell Shock (3), Crawling Fire and Ignore Cover. That means you can fire at targets without line of sight (but you have to scatter the full 2D6"), they can't take cover saves (not that MEQ cares), you wound all infantry on a 2+, and any unit that suffers an unsaved wound has their Toughness permanently reduced. Not only that, the area the pie plates land on turn into dangerous terrain and starts spreading about. Also comes with two volkite culverins because why the hell not?
Allies
Honestly, Knights can be allied to any Crusade Force, and any allies will benefit them. Armigers might be Line, but both Legiones Astartes and Solar Auxilia (and Imperial Militia) will provide more bodies and boots on the ground. Especially if you want to hide bodies in ruins and camp on objectives, which you can't really do with Knights because they're so big and near impossible to hide.
Mechanicum seems to be a decent ally too, especially since the Archmagos Prime, Tech-priest Auxilia and Magos Dominus can repair Knights with their Battlesmith ability, allowing them to survive longer. Not only that, it also allows you to take Knight Moirax in your army (for some reason, they are not in the Quesstoris Knight Household list, but are available as Heavy Support in Mechanicum detachments).
You can certainly play a pure Knights army, but the joy of having allies as options means that you can shore up whatever weaknesses your army has (low model count), so take the opportunity to experiment around!
