Ouch. If you guys remember, I was super happy to see Games Workshop announce the release of a plastic Cerastus Knight Lancer on Sunday. Hell, yeah! I'm definitely getting one, especially since my current resin model is in pretty bad shape, and because...Knights. And I'm a Knight player.
Then I saw this video in my Youtube recommendations.
I...don't know what to say.
I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan of The Outer Circle. I think he has a great point, and he has made many amazing videos, including his Getting Started videos. I've watched a few of them, particularly the Thousand Sons, Mechanicum and Questoris Knights one. He has some good advice, and I take them to heart.
Unfortunately, the rest of his videos are so...uh, how do I put it politely, negative.
Look, I'm not exactly the most positive person. I dunno, actually. I don't think anyone has called me a shill because I don't exactly go around praising Games Workshop, but I do whine quite a bit. Sorry about that. So maybe I might sound hypocritical, but I'm not exactly fond of spending like 30 to 40 minutes listening to The Outer Circle (or is his name Macca? According to Reddit, anyway) bashing Horus Heresy. Yeah, I know the rules team "overcorrected" and I'm pretty annoyed at every blast weapon being nerfed to AP 4 so that Marines are more survivable. I mean, my Knight Paladin's rapid-fire battle cannon is AP 4 now, and it sucks against Marines. Oh, and the Avenger Gatling cannon being AP 4 now too, even if it kept Rending. It used to be a Marine killer, but now my super-heavy Knight has trouble mowing down infantry in power armor because...quite literally, plot armor. Yeah, I know Contemptor Dreadnoughts and Leviathan Dreadnoughts are a major problem, my Knights - yeah, seriously, my Knights - having fallen victim to them in a one-sided game.
But Reactions? I still remember The Outer Circle bashing Reactions. Oh, and that long rant about MKVI power armor? I don't think he's so much annoyed about it being against the lore, but some weird thing about MKVI now becoming the face of the Heresy even though they came (pardon the pun) Full Circle because (I actually found this out from Arbitor Ian, who in my opinion is a far more pleasant Youtuber to watch regarding Heresy lore and stuff) MKVI was actually the original power armor that Space Marines were depicted in way back in the 1990s, before everything was fleshed out. Macca or The Outer Circle strikes me as being a bit overzealous in gatekeeping sometimes, and I remember raising my eyebrow when he told viewers not to put purity seals on their 30K Space Marines even though Dan Abnett's Luna Wolves were doing that in Horus Rising when they had their Oath of Moment. Okay. I don't think he's nearly as bad as...Crablezworth on Dakkadakka. Now, I don't think they are wrong, and I don't expect everyone to love Horus Heresy 2.0. There are definitely flaws. But being overly negative and...uh, looking for things to bash for the sake of it just seems pretty...bad. They have valid criticisms, but most of them are buried under lots of...salt. Crablezworth, for example, talks about how Horus Heresy 1.0 is a much, much, much superior version (his words, not mine), and often calls for a return to it. Like...what? As much as I'm annoyed by the nerfs to AP 4 everywhere, are you seriously telling me that invincible Sekhmet Terminators with rerollable invulnerable saves, Magnus dropping Strength D plates everywhere, Mechanicum's plasma and Haywire spam, Strength D weapons erasing entire units off the field, Armored Ceramite rendering melta almost completely useless, and ridiculous psychic phases with convoluted warp charges mechanics are much, much, much better than Heresy 2.0? Dreadnoughts I'll find a way to deal with eventually, and I have alternatives to AP 4 weapons for my Knights (melta weapons, yay), but c'mon, the older edition is...not the perfect model that Crablezworth makes it out to be.
But I digress. Onto my own salt. Now Macca makes a video telling everyone how Knight players like me are pretty niche, how we're only 1% of the Horus Heresy population, and pretty much...don't matter. And that we shouldn't be getting a plastic Knight Lancer first, and that we should instead prioritize infantry squads, melee weapons, assault squads. Okay, I'll grant you that. I wouldn't begrudge Space Marine players getting their infantry stuff first, and I might even jump on the hype train to convert Dark Angels Destroyers.
But I don't know, man. This video left a bad taste in my mouth, especially when he made another video about "entitlement" the other day, about listening to customers or whatever. Y'know, about people getting upset about Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus getting new characters while Iron Warriors, Raven Guard, Salamanders, etc. still haven't gotten their unique Characters or Praetor models. Now I didn't write anything about that because I kind of agreed with him, but when I saw him making this video writing off us Knight players, I felt...I dunno, betrayed? Stung? So we Knight players don't matter because we're a niche base who make up only 1% of the group (and he admitted pulling that number out of his ass, saying he's not going to make a poll). He has never seen Knight players at Horus Heresy events? Barring the fact that I bring my Knights to every Horus Heresy event I've been to (if you've been following my blog, you'll see that I play Knights in every Renegade Horus Heresy event and even the ones run by my friends). Well, maybe because we don't really have much support and options at the moment, especially since most of them are Forge World resin? What do we have? Armigers and Questoris Knights. That's it. The Cerastus Knights are resin. The Acastus Knights are resin. Even the damned Mechanicum Questoris Knight variants (the Styrix and the Magaera) are half resin.
Don't you think that's precisely why you don't see as many Knight players? Because, I don't know, man, Marines have far more support and options, and Knights don't? Maybe the plastic Cerastus Knight Lancer is pushed toward helping us get more options and encourage more Knight players! This video didn't sit right with me, because I felt like he was dismissing us Knight players. Like, if you're trying to fight for Raven Guard or Iron Warriors Characters even though those Legions aren't as popular as, say, Imperial Fists or Sons of Horus, you shouldn't pick and choose who gets plastic kits, early releases or options (in the form of resin Characters). All of us deserve to have early plastic kits too! Including Knight players! We matter as much as Raven Guard or Iron Warriors! And what's this about us not showing up in the Heresy as often? We were in Mechanicum and all over the place during the Schism of Mars and Forge World battles that erupted all over the Imperium. How about Doom of Molech, which appeared in an early White Dwarf article way back, before finally before written by Graham McNeill in Vengeful Spirit (which, I'll admit, was not one of my favorite Graham McNeill novels)? Not to mention we are increasingly mentioned in all the Adeptus Titanicus narratives. Knights show up wherever Mechanicum armies (and Titans) appear - you telling me that Mechanicum is a niche player base too? And they shouldn't get plastic kits before, say, Assault Marines?
Oh, and the weird point about this being geared more toward 40K players than Horus Heresy players. I play both because conveniently enough I can play my army in both systems. I still can't tell you which system I like more, but currently I'm leaning toward modern 40K (though that might change in 10th edition) because they feel a bit tougher there, and...quite frankly, vehicles - even Super-heavies - are pretty bad in Heresy. That's not to say my Knights don't do well in Heresy - barring hard counters like Iron Warriors with their +1 Strength against vehicles and 5 Thousand Sons Dreadnoughts with that Telepathy power that pretty much automatically pins my Armigers - they actually do quite decent against most other Space Marine armies. I dunno, maybe it's because of Crusade that I prefer modern 40K. There's something about seeing my Knights rank up and Tanaka (my self-insert) being promoted from a lowly Armiger bondsman/retainer to a Questoris Knight noble/bushi over a Crusade campaign. However, I do sometimes swing toward Heresy because it gives me a reason to play my Cerastus Knights, which don't actually do anything in modern 40K (hopefully 10th edition changes that). But I honestly don't think it caters more to 40K players than 30K. Armigers used to be available easily ever since 8th edition...until Heresy dropped, and Liber Mechanicum made them mandatory Troops where you had to take 2 of them for each Super-heavy Knight (Lord of War), and suddenly they're all sold out. For months. I don't know when they'll be restocked. The Age of Darkness Armigers? Not back in stock yet, even after 5 months. How do I know that? Because I've been keeping tabs and trying to get my own bloody box so that I can field 3 Lords of War eventually. In 30K, obviously, because I already have my 3 Questoris Knight Crusade army for "modern" 40K. If you've been following my blog, you probably know that.
So...who says this Knight Lancer caters more toward 40K players than 30K? I mean, sure, you can make an argument that they will grab this for a Freeblade, but you can pretty much do the same for 30K - Age of Darkness Detachments or Force Organization Charts allow you to take a Lord of War from practically any faction - there you go, your very own Freeblade Knight.
Anyway, I don't want to rant too long, so I apologize. I'm just here to provide a counterpoint to The Outer Circle. Knight players exist. I'm here. I'm evidence of an existing Knight group. Are we a niche playerbase? Perhaps, but isn't that because most of our options - especially the Cerastus variants - are resin, and therefore we're priced out? I had to spend almost 10 years to build up my current collection of Knights, saving here and there. I think I bought my resin Knight Lancer secondhand, and less than 5 years later, he's...in pretty bad shape. Whereas my plastic Questoris Knights have followed me around faithfully for almost 10 years without needing as much repair and maintenance. So yes, I'm very glad about the plastic Knight Lancer kit, and I'm grateful (I'm not shilling, before you throw that accusation at me). I'm just a Knight player, and I'm happy that we are not forgotten, that Games Workshop cater to us despite us being supposedly "niche." Sure, I understand the pains of plastic infantry, and I agree that they should push those out faster, release them quickly, but not at the expense of us Knight players. If we get our plastic kit first, I think that's a cause for celebration. And also I'm relieved they finally announced assault squads - the uncertainty was...not fun, but to have official confirmation means that they are coming, even if they might take some time. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of them waiting until Winter 2023 for assault marines and Spring 2024 for melee weapons, and I wish they would release them earlier, but throwing shade at us Knight players and saying that they should give us more plastic Marines at the expense of us Knight players just feels bad, man. And then you post a video about "entitlement" like the next day (I didn't watch the videos in chronological order). You know what's the funniest thing? The Outer Circle/Macca was complaining about how Games Workshop should listen to the customer in his entitlement video, but before then he was whining about the plastic Knight Lancer being ill-timed (?), even though we - the customers - have been asking for plastic kits of the Cerastus Knights for years. That's right, years before Horus Heresy 2.0 came out, we were already asking for plastic kits, and I remember reading somewhere about how the Knight Lancer is among the most popular Forge World Knight model. So...way to contradict yourself there, Macca. They certainly are listening to their customers. I'm not sure why you're picking and choosing who among the customers they should listen to. You? They shouldn't listen to us Knight players because we're niche and make up only 1%? I don't know, man, maybe you should consult their market research team before pulling those numbers out of thin air.
I'm not trying to bash The Outer Circle, I just disagree with him and I want to let everyone know that we Knight players exist, and we do appreciate getting a plastic kit before the assault squads (though ideally we should get all of them together).
#KnightPlayersMatter
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