Warhammer 40k Imperial Knights Faction Focus Honours the Realm and Dethrones All Tyrants
| Tags: Warhammer
| Author Bence Loksa
Warhammer 40k Imperial Knights Faction Focus showcases some incredibly new rules for our favourite mechs – and a huge buff to a forgotten weapon.
One of the most unique factions of Warhammer 40k is the Imperial Knights: while other factions use a lot of miniatures to battle in the 41st Millenium, Imperial Knight players can get away with using roughly 9, or even less if they want to field more than 2 of the Dominus-class Knights. No wonder that the newly revealed Faction Focus is also grand for these big walkers, who have received one of the most outstanding Weapon Spotlight – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and take the new Imperial Knights Faction Focus step by step!
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Faction Rules of the Warhammer 40k Imperial Knights Faction Focus
The chivalric knights of the far future retained their Code Chivalric rule, which will function as an Army Rule in the next edition of Warhammer 40k. With this Rule, IK players can choose an Oath after them and their opponents generated the Mission Objectives. These Oaths affect all of the Imperial Knight models in the players army, granting them a whole new ability while also sending them on a Deed, a quest with a huge reward at the end of it.
The first Oath is Lay Low the Tyrant, which gives every Imperial Knight unit the ability to reroll Hit and Wound rolls of 1 each time they Shoot or Fight – which is an incredibly strong ability. The Deed of this quest is to destroy the enemy Warlord, which is a tough objective, as they will be well protected most of the time by the units which they lead. But if the Knights manage to take down the enemy Warlord, they receive 3CP, which is a huge reward, as CP will be scarce in 10th Edition according to Games Workshop.
The second Oath is Reclaim the Realm, which gives 1” to the Move Characteristic of Imperial Knights, making them quicker on the battlefield, while also boosting their Advance and Charge rolls by 1, so they can be in the fray much quicker. The Deed of this Oath is to take on of the home objectives of your opponent, and with the extra Movement, it shouldn’t be as hard of a task as in the current edition – and well worth it for the 3CP. Doing a Deed also makes your army Honoured, which provides extra bonuses in conjunction with other abilities of the Knights.
Alongside they Army Rule, we got the Detachment Rule for the Noble Lance Imperial Knights Detachment, called Indomitable Heroes. This Detachment Rule gives all of the Imperial Knights the Feel No Pain 6+ ability, preventing a Wound on a 6+ roll, or a 5+ FNP if the Knights are already Honoured. This is no joke, as the Knights are already durable, and they will get the increased Toughness treatment of the 10th Edition.
Units Spotlights of the Warhammer 40k Imperial Knights Faction Focus
The first unit showcased in the Imperial Knights Faction Focus was the humble Warglaive, the “rank and file” unit of the army – if you can call a towering metal monstrosity which you get to use 5-7 of tops rank and file. The Armiger Warglaive will have 10 Toughness instead of 7 in the new Edition of Warhammer, and it retained all it’s weapons, except that the Heavy Stubbers are now under one category (although they received the Rapid Fire 3 keyword to compensate).
All of it’s guns, alongside the Reaper chain-cleaver all received an increase in Strength as well. While the Warglaive retained it’s 3+ Armour Save and it’s 5+ Invulnerable Save against ranged attack, but now it only has one bracket between 4 and 1 Wounds, where it gets a penalty to it’s Hit rolls. Also, they melee version of the Armiger-class Knights got the Impetuous Glory ability, which gives it’s melee weapon the Sustained Hits 1 (scoring 1 extra hit on a Hit roll of 6) if it made a Charge in the given turn.
Alongside one of the smallest Knights, Games Workshop showed us one of the biggest, the Canis Rex. The King of the Imperial Knights will have 12 Toughness instead of 8 in the 10th Edition of Warhammer 40k, while also receiving increased Strength for all of it’s weapons. The Freedom’s Hand melee weapon’s Strike Attack also received +1 to it’s Damage, so if all 5 Hits wound, it can deal a devastating 45(!!!) Damage in a single Fight phase.
The Canis Rex also has a new Legendary Freeblade and Chainbreaker ability: the 10th Edition Legendary Freeblade rule lets the Imperial Knight players use a Stratagem on the King for 0 CP, and let’s them duplicate Stratagems, so you can Overwatch twice if you have a Canis Rex. The new Chainbreaker ability is tied to the Sustained Hits 1 that each of the Rex’s weapon will get in the new Edition, as this model scores Critical Hits on Hit rolls of 5+ instead of 6. Of course, Sir Hekthur will still be a playable model for the Imperial Knights, but his rules have not been showcased yet – but he will definitely join the fray even after his Knight has been destroyed.
Weapon Spotlights of the Warhammer 40k Imperial Knights Faction Focus
If you thought the Aeldari Faction Focus was good, you must take a look at the first Imperial Knights weapon that was shown to us: the Thundercoil Harpoon. The big gun of the Knight Valiant has been a bit of a niche pick in the current Edition of Warhammer, but in 10th, be prepared to face more of this devastating weapon. It still remained a shorter ranged anti-vehicle and monster gun (as showcased by the keywords), but it now has the Devastating Wounds ability, which changes the damage of it to Mortal Wounds on a Critical hit – and with the new Anti keywords, it’s not that hard to get those Mortal Wounds, even if the Harpoon still has only one shot.
Other than the Thundercoil Harpoon, we got a glimpse on the Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon of the Knight Paladin, which will finally be a true Rapid Fire weapon instead of just being named one! It now has D6+3 extra shots within 36” – yes, it’s full range is still 72”, so prepare to be showered in shots the size of a larger boulder. It received the increased Strength but decreased AP treatment as well, but overall will be a terrifying gun to face on the Battlefield.
Stratagem Spotlight of the Warhammer 40k Imperial Knights Faction Focus
After showing so much, Games Workshop still had time left for two Stratagems which the Knights will have access to in the 10th Edition of Warhammer 40k – and the first one is a brand new one. Shoulder the Burden will cost 2CP, so those extra Command Points from the Deed parts of Oaths will come very hand. For the price, you can improve an Imperial Knight model’s Move, Toughness, Save, Leadership and Objective Control characteristic by one, also giving them +1 to Hit, which is bonkers. The restriction is that this Strat can only be used one time in the whole battle, going up to two times after your army become Honoured. Still, this Stratagem is one of the best new tools showcased in these recent Faction Focus articles.
The other Stratagem is the new Trophy Claim, which will be more true to it’s name in the next Edition of Warhammer 40k. Trophy Claim gives an Imperial Knight +1 to Wound against a selected enemy Monster or Vehicle, and refunds the CP spent on it if your Knight can destroy the chosen trophy – but if it fails to do so, the Stratagem becomes unavailable for the rest of the game. This Strat is the epitome of high risk – high reward, and I for one love it.
Overall, the Imperial Knights players should be very pleased with their Faction Focus: they got the best of everything in increased Toughness, Strength, a new Stratagem, a reworked Weapon an touch ups on every aspect showcased. They should be as excited for the new Edition of Warhammer as I am – and if you are as well, don’t forget to follow ESTNN for the latest news of the most popular wargame in the world!