Welcome to another fun filled unit review from the one and true, Goatboy. This time up for review: the Imperial Knight Gallant!
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I have crawled out of my cave to start busting out some reviews. Today the chatter is about one of my favorite models to build/paint – the Imperial Knight. The current flavor for review is the interesting Gallant load out.
The Imperial Knight Gallant load out is one of those designs I really want to make work – but find them lacking most of the time. I still love them – and plan on using some Renegade versions in upcoming Chaos/Chaos daemons lists in the future. I just love the idea of a close combat Knight charging headlong into battle. I do think with the proper back up this Death Star buster might be worth it, especially when built around other protection style units that can help keep some of the strength 10 bad touches at bay. The lore for these guys state they are quick to anger and feel like the younger brothers of the Knight Family. Most of the time these guys are either set up in armies to be strictly the muscle or are a part of a formation that needs to have at least one cheap Knight to keep things working. We’ll go over each formation in a little bit as I break down each piece of the Knight Gallant puzzle.
Wargear:
Knight Gallants are equipped with 2 Close Combat weapons. One we all know and love with the Reaper Chainsword. It is a Strength D CCW that is AP 2. In current ITC format melee D weapons are full D capable, so this guy getting in close will cause a crap ton of damage. They are also equipped with the Thunderstrike Gauntlet that while normally not used is pretty cute when you can access its ability. It is also a CCW that is Strength D, AP 2, and has the unfortunate rule of Colossal which causes the weapon to always strike at Initiative 1. It does have the extra ability to throw any vehicle/MC it destroys/kills up to 12 inches away with a large blast that is AP 1 and its strength is equal to the toughness or half the front armor rounded up. I still haven’t gotten it to work yet – but I hope to one day huck a few drop pods around!
The Gallant can also upgrade its little heavy Stubber to a Meltagun if wanted and get all the carapace upgrade options in the Storm Spear Rocket Pod (48″ Str 8 Ap 3 Hvy 3), Iron Storm Missile Pod (72″ Str 5 Ap 4 Hvy Barrage Lg Blast), or Twin Icarus Autocannon (48″ Str 7 Ap 4 TWL, Interceptor, Heavy 2, Skyfire). If I add anything to the Gallant I usually look to the Storm Spear as a way for the Knight to help pop a Rhino or knock out a tank or two on his way up the field.
Beyond this it also has the ever annoying Ion Shield. When deployed and at the beginning of every Opponent’s Shooting phase the Knight can place the Ion shield on one of its “sides.” The Imperial Knight will have a 4++ versus any shooting attacks from that side. I wish it would work more for me but hey I think it just means the Goat isn’t always supposed to win.
The Imperial Knight book also has some Relics with 3 of them that feel set up to be added to a Gallant Chassis. The Helm of the Nameless Warrior gives the Knight Rampage which is pretty spicy. An extra batch of attacks on a 4 base attack model (2 CCW) is hot! The Paragon Gauntlet will give you master crafted which is pretty helpful to reroll one miss (a bit too expensive but it is a usable upgrade for the Gallant). Finally you have the Ravager which gives you an AP 1 Reaper Chainsword that lets you reroll 1’s to hit in close combat. These are for any Barons or Warlords for the army so most of the time I don’t see these upgrades being purchased unless you have a lot of extra points laying around.
Special Rules:
The Imperial Knights special rules are all here. You are a Super Heavy Walker which gives you a ton of rules – Fear, Move through Cover, Stomp, Invincible Behemoth, Can Shoot at Multiple Targets, Base movement 12″, Relentless, Smash, Strike Down, Hammer of Wrath, and of course they blow up with a Catastrophic Damage chart roll. To give you a good idea – they can shoot all their guns, all the time, don’t get stuck on terrain, only care about explosions on the vehicle damage chart, and get to where they want to go pretty quickly.
The Gallant has an extra attack from the 2 CCW as well as the option to pick from each type of CC attack based on what he is fighting against. The extra rules the model gets are all based on the formations it is chosen in which I will go over next a there are a few of them that this King of Combat can be a part of.
Formations:
We’ll start with the first one that this Knight is the only one to be a part of it – The Gallant Lance. This is made up of 3 Knight Gallants and they gain the extra rules of Rage (+2 attacks on the charge – very spicy indeed), Crusader (they are booking it after killing someone), and Full Tilt (Reroll their charge ranges – so you can hope for that super sweet 12″ oh crap look from your opponent). This formation is all about getting mixed in and beating face and it is excellent at it!
Next up we have the Tripartite Lance option that is made up of the Knight Gallant, Knight Warden, and Knight Crusader. They are a set up as one “unit” of Knights and this is the Close Combat protector of the unit. The Knight Gallant gives the rule of D3 Hammer of wrath hits to the unit while the others give other rules like being able to TWL their fire with Blast Weapons as well as giving enemies a -1 to their cover saves from shots fired from this formation. This formation is more of a combo formation then anything else as you are all about using and abusing the “unit” of Knights and the blessings you can give them.
The Gallant can be chosen within a Baronial Court or Exalted Court based on how many points the tournament/game is. I see the Gallant used mostly as the 5th knight in an Exalted Court as you are forced to take 5 Knights and you need a “cheaper” one to help complete this in any 1850 event.
The Household Detachment could be a good place to see the Gallant. If you wanted 3 semi death stars to run around, have objective secured, and gain access to some Relic options. I always forget about it when building a Gallant based army as I feel the Gallant Lance just does a lot more for you. Still it isn’t a terrible option as you get access to the Nameless Warrior piece of wargear to make a cool butt beating Warlord Knight.
You could use the Skyreaper Lance if you wanted too. Its made up of 3 Knights but you to take the Autocannon Carapace upgrade. I don’t think I have ever seen this fielded. You get to Reroll wounds and penetrations versus Flyers/Flying MCs. I guess it could be ok if the new Flyer update does a lot for the game – I still suspect will never see this formation.
Tactics:
Currently I have a few lists that plan on trying to use and abuse the Knight Gallant. I have always wanted to try out the Gallant Lance as a “Deathstar” break option as most of the time they do not have any means to get rid of the vehicle. Throwing them at the star can usually give you some good trade outs if you get lucky with some clutch 6’s in the close combat. I find them especially useful in army lists that can help “push” rough combatants (Iron Priest, WGBL, Str 10 jerks) onto cheaper units and keep your Gallant hitting dogs, command squads, and other less damaging things.
I know we have all heard about the Bark Bark star and thought it might work out to add some Dogs, a few sprinkles of Dark Angels to utilize Azrael, and maybe a Gallant Knight or two to help shore up any rough spots.
Formation: Wolfkin
Fenris Wolves X 15, Cyber Wolf Upgrade
Fenris Wolves X 15, Cyber Wolf Upgrade
Fenris Wolves X 10
Dark Angels CAD
Chaplain, Bike, Meltabomb
Scouts X 5, Meltabomb
Scouts X 5, Meltabomb
Azrael
Formation: Gallant Lance
Knight Gallant, Storm Spear Rocket Pod
Knight Gallant, Storm Spear Rocket Pod
Knight Gallant
Depending on the mission at hand – having Azrael take the Warlord Trait of FNP near any Objective can mean your Dogs are extremely annoying to remove off of the battlefield. Your plan is to use them to help usher in some Avenues for the Knight Gallants to get some charges into squishy targets as well as ensure they are protected from Drop Pods and other annoying options. It probably doesn’t have enough steam to get to the upper tables but it should at least give you enough options to beat up on a lot of armies. The two Storm Spears are there to give you some long range answers if needed. Plus it can drop enough to pop a Rhino/Razorback and help you get the squishy goodness inside.
The other ways I see the Gallant used is as the “cheap” option to get the 5th Imperial Knight in an Exalted Court formation. The formation gives you a lot of cool options – like +1 BS and WS to all the other non High King knights. This can be a big boon for your Gallant as he is normally hitting on 3’s and causing a lot of problems when he gets mixed up with squishy targets. I played against an Exalted Court at LVO from a good friend Ben with a beautiful Knight army. I got lucky enough to get a tie after a failed casting by Mephiston and the Knight Gallant actually did the most damage for Ben with a lucky 6 to remove my Psychic gang of jerks. The Gallant is a great “sacrificial” knight in this formation as he can run forward, act like a crazy person, and hopefully kill enough to justify its cheaper cost.
The final main formation the Gallant is part of is the Tripartite Lance that is made up of one of each of the new Imperal Knight load outs. The Gallant grants more hammer of wraths to the unit and with its set up of 3 Knights in a super unit, the Gallant is the much needed muscle to ensure they don’t get bogged down in combat. I normally see this unit utilized in a combo style list that tries to use and abuse psychic powers to boost up and create a super Unit of death and destruction. Its an army that throws all its eggs in once basket and while it will give you some pretty rough games for certain opponents it will just fold to specific “anti” psychic measures we see in a lot of armies. A Culexius landing near you will turn off all your protections and leave you hanging in the wind as a Knight or two is hammered with specific “anti” knight weapons. For those wondering here is a basic list utilizing the busted Librarian Conclave formation to cause a lot of problems.
IK Formation: Tripartite Lance
Knight Gallant, Iron Storm Missile Pod
Knight Warden
Knight Crusader, Battle Cannon Upgrade
SM Formation: UM Librarian Conclave
Tiggie Smalls
Librarian, Lvl 2, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Force Axe
Librarian, Lvl 2, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Force Axe
Inquisitor Detachment
Coteaz
Malleus Inquisitor, Lvl 1 Psyker, Servo Skulls X 3
Henchmen – Crusaders X 4, Psyker
Henchmen – Acolyte X 2, Psyker
Henchmen – Acolyte X 2, Psyker
The idea of this list is to just try and power up the Lance formation and keep it protected enough to survive your enemies fire power. You have multiple powers you can go for – the normal Invisibility is really powerful as well as the new “ignore cover/los” power from the Space Marine book. You have 13 WC starting off and a ton of 3++ saves to protect yourself. If you are rolling on Sanctic you could go for Sanctuary and try to get some 2++ rolls to help keep your “star” alive. This is more of a spoiler list and while it seems cute it won’t win a large event. You could get lucky with a 3 rounder as well as create some rough games for opponents not prepared for this nonsense.
Overall I really wish the Gallant had more attacks or at least Rampage or Rage as a standard rule. It feels like while its attacks are a very high value (D, goes at initiative, etc) their are just not enough to make the investment feel like it is worth it. Its too bad some of the rules you want this guy to have are locked in a 3 choice formation (Reroll charges etc). They could have easily just given this one Fleet for hits hot blooded nature and Rage. We might then see this model on the table instead of the the other heavy shooting versions.
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