Codex Review: Imperial Knights Part 3: Questor Mechanicus

Hey everyone, Reecius here to cover the next part of our Imperial Knights Codex review. This time we will talk about the options available to Questor Mechanicus Knights. Check the Tactics Corner for more great articles!

If you missed it, you can read Part 1 of this article series and Part 2, here.

Rating system

Here’s our rating system:

• Competitive: This is a codex entry (unit, stratagem, item, etc.) that has a place in essentially any competitive list built with this faction regardless of unit choices or is the source of a significant force multiplication effect for other units.
• Efficient: This is a codex entry that can stand on its own merit in a matched play list but works best when combined up with other units or in specific situations to become very powerful but may not always be seen.
• Situational: This is a codex entry that may not pass as competitive on its own merits but can be made effective in a creative list, as a meta-buster, or in a specific combo or scenario where it ratchets up in power to potentially very high strength but otherwise will not be seen very often.

Imperial Knights are separated into two sub-factions, the Questor Imperialis who’ve sworn loyalty to the Imperium of Man, and the Questor Mechanicus who’ve sworn loyalty to Mars and the Adeptus Mechanicus. Let’s see what these 4 Mighty Knight Households  have to offer!

Questor Mechanicus Stratagems

• Benevolence of the Machine God: 1 CP, use this stratagem when a Questor Machnicus model in your army suffers a Mortal Wound. For the rest of this phase you ignore Mortal Wounds on a 5+. Efficient.
  • A solid defensive strat that you may not use every game but when you do need it it is awesome. Armies that spit out Mortal Wounds like sniper based forces, Tzeentch armies, etc. will see their damage output reduced fairly significantly.
• Machine Spirit Resurgent: 1 CP, used at the start of any turn. Use the top damage tier for the rest of the turn for this vehicle. Competitive.
  • Great stratagem that doesn’t cost too much. As you can rest assured your Knights will be taking damage throughout the game, you will likely find yourself using this strat quite often and it is very useful.
• Cognis Heavy Stubbers: 1 CP, used before the battle. All Questor Mechanicus Knights in a Knight detachment gain the ability to fire after advancing at -2, and can fire overwatch at full BS. Efficient.
  • This is a solid strat that gives you increased defense on overwatch primarily and is particularly good with House Vulkar for re-rolls on overwatch. The advance+shoot portion of it is OK–parituclarly if you take House Raven–but not amazing. Basically, if you find yourself with a large number of Heavy Stubbers in your Knight detachment, for 1 CP you may as well take this as it can keep some light units from swarming you in melee.

Questor Mechanicus Relics

• Mark of the Omnisiah: Each turn roll a D6 for the bearer. On a 6 it regains D3 wounds, on any other result it regains 1 wound. Efficient when taken without AdMech allies Competitive when taken with AdMech allies.
  • This relic can be a part of a multi-layered wound regeneration scheme for a Knight. AdMech allies can repair the crap out of a Knight and this only adds to that, making a Knight very hard to kill, particularly when combined with the Machine Spirit Resurgent stratagem to keep it operating at max efficiency down to it’s last wound.
• The Helm Dominatus: Questoris Class or Dominus Class only. Once per battle round in either the fight or shooting phase pick an enemy unit within 24″ and add +1 to hit for attacks made by Armigers within 6″ of the bearer against that enemy unit. Competitive.
  • This is a bad ass relic when used with a Knight Perceptor and either Arimger Helverins or Armiger Warglaives. This cranks them up to a 97% accuracy in most cases which is stupid good. Due to the short range, the Warglaives would be my choice for it as it means you’re likely getting in to melee. But, if you screened your units properly you could totally do it with Helverins, too, and holy cow is that some withering firepower. 
• Cawl’s Wrath: Replaces a Knight Castellan’s Plasma Decimator with the following: 48″, Heavy 2D6, Strength 8 or 9 if superhcagred, AP-4, 2 or 3 damage if supercharged. When firing on superhcarge mode, each to hit roll of 1 deals a Mortal Wound to the bearer. Competitive.
  • If you’re using a Castellan, you are probably using this relic. It makes their Plasma Decimator dramatically better with higher strength and damage output. Pairs very well with House Vulker.

House Raven

House Raven is a very good all around Household to choose with benefits to both melee and shooting.

• Household Tradition: Relentless Advance: Models with this tradition don’t suffer the penalties for advancing and shooting assault weapons and treat all heavy weapons as assault when they assault. Efficient.
  • This is a great Household Trait in a list that features lots of assault weapons, particularly melta weapons as they benefit the most form this. Most heavy weapons don’t need it apart from the Conflagration Cannon where it can be quite useful. But in a list featuring lots of Dominus class Knights or Warglaives this can be very powerful, particularly when combined with the Full Tilt strat. However, if you’re not building a list specifically to take advantage of this, it won’t come in to play much as Knights don’t need to advance very frequently. 
• Stratagem: Order of Companions: 2 CP, Used at the start of the shooting phase. One of your Hose Raven knights then re-rolls all 1’s in that phase, to hit, number of shots, damage, to wound, etc. Competitive.
  • Bad. Ass. This is very, very strong on a something like a Knight Cursader, or Castellan (helps to avoid those Mortal Wounds, too!), etc. Use it on the model with the most shots and profit. Great stratagem. 
• Warlord Trait: Master of the Trial: +1 save vs. AP-1 weapons. Competitive.
  • A solid trait that keeps your Knight protected. Pairs up extremely well with the Armour of the Sainted Ion relic.
• Relic: The Banner Inviolate: Questoris Class Knight only. Re-roll hit rolls of 1 in the Fight Phase for House Raven models within 6″ of the bearer. Competitive.
  • Again, a winner of a relic. If you build up a melee focused force, this gives you a big advantage, particular on say, a lance of Knight Gallants who become extremely accurate in melee with their BS 2+, or with a Gallant +Warglaives.

House Taranis

House Taranis is all about staunch defense and staying power. As any seasoned 40k player knows, strong defense in this game is extremely valuable as it lets you survive what you opponent throws at you and keep on kicking. The best offense in the world is meaningless if you get destroyed before getting to use it.

• Household Tradition: Omnisaih’s Grace: 6+ FnP style save vs all wounds except Mortal Wounds. Competitive.
  • A solid all around choice for any type of Knight army. It essentially gives you 4 more wounds but it also gives you more opportunities to repair Knights with AdMech allies, etc. as you live longer to get further repair work done. 
• Stratagem: Our Darkest Hour: 2 CP, used when a House Taranis Knight is reduced to 0 wounds but did not explode. On a 4+ the Knight is set up again as close to its original position as possible with D3 wounds remaining. Competitive.
  • Great strat as it kicks in after all damage has been done and then gives you a chance to get another action out of the Knight, repair it further, etc. for a small CP investment. Another CP investment gives you a re-roll on it if needs be for a 75% chance to keep on kicking! Great option for a Knight Valiant whose Conflagration Cannon still works at max effect even when the Knight is heavily damaged.
• Warlord Trait: Knight of Mars: Each time you make a wound roll of 6+ for your Warlord in the shooting phase, the AP characteristic of that attack is improved by 1. Efficient.
  • A solid Warlord Trait and goes great on a Knight Crusader, or any high volume of shots Knight.
• Relic: Fury of Mars: Replaces a model’s Thermal Cannon. 48″, Heavy D6, S9, Ap-4, D6 damage. Roll two dice when inflicting damage take the highest. Competitive.
  • A great relic weapon. Rolling 2D6 and taking the highest out to the maximum range of the weapon makes it very deadly. 

House Krast

House Krast is a melee powerhouse. If you wanted to run an all-out assault Knight Lance, House Krast is an excellent choice. 3+ Knight Gallants with the upgrades available to them through this Household will be devastatingly potent in the fight phase.

• Household Tradition: Cold Fury: Re-roll failed hit rolls in the fight phase for a House Krast model that has charged, been charged or heroically intervened. If your target is a Titanic unit, you can re-roll failed hit rolls in every fight phase. Competitive.
  • A great tradition. A re-roll mechanic is often better than +1 as it starts to yield better returns as you degrade or are attacking units with negatives to be hit. Obviously, awesome with melee oriented units. 
• Stratagem: Controlled Aggression: 1 CP, used in the fight phase. Each unmodified hit roll of 6 causes 2 hits, or 3 if the target unit is Chaos. Competitive.
  • For a low CP investment, you can get some serious results. On something like a Knight Gallant with the Knight Seneschal Warlord Trait, you’ve got 18 kick attacks, re-rolling misses for an average of 21 total hits, 24 against Chaos, lol. You can wipe out entire units or, combine it with their relic for increased to karate kick something like Magnus into the stratosphere! 
• Warlord Trait: First Knight: Re-roll hit rolls of 1. Competitive.
  • A blanket re-roll of 1’s for shooting and melee is awesome. Not much more needs to be said, haha. I would look to put this on something like a Knight Warden or Paladin.
• Relic: The Headsman’s Mark: Increase the damage characteristic of the bearer’s weapons by 1 when attacking an enemy unit with a wounds characteristic of 10 or more. Increase the damage by 2 when attacking enemy Titanic units. Competitive.
  • Another great choice! This is crazy powerful as it impacts ALL of the Knight’s weapons. As noted above, when you need to take down something like a Magnus, or another Knight, these layered buffs means you will obliterate a high value target in short order.

House Vulker

House Vulker is the “shooty” Household, and while it has some limitations in applying that firepower where you may want it to go, when everything lines up they certainly do put out withering firepower.

• Household Tradition: Firestorm Protocols: Re-roll hit rolls of 1 for models with this tradition that fire on the closest enemy unit. Efficient.
  • This is a really strong tradition when it kicks in. However, you often don’t want to shoot the closest enemy unit as that tends to be the one your opponent wants you to shoot. But with the mobility of Knights you can often get around this. In all, a solid choice but not an all-star tradition. 
• Stratagem: Saturation Bombardment: 1 CP, used in the shooting phase before choosing a model to shoot with. Until the end of the phase, that model scores two hits for each unmodified hit roll of a 6 instead of 1. Competitive.
  • A great, cheap, and useful strat that you will likely use every turn with this Household. Obviously, use it on a Knight with tons of shots to get the most mileage out of it, and if you can combo it with Firestorm Protocols you can stack on a lot of extra damage. 
• Warlord Trait: Adamantium Knight: Wound rolls of 1, 2 or 3 against your Warlord fail to wound regardless of the weapon’s strength. Efficient.
  • A lot of people got super excited about this one but it isn’t as crazy in practice as it seems on paper. The vast majority of weapons in the game already wound Knights on a 4+ or worse anyway, so this only really applies to strength 9+ weapons which aren’t mega common. However, if you do find yourself facing a Basilisk artillery battery or Las Cannon spam, then this will be very useful. 
• Relic: The Auric Mask: The opposing player must roll an extra D6 when taking Morale tests within 12″ of the bearer and use the highest result. Situational.
  • Like so many other morale debuffing abilities, they’re amazing when they work but usually do not work. This is one you take when you stack in some other debuffs such as the Fearsome Reputation Warlord Trait which, again, when it works is bad ass but usually won’t.

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