Rise of the Robots

This is going to be a post on my thoughts about the new Imperial Knight, only, it's going to be a little different compared to the other gushing reviews, because I don't like the damn thing and wish it would die in a fire.

So know you know the general gist of it, read on if you want the view of the only guy in the hobby who isn't losing his mind over yet more Imperium plastic.

Such Amazing!

So Games Workshop were in a bit of a pickle, they needed some quick sales to turn around a loss. So what do they do? Turn to this little multicoloured ogre on the left and add a sprinkling of Warmachine to it, then, they make it a Lord of War that doesn't need to be played in Escalation or Apocalypse and slap an £85 price tag on it.

Then you wait until the 1st of March and just watch the money flow in. That is the power of the Rose Tinted Spectacle and the Imperium of Man, release anything and the community loses their nut. You see, it is well documented that I think the universe of 40k should focus on the complete set of races it has instead of just the one, but with this release I am consigned to never seeing it happen.

Stop breaking my game!

The thing which annoys me the most is the sheer hypocrisy. Last December, the community exploded when Escalation landed and D weapons could be taken in a normal game. The tears that the Revenant Titan alone created could have kept my paints thinned for decades. But, on the other hand, Escalation brought an attempt to balance the sides, extra Victory Points for wounding the Lord of War, a warlord table to give another edge, a better chance at seizing the initiative than your opponent. It was a clear attempt to try and make the game less of a foregone conclusion when a Lord of War was deployed. Whether it is a success or not it down to the individual, but at least it tried.

Totally fits the present grimdark universe

But the Imperial Knight takes all of that away. Seriously, I know people are saying "But it isn't a Lord of War", so I started to compare it with what was in the Escalation book. Compare it with a Lord of Skulls, it trades 1 BS for 3 HP, 1 side armour for 1 extra rear armour and  switches the I and A around, but that statline is really comparable. It even has the same amount of weapons, including a strength D melee weapon, although I would concede the strength of the other two is on the Skulldozers side. But, the Lord of Skulls is classed as a Lord of War and is a full 513-518 points more expensive. That puts it in Escalation territory to me.

A Big Bad Beetleborg yesterday

But it isn't a Lord of War, it is a standard 40k unit, your opponent doesn't get any of the Escalation balance buffs, he just gets D weaponed in the face, and people are crying out that this is 'balanced'. It's still the same D weapon that you can get in larger games, only you will probably be facing less units, and because of that, it will hurt more. This is what annoys me about the release of the knight more than anything. I've been considering tactics against it, and I feel it is really braindead.

My face when Knight

Deploy at front of your zone, first turn move 12" to middle of (standard) board, use melta to destroy the tank that is the biggest threat to you. 18" Melta rule at S9 AP1 gives you a damn good chance at penetrating the armour and a 50% chance of destruction. Second turn charge a unit and kill it, rinse and repeat, but keep the Knight and hopefully your opponent in their deployment zone and yours just chilling at the back. Why? You want the Knight to die. The Super Heavy Walker will then unleash it's second D-Weapon with a 15" explosion where the first 5" is D. So whatever kills the Knight will most likely die too. Then you mop up.

A Knight when not inspired by Warmachine

The knight is a no risk, all reward unit. I tell a lie, if it is taken down in your deployment zone it can be bad times, but that is it. If it is ignored, you wreck face, if it is killed, there is a good chance you take a big chunk of the opponents army down too, and that is just a single Knight. I doubt I would ever face an entire army of them, but the forged narrative would be something else.

So in conclusion, I'm not sold on this unit being a fair addition as it allows you to use a set of rules that is not available to your opponent, as for the model itself, I don't play Warmachine because I think the designs of the mechs are boring and unimaginative, I see the same design theory here.

Finally, I have got that off my chest, if you disagree, then great, I am not trying to dissuade you from purchasing the kit, I'm just airing an alternate view that opposes the norm. However, being the hypocrite that I am, if the Eldar got a similar unit (Wraithknight+) then I am sure my tune would change...