Imperial Knights – White Dwarf Issue 4

I have fallen a bit out of the 40K-loop over the winter. Both the Space Marines and the Tyranid Codex seemed … well … a bit bland at times. Neither really roused my interest. Now that Imperial Knights are about to hit the shelves, I am tempted to give it a try.

So I picked up the current White Dwarf on the Imperial Knights to get a feel for it.

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#1 – Imperial Knights Miniatures

I have little (well, no) interest in the Warhammer Visions picture book, or the repetitive deluge of pictures of the old-style White Dwarfs. The new, mini White Dwarf Weekly, however, has just the right amount of nice shots to ogle the new releases without getting tired of it.

Long story short, I really like the look of the new Imperial Knight.

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#2 – Imperial Knights Extra Transfer Sheet

If I read it correctly, the Imperial Knight box comes with an A5 sheet of transfers, but there is also this larger A4-sheet with additional (and mostly pretty cool) transfers. It’s also 12 quid (ouch), but there is soo much good stuff on it, I am a bit tempted nonetheless.

A pity, that is it probably only worth it for people who paint multiple Knights.

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#3 – Imperial Knights Background

A large 4-page article by Jervis Johnson and Jes Goodwin on the history (in both 40K and in Games Workshop) of the Imperial Knights.

I was surprised to see Jes Goodwins conceive Knights as essentially jury-rigged forestry-machines, with D-Weapon chain saws fitted to clear the trees on newly settled colonies.

In a world where your “humble” Space Marine is the biotechnological pinnacle of a galaxy-spanning empire and the old-fashioned Titans are literally revered as gods, putting Imperial Knights (if only historically) into the lumberjack-class felt a bit disjointed.

A minor fault though, admittedly. Generally it was a nice read about the Knights’ roots in the ancient Adeptus Titanicus game, the old art-sketches, etc.. .

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#4 – Imperial Knight Rules

Sooo… will it be fun on the table?

I never bought Escalation (or Apocalypse), because nobody around my gaming-group really plays any of that anyway. Will Knights be the thin end of the wedge to get larger guys on the table (it’s technically smaller than a Wraightknight, I hear, but it does come with a D-weapon chain sword and super-heavy rules).

I hope they include some of those rules, such as “Invincible Behemoth”, into the upcoming Imperial Knight Codex. If I do have to buy lackluster stuff like Escalation to field this beauty (as is likely), I might put it off for a bit (or simply buy a Knight to model it).

That aside, the rules look fun. I like the more selective Ion Shield, which brings back concerns about movement and positioning (though I see a lot of people “hacked” it already with things like a Dark Angels Force Field Generator).

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#5 – To Knight or Not To Knight?

I am having a hard-time with this. I am drawn to the Knight. It looks like a fun miniature to paint, and it doesn’t require me to paint a whole army of it. It’s a nice stand-alone project.

On the downside, the “rule-book-tax” of Codex+Escalation is (possibly) very high. Not to mention that most of my 40K these days is 200 pts., so I’d have to convince my club to play larger games again. However, that is likely a more unusual problem, I would guess.

Still, my will is weak(ening). What about you:

• Are you planning to field a Knight in your games?
• Have you played with Escalation already these past few months?
• Will the Knight, in your opinion, break the dam?

Let me know what you think!

Z.