Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Imperial Knights (section)

====Acastus Knights====
Unlike the Dominus Knights, who are only an inch or so taller than a normal Knight, these things are ''big''. They used to be T9 with more damage bracket levels (like usual FW superheavies) but got decreased to "slightly above Dominus" profile (just +2W, -1A).

*'''Acastus Knight Asterius:''' A Porphyrion that has swapped out its magma cannons for 4 FUCKHUGE C-beam cannons. You know, the things that increase in strength, AP, and damage the further away from the target you are? These monsters max out at S16 AP-3 D6, though even at the minimum range they still kick like a mule, at S12 AP-1 D2. However, with a knight's high movement, this probably won't be that much of a problem. Couple with the fact that you're delivering 2D3 shots per gun and you've just quashed any hope your opponent had of even getting to use their own superheavy. And we're not even done yet! It's got a Karacnos Mortar Battery to drop radioactive death on infantry that basically cannot be denied. Cover? You wish. Line of Sight? Get fucked, buddy. High Toughness? Oh, that's just adorable. It's also got a pair of Volkite Culverins to give some extra close-range kick, just in case your opponent tries to close and reduce the brutality of your guns.  Unfortunately, the very decent guns aren't decent ''enough'' to cope with the Asterius's absurdly high point cost, meaning it's ''worse'' at murdering just about anything than a properly kitted out Crusader or Castellan.
*'''Acastus Knight Porphyrion''': The big brother of the other knights (seriously, this thing is huge), with four massive guns that give Tau armies inferiority complexes. The default loadout comes in at over 780. While this thing is a murder machine with on average 8 S12/AP-3/D6 shots from its two twin magma cannons, the increase is going to make it hard to fit much else in a list. You may as well upgrade the autocannons to lascannons because why the fuck not. With T8, '''30''' wounds, and 3+/5++ vs. shooting, it's not going anywhere in a hurry neither. It will smoke a Leman Russ in a single volley with room to spare and stands a chance of crippling (if not outright killing) a landraider. Also has the honor of being the only FW Knight that can mount a carapace weapon. In addition to the usual Ironstorm, it can also take its own unique weapon, a rack of Helios Defense Missiles. It more or less functions as a hybrid between the Icarus and the Stormspear, firing one less missile than the latter and dealing a flat D3 instead of D1d6, as well as gaining a +1 bonus to hit {{W40Kkeyword|Aircraft}}. Took a harsh hit in the 2019 Summer update, being knocked down to BS3+ and T8, same as every non-Armiger knight. On the upside, it can fire its main guns on Overwatch now. Woo?
**Although you’ll mostly only use this in apocalypse battles, consider taking this instead of a Baneblade (plus something else to make up the 300-400 leftover points) as your anti-armor, as fully kitted out with all the lascannons there is nothing smaller than a titan or one of the tougher knights which can survive against it, and at T8 and 30 wounds there is little outside of those same categories and hordes of lascannon guardsmen which can destroy it. Your opponent will also be thinking of little else while this is on the board, and unlike a war hound, you have points left over for meatshields or elites in a 2000 point game.
**Keep this thing out of melee, yes it’s S8 and T8, yes it “can” retreat from melee and still shoot, but with no proper melee weapon, only 3 attacks at WS4+ (undamaged), a normal knight will do a lot of damage to a Porphyrion (if it can ever get close enough. It’s low attack count and no anti horde guns also mean that it will get tarpitted.)
**An excellent candidate for Armiger bodyguards, two Helverin Armigers with their two autocannons each will throw out a lot of quality dakka downrange, which will threaten anything T7 or less while still putting out the shots to at least moderately dent hordes. Such a setup allows you to run this knight as your warlord, opening up a huge array of possibilities for improved invulnerability saves, accuracy, and armour. A pair of double Claw and Cleanser Moiraxes will also be an excellent deterrent.
*** The Imperial Armor Compendium has blessed us with a big point reduction; big boi is now sitting at 780 points, which gets you crazy anti-armor, two autocannons, and some ignore line of sight missiles. For an extra 10 points you can swap out BOTH autocannons with lascannons!