Age of Darkness-Warhammer 30k/2.0 Tactics/Questoris Knights Tactics

Special Rules

Warlord Traits

All generic Mechanicum Warlords from all three lists have the option of getting a Warlord trait from one of the charts in the main rulebook, or rolling on their own unique chart:

Note, the only way to get a Warlord in a Questoris Knight list is to use the Household ranks upgrades to make one of your Knights into a Character.

1. A Soul of Cold Iron: The Warlord and any unit with 6" may still declare charges if they are under the effect of Pinning, but are still subject to Snap-Firing. He also allows an additional reaction during the movement phase.
2. The Logic of Victory: If the warlord has not shot, or is not locked in combat the whole army may make an additional reaction in all phases of the following turn. In addition the Warlord and a unit he is attached to gain +1 WS and BS during reactions, and +3 Movement and Initiative during movement based reactions.
3. The Science of Slaughter: For each turn this Warlord is locked in combat (so staring on the 2nd round) he gains +1S and Strength for each round of combat he is in. After he has left the combat, his Strength and WS return to normal. The army may also make an additional reaction during the Assault Phase.

Universal Equipment & Special Rules

Because each Knight in the army is different and comes with their own selection of gear. It makes little sense to have a central armoury section covering their specific weapons.

Below are common items and weapons found across multiple models.

• Ion Shield: The most common defense that each Knight is equipped with. No longer is this a revolving shield that needs positioned every turn. Now it simply grants a 4+ Invulnerable save against shooting attacks to the Front Armour. It also grants a 5+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks against their Side Armour. It does nothing in melee.
• Ionic Deflector: The smaller version of the shield equipped on Armigers. It only grants a 5+ invulnerable save, but works on all facings and against both shooting and melee. It also grants the model Eternal Warrior. If a model with an Ionic Deflector loses its last wound, all models within D6+3" suffer an automatic hit at S8 AP-.

• Heavy Stubber: Equipped as a sidearm on most Knights and Armigers. 36" range means that it outranges the shooting attacks of most infantry that it will be targeting. But S4 AP6 means that it won't often be doing much damage. Remember it when you get the chance to use reaction fire though.
• Meltagun: Usually a sidearm upgrade for the Heavy Stubber. There is very little that a Meltagun cannot threaten, but consideration should be made for the models primary weapon, as the short 12" range may mean that it seldom gets used over the course of a battle, when a Stubber could have been used more often.
• Multilaser: The free alternative to the Heavy Stubber. S6 AP6 makes it stronger than most infantry, being able to ID GEQ, but it's still not much better than the Stubber.

• Stomp attacks: While the Stomp table is gone, Knights (and Titans) can still make stomp attacks during the assault phase (but not Armigers since they are too small). Stomp attacks are made in addition to a models normal attacks and are carried out at Initiative step 1. The Knight makes D3 + their unmodified attacks characteristic stomp attacks against their chosen target and they are resolved using the Knights unmodified WS and Strength at AP2. Stomp attacks can't be used against Knights, Titans, Super-heavies, Flyers or models with 8+ wounds.
  • Normal vehicles and dreadnoughts are both with acceptable stomp parameters so feel free to march up to a rhino or Contemptor and punt it across the battlefield.

Fielding Questoris Knights

Any army in the Age of Darkness may field a Questoris Knight model as a Lord of War choice in their Force Organisation Chart, otherwise you can use the Questoris Household Force Organisation Chart.

Questoris Household Force Organisation Chart

A Questoris Household Detachment consists of 2-10 Troops choices and a conditional number of Lords of War. For every two Troops choices taken a Lord of War choice may be taken, ignoring the 25% point limit normally imposed on armies.

This is a big shift from how Knights used to be played in previous editions. The Superheavy Knights always remain Lords of War and don't change slot, but the hard requirement to take Armiger Talons as Troops choices means that every Knight has a 400 point tax on top of their cost. Meaning that Knight spam becomes a very expensive and difficult thing to manage this edition. A detachment can only consist of up to five "true" Knights, and only after 2,000 points spent on Armigers.

On the plus side, it can be used as both a Primary or Allied detachment in a combined force, but if used as an Allied detachment it doesn't get around the 25% limit on Lords of War, so keep that in mind before thinking you can add Knights with Household ranks to your Space Marines.

Household Ranks

When using the Questoris Household FOC, you may upgrade your knights with Household ranks, granting them stat boosts (or penalties) along with some other special rules. Note that you cannot just do this if taking Knights as Lords of War in other detachments, so Space Marines couldn't take a discount Knight Aspirant for example.

• Seneschal (0-1) the most expensive option intended for your primary leader Knight. The model gains +1 WS and BS and gains the Character sub-type. Additionally, if taken as part of the Primary Detachment, this model must be the Warlord and must take the Master of the Household trait.
  • The Warlord trait grants friendly Knights within 8" the ability to use Reactions, ignoring the usual restrictions against Knights and Titans. This opens up a plethora of tactical options for the army, but remember that vehicles can still only use Defensive Weapons for Overwatch and Return Fire reactions, thankfully Arm Mounted Knight weapons always count as Defensive Weapons.
• Arbalester: Gain +1 BS and the Character sub-type. Also, whenever a model with this rule has to make a scatter roll, throw an extra dice and choose which one to use when resolving the scatter.
  • Obviously this upgrade depends on using Blast weapons. Otherwise the Preceptor upgrade is cheaper and also provides a +1 BS bonus.
• Aspirant: Get a discount on your Knight by reducing their WS/BS by -1 and dropping their Movement by -2. Because you have to invest a lot just for one Knight, you cannot spam them like last edition. There is almost no reason to do this unless you are specifically trying to save points for something else.
• Aucteller: The "champion" upgrade nets you +1 WS and the Character sub-type. When in a challenge with a Knight, Titan, Monstrous unit, Primarch, or any model with 8 or more wounds, then gain an additional +1 WS (for a total of +2) and +1 attack.
  • Remember to that Primarchs all have a WS of 7 or higher (except Lorgar, who can gain gain WS7 in certain situations) so they are probably always going to have the advantage. Also, Titans and most other Knights don't have the Character sub-type by default and can't enter challenges under normal circumstances. Finding an opponent to use this rule against might be difficult.
• Dolorous: The "horde sweeper" upgrade also nets you +1 WS and the Character sub-type. A Knight with this upgrade is allowed to make Sweeping Advances.
  • Generally, if you don't know what the enemy is bringing to the table, this will be a better upgrade than the Aucteller, as the list of things that a Knight can enter a challenge with is rather limited. A Dolorous Knight gets the same upgrade against everything else at a slightly lower cost, with a chance of being able to simply wipe a unit at the end of the phase.
• Implacable: the second most expensive option at 65 pts. This upgrade grants the Character sub-type and +1 Hull Point. Additionally, attacks which target this model can only ever inflict one Hull Point of damage.
  • This upgrade effectively renders the vehicle damage chart obsolete. Knights were only ever subject to the 7+ "Explodes" result where they took D3 points of damage instead. Now, Implacable Knights can pretty much only ever be glanced to death, which might take a long time with that extra Hull Point.
• Preceptor: Gains +1 BS and the Character sub-type. Additionally, Armiger Warglaives and Helverins within 6" set their Leadership to 9, rendering them more resistant to Pinning and fleeing from combat if they lose.
  • This bonus is more valuable the more Armigers you have, but the small aura will turn the Preceptor into the focal point for your troops choices, so equip them to compliment the Armigers they will be accompanying: closer range tank killers for Warglaives, or longer range snipers for Helverins.
• Uhlan: The Knight gains a whopping +4" to their Movement Characteristic, the Character sub-type, as well as the Scout and Outflank special rules. This puts most standard "Questoris pattern" Knights at 14" movement, while the lankier "Cerastus Patterns" have speeds of up to 18". Remember the bonus to charge ranges, where applicable, so this also works great on close combat Knights.

Unit Analysis

Troops

Armiger Pattern Knights

Both units of Armigers come in squadron sizes of 1-4 models for 200 points each. They have the Armiger (Skirmish, Line) unit type which is roughly equivalent to an Astartes Dreadnought and comes with T7 and six wounds, and a fairly rapid movement speed of 8, so remember the extra +1 to charge ranges where it matters. They have the advantage of their Ionic Deflector which is better than an Atomantic Deflector because it straight up gives them Eternal Warrior along with the 5+ invulnerable save, as well as a larger blast radius when they lose their last wound.

• Because of the requirements of the Force Organisation Chart to get Knights, you are going to require Armigers in your army. The easiest and cheapest way to add them is to take them in units of one model and only take larger squads if you are trying to fill out points values. But bear in mind that these are Line units, and unless you brought allies are the only models that are capable of claiming objectives, so some care will have to be taken with them.
  • Unlike Dreadnoughts, Armigers lack Fearless and are only Stubborn. Despite the fact that they are taken in Talons and operate as independent models, this can seriously mess your plans up. With Ld7 there is a reasonable possibility that they could break and fall back from close combat and even be caught up in a Sweeping Advance. It does also mean that they can be pinned and/or concussed, so don't presume that they are immune to those conditions. Frankly while it seems like a drag to take them, considering that the primary reason to play this army is to field a bunch of superheavy walkers, this does open the possibility of fielding a large number of T7 models with Eternal Warrior and not stressing too much about small arms.

• Armiger Warglaive Talon: Armigers equipped for tank slaying. Their Thermal Lance weapon is longer ranged than a Multimelta so manages to get the Armourbane (Melta) bonus at a fairly respectable 18". It does appear to be the only Melta weapon with AP2, but with two Twin-Linked shots it should still be sufficient to do the job asked of it, and it still effectively functions the same against regular infantry and is good for causing Instant Death on two-wound TEQs that have become more prevalent this edition. The other weapon, the Reaper Chainblade strikes with three attacks at S9 AP2 with the Shred special rule. Not quite as effective as a Gravis Fist on the Dreadnought equivalent, but still a reliably effective weapon nonetheless.

• Armiger Helverin Talon: The rifleman Armiger is armed with a pair of Phaeton Autocannons that have surprising utility. The base weapon has a superior range of 64", Heavy 2, S7 AP3, and Rending (6+) so is already better than a regular Autocannon and will handily pop off MEQs from more than half the table away. On top of that, it has two different firing modes, granting either Sunder or Ignores Cover. The trade off is that Helverins have no close combat weapon and so fares relatively poorly in melee, but with such a considerable weapon range with no drop off in effectiveness like with Melta weapons, Helverins should be kept as far away as possible and be used as long range harassing units.
• Like any Autocannon this edition, there is a small chance of being able to damage AV14 with the addition of Rending (6+), but with Sunder the odds of Glancing increase from 17% to roughly 30% and is actually better at damaging AV14 than the Thermal Cannon at ranges greater than 18", with more shots to boot. Something to think about before dismissing the Helverin as a poor substitute.

Lords of War

Questoris Pattern Knight

The round, short and reliable knights you know and love. They have 7 Hull points and AV 13/12/12, and their Ion Shield gives them some sutible protection. These are the cheapest (non-armiger) knights you can field and are all fairly reliable for what they cost.

• Knight Questoris: Gone are the pre-set Paladin, or Errant, or other designations. The traditional Knight now comes in a build-your-own format. Initially starting with an arm mounted Reaper Chainsword and a Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon, these arms may be swapped for whatever comes in the regular plastic kit.
  • Rapid Fire Battle Cannon with in-built Heavy Stubber: the default arm weapon. Comes with Ordnance 2, S8 AP4 Large Blast (5"). This gun is reliably solid if you can't decide that else to take. It can hit large units multiple times and is capable of causing Instant Death on T4 models that fail a save. There are better options against vehicles, but it can hit them twice and gets to reroll fails to penetrate thanks to the Ordnance weapon type. The Heavy Stubber is there as the cherry on top, don't discount it, but also don't factor it in to any decision making.
  • Thermal Cannon: This weapon is in a very strange predicament. While it is the strongest weapon that the Questoris Knight has access to, it kind of suffers from being in an army that doesn't really need it. 36" S8 AP1 Heavy 1, Large Blast (5"), Armourbane (Melta) looks great. But that still only hits a vehicle once and is most effective within 18" range. For comparison, the pair of Armigers that you have to take to accompany each Knight could be Warglaives, and be able to hit the same vehicle at the same range, more reliably with Twin-Linked, and more times with each weapon. That's not to say the Thermal Cannon is a poor choice, not at all. One shot can utterly devastate MEQ/TEQ squads, especially those with expensive characters you want rid of, and the +2 on vehicle damage charts means that one shot has better odds of causing an explosion. The Thermal Cannon will reliably damage everything you point it at.
  • Avenger Gatling Cannons with in-built Heavy Flamer: the only ranged weapon that a Questoris Knight can take twice, with twelve shots at S6 AP4 and Rending (6+) there is a lot of potential for damaging hordes and lighter vehicles. The Heavy Flamer also compliments its role quite well.
  • If the army contains a Seneschal, both of these weapons are Defensive, so make for really good Return Fire/Overwatch reactions where applicable.
  • Las Impulsor: The most expensive arm weapon has some of the biggest drawbacks. It is 12" S10 AP2 Heavy 2, Sunder, Instant Death. That is a pitiful range with no blast template to cover multiple models, so it already has some of the lowest potential out of all of the Knight armaments, even the Thermal Cannon is better against vehicles at short (18") range (with +2 on the vehicle damage chart) and can start hitting from further away. That being said, it is easily the better option against anything with T5 or higher due to Instant Death capability, but really requires knowing in advance what you want your Knight to do, since anything that you want the Las Impulsor to be able to take out, like Dreadnoughts, puts the Knight within a dangerously close range for a counterattack.
    • The Las Impulsor also has a close ranged mode which is clearly a Trap! S10 AP1 Instant Death, Armourbane (Melee) looks really cool, until you see the Cumbersome rule. Knights get no exemption from the one-attack at WS1 provision, so this weapon would only be good for striking buildings as you would be hitting everything else at 6+. Reaper Chainswords and Thunderstrike Gauntlets work just fine against the same targets and get to use the full compliment of attacks.
  • Reaper Chainsword: The default melee weapon and the only one you can dual-wield. S10 AP2 with Shred makes it quite reliable as a weapon against monsters and the like, but it's just decent against knights.
  • Thunderstrike Gauntlet: The mightier alternative to the chainsword, amped up with S12 AP2 with Sunder, allowing for re-rolls to Pen. At S12, that just means you're getting some guaranteed Pens when punching an enemy Knight in the face.
  • Carapace Weapons: The one thing none of the FW Questoris Knights get, the Carapace Weapons give you an additional slot to arm up, but it will add 20-25 points that you might have wanted on another Knightly Rank. Still absolutely worth it, as this gives you an extra role to work with.
  • TL Icarus Autocannon: The cheapest guns but also the weakest at S7 AP4, requiring Rending (6+) to hit something. The good news is that Skyfire makes it more accurate against any flyers.
  • Ironstorm Missile Pod: Another round of artillery to blast your enemies. S5 AP4 sadly won't mean much, but being a Large Blast makes it able to cover a lot.
  • Stormspear Rocket Pod: Direct-Fire S8 AP3 rockets, best used to attack enemy vehicles. It's best used on tanks or when flanking enemy knights.

• Questoris Knight Magaera: An oddity among the Knights and often seen in Mechanicum houses, this has quite a lot of exotic tools, but its Overtaxed Reactor means that its explosions will be quite catastrophic. Its hull-mounted gun is the Phased Plasma-Fusil, which isn't as long-range as the normal stubber, but at S6 AP3 with Breaching (4+) it's more than capable of handling anything it comes across. The only drawback is that it has Gets Hot! and thus has some small chance of harming the Magaera. On one hand is the ever-reliable chainsword, which you can swap out for a Siege Claw, giving it the knightly equivalent of a power fist with Sunder and Wrecker to make short work of anything it encounters, with a mounted Irad-Cleanser to spray radiation on the lesser crowds that the plasma would be wasted on. The other arm is locked to a Lightning Cannon, an S7 AP3 Large Blast with Rending (4+), Exoshock (4+) and Shred to ensure that whatever it hits gets hit hard with special preference to vehicles. The issue is that at S7, your odds of actually hitting a vehicle aren't the highest so it's usually reserved for crowds of infantry after softening them up.

• Questoris Knight Styrix:

Cerastust Pattern Knights

Taller and leaner than their Questoris pattern brothers, while not being any tougher they are faster with a movement of 14" and they all come withe the Flank Speed rule. They are also a little stronger having a base of S9 and 4 attacks making them a bit more adept in melee.

• Knight Lancer: The melee focused variant of the Cerastus-pattern Knights. It dispenses with the traditional Ion Shield in favour of an Ion Gauntlet Shield, which grants it only a 5+ Invulnerable save to the front and side, but also a 5+ invulnerable save against all melee attacks. Its only armament is its dual-function Shock Lance which works in both range and melee. As a shooting weapon it has 18" range, S7 AP3, Heavy 6 and Concussive (2). While it pales in destructive power in comparison to some other Knight weapons, it has a respectable number of shots that are very likely to take wounds off of MEQs. What's more is that Concussive (2) has the chance to reduce the weapon skill of the target unit by a massive two points whether the shooting attack killed anything or not. In melee it has S10 AP2 Reach(1) and Exoshock (5+) means that it is often faster than a lot of the models it gets into combat with, and will cause Instant Death on anything of T5 or below. It also is very effective against vehicles too, though not quite as good as a Thunderstrike Gauntlet or similar. Also remember that Knights also get to make Stomp attacks against smaller non-Knight models in addition to their regular allotment of attacks, so the Lancer throws out four/five S10 AP2 attacks at Initiative 5, then D3+4 S9 AP2 attacks at Initiative 1. So this bad boy feels right at home in melee. **Remember, with a massive movement speed of 14 it is able to stay out of the danger range until it gets ready to strike, and it also gains a +3 to charge rolls, giving itself an overall charging threat radius of around 24" on average. While all Knights can be powerhouses in melee, this one is kitted out specifically for dealing with Elite/HQ infantry units. If it can get the Concussive (2) rule to work it can massively influence the striking odds of both sides of the melee.

• Knight Castigator: The Castigator is a pure anti-infantry Knight, but unlike the Lancer, its focus is more on clearing large units rather than dealing with Elite squads... at least in theory. Both of its weapons are capable of dealing a lot of indiscriminate wounds, but are generally of less use against vehicles or other kinds of single model unit. Its namesake weapon, the Castigator Bolt Cannon is Twin-Linked Heavy 18 with S6 AP4. That puts more shots than the Avenger Gatling Cannon, but without the added benefit of Rending (6+). Instead, the Castigator has Pinning and Shell Shock (1), so is a weapon designed for forcing the enemy to keep their heads down rather than doing damage outright. The other weapon is the Tempest Warblade. Like many Knight Weapons it hits at S10 AP2, but this has the Deflagrate and Tempest rules. Meaning that unsaved wounds get a chance to do more damage again. This works quite well with the Tempest rule that allows the Knight to forgo it's normal allotment of four attacks and to make a Tempest attack as Initiative step 2 and automatically hit every single model in contact with its base. This sounds like that this Knight should be getting into fights with large units of enemy infantry, put in practice, your army has mediocre WS, and even 3 hits is more than you usually get. On top of this S10 IDs Battle-hardened T4 and T5 models, and since your Reaper Chainswords lack Brutal, it can be used to clear elite infantry. Be wary about rules for Consolidation moves and that without any kind of invulnerable save in melee like the Lancer has, it needs to be careful about going for enemies that have a good chance of damaging it.

• Knight Acheron:

• 0-1 Questoris Knight Atrapos:

Acastus Pattern Knights

The Biggest and nastiest Knights you can field as anything bigger would be a Titan. These things have AV 14/13/12 and 9 hull points on top of being S10, making them very tough and pretty scary since they can kick tanks with S10 AP2 attacks. They're also the most expensive Knights to field, both points wise and for your wallet but they are the Super-heavies in a Super-heavy army.

• 0-1 Acastus Knight Porphyrion:

• 0-1 Questoris Acastus Knight Asterius:

Warhammer 30,000 Tactics Articles
General Tactics	General (7E) Movement (7E) Psychic (7E) Fortifications (7E)
Imperium	Legiones Astartes (7E)
	Legio Custodes (7E) Sisters of Silence (7E) Mechanicum (Legio Mechanicum • Taghmata Omnissiah)
	Questoris Knights (7E) Solar Auxilia (7E) Imperialis Militia (7E)
Chaos	Ruinstorm Daemons (7E • 7E Codex) Warp Cults(7E)