Imperial Knights are getting a new set of warlord traits, artifacts, and rules. Let’s take a look the latest for Freeblades and more juicy rules rumors!
Warhammer Community released brand new warlord traits, artifacts, and even Freeblades. Let’s take a look at what’s to come.
Warlord Traits
Your Warlord can be customised with no fewer than 15 unique Warlord Traits – that’s 6 for everyone and one for each of the nine specific Knight Households. Each of these traits is very powerful – Ion Bulwark, for example, is a great way to bolster the already prodigious durability of a Knight Valiant, while Landstrider is perfect for an army of assault Knights looking to quickly close the distance on the foe:
Getting more Ranged protection is fantastic when you’ve kitted out your knight with that nasty 3d6 auto hitting flamer. They will have a harder time killing you with Lascannons and won’t want to get into combat with you from the flamer.
Landstrider has just added aggression for those melee knights.
The legacy of the Black Pall is similar to Raven Guard and we’ve seen how nasty being -1 to hit is.
Adamantium Knight will leave a bad taste in your opponent’s mouth when they realized their lascannon shots that wounded on 3s actually only wound on 4+.
Armory of Artifacts
Maybe, for instance, the thunderstrike gauntlet isn’t quite powerful enough for your taste – well, how does one with a massive 8 Damage sound?
Perhaps you’ve got an army made up of only Imperial Knights and need a way to deal with those pesky Flyers? Skyshield’s extra AP, range and shots should help out:
This artifact says “It was yours….but now it’s mine because I’m a knight.”
Because normal Autocannon stats weren’t enough. This thing will shred armies.
Freeblade Knights
Codex: Imperial Knights contains tables for generating one of these legendary heroes. For each, you’ll be able to pick one Quality – a powerful ability that represents their unique form of heroism – or you can roll on a table for two. But in return, you’ll have to pick two Burdens (or roll for one) to represent the eccentricities and flaws of each Freeblade. Burdens don’t apply all the time – you’ll test your Leadership at the start of each turn to see if they have an effect.
By using this system, you can quickly end up with some really interesting options. You could, for example, end up with a Freeblade of unparalleled skill with the Peerless Warrior and Indomitable Qualities…
The Burdens of a Knight
With being a Freeblade, your Knight has many burdens. These burdens can be shown on the tabletop and can drastically hinder your tactics if it happens at the right time. On the bright side, you’ll be able to roll on a table and pick two Freeblade warlord traits because of this. Just don’t fail those leadership checks and nothing bad will happen!
For MAXIMUM GALLANTRY, throw caution to the wind and roll on both tables for the best results – while you’ll lose out on choice, the potential rewards are well worth it.
The best thing is that each Freeblade can be your Warlord AND can take Relics, making them the perfect choice if you’re looking to add a lone Knight to your army and offering you huge freedom when customising them. Freeblades are also great picks in a wider Imperial Knights force, helping you fill roles that the rest of your Household might not be suited to – for example, you could add a close-combat focused Freeblade to a shooting force from House Vulker. Freeblades won’t benefit from Household Traditions, but taking one won’t stop the rest of your army getting to use one, so they’re a natural pick in any force.
Very exciting new rules are on the way for the Knights in the form of cool Warlord Traits and Freeblade rules! Check out the latest rumors from Scanner who just added a little more to today’s preview:
Canis Rex has the re-roll one’s quality, closest target burden and -1 ld to all enemies within 12″ warlord trait for 450 points.
Leadership test is just like 7th, where you roll 2d6 and want to get under the Morale number. Some knights have a base 9 and there is a way to make it a fat 10 so hopefully your Free blade won’t be crippled by self-doubt.
Knight Freeblade Quality:
- Reroll 1’s to hit against squads of 10 or more
- reroll 1’s against warlord, and obsec
- Heroic Intervention of 6″
- D3 table buffs your stats +BS or +WS, Move
- +1 Wounds and Morale
- One reroll per round
Knight Freeblade Burdens:
- Can not be targeted by strats
- Reroll 6’s to hit
- Can only target the closest unit with shooting
- Driven to Slaughter
- Impetuous Nature
The combination of Mechanicus and Questor rules will be enough to fill a normal sized 8th edition codex, here is the rumored breakdown:
- 120+ page codex
- 12 Knight Datasheets (one fortification)
- 9 Traditions (House Rules)
- 29 Strategems
- 6 Generic Warlord Traits, including the 4+ inv we saw already, command point buffs, and re-rolls etc.
- 9 House Warlord Traits including a -1 to hit your warlord out of 18″
- 22 Relics! Wow if Cawl’s super plasma cannon, and the 2+ sv any indication, these will be worth more than a second glance.
Also, something to note, the Canis Rex/Preceptor class model was not on the release sheet for this Saturday, so there may be a second wave of Knight leading up to the new Age of Sigmar in June!
What do you think of these previews? Will you be taking Knight from a Household or a Freeblade? Let us know in the comments over on our Facebook Hobby Page.
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
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About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
