Horus Heresy 3e Review: Knight Household Ranks, Vows, and Advanced Reactions

Continuing the overview of the Liber Questoris Knights section, today we look at the Household Ranks that Knights can have, their Vows that they can take, and their advanced reactions. 

Ranks. 

All ranks are a function of Prime Advantage slots. As such, the basic knight army roster gives you 4 knights all with prime advantages. 

Seneschal (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars). One per army, penetrating hits against you get -1 damage and counts as the Warlord for Slay the Warlord purpose. You are probably going to take it regardless. It probably pushes you toward Acastus due to AV=14 on the front perhaps, but any knight is viable. 

Lord Scion (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars). Also one per army, you get two repair tests for them in each status phase rather than one. Very handy. 

Scion Arbalester (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars). Move no more than half of your usual distance and benefit from any Heavy or Ordnance rule still. Really handy, but one per army and probably wants to be on one with a weapon that takes advantage of Ordnance (on damage) such as neutron wave batteries against tanks or castigator bolt cannon against elite infantry. 

Scion Aspirant (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️ 1/5 stars) gives you expendable (1) as well as a negative modifier for the auto repair rule. Meh. A fluff choice. 

Scion Aucteller (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars) is one per army and gives precision at 5+. This is ideal for close combat knights and undoubtedly will suit a Lancer. 

Scion Dolorous (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars) is similarly one per army and gives Fear. Don't underestimate this one - it can be awesome. 

Scion Implacable (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars) gives the fire storm special rule. Handy but not outrageous, and one per army. 

Scion Martial (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️ 2/5 stars) offers nothing. Presumably take it if you have no other options remaining that are not better than Aspirants. 

Preceptor (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars) gives you battlesmith at 2 (and Int=8). Its okay actually and once per army.  

Scion Uhlan (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars) is also once per army and gives fast (2) and impact on attacks. Great for close combat closing out. 

Vows. 

Taken during the core mission sequence, vows can give bonuses when conditions are met.

Vow of Execution gives +2 for Slay the Warlord so long as it is also a High Command slot. This is excellent!

Vow of Slaying gives Giant Killer +2 points against Lords of War. Situational. 

Vow of Resolve gives +2 for Last Man Standing. A nice one to take for more backline units, certainly.

Vow of Alacrity is +2 for First Strike so long as you do it in turn one. This is about focus fire and can pay dividends if you have set up nicely.

Advanced Reactions.

Stomp does what you might think if an enemy gets too close during movement. Small blast marker, and S=hull points, at AP=3 and 2 damage. Can be very good against regular marines and non-marine armies.

Rotate Ion Shields gives +1 to your invulnerable save at the front when shot at, but you get -1 to the same save for the rest of the turn. Its a gamble, but can be good if you know you're not going to take more hits. 

Joust! charges in when you are charged at. No special bonuses apply any longer for successful charges. Of course, you have to be charged by another knight. Very fluffy!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Knight Armies and Familia

Our next book we will review in the Horus Heresy series is Liber Questoris.

This Liber covers both Knights and Titans, alongside some ground troops and others which we will come to in due course. 

We will start with the Knights themselves and in the article have a look at both army construction and Familia that we can give to the Knights.

Knight households are an entirely different kind of army to regular space marines or the Imperial army. The first choice that a player faces is what Questoris Familia to declare themselves for. There are three choices: Imperialis, Machanicum, or Mendicant (which is to say: freeblades). These give different Tactica, Vows, and Advanced Reactions. 

Imperial House (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars) gives you a Baronial Court which provides a free Mesnie Detachment, and removes the 0-1 restriction for Lord Scions. Their vow (more on this another day) is Dominion which gets you more victory points the first time you score with Vanguard (this is good!). The advanced reaction is Rallying Call which allows army wide repair rolls (this is excellent). 

Mechanicum Vassals (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars) gives a free automat talon, removes the 0-1 Preceptor limit, and gets +2 victory points the first time you score thanks to the vow. Their advanced reaction is rad purge which is strong thanks to poisoned 2+ and phage on toughness. Nice for clearing out a zone around you. 

The Freeblade Company (Warpstone Flux rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars) gives free Armiger talon and you get free household rank prime advantages as if everyone had a prime slot. If you win combat first, then you also get +2 victory points as part of your vow of belligerence which encourages strong close combat play. The advanced reaction is Valorous End which is a bit of a Pyrrhic victory moment. Explode yourself and roll 6's as part of that explosion. Might be useful. 

Army construction is also modified here as you might imagine. Sure, you can still take a Knight as a Lords of War choice, but you can also field dedicated detachments which is easier to show in the image below (reproduced here under fair use). 

We have 4 knights as the core Knight household detachment, and other additional detachment which are dependent on you prime advantage selections. We shall look at household ranks in the next article. 

Skyhunters - Emperor's Children

The fully painted squad of Emperor's Children skyhunters ready for deployment!

The paint scheme here is mainly the Emperor's Children purple that I've been using consistently on all the other models that I have for this legion, edged with gold trim and a large expanse of brutalist black and silver metal down the middle. White accents and appropriately applied decals finish it off. The stands use the creeping vines extensively below the speeders to give the suggestion of varied and overgrown terrain. 

Other little details include the sergeant's power sword in green (taken from the newer Slaanesh chaos space marine range), a variety of heads (including an older chaos space marines plume) and of course the melta guns at the front for tank exploding purposes. Happy with the outcome here - its a squad with purpose and will look good undertaking missions!

Painted Emperor's Children Praetor Tartaros Terminator

Regal purple mixes with exquisite threat in the pose for this Emperor's Children praetor in tartaros terminator armour!

The miniature itself was very easy to put together, and the painting almost did it itself. The purple follows my standard recipe. However, it is almost drowned out by the gold that adorns the praetor himself. Obviously this is a guy who wants to not only own the battlefield, but looks like a mythological figure while doing so. There's also some gemstones and robes around the character which to me feels like Ancient Greece vibes in some ways. And the Laer style sword hints at the early signs of falling to chaos here without actually having sworn feality (potentially). I've picked this out in the same green tones that I've used for the gemstone (which I'm interpreting here as something a bid Eldar in nature). 

Although gaudy and regal, it somehow still works and comes together to still present a threat and a perfection of martial skill ready to take on the enemies of the Imperium. Or of Fulgrim at least. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Tylos Rubio

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The rules are good. 

Background.

Rubio was the first to be recruited to the Knights-Errant by Garro in his quest to assemble his team of misfit, yet unquestionably loyalist cousins from across all of the legions. It was during the Betrayal at Calth that he finally agreed to join up, having been forced to use his psychic powers to save his brother Ultramarines against the edict of Nikaea. Ironically enough, Guilliman had just concluded that breaking the edict was necessary to fight the warp space aliens at the same time. But too late for Rubio. He was shunned. And left with little option but to join Garro.  

Strengths. 

The codicier comes with telepathy and divination which is a solid combination. 

Polaris, his blade, is a force weapon with breaching, AP=3 and S+1 which makes him a reasonable combat challenger. The paragon bolt gun is also rather good at range. Enhanced by his powers, these are better still. 

Weaknesses. 

I would prefer an inherent WS=6 instead of WS=5, but WP=10 is welcome. 

Overall.

Rubio is cheap enough for what you get which is why I am giving him 4/5 stars here. He is a "typical" psyker for his level (codicier) and is a solid performer. Great for the Knights-Errant, just a pity he doesn't get classed as Ultramarines like my tag here otherwise suggests!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Nathaniel Garro

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The rules are good. 

Background.

Much has already been spoken of Garro. The former Battle-Captain of the Death Guard. The Captain of the Eisenstein. The person who brought word of Isstvan III to the Imperium. The one who bent his knee of Malcador and became the first of the Knights-Errant. The one who would gather the other unique Knights to his banner.  

Strengths. 

A strong stat line (including WS=6 and 5 attacks) combines with his weapons to make Garro a direct close combat challenge threat. 

Libertas has Duellists edge at 2, and critical hitting supplementing S+1 (for S=5 hits) at AP=2 which is vital for challenges. Eternal warrior also helps him stay in the fight.

At range, his bolt gun is called a paragon bolt gun and fires at S=5 with shred. This is impressive and you need to fire it often. 

Weaknesses. 

The only very mild negative is that Libertas is limited to 1 damage per unsaved wound. 

Overall.

Garro in third edition (Legacies) comes with the Knights-Errant and Loyalist keywords (the former having as much power and impact as the latter - to be clear). He isn't a Death Guard (despite my tag here) and sadly cannot be taken in a pre-Heresy or loyalist Death Guard contingent which makes me sad. He is a solid challenge contender otherwise and a decent high command choice with a more than reasonable points value associated with him.