Black Knights

[wuxala]

I am interested on your thoughts concerning unit #'s and sizes for black knights. As it stands my list contains a unit of 5 and a unit of 6 both with FCM. A wight lord with the cursed book will run in the smaller unit. To me these units seem a bit fragile. The paradoxal alternative for me would be making a unit of 9 + the wight lord. The larger unit translates into survivability from missle fire but such a large unit would attract a lot of attention. Any idears? Thanks!

-W

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

The bigger unit is going to be the better investment in this circumstance. You have to remember that while the bigger unit presents more of a juicy target, its purpose is not going to be compromised by a lucky side shot from a cannon. If you were playing as the Tomb Kings using Heavy Cavalry I would advise the complete opposite as the only way to ensure the defeat of them is absolute annihilation of the unit. The Wight Lord with the Cursed book is always going to be good, no matter where you run him though!

 

[wuxala]

Ah I was starting to lean towards this option. Thanks for the reply, you've ushered me along.

-W

 

[Nathanial Von Carstein]

I had had a miserable time getting the most out of my knights, to be honest, until recently. I just have bad luck with the dice, and have an equally hard time using them.

Recently, I found a way to make it work. I use a five-man squad, but I dropped the full command, keeping only the Hell Knight. This drops the investment down to a respectable 141 points. They still act as a horrific fire-magnet, and the "scare" factor of killing blow is still present, so my opponents continue to devote undue attention to them. But, when all is said and done, they are now only worth 141 points when killed.

I simply found that, in my games, it didn't pay to overload them with banners, command, and characters and all. Your experience, however, may vary.
-Nathanial Von Carstein

 

[Skaramak von Carstein]

An interesting thought, Nathanial, and one I can see working if you have tailored your army with this in mind. You need to bear in mind, however, that for the KB to be effective you need to hit your opponent (it sounds obvious I know, and am not being facetious), but with WS3 you will be hitting on 4+ as a rule, whilst if you are looking to use them as your hammer unit the Banner of the Barrows will bring this to 3+, resulting in 1/3 more hits.

The army I am using in our local league has a unit of 9, with a BD thrall for extra punch, and the Banner of the Barrows, and this has worked wery well for me so far.

I suppose the answer is that it will depend on a number of factors:
Who you are facing
How many points
Your playing style
The composition of the remainder of your army
Is it a one off game, or are you putting an army together an face all comers army (eg for a tournament)?