Tactics - Knights Inductor

Light Up the Night!

This is the Tactics Page for Knights Inductor.

Why Play Knights Inductor

Do you want an expanded armory with all sorts of shiny toys? Do you think that Nulls are a cool concept and deserve expansion? Do you like the capacity to pretend it's the Horus Heresy in the 41st Millennium and bring squadrons of tanks and 20+ guys in a squad? Then the Knights Inductor are for you!

The Knights Inductor are an unique chapter of space marines that emerged as an attempt to create a viable chapter of reasonable marines. They have diverged from the path of the regular Space Marine and taken up an independent style of warfare aimed at minimizing casualties, aided by limited reverse-engineering and stolen science and their Null Powers. Taking the field in squads of up to 24 marines which divide into Fire Teams like regular Combat Squads but far more flexible, having a single squad of Knights Inductor marines come to your aid is a far greater force than it initially may appear. The enemy who relies upon his Psychic powers to come to victory and yet is too arrogant to bring Daemonfactory or Eldar with 25+ dice will find his powers stripped from him, as every man in the Knights Inductor ranks possesses traces of the Null Gene, which makes them capable of shutting down most Psykers without even the aid of one of their Psychic Warfare specialists. When one of these true blanks, a Silencer, takes the field, this Null effect is amplified hugely, shattering minds souls and hearts.

So, come to the field. Let us Light Up the Night!

Pros and Cons

All armies have their Ups and Downs and the Knights Inductor subscribe to this as well.

Pros

• Number of Men - The Knights Inductor can bring huge numbers of marines to the field if they are willing to invest the points into basic infantry, rivaling Legion marines in size. With almost all infantry squads having a size cap of 24 men, the Knights Inductor will commonly outnumber normal space marines and other elite armies such as Necrons.
• Number of fancy guns - The Knights Inductor have a greater access to fancy equipment than regular Space Marines and have a greater choice available to them when choosing this gear - a standard 24 man tactical squad will have 8 special and/or heavy weapons with full available choice.
• Squad Issue Wargear - Almost all Knights Inductor non-vehicle units have access to a special armory section with goodies that upgrades individual Knights or buffs the entire squad as a blanket upgrade. If you're willing to shell out the points, you can have pseudo Sternguard with 3 different types of bolt ammo or night stalkers with NVG gear and camo cloaks.
• Cover saves - Hoo boy, the Knights Inductor love them some cover saves. With almost universal access to camo cloaks/netting, Chapter tactics that activate when behind cover and gear that improves or hands out cover saves, being able to penetrate 3+ armour is frequently not nearly as good as it sounds against the Knights and their vehicles can be a bastard to put down.
• Psyker Hate - Every single non vehicle unit and every independent character and dreadnought in the army can generate Null Charges, and Silencers generate plenty. Each of these Charges can be used to Deny on a 5+ or generate Silencer Powers. With better than most armies denying capacity even without a Silencer and units a Silencer is with being entirely immune to Psychic powers, it is difficult to play psyker against the Knights Inductor without a stupid number of Warp Charges.
• Defensive Grenades - the ENTIRE ARMY has Blind grenades, which work as Defensive Grenades. This is good against armies that rely upon charge buffs, like Orks, but is not always as good as you would think, due to your army being in cover most of the time.

Note that Defensive Grenades DO NOT APPLY to Furious Charge, so those Khorne Berserkers and Orks can just laugh at your attempts to blunt their charge.

• You are still a Space Marine - Learn to love the WS4, BS4, S4, T4, I4, Ld8, 3+ save stats. About that ATSKNF though...

Cons

• No And They Shall Know No Fear - That's right, in this age of every man and his battle brother having ATSKNF, the Knights Inductor lack it with their mainline units. They don't auto-regroup, are not immune to fear, and can be overrun and destroyed in combat. While Ld10 units and those with a ATSKNF leader in them will still benefit from ATSKNF, for the most part you have to do without unless you pay a points tax to get cheaper Ld10 HQ's in all of your most important units.

Not having ATSKNF is actually a LOT more crippling than most people would think when you've got an army that specializes in ranged combat, but still isn't on par with Tau in terms of sheer ranged power. Indomitable Spirit essentially counts as Stubborn for the purposes of Fear and Regrouping, but it doesn't do shit to being Overrun in melee. So if your guys start losing melee and they fall back from the combat, they can be killed by Sweeping Advances. With KI, it is completely impossible to do stupid shit like having a tactical squad Tarpit a TITAN for 2 turns straight.

The only way around this weakness is to spend the tax on getting either a Captain or a Chaplain into the squad, as either one's presence will grant ATSKNF to the squad. Keep this in mind, and make sure your chaplains and captains(Not including Xavion) are going to be ready to intercept units you intend to tarpit with tactical squads, so that you don't get sweeping advance'd off the board.

• Empyrean Anathema's automatic Null Charges cap out at 10 man squads - While you -can- bring 24 man teams, this is rarely ever worth it for the pure purposes of Null Charges, when you can instead bring smaller squads to maximize the number of null charges you're putting on the table.

• Limited to no options for melee combat - All but one of the Knights special characters are complete shit in melee, and their one and only Melee-oriented squad has extremely limited options. ONLY INCURSION SQUADS HAVE FRAG GRENADES, so keep that in mind while you use them on the offensive, as you will strike at Initiative Step 1 in melee with these guys. Frag grenades can be purchased but predictably cost extra on a model by model basis.

• No Grav-Weaponry - This is pretty self explanatory, and is arguably one of the most crippling aspects. No other weapon in the entire codex fills the niche that Grav-Weapons have. Keep that in mind in a meta completely plastered with Grav-Gun Bikes and Grav-Cannon Centurions6 Ablative Wound Rape Machines in a Rhino.

• Limitations on relic equivalent gear - Like 30k Marines, you have to take those in the technical know-how (aka Techmarines/Gajet) in order to unlock more experimental wargear slots for some wargear options and even units.

• Weaker Psykers - Due to having a null gene that can kill psykers upon implantation, your Librarians and even your Chief Librarian are all S3 T3 I3 like regular humans. The regular Librarians in particular also have a slightly lower Leadership than Space Marine Librarians.

Tools of the Knights Inductor

Learn well the tools of your army, for they are your path to victory.

Warlord Traits

• 1) Leader of "Many" - A substantial leadership drop to everyone bar HQ's across the whole enemy army in the first turn, and then a smaller one in the second. Not that impressive, but can be worth it against non fearless armies like Tau. Gajet starts with this trait. Combine with Signature Projectors covering the enemy for lulz.
• 2) Master of Stalling - A strong reserves disruption that starts in turn 1 to turn 3, at -2 to -1. The turn 1 debuff is useless unless the opponent is taking a formation that requires reserves rolls on turn 1 and the -1 on the other turns is standard stuff. Zakis Randi and Isaac Rico start with this trait.
• 3) Watchful Defender - One of the best traits. Once a game, you can make one unit from the Codex fire full BS overwatch, still no blasts though. Brutal when applied correctly, terrifies poorly prepared Orks. It won't save your ass against combined charges, however. Ferrus and Rachnus start with this trait.
• 4) Perfect Ambusher - A gimmicky trait buffed into a much more useful one since the choice of unit and terrain is now made after deployment. You pick a piece of neutral terrain and one of your squads, you get to have that squad deepstrike into the terrain with no scatter. Absolutely useless if someone has occupied the terrain, can be hilarious if it's still free. Since you don't have to tell your opponent which piece you nominated, this can be a crapshoot, but just choose smartly. Xavion starts with this trait.
• 5) Skilled Negotiator - Enemy units within 6" of the Warlord use their lowest leadership for checks. Depends on the opponent and your army composition. If you are running lots of pinning checks and Silencer powers, this can be impressive. Without it, it's decent. If you have few checks and the enemy is ATSKNF, it is weak. If the enemy is fearless, it's pointless. Roland Darren and Chief Librarian Zecherias start with this trait.
• 6) Big Game Hunter - Warlord and unit gets Tank Hunter and Monster Hunter. Again, depends on what your Warlord is doing and who he is going with. A Marauder field master with this trait in a sizeable unit of Marauders can be terrifying. Garven Brias starts with this trait.

Special Rules

Indomitable Spirit - Essentially Stubborn, with this you can regroup when under 25% unit strength and make Fear/Regroup tests on your highest unmodified leadership. However you don't get the special regroup move from ATSKNF, are not immune to Fear, can be wiped in combat and don't auto-regroup either.

• Convictus Oath - The only way squads with Indomitable Spirit can get ATSKNF is if a character with Ld10 is in the squad or an Independent Character with ATSKNF joins in. Try to keep your HQ leaders in your most vulnerable and important squads.

Empyrean Anathema Don't be fooled by it's strangeness. Empyrean Anathema is at the core of most Knights Inductor lists, and can make or break them given the situation. Against lists revolving around Psykers, it has a decent ability to buy back it's point cost.

Here's how it works. All squads are capable of generating "Null Charges", and null charges can be used to deny psychic powers on a 5+ instead of the warp charges 6+. If the squad is 10 men or better, you automatically get a charge. If the squad is less than 10 men, you'll need a 4+ roll to generate a charge. All Independent Characters and Dreadnoughts count as their own unit for this rule.

• As a General Rule, most lists that are optimized for Empyrean Anathema will generate roughly 12 Null Charges per turn.

• For every 10 Warp Charges spent on a power, you need 13 null charges to deny it. keep this in mind as you build. Silencers will counter Librarians at a 1:1 rate, but just be warned that unlike Librarians, Silencers are limited to leadership shenanigans and Instant Killing characters outside of this role.

• DO NOT RELY ON THIS AGAINST ELDAR, Grey Knights, or Daemons. As much fun as it is to laugh at your average Space Marine or Guard player's attempts to utilize their psychic phase, they will probably learn not to use psykers at all against Knights. Eldar are another slice of pie, as they can readily and easily burn through your charges with Runes of Warding Seer Councils, while throwing 30+ dice at the table to your 10 null charges.

The Unseen - Essentially Chapter Tactics, Knights Inductor Edition. It gives pinning if firing from within or behind terrain. If the target is immune to pinning, you count your BS as one point higher than usual. This is deceptively powerful with the amount of access that the Knights get to pinning weapons externally as well, with the Marks Sense upgrade giving the whole unit pinning and a variety of weapons with just the rule flat + mobile cover in the form of the Bulwark dread.

In order to build lists centered around these tactics, you should look into finding ways to further decrease the Leadership of enemies. Keep in mind that all cover except from Camo Cloaks will trigger this rule, and Aegis Defense Lines DO count as terrain. Gunline, use Rolland Darren, and make sure to split your squads(Because each squad can only pin once per shooting round), and you can lock down an opponent's advance rather quickly. This ability works well in conjunction with Silencers, but can rapidly fall apart against Fearless armies.

Note that due to current RAW the +1 BS can apply to Snap Shots in the odd cases when you're firing Snap Shots against Pinning immune units that cannot go to ground.

Tactical Fire Teams - Combat Squads, Knights Inductor Edition. It lets you split into 2-4 fire teams of 6, 8 or 12 men. This is where you can get your versatility from the big 24 man squads. Special and Heavy weapons can be freely distributed throughout the teams, giving you far more flexibility than just combat squads. Critically, however, it lets you bring 2 dedicated transports for the one squad if there are 18 or more mens in the unit.

• This can let you get more null charges from the big units. As with Grey Knights and the Brotherhood of Psykers, fire teams have their own independent chances of generating Null Charges, giving some incentive for bigger squads.

  Bigger squads also benefit in cost-effectiveness from the flat upgrade options in the squad issue wargear section as well as the to-unit benefits such as Feel No Pain from the Aceso.

Silencer Powers

It makes sense that, given that they're all Nulls, Silencers wouldn't have access to regular Psychic powers. Instead, they get this one set of powers and they're... not too terrible, actually. Mostly Leadership and Character dicking focussed. NOTE: Fearless doesn't mean immune to Leadership tests, only auto-pass Morale/Pinning/Regrouping checks.

Primaris Power: Unleash Aura - This is the original Null trick - It's a blessing, but it works like a combo of Nova and Malediction. It costs 1 null charge initially, but for every additional one that is used to manifest, it increases its range by 3", starting at 6". Any enemy unit caught in the field gets -2 to leadership, except Psykers and Daemons which were already at -2. This is your basic toolbox power for screwing the enemy over and it synergises excellently with the rest of the army. Cutting leadership is brilliant in an army with endless pinning. Just watch for low range.

1) Synapse Disruption - This one is a true Nova. It costs 1 Null Charge for a 6" bubble, 12" costs 2. It has two different effects: regular Tyranids count as not being in Synapse range and all armies that aren't Tyranids are forced to use their lowest leadership values when taking checks. Another power with low range but good Synergy.

2) Warp Void - Now we get into anti-psychic powers. Pick a squad within 18". Any Blessing or Malediction effecting them ends immediately. If there aren't any to remove, they take a pinning check at -1 leadership. This is excellent against Invisible bastards and people who think Iron Arm is the best thing ever. Takes 2 charges though.

3) Shatter Mind - An Assassination power, plain and simple. Pick a character in 24", take a leadership check. Every point you fail by is a wound with no armour or cover allowed. Excess shots follow through to the unit, coming from the character as the source of the shot. An extra charge can be spent to make the test 3D6. Simple. Can be effective.

4) Horrifying Presence - This one is risky and a bit iffy unless you have a few other powers off. It's another 9" nova. EVERY unit, repeat, EVERY unit within that bubble has to take a morale check, although friendlies get to re-roll it. An extra charge can be spent to make it a 3D6 check. This can be awful if you make your own unit run away, or a key hold-the-line unit, or if the enemy is Fearless. On the other hand, with a little luck, you can stop an Army Wide Devastating Charge. This power is exponentially better if you already have Unleash Aura or Synapse Disruption out.

5) Isolate - Another Character power, but this isn't for killing. Target one character in 18". They check leadership at -1. Fail, and they can't do anything. AT ALL. FOR AN ENTIRE TURN. And the squad has to remain in coherency. If the target was an independent character, they can perform a -3 Ld check to dump his sorry arse and move away, but they can't do shit if the target was a Sergeant. This can be hilarious against a unit already hit with Unleash Aura. It could also do the square root of jack shit, when jack left to get groceries.

6) Null Drain - This one is another leadership power but with a twist. It's a malediction with a range of 18". The target loses D3 leadership, Daemons and Psykers lose an extra one. If the target was a CHAOS daemon, they must immediately check for Daemonic Instability. With a D3+1 negative to their leadership. Also, while this power is out, affected Psykers generate half the number of charges, rounding up. This power is brutal against Psykers and Daemons and is essentially a long range targeted Unleash Aura against everyone else. Take what you will.

Squad Issue Wargear

Each squad can choose to buy items from this list, while certain primary formations also grant uses of free Squad Issue Wargear.

• Specialty Ammunition: You can give your squad a choice of Flash Bolts(Giving Blind and AP-), Kraken Bolts for better range and AP4, and/or Stun Bolts for Poisoned 3+. Generally speaking if you're getting a free choice of Specialty ammo, Stun Bolts is the optimal choice for most cases as it allows your tactical marines to take on Monstrous Creatures a little more easily. Given a choice of Squad Issue gear, it generally comes down to either Specialty Ammunition, or Marksman Autosense

Like the Sternguard Equipment in Codex Space Marines, Specialty Ammunition here gives you free reign of tactical flexibility. You buy it in your lists, and you can buy multiple types of bolt ammo per squad to deal with multiple threats though this is adding to the cost significantly.

• Marksman Autosense: This right here is the bread and butter of your army. Marksman Autosenses grants Precision shot and Pinning to the effected squad, effectively making them into Mini-snipers. Do note however that it cannot be taken in Suppressor squads with Tac-Senses, and Garven Brias cannot provide his Tac-Senses bonus to any squad that has Mark-sense. The squad with this also doesn't Rend on 6s to wound, unlike normal snipers. This is usually an Auto-take, but it competes with Specialty Ammo when points are tight.

• Tenebras Visors: Acute Senses, and Night Vision. This is kind of a Meh' ability, but with Re-roll Night Fighting from the primary formation, it -COULD- be useful. Marksman Autosense and Kraken bolts still apply past turn 1, so you should save this for Land Speeder squadrons that actually benefit from Acute Senses.

• Camo Cloaks: Only moderately useful on Tactical Marines, as boosting cover saves might be nice, but you already have Power Armor. That being said, Power Armor doesn't save your ass from lascannons, plasma guns, Literally anything eldar, snipers, melta guns, gravity guns, AP2 Flamethrowers, and Orbital Bombardments. Okay fine, cover is nice to have. But should you really take 2 points per model instead of Marksman Autosense of Kraken Bolts when 4+ cover saves are usually readily available? Depends on your army. Some will love this choice, some will hate it. Cover Bunker strategies swear by it, drop pod assaults less so.

Odd Loophole: Special Issue Wargear camo cloaks are 1 point, and the sergeant can take them. Squad Issue(Of which each squad can only have 1) are 2 points per model. You can save 1pt per unit with a sergeant that has access to camo cloaks!

• Frag Grenades: HAHAHA NO. You're a shooting army. Why the hell are you charging? Never take these, let your suicide incursion squads use them. Just don't bother.

DO Take them when you have a dedicated assault unit with access to them like Honor Guard Paladins so you're aren't charging a unit in cover and striking at I1 with your Null Halberd

Special Issue Wargear

This is the gear that gets given to Sarges and Characters. Can range from dirt cheap to very expensive.

• Frag Grenades: Maybe if you're building a punchy character that you want to be able to charge. MAYBE. Anywhere else, forget about it.

• Camo Cloak: One question will give you your answer: Is your character by himself, or part of a squad that has them. If yes to either of these, buy it. If not, don't bother.

• Specialty Ammo: See the direct above unless you're not using a bolter or want Tracer Bolts (if you can get them)

• Melta Bombs: You probably shouldn't be in combat with a tank, but could be worth it. Expensive but.

• Teleport Homer: This could be troll worthy on a Sarge. Like, extremely so. Otherwise, depends on your army composition. Unless you're focused on Drop Pods, not a lot of the Knights Inductor deep strike, they prefer to infiltrate.

• Shock Knuckles: These are literally digital weapons. See the point about frag grenades.

• Electro Shackles: A gimmicky piece of gear. Will cripple that beatstick for one round and weaken him for the rest of that combat. The only problem is hitting. That and the 10 point price tag when you shouldn't be in combat.

• Seismic Charge: Demolitions Charges, Knights Inductor Edition. A S6 Large Blast with an 8" range that can leave a few nasty surprises behind on multi wound models. Won't do shit to single wonders beyond killing them and it lacks an AP value to do that. Probably not worth it.

• Aceso: Costs as much as an Apothecary. Turns your Character into Apothecary Lite. This is great for just about anything if you want to add survivability. Putting an Aceso in the squad is pretty much the only reason you would ever want to put a 24-man squad on the table. Almost always taken on Knights Inductor HQ choices.

Like any piece of gear that buffs the squad, but is dependent on a single model. This is weak to lots of Precision Shots, or a Vindicare. Just one Vindicare firing a turbo penetrator is pretty much all an opponent needs to make you waste these points.

Experimental Wargear

Your entire army has only two Experimental Wargear Slots to start with, one for Infantry and one for Vehicles. Every item below takes up one slot for either of the two categories. If you want more slots, bring techmarines. Keep this in mind before you start throwing away points, as the tax for Experimental Wargear grows quite quickly.

• Damocles Power Armor MkI- 3+ armor save and Slow and Purposeful. The standard armor for Innovatus squads that pairs up well with the Gravitic Mass Drivers they have. Like Trooper armor and Marauder armor, watch where you place your units or else they can find themselves doing a whole lot of nothing as they struggle to move from place to place without a transport.

• Disruptor Array- These are tough (T7 W2 Sv3+) pseudo-gun emplacements that provide a 12" radius debuff and are placed anywhere outside of the enemy deployment zone: Deep striking units have to re-roll hits and roll 3d6 for scatter. Most importantly, enemy shooting within the radius takes a -2BS modifier and loses special rules that affect re-rolls or BS to shooting. Unlike the Signature Projector, this has a much smaller radius of effect with conflicting abilities (the anti Deep Strike is a defensive one and the anti-Shooting can be considered primarily offensive). Expect it to be shot up or assaulted grenades early in battle.

• Gravitic Mass Driver Rifle- The standard weapon for Innovatus squads, these are powerful anti high toughness and armor weapons that aim to blow up vehicles with armourbane and AP1. Abuse the range to stay in safety and take down vehicles with massed fire if you can afford it.

While it is standard for Innovatus Squads, Gravitic Mass Drivers are a good alternative for HQ Choices if you want to make a shooty captain with a Heavy weapon. This weapon can really benefit from BS5, and boosts your ability to take down big things.

• Signature Projector- Like the Disruptor Array, with some key differences: it has an 18" radius and forces enemy units within the radius to take leadership tests to not shoot or not assault the Signature Projector. This has been since buffed to have a -2Ld modifier and pairs up well with Leadership reducing items or abilities. It also notably includes a locator beacon, so place it where it can reach the most amount of enemy units and give your deep striking units a solid place for no scatter.

• Tracer Bolts: Markerlight Lite. It's a nice bonus that you can give this to a generic HQ, who is then exempt from the rule that all models must fire the same special ammo. If you're doing this, a storm bolter is mandatory so you get that 2nd shot at 24". Tracer Bolts put a marker on the target model. You spend the marker to cause precision hits on 5, or re-roll failed hits, or ignore cover. Ignoring cover is great for squads with Kraken Bolts, making this a solid choice.

Like all cases of the Special Issue gear. Tracer Bolts aren't squad based. If your character who has them dies, you lose the tracer bolts. Opponents with lots of Precision Shot, or a Vindicare can cause you to waste these points almost instantly.

• Graviton Grenades: Enemies charging the squad with this roll 3d6 and take the 2 lowest dice. This is kind of a Meh' choice, but if you're running Gajet for uncapped experimental slots, it can be a decent means to throw away points. Usually your best bet is to give them to a Chaplain, put the chaplain in a 24-man squad, give the Sarg an Aceso, and then laugh at attempts to charge them by anything that's not Furious Charge/Fleet. Khorne Berserkers will laugh at your attempts to stop them in turn, as mentioned previously about the passage on Blind Grenades.

• Macharius Codex: It's like having Zakis Randi as your warlord, except you're not putting the "Obligatory costs as much as a land raider" character on the board! For one Experimental Slot, you get to give another unit your choice of Tank Hunters, Infiltrate, Interceptor, Split Fire, or Counter Attack.

If you use this to give infiltrate to a squad of 3 vindicators, we will not be responsible for your death by strangulation.

Unit Analysis

HQs

• Captain: A good All-around character. He's a little more expensive than Normal Space Marine Captains, but in exchange he grants a squad of your choice Preemptive Strike. Since these guys come standard with Frag Grenades and Convictus Oath, any squad you attach a captain to will regain their immunity to sweeping advances and fear, making them suck a lot less in melee. Just don't expect to be able to have a captain attached to EVERY squad, just limit it to whatever squad you think will be taking the brunt of charges, as otherwise you'll lose out with the point tax.

• Chaplain: The Defensive Counterpart to Captain. Again costs a little more than normal space marine chaplains, and he loses out on Zealot. The difference between this guy and normal is that he grants his squad Frag Grenades, Convictus Oath(Which turns their stubborn into ATSKNF), and gives them the Counter-Attack rule, which is very important. If you're not taking a captain as your warlord(And kitting out the captain to be a monster in melee), then Chaplains are a serious consideration for army buffing to make up for your lack of melee prowess

• Librarian: The Only non-LD10 HQ that grants Convictus Oath to your guys. Knights Inductor Librarians are actually ordinary humans in Power Armor, so they don't have the Space Marine Statline that other Libbys enjoy. Their primary restriction however is "Apart In Spirit, Apart In Body", which means that your army can't include both a Libby and a Silencer.

Consider taking these guys if you need tactical flexibility, but don't rely on them too much.

• Silencer: One of the codex's True Unique Units. These suckers have 3 whole paragraphs of text describing their rules, but don't let that dissuade you from taking them. These guys have their own set of powers, and are focused entirely on the idea of shutting down the psychic phase. While they are EXCEEDINGLY GOOD AT THIS, Silencers are a little on the expensive side(95 points base), and lack the tactical flexibility that libbys normally provide.

Silencers don't provide Convictus Oath, but they make whatever squad you attach them to completely immune to all psychic powers, both friendly and hostile. Witchfires don't effect them, maledictions don't work, and even blessings immediately turn off. This buff(Or a debuff, really depends on how you look at it), also applies to whoever is the poor sap that gets in melee with them. So if a Silencer's squad charges an invisible squad, that squad instantly loses invisiblity, and whatever other buffs they had on, as well as maledictions.

Just be DAMNED CAREFUL WITH THEM. While Silencers don't suffer perils the same way normal psykers do, their perils are just as dangerous. If you roll double 6s while manifesting silencer powers, the squad they are attached to takes a huge leadership test. And if they fail it, they run the fuck away from the silencer(Who is then helpless and alone ;_;).

• Techmarine: Pretty much the same as Vanilla Techmarines, but with an additional effect. Every Techmarine in your army unlocks an additional Experimental Infantry Wargear and Experimental Vehicle Wargear slot. Don't go overboard on this, as the point tax on bringing more experimental gear grows with every additional slot.

As a side note, Techmarines turn Innovatus squad's Slow and Purposeful into Relentless. If you don't like this, you can always exchange it for free with Bolster Defenses

• Marauder Captain: Essentially a Space Marine Captain, IN CENTURION ARMOR

Okay, kinda. He's got the Captain Statline of WS6, BS5, LD10, Convictus Oath. Which is Amazing. In addition the Marauder Armor makes him T6, so he's really goddamn tough to kill. However he's insanely pricey, at 180 points base, before any upgrades.

It's important to note that this is the only HQ Slot that can take Heavy Weapons. His Heavy Weapon list is actually a lot cheaper. You would do well to give this sucker Dual Plasma Cannons, and attach him to any squad that has an Aceso to make the best use of his T6.

Troops

• Tactical Squad

• Scout Squad(Silent Hands)

• Guard Aspirants

Dedicated Transports

Knights Inductor have access to the same Dedicated Transports as normal space marines, with only a few changes. All KI Transports have the option to replace storm bolters with Cerberus Launchers for a points buff, if you enjoy spamming blind tests at close range.

• Rhino: Can replace the useless Self-Repair Systems to carry 12 guys instead of 10. Otherwise the same as Space Marines

• Drop Pod: Can replace the storm bolter to carry 12 guys instead of 10. Does not have the option to take Deathwind launchers, though instead you can take the even better Cerberus Launcher instead.

• Razorback: same as Space Marines

Elites

• Terminator Squads KI terminators start with 3-man squads, and gain an additional heavy weapon for one out of every 3 guys. Functionally its easier to bring more heavy weapon terminators, but really? Don't even bother with 3 terminators, just not enough bodies to justify it.

Decloak.... Now!: An odd special rule that the KI terminators can purchase. It's essentially a late-game infiltrate, so you can get shooty terminators in position more easily. Rarely worth it though, and you STILL can't use it to Deep Strike into cover. Though this is possibly an oversight.

• Null Paladins: A good excuse for using those Grey Knight models you bought awhile back. At 55 points a model, they're obscenely expensive, and only have storm bolters for ranged weapon options. Their unique weapon: Null Halberds, are functionally identical to Nemesis Halberds except that they use Null Charges and are marginally more effective against Psykers. Unlike Grey Knight Paladins, these can't be changed to any better melee weapons aside from the standard set of null weapons with master-crafted. Other than that, for 2 Wound terminators, giving one of them an Aceso is MANDATORY.

• Dreadnoughts: 7th edition brings us a huge number of buffs to Dreadnoughts in the form of Chapter Tactics, massively Cheaper weapons, Squadrons, and more close-combat attacks. Knights get these too for their dreads. In this case, Knights Inductor Dreadnoughts get a small points increase to gain Empyrean Anathema, and the Fear USR. Kinda useless in the edition of "Everyone and their mom is fearless", but hey it might inexplicably save the dreadnought in melee at some point.

If you really want to be silly, consider giving your Dreadnoughts Camo Cloaks. No seriously this codex lets you take Sneeki Breeki Dreadz. If you think this is stupid, turn around and note the lack of anything in the treeline. Now look back around, OI GIT, U's FInKIN WES' NoT SNEEKI *Krump*. Camo Cloak Dreads can make a formidable firebase, just be sure to deliver cheesy one liners to your opponent like "I've come to hide from my enemies!" in your best dreadnought voice.

• Innovatus Squads: Some highly expensive special weapons Knights that have the choice of either the Gravitic Mass Driver rifle (standard) or Mk40 Plasma Rifles and they take up one Infantry Experimental Wargear slot as a whole. Though they only have standard Space Marine survivability of T4 Sv3+ they bring you two great shooting roles of either anti-2+ elite armor saves or anti-vehicle AP1 firepower. The key to doing well with them is getting them to where you want them without them dying due to their slowness and relative fragility. Thanks to their MkI Damocles power armor they can fire their GMD's at full capacity coming out of a Zooming Avenger or a Drop pod.

• Sternguard Veterans(Silent Hands): Remember the fluff that says Sternguard Veterans are the shootiest of the shooty shooters? And how the standard SM Codex fluff paints them as absolutely nothing like that? Here we have actual Shooty-Shooting marines crunched as Elite Marine Snipers. Their default weapon is the Stalker Bolter, which is a Strength X 30" Rapid Fire Sniper Bolter. There's also an option to upgrade them to Silent Hands, which boosts their BS to 5, thus making them even more shooty. Finally, a limited number of their ranks can take Anti-Material Rifles, in case you need AP3 with Rending for killing bigger things. By default this squad can threaten Wraithknights, Carnifexes, and anything that relies on high toughness.

While expensive, this is a SOLID elite choice for threatening anything short of Heavy Armor. Silent Hands can bring down just about anything big each turn through massed Sniper shooting, and can be hard to kill in turn if you place them in good cover with great sightlines. This, and sniper rifles from Scouts and Stun bolts from Tacticals are your only reliable ways to bring down high T targets.

Fast Attack

• Incursion Squad: What the hell are you doing here? This is a choppy squad in a shooty army. Don't take this unless you're looking to throw away points on expensive as hell Suicide Squads. They have pretty much no worthwhile options except to put Captain Isaac in them, and try to cap objectives in Maelstrom. Even then Mounted Knights will do that job easier.

• Landspeeder Squadrons

• Mounted Knights: Shooty Guys with Relentless, Close Combat capability also with relentless, and improved durability. They will massively benefit from having an Aceso to make use of Feel No Pain against Lascannons and Meltaguns. Unlike Incursion Squads, Mounted Knights are considerably more capable of being a Rapid-Reaction unit that can reach out across the board and snag objectives during Maelstrom missions. Pretty much the same benefit that bikes give to normal space marines, you know what to do. It's just a damn shame you can't put Xavion on a bike to join them, and there's no Grav-guns to make use of the Relentless. But that's too much to ask for and would be horribly broken.

• Mobilius Artillery: A poor man's thunderfire cannon. With this you get a Techmarine, plus your choice of Charybdis Howitzer, Quad Gun, or a Icarus Lasccannon. It's highly points inefficient, and pretty much the only thing worthwhile is the Charybdis. Because the crew comes with the artillery, you can't put Xavion on it either for -7" to scatter. It's still massively outperformed by the Thunderfire Cannon, so it's more worthwhile to take Space Marine Allies and just grab the actual damn cannon.

• Valkyrie Avenger Squadron

• Valkyrie Repressor Squadron

Heavy Support

• Suppressor Squad: This is what you get instead of a Devastator Squad. Okay, there's a few things of note.

- Starts at the cost of a Tactical squad, exactly 84 points.

- 3 Heavy Weapons for each 6 devastators, so it's a little harder to put large numbers of heavy weapons on the board.

- No, you don't have a Signum

- You get to instead purchase something called Tactical Autosense, kinda like a CrossCom system for your space marines. It doesn't work with Marksman Autosense so you can't give your guys precision shot too. But the Tactical Autosense lets the Sarg give his whole squad Re-roll 1s to hit if he forgoes shooting. This means it is a good bit more powerful than the Signum and gets better in cost effectiveness if you take more Knights and heavy weapons.

• Marauder Team: The Knight's Centurion equivalents with the following differences: they have -1 Initiative, not terrible but it's still a con if you're not taking powerfists/chainfists. They move 1" slower in all phases, meaning you really have to be spot-on with their placement and positioning to avoid wasting their firepower at times if not taking the longer ranged weapon options. Finally and most importantly, they have S4 and T6 instead of S5 T5. While marginally less effective in melee, the T6 makes Marauders true DISTRACTION CARFNIFEXES as they'll take much more punishment than a Centurion, requiring even more firepower to bring them down (though Grav weapons still laugh at you). If taking extra Marauders seriously consider the Aceso to give them a pseudo-invulnerable save of 5+ and more protection against small arms fire. Placing characters with invul saves or getting them cover saves through other means will go far to protect them against high volume high S and low AP fire that'll most likely be directed their way

• Predator Vaeris: It's a predator with slightly better armor, and can take Land Raider Sponsons. You would do well to stick this sucker in the corner of the board with a railgun, and dual TL-Lascannons. Alternatively, you can give it the MLRS and Twin-Linked Heavy Flamers, and go to town on hordes of infantry if your opponent doesn't see through the shenanigans. Besides that, there's a huge variety of ways you can kit your Vaeris, from Tank-Hunting, to Lawn-Mower, Anti-Air, and Heavy-Artillery. The only downside is that you can't bring him in Squadrons, and he takes up an experimental vehicle slot(Of which you have only 1 by default)

• Predator Squadrons: Same as Space Marines, though they can take advanced upgrades for better survivability or cheap camo netting for cover camping.

• Vindicator Squadrons Same as Space Marines. However there is the notable case that you might want to buy Storm Bolters for these guys, and then swap them for Cerberus Launchers. Both are already short-range Large Blast weapons, so why the hell not throwing a BLINDING large blast on top of an S10 Large Blast to add insult to injury on anyone dumb enough to let this get close. A good but expensive solo Vindicator option is to mount the Redemptor-Pattern Demolisher Cannon and take Plating Overhaul as well as Camo Netting. A 36" S10 AP2 blast (with Get's Hot) with AV14 front and under cover is an expensive but dangerous target for your opponent to deal with.

• Land Raiders

• Whirlwind Squadron

• Tempest Squadrons

Special Characters

Nearly all Knights Inductor Special Characters have a unique rule that only applies if that particular character is your warlord. This can range from army buffs, to modifying force org, to messing around with the codex rules. Keep this in mind as some of the characters are particularly fragile, and/or complete shit in melee

If you're in an Apocalypse Game, you might want to look into bringing the Aprior War Council Formation, as it allows you to take up to 3 of the guys below as your warlord. Just be careful as yes, all 3 characters do count for Slay The Warlord, and Errata states that your opponent can therefore obtain that objective THREE times.

• Chapter Master Zakis Randi: A strong strategic centerpiece model with some top-notch combat ability as well. He has a 2+/3++ with EW, armed with a special Thunder Hammer that can reduce opponents to WS1 for a single Assault phase and usually strikes at I2 instead of I1. In addition to that, he gives all KI units a much needed Ld10 for certain leadership checks, though he doesn't give the Convictus Oath out. His strategic strength comes from his Macharius Strategems Codex x3 (only three specific rules though), no penalties to reserve rolls (kind of meh, but nice to have as it meshes with his own Master of Stalling Warlord Trait nicely) and the ability to have three units use Preemptive Strike (not as impressive since the rule's been nerfed, but still better than nothing and great to have if you're going second).

His Warlord Ability grants your entire army Leadership 10(But does not allow Convictus Oath to apply). Overall this is a VERY solid ability, coupled with the fact that Zakis Randi is a very tough character to knock down means he's a solid choice, even if his Land Raider cost is pretty prohibitive.

• Captain Roland Darren: A relatively cheap special character Captain for what he does: either causing permanent LD losses in enemy units with a good LD roll-off, or buffing the combat ability of a friendly KI unit while gaining Stand Indomitable ala Chaplains. He's not bad in combat (go figure) but he also has a debuffing AP2 power sword that can reduce an opponents' stats permanently if they suffer an unsaved wound from him. Unfortunately you also have to take into account that his main ability can change in function depending on what race/faction opponent you're facing, since you can't negotiate with Come the Apocalypse armies, making him tricky to build an army around since his alternate ability synergizes well with dedicated combat units, which the KI don't have a lot of.

Because of how cheap Roland Darren is, he can actually take the double role of Chaplain and Captain, meaning he's a solid alternative if you're wanting to bring a single captain in your army. Meaning he is wonderfully good at reacting to enemy assaults if spread your units out to respond to threats. Just beware that doing this takes a good bit of prep-work, as you can only grant it to a squad during your shooting phase.

• Captain Isaac Rico: A highly Schizophrenic captain who acts as "That one asshole with wings" in the entire army of shooty marines. Recent buffs to him made him more reliable against infantry by giving his chainsword AP3, but other than that the only reason he should ever be taken is that he has Disrupt Reinforcements standard, and thus can troll Deep Strike armies. By default, he's not the usual take. He buffs Incursion and Vanguard squads in a helpful way, since they wouldn't likely be pinning enemies through shooting by giving them Fleet and Ob-Sec instead of The Unseen. Whatever squad you put him in, take as many power weapons as you can since that'll stack with his Rage giving ability nicely.

His Warlord Ability grants Fleet and Objective Secured to Incursion Squads. Highly Meh

• Garven Brias, Master of Ordnance: A source of GREAT RAGE in the past. He has since been nerfed into oblivion. Originally Garven Brias was a 120 point model, that had access to an Orbital Bombardment, and could take two more for 20 points each. Then later he got nerfed into a massive points increase, and had his number of additional purchases deceased to only one more. Now he's a 170 point model that can only use a Ordnance 2 Orbital Bombardment If he's your Warlord. Just take a look at his statline: WS4, W2, and only 2 attacks. If you really want those orbital bombardments, you've got to be willing to take a 2-Wound glass cannon as your warlord. If you field him, HE WILL DIE, usually by your opponent Shooting him with his entire army on turn 1 as soon as you let him know what he does. Should your opponent make the mistake of letting him live past turn 1, expect him to lose a not-insignificant chunk of his army. Sticking him in a sizable Tac-Senseless Suppressor squad or with a loaded Tactical squad will make the most of his unit buffing Tac-Sense that he has.

If you're willing to shell out the points for it, Garven Brias can actually serve as a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX when he's your warlord. His power means your opponent will waste an entire turn just trying to kill him. Use this to your advantage to get marines into key positions on the first turn.

Warlord Ability: Garven Brias' Warlord ability grants you an Ordinance 2 Orbital Bombardment, which is VERY POWERFUL. However, at Weapon Skill 4, and only 2 wounds, he's the most fragile character in the entire codex.

• Mechanicus Maestro Gajet: A solid back-line supporter that is best kept simultaneously with a large squad and near a vehicle or two. He can repair vehicles better than any Techmarine and has a Gravitic Accelerator Cannon along with an upgraded servo-harness and all the nice close-combat goodies a character can usually take. In addition, he can also take Experimental Infantry Wargear while also lifting the limit for such completely, allowing you to take a Sig Pro or Dis Ray without needing another Techmarine. For best results, take a full 24man Tactical squad with an Aceso and watch your opponent rage as their shooting does little against 3+ 4++ 5+++, though the Invulnerable save he gives worsens in close combat.

Due to recent changes, if you buy the Gravitic-class Lancing Cannon Rapier Carrier for Gajet and stick him in front, you basically make him T7 W3 Sv2+/4++ against any and all shooting coming his way. Just remember to stick him back behind the Carrier once he gets too 1W or 2W to let the Rapier tank the rest of the shots.

Warlord Ability: Gajet's Warlord Ability removes the restriction on Experimental Equipment. Because of this, he's tied with Zakis for the best Warlord Ability.

• Captain Xavion : GOD TIER CAPTAIN. Captain Xavion's pretty well known for being the shootiest captain you'll ever put on the table. He sports a 36" Salvo 2/4 S:X Ap5 Stalker Bolter with Sniper and Shred, and is named Mandate. With his Ballistic Skill of 7, and Crack Shot, he's capable of putting 4 wounds on anything you damn well please each round. Just beware that this guy 'has no invulnerable save of any kind, and therefore will go down like a Limp Fish in melee. That being said, if this guy ends up in melee, you deserve exactly what will happen to him. His Preferred Enemy: Necrons, and Necron Destroyer ability are inherently situational, and unfortunately you're paying for them regardless of whether or not you're playing against Necrons though if you do come across them, aim for the Overlords when possible relying on Reanimation Protocols to stay up when possible.

Warlord Ability: Xavion's new Warlord Ability lets you make your Silent Hand Squads ObjSec, which is nice to have in terrifyingly shooty marines. While he also gains the ability to infiltrate a silent hand squad really goddamn close to the enemy, so long as he's in that squad. Do keep in mind however that Xavion is the worst melee character in the entire codex(Owing to his lack of an invuln save, and only 2 attacks with a power sword). So if you do take the close infiltrate, put as many flamers in that silent hand squad as your little heart can handle, and be ready to lose your warlord on turn 1 against any army with competent melee.

There is a noteworthy form of Cheese you can manifest with Xavion, in the form of Quad Guns. You see, the Quad Gun that can be purchased with Aegis Defense lines takes the BS of whoever is manning it. Go ahead and put xavion on it for fun. This particular editor has endlessly trolled his FLG's Ork-bro, by consistently destroying his Fighta'Bommas the very turn they come in before they ever get to do anything. And the best part about this is that RAW for Interceptor means that if Xavion fires the Quad-gun during your opponent's turn, he can still fire Mandate in your turn. Never stop shooting!

• Chief Librarian Zecherias : A power Psyker in an army of anti-Psykers, with his Warp Surge ability he can easily generate as many Warp Charges as several lesser Psykers and hold his own. He can re-roll any two dice in the Psychic Phase, either to get that power to go through, or to re-roll a Perils result or to get two extra chances to deny the enemy in their Psychic Phase. Oddly enough he's fairly combat oriented with a (human) combat HQ statline and with a powerful Force sword and a combat-based Malediction extra power. Use him to bolster a squad with Biomancy powers or for some powerful Divination casting as you see fit.

• 'Sergeant/Paladin/Captain of the Guard Ferrus : This guy's name has been changed so many times that we decided to list all of them at once here. He is a Space Marine that fights with a shield as his main weapon (that and a stormbolter w/ Stun bolts). The shield gives him better and better protection the nastier the wounds coming his way, and even protects him from being insta-splatted by Destroyer weapons or Super-heavy Walker Stomp attacks. He can also get back up from the dead, but only once. Stick him with another HQ to protect or in an expensive squad that needs a meat shield and have him tank the hits coming their way. If possible, get him into a challenge where his between his durability, debuff to enemy attacks and the Electro-shackles he carries on him, he'll frustrate expensive enemy beatsticks to no end.

Lords of War

• Maxima Marauder

• Silencer Alpha Rachnus: Oh god, where the hell do I even begin with this guy? For starters there's the obvious that he's a THREE HUNDRED POINT infantry model. Only 4 wounds with Eternal Warrior, and 2+/4+ saves. So if your opponent stares at him with a sufficiently angry expression Rachnus will probably die. Stick him in a 24-man squad with an Aceso, for the MAXIMUM number of wounds.

Now, you might be thinking why you would ever want to buy a 300 point model with only 4 wounds. And the answer is pretty simple. Rachnus is a 1-man Squad-wiping Lawnmower in the Psychic Phase, literally so scary that even Marines are forced to LEARN HOW TO FEAR THINGS in his presence.. Your best option would probaby be to Deathstar him with some Termis, and possibly also with Ferrus to let him laugh at challenges. Psychic phase rolls around and Rachnus Unleashes his aura to drop everyone's LD by 3 points, then casts Synapse Disruption to force enemies to take lowest leadership, then Horrifying Presence to nova EVERYTHING within 9" to take a 3d6 Leadership test on -3LD, -4LD if they're psykers. If your opponent doesn't retaliate with everything he has to remove this guy immediately from the board, then he'll likely start losing entire sections of his gunline.

Now that your whole army is stubborn by default, you actually don't have to worry anywhere near as much about the Silencer Perils with Rachnus, and other Silencers automatically ignore the fear check that results from Silencer Perils. So if Rachnus is Deathstarring with Null Paladins, then he can pretty much recklessly throw however many dice he damn well pleases. Just beware that pretty much only Knights Inductor can reliably stay close to him once the psychic phase rolls around, so if you try putting him in a Cadre Fireblade, you'll have to be damned careful with your null charges.

• Predator Avalon With very obvious arthurian Naming Conventions, the Knights Inductor codex brings out yet another glass cannon Lord of War. This is the Predator Avalon, carrying only a single weapon that can essentially be summed up as a Lascannon Scattergun. Aside from that, the Avalon has significantly reinforced armor over standard predators, and has two void shields.

- The obvious, Takes up your one Experimental Vehicle Wargear Slot

- The Excalibur Prismatic cannon is a Large-Blast Lascannon that causes a large number of automatic hits on enemy units inside of the pie plate. Vehicles take D3 Lascannon LANCE hits, Infantry take D6+3 Lascannon hits. It's a nasty piece of work, but it's not a S:D, and thus is of limited usefulness against titans. In order to be most effective, you actually want to aim for tank columns and groups of elite enemies like Terminators, Mega Nobz, and Annoying walkers with Strength D Flamers

- Void shields might be AV-12, so they're not here to protect you from lascannons. What they're really for is stopping Strength D weapons from 1-shotting the Avalon. A Destroyer roll of 6 still only takes out a single shield layer and that's it.

- Does not have the Invincible Behemoth Rule: Not so very self-explanatory. But the gist of it is that while this tank has the firepower of a Superheavy, it is vulnerable to things that Superheavies aren't. When it's shields are down it will be vulnerable to all types of penetration results(Though it's refractive shield will give it a 5+ invuln against them), meaning a meltagun can 1-shot it through EXPLODES! results!

Building an Army

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Tactics

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Counter-Tactics

These are some of the ways that you can expect the Knights Inductor to play and how to plan accordingly.

• Infiltration Armies

Infiltration Armies will make extensive use of Camo Cloaks and Captains in order to give medium sized teams rules such as Infiltrate, Deep Strike, and Precision Shots.

* Keep your valuable units inside of Transports: This is KEY to stopping precision shots from taking out your special weapons, which are prime targets for units using Marks-Sense

* Spread out your forces if you have larger numbers, ensure you have maximum LOS to the board. This helps keep Infiltrators from getting uncomfortably close

• Silencer-Elite Deathstar

The other primary playstyle for Knights Inductor involves using very small numbers of elite units, in a mimickry of Grey Knights. Paladins will likely be used to farm Null Charges, and to ferry Silencers into your deployment zone early on. Often these lists will contain a small token force deep inside their own deployment, in order to ensure a Turn-1 auto defeat doesn't happen.

* Infantry MUST be inside of transports: Transports never take morale checks for any reason, therefore they can't be feared off the board. As a direct consequence, infantry inside of transports can't be feared off of the board.

* Anything not in a transport must be as far away from deployment zone as possible: Infiltrate, Scout, camp them right on the edge. Anything to keep them farther from the board edge will mitigate the effects of morale checks to fear them off of the board.

* Look into getting fearless, or Stubborn: This is your LIFELINE. Silencers will deep strike inside your deployment, and there will possibly even be Rachnus going in to fear-check key models off of the board. Fearless won't stop Shatter Mind's ability to assassinate characters, so be careful here. ATSKNF is useful here, but it can be denied by Rachnus, at which point you're no better at fear checks than ordinary humans. Straight fearless is what you need instead.

* Stubborn has a small chance of saving you. You lose its benefit due to Advanced Rules if a silencer manifests Synapse Disruption. As Synapse Disruption is a more advanced rule than stubborn, you'll take your leadership on the lowest number. It will still stop further leadership penalties, but things like Conscripts will melt at their LD5.

* Do not use lists that depend on Psykers: All psychic powers automatically fail when used on Silencers and their units. However, the Silencers are weak outside of their usual niche. If you don't bring any psykers, you can easily deny their silencers a large portion of their purpose. The only exception to this is Eldar and Daemons, in which you can massively overpower Empyrean Anathema through sheer weight of warp dice.

* SPAM VEHICLES: Paladins and Silencers have no ability to harm vehicles in the psychic phase. Their entire strength comes from Psychological warfare, being able to fear infantry, and shut down the psychic phase. Vehicles, especially heavier ones like Lemans, will absolutely laugh at a Silencers main powers.

Common Playstyles

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