Chaos Knights vs Kytan Daemon Engine Review
It looks like the recent ITC poll has freed up the ability for us Chaos players to take a few new Lords of War, woohoo! The Chaos Knight is an amazing looking models that's not just for Imperials anymore, and for those people who didn't like the Khorne-mowers reclined position, you can now give him a set of proper legs. The big question is though, are they worth the cost?
Chaos Knight
Ever since the Imperial Knight came out, Chaos players everywhere have wanted to make one for their very own traitor forces. Well now the time has come! Being Chaos, we only have access to the very stock variants of the Errant or Paladin, with no weapon upgrades at all, so you're stuck with a stubber and have no chance to take a carapace mounted weapon, it's melee weapon is almost identical to the standard Reaper Chainsword, but it does get +1 to the destroyer table against Monstrous and Gargantuan Creatures, so that's pretty nice for free. Additionally, it does have a few options not available to Imperial Knights, specifically a Dirge Caster (absolute must have), and the Daemon Knight upgrades. These dedications act much like Daemon of X, granting them the Daemon rule for an all around 5++ save, as well as Hatred for their opposing god, the 5++ alone is a massive upgrade, giving you increased survivability to your unshielded sides.
- Daemon Knight of Khorne - Re-roll number of stomps, and +D3 attacks on the charge (instead of 1).
- Daemon Knight of Nurgle - It Will Not Die!
- Daemon Knight of Tzeentch - Re-roll hits of 1 with heavy stubbers, and weapons gain Soul Blaze.
- Daemon Knight of Slaanesh - Causes LD test at -2 for enenmies in combat, if they fail they're Initiative 1.
Of the Daemon Knights, it's clear that Tzeentch is the big loser of the group, especially considering it's more expensive than both Khorne and Slaanesh... Maybe if it was able to be taken on a Crusader and re-roll all 1's to hit, but since that's not the case, I can't see any time where you'd take that upgrade. Khorne and Nurgle are probably going to get the most game time. Nurgle making an already hard to kill model even tougher with both a 5++ and IWND, making sure it will absorb a ton of punishment is going to cause some frowns. Daemon Knights of Khorne however are a beast, no more pesky single stomps in melee, a 5++ it can use against all sides as well as in combat, and the extra attacks on a model with an impressive charge range already.
Finally, to make a good thing better, a Daemon Knight of Khorne can be taken in a Khorne Daemonkin army and gains Blood for the Blood God! YES! A Khorne Errant in a KDK army with Dirge Caster is going to kick ass, take names, and generate Blood Tithe like nobody's business. It becomes a bit steep at 425 points, but is well worth it. I suspect you'll see many Chaos Knights in both CSM and KDK armies.
Kytan Daemon Engine of Khorne
Ooooh sweet baby Jesus, I love this model. It has all the awesome style that only FW could bring to the game, but how did they do on the rules? It weighs in at 100 points more than a Khorne Errant, and has similar survivability with HP6, AV 13/13/11 and it's 5++ daemon save. It does however come with It Will Not Die, Fleet, Crusader, Rage, and Daemonforge, meaning it's extremely hard to take down, will get in combat quickly, and will obliterate whatever it's fighting. With an impressive WS5, I5 A4, it'll make a mess of any other super heavy you manage to catch in combat, though be careful to not charge through cover. For ranged it has a single weapon, which is firing 8 S8 Ap3 shots a turn with pinning, which isn't bad, though with only BS3, it's not exactly terrifying either. To help balance having a single ranged weapon, it is allowed to charge a different target than you shot at, but only if the Kytan itself destroys whatever it shot at.
Overall, the Kytan is a pretty fun unit, but I think it's price tag and lack of versatility makes it overshadowed by the Chaos Knight... If you know you're facing a lot of enemy Lords of War, such as an enemy Imperial Knight army, it will definitely be worthwhile (bring a Skull Cannon for grenades!), and if you just want something sexy on the board, it's definitely going to work for that as well.