Why the Knights of Weston

[Matthias Maccabeus]

Where’s the love for the knights of Weston? I don’t mean coolness factor because I think most people think that the knights are probably one of the coolest figures in heroScape. I mean, where’s the love for the knights, tournament-wise? I’ve searched the tournament armies played thread and have only found 3 other knight armies other than my own. One by Rÿchean back in the day, one by lonewolf used at Gencon last year, that he went 3-0 with at the slug-fest, and one by Wytefang. I’ve also scoured the battle reports thread and found only a handful more knight armies. Spider Poison ranks the knights as the best pure bonding squad with an A in his power rankings thread. How come we don't see them more often? I’ve been blessed to live in the mid-west, where the best heroScape tournament circuit is and have been to a fair share of tournaments. I’ve only seen a handful of knight armies, except for this last Austin tourney where there were 3 of the exact same army involving 4th Mass and Knights of Weston, and one of the armies actually took third played by Phloid, but it was based more around the 4th Mass’ valiant bonus than the knights themself.
The knights are superior to all other bonding squads in 2 ways. They have a natural defense of 4, which is the highest among all bonding squads. They also have the most champions to choose from for bonding and three of those champions (Finn, Thorgrim, Gilbert) are great support units for the knights. See my other article on What Champion Works Best (if I new had to include a link, I would, but I’m technologically illiterate) to get an overview of the champions that bond with the knights of Weston.
The knights themselves aren’t dangerous but when you add in a Finn, Thorgrim, and/or Gilbert, you can have 5 attacks per activation with bonuses of adjacency to attack and defense with the proper set up. If you add in Alastair, you can know get 6 attacks on some activations. But the knights are SLOW, you may say. And yes you are right, but we can overcome. SWARM!! Two squads of knights doesn’t usually cut it unless you are using them as defenders. Now three to 4 squads of knights, that’s what I’m talking about! Throw in a few champions and you have a wrecking crew. You may be asking, “If you have 3-4 squads of knights and a few champions, what kind of points are you going to have left over for range?” RANGE IS FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!! We don’t need any range! Actually if you are playing a fairly high point game such as the TTO III was (530) a ranged special attacker may not be bad idea such as Johnny Shotgun, James Murphy, or even Kaemon Awa if you have enough points, but they are just the sideshow.
With 3-4 squads of knights and a few human champions (and whatever else you brought along) you can play very competitively and you will surprise even yourself at times. If the knights can engage the enemy, 4 defense can go along way. So how do we engage the enemy, when most ‘scapers are in love with range? If you have a road in play, stick to the road! This is vital in a knight army. The extra move is the difference of an engagement on the next turn or just another move. Gilbert can be handy with his Jandar’s dispatch, but he’s unreliable. You have to have 2 options in mind when you roll for dispatch. If you roll high enough and can engage some ranged units, especially if they are on height, do it! If your rolls weren’t high enough then bring more knights up. That way when you do get a high enough roll you will have another squad of knights waiting to engage on the next turn if you happen to lose a knight. You MUST NOT OVER COMMIT GILBERT! He’s a support unit. Do not use him in the front lines unless you see an opportune time to do it. He’s to valuable at the beginning to get him mixed up in all the fighting, when he’s reinforcing your units with dispatch. Once you have established your position and are in the midst of fighting and the raged threat is either eliminated or close enough to engage, than get Gilbert in the mix! Now Finn and Thorgrim are OK to get mixed up in the fight at the beginning because they are still useful after they die.
Well, what do you do if you don’t have Gilbert and are facing a lot of ranged units? Watch their order markers (not when they set them down, but once the round has started). You must take advantage of a bad order marker placement. Players will move their ranged units into position and fire, then for some reason they will bring back up and next thing they know you are knocking at their door. Most players will do it at one time or another. Also there’s nothing like the old turn 3, new round - win initiative, turn 1 move. If you can get the last turn on one round and the first on the next you are in good shape, that’s why the initiative glyph can also be important to a knights army. Another thing is, if you can’t get to the enemy in one turn, back up and wait. This gives you a chance to regroup and bring more units up, and maybe force your opponent down from high ground to attack you. That’s when your 4 defense can really shine. Use LOS blockers whenever possible. The biggest thing is, you move 5 a turn, and most of them will have at least 4 defense (Alastair and Eldgrim excluded). If the enemy is shooting at you, it will usually be with 2-3 attack dice with 3 units at a time. Even if they have height, the most they are going to attack with is 4 dice (barring glyphs, Taelord, etc) with 3 units. (I know that the 4th Mass and Ashigaru Riflemen can be exceptions, with 4 units and wait then fire with height.) YOU WILL OUTNUMBER THEM!! Even if they kill all 3 units they attack, you will engage with the two that survived, and move up 3 more that are all ready to join because you have been moving them as a group this whole time and haven’t been kamikaze with your knights to this point. When you get to the enemy, it must be full force. If you can be divided, you will fall. But if the knights keep coming, they will be a wrecking crew. Also remember that if you can’t engage on the next turn anyway and you can take high ground, do it! Don’t try to force your way in their with one knight, he’ll get smoked. You must move the knights together, kind of like the zombies, but not really.
The biggest things in my opinion are, use common sense: move up when you can engage not to just move up, move together, no kamikazes, take high ground whenever possible, use LOS blockers, use roads, retreat and regroup, use your champions bonuses.
I love the knights and always will. I don’t know if it’s the valiant / chivalrous person in me wishing that I was a knight or just the fact that they look so darn cool. Anyway I hope next time you are attending a tournament / competitive game day that you give the knights of Weston a second thought before passing them by.

[Tiberius]

Actually we typically have at least one knight army in the tournaments here in the Pa/Oh area. As a matter of fact, on national heroscape day, the number 2 army was a sir gilbert/knight/4th mass army that was beaten by another 4th mass army. They are competitive, dont let anyone say otherwise. They are cheap, numerous and have above average stats. Sir gilbert overcomes thier one weakness of slow speed and with him, they bond with him, he moves them, it is all very synergistic.

[yagyuninja]

Man, thanks for the impassioned plea and the strategy insight. I'm going to rethink using the knights for the tourney coming up this saturday.

[Velenne]

I continue to be disappointed by the entire Champion armies in competition. I love them when I'm just playing at home for funzies, but without Gilbert, they're too slow to use when I need them, and his crazy cost throws off a lot of my builds ("Argh! 5 points over!"). The Calvary are a big letdown.

The blade gruts have a variety of clever and interesting champions to bond with who are costed substantially differently, and an even an alternate bonding squad. The knights could really benefit from that kind of versatility.

[heroscaper314]

I used the knights at Gen Con last year...I only won one game....but I blame that on my lack of skill, rather then on the knights. They're one of my favorite units, and up until about a month ago, when I started experimenting with a bunch of armies, I used the knights almost every time.

[Jim]

Holy Giant Avatar, Heroscaper314! (edit-OK, that's better now!)

I've seen the knights in tournament armies (like the Rhode Island tourney late last year) and they did well. But I still think that some ranged units are nice to have.

Jim

[tyguy94920]

I liked the post, but I don't have knights

From what I can tell, they look cool

I have to say the post is a little hard to read though, I got to about halfway and had to give up on reading because it made my head hurt (maybe it's to early in the morning)

Could you secton it into paragraphs so it would be easyer to read?

Also the thing I don't really like the knights becase they rely on defence untill they become ingaged. But my Defense rolls never seem to cut it for me.

I try to use units that don't rely on defence and instead rely on other points, high attack, high move, high range, high life

The Knights seem to be one of the packs that I am not that interested in buying, but only for completionist sake

[Onion Knight]

I agree with Velenne. I love the KoW, I just can't get them to work for me. After our upcoming tournament I'll try your ideas, Matthias. I want them to work.

[yagyuninja]

So Matthias, do you think it's important to have multiple heroes available to make the knights competitive, or do they work reasonably well with only one champion (assuming you're using those other points for more knights and/or some useful support)?

[Taeblewalker]

Great write-up!

[scottishlad5]

I agree I love the knights when just playing for fun, but their never in stock!

[Einar's puppy]

Originally Posted by scottishlad5 (a.k.a post stealer)

I agree I love the knights when just playing for fun, but their never in stock!

Hey, that's my post!!!

The only way I can play these guys is by printing out a card and saying my 4th mass are KoW... It doesn't fill the void!