December Detachment Review: Iconoclast Fiefdom

Today we have two new detachments. For everybody’s favorite stat-check armies, Imperial and Chaos Knights.

If you’re looking for the Imperial Knights click here.

The Iconoclast Fiefdom is actually really cool, and has some interesting play. It has the same concept as what their loyalist brothers got with being able to ally in a new unit (In this case, 500 points of Damned units, AKA Cultists) and synergize around using both Knights and Damned in combination.

The detachment rule is Dreaded Masters which has 2 effects

Dread Tyrants is an aura which gives an aura of re-roll 1’s to hit and wound for Damned unit within 9″ given out by Titanic Chaos Knights. This won’t do much, but it’s fluffy in a way you won’t feel bad about.
Dark Sacrifice lets a Chaos Knight pick a damned unit within 6″ in the shooting and fight phase. That unit takes a leadership test. When they pass, they lose D3 models, when failed, it’s D3+3. Either way, the Chaos Knight eats the cultists and can pick either Lethal Hits or Sustained Hits 1 on all its weapons. This is actually super sick and has fun flavor.

The buffs while not overwhelmingly powerful are not nothing which is cool and appreciated.

Enhancements

The enhancements here are all surprisingly usable? Which if you’ve read our Imperial Knights review, you know that this is the opposite.

Profane Altar is 20 points and makes it so you kill the maximum number of Damned units when using dark sacrifice, but you get both Lethal and Sustained 1. Hell yeah, it might eat a bunch more of your cultists, but Knights with good shooting and fighting will love this. Note that this isn’t optional, when you use Dark Sacrifice you’re killing 3 or 6 Damned every time. A+

Pave The Way is 15 points and lets 3 Damned Units Scout 6″. Being able to send chaff up the board to grab objectives early or help screen is one of the most valuable things you can do, and it’s something Knights have been desperately missing. 15 points is a steal for this. A+

Tyrant’s Banner is a crazy small 5 points, and lets you pick a Damned unit you can see instead of within 6″ for Dark Sacrifice. This is so cheap I don’t know why you wouldn’t take it if you were short on points. It’s effectiveness might not be the most vital, but it’s so cheap who cares. A+, if it becomes any more points strong C-

Diabolic Resilience is 35 points and gives you a 6+ Feel No Pain. In addition you get to ignore modifiers on your movement characteristic and Advance and Charge rolls. 6+ Feel No Pain alone makes this very good. 35 points good? I’m likely speaking from a bias here when I say yes? I’ve been hurt so bad by the classic 6+ FNP that I’d value this even more on something like a Knight which is barreling into my front lines. Say it with me: A+

“Josh, you can’t give everything an A+”

Brother these are all just either really good, or so cheap I don’t care if they’re middling. Also get your own website.

Stratagems

I’m pretty excited by the enhancements, so we’re going to jump straight into the stratagems with the same gusto. Hell yeah.

Avenge The Masters! is 1 CP and gives your Damned units lethal hits against a target which killed a Knight for the rest of the game. It’s bad, and is only slightly saved by the re-rolls built into the Dread Tyrant ability. Probably still an F, use your CP on better things.

Wretched Masses is the only 2 CP in here and lets your bring back a Damned unit, excluding my beloved accursed cultists, once per game. 2 CP is a huge investment, but given the whole army functions off of having cultists to access their lethal and sustained hits via Dark Sacrifice this is probably good in context. B+? I guess? I don’t play Knights.

Soul Hunger is 1 CP Lets you heal a Knight D3 if it kills any models in the fight phase. D3+2 if what it killed was battle-shocked. Chaos Knights battle-shock things naturally. Given this detachment wants you to run big Knights, this is pretty cool. But I always place healing stratagems really low on the value chart. B for blood for the blood god.

Unrestrained Rage lets a Chaos Knight fall back or advance then shoot and charge. A+ in like, every army ever, if I have to tell you why, play one game with this and you’ll understand.

Worthless Chattel is my favorite for its design alone. This lets you shoot into an enemy unit that is engaged with a Damned unit as if it wasn’t engaged. The twist? For every wound you inflict on the enemy unit you roll a D6. On a 4+ you destroy a model. Hilarious, fun, and useful. B+

Preserve The Idols is a fun reactive move. When an enemy unit finishes their move within 9″ of a Chaos Knight, you can have a Damned unit within 6″ make a normal move of 6″ towards the enemy unit. Could make for a fun screening tool. And screening is always good. We’ve seen what Aquilons can do. Strong A

Lists

This week we got JR and Ryan King to submit lists and thoughts. JR is a pro with the faction. And Ryan King goes 3-2 with Chaos Knights so…better than just one list? He promised to submit

not a dog water list this time.

JR’s List and Thought

CHARACTERS

War Dog Stalker (160 points)
  • Warlord
  • 1x Daemonbreath spear
    1x Havoc multi-launcher
    1x Slaughterclaw
  • Enhancement: Pave the way

This Datasheet also has the Battleline keyword.

BATTLELINE

War Dog Brigand (165 points)
  • 1x Armoured feet
    1x Avenger chaincannon
    1x Daemonbreath spear
    1x Havoc multi-launcher

War Dog Karnivore (140 points)
  • 1x Havoc multi-launcher
    1x Reaper chaintalon
    1x Slaughterclaw

Allies (435 points)

CHARACTERS

Cultist Firebrand (45 points)
  • 1x Balefire pike
    1x Close combat weapon

BATTLELINE

Cultist Mob (100 points)
  • 1x Cultist Champion
    • 1x Bolt pistol
      1x Brutal assault weapon
  • 19x Chaos Cultist
    • 19x Autopistol
      19x Brutal assault weapon

“Detachment loses out on walking through walls and a 4 up invulnerable save. Big knights with a points reduction getting lethal or sustained is great on despoilers who can still walk through walls with super heavy walker rule but will die extremely easy without being able to rotate. CSM allies seem to be cheaper and better than the current daemon option and a fallback shoot and charge stratagem is needed, also cultist and the scout Enhancement will allow Chaos Knight players to not get bad touched by melee armies as much “

Ryan “I Can’t write a Dark Angels List” King’s List and Thoughts

CHARACTERS

Knight Desecrator (410 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Desecrator laser destructor
• 1x Diabolus heavy stubber
• 1x Reaper chainsword
Diabolical resilience

BATTLELINE

War Dog Brigand (165 Points)
• 1x Armoured feet
• 1x Avenger chaincannon
• 1x Daemonbreath spear
• 1x Diabolus heavy stubber

War Dog Karnivore (140 Points)
• 1x Diabolus heavy stubber
• 1x Reaper chaintalon
• 1x Slaughterclaw

6×10 Cultist mobs for 300 pts

“The cultists are there to proc your rule for the big boy. this is a detachment that needs big knights to work but at 400 points a model it doesn’t. you want/need the extra activation’s war dog spam gives you only difference is you have 5 sources of sticky objectives. Even though the rule is neat and there are some good stratagems this detachment lacks a 4+ invulnerable save stratagem or enhancement, it doesn’t give you a way to trigger your army rule easier making me give it a D+ just stick to the original index. Womp womp”

Final Thoughts

This detachment is fun, functional and really cool. I love the detachment rule, the enhancements, and even stratagems. The problem? War dog spam is just better in every way. It’s like spamming cultists, but with strength 12 weapons. Whose going to say no to that?

Either way, this is a detachment you can run and have fun with. It could probably go 3-2 if the stars align. For the hard competitive people though, this is likely a pass which is a shame.

Either way, that’s all she wrote. Tomorrows really exciting, Grey Knights get to make Thousand Sons players feel even worse. I can’t wait.

See you tomorrow!

Reminder to drink water.