Today, our Legions Imperialis review from last week's pre-orders comes courtesy of Princeps Lex. Big thank you to Games Workshop for providing us with free preview copies so we can talk about the new hotness. Huge photo dump at the bottom to make things easier (Mechanicus support is en route to fuss at Blogger for formatting issues that necessitated this presentation method - our apologies)
Greetings fellow Princeps! Princeps Lex here. I had a new addition to my family in the last few
dweeks so this review is getting to you a bit late, but still very excited for these releases!
Here is what is on the docket, all for Legion Imperialis with the Knights cross-compatible with
Adeptus Titanicus:
● Questoris Knights Magaera and Styrix
● Cerastus Knights Atrapos
● Acastus Knights Asterius
● Krios Squadron
● Karacnos Assault Tank Squadron
Knights
Getting started with the Knights - All three of these kits are plastic ports of previously existing
resin kits, so none are totally new units for either game. They all come with terminal cards for
Adeptus Titanicus. I have seen some confusion about that online, so I want to be very clear that AT support for knight releases is still a very real thing. In fact, the cards for all of them have been very slightly visually updated and contain a new copyright date of 2025.
The Questoris Knights Magaera and Styrix are the first of this lot. The box comes with two
sprues of these guys and each one contains one Magaera and one Styrix. So if you are trying to make a big lance of just one type that will make the proposition more expensive. I think they
both fill their roles fine, though, so this is probably less of an irritant than it was for something
like the Acheron/Castigator box. These models are really nicely detailed, and now much
cheaper than their resin predecessors.
This kit is the only one with different rules printed on its terminal from the older Forgeworld
terminal, and frankly the differences are superficial. The old cards had a base cost for knights
and a separate, but not truly optional, weapons cost. The new cards just roll everything in. The
one change is that the phased plasma fusil upgrade was optional before, and now it is rolled
into the base cost so you cannot go without them and make the knights 10 points cheaper. The upgrade itself is nothing to write home about - two strength four hits on enemies per knight when the banner is activated in 3” - but knights want to be close so maybe that is something you would have taken anyway.
In Titanicus I find these knights fine but not really exceptional as adjuncts to a Legio force. They are much more interesting and flavorful as components in a knight household - which is not my favorite way to play but I know lots of people enjoy running household armies.
In LI I think these knights suffer from the lost middle problem that plagues all knights. They
cannot be fielded in volume like tanks, but are not individually as overwhelming as Titans (and
in my opinion even smaller titans struggle to justify themselves versus tanks in LI).
Next up - the Cerastus Knights Atrapos. These are some of my favorite knights in both AT and
LI. And this kit is honestly a bit more than just a port of the resin variants. They have multiple
shoulder armor options and different head choices based on the old resin Mechanicum
Cerastus Knight heads that Forge World sold in the late 2010’s. They also now have the upper
leg armor plates that were present on the Heresy/40k scale Knights Atrapos but missing on the Epic Scale versions. This box comes with four knights, two on each sprue. Two variants of leg poses on each sprue as well. You cannot build the Graviton Singularity Cannon “open” like you can on the Heresy/40k version, but that was true of the resin kit as well.
The rules for AT remain unchanged for these, but as fast knights with a fusion melee weapon
that hits on 2+ with the accuracy bonus they can seriously threaten even titans. I have always
liked these as an addition to a Legio or Household force. If you have the points for them they
can do work.
In LI these might be among the few knights that have a real place in an army. They are pretty
ferocious and like in AT they can threaten units larger than them. I have not experimented with
them in that game, though - unable to break free from filling my Mechanicum Knight/Titan slots
(and points) with a chonking Warmaster.
Do not let my middling LI report on them stop you from picking them up, though, the recent LI
FAQ shows that game is still very much developing and this is a great kit that has tended to be
at least capable in every game the Atrapos appears in. My guess is that it is only likely to
improve in LI.
T
he Acastus Knights Asterius box has the big boys in the bunch. Only two knights here, but they are huge, gorgeous knights. Their low-slung Conversion Beam Cannons give them an even larger and more sinister silhouette than their already chonky Porphyrion brothers. The cannons actually picked up a little detail in the transition to plastic - being more of a solid piece in the resin. These have no weapon or armor modeling options - but can be built with their Karacnos battery open or closed.
Rules wise this is really a tale of two Knight-Titans. In AT they are famously overpowered, even moreso than the Porphyrion variant which has been more common up until now. They can throw out an immense amount of fairly high-strength firepower without having to deal with some of the complications (arc and reactor heat) that Titans do. The downside is that, aside from your friends hating you for using them, in many of the events I play in they are outright prohibited in the event organizer pack for Legios and generally very narrowly prescribed (often one banner per force) in Household armies. So if you actually want to play them you might find your opportunities slim.
In LI, conversely, they are powerful on paper but in reality very expensive for what they bring to the table. They cost almost as much as a full Warhound Titan and miss some of the base rule benefits (like split fire) that Titans get.
For all of the Mechanicum knights plastic is a significantly more cost-effective material than
resin, and you get more knights for your money in each case. Perhaps the only thing
disappointing here is that Armigers did not make it into this release, but hope springs eternal.
Because they really need to see a cheaper option to be interesting as a game piece.
Tanks
The tanks are the truly new modeling experience in this release, having never been represented in modern Epic Scale before. We have known about their rules for a while, and covered them in our Rise of the Dark Mechanicum review, so I will keep that discussion short here. The changes to LI from the April FAQ do have some impact there, mostly because of what has happened to other units and what it means for these in comparison.
The Krios Squadron is the basic Mechanicum battle tank and the box comes with six of them -
three on each sprue. You get three weapon options - three of the Lightning Cannon, two of the
Irad-Scourer, and two of the Pulsar Fusil that lets you build Krios Venators instead. Which
means that you can only build a full complement of lightning cannon Krioses. As models these
are solid despite having the exposed aesthetic of a Mechanicum tracked vehicle.
Both flavors of Krios are alright, but maybe a touch weak. The one thing I will say for them is
that since Mechanicum got smacked by the April 2025 FAQ that removed Large Transport from their Triaros transports options like the Krios look more attractive compared to cybernetica walkers that are now going to have to hoof it across the battlefield.
The Karacnos Assault Tank Squadron is just great. All around A+ effort here. Very cool model
with missile artillery racks and side guns, and the already great heavy armored look of its
Triaros transport cousin. A little more fiddly than the Krios or Triaros, but worth it.
The rules for these are also just great. Two shot barrage weapons plus point defense sponsons.
They are arguably stronger than Solar Auxilia Basilisks but with much reduced range. That has
a silver lining, though, because big basilisk units that can hit across the field are the kind of unit that can ruin the game experience for someone playing against them. The Karacnos feels more “fair” because it has to interact with the board more - closing to within its range before pelting targets with missiles.
I think the changes to Triaros leading to the loss of transports for walkers will make these
essential to any Mechanicum force. Especially loyalist Mechanicum that cannot feed from the
stalker trough.
I recommend any of these kits, with the Karacnos as my number one. I mean, if you have never experienced an Acastus knight before, go for the experience - but my guess is that a lot of Titan Owners who play at this scale will have at least a Porphyrion and possibly the resin Asterius.
At any rate, good to see this all in plastic, and every kit is well executed.
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