D.R.A.I.C.H- Cold One Knights Summary

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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D.R.A.I.C.H- Cold One Knights Summary

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Cold One Knight Summary
To me cold one knights are one of the coolest units of the game, honestly what could be better then Elven Lords on giant lizards and with the new models they really look the part too, however to get full use of them on the battlefield requires tactics and skill so I have compiled here a list of different tactics and thoughts by various members of the forum as well as my own comments to help the intrepid druchii general on the road to victory.

Unit Command
Champion
For almost all situations a Champion is well worth it for a Cold One Knight unit. For just 18 points, considerably less than a whole Knight you get an extra S6 attack as well as the ability to declare challenges and hold magic items, the champion also helps to concentrate your attacks considering Cold One Knights large base width which is considerably better than having an extra knight standing off to the side out of combat.

In addition, taking a champion gives the unit a much better chance of holding up against characters on large, terror-causing monsters. If charged by such an enemy, issue a challenge. That way, only the champion can die and you will maintain your unit strength, making sure that the unit does not auto-break from Terror (at least in the first round). Holding the big monster for even just one round may be enough to make a difference.
Finally, an important point to remember about champions is that wounds inflicted on a champion in close combat do not carry over onto rank and file models. Putting your Dreadknight on the end of a single line of knights can keep multiple knights from being killed in the event the unit is flank charged.

Here, a choice must be made:
Either the champ is there to protect a character and he must remain as “cheap” as possible (well, he ain’t any cheap), or he brings a benefit to the whole unit and must be protected from challenges.
In any case, the champ is a must-have.

On Magic Weapons, I will give a quick run down on Magic Weapons the Champ can take and which ones are of any use.
Gem of Nightmares: Useless, COK’s already cause fear

The Guiding Eye: Useless they have no ranged weapons to shoot with

Crimson Death: Seems a bit of a waste as they already have a lance and it means his shield must be dropped. Perhaps could complement with the ASF banner in a defensive manner

Deathpiercer: The chance of getting killing blow off with 2 attacks is low but still there, useful when going toe to toe with the enemy general. Also of note this allows the Champ to attack ethereal units as a bonus.

Whip of Agony: A real waste, you are already S4 with a Lance

Soulrender: Again a waste considering you are a mounted model this just takes you to S5, better than the whip though.

Cloak of Hag Graef: The chance of your champ getting directly hit by ranged attacks is fairly low, I’d give this a miss,

Armour of Darkness: Pretty pointless as they have a 2+ save standard

Shield of Ghrond: Not really fantastic you really need to be generating more active combat resolution not trying to defend yourself.

Blood Armour: Again Pointless, you already have a 2+ save

Pearl of Infinite Bleakness: Note this does NOT negate Stupidity. However it will stop you running off from failing panic tests. Could give you some peace of mind if you are taking a larger unit.

Ring of Hotek: If for some reason no one else is holding it your Champ should take it.

Null Talisman: Not quite as good as the Ring as it only defends its own unit but still quite useful in the right situation

To summarize this long winded list there are only 2 items I would consider giving my Champion, the Ring of Hotek and a Null Talisman. Both of these grant a reasonable magic defence to help keep your units alive long enough to get into combat. Most of the magic weapons and magic armour are less favourable as your Champ already has good strength and armour as standard. On the whole though there is nothing wrong with not giving your Champion any magic item, after all he and the unit aren’t that tough so you don’t want to pour too many points into them.

It is also a very valid tactic to not take a Champion in a unit, in this case I would definitly recommend no Stanard either. This gives you an even cheaper unit which is almost as strong and presents the enemy with the dilemma of whether they should put in the effort to kill them or leave them around to be generally annoying and destructive.

Musician

There are two clear and very different purposes to musicians and I will mention both briefly.

Some statistical analysis on attempting to rally COK
On average a unit of Cold One Knights on their own ld of 9 will fail 16.67% of the time or 1/6. If they have a musician in the unit they will only fail 8.33% of the time or 1/12. Thus a musician will save them 8% of the time or once in 12 tests.

Note: Having a Dreadlord nearby or in the unit will not help as you cant test on Ld 11.

Both of these numbers are very small results when you consider that often you will play games where your Cold One Knights do not need to rally at any stage. So for this purpose I wouldn’t bother with a musician.

Of course the musician’s other purpose is to win drawn combats, this is especially important for fear causing units as it allows you to auto break your opponent and so for just 9 points is quite warranted. However if you’re short of points you can consider leaving him out.

Standard Bearer
Should you take a banner in a unit of Knights?
This is often the most difficult question to consider when building up a unit and thus deserves a bit of explaining upon various tactics and thoughts on the issue.

Firstly banners are cool, they greatly enhance the visual presentation of your army making your units stand out. Often they are the most beautiful models in your army and for this reason alone I like to have a couple in my army and where better then in the elite Knights.

Secondly banners provide additional static combat resolution for a relatively cheap points cost. A Standard Bearer is only 18 points compared to the Warbanner which for the same effect costs 25 points. It is incredibly vital that your Knights win combats by as much as possible because after the first turn of combat they no longer benefit from hatred and also lose their strength bonus meaning they greatly struggle in further rounds of combat. Thus it is vital to break your opponent in one turn and the best way to do that is as much combat resolution as possible.

The third thing to consider with banners is that they give up 100 Victory Points to the enemy if captured. A standard unit of 5 Knights costs about 175 points so this is a pretty significant amount and should never be overlooked. There are a few ways this can be avoided though, if you get stuck in a combat you clearly wont win but you think you can hold for a turn get rid of the Standard first before other command models, as you can only capture banners on the turn the enemy is defeated.

Magic Banners
I will give a brief summary on each magical banner that’s available to your cold one knights, either as a normal standard or as a BSB.

The Banner of Nagarythe
For such fantastic fluff this banner is rarely used and rightfully so, its effects are just not justified. Even if you do want to go to the difficulties of using it Cold One Knights are perhaps not a great way to go. The reason is simply that if you are losing the combat things are unlikely to get better and its probably better if your knights run off and regroup anyway. Also being such a large unit it is unlikely that any other unit would be able to benefit from the added combat resolution. Simply put you are much better off taking the warbanner


Hydra Banner
The Hydra Banner must be given to a BSB. It is great if expensive in a unit of Cold one Knights. Realistically this is the only unit in the army that should ever be given this banner. Simply put this banner will double your amount of kills meaning you should easily win most combats, however it turns your unit into a very prominent target from enemy magic and shooting and this is less than optimal.

A couple of quick stats, a unit of 5 CoK’s with BSB carrying the Hydra Banner (for this example no other weapons) will get on the charge 11 S6 attacks and 16 S4 attacks. Against most opponents this will translate to 9.8 S6 hits and 12.56 S4 hits giving 8.37 wounds at -3 saves and 8.17 wounds at -1 saves. Nasty. To even further this you can always bless them with +1 attack from the cauldron as well.


Standard of Slaughter
With COK , the proper use of the Standard of Slaughter is more likely: they can charge at 14”.
They are still likely to be charged by heavy cavalry, and they may become stupid instead of charging.
Supposing that they did charge, then the SoS will grant them in average +2 SCR for just 35 pts. It is very cost-effective!
Compared to the BSB with the Hydra banner, the cost-effectiveness is a little bit better for the SoS, and the SoS doesn't need the BSB, however the SoS is negated if the unit is charged.
The choice between SoS and HB depends heavily on the availability of the BSB: if you need the BSB somewhere else, take the SoS. If you don't use the BSB anywhere else, take it here with the hydra banner.

I think Standard of Slaughter is best for cold one knights. On the charge they'll destroy most things, so ASF shouldn't come into play. +1-3 CR is always useful, and will help guarantee the win. Think "War Banner Plus". If you can overrun consistently, you'll gain the benefits of this 4-5 times a game.

Banner of Murder
The problem with the Banner of Murder is that many troops don’t take armour saves against Cold One Knights anyway, however if you are playing Brettonians or Chaos then this would be quite handy on your Knights otherwise it will have little effect. Note that statistically it is much more effective dropping a 2+ save to 3+ than dropping a 5+ save to a 6+.

Dread banner
The Dread Banner causes fear, as cold ones already cause fear this would be completely useless.

Cold Blooded Banner
The Cold Blooded banner is specifically designed for COK to cease failing their stupidity test when it is necessary. If a dreadlord is nearby they are almost guaranteed to pass, however this is only for one turn but then that’s all you should need for a game.

The Hag Graef “ASF” banner
The use of this banner has been heavily debated among members. The initial idea of giving CoK’s ASF seems a bit odd. As they have Lances they benefit the most from the charge, if you charge you don’t need ASF hence why bother?

There is one case where the ASF banner is great and that’s against ASF enemies such as High Elves as this means that when charging you will actually go first and easily decimate their weak units. However remember that many troops with ASF also have very high initiatives and will strike before you regardless.

Normally though the ASF banner can simply give you a bit of peace of mind as you can make mistakes with your measurements and still get to attack first with 11 S4 attacks which is a considerable amount.

It has also been mentioned that this can be insurance against stupidity so if you blunder forward its not as much of a problem.

Another point to mention is that if you are going to use your CoK’s defensively then giving your Champion the Crimson Death is a good way to regain that higher Strength when not charging.

Unit Size
As a general summary of the vast number of posts on this topic almost everyone agrees that 5 or 6 is the best. Larger units are usually just overkill and are a lot of points if something bad happens such as a failed stupidity test or getting hit by a cannon or a spell like Soul Stealer. One point to make is the fact that if you take a unit of 5 then shots will be randomized onto any characters so some people believe 6 is a better option if you wish to keep your champ safe from ranged attacks.

Also remember that Champions dont count as rank and file models so if you have a unit of 5 with Champ he wont get a look out sir roll and can be sniped out if you're not careful.

However if you do feel like going over the top then 10 Knights with BSB w/Hydra Banner and DreadLord can wipe out most units on the charge completely with an impressive 16 S6, 18 S4 attacks. Against most things hitting on 3’s, wounding on 2’s no saves.

Overall Common Setups
So what does all this mean. I will generally collate the above information and show you a few typical setups of Cold One Knights
1. The Average unit
5 Cold One Knights- Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer- 175 points

2. Slightly Beefed Up
5 Cold One Knights- Champion, Ring of Hotek, Musician, Standard Bearer, Standard of Slaughter- 235 points

3. Naked and Expendable
5 Cold One Knights- 135 points

4. Defensive
5 Cold One Knights- Champion, Crimson Death, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Hag Graef- 235 points

5. Uber Killy Unit
5 Cold One Knights- Champion, Null Talisman, Musician, Standard Bearer, Standard of Slaughter
Master BSB, Heavy Armour, Shield, Cold One, Hydra Banner
436 points

6. Cold One Death Star
10 Cold One Knights- Full Command, Ring of Hotek,
Master BSB, Heavy Armour, Shield, Cold One, Hydra Banner
Lord, Cold One, Heavy Armour, Lance, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield
577+ depending on Magic Weapons

Cold One Knight Tactics
So now on how to actually use these units. Now to avoid taking up too much time with over repetition I am mainly going to focus on the Unit of 5 Cold One Knights with Full Command as this is the standard set up and the most used. Other set ups will generally work in a similar fashion though.

Deployment
Deployment is essential to any unit and Cold One Knights are no exception. First you need to look at the board you are playing on.
Is there any terrain? How could your Knights use that terrain to their advantage?

Terrain
Hills
Large expansive hills can be very useful as they block line of sight but do not impede movement. If your opponent has lots of archers it can be a good idea to deploy behind a hill and then when the moment is right just charge straight up and over.

Forests
Forests are generally unhelpful to cavalry as they must slow down substantially to move through them. Unless you absolutely have to do not move your Cavalry into forests. There are several banners that allow free movement through forests but sadly we don’t have any of them. On the plus side forests are good for protecting your flanks and blocking line of sight so deployment next to a forest can be a good idea.

Buildings
Knights cant move into buildings so there’s no real point to moving near them other than getting cover.

Rivers
Around here Rivers are rarely used and usually just as impassable terrain. Whatever your own rules may be about them generally stay away from rivers as most likely they will slow you down.

The next thing you need to do after looking at terrain is consider the rest of your own army and what role your Knights will be playing in the upcoming battle. i.e Do you have enough support units to take care of enemy Fast Cavalry and War Machines or do you need them for charging large blocks of Infantry? Are there any specific scenario conditions which your Knights can achieve? Does your opponent have large amounts of shooting that you need to cover your units from?

Also consider your progression across the board, try to avoid opening your flanks to war machines or other fast units in furture turns.

A lot of this I will cover in the enemy specific section later on. For now I will just say that your deployment depends on a lot of different factors and you should never lock yourself into one set up.

What can Cold One Knights Achieve in battle?
One of the most difficult problems facing a new general is what are your units actually capable of? We all like to think our units are invincible but we will quickly learn this is not the case. In this section I will put up a couple of specific situations with some of my common opponents to give an idea of what Cold One Knights can achieve and hopefully this will aid in choosing how to deploy your units.

1. Basic Infantry- Empire Warriors, Goblins, Skaven Clanrats, Zombies etc.
With a front charge you will get 5.33 hits, 4.44 wounds from the Knights and 2.5 wounds of which .5 will be saved on a 6+ from the Cold Ones a total of about 6.5 wounds which with a banner gives you a Combat Resolution of 7.5!
Your opponent has 3 ranks, Standard, War Banner, Outnumber giving them 6. Meaning they have a reasonable chance of holding if the General or BSB is near. In the next round of combat you lose Hatred and the S6 meaning you will probably lose the combat
If you can manage a flank or rear charge you are almost certain to break them.

Unless you have a flank charge or assisted support charging fully ranked units of infantry is a bad idea.

2. Giants and Associated Monsters
All monsters have different stats and different rules which makes this a bit complex. From personal experience I have found Knights are quite good at killing monsters due to their High Strength also they don’t have to worry about fear.
Again you get 5.33 hits from the Knights and 3.75 hits from the Cold Ones.
Against T6 the Knights get 2.65 wounds and the Cold Ones get .625 for a total of 3.29. Not a great deal but most monsters have a maximum of 5-6 wounds so this at least will severely debilitate them and you should win combat resolution.

However some opponents are too strong, Star Dragons for instance will still get an armour save and in return eat half your Knights, thus you have to take each monster uniquely.

If anyone wanted to supply more monsters that could or could not be defeated by Knights it would be greatly helpful as I don’t have any other army books.

3. Archers
Firstly should your hugely expensive Knights take on such an easy foe? A unit of archers is usually about 100 points which is significantly cheaper however if your Knights can quickly dispatch a unit and then get onto killing more stuff it can be worth it.
Secondly can your Knights actually defeat archers or will they get shot down?
Lets take a unit of 10 Dark Elf RXB
Say they start first but you don’t fail stupidity. They will get 2 turns of shooting at long range and 1 stand and shoot (but at Short Range) granting they pass their fear test.
That’s 60 shots hitting on 5’s, giving 20 hits, 10 wounds and 3.33 Knights will drop Not really worth the time, it would be much more worth it to send over a large flock of Harpies or blast them with stacks of magic

However in a different situation 10 High Elf Archers
That’s 30 shots hitting on 4’s, giving 15 hits, 7.5 wounds and just 1.25 Knights will die. A worthy sacrifice for wiping them out and then perhaps allowing you to turn and charge other units in the rear.

For further examples look at the Boot Camp threads on units Killing powers.

These are just a few quick calculations and overall they seem a bit pessimistic, Knights have difficulty in defeating large blocks of infantry, cant actually kill a lot of monsters and will lose several of their number to high powered shooting. What this is all ignoring is the Dark Elf Generals greatest strength, the concept of synergy. On their own they cant be expected to do anything spectacular but when combined with other units they become much more powerful providing good active combat resolution while another unit provides static combat resolution.

General Tactics
There isn’t really a lot that’s been said on this site on actual tactics with COK probably for two reasons.
1. As elite Heavy Cavalry they usually just need to charge straight into the enemy and start killing stuff without anything fancy.
2. Tactics for your Knights will vary wildly based on both the army your playing and your opponents army.

Overall though CoK’s are great for flanking against slow moving armies, wiping out support units or smaller monsters, or even just charging straight into the enemy if backed up by another unit or facing an already weakened unit.
To master the use of a unit you must know both its strengths and its weaknesses. I will list the main points of both

Cold One knight Weaknesses
Stupidity
One reason why many people do not take Knights is due to the unpredictable effects of stupidity, does this make our beautiful Knights completely redundant? No, but it does make them more difficult and risky to use.
On Ld 9 they have a 16.67% chance or 1/6 chance of failing stupidity meaning you are likely to fail a test every game.
On Ld 10 they have 8.33% chance or 1/12 chance of failing stupidity which drops it to once in 2 games.
Note: In reality this isnt even once a game, as Calisson pointed out Knights do not have to test when in combat, when off the board or when dead, this can include most of the turns of the game.

On the plus side though failing stupidity isn’t the end of the game. Optimally your unit of Knights should cost between 135-235 points a mere 5-10% of your army thus if stupidity loses you the unit it doesn’t mean you lose the game.
Usually though you wont even lose the unit and in some rare cases it can even be fortunate as being stupidity makes you immune to psychology you can’t fail fear tests when stumbling into an opponent!

On the whole simply remember when forming a battle plan that your Knights may go stupid and be prepared to deal with this when it happens.

Once your Knights are in combat they no longer have to test for stupidity so it can be advantageous to get them in combat as quickly as possible, this will also reduce their chances of getting shot or zapped.

Another way to mitigate Stupidity is to take Malus Darkblade, however as Special Characters are often not allowed in tournmanets this isnt always a viable option.

In summary there are a few ways to mitigate stupidity
1) Take Malus Darkblade-no more stupidity
2) Have a Dreadlord nearby- on Ld 10 they will rarely fail
3) The Cold Blooded Banner- almost assures them of passing for one turn
4) Get them in combat ASAP then they dont need to test
5) Redundancy- taking multiple units means if one goes stupid the other should be fine. However it does mean you can have both units going stupid sometimes.

Movement
As far as Cavalry go Cold Ones are among the slowest with a movement of just 7. Coupled with a large base size they can be unwieldy to execute tactical movements. Hence some people have suggested not using them as flankers as they aren’t very good at getting around the flanks and instead using them in straight charges usually in combination with a large block of Warriors or Corsairs. Either tactic can work in the right situation as long as you don’t consider them to be speedy.

Unit Size
Due to their cost and size Knights are usually taken in very small units and this makes them very vulnerable to panic tests from 25% casualties. Losing even 1 or 2 Knights will significantly reduce the effectiveness of the unit so it is imperative to try to protect them. This can be done quite easily by using Harpies as screeners or by making use of terrain to hide from enemies but beware of enemy magic which doesn’t need line of sight as well as things that don’t class as magic and hence cant be dispelled like the Dwarven Anvil of Doom of the Lizardmen Engine of the Gods.

Cold One Knight Strengths
Killing Power
Knights are one of our best units at killing stuff with WS 5 and S6 in a straight combat they can beat most opponents.

Fear
Never forget that they cause Fear this can help prevent them from being charged or when charging make you opponent only hit on 6’s or even just flee the field without a fight! It’s also useful in that they don’t have to test when charging things like Zombies.

Armour
Knights have the best armour by far for any Dark Elf unit and hence can stand a bit of punishment from low strength attacks without problem, however beware of spells and Killing Blow which ignore armour.



Unit Comparison
Some people feel that Cold One Knights are inferior compared to other army Heavy Cavalry, yes they only have one attack however they are also cheaper than a lot of the other Elite Heavy Cavaly.
Here’s a quick breakdown
Knights of the Blood Keep (Vampire Counts, Rare, 55pts / model) -
WS5, 3 S7, 2S4 attacks, Fear.

Chosen Knights of Khorne (Warriors of Chaos, ~45+ pts / model) -
WS5, 3 S5, 1s4 attack.

Lizardmen Saurus Cav. (Lizardmen, Special, ~30 pts / model) -
WS3, 2S5 attacks, 1 S4 attack. Fear.

Dragon Princes. (High Elves, Special, 30 pts / model.)
WS 5, 2 S5 attacks, 1 S3 attack.

Cold One Knights. (Dark Elves, Special, 27 pts / model)
WS5, 1 S6 attack, 1 S4 attack, all which gets reroll to hit.
Fear,

Grail Knights. (Brettonians, Rare, ?)
WS 5, 2 S6 attack, 1 S3 attack

Empire Knights (Empire, Core, 21 pts / model)
WS 4, 1 S5 attack, 1 S3 attack

Boar Boyz (Orcs and Gobbos, Special, 22 pts / model)
WS 3, 1 S5 attack, 1 S3 attack
[/b]
Last edited by Bounce on Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:12 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Swab
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Post by Swab »

This is interesting way to put it.

But also remember their disadvantages. We don't want people reading this and thinking there are no downfalls to the CoK.

If you want, add the naked knight unit in as a tactic with them. Just a thought

Keep it up
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Post by Kargan daemonclaw »

Small units of cold one knights like you are describing in you assessments of what units the should attack are best deployed on the flank against enemy light units and skirmishers. The knights charge them and drive them back, while being relatively immune to small amounts of bow fire.

Even if you get charged by a unit of enemy skirmishers (difficult due to low leadership and the need to take a fear test) they might easily bounce off the knights, lacking a banner skirmishers would need to do wounds otherwise they would be outnumberd by fear causers and so needing double 1s to stand.

5 COKs on the flanks are ideal for chasing down units of enemy cav like dark riders or pistoliers.

You then drive them back or off the table when they flee and expose the flanks of the enemy infantry block, they then have to divert to face the knights or get flank charged and 5 knights in the flank will ruin your day.

Many infantry units are 20 strong. A round of shooting to take them down to about 15 and 6 knights can go in frontally, kill enough infantry to take them to 11 and then it's out numbered by fear causers and double 1s to stand. That's huge compared to non fear causing cavalry that could struggle to break enemy infantry on the charge if they only win by 1-2.
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Post by Derikari »

If a Dreadlord is within 12” it shows a different picture. On Ld 10 they will only fail 8.33% of the time and the musician will drop this down to just 2.78% or 1/36. Thus a musician will save them 5.56% or 1 in 18 tests.


A muso cannot make them LD11, it is capped at 10 (p. 81 rulebook)
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Post by Visara »

thanks a lot, very informative for a new player. I didn't realize there were so many uses for them.
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Post by Zardock »

Derikari wrote:A muso cannot make them LD11, it is capped at 10 (p. 81 rulebook)


A musician doesn't add an extra LD point, it allows the unit to reroll the faiiled rally test, making your COKs effective at running if they lost combat, rallying and getting back in the fight where you need them.

That is what he means by decreasing the chance to fail the rally test. With a re-roll it is highly improbable you will get an 11-12 again on 2 dice.
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Post by Dyvim tvar »

Zardock wrote:A musician doesn't add an extra LD point, it allows the unit to reroll the faiiled rally test


Not correct. You might want to re-read page 81 of the rulebook.
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Post by Calisson »

Thanks Bounce!
Very pleasant presentation, a comprehensive article.

Here below are some complements I suggest you, after reading your article and the former threads linked to the D.R.A.I.C.H.
Feel free to cut and paste what you wish in your own post - or to leave it here altogether, especially if you don't share the views; if it is the case, please tell why, in order to help readers to make an opinion.



Champion. (follow-on)
There are some situations when the champion is not so much a must-have as mentioned above:
If you don't intend to have any character join the unit and if, playing magic-heavy, you don't need the RoH, then the use of the champ becomes quite remote:
- taking a magic sword to threaten ethereals? (but it will last only 1 round of combat, after that he'll be dead with the ethereals concentrating their attacks on the champ)
- getting merely one more attack for 16pts (and not 18pts, thanks Thanatoz below).
Without any champion, there are some uses for a "vanilla" unit of 5 naked COK (possibly with the muso only, according to taste, because they are cheap enough to allow them to - unexpectedly - flee!), especially if taken in pairs of 2 such units.
See setup #3.

Also, worth to recall is that a champion in a unit of 5 does not benefit from the "look out, Sir" rule. You need 5 rank & file (which includes musician and standard bearer, but not the champion). Thanks for the reminder below from Cat-the-Odd.


About magic weapons available for a champion, let's mention the "mundane magic weapons". Even a 5pts magic sword could be useful against ethereals, and the 15pts +1S sword is worth considering as well. Of course, it prevents the use of the lance, but the lance is good only if you charged anyway.
These weapons would be worth considering only if someone else in the unit could take fearsome challenges, i.e. if the unit was joined by a PoK lord. Only in that case would the unit benefit from a champion with some kind of magic weapon.

@Bounce, On magic weapons for the champion to use, Gem of Nightmares & The Guiding Eye are so obvious no-no's that you don't even need to mention them (and you can spare a few lines). Same for Whip of Agony, Armour of Darkness, and Blood Armour. Same for the Dread banner in the following paragraph.



ASF banners. (follow-on)
For many people, the ASF Hag Graef banner is not worth giving to COK if you field some BG as well, as BG are more likely to get the charge (or be confronted to HE infantry), so BG deserve it clearly more.

Good reminder of Crawd, below: the warbanner exists and is one of the best available banner!

Combining banners. (follow-on at the end of the chapter about banners)
It is quite common to combine some banners in order to enhance the unit's qualities and reduce it's drawbacks.
Combinations often founded are meant to:
- increase the killing potential, with the Hydra banner or the Cauldron of Blood, or even both :twisted:
- mitigate stupidity, with the Cold Blooded banner or the banner of Hag Graef.

DA tried efficiently the combo: BSB with Hydra banner AND ASF Hag Graef banner in the same COK unit. Even stupid, even rear-charged, it remains surprisingly nasty!
You find that in setup #6.

Also, the CoKs backed by the CoB and the Hydra Banner suddenly fly to the top ranks of the Super Heavy Cavalry scale. They hit WAY harder than Blood Knights (see argument THERE).



COK Death Star. (follow-on after the Overall Common Setup #6)
People may wonder why your "COK Death Star" is so small: 10 COK, 2 characters.
The reason can be provided: This is largely enough to break anything, therefore anything more would be wasted. It has been tested as well with Malekith or Malus instead of a regular Lord. Ring of Darkness in not necessary. More characters are not necessary.
If you still want more, then COB blessing makes it even more formidable.
For a test of the über-COK-of-Doom, see => The CoK Anvil!


Deployment & terrain. (follow-on)
Anticipate what will be your path of progression. You don't want to present your flank to a ballista, even with a confortable save. You might even go stupid at worst angle!
However, don't let that threat ruin your unit, if there is no other path, take the gamble and rush boldly, so many ballistae have goofed their "to hit".



Stupidity, and how to live with it. (follow-on - I suggest that stupidity could be developped in a full chapter of its own, as it it THE drawback that refrains many people from taking COK. In this chapter, there would be some argumentation about how to circumvent stupidity, or how to live with it.)

A general should understand that one stupidity roll out of 6 is NOT once a game: you don't check if your're in melee, :) if you have pursued off the board, :D or if you're dead. :(
Overall that makes less than once a game.


In case you come to rely more heavily on a single heavier unit of COK, then:

1- take Malus (100% proof - until Malus dies, but he is very resistant)

2- Banner of Cold Blood (4% chances of failing test), as usually there is only a single game-breaking test that you need to pass (used for two tests if you want to charge a terror-causing foe).

3- have a Dreadlord general in vicinity (better Ld - still 1/12 fail)

4- rush into melee - once there, no more test (in conjunction with 2-)

5- spread the risks: with two units, 1/36 chances that both got stupid simultaneously.

6- minimize the stakes: if your single über-unit gets stupid, it ruins your day; if one small hitty unit goes stupid but the rest of your army works fine, no such big deal... unless they move into their screening unit and both get struk.

7-(=5&6) take two small units. Chances that both failed their test become remote. Also, you have spare pts in the rest of your army, which can go for a backup plan should one or two stupidity test failed.

8- Surprise combo ASF + Hydra banners, allows your COK to get stupid, receive the charge front or rear, and still win!


As a summary,
- an über unit (10 or more) or 5 CoKs accompanied by a Master BSB with the Hydra Banner need to mitigate the stupidity; Malus or the Cold Blooded banner are mandatory
- if you keep the cost of your CoK as low as possible (5-6 CoK, muso or naked) and you can live with a few failed tests, which won't happen too often because the CoK will quickly either fight or be killed.


COK's weaknesses. (one more)
With an endurance of 3, COK are a treat for spells which negate armour saves. Facing magic-heavy armies, this is much worse than stupidity.
For the same reason, they are also great rewarding target for warmachines which negate the armour save (most of them).
Result = panic tests for that unit, or worse, having that 175 pts unit blown off with a single spell or a template hit in turn 1, triggering panic test to the rest of your army... :x


COK compared to other heavy cavalry. (follow-on)
In the overall comparison, it's worth mentioning that our test for stupidity matches the test for charging fear-causing foes that most other non-druchii knights have to take. And they do it with a Ld 9!

Dragon Princes are immune to fire, and much more importantly, have ASF.

KoTBK are immune to psychology and can be raised back from the dead, and are TO4 to boot.

Empire knights are core troops, 21pts each IIRC, only the Inner circle are special, S4 at 24pts.

Grail Knights. (Brettonians, Rare, 38pts per model)
WS 5, 2 S6 attack, 1 S3 attack, Ld9, attacks are considered as magical, 5+ ward save, ITP, all of them are champions and may challenge.

If nobody else provides Orcs stats, I may do that in 2 weeks (not at home presently).


COK army list
Have a look to the following thread:
Massed Cold Ones?
it tells a lot about using many COK in an army.


Thank you! :D
You did a great summary, and, with the additions above, pretty much everything seems to have been covered! Thanks for that.
Now, the only remaining D.R.A.I.C.H. entry about COK is the present thread.
Last edited by Calisson on Thu Dec 31, 2009 9:30 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: D.R.A.I.C.H- Cold One Knights Summary

Post by Undeadcatd »

Great article! :D

Banner of murder also gave AP to cold one's attack ..and I believe they are great at prolong battle
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Post by Entreri bloodletter »

Undead cadD brings up a good point with the Banner of Murder, it can actually work very well but I feel it works best with the CoB blessing for an extra attack. The armor piercing rule especially shines against enemy knights or extremely heavily armored foot troops like Chaos Warriors and Dwarves. It also benefits the Cold One attacks which can actually make a difference.

The extra versatility to be able to take on very heavily armored units is well worth the points and I feel it is more useful than given credit for. I would take this if the warbanner was already taken and its really a tossup between this and the standard of slaughter, one plans on breaking units on the charge, the other shines in protracted combats ( likely with the amount of stubborn/undead/demon troops) or if you get charged after failing a stupidity test. A choice worth considering over all.
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Re: D.R.A.I.C.H- Cold One Knights Summary

Post by Irtehdar »

Very nicely done. Im sure this answers alot of questions for a new player aswell as bring up alot more. One small thing I might add:
Bounce wrote:Boar Boyz (Orcs and Gobbos, Special, ?)
WS 3, 1 S5 attack, 1 S3 attack
Boar Boyz are 22 pts/model
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Post by Calisson »

I've remade my post above.
It is designed to complement Bounce's original post.
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Post by Gh9st »

Nice thread this, some cool info, and for your records:

Grail Knights, 38 points.

That said a more...balanced unit might be the Questing Knights.

They're 28 points a model and special. This makes them more of a similar unit to the CoKs. Grail being rare and 0-1 means a big difference in role in the army.

With this in mind:

Cold One Knights. (Dark Elves, Special, 27 pts / model)
WS5, 1 S6 attack, 1 S4 attack, all which gets reroll to hit. Fear.

Questing Knights. (Bretonnians, Special, 28 pts / model)
WS4, 1 S5 attack, 1 S3 attack.


Slightly more expensive...slightly worse stats...out of those shown. However, no stupidity, longer charge range, greater strength in consecutive rounds, (Great Weapon, not lance).
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Post by Layne »

Also 3+ armour vs 2+.
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Post by Thanatoz »

Just noticed something I feel should be in the article: champs don't count towards rank and file models. That's why I'm not a fan of champions in units of only 5 models, as shooting hits are randomized and the champ may be sniped without being protected by the "Look out, sir!" rule. Not the desired effect when he is carrying the Ring of Hotek.

PS: champ costs 16 points, not 18.
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Post by The shadow king »

What about doing what Napoleon did VS Infantry? Have the cavalry charge them and pin them and then use the artillery (Reaper Bolt Throwers and Repeater Crossbowelves) To shoot them full of holes thus you take down a bunch of people via the charge and more of them die to the Missile Troops and Bolt Throwers and then with the enemy weakened like that the Cold One Knights can do even more damage and probably win the Combat Resolution. Would that work?
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Post by Gh9st »

It would if you could. In warhammer you can't fire into a unit that's in close combat. This is I imagine to avoid having to put in rules to do with hitting own troops, etc. Makes things a bit easier...
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Post by Newsun »

Gh9st wrote:It would if you could. In warhammer you can't fire into a unit that's in close combat. This is I imagine to avoid having to put in rules to do with hitting own troops, etc. Makes things a bit easier...


unless your skaven, then most of the rules do not apply
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Post by Kargan daemonclaw »

It's perfectly acceptable to use prepatory fire from bolt shooters or Rxbs to whittle down a unit prior to a charge from the knights.

If you can get the infantry down to say 16 models before you charge you shoulc be able get the target down to a unit strength less than your own at which point the unit will break on anything but a 2.

You can't do the napoleonic tactic because infatry don't form square to repel cavalry in warhammer. The closest thing would be to shove a unit of harpies or dark riders just in front of an enemy infantry unit at such an angle that they will charge in an inconvenient direction or not move. Then you can shoot them to bits.
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Post by Crawd »

I'm surprised that the banner I always put in my COK aren't mentionned... The War Banner.
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Post by Prince fabulas »

Entreri Bloodletter wrote:Undead cadD brings up a good point with the Banner of Murder, it can actually work very well but I feel it works best with the CoB blessing for an extra attack. The armor piercing rule especially shines against enemy knights or extremely heavily armored foot troops like Chaos Warriors and Dwarves. It also benefits the Cold One attacks which can actually make a difference.

The extra versatility to be able to take on very heavily armored units is well worth the points and I feel it is more useful than given credit for. I would take this if the warbanner was already taken and its really a tossup between this and the standard of slaughter, one plans on breaking units on the charge, the other shines in protracted combats ( likely with the amount of stubborn/undead/demon troops) or if you get charged after failing a stupidity test. A choice worth considering over all.


I find the BoM is really useful when you charge and don't break the enemy.

All your attacks are now S4 AP this can make a really big difference against ranked infantry with medium AS e.g. DE, Skaven, Empire etc.

I think on the charge 1+ AS knights, Stank etc. will fear you a lot more as saving on 5+ is a lot worse than 4+.

If you charge without the BoM you can easily bounce and have really little chance of subsequently winning the combat against 1+ AS. :cry:
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Post by Nargoth »

You say they are the slowest Heavy cavalery in the game... But most other heavy cavalery has a movment of 8 and barding which gives them the same movment right?
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Post by The shadow king »

Unless your fighting High Elves even with barded steeds they still move farther than the Cold One Knights
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Post by Nargoth »

Yeah i now thats why i said MOST
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Post by Cat-the-odd »

Hi,

Please don't underestimate the "Look Out Sir" effect when taking Masters/Champions. You won't get it if taking only 4 normal knights! Niether Chmp nor Master profit. So in Germany you'll see mostly either
5 Knights, Music
or
6 Knigts, Champ and... what you like.

I'd like to see this issue pointed oput more.

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