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The Knights
Army Analysis

The Knights can be quite powerful if played well. Some Knight strategies are suggested in the Command and Control section.

Fixed flat Knights:

In the basic Knights of Falladir army set, you receive three fixed flats with four Men at Arms, four Royal Bowmen, a Heavy Horse Cavalry and a Pikemen. In the Moon Over Thelgrim Groman Guard expansion set, you receive two fixed flats with a Groman Beastrider, a Warhorse, three Swordmaidens and two Wardogs. The Legions set Massacre at Godstone Keep gives you 2 Fenryn Guards, 2 Groman Juggernauts, 2 Knights of Valor, 4 Men at Arms, 4 Royal Bowmen, a Royal Falconeer, a Royal Jester, a Scout, 2 Sergeant at Arms and a Siege Catapult. In the Waiqar's Path expansion The Broken Crown, you receive 2 Tamar Bowmasters, 4 Tamar Legionnaires and 2 Tamar Sisters of the Sword.

Men at Arms are, frankly, overpriced, although they can become useful with help from some Moon Over Thelgrim random disks (or fixed Legions disks). Royal Bowmen are standard archers. Heavy Horse Cavalry are common and very respectable fast, heavy-hitters. Pikemen are a little slow, but are very painful to attack and reasonably priced. Groman Beastriders are very fast, although their special ability isn't all that useful. Warhorses are a great fast assault unit, although they do die easily if you aren't careful. Wardogs can be good in numbers. Swordmaidens are all but useless. Fenryn Guards are pricey, and against potential Fireballs hurt to put in the front lines, but there aren't many disks that can attack them without dying. Groman Juggernauts can survive a Fireball with a Standard Bearer's bonus, and can, if used carefully, quickly earn their points without danger to themselves - but if used unwisely they'll just be pinned and die. Knights of Valor are a little slow, but useful against evil. The Royal Jester is a potential game-breaker in close quarters - just keep him out of range of Ambush and Fireballs.

Before Moon Over Thelgrim, the Knights routinely ranked last on most people's lists of factions by power. The randomly available disks in that expansion, however, really make the Knights a force to be reckoned with. Random disks from all sets are quite useful to Knights.

Random flat Knights:

In the Basic set, Knight random disks hade some nice Uniques, but little else. Alman Null, only available in Revised edition packs (check the front of the box), is a rather expensive level 2 spellcaster, but his ability to activate twice can be a game-breaker. Archmage Thowyll isn't very durable, but sometimes you have a need for level 3 spells (or Elementals). King Falladir is a definite winner; he's slow, but has good combat stats and is hard to take out because of his attributes. Prince Llewellyn is faster than most Knight unique disks, and very durable, although it's hard to use his Swashbuckler ability without losing him. The Royal Falconeer is almost useless outside of gimmicky tactics (like Teleporting him into position, or using Invisibility to keep him safe). The Scout can make it very painful to attack your front lines by allowing extra missiles, but isn't very useful on offense. Sir Aragon the Brave is almost entirely defensive, but is a well-priced disk for that purpose.

The Moon Over Thelgrim expansion turned the Knights into the army that succeeds on its disk combinations. The Alchemist's Apprentice would be incredibly useful if the Familiar didn't exist (or if you're using more than one spellcaster). General Cordwain isn't really the bargain most Champions are, but is a durable addition to an army, and can assist in deployment of Men at Arms. Morgaine of Bellwayne is a reasonable level 2 spellcaster with a potentially useful special ability. Princess Gwynneth can be quite useful, especially in defense or in combination with certain spells (such as Reflect). Sergeants at Arms are really required to make Men at Arms useful, and can be okay (if expensive) in their own right. Siege Catapults are game-breakers in the right scenario, and once again benefit from well-placed spells (Sure Aim!). Last, but certainly not least, the Standard Bearer is critical for the Knights to be really powerful, and must be carefully defended. A bonus for all Knight disks is extraordinarily useful.

In the Wastelands, the Knights didn't get quite the boost that they got from Moon Over Thelgrim, but they should still be happy. Alchemists change the shape of the battlefield against many armies, and are a bargain for their cost. The Bishop of Utaauo provided a much-needed level 1 spellcaster for the Knights. Executioners are questionable for their cost, but with the right backup (such as a Vigor spell) they can be effective. Knights of the Black Widow sadly don't have a long enough range on their special ability for it to be useful in most battles, but in some circumstances they could work well. Knights of the Dragon are defensive units with a special ability that will rarely see use, and as a result are rather overpriced. Lucera the Pious has only one use. In the right circumstances, it could be devastating, but if she goes unused she's a waste of points. Lucina's Rogues are a decent, fast attack unit, once again helped considerably by the Standard Bearer. The "Three Musketeers," Sirs Beowyn, Corwyn and Danyr, are very useful if you can get all of them. The Squire is amazingly useful in the Unique-rich Knight faction, and no self-respecting Knight should be without a Squire.

Waiqar's Path introduced the dubious ability to play evil as Knights. Most players only choose to do so out of masochism, but there are some gems in this set. Agents of Gradir are just not worth the points unless you see some definite ability to use their plague ability a couple of times. Be careful it doesn't follow them back to your own disks! Baron Vallyr of Tamar is borderline evil in the storyline, but he's a rocking champion in play - really tough for a good price, and able to simulate an improved Incite spell. Brothers of the Spirit Guard are definitely not a bargain, but they could be very challenging to face in combat as long as they Activate late in the Round. Magus Argo Thelnor is a weak Berserking spellcaster. If there's something really useful you can do with level 1 spells cast twice in a round, perhaps take him and use Baron Vallyr to Berserk him, but otherwise he's no great incentive to play evil. The Paladin of Utaavo will draw fire due to his ability to keep your tougher disks going and going, but he's probably worth it all the same, possibly as a front-line unit (with the Standard Bearer) but more likely as a rear-guard defensive unit. Then we get to Baron Vallyr's friends from Tamar. Tamar Bowmasters are a little pricey because of their Berserk ability, but it could be worth it with the Baron and the Sisters. Tamar Flamedancers, the other main evil unit, would be really great if it were actually easy to use their special ability. As it is, they're quite expensive for a wimpy fighter (and can't benefit from the Standard Bearer). Tamar Legionnaires are reasonable berserkers, with a small set-back, but it's not hard to have some Unique disks within range - combine them in the group alluded to with Bowmasters, above. Tamar Mind-movers make me wonder what those folks in Tamar are smoking. A purely defensive archer disk, the Mind-movers are rather overpriced. The Tamar Reaper will rarely see play, which is too bad - here's a disk that could actually make you want to play evil! Tamar Sisters of the Sword are unremarkable until you start counting the number of neutral disks around for the Knights these days. The ability to pull those folks into the places they're needed most could be quite useful, perhaps making Knights of the Black Widow and Executioners worthwhile. Oh, and they're yet another berkserker unit. Tamar Thunder Guards are just great. They're tough, with a good attack and two wounds. Immunity to missiles is just gravy. I want as many of these in my army as I can afford.

Two Promotional disks have been made for the Knights. The Alliance Guildmaster potentially extends the range of arrow Archers by over twelve inches, which could be really effective in the right circumstances, and would be devastating if it applied to other missiles (such as Catapult boulders...). Baron Gradir looks so-so at first glance. Turns out he's really effective, especially with a boost from the Standard Bearer. A net Toughness of 11 makes him really hard to kill, and he can move pretty quickly as well (good thing, since he's immune to Zip).

Winners for the Knights are King Falladir, Warhorses, Siege Catapults, the Standard Bearer, Alchemists, Squires, Baron Vallyr of Tamar and Tamar Thunder Guards. Losers are Swordmaidens for certain, Men at Arms without their support units, and in many battles Knights of the Black Widow, Knights of the Dragon and Executioners.