Which do you perfer for your Empire Knights: Lances or GW's?

[Rommel44]

Hey mates. Recently after playing against my fellow Empire player at my store and pulling off a close win thanks to my horde of Inner Circle Knights ( to be frank, I never thought it would be that good but it has been huge for me in the last couple of games :icon_mrgreen: ), we got to talking about my Knight horde, and he asked me why I dont run them with Lances since in his opinion the 1+ save is much better. The reason, other then because I am running a Middenhiem theme list, is because to be honest, I feel that the S6 does a lot more for me in the long run then the 1+ armor save. Granted the 1+ save is awesome, but I personally prefer GW's over Lances because:

*S6 every round of combat is awesome, which means I can do a lot more damage in other rounds of CC then just on the charge. Though some may argue that S4 is fine, being able to hit at S6 every round allows me to be a big threat even after the charge, and even then since I am already striking last, I am still able to dish out a lot of damaged even if I am charged by an opposing unit, especially the tough units such as Chaos Warriors, Ogres, and Dwarfs.

*Granted running Lances allows us to strike at Initiative, however I3 isnt that great to begin with, so I honestly I dont see it as much as a disadvantage because theres a lot more stuff that can hit us first before we can even make any attacks back.

*Now the big one. Yes, a 1+ save is MUCH better then a 2+, but even then, a 2+ armor is still very good and most people still have a hard time killing my Knights as much as they did when I had a 1+ save in my experience. Combined w/the 5+ Ward save that the Warrior Priest can now use and beefed up with Life Magic for that all important Flesh to Stone spell, makes them a very hard unit to crack.

*Finally, the GW's allow our standard core WS3 S3 Knights to actually be a bigger threat then most people realize. S5 is very good in this edition, and overall, the increase in Strength fills the major void of what most Empire units lack, which is hitting power.

Just my personal opinion why I believe Knights with GW's are a better choice overall then running them with Lances and Shields, however I'm curious to hear your opinions on the subject so feel free to share mates! First round is on me :::cheers:::.

[Ratbeast]

I like white wolves, so great weap all the way, 2 plus armour, strenght 5 is better then alot of other cav out there

[Asuryan's Spear]

i think our knights are WS 4 so their even better Rommel44. personally i go for great weapons for the inner circle and lances for the normal. my reasoning is that normal knights are my flank hammer and shouldn't really be in combat for more than one turn because they should be the thing that tips the scales and so need the extra save to ensure at least 5x2 get in to the side to disrupt

[Tayrod]

Do knights come with great weapons in the (old) battalion box?

[Dark Aly]

i think our knights are WS 4 so their even better Rommel44. personally i go for great weapons for the inner circle and lances for the normal. my reasoning is that normal knights are my flank hammer and shouldn't really be in combat for more than one turn because they should be the thing that tips the scales and so need the extra save to ensure at least 5x2 get in to the side to disrupt

I equip mine the other way around. 6 GW normal knights to add a feww kills in combats involving my steadfast spearmen or lances on inner circle (preferably rieksguard) with the flamming banner to hunt monsters and/or trolls

There is already a thread about this somewhere else though.

[jtrowell]

Do knights come with great weapons in the (old) battalion box?

No, the white wold sprue is missing from the old bataillon.

Not sure about the new one, I would like to know if they are back, it would give me a reason to buy one.

About the initial question, i use both depending on my list, usually I prefer GW for larger units (10+) of non inner circle knights, while smaller units used to hunt monsters of support units are usually with lances (once round is usually enough for those targets, and striking in initiative plus the armor is very useful when attacking a big monsters that would otherwise kill several knights with GW before they get to strike)

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Your poll doesn't offer many options.

Great weapons for normal knights. Lances for inner circle. That said, taking knights in a horde means that you'll probably have them survive long enough even with a 2+ save that strength 6 great weapons will make a mess of a lot of things.

[Demoulius]

Ive used a unit of great weapon knights for a while now and last game (or rather GW event...) had the inner circle lance variant. Sadly I couldnt get a charge off (needed 1 more on the roll to get it...) and was charged by a unit of chaos warriors.

The warriors couldnt put a dent in them though! That 1+ armour save meant they stuck around for a while

Sadly they ran off due to a failed LD test (which I had forgetten I could roll on 3D6 pick lowerst instead of just 2D6........) so I never did get to see them at their full potential but I liked the fact that I was striking at initiative for once Their biggest drawback was ALWAYS hitting last

A horde of knights though? That must be something pretty amazing to see! Are you just charging things in the front?

[Lord Solar Plexus]

Always L+S. Hitting last + worse save means half of them die before they can do anything.

Strength often isn't an issue for me when there's already 80 S4 + 30 S5 on the field.