Bane Knights

99% of this website is about Mark 3 (mk3), which is the previous edition of the game (2016 to 2022). The reasons for this are explained here. 1% of the website is about Mark 4 (mk4), but only in regards to which mk3 models are useable in mk4 Prime and which are mk4 Unlimited. See Legacy Armies for more detail.

Bane Knights Cryx Unit Officer Command Attachment

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Dark Host. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

Accompanied by an icy wind and a charnel smell, bane knights glide across the battlefield sowing blood and death. These fiends wield their shadow-forged lances with inhuman precision, cutting down any obstacles in their path. Adding to their implacable advance, bane knights can become fully spectral for short periods of time, allowing them to pass through any barrier to reach their victims.

Lost for an eternity in the shapeless void between Caen and Urcaen, all banes have their sanity shredded to madness, yet some few retain scraps of their minds. Great warlords or ancient military officers with strong will might retain the instincts that made them effective leaders in battle. They carry that forward into their unholy existence. Under the direction of these greater knights of shadow, banes demonstrate sophisticated tactics, moving in disciplined formations and proving considerably more formidable than is regularly the case.

Basic Info

Bane Knights
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Unit / Officer BASE Small SPD 5 STR 7 MAT 6 / 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 16 CMD 7 / 8 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 1 / 5 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE 6 or 10 +1 CA COST 8 or 13 +4 CA 1.5 pts each N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Entire unit
  • Undead
  • Ghostly - This model can advance through terrain and obstacles without penalty and can advance through obstructions if it has enough movement to move completely past them. It cannot be targeted by free strikes.
  • Set Defense - A model in this model's front arc suffers -2 on charge, slam power attack, and impact attack rolls against this model.
  • Wall of Steel - While this model is B2B with one or more models in its unit, it gains +2 ARM.

• Officer only
  • He has a better statline
  • Officer
  • Granted: Reposition [3"] - While this model is in formation, models in its unit gain Reposition [3"]. (Reposition [3"] - At the end of an activation in which it did not run or fail a charge, a model with Reposition [3"] can advance up to 3", then its activation ends.)
  • Granted: Touch of the Grave - While this model is in formation, models in its unit gain Touch of the Grave. (Touch of the Grave - Models destroyed by a melee attack made by a model with Touch of the Grave are removed from play.)
  • Serpent's Coil [ Minifeat ] - Once per game at any time during it unit's activation, this model can use Serpent's Coil. For one round, models in this unit gain Defensive Strike. (Defensive Strike - Once per turn, when an enemy advances into and ends its movement the melee range of a model with Defensive Strike, the model with Defensive Strike can immediately make one basic melee attack against it.)
  • Tactics: Coordinated Movement - Models in this unit gain Coordinated Movement. (Coordinated Movement - Friendly models can ignore a model with Coordinated Movement when determining LOS and can advance through a model with Coordinated Movement if they have enough movement to move completely past it.)

Weapons

Bane Lance
		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				5				12
Brutal Charge - This model gains +2 to charge attack damage rolls with this weapon.

Theme Forces

• Cryx
  • Dark Host. Bane Knights gain Prowl in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model/unit in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Mortenebra is leading the army.

Thoughts on Bane Knights

Command Attachment

Bane Knights in a nutshell

Bane Knights are a defensive unit, able to shrug off blasts and small arms fire with ease, and when in melee Set Defense makes them relatively hard to hit. The Knights differentiate themselves from other Faction's equivalent defensive units thanks to Ghostly, which allows them to disengage from troops they don't like and sometimes lets them declare 3" charges even after battlelines have clashed.

Their raw damage output isn't as high as the Bane Warriors or Bane Riders, but if they can declare a charge they can still hit almost as hard as Bane Warriors and put the harm on enemy heavies, especially with some helping debuffs. They've slightly more threat range than the Warriors thanks to 2" reach, but slower than the Riders. They're cheaper than either of the others. They also bring some much appreciated RFP.

Thoughts on the CA

The Bane Knight Officer is pretty key to running the unit successfully. Defensive Strike adds to their roles as a defensive unit and RFP is never a bad thing to have in your list. Reposition lets them dig deeper on charge turn and makes them not as slow if you advance them in Wall of Steel beforehand.

Combos & Synergies

Non-caster

• Darragh Wrathe - Some much needed extra threat range. Mortal Fear makes them hardier.
• Bane Lord Tartarus has Veteran Leader that makes up for their mediocre MAT.
• Desecrator gets a focus from them.
• The Wraith Engine buffs them to ARM 20, or lets them spread out and still have ARM 18.

Casters

• Lich Lord Terminus gives them Tough which is really useful for a unit that relies on ARM skew to survive.
• Asphyxious3
  • Can give them Ashen Veil pushing them up to DEF 16 vs living chargers,
  • In the Dark Host theme Ashen Veil also grants them Stealth.
  • He can debuff the enemy with Calamity, making them hit quite hard.
• Coven can help them charge through the enemy with Curse of Shadows and/or Veil of Mists, to ensure they always get Brutal Damage. Curse of Shadows increases their damage output. Their feat can keep them alive until battlelines engage.
• Scaverous can buff their ARM with Death Ward, has several debuffs to increase their accuracy/damage, and can quasi-speed buff them with Telekinesis.
• Agathia - can make 1 unit of them her Henchmen improving their Def, Mat and threat range. And she can take them into any theme you play her in.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Banes Knights are not terribly offensive, except on the charge. A single attack at MAT 6, P+S 12 is not a good option to skirmish with infantry.
• They're slow, with a base threat range of only 10". So they're likely to take the alpha strike in most games.
• Wall of Steel can be difficult to achieve every turn, especially if you want to charge multiple targets - the CA's Reposition ability helps greatly, though.
• Anything which ignores ARM and does an auto-point of damage (such as Sniper and Continuous Corrosion) will give them a bad day.
• Hazards can really mess them up, because you can't be in B2B while you advance through it.
• The RFP given by the CA is the weakest version of RFP possible; it resolves at "destroyed" so it doesn't stop any enemy effects from triggering - enemies can even collect corpse/soul tokens from models you RFP!
  The only thing Touch of the Grave does do is prevent models from being returned-to-play (via Revive etc).

Tricks & Tips

• Use the "Dragon Tooth" formation: 3 Knights arranged in a triangle in B2B. That way your opponent has to kill 2 of them before any lose the Wall of Steel bonus.
• Touch of the Grave does not stop soul & corpse token generation. Really all it does is stop Return to Play abilities.
• If you're looking for the Officer's card on the card database, you'll find it under "Battle Engines & Structures".

Other

Trivia

• Base unit released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006)
• CA released at LVO (2019.02)
• Sculptor: Jose Roig

Other Cryx models

Cryx Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Agathia - Aiakos2 - Asphyxious1 - Asphyxious2 - Asphyxious3 - Coven - Deathjack2 - Deneghra1 - Deneghra2 - Deneghra3 - Goreshade1 - Goreshade2 - Goreshade3 - Mortenebra1 - Mortenebra2 - Rahera - Scaverous - Skarre1 - Skarre2 - Skarre3 - Sturgis2 - Terminus - Venethrax
Warcaster attachments	The Withershadow Combine - Satyxis Blood Priestess - Skarlock Thrall - Doctor Stygius (Partisan) - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers	Jack Marshals: Iron Lich Overseer       "Junior Warcasters": Aiakos1 - Asphyxious4 - Deneghra0
Light	Cankerworm - Deathripper - Defiler - Helldiver - Nightwretch - Ripjaw - Scavenger - Shrike - Stalker
Heavy	Barathrum - Corruptor - Deathjack1 - Desecrator - Erebus - Harrower - Kharybdis - Inflictor - Leviathan - Malice - Nightmare - Reaper - Seether - Slayer
Colossal	Kraken - Sepulcher
Units, Solos, Battle Engines, & Structures
Units	Asphyxious4 - Bane Knights - Bane Riders - Bane Warriors - Bile Thralls - BO Boarding Party - BO Ironmongers - BO Smog Belchers - Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Bloodgorgers - Marauders - Carrion Thralls - Cephalyx Drudges - Cephalyx Overlords - Mechanithralls - Necrosurgeon - Revenant Cannon - Revenant Crew - Satyxis Gunslingers - Satyxis Blood Witches - Satyxis Raiders - Scharde Dirge Seers - Scharde Pirates - Soulhunters - The Devil's Shadow Mutineers - The Withershadow Combine
Solos	Aiakos1 - Agrimony - Axiara - Bane Lord Tartarus - Bloat Thrall - BTO Mobius - Captain Rengrave - Darragh Wrathe - Doctor Stygius - Deneghra0 - Gerlak - Hellslinger - Iron Lich Overseer - Machine Wraith - Master Gurglepox - Misery Cage - Necrotech - Ol' Grim - Pistol Wraith - Satyxis Blood Priestess - Satyxis Raider Captain - Scrap Thrall - Skarlock Thrall - Severa Blacktide - Soul Trapper - Warwitch Siren
Battle Engines & Structures	Wraith Engine
Theme Forces
Black Industries - Dark Host - The Ghost Fleet - Scourge of the Broken Coast
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Cryx Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Powerful Charge  and/or Brutal Charge     (Edit) If you declare a charge but move less than 3", then the attack doesn't count as a "Charge Attack" and you won't get the bonus.

Rules Clarification : Undead - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Ghostly      (Edit) Ghostly doesn't let you move through other models, just terrain. Ghostly doesn't let you ignore damage from hazardous terrain. (Infernal Ruling) Ghostly ignores Windswept terrain penalties. A model with both Flight and Ghostly will move through Windswept terrain at full speed. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Set Defense - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Wall of Steel      (Edit) If you're slammed or thrown into a model with Wall of Steel, you'll immediately benefit. So you'll get the ARM bonus vs the slam/throw damage, too! It's not possible to be B2B with someone at the same time you move, so you can't gain Wall of Steel at the same time you enter a damaging template (such as Covering Fire). No, you cannot move an infinitely small distance and thus travel in an arc. This is Warmachine, not calculus. However, if you can move through a model, ignore the above.

Rules Clarification : Officer      (Edit) Even if they're not on the Officer's card, an Officer can give (and benefit from) any non-standard orders that are on the unit's card (such as Shield Wall). Refer main rulebook. A Ranking Officer can't do this, though. When the Officer dies, the Leader model becomes the new Unit Commander (you don't get to choose). But if your unit doesn't include a Leader model, then you do get to choose any of the remaining models to be the new Unit Commander. You don't swap the model, but it may be worth putting a token down so you can tell that grunt apart.

Rules Clarification : Tactics vs Granted     (Edit) Granted = The unit loses the ability as soon as the model that grants it is taken off the table. (think "G for Goes away") Tactics = The unit keeps the ability for the entire game, regardless of who dies. (think "Tac-Tick = K for Keeps")   Granted [ Vengeance ] If the model granting Vengeance dies, the unit will not get any Vengeance attacks. It is "If you have Vengeance, and you were damaged last turn, you get a move+attack." It is not "If you get damaged, you get Vengeance next turn." If you lose Vengeance halfway through resolving Vengeance, then you stop resolving Vengeance immediately. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Reposition      (Edit) Models out of formation cannot move via Reposition. Refer to the "Out of Formation" rules in the core rulebook. End of Activation (Edit) You cannot resolve two end-of-activation movement effects (refer to "End of Activation Movement" in the core rulebook). For EOA stuff that doesn't involve movement, though, it gets a bit more murky: Some EOA abilities explicitly state your activation ends as part of resolving the ability (like Reposition), and some don't (like Refuge). Whether it is explicit it or not, by definition an EOA ability is the last thing you can do for that activation. For instance, if you resolve Refuge and then continue your activation to cast more spells, then you have not used Refuge at the end of your activation. You cannot do an "at any time" ability during or after triggering an EOA ability; you cannot cast spells, purchase additional attacks, use a mini-feat, etc. If you start resolving an EOA movement (such as Reposition) then you cannot trigger abilities that occur "at any time" (such as Go To Ground). Because you can't trigger it while resolving the EOA movement, and after the EOA movement your activation has ended. (Infernal Ruling) For units: if any model in the unit starts resolving the unit's EOA movement, then no model in the unit can trigger an any-time ability. (Infernal Ruling) See also the training article: LPG - End of Activation.

Rules Clarification : Touch of the Grave      (Edit) Touch of the Grave does not prevent corpse/soul tokens.

Rules Clarification : Serpent's Coil      (Edit) Restrictions on "Any Time" abilities     (Edit)         [Show/Hide] "Any Time" abilities can be used at any time during a model/unit's activation, except: Before any compulsory forfeiture of movement/action. See step 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. After the model with the "Any Time" ability has had their activation end "prematurely". By this I mean you resolved something which includes the phrase "its activation ends". Examples include: Running, failing a charge, or failing a slam. Abilities that include "then its activation ends" (such as Reposition and Teleport). In between declaring your charge target and making your charge movement. (Infernal Ruling) In between completing your charge movement and determining whether it was a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) When you're in the middle of moving. (Note: Impact Attacks count as being in the middle of movement). When you're in the middle of an attack. Which also includes effects that occur "after the attack is resolved". (Although the attack is "resolved" at Step 11, in terms of using an "Any Time" ability the attack is not "finished" until after Step 14. Refer to the first paragraph of Apdx A.) Your opponent interrupted your activation to trigger one of their own abilities (such as Countercharge). Warcasters/warlocks/etc can normally cast a spell or use their feat "At any time". However, there is a core rule saying they cannot do so on the same activation that they run. So, they are subject to all the same restrictions listed above, plus they can't cast/feat before running. Units: See below. In general you can use "Any Time" abilities while you're knocked down or stationary (except Spells and Feats which specify you can't). If you have a gun with a random ROF, you can use an "Any Time" ability inbetween rolling the number of shots and actually making the first attack. (Infernal Ruling) Units with "Any Time" abilities You cannot use an "Any Time" ability before issuing/receiving orders. See step 1 and 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after they run (Infernal Ruling) or fail a charge. Because that makes that specific model's activation to end even though the unit's activation is still ongoing, and you can't use abilities on models that are not active. You can use an "Any Time" ability before running, however. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after anyone in the unit has begun a Reposition move. (Infernal Ruling) Rules Clarification : Defensive Strike      (Edit) If an enemy doesn't stop in your melee range, but continue all the way through it and out the other side, you won't get to make a Defensive Strike. You will get to make a free strike as per normal, though.

Rules Clarification : Coordinated Movement      (Edit) The "can ignore for LOS" is not optional. You cannot opt to "turn off" your ability to see through models, in the hope of getting a free strike or some such. (Infernal Ruling)

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