Knights Exemplar

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.

Knights Exemplar Protectorate Unit Officer Command Attachment

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Final Interdiction. 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.

United by shared faith and a deep fraternal bond, the Knights Exemplar are the embodiment of absolute obedience and are ready and eager to shed blood in Menoth’s name. For each brother who falls in battle, his comrades are invigorated by his sacrifice and become ever more resolute and unwavering in pursuit of holy war.

Stern, humorless, and intense, the officers of the Knights Exemplar lead their detachments with a holy fervor that inspires even the most capable among their ranks to greater martial prowess. Unflinching in the face of terrifying threats and hopeless battles, these officers ensure the commands of the scrutators are executed to perfection. While absolute loyalty and obedience is expected of all Exemplars, it is the officers who make certain this standard is upheld.

Basic Info

Knights Exemplar
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Unit / Officer BASE Small SPD 5 STR 6 MAT 7 / 8 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 15 CMD 8 / 9 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 +1 CA COST 7 +3 CA 1.2 each (no CA) 1.4 each (with CA) N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Entire Unit
  • Battle-Driven - When one or more models in this unit are damaged by an enemy attack, after the attack is resolved models in this unit gain +2 STR and ARM and Pathfinder for one round.

• Officer only
  • She has a better statline
  • Officer
  • Divine Retribution [ Minifeat ] - This model can use Divine Retribution once per game at any time during its unit's activation. This activation, models in this unit gains Divine Inspiration. (Divine Inspiration - A model with Divine Inspiration gains an additional die on melee attack and melee damage rolls. Discard the lowest die of each roll.)
  • Granted: Cleave - While this model is in formation, models in its unit gain Cleave. (Cleave - When a model with Cleave destroys one or more enemy models with a basic melee attack during its Combat Action, immediately after the attack is resolved the model with Cleave can make one additional melee attack. The model with Cleave can make only one additional attack as a result of Cleave each activation.)
  • Tactics: Overtake - Models in this unit gain Overtake. (Overtake - When a model with Overtake destroys one or more enemy models with a basic melee attack during its Combat Action, after the attack is resolved it can immediately advance up to 1".)

Weapons

Relic Blade
		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				5				11
Weapon Master Damage Type: Magical

Theme Forces

• Protectorate
  • Exemplar Interdiction. They gain Aegis in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Feora is leading the army.
  • Mercenary players can use them in the Llaelese Resistance theme. They become Llaelese and gain Pathfinder in this theme.

Thoughts on Knights Exemplar

Knights Exemplar in a nutshell

Knights Exemplar are the Protectorate's single wound weapon masters. Cheap infantry that charges in and trashes even heavy warjacks fairly effectively given their cost. Like every Exemplar unit, their Magical weapons allow them to answer for the threat of Incorporeal models. While reasonably resilient to blasts, most direct hits will take them out, so they really benefit from being part of a second wave hiden from worst behind Errants, Cinerators and such.

Thoughts on the CA

Command Attachment

The officer gives them a turn of extra punch and the ability to thresh infantry, but she costs as much as half a unit and Knights Exemplar are best when spammed, so adding CAs to multiple units gives you an even more diminished return of Investment, since more basic units also means more attacks and more chances to hit. Quantity over quality.

Combos & Synergies

• High Reclaimer can make sure there's enough of them during charge, offers clouds to protect her and the rest of unit AND if you activate her mini-feat and cast Hand of Fate you'll replicate Ashlynn's feat, throwing a handful of dice at once.
• Testament of Menoth is also big fan, while smaller size makes them more susceptible to being wiped out, they otherwise provide nice neat package of accuracy and hard hitting for his recycling shenanigans- while not able to buff either of those things, or their threat range, he can manage to get them into the fray in decent numbers and his feat helps them to get them into the best position - being able to move freely through terrain and friendly models as well as enemy without magical melee weapons might not directly increase the threat, but allows you to make most out of it... also just one or two knights can seriously wound or even kill most casters.
• Harbinger of Menoth - She can keep Officer alive with Martyrdom, or any of the Grunts, if you need a full squad to dispatch your target. It still triggers Battle Driven, as the unit has been damaged, it was just negated by Martyrdom. She can also increase their threat range with Crusader's Call and makes them insanely accurate with Guided Hand.
• Grand Exemplar Kreoss grants them Tough (Inviolable Resolve is usually better on bigger units or models/units with wound). His feat gives them an additional attack via his feat, allowing each model to potentially make three attacks in a single activation.
• High Exemplar Cyrenia's kit is made for Exemplars. Dash increases their threat range, Positive Charge, while potentially harder to pull off makes them incredibly accurate and harder hitting, and Rock Wall can help them get up the field. Her feat is another way to help get them up the board and/or protect them. She can also throw tough or reposition battle plan at then which can help to protect them from enemy retaliation - pull them back to out of range or just spread them around to provide less of a target to blasts and spays to get all back inside a zone to score etc. - or just push them even further into enemy line to engage more models.
• Thyra can fine-tune a unit of Knights to near-perfection. Occultation and her feat help get them up the board, Carnage makes them incredibly accurate, and Silence of Death is a nice boost to their POW; however, having it on them will prevent them from using Overtake and Cleave, as the RFP from Silence isn't optional.
• Vice Scrutator Vindictus loves these guys, he can speed them up (to a total 13" threat range with Gravus) and grant them Pathfinder via True Path. His feat protects them from charges, spells and non-magical ranged attacks in his 12" bubble and if situation calls for it, he can throw a Defender's Ward in their direction. He can't buff their damage potential, but they can usually manage without.
• Rhupert - don't bank too hard on Battle Driven to get the Pathfinder for your charge. Better to have a plan B, and he can also give your Knights Tough against strong gunlines. Speaking of Tough, add in Gravus to the mix, and enjoy the no-knockdown + Tough combo.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Strictly average defensive stats
• Low SPD, short reach, plus no Pathfinder outside Battle Driven.
• Battle Driven will only trigger on enemy attack damage. Covering fire templates, collateral damages, electro leaps, corrosion or fire effects can all wreak havoc among your models without providing extra ARM.
• The CA does not provide meaningful enough buffs to warrant a price tag equivalent zo half a unit.

Tricks & Tips

• You resolve Overtake move before Cleave. Be on the lookout that during this move you can be targeted by free strikes.

Other

Trivia

• Unit released in Warmachine: Prime (2003)
• CA released 2016.10

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Weapon Master - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification:  : Magical Damage      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling) All spells have "Damage Type: Magical" (refer errata). This is inherited by "immediate" secondary damage (such as Eruption of Spines). (Infernal Ruling) and might be inherited by "lingering" secondary damage (see below). If a spell leaves a template in play that does damage to models that walk around in it, then: if it is not described as a hazard it will do magical damage to models that walk around in it. (Example: Razor Wall) if it is a hazard then it will not do magical damage to models that walk around in it. Instead, it does whatever damage type is specified by the spell description. (Example: Breath of Corruption). (Infernal Ruling) If a weapon/spell includes Magic Damage and another kind of elemental damage it will still damage Incorporeal models. Incorporeal models are not affected by the rule "if an attack does multiple types of damage and a model is immune to at least one it is immune to the entire attack." The phrase "immune to non-magical damage" should be interpreted as "immune to damage that doesn't include Damage Type: Magical" (not interpreted as "has immunity to Corrosion and Electricity and Cold and etc.")

Rules Clarification : Battle-Driven - None yet. (Edit)

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 : Divine Retribution      (Edit) Rules Clarification : Divine Inspiration      (Edit) Discard Die (Edit) If you're discarding lowest or highest, you have to discard even if you want it for a critical hit. For instance: if you discard "the lowest die", need 6+ to hit, and roll a 3, 3, and a 4 ... then you must discard one of the 3s, and you'll end up with a non-critical hit with the 3 + 4.

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 : Cleave      (Edit) Cleave doesn't trigger off free strikes or Impact Attacks, since those occur outside of your Combat Action. Despite "additional attacks" normally occurring only after all initial attacks are resolved, Cleave "interrupts" your initial attacks because it must be resolved immediately. You cannot trigger an "Any Time" ability between the first attack and the Cleave attack, because Cleave occurs at Step 14 of Apdx A, and "Any Time" abilities cannot be triggered until after Step 14 is finished. Attack-Generating Abilities (Edit) From the core rulebook: When a model is granted more attacks as a result of an attack it made, it gains only one. If two or more special rules would grant the model another attack as a result of making an attack, its controlling player chooses which special rule to apply. If you trigger two attack-generating abilities (such as Black Spot and Kill Shot) you choose to resolve one and "lose" the other (unless you trigger it again later). If you trigger two attack-generating abilities, and one of them is compulsory (such as Black Spot and Berserk), you must choose to resolve the compulsory one. (Infernal Ruling)

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 : Swift Hunter and/or Overtake     (Edit) The free move must be resolved before other abilities that involve attacks (such as Quick Work or Berserk). Refer Step 12 vs 14 in Appendix A. This ability does not trigger off special attacks, only basic ones. An important difference: Swift Hunter can be triggered by any attack, including out-of-activation attacks. Overtake only works on attacks during your Combat Action. Even stuff like Impact Attacks won't trigger it. If you make a free strike during your Combat Action (for instance the enemy used a special rule to move during your Combat Action) you can trigger Overtake on that free strike. It still counts as being during your Combat Action. (Infernal Ruling)

Note to Editors To edit the CA's tagged abilities, Click here