I meant Wraithguard with D-Scythes, but I can see what you were going with. We've seen a resurgence of dedicated assault units in my metagame. We're all pretty much taking at least one dedicated assault unit, in response to most "typical" units being terrible in CC. You no longer need to worry about a hidden fist in every tactical squad, so many CC units can be highly effective, due to lack of resistance. I have a group of 5 other guys, plus myself for 6, and we all pretty much agree that while armies that focus purely on assault fail horribly, an army that focusses entirely upon shooting will usually be outplayed by an 80 shooty /20 choppy army. Might just be our meta, but it's my honest experience.
I was rofl-stomped by a Tyranid "Mostly Choppy" list that Hallolet played... though I was playing Blood Angels at the time, so it was kind of like a cripple beating up... someone that's even more horribly crippled. I just joke, I don't think the Nid codex is that terrible. Just needs to be built to it's specific strengths and no flavour allowed.
Shooting down Knights "quickly enough". You play a different game, my friend.
You should get someone you know to proxy a trio, at 2000 points. Or a pair of them, at 1500. If you can down them before they "Stomp" you, you're a better man than I. To be fair, I've never played with or faced a Big-Tank. Maybe they're more... effective... than I'd think.
THAT SAID!I'll place you a wager, with a handful of conditions.
The wager: I believe that if you play a 2000 point game, using a Hellhammer supported by AM [only], and your opponent uses 2 Imperial Knights, supported by something decent, you'll lose by a 3:2 margin in points, and will have 3:2 points value of models destroyed in the process. In other words, I'd wager that you'd lose a game along the lines of 6 points to 4, while loosing 1500 points of your models to 1000 points of your opponent's models being lost.
The conditions: You must play against your most skilled opponent. They must use the Knights aggressively, attempting to use them like Melee-beasts that can shoot. A big nasty spear-tip, kept within 12" of each other as reasonably as possible. He [she?] can't use them as separate flanking elements. If your opponent doesn't play an Imperial Faction, the Knight can't be treated as "Desperate / Come The Appocalypse" during the game. Meaning they won't attack their own dudes, and can be set up within 12" of allied models.
You must document the game as a battle report. Because if you don't have pics, it didn't happen. And I happen to enjoy reading your battle reports.
My ante: If you do not lose by the expected margins, I will create and send to you by mail a Gold Star, about the size of a piece of standard 8.5 x 11 paper, that says something to the effect of, "Spectral Arbor is a blow hard that should keep his big mouth shut, and hereby acknowledges Wydrr's superior insight into the game of 40k." If you actually
win the game, I'll have to make it poetic, or something.
If I'm correct, then my self righteousness is justified and I can wallow in my smugness, which will be reward enough. I do love a good wallow.
[I'm fishing for a battle report here, just do it! Plus, you can totally rig the game and get a free gold star!
]
I can't remember if there's a 2-Knight battleforged detachment, so they might have to play 3 knights instead. Just make some cardboard cutouts, they're about 6" tall, put on a largish chariot-type base. Slightly bigger than a flyer base.