Freeblade Company: The 11th-Edition Imperial Knights Durability Detachment

Imperial Knights models from your army have the Feel No Pain 6+ ability. In addition, at the start of your Command phase, each Imperial Knights model from your army regains 1 lost wound.

Both halves are unconditional and army-wide. The other seven detachments all narrow to a class keyword or a board position; this one does not narrow at all.

Why that is worth 3 Detachment Points. Feel No Pain 6+ on a model with 18 or more wounds is not a small percentage of a small number, it is roughly a sixth of a very large pool of wounds, applied to every wound the model ever takes including mortal wounds. The regeneration matters for a different reason: Knight datasheets carry Damaged thresholds, and the pack's Rules Updates rewrote them this version to 1 to 9 wounds remaining on most Questoris Knights and 1 to 10 on the Castellan and Valiant, each subtracting 5 from Objective Control. Regaining a wound per turn is sometimes the difference between a Knight that scores and one that does not.

Strength from Exile (1CP, Battle Tactic, your Shooting phase or the Fight phase). Target one Imperial Knights unit that has not shot or fought this phase. Until the end of the phase, each time a model in it attacks, if there are no other friendly units within 9 inches, re-roll a Hit roll of 1 and a Wound roll of 1.

That 9 inch isolation clause is the design of the whole detachment. Most armies want to bunch up for auras; this one pays you for spreading out, which is also how a four-model army covers a board.

Full Tilt (1CP, Wargear, your Movement phase). Target one Imperial Knights unit. If it Advances, do not roll; instead add 6 inches to its Move, or 9 inches if it is an Armiger or Destrier unit. A guaranteed distance instead of a D6, and the Armiger and Destrier clause tells you which models the pack expects you to run forward. Note that Valourstrike Lance has a stratagem of the same name; they are different detachments' cards.

Point-blank Barrage (1CP, Strategic Ploy, your Shooting phase). Target one Imperial Knights unit that has not shot. Until the end of the phase its Blast weapons can target enemy units within Engagement Range of it, provided no other friendly unit is also within Engagement Range of that enemy, and it does not suffer the engaged Hit penalty. The cost is real: each Blast attack against an engaged target that rolls an unmodified Hit roll of 1 inflicts 1 mortal wound on your own unit after all its attacks resolve.

Survivor of Strife (1CP, Epic Deed, your opponent's Shooting phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets). Target one Imperial Knights unit that was selected. Until the end of the phase, each time an attack targets it, if the attack's Strength is greater than your unit's Toughness, subtract 1 from the Wound roll. Knights have very high Toughness, so the attacks that clear it are precisely the dangerous ones.

Noble Sacrifice (1CP, Epic Deed, any phase, when an Imperial Knights unit was just destroyed). Its Deadly Demise inflicts mortal wounds on a D6 roll of 4 or more instead of only a 6, adding 1 to the result if it is an Armiger unit. One face in six becomes three, or four for an Armiger.

Flanking Manoeuvres (1CP, Strategic Ploy, end of your opponent's Fight phase). Target one Armiger unit within 9 inches of a battlefield edge and not within Engagement Range of anything. Remove it and place it in Strategic Reserves.

Mysterious Guardian (35 points). Imperial Knights model only, once per battle, per army. At the end of your opponent's turn, if this unit is unengaged, place it in Strategic Reserves; it has Deep Strike until the start of your next Shooting phase, and it must make an ingress move in your next Movement phase, including in your first turn. The most expensive enhancement in the faction, and a genuine teleport for a Titanic model. Note the word must: this is not an option to hold the model back indefinitely.

Bringer of Justice (30 points). Imperial Knights model only. +2 Attacks on melee weapons equipped by the bearer, and +1 to the Hit roll on each melee attack. The largest single melee upgrade in the faction.

Hunter's Eye (25 points). Imperial Knights model only. Ranged weapons equipped by the bearer have [IGNORES COVER]. This is the faction's unrestricted answer to cover: Dominus Foebreakers gives a hit bonus to two datasheets, Throne-bonded Outriders gives [IGNORES COVER] to Armigers only, and this gives it to any one model you like.

Sanctuary (20 points). Imperial Knights model only. The bearer has a 5+ invulnerable save. Read the bearer's datasheet before assuming this is an upgrade: Knight datasheets carry invulnerable saves that apply against ranged attacks only, so a flat 5+ that also covers melee is a different kind of protection rather than a strictly better number. The pack's own Knight Destrier is the clearest example, printing a 5+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks only.

Enhancement points are dataslate-volatile and none of the four carries a change marker in this pass.

Freeblade Company costs 3 Detachment Points, which is the entire Strike Force budget. There is nothing left to combine it with, and at Incursion you cannot take it at all.

That is a real cost, not a rounding error. The Imperial Knights have three 1 DP detachments, and taking all three gives you three detachment rules, three enhancement lists and nine stratagems for the same price as this one. Freeblade Company is worth it when your army is few enough models that a sixth of every wound pool and a wound per turn genuinely changes how long you survive, and when the isolation clause on Strength from Exile suits how you were going to deploy anyway.

If you want to see the alternative written out, our three cheap detachments combo covers the 1 plus 1 plus 1 shape.