Order of the Crimson Tower - Unit Guide (english)

Order of the Crimson Tower
The brave knights have made it their mission to fight one of the great scourges of humanity: war. My teammates just call them Mörderponys (murder ponies).

Overview and gameplay

Mainstay with the Commander if he is part the Order of the Crimson Tower and Restricted for all other Commanders. As a mainstay they cost a hefty 200 points and are the second most expensive selection in the Hundred Kingdoms and also have the most expensive extra stands in the game at 80 points for each additional stand. In return we get real shock cavalry with a classic knight profile, but with Resolve 4 because they are knights of the order. This is a mixed bag at first, as none of your special rules solve the usual problem of Impact Cavalry. However, despite their drawbacks, they are an interesting choice because they are the only mainstay for Ashen Dawn. Since both are heavy selections, it's a balancing act as to how many regiments you add to the list without degrading the reinforcements too much, and so one regiment each is usually a sensible compromise. In addition to their current main task, Mainstay for Ashen Dawn, those on the battlefield should not be underestimated. 4 Impacts with Brutal Impacts 2 pretty much define what these guys are supposed to do and essentially what we have here is the human shock cavalry. Wedge is supposed to improve this even further, but that means you're even more reliant on Charge Clash. With "only" Movement 7, there are not few don't opponents who give you charge clash, because almost every opposing regiment can easily tie them with Move Charge and the knights just stand around stupidly in the corner. The probability of hitting without Olefants Roar is also clear (50%). You shouldn't overestimate this and if you only play 3 stands, you should preferably take on easy targets that have 12 or fewer lives and armor and morale values that don't exceed 3 or that fall into an opponent's flank. There, three stands are usually devastating even against elite regiments. A commander with Olefants Roar or a fourth rider for a unit without a commander significantly increases the damage, but the significantly increased costs can hardly be justified. If you have two regiments or more, a commander can also count as a warlord, as Blessed also works on impacts and you can save yourself the Roar. This means you suddenly get 9 hits instead of 6 and are an excellent threat with the impacts..

If we want to exploit the full potential of the killer ponies we should think about the expensive standard and regiments that protect the Crimson Tower from enemy move charge actions. The damage the Knights then deal is almost absurd against targets without Hardend or Evasion 3, especially since everything benefits from Terrifying.

There is also the option to play a real combat block, but this almost doesn't happen anymore because of Ashen Dawn. Then they do more damage than Household Knight veterans and are also a little tankier thanks to Resolve 4. The biggest disadvantage compared to the HHK is Charge 7 and the fact that another stand costs 80 points. To create a brutal Hammer we take 5 Crimson Tower with Commander and Olefants Roar, that's 24 impacts on the 1-4 or four of them on the 1-5 and all benefit from Terrifying and minus two armor on the enemy. This breaks a lot in the move charge and you have to remember that impacts now count from every position in the regiment. In other words, there is hardly any reason why you shouldn't put them two wide if you play it like that. In addition, you only lose the impacts if at least half of the stands go through hindering terrain. But when you play a bus like this you should always remember to protect your own flanks well, because the riders with D3 + shield R4 W5 are quite well equipped, but can quickly fall over for 200 points/80 points extra Stands . 

Veterans
Unfortunately, the murder ponies don't have an officer to turn them into veterans.

Relentless Drills
As cavalry, the killer ponies do not benefit from Relentless Drills

Conclusion: solid, slightly overpriced unit that has similar tasks to the Household Knights, but trades momentum for power.