In 8th edition, of course, the same could be done - the Knight Errant has a thermal cannon and can upgrade its reaper chainsword for a thunderstrike gauntlet. The Errant's heavy stubber would have to stand in for the anti-infantry torso guns and the heavy flamers on the back of the power fist would just have to be cosmetic and have no in-game effect.
But the unique army construction method of 8th edition gives a different option. The datasheets detail the weapons a model may be armed with and appendices give the costs for those weapons and the basic model in points. It is, theoretically, possible to arm any model in an army with any weapon available to that army (or even any weapon at all) by simply adding up the points.
Of course, some common sense has to be (or maybe should be) applied - vehicle-only weapons shouldn't go on infantry, for example, and the number of weapons should be reasonable. One should also only use weapons from a different Faction whose costs are comparable to those in your Faction (one element of the cost of a weapon is the BS or WS of the model using it). And, naturally, any unique entries so created can only be used in friendly games and with your opponent's permission.
But with all that, it was very easy to come up with the rules and points values for Magdalena. Each of the five Knight classes has an identical profile and special rules - the only difference is in the weapon loadout - and each model has the same points cost (320) in the appendix. A basic Knight "chassis", therefore, has no weapons, the Knight Abilities, and costs 320 points.
Magdalena's weapons loadout is obvious just by looking at her; she has a thunderstrike gauntlet, a thermal cannon, titanic feet, twin heavy flamers on the back of the fist, and torso-mounted anti-infantry guns (which look like overscaled hurricane bolters). The first three weapons are easy to select from the Questor Imperialis appendix - 35pts, 76pts and 0pts respectively. The other two are a little trickier, because they are not standard Knight weapons (and it isn't entirely clear what the torso guns actually are).
I could choose two heavy flamers from the Knight appendix at 17 points each. That would be perfectly WYSIWYG and from the same Faction. But Magdalena is a Sororitas Knight - the background is not that she is seconded or oathsworn to the Sisters, but that she is actually part of their armory. Two heavy flamers are also two separate weapons, capable of firing at two different units under 8th ed rules - that didn't seem entirely reasonable given the weapons' placement.
Instead, I chose to go with an immolation flamer (35pts) from the Sororitas appendix. This is a uniquely Sisters' weapon (not just a twin-linked heavy flamer) and so seemed in character. I reasoned it was fair to use the Sisters' appendix for the points values because Knights and Sisters have the same BS (3+) and so weapons are equally effective. It was also the case that the weapons which appeared in both appendices - heavy flamer and meltagun - were the same points values, suggesting parity.
For the torso guns, I considered using hurricane bolters - that is, after all, what their appearance is inspired by. But that would have meant drawing from a different Faction (Space Marines) and I didn't want to do that. I could have counted them as heavy stubbers but that didn't seem quite right (it is not one of the "holy trinity"). Instead, I reasoned they were basically multi-barreled heavy bolters synchronized to fire together - twin-linked heavy bolters at 17 points.
So, Magdalena points out as follows:
Basic Knight chassis: 320pts
Thunderstrike gauntlet: 35pts
Thermal cannon: 76pts
Titanic feet: 0pts
Immolation flamer: 35pts
Twin heavy bolter: 17pts
TOTAL: 483pts
To calculate Power Rating requires a bit more math, and a degree of fudging. Firstly, I calculated the points cost of each of the five classes of Knight in the Index (basic weapon loadout, no carapace weapon) and compared it to the Power Rating, getting a pts : PR ratio;
Errant: 430pts / 23PR = 18.7 ratio
Paladin: 458pts / 24PR = 19.08 ratio
Warden: 466pts / 25PR = 18.64 ratio
Gallant: 389pts / 21PR = 18.52 ratio
Crusader: 512pts / 27PR = 18.96 ratio
(all ratios rounded to two decimal places)
I then averaged the ratios (getting 18.78) and divided Magdalena's points value by that to get a Power Rating of 25.71. That rounds up to 26, of course, so her pts:PR ratio is 18.58. This gives her the second "worse" ratio (after the Gallant) but the actual variation is minor (a 26PR Knight at the "best" ratio would be 496pts, only 13 points more than she is).
In terms of Keywords, it would be an unfair advantage to change them - the Faction Keywords remain IMPERIUM, QUESTOR IMPERIALIS and <HOUSEHOLD>. The chosen household is, of course, CRYSTAL LADY but there is no synergy between my Sisters' <ORDER> Faction Keyword. My army will be unified by the IMPERIUM Faction Keyword. The non-Faction Keywords of TITANIC and VEHICLE remain, with the individual class of Knight being replaced with KNIGHT APOSTLE.
So that was how I went about using the material in the Indices to create a unique entry for my army. Again, such things are only intended for fun games and with your opponent's permission. But I hope this exercise has not only shown you how I did it, but also encouraged you to consider doing similar things. In 8th edition, we might be seeing a return to the glory days of vehicle design rules and other imaginative, freeform unit creation and army selection!
Let me know what you think!
=][= Danforth Laertes
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