STARTING A CHAOS KNIGHTS ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: THE DARK HOUSEHOLDS RIDE OUT
Chaos Knights are a complete army in five or six models: traitor Knight suits twisted by dark pacts and hung with trophies. This page covers the War Dog kit to start on, the Abhorrent-class Knight, and painting a fallen household.
Two War Dogs teach the whole method
Start with the War Dog kit. These smaller engines are the household's hunting pack, the box builds multiple weapon variants, and a pair of them teaches the entire Chaos Knights method: big armour panels in sub-assemblies, a base coat you can weather brutally, and details (trophy racks, stitched banners, too many eyes) picked out last. Settle your household scheme here. Blackened steel with a single sickly accent colour is classic and very forgiving. If your taste runs to rust, tarnished brass, glowing eyes, trailing warp-flame and heraldry gone rotten, no faction rewards it better, and you get the Imperial Knights' great gift of a whole army in a handful of models, except yours has spikes.
A second pack, then the big one
- A second War Dog box, because the hunting pack is the army's core and the variants keep each build distinct.
- Your first big Knight. The Abhorrent-class kit builds the towering profiles, including the Knight Abominant, a warp-screaming sorcerous engine, and the Knight Rampager, a frothing melee monster. Pick whichever matches your household's flavour of awful.
Recommended: War Dog Karnivore
Give the Abhorrent Knight the extra evenings
Your Abhorrent-class Knight is the centrepiece by default, so treat it that way: full corruption effects, weathering down the legs, glow around the eyes and vents, and a base that tells a story. Crushed masonry and an unlucky loyalist are traditional. This one model carries the army's whole identity and is worth every extra evening you give it. Build it after the War Dogs, when your skills have caught up with your ambitions.
Six models feel every points change
11th edition reset points and datasheets, and with so few models in a Knights list a small change matters more here than almost anywhere. Look at today's points before you decide whether the list wants another War Dog or a second big Knight. Starter-style boxes rotate too. If a Chaos Knights-flavoured one exists when you begin, it is usually the best value on the shelf.
Spikes you do not need yet
- A third big Knight before the first is painted. The dark gods reward finishers.
- Chaos Space Marine allies "for objectives". That is a second army in a trench coat.
- Every weapon-arm magnet scheme you saw online. Build one loadout, play, then decide.
- More trophy bits. The sprues already give you plenty of skulls. You have enough skulls.
The household's roll of the damned
Fallen houses keep meticulous rolls of their damned, and a six-model army keeps yours short. Log each kit on the day it arrives and give it a state: boxed, built or finished. With this few models an all-finished collection is within reach, and few things in the hobby feel better. The complete catalogue of engines and their histories is on the Chaos Knights faction page under Data.