Relic Knight One Shot Spotlight

 ...The debris was far too heavy for her to move, but she pulled on it anyway and actually felt something shift below her. She says she realized then that she was not actually trying to dislodge Goliath wreckage but something different. She could feel it; a power, a machine, at once strange and very familiar. She stepped back and willed it to rise. With a rumble and crash, her relic ripped free. It stood, lean and lethal, in the smoky air, reeking of scorched metal, gun oil, and dissipating esper. Without any more thought, she mounted up and settled her sites on the renders as if she’d been doing it her whole life. She proved instrumental in driving the Noh off Findor Major without Anphis Rah—the first Noh warlord captured alive.

Alliance Security plucked her from the ranks and trained her as a special operations agent, which is when she adopted her callsign. We approached her soon after that and made a very generous offer, I can tell you. She refused, but we left the door open. Once her term of service ended, the money simply proved too tempting. Alliance Security screamed and even tried to declare her a state asset. Black Diamond and the Guild really wanted a Knight that they could show in public, though, especially one with a relic; so they stared the Alliance down. It took almost a cycle of bureaucratic maneuvering, but the Alliance blinked first, and One Shot signed on with us.

It’s worth mentioning that One Shot has an uneasy relationship with her cypher. Fritz is a much more, ah, pragmatic soldier. He’s also obviously got his own agenda. I’ve no doubt that his calculating logic and constant insistence convinced her to join us. After all, we give her a lot more flexibility in deployments and methods. Those methods are where the two most often butt heads. One Shot is a soldier with a good head on her shoulders, but she’s no hardened commander. You always know she’s going to try to get the job done with the lowest possible body count. Fritz is a cold tactician, brilliant and ruthless. He’s neither careless nor stupid, but understands that we’re all disposable assets.

They’re undeniably effective, but this dynamic means One Shot can be a somewhat problematic asset. She takes a rather dim view of many of our extracurricular activities. Like the diamond corps, you need to get her to do what you want without telling her very much. Keep her out with the grunts winning fights and the propaganda war. But don’t push her or do anything too questionable with her around. She may become expendable if she proves troublesome, but for now she’ll happily blow your targets to oblivion.

Relic Knight One Shot and Fritz are back and they mark the fourth re-sculpted kit since Ignition Core Games took on the Relic Knights license. Definitely our largest and most detailed re-sculpt thus far as befits our first re-sculpted Relic Knight, and I am proud of this one. Great care was taken by our sculptor and art director to ensure that the design remained faithful to the original sculpt, while also improving on it in many ways.

Both the Relic and the Knight piloting it look great from all angles.

There are also two poses for One Shot included in the kit. Pick your favorite of the two. Though I know It'll be a difficult choice for me. I love them both.

We even matched One-Shot's outfit with her Questing Knight version!

At 21 points to field, she accounts for over 40% of your points budget in a list, but let's take a look at the premium-grade firepower you get from that points investment. Regardless of which shooting attack you choose, Relic Knight One Shot's Concentrated Fire cadre ability can easily add two points of damage to it.

Daystar Blast is easily the most powerful of the two abilities. Damage 6 + Damage 2 from the press, plus Damage 2 from Concentrated Fire brings you up to Damage10. Rapidfire Piercing1 allows you to ignore up to 6 armor on your target (this will be crushing against Shattered Sword) and Overcharge turns off your opponent's defensive action for that attack.

If the unit survives this attack, Focused Shot is a surge ability, allowing you to use it the very next turn, even if One Shot has a command token on her. With presses and One Shot's cadre ability, this attack can be cranked up to Damage 8, Piercing 2 which is very likely to finish off anything lucky(?) enough to survive her Daystar Blast.

Relic Knight One Shot brings raw firepower to your cadre that will leave few things standing and nothing unscathed in your opponent's cadre. And 'Point Blank' ensures that her gun will continue firing, even if she's engaged.

Relic Knight One Shot's cypher, Fritz, also brings a couple of valuable skills to the cadre. Harrying Fire is an AoE that prevents units within 3" from paying out of hand for their defense actions. This will help increase the effectiveness of One-Shot's 'Focused Shot' attack as well as increasing the lethality of attacks from other units in your cadre. Being able to see your opponent's hand with 'Counter Intelligence' is nice to have too.

Overall, this kit makes a great centerpiece model and gives Black Diamond players a lethal answer to the high armor values and powerful defense actions of Shattered Sword. Just like her Questing Knight version, Relic Knight One Shot can also effectively lead the Void units in the Radiant vs Void Two Player Starter Set, and will round out the Black Diamond Battle Box very nicely.

Black Diamond will be returning to the Relic Knights lineup soon, so subscribe here to be first in line when they drop. Next update we will check in with our friends at Warsenal and see what they have in store for Black Diamond...