Imperial Knight
Somewhere between a regular walker and a Titan, the Imperial Knights are large single pilot war machines, similar to the Tau Riptide. Usually humanoid, the cockpit for the pilot is mounted in the head or just behind it in the main body.
About the Knights
The knights are allied with, or in some cases part of the Adeptus Mechanicus rather than being part of the Imperium. Knight Worlds are worlds which supply forge Worlds with foodstuff and raw materials and are defended by Knight Households. The Knight World gathers foodstuff and ores for a set period of time (usually a year) before the Adeptus Mechanicus arrive in a forge ship bringing new knight suits in exchange for the raw materials. As with most Imperial or Mechanicus forces, the Knight households wear bright heraldry.
Houses
There are two types of knight household, though a third association does exist.
- Those who align themselves with the Imperium directly such as Imperial Houses, acting as independently operating vassals of a greater empire (much like Space Marine Chapters do), therefore answering calls for aid as they feel like, rather than being ordered to. Examples of Imperial Houses are:
- House Terryn - House known for it's honour and bravery as well as rigidly adhering to ritual and ceremony. Supposedly it's homeworld of Voltoris is so peaceful and boring that it only encourages them them campaign across the galaxy. (their colour scheme is blue)
- House Hawkshroud - A very Noblebright house, who believe that kindness should be returned tenfold and who answer any and all requests for assistance, which means their homeworld of Krastellan lies virtually undefended. Also have links with the Imperial Fists having been praised by the chapter master against Eldar of Alaitoc. (their colour scheme is also yellow)
- House Cadmus - were once bound to the Mechanicum, but regained their independence and became an Imperial House when Gryphonne IV was nom nomed by Tyranids. Based on the mutant infested forest world of Riasa, they engage on mutant hunts ever year, with the winner getting to rule the house until the next hunt.
- House Degallio
- House Griffith - A house of hotheads who almost exclusively make use of the Knight Errant pattern and come from a planet inhabited by Actual Dragons. They are also one of the smallest knight houses, but remain one of the most respected. They engage in regular jousting tournaments using old fashioned horses, but wearing adamantium armour. Have a preference for close combat.
- House Mortan
- Other households are directly aligned to the Adeptus Mechanicus and are based on (or linked to) Forgeworlds, though retain their independence from the Cult Mechanicus they do have reciprocal trade and resupply agreements as well as swearing oaths of protection. Examples of Mechanicum Houses include:
- House Taranis *The First* of all Knight House (read Mechanicum) and were founded on Mars prior to the great crusade.
- House Raven - The largest of all Knight Households, based on the world of Kolossi and have close links to Forgeworld Metalica. Suspected to hold secret STC data which explains why they have so many Knight suits.
- House Krast - The first Knight World (Chrysis) to be rediscovered during the Great Crusade, it's proximity to Mars mean't it was swiftly brought into the fold, but had its homeworld ravaged by Horus during the Heresy. They have a preference for hunting traitor titans.
- House Vulker.
- Sometimes, individual Knights detach themselves from Noble Houses entirely, either having been dishonoured, shunned or otherwise made unable to continue life within the Household. These knights break out on their own, either questing across the stars, or settling down and protecting the settlements on whichever worlds they end up on.
Knight Patterns
The Knights themselves come in several varieties, all of which have an energy shield to protect them from incoming fire and have a mix of shooty and choppy. Two varieties have just recently appeared in the 40K model range, the Knight Paladin with its rapid fire battlecannon and the Knight Errant with its thermal cannon. Other varieties, yet to be seen in 40k, are the Knight Lancer - similar to the Paladin, but faster and with more choppy, the Knight Crusader with Lascannons and a titan grade Quake Cannon, the Knight Castellan with Autocannons and a Quake Cannon and the command Baron class Knight with an even faster firing battlecannon, improved armour and the speed and choppiness of the Lancer.
Knights usually deploy alongside Titan legions as auxiliary forces. Although some patterns of Knight are capable of going toe to toe with smaller titans, or even larger titans outfitted exclusively for ranged combat, the Knights usual role is anti-infantry or anti-light vehicle freeing up the Titans to attack superheavies.
In game terms, the Knight Paladin and Knight Errant are superheavy walkers with strength D close combat weapons, a big gun and a special Ion Shield that gives them a 4+ invulnerable on a facing chosen at the start of each of your opponents shooting phases. The Paladin also mounts two heavy stubbers, and the Errant one heavy stubber.
Times of Epic
Back in the times of Epic Warhammer 40000, there were more types of Knights apart from the Paladin and the Errants:
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Lancer: Faster than other Knights, this pattern is all about scouting, distraction and hit and run tactics. Instead of its standard Shock Lance, it can swap it for a shorter in range, yet more powerful Power Lance. The only downside of them is that they are the most fragile of Knight Pattern. |
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Crusader: Slower, yet more sturdier and powerful, Crusaders are armed with heavy weapons that are usually found on Warlord or Imperator Class Titans (such as the Quake Cannon). Due to them moving slow (blame the heavy weapons and loads of armoured bits) compared to other Knights, these behemoths are used to snipe targets from extreme range and act as a powerful support force for the rest of the Knights. |
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Castellan: The short-ranged cousin of the Crusader that swaps its Lascannons for multi-barreled Autocannons. This makes the Castellan a nightmare for infantry and light vehicles, as well as allowing it to deplete an enemy Titan's shields in a disturbingly short time. |
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Baron: The biggest, baddest of all the Knights. Baron Knights are piloted by the deadliest members of a Knight House. Each Baron is actually build from the very basics as a ace-custom for its pilots. Combining armour and power to keep up with Lancers (yet being nearly as tough as Crusaders), as well being usually armed with Battle Cannons and the Lancer's Power Lance, the Barons lead their kinsmen to war and victory. |
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Warden: Piloted by the eldest (read retired) members of a Knight House, these goofy looking Knights shouldn't be underestimated as much as the old timers that pilot them. Warden Knight make up (like the Crusader) the heavy support part of a Knight House in the long-range category. Although not as fast as the youngsters, the pilots of Wardens make it up with years of brutally hard-won experience that makes them as deadly as the Barons. |
Why Knight Titans are Awesome
Knight Titan lore is some of the coolest stuff in 40K. True to both the medieval tradition and epic feel that 40K thrives from, Knight Titans protect the Agri Worlds that the Mechanicus use to supply (but predominantly feed) their incredibly ravenous Forge Worlds. These Titans are easier to produce by far than even the humble Warhound Titan, and so can be made reliable, and produced as an afterthought. So Knights aren't the biggest, baddest, most overblown thing in 40K. But, they are to the Knight Worlders. The people who live and die on those Agri Worlds, delineated from other Agri Worlds by their designation of Knight World, are all on the technology and societal levels of Medieval Europe. A lot of these worlds look like the Empire, from Warhammer Fantasy. Kings and Queens, Arthurian legend, stone brick castles an skullcapped peasantry. Fields and forests forever.
Imagine what someone from that world would think when they see a Knight Titan. The most agile giant robots the Imperium makes, capable of tanking lasers and plasma bombs, towering silently in a field on a world that probably doesn't even have gunpowder weaponry or a Copernican idea of the night sky. The kingdoms of the planet may have their petty wars, but life is dominated by meeting the food and resource quotas of machine-men from the sky, who build and fix the Knights that children and adults look at like gods or monsters, machine-men who could destroy a whole kingdom if they wanted to by dropping stars from the sky. Kingdoms train their nobles and knightly warriors to fight with swords, horses, and hammers. They drum up armies from farming peasants, and use squads of bowmen to kill men at range. Except for the Knight Titan pilots. Those who are honorable enough or skilled enough may graduate beyond knighthood, to Knighthood. Someone who takes a bath maybe twice a month and lives by torchlight has the duty to step inside a machine of such power an complexity that the science of the Third Millennium would be incapable of comprehending it. Those men are revered beyond their kings, for they are the wielders of magic and death, and are given more power than any other man on the planet. Those men fight monsters, murderous warriors from the sky, and even other Knight Titans from an enemy kingdom. Sometimes, when the machine men come down when they aren't expected, the men who pilot the machines must go to fight with the machine men in their wars. Not a war on the other side of the world, but a war on a distant star, surrounded by machines and giants even larger than they are.
Imagine the man who has the lifelong job of knowing how to run the Knights, and training the pilots. Imagine. The king that gives the order to bring his horsemen around the left flank, and fire the laser cannon onto the walls of his enemy's castle. Children grow up playing with a giant metal man standing over them, covered in livery and gold leaf. Old men tell stories of when their kingdom's metal giant slew a giant beast, or destroyed a castle, or ran across the planet to bring medicine to the king. Imagine what a pilot is to his subjects, or his lords. What legends would be told of them, the men who step inside the kingdom's giant? Not legends told of incomprehensible gods or statistic-scale tragedies, but of simple, honorable soldiers; told by humble, hardworking people for centuries after those soldiers are dead.
6th Edition
Imperial Knights became a Codex in 6th edition. With the ability to be a primary detachment of 3-6 knights or secondary of 1-3 knights, to any army so far without limitations(have fun 'nid players) Knights may not ally with Chaos, Daemons, Necrons or Nids. They are desperate allies with Dark Eldar and Tau, allies of convenience with Eldar and Grey Knights, and battle brothers with all other factions. However, the Imperial Knights only come with 2 variations, the Paladin Knight and Errant Knight, each models is 375 and 370 respectively. To compound issues the Knights have no upgrades meaning it'll be hard to fit in points without taking a secondary attachment.
Note: Imperial Knights are only Vehicles, so no objective scoring unless you take allies GW announced the WD versions are scoring if they're your primary. But lets face it you're always playing Purge the Alien anyway, even when its not. (Although the editor of WD put this on facebook to a question on the GW digital editions page "Some clarification on the rules we presented in White Dwarf today for some folks here: the Imperial Knights don't occupy any force organisation slots, they are not Lords of War, they are an army unto themselves. Something we forgot to say is that all Imperial Knights are scoring units, and if you're playing 3-6 as a primary detachment, pick one as your Warlord." so we might get an FAQ soon.)
Lets do the numbers:
- 1000 pts - You can have up to 2 models to fit the points cost. Sadly this means no Primary Detachment in low point games.
- Max Points cost without going over - 750pts.
- 1250 pts - Up to three models this time, making it the first points level you can play with your Primary detachment. Sadly you'll be short more than 100pts. Maybe you could take some upgrades? Oh wait...
- Max Points cost without going over - 1125pts.
- 1500 pts - Perfect if you plan on only taking Paladins, taking Errants will only punish you 5pts per Errant so not too bad. At this points cost you can field 4 of these Knights.
- Max Points cost without going over - 1500pts.
- 1750pts - Worst, since each Knight costs over 300pts and 1500 pts is a sweet spot you'll be unable to field anything more than what you can in 1500pts.
- Max Points cost without going over - 1500pts.
- 1850pts - Sweetspot if you are using only Errant Knights since if you have 5 of them they are perfect 1850 pts. Otherwise you'd have to ask your opponent for five more points depending on how many Paladins you want to throw in.
- Max Points cost without going over - 1850pts.
- 2000pts - This is another 1750pts issue, you can't go higher than 1850pts without going over because the model costs at least 370pts. Which puts it higher than 2000pts.
- Max Points cost without going over - 1850pts.
- Note: This is all speculation as the new Codex may have different rules and upgrades, best to wait.
So what if you want to deploy 6 Knights on the field at once? You are looking at somewhere between 2220 - 2250pts. If you can do this you just paid $840 American for an entire army of only 6 models, you sir are the envy of many neckbeards and clearly have more money than sense. And we thought the Grey Knights were an elite army per model.
Note: Flyers will laugh at your knights as they don't have any anti-flyer weapons (well minus the heavy stubber).