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Tank

2022-04-10T10:56:51Z

2600:1700:91C1:A4E0:C86:B4EC:A682:22CC:

''Were you looking for the MMO role that gets applied to tabletop games? If so, we have that under [[Combat roles]]''

{{Topquote|'' Remember Comrades, we are tank!''
<br>''They take out treads, we are artillery!''
<br>''They take out main gun, we are pillbox!''
<br>''They take out machine gun, we are bunker!''
<br>''They take out armor, we are heroes!''
|A popular internet copypasta about a tank's various roles in a nutshell}}

{{Topquote|''It got in the way... and it died.''|Company of Heroes 2}}

[[image:Char_FT-17.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A French Renault FT-17 Tank, the first tank to have the rough layout that would be the norm for tanks (Crew in the front, top mounted 360 degree turret for main gun, engine in back)]]

A '''tank''' is a tracked, armored combat vehicle. The term is often limited to vehicles intended for direct combat, (e.g. as opposed to self-propelled artillery, which stay to the rear) or armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, which are on the front line but are primarily tasked with carrying soldiers as opposed to fighting directly, and may not necessarily be tracked. Their invention revolutionized warfare in the 20th century, and any wargame set in or after that time period, or in alternate universes with similar or more advanced technology levels, will have plenty of attention devoted to them -- or to whatever made them obsolete (e.g. [[BattleTech]]).

The idea of an armored fighting vehicle dates back at least to [[wikipedia:Leonardo's fighting vehicle|Leonardo da Vinci]] and was explored by [[H. G. Wells]] and a few theorists, but the modern tank was proposed shortly before World War I, and was then spurred to production by the war itself. When the war on the Western Front got bogged down in trenches, the British Royal Navy, who had already had some success with mobile armoured car groups, had the idea to use tracked, armored vehicles with guns to break the stalemate. The name "tank" became attached to the vehicle as a codename to disguise the purpose of the large metal bodies being built. After the first tanks rolled onto the battlefield, other countries called them "battle wagons", "armors", "assault vehicles", and other more descriptive names, but the Anglosphere was stuck with calling them "tanks". (Interestingly, the original British Tank, which looked like a tractor with a metal box on top of it was called "Little Willy".)

Some are incorrectly calling Tanks the new battleship & thus obsolete after Russia got their asses kicked by Ukraine. [[Fail| However Russia stills fights like they did during WW2]], despite their advanced gear. Some even had their own Explosive Reactive Armor removed and no sign of mounted Active Protective Systems. [[derp|The latter the Soviets invented back in the fucking 70s]].
So their incompetence is not evidence that Tanks are useless in the 21st century. Not to mention that a Ukrainian Tank Brigade was able to defend the city of Chernihiv from the Russians despite being outnumbered with older [[T-64]]'s. Showing that Tanks are still useful on the battlefield, they just need to be used correctly.

==Common Features of the Tank==

Tanks were built with pretty much any set of features you could imagine, but over time, the militaries of the world settled on several common key features:

# One single main gun, carefully chosen so it is both powerful enough to knock out other tanks with armor-piercing shots and still able to use high-explosive shells to deal with 'soft' targets.
# A turret to house the main gun, to allow the tank to shoot at targets without having to pivot the entire vehicle.
# Good protection against most battlefield weapons, with a heavily-armoured front face to defeat anti-tank weapons.
# An engine with a lot of torque and horsepower to give it both decent acceleration and top speed. The ability to run on multiple types of fuel is a big plus.
# Tracks with independent long-travel suspension for each roadwheel, to improve mobility.
# '''A radio!'''

Basically, tanks boil down to three main features: firepower, defense, and mobility. Trying to specialize in one or two attributes tended to come at the expense of second or third attributes. The heavier your guns and/or armour, the slower the tank will be, for instance, while a vehicle made for mobility has to sacrifice either protection or the size of its guns. Nowadays, tanks designers try to maximize all three attributes by being cleverer about achieving their goals, with their main limitations being weight and profile. Additionally, a fourth factor to consider in design are support systems: while not necessarily integral to the design of a tank, they are nonetheless essential in allowing it to work as one, as evidenced by the radio.

===Offense===

As mentioned in the summary above, one of the if not ''the'' defining attribute of the modern tank is its main gun. A modern (i.e. third gen and up) main battle tank must be able to engage any threat it encounters on the battlefield (and occasionally flying above it), hence the gun itself is a carefully weighed compromise between raw firepower, versatility and overall mass. Nowadays most tanks sport a gun with a calibre between 100mm and 125mm. Said gun must be capable of firing a wide range of different projectile types: at the bare minimum, it should have ammunition specialized for dealing with hard targets such as opposing tanks, or soft targets such as infantry.

Historically though, this was not always the case. The very first tanks, like the british Mk.IV and the german A7V didn't really have a primary armament but were bristling with guns and machineguns. Initially, side-mounted sponsons were adopted for carrying armament because they could aim downwards into trenches. Obviously, as soon as trenches fell out of favour, so too did sponsons. Additionally, as an enemy tank will never be in said trench, [[Land Raider|mounting an anti-tank weapon in the sponson is utterly retarded.]]

The first one to figure out the 'definitive' solution as described above were the French with their Renault FT-17 (pictured above), the very first to adopt a turret for the main armament of the tank. While the FT-17 was plagued by a host of teething problems it's overall design was so efficient and cost-effective that ''absolutely everyone'' jumped upon the bandwagon at the end of WWI, and (almost all) the rest is history. Indeed, at one point all nations toyed with the idea of multi-turreted tanks or ''land battleship'' concept, [[Baneblade|whereby a tank would have multiple turrets each with their own weapon]]. The idea was that the tank could attack in all directions at once, but in practice this led to horribly oversized monstrosities that were less efficient than simply building more tanks with the same armament. The madness then died down and coalesced into two main lines of though right before WW2: The Americans, British and French limited the amount of guns to two on their heavier tanks, one bigger casemate-mounted howitzer to deal with infantry/pillboxes and one smaller turreted AT gun (see also Char B1, the early Churchills and the M3 Lee). The Germans on their side decided 'fuck it!' and just went for specialized tanks sporting either a small-bore long-barreled AT gun or a broad-bore short-barelled howitzer, and then just had both type collaborate on the battlefield (see early Pz.III and Pz.IV). And this went swimmingly for them, at least until the Russians finally entered the dance in 1941 and deployed the revolutionary T-34, whose 76mm gun demonstrated it was possible to have a tank gun both capable of tackling armour ''and'' blowing stuff up with explosive shells, setting the precedent that stands up to this day.

Once at that point, the overall design was definitively set and guns just got bigger and better from thereon. Starting with the Soviet T-62, they started to go from rifled to smoothbore guns. If you are in any way familiar with the development of gunpowder weapons, this may seem like a baffling decision, but there is a good reason. Anti-tank shot went from a simple lump of steel to sub-calibre munitions like APCR and APDS, as detailed on the [[cannon]] page. These essentially try to be better at penetrating by focusing more energy on a smaller area. A later development was APFSDS, the famous "Silver Bullet" or arrow-like penetrators which turned Saddam's tanks into ooey gooey explody Swiss cheesey. Likewise, they also started using HEAT shells, which are designed to use the power of a focused explosion to bore their way through armour; at one point, they were so effective that tanks were designed specifically around their use. Both of these munitions types actually ''suffered'' from the rotational forces imparted by a rifled barrel. For APCR, APDS, and APFSDS, rifling does not stabilize subcalibre rounds nearly as well; likewise, the shaped charge jet from HEAT shells doesn't hold together as well if it's spinning itself apart. Getting rid of the rifling solved a huge number of other problems: it made it easier to fire missiles out of the guns, and also meant that you could fire higher velocity projectiles without having to reline the bore more frequently. The main exception was HESH, which was essentially a shell full of plastic explosive that flattens itself against targets; upon detonation, it creates a shockwave that is transmitted through the material, causing it to break and shatter if concrete, or to spall off into deadly shrapnel if steel. The spin imparted by rifled barrels helps the explosive pat out more evenly, hence why it is still commonly used by the Brits in their tanks.

During the 1960s, there was an attempt to replace the gun with a missile or gun-missile system which... didn't quite pan out. The main problem is that to accommodate guidance systems, fuel, and all that jazz, missiles are a lot larger than an equivalent tank shell, which strictly limits the amount of ammunition that can be carried. Furthermore, limitations associated with the technology at the time (heavy and fragile hardware, minimum firing ranges) precluded their use on tanks. Future vehicles may carry railguns instead, pending the development of a sufficiently capable, lightweight power system and barrels that don't become slagged after like five shots or so.

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On a sidenote:
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That said, while tanks began to coalesce around the turreted concept many remained turretless and as [[Wikipedia:Sturmgeschütz_III|the German StuG]] proves, were successful weapons in their own right. The lack of a turret does have some advantages thanks to how it lowers overall profile and allow for a larger gun to be mounted than could otherwise be the case. That said, a turret-less tank is only really useful if you don't have the money to make a turreted tank, don't have a bigger tank for your bigger gun, ''and'' will only be fighting on the defensive. The latter is the reason why the only guys ever serious about turretless tanks after WWII were the Swedes with their Stridsvagen 103, and the Germans, with their [[Jaguar Jagdpanzer|Kanonenjagdpanzer 90]]. Even today, many SPG's are still built turretless, however those 'support vehicles' aren't considered proper tanks as they lack both the armor and the tactical flexibilty to act as one.
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In addition to the main gun, you also have the following secondary weapons:

*'''Machine guns:''' They've been around since the beginning, in some cases serving as primary weapons, and they're still around as secondary weapons on most armoured vehicles. They can be mounted pretty much anywhere: on the front of the hull, in its own turret on the hull, in the commander's cupola, on the side of the hull, on the back of the turret, beside the cannon (coaxial), or on top of the turret next to the hatch. The latter two are preferred for modern tanks: the coaxial can easily be used by the loader or gunner without having to change stations, and the top-mounted gun can be aimed pretty much anywhere around the tank, including at aircraft.

* '''Autocannons:''' The next step up from machine guns. Like machine guns, they've also served on primary weapons on more than a few tanks. After the Second World War however, they've tended to be relegated to the status of secondary armament, with potential use against light armoured vehicles and helicopters. Despite their obvious firepower advantages, most tanks don't have them, on account of being rather cumbersome and requiring a separate ammunition supply. The only places where you could feasibly mount them are coaxially alongside the main gun like the French [[AMX-30]]; otherwise, you'd have to create a separate compartment somewhere on the turret or hull, as was done with the experimental MBT-70, which had a retractable cupola for it.

* '''Grenade launchers:''' While tank cannons may fire high explosive shells of greater potency, an automatic grenade launcher has similar flexibility to a machine gun in urban environments, only with more firepower. Another form of grenade launcher is the smoke projector that many tanks incorporate as a defensive measure, but that's for later discussion.

* '''Mortar:''' Like the grenade launcher, a mortar on a tank can be handy for fire support. The Aussies took a page from the Germans' "mad genius" book and mounted a [[awesome|7-rounds 178mm spigot mortar]] on the back of a Matilda II tank, the idea being to give their infantry support tanks some serious close-range firepower for those cases something needed to be softened before an assault. That said, it didn't really take off: there were much more efficient ways of providing fire support separate from a tank, and the only reason it was worth bothering with was because many early-war British tanks of that period (like the Matilda) had extremely poor or even non-existent high-explosive shell capability. Nowadays, the only tank to feature a mortar is the [[Merkava]], which largely serves as a utility weapon for firing special munitions such as smoke or illumination rounds.

* '''Rockets:''' During the Second World War, a lot of countries experimented with mounting rockets on tanks, ranging from the various German ''Nebelwerfer'' attachments or the Calliope mounted on the American M4 Sherman. Like with the example of the Matilda II above, the point was to provide fire support in anticipation of an assault, or otherwise simply reuse obsolete tanks. They fell by the wayside for similar reasons, or were re-invented as dedicated artillery vehicles (like for instance the [[TOS-1 Buratino]]).

* '''Guided missiles:''' While attempts to use guided missiles as primary armament in tanks have largely failed to succeed ([[Pereh|with one exception]]), they are still being developed as a special munition designed to be launched out of the main gun. This provides tanks with an option to engage targets that are difficult to hit at distance with their main gun, which can include helicopters. Lighter tanks like the [[M551 Sheridan]] typically use guided missiles to give them an extra anti-armor punch when needed. Similarly, old Soviet tanks like the [[T55AM2]] are upgraded to fire advanced missiles as a way of extracting more usage from obsolete but otherwise functional equipment.

===Defense===

In general, tanks are designed to maximize their protection for a given weight. Initially, the only criteria during World War I was that tanks should be bulletproof... which they were, to some extent. While their armour might have been thick enough to deflect most bullets, poor quality steel and riveted construction meant that tank crew tended to get injured anyways by pieces of steel breaking off from repeated impacts. They also did jack squat against artillery, large bundles of grenades, poison gas, and flamethrowers; later in the war, the Germans developed special armour-piercing bullets and anti-tank rifles that could punch straight through.

Fast forward to the Second World War. Early on, you still had tanks that were so poorly armoured that they could be easily pierced in several places by heavy machine gun fire or special anti-tank rifles. As tanks got bigger and more capable however, they started to incorporate not only thicker, welded armour, but also a technique known as sloping. Basically, what this involved is the angling of armour plates to increase their line of sight thickness, so a 45mm plate angled at 45 degrees relative to an incoming shot would effectively have a thickness of 90mm. This technique was not unknown before the war, but the size limitations of earlier tanks made it difficult to implement, as sloped armour ate into usable interior space; it was also a little harder to build than just slapping everything together at right angles. Of course, then the T-34 came along and showed that sloping could make plates of even modest thickness repel any early or pre-war anti-tank weapon, and then on sloping became an integral feature for almost all tanks.

All seemed fine and dandy until some assholes started knocking together something called a shaped charge onto lightweight launchers that [[Tankbustas|a complete bunch of nutters could use to take out a tank]], creating weapons like the American M1 Bazooka or the German Panzerfaust. At some point during the Cold War, the increasing effectiveness of shaped charge weaponry made some designers throw up their hands and give up on providing maximum protection to their tanks. If the thickest armor you can put on a tank is going to get penetrated anyway then your best bet is not to armor it at all and focus on maximizing speed and minimizing profile to make sure you don't get hit to begin with. The German [[Leopard 1]] and French [[AMX-30]] were designed according to this principle, when it seemed like it would be impossible to defend against new HEAT shells. Others kept experimenting, and by the 1970s, people developed measures to deal with them, starting with the well-known principle of spaced armour, and then moving on to quartz and ceramic plates.

Nowadays, most modern tanks have good protection all around from most weapons, with a particularly heavily-armoured turret and front to resist dedicated anti-armor weapons. Most modern tanks have some form or another of composite armour, which consists of layers upon layers of spaced steel plates, ceramic tiles, kevlar liners, and so forth. The idea is that by putting these various materials together, you can achieve greater protection against most things for far less weight than an equivalent protection level of steel, though it does become quite bulky. How these materials exactly work together is not entirely known to even the most pretentious armchair generals. What can be said, however is that there are two big ways to defeat armour: punch through it with enough force (and, for an added treat, explode inside after that) or smash it with sufficient force it shatters and the debris ravage what is behind (somthing called 'spalling'). Thus, modern composites deflect brute-force projectiles away and have spall liners woven throughout to prevent spalling from killing the crew.

Below are a few devices and techniques utilized for defensive purposes:

*'''Smoke Dischargers:''' The little pipes or beehive-like clusters you see on the turrets and hull of the tank are smoke launchers, which fire a single salvo of smoke grenades upon activation. You may find the idea of trying to [[Creed|hide a tank]] ridiculous, but a good tank commander will know how to use smoke to mask their movements in case they need to make a hasty retreat, or to cover an advance into a more favourable position. However, they're also really, really good at fouling up enemy sensors (anywhere from optical to infrared) and guidance systems.

*'''Camouflage:''' Because the best defence is often not getting spotted until it is too late. Visual camouflage in the Second World War was extensively employed to either make them more difficult to spot or to obfuscate their silhouette. For the former, tanks would be painted in colours that helped blend in with their background; netting, foliage, and/or debris may be incorporated to complete the look. The latter works by deceiving the enemy into thinking that the tank they're seeing from aerial reconnaissance is actually a truck, or that the tank over there does not have a gun capable of turning your tank inside out. Dealing with non-visual spectrums such as infrared or radar detection require the use of special materials or paints that make tanks harder to pick out of the background.

*'''Reactive Armor:''' As per the name, they are designed to react to incoming projectiles. The most common form is what is known as Explosive Reactive Armor or ERA: essentially metal boxes with a small explosive charge sandwiched between two metal plates. When a sufficiently large projectile hits an ERA tile, it detonates, forcing the metal plates apart; this can disrupt a shaped charge jet before it has time to form. Later versions like the Russian Kontakt-5 and Relikt are capable of defending against APFSDS munitions by forcing the penetrator off course, dissipating its kinetic energy. In addition, there is also what is known as Non-Explosive Reactive Armour or NERA. Instead of an explosive charge, NERA incorporates an elastic material that is wedged between the two metal plates. Like ERA, it will react to attacks; however, instead of exploding, the sandwiched layer will expand, with similar effects on incoming projectiles to ERA. Compared to ERA, they have the distinct advantage of not exploding, which makes them safe to use around infantry, so they tend to be more like easily-replaceable armour tiles; modern-day composite armours may also incorporate them into their defence arrays to varying extent.

*'''Slat Armor:''' Due to how shaped-charge rounds work, they need to detonate at the right distance of the armor to punch through it. Something as simple as a metal cage surrounding you can prevent the shaped charge from doing much damage by just making it go off early or warping the detonator upon impact, rendering it useless.

*'''Improvised Armor:''' Just like its name says. During the Second World War, tank crew tried to bulk up armour with whatever they could find in the field. These can take the form of salvaged armor plates from other tanks and bedspring mattresses, or nothing more than basic materials like sandbags, wooden logs, or ooncrete. Ironically, many of these materials were probably ''worse'' than nothing: the added weight overstressed components and slowed down whatever tank they were mounted on. Moreover, due to defects in HEAT design at the time, they may have actually ''enhanced'' the effect of the warheads by causing them to detonate at the optimal distance, away from the tank's main hull.

*'''Active Protection System:''' An active protection system is a device that shoots down or deflects incoming anti-armor projectiles. It takes two forms. The first is an electronics countermeasure system that detects incoming guided missiles and attempts to trick them into ''not'' hitting the tank, usually by messing with their guidance systems. The other type involves an active radar scanner linked together with a launcher or projectile weapon of some sort; when it detects an incoming projectile larger than a bullet, it calculates its incoming trajectory and then fires a projectile which destroys it mid-flight.

*'''Spaced Armor:''' Spaced Armor is what it sounds like. Armor with a large gap. This gap helps dissipate the shaped charge. The most obvious examples are goofy-looking thin plates around a WWII German tank's turret and tracks (''Schürzen'' or skirts). Although they were initially designed to deflect light AT guns and rifles, they may have had some effect against HEAT warheads, at least according to some people. Whatever was the case, it has been well-established that trying to force a shaped charge to travel through three feet of air will protect a tank far better than a foot of armour. Usually incorporated as one aspect of modern composite armour.

===Mobility===
Another major aspect of the modern tank is mobility. While early WWI behemoths like the British Mark I and the German A7V were content to lumber slowly forward with all guns blazing at the enemy, the need for higher speed and better cross-country capacity soon became apparent. Mobility in general is dependent on four major components, namely: the tracks, the suspension, the transmission and steering mechanism and the engine itself.

*Track design is as integral to the identity of a tank, as it allows it to move around without sinking into the ground. Modern tracks are so good at their job that a tank imparts a lower ground pressure (or weight per square inch on the surface) than an automobile tyre or a human foot. That said, they are a also a significant weak spot: they can break or slip off, leading to a complete loss of traction, and a stopped tank is a dead tank. Nowadays, tracks often use the so called "slack-track" approach: a number of road wheels low to the ground transfer the weight of the tank to the track, two sprocket wheels (one in front and one at the rear) transfer the motive energy to the track and a couple of return wheels on top keep the whole track tense while in use. (Other arrangements have been used historically, but they fell by the wayside due to either fragility, or being too maintenance-intensive.) Efforts are made to keep the height of the whole track assembly as low as possible, as no matter how cool the [[Wikipedia:Mark I tank|British Mark I]] looked, running the tracks over the top of the body is begging for a mobility kill. (Though to be fair to the Mark I, it needed its high tracks to cross trenches, and since it came first, there weren't really any weapons that could specifically take advantage of its exposed tracks at the time.)

*Even more than the tracks themselves, suspension is what allows tanks to travel easily over all terrain, absorbing all of the bumps and lumps. The earliest tanks did not have any suspension. By the Second World War however, you had vehicles using varying arrangement of helical and leaf springs to smooth the ride out a little. Most tanks now employ what is called torsion bar suspension, which translates the up-and-down movement of the roadwheel into a metal bar designed to resist twisting. A few newer models employ hydropneumatic suspension, which can be adjusted to cope with softer or harder terrain, as well as adding a few more degrees of elevation or depression for aiming the main gun.

*Transmission and steering of a tracked vehicle is quite complex in execution, however it is conceptually quite simple: turning is accomplished by accelerating one of the tracks and slowing/stopping the other one. While there have been many different combinations of engines/driveshafts/clutches/brakes to obtain this since the first WWI vehicles, modern tank design boils down to two concepts: Russian/Chinese ones favor two separate transmissions, one for each track; while Western ones prefer the so-called 'double differential' approach that adds a second driveshaft and idler sprocket wheel to each track that can be used to speed/slow it. One big advance of the modern tank (and tracked vehicle in general) is the so-called 'neutral steering' that allows the tracks to turn in opposite directions and the vehicle to easily and quickly turn on the spot, something a wheeled one would be hard-pressed to accomplish as quickly and smoothly (if at all).

* As for the engines, most tanks designed prior to the Second World War but after the First World War utilized the same engines as trucks and buses (cheap but underpowered), while a few settled on downrated airplane engines (lots of power but unreliable). At the start of the war, only the Germans dedicated engine production for military vehicles (which led to problems that we won't get into here) but it was the Soviets who would later take the cake, with the relatively lightweight yet powerful diesel Model V-2 in the T-34 (seeing a pattern here?) that would go onto to power almost all of their tanks. Most tanks nowadays go for diesels but a few use turbines. A diesel has the advantage of being fuel-efficient but with a rather poor power-to-weight ratio, while turbines run on nearly anything flammable and have much better power-to-weight ratio and are quieter, but are ''very'' thirsty and their much hotter exhaust can present some trouble to camouflage the vehicle against IR sensors and hazard to accompanying infantry. In the interest of making warfare more environmentally friendly, we may eventually see tanks driven by electrical power and hydrogen-fuelled turbines.

By nature, tanks have some wading capability, capable of going through water that would stop your average automobile dead. To go through deeper waters usually requires extensive modifications. The first truly amphibious tanks for instance, required canvas screens to be attached for flotation, along with a propeller driven by the tank's own engine. Presently, a few tanks, most of them Russian, have the capability to be driven completely underwater, provided that they're provided with a snorkel.

===Support===

In addition to the essential three attributes of offence, defence, and mobility, tanks rely on a whole host of systems to be tanking. While none of them are strictly speaking indispensable, those extra systems are what turn a tank from a mobile pillbox fighting on its own into a force multiplier able to support their fellow soldiers and efficiently outmanoeuver and take out what has the misfortune of being in front of them. Any modern tank design will weigh the pro's and contra's of outfitting the vehicle with said systems. Where some are a given other's aren't, and it will often boil down to intended use, economics and local limitations.

*'''Communications:''' The most vital improvement on this list, it comes in two distinct parts both equally important.
**'''Internal Communication''' An intercom is extremely important inside a tank because, well, tanks are '''[[Noise Marines|LOUD]]''', and it's the only way for the crew to talk to each other without going hoarse yelling at each other. And it's not a joke: before the advent of intercom the commander often had to kick the driver on the left or right shoulder to indicate the direction he wanted him to turn because even yelling wasn't working with the ruckus of the moving tank. Modern intercoms often have double and sometimes even triple-redundant systems, because it is that important for the commander to tell his driver where to go and his gunner where to shoot.
**'''External Communication''' Another not be overstated improvement is keeping in touch with other tanks as well as whoever is in charge. Having a system to coordinate multiple units determines whether or not a tank is a rolling pillbox or a decisive, mobile weapon of war. Inter-war tanks often relied on flag signals with only the company leader having a radio for coordination , but in the early thirties some guy named Guderian ordered "Each vehicle must have its own radio; no exceptions!" and the rest is history. Indeed, in both the battle for France and the early Operation Barbarossa the German tanks were outnumbered, undergunned and underarmored compared to their opponents but thanks to their radios, they were able to outmaneuver the enemy and take them apart. Queue everyone doing the same (even if Soviet tank crews actually communicated mostly in kicks and flags until well into 1943 because early Soviet radios were shit tier and tended to break in the first minute of every goddamn engagement), and still doing it today. The major improvement modern communication systems have brought is the ability to transmit not only voices but also data, which makes keeping everyone informed of the whereabouts of one's allies and enemies much faster and easier.
***'''IFF''' Piggybacking on the improved communications and electronics of modern vehicles, the "Identification, Friend or Foe" system is basically a nifty little system that transmits a 'I'm a friend, don't shoot me.' signal to any other unit in the vicinity when queried and (if all goes well, for it is not always 100% reliable, especially amongst multi-nation task forces) will prevent friendly fire incidents.

*'''Detection:''' Tanks have notoriously bad situational awareness, so people came up with solutions to improve it. The most basic instrument is of course, Eyeball Mk. I, initially relying on either vision slots, optical instruments such as periscopes, or the commander poking his head outside of the tank. In WWII, the Germans installed an armored cupola with vision slits atop the turret in order to improve the commander's sight while 'buttoned up'; near the end, they also came up with primitive infrared illuminators as well. Nowadays, you have an array of cameras, night-vision, and infrared/thermal imagers to give you a clearer picture of things.

*'''Fire Control:''' Another big chunk, fire control regroups any and every system meant to improve the main gun's accuracy and reduce the time between target acquisition and actually blasting it to smithereens. The first tanks did not have really anything in the way of such, seeing as they were meant to be used up close with the enemy. However, when it became clear tanks would be called upon to deal with other tanks, improvements were sought in roughly three different and complementary directions: improving accuracy at range, improving accuracy while on the move and improving accuracy when firing at a moving target. There are many historical attempts to achieve this, below you'll find a list of the most common historical ones, all culminating in the modern computerized fire control system.

**'''Sights:''' By the outbreak of WWII, tanks commonly used telescopic sights with stadiametric indicators for ranging; think a rifle scope, but adapted for the tank's gun. The indicators allowed for a precise compensation for the target's range and movement, however the scope by itself had no way to measure said values; and those were often left to the crew's experience, pre-battle reconnaissance and educated guesswork to determine.
**'''Ranging Shot:''' Laugh if you want, but an experienced gunner could use a quick burst from one of the tank's machineguns to make a decent estimate of the range to target and quickly compensate for the follow-up shot from the main gun. Sure, it was crude, but it worked pretty well for what it was. The British went a step further and attached ballistically-matched spotting rifles to their tank guns, where firing solution was confirmed by a tracer impact on target (the American M60 'Ontos' did it in 'nam as well).
**'''Rangefinder:''' As tank warfare rolled into the Cold War, people became more interested in ensuring first-shot accuracy, so tank designers once again took a page from the navy and started mounting dedicated optical rangefinders. Modern ones are laser-based and quicker to operate, but in essence the very same.
**'''Stabilizer:''' Essentially, this is a mechanism for keeping your main gun pointed in the right direction while moving. Initially, this wasn't seen as necessary, particularly since early designs didn't work that well: the one mounted on the American M4 Sherman tank for instance, only compensated for vertical movement. But as we've said earlier, a stopped tank is a dead tank, and moving makes it harder for you to be hit. Thus, even the earlier iteration became a critical time-saver, enabling the gunner to more quickly aim and fire after the tank comes to a stop. Later designs providing all-around stabilization have become essential for modern tanks, allowing for accurate firing while on the move.
**'''Ballistic Computer:''' A modern development allowing for the gunner to accurately compensate for the target's movement (and other factors if necessary), especially when his tank is moving as well.

Nowadays, tanks come with what are known as fire control systems, which comprise a suite of devices solely dedicated to ensuring main gun accuracy. They combine laser rangefinders to very accurately determine distance to target (assuming that the latter isn't obscured by obstacles, foliage, dust, smoke, or whatever), stabilizers and a ballistic computer into which information regarding the target's range, heading, and speed are inputted to come up with a firing solution far more quickly and accurately than a human ever could.

*'''Autoloader:''' A mechanism for automatically loading shells into the main gun, obviating the need for a loader. This is less of an obvious decision than it would seem. For decades, human loaders were actually regarded as better than mechanical loaders because they were generally faster and better: most early autoloaders had to depress the gun to a minimum elevation before loading and had difficulty switching between different types of shells. An autoloader that is put out of action by mechanical failure or damage will either make the cannon more difficult to load by hand or at worst, render it entirely inoperable, requiring extensive repairs in order to be restored to fighting condition. Plus, as mentioned in the previous section, having a human loader lends versatility and redundancy to a tank crew, as the loader could function as an additional pair of eyes and hands whenever needed. Initially, the main advantage to automating the loading process was that you could afford to have one less crew member, thus reducing overall weight. Newer developments however, can easily match or surpass human loaders in terms of loading speed, with the additional benefit of never tiring.

*'''Remote Weapon Systems''' The pintle-mounted gun is great for clearing out and suppressing infantry because it can rotate 360 degrees and is at the top of the tank, so it has a bird's-eye view of the area. Unfortunately, popping your head out to shoot at people makes you a prime target for snipers. A solution for this is having the pintle gun be virtually controlled from the inside by a remote weapon system, so the gunner can still shoot at targets without threat of catching a bullet in the face the moment they peek out of the hatch. Granted the gun itself can still be shot, but it's a lot easier to replace a machine gun than a trained crewman. The aforementioned blurb regarding replacing the MG with grenade launchers also apply here.

*'''Air Conditioning System/Climatization:''' Yes, I can already hear you laughing. First, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1rXLhow1Ro watch this 30 seconds video.] Then imagine having to ride/fight into a vehicle getting that hot for hours, you'll get the point. An airco is not strictly speaking mandatory, depending on where your tank is operating. But many modern designs include one by default, as it is an easy way to improve crew morale and efficiency.

*'''Automatic Fire Extinguisher''' Fire in the hull? No problem. Tap a button or just wait a few seconds, and in the Abrams' case, Halon gas at 7% puts it out.

*'''Damage Control:''' A big problem with tanks is them tanks going up from the ammunition being detonated when hit. The remains of the crew would be... messy, to say the least. Frequently they would be buried all together in a matchbox. So, once again, we came up with way to limit that happenstance.
**'''Common Sense, Better Training and Improved Logistics:''' Early in WWII, the doctrine called for full combat load and crews tended to cram in a generous extra helping of fuel, ammo and spare parts in their tanks, "just in case". This turned their tanks into mobile explosion hazards (just imagine a Sherman chock full of over 120 shells, 5000 MG rounds, extra fuel drums lashed to it... you get the idea). To remedy this, combat loads were lowered, logistics were improved to make sure tanks could be repaired and resupplied easily, and crews drilled to take on no more than needed for the mission; which led to a marked decrease in such big booms.
**'''Welded Armor:''' Toyed with by all belligerents, the idea was to weld extra armor plates on the outside of where the ammo racks were. Which was a double-edged sword: it added protection, but was also an unmistakable 'shoot here for full effect' sign. Quickly abandoned when it became clear guns would improve faster than armor.
**'''Ready-Rack and Secondary Ammo Stowage:''' The idea here is that the gunner/loader only keep around 'a handful of shells' (between 6 and 10 shells depending on the tank) inside the turret in easy reach, and the rest of the ammo stocked in armored compartments near the bottom of the tank, where the tracks/wheels/transmission/engine would work as that much added armor. The reasoning being that if a shot was powerful to reach the ammo stocked there in the least vulnerable part of the vehicle, the tank was fucked every way to Sunday anyway; and the decrease in rate of fire when the ready-rack needs restocking was an acceptable drawback for the improved protection. This concept is still in use on modern Russian/Chinese tanks, who have a rotating ammo carrousel at the bottom of the tank.
**'''Wet Storage:''' Ammo compartments surrounded by a reservoir full of a mix of glycerine and salt water that would flood the ammo compartment if breached and buy time for the crew to bail out by delaying the cook-off. Good idea that worked good enough (lowering the risk of a cook off by about 30% when first introduced with the M4A3E8 Easy Eight Sherman) but ultimately more hassle than it was worth, and dropped after WWII. But...
**'''Blowout Ammo Compartment:''' The idea of 'wet storage', adapted for modern tanks. They're basically compartments that blow outwards when the ammunition is hit and begin to burn; they vent the bang away from the main body of the machine, thus saving the million dollar tank (and the squishy but almost equally expansive meatbags inside). Sure, the tank must retreat to restock ammo, a new storage bin and some tuning up; but it can still fight with a small repair... if your ammo storage compartment wasn't open the moment it was hit.

*'''NBC protection:''' Because [[Nurgle|war never ceases to become dirtier]], modern vehicles are outfitted with a system that creates overpressure in the crew compartment and circulate air through a filtration device to protect against any nuclear, bacteriological or chemical agents outside.

==Crewmen==

Unlike a car or most combat airplanes, a tank isn't something that one person can fully operate alone (at least for today's standards). It is a large, complex machine that requires multiple people with specific tasks to keep it working. Never discount the importance of a well-trained crew, as they can be every bit as important as the selection of equipment. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV2nIkqnGBI While technically feasible] to operate a tank with only two people (a driver and a gunner, as was the case with the Renault FT), it’s much more practical to have more people per tank to divide the workload, especially since a successful tank battle is heavily determined by the time it takes to get off a successful shot. Early tanks were envisioned as 'landships' and had a crew of around ten men, but most tanks today have a crew of three or four, with some crewman having multiple duties to keep things as streamlined as possible.

*'''Commander''' The commander is the one who issues orders to all crewmen. Their main responsibilities for the tank are navigating for the driver, spotting targets for the gunner, and coordinating everyone to work as one well-oiled deathmachine. They're also the one who typically mans the hatch-mounted machine gun when needed. In modern times, they are also responsible for the radio, which gives them the responsibility of coordinating with other tanks or infantry as well.
*'''Driver''' Maneuvers the tank, but with a twist. Because the driver is typically near the bottom of the tank he only can see in front of him unless he sticks his head out of a hatch; his peripheral vision borders on the non-existent. Because of that, they have to rely on the commander for precise maneuvers when the tank is traveling at full speed. That said, it is still possible for a driver to maneuver the tank on his own (yay for vision slits and/or cameras). In modern times, they also double up as the crew's mechanic.
*'''Gunner''' Operates the tank's main cannon(s) and coaxial machine gun, again with a small twist. He's responsible for aiming the guns where they need to shoot and firing when appropriate. They can also double as a loader if one's not available. But because the gunsight is quite narrow they can only make fine adjustments on their own and so need the Commander to spot the target and give them the rough direction in which to point the gun in the first place for them to acquire it and blow it up. A tank typically only needs 1 gunner, but older models that have more than 1 main cannon (like the WW1 British Mark tanks) required a gunner for each gun.
*'''Loader''' Assists the gunner by loading the appropriate ammunition into the main gun. Loaders are less common in modern tanks due to rise of autoloaders these days, but older tanks needed them to perform efficiently and the extra man has advantages his own. These include helping in field repairs and helping fuel the tank up and in the Abrams' case manning a second pintle gun.
*'''Mechanic''' Responsible for fixing up the tank when it breaks down (well, the whole crew pitches in but he's the guy with the knowledge). In later years to ease space concerns; the driver typically doubles as the crew's mechanic.
*'''Radio Operator''' Operates the radio and relays any orders and communications with friendly forces to the commander. Due to advancements in radio technology; radio operators are no longer needed in modern tanks as the commander can do that on their own these days.

==Types of Tanks==

Whether it's real or fantasy, tanks are classified from their weight and/or armament profile. A modern catch all term for all purpose built and improvised combat vehicles, not necessarily tanks, is Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV). Here are the common ones:

===Not Actually Tanks===

Despite having treads and a gun, the following vehicles are not considered tanks. The difference is that tanks are designed for frontline combat, while other vehicles with treads are designed to carry and support infantry (APC/IFV), bombard enemy positions with heavy artillery (SPGs), or act as general support weapon systems. Many of these vehicles are light enough to be deployed by aircraft, giving them an edge over tanks in response time to emerging threats. If it isn't a purpose built chassis, they are frequently based on the previous or current tank being used to simplify logistics.

*'''Armored Personnel Carrier''' APCs are light vehicles designed to carry infantry and not much else. They're usually given a heavy machine gun to support the infantry they're carrying into battle and to defend itself, but they're highly unlikely to have more firepower than that. They're designed to protect against small arms fire, not tank shells. Unlike IFVs, APCs are not expected to fight on the front due to their lackluster protection and armaments. However, they're sometimes also amphibious, something that the vast majority of tanks are not, allowing for both seafront assaults and quick getaways down waterways. Don't expect anything bigger than a HMG (that being under 20mm, usually also under or equal to 15mm) and a grenade launcher. Very rarely a low caliber (20 to under 25mm) autocannon may be present. May have a couple ATGMs (Anti Tank Guided Missile) to suppress the enemy but it isn't designed to stay in a firefight, an APC is first and foremost a transport.
Examples: [[Rhino]], [[M113 Armored Personnel Carrier|M113]], Namer (notably, it is based on the Merkava, an MBT, and has unusually tough armor)

*'''Self-propelled gun (SPG)''' Vehicles armed with artillery weapons designed to bomb the enemy back into the stone age, ranging from howitzers, mortars, or missile systems. Typically built similarly to tanks, but sacrifice armor for their heavy guns since in normal circumstances they should be too far away to get shot at directly. Not to mention that some artillery pieces have a minimum range where they can drop their payload; thus, the SPG needs to put some distance between them and their target so that they can be in effective range. The advantage to having such artillery on an actual vehicle rather than being stationary, is that counter-battery fire can threaten static guns, while mobile guns can safely get out of the danger zone once they've delivered their payload. Self-propelled guns typically carry a 150+mm Howitzer, much larger than what any proper tank would carry. While mobile rocket platforms such as the [[BM-21 Hail]] or MLRS are more popular than Self-propelled guns and are capable of absolutely soaking an area in rocket spam, the SPG has the advantage of being able to sustain fire for longer periods of time. Besides that, most SPGs can also depress the barrel enough to engage something directly which can be useful in some situations (avoiding collateral damage, for instance). Do note that standard operating procedure for SPGs is to <s>leg it like a little bitch</s> tactically redeploy if the enemy close on their position: even if they carry a big gun, they are not front-line capable vehicles. Direct engagement is avoided even if a huge shell will ruin a punk's day just fine. May have a machine gun or two just in case (and theoretical anti-air in older models, mostly enough to scare them off with a burst of tracers), or an autocannon if the armed force is particularly passive aggressive and has money to blow on useless overkill.
Examples: [[Basilisk Artillery Gun]], [[M109 Howitzer]]

*'''Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG)''' Tank-like vehicles armed with weaponry designed to shoot aircraft out of the sky to provide mobile anti-air cover. There are only three real ways to shoot a very fast moving aircraft out of the sky. [[Dakka|First you can use as many rapid fire guns as you can to fill the air with as many bullets as you can and hope for one hit]]. Second, you can fire one big shell up into the air and at a certain height have it explode spraying shrapnel around it self to score the one hit you need, this are known as Anti Air Artillery, and are known in the English world by the name the Germans used during World War 2, flak. Both have been superseded by AA missiles which can track a target and put that shrapnel warhead closer to the target than just guess work and a slide rule can. Others use both guns and SAMs. As a sidenote, flak tanks (and half-tracks) equipped with heavy machine guns and small autocannons have a nasty reputation as being infantry trouncers as multiple barrels spewing lead at high speed will turn soft ground targets into mulch very quickly. Indeed, both the M19 MGMC and the M42 Duster were primarily used in this role despite having been envisioned as point-defense SPAAGs. That role had something of a heyday between WW2 and Vietnam, with the quad mount 50 cal M45's being nicknamed Kraut Mover and the twin 40mm's of the M42 being used to lumberjack VC hiding in treelines. Modern variants mostly have guided missiles and the BRRRRT variants are usually not mounted on tanks.
Examples: [[Hydra Flak Tank]], [[ZSU 23-4 Shilka]]

*'''Infantry Fighting Vehicle''' Known as IFVs, these almost-tanks are capable of transporting infantry forces, while being armored and armed enough to be of support to the field, unlike light tanks. However, unlike true tanks, IFVs can't be expected to stand up to enemy armor. Modern IFV's can have anti tank missiles, but with their tin can armor, going toe to toe with a main battle tank is suicide and so it supports regular tanks or takes on enemy armor in emergencies. While APCs and IFV can share similar roles and armaments today, the main way to distinguish them is with their main gun: anything that has a main gun smaller than 25mm is classed as an APC, and anything higher is an IFV. IFVs are designed to stay and fight (though not toe to toe with enemy tanks) and act as direct fire support. Effectively, when comparing a squad with an IFV vs a squad with an APC, the later is an infantry squad with a transport, the former is a (light) tank that can dismount some of its crew.
Examples: [[Chimera Transport|Chimera]], [[Razorback]], most [[Land Raider]] patterns, [[BMP]], [[Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle|M2 Bradley]]

*'''Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle''' In some ways they can be confused for IFVs in that these vehicles are similarly equipped and focus on mobility, and may even have limited troop capacities. But where they mainly differ is in doctrinal use: Armored Recon is mainly used to provide independent support to a recon team rather than support front-line troops. As such, troop carrying capacity isn't as necessary if it has any at all. See below the Infantry vs Cavalry Tank distinction as it can apply here as well, since modern cavalry units use such vehicles. Some IFV's share a base chassis with ARVs , those ARVs are usually called Cavalry Fighting Vehicles (CFV).
Examples: [[Salamander Reconnaissance Tank]], [[LAV-25]], [[M113 MRV]], [[Bradley_Fighting_Vehicle|M3 Bradley]]

*'''Tank Destroyer''' Tank destroyers are specialist armor designed for one thing in mind: knocking out armor and not much else. Some are turreted, and some aren't. Most modern ones use guided missiles, all historical and some modern use cannons. What makes them not tanks is a matter of technicality. Tanks are designed for general military purpose (so useful for a range of tasks) while tank destroyers are for only one thing, destroying armor (especially on vehicles). After World War 2 we figured out that since tanks fought other tanks so often anyway tank destroyers don't really make sense so we upgraded the guns on regular tanks, while the role of “Light Anti-Armor Vehicle” was taken by ATGM carriers, which being mostly modified LAVs, have the ability to kill tanks while being very mobile and easy to transport. A handful of cannon-armed Tank Destroyers still exist, some tracked, others wheeled, but they're a rare breed. They tend to be considered for use with airborne troops in need of anti-armor capability (since a proper tank tends to be too heavy to airdrop) and for certain strategic mobility concerns.
Examples: [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Destroyer Tank Hunter|Destroyer Tank Hunter]], [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Leman Russ Vanquisher|Leman Russ Vanquisher]], [[M901 ITV]]

*'''Assault guns''' Similar to tank destroyers, assault guns differ in one important way: instead of an anti-tank gun, they're armed with a anti-building weapon, frequently a howitzer. These tended to be fairly big and fairly heavy compared to SPGs, because they're made to get in close to heavy fortifications. After World War 2 assault guns became light air-dropped weapons to support airborne troops if they encountered hard targets. They are comparatively very rare in modern orders of battle. Most that remain are in the Third World (usually WW2 Soviet vintage, they made a LOT of things).
Examples: [[Vindicator]], [[Leman Russ Battle Tank#Leman Russ Demolisher|Leman Russ Demolisher]]

===Proper tanks===
*'''Male/Female''' A very, Very, Very early design and designation of tank done only really during the first world war when the British were still trying to figure out how this whole tank thing worked. The difference is obvious, male tanks have cannons, and female tanks have only machine guns. In modern time however Gendering Tanks is completely obsolete since, almost by definition a tank has a cannon so making tanks without cannons is a rather silly. Nether the less you can point to a few very light tanks as being in the same vein as the British female tanks, but only if small caliber autocannons count as machine guns.

*'''Tankettes''' Less of a tank and more of an armored clown car with guns; these were in vogue for a while in the 1930s. They're essentially a one or two-person tank, armed with machine guns, flame throwers, or anti-tank rifles and not designed to move much faster than the infantry around them (except for the italians, whose [[Wikipedia:L3/35|cute lil' buggers]] could reach a respectable speed). They're generally made to act as mobile infantry support or anti-tank weapons. Needless to say, this idea didn't stick because when even a high-caliber machine gun (which WW2 was rife with) could penetrate the armor of the tank, making it useless in straight-up combat. Only the Japanese extensively used them during WW2, which made some sense as most of their combat theater is in jungles that would bog-down full-sized tanks (Plus their doctrine emphasized more on air and naval superiority, with them island-hopping during their conquests). Tankettes however, were still fielded in limited quantities after WW2 due to their light weight that allowed them to be safely air-dropped, mainly for non-front line use like tank destroyers, AA guns, and recon vehicles. The only tankette still in use is the German Sedan-sized Wiesel, an airdropped scout vehicle. In effect, the smallest of the tankettes with a crew of one were an attempt to make an individual soldier into a one man tank to allow them to support their comrades. [[Power Armour|Sounds]] [[Centurion Squad|familiar]], [[Terminator|doesn't]] [[Battlesuit|it]]?
Examples: [[Sentinel]] (effectively)

*'''Light Tank''' These are lightly armored tanks that sacrifice armor and firepower for maneuverability. They are not meant to be front-line combat tanks, as their armaments are usually too underpowered to go against heavier vehicles, rather they're usually relegated to reconnaissance duties and infantry support. Light tanks would carry guns that ranged from 37mm-45mm, though some early German Panzers were only equipped with machineguns. Some modern equivalents serve as Scout Tanks which are usually capable of paradrops.
Examples: [[Siegfried]], [[M551 Sheridan]]

*'''Heavy tank''' The big boys, armed with the biggest guns and the thickest armor. Heavy tanks are what you send to crack an enemy defensive line as they slowly (or not-so slowly, as German and American heavies could reach similar speeds as their mediums) rumbled forward, guns blazing, destroying anything in sight... Except eventually Medium tanks, which split the difference between light and heavy tanks having more firepower than the former and more mobility then the latter, are just more cost effective and Heavy tanks are not too much better than improved mediums, which evolved into the main battle tank. Some heavy tanks were actually variants of medium tanks with heavier armor and/or guns, most notably those of the M4 Sherman. Heavy tanks typically carried 88mm-122mm cannons, with the IS-7 carrying a 130mm beast. The IS-7 wasn't adapted in favor of the T-10 (renamed after Stalin kicked the bucket) which had an improved 122. Along with the American M103 and British Centurion, it was in the last gen of heavy tanks.
Examples: [[Sicaran Battle Tank]]

*'''Main Battle Tank/Medium tank''' Medium tanks, which were generally made to carry guns close to a heavy with mobility not far off a light, evolved into main battle tanks. These would become the primary tank for modern nations by combining high speed, adequate armor and most of all a powerful gun. MBT's are not as heavy as we could theoretically make a tank (although modern advances like reactive armor plates, have allowed them to still be as survivable as true heavies, while springing for a modern heavy could make it theoretically unkillable in a slugging match but vulnerable to guided munitions) but their speed makes up for it and they act as the spearhead of an assault force designed to create and exploit a gap in enemy defenses to allow massed mechanized forces to rush though the gap. Interwar and early WWII mediums usually had 37mm or 50mm cannons. WWII era medium tanks carried 75mm-90mm cannons, first generation (basically optimised mediums that still had a few optimised heavies accompanying them), second gen and the very first gen 3 MBTs typically had 105mm guns, and second gen retrofits and proper third gens (the modern generation of tanks, with the very newest named 3+ or 4) generally have a minimum cannon size of 120 mm or so, with the Russians coming in with 125's that can fire ATGMs and Rheinmetall building 130mm guns to counter them (there was also a test variant of the M1 Abrams with a 140mm gun). Even when Lasers, Railguns and green energy military vehicles become common. The MBT will be what most people think of as a tank for decades to come. So they'll be the mainstay until hover technology is affordable, on the dime taxpayers of course.
Examples: [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], [[M1 Abrams]]

*'''Infantry/Cavalry tank''' A British and French design doctrine, the theory for the design goes like this. Infantry tanks support infantry, (hence the name) and therefore they don't need to go fast and can carry heavy armor while their guns did not have to be terribly strong to support the infantry. However they were too slow to use the line breaks they created (a problem in World War 1) hence the need for the Cavalry tank. Cavalry or cruiser tanks were much, much lighter and were designed to move fast and rush though a gap the Infantry tanks made but could not use and create havoc behind enemy lines cutting communication, destroying supplies, etc. The idea was sound, however technology advanced so that Cruiser tanks could have the armor of a infantry tank without the slowness, and infantry tanks could have the speed of the Cruiser's meaning the distinction became meaningless, though it did go through WW2 as the Universal Tank concept, while recognized as the future, needed a few years of design and industrial spooling. Before World War II, Russia had a similar idea for three different types of tanks, a breakthrough tank acting as an infantry tank, one tactical breakthrough tank, and a 'fast tank' to exploit gaps. This too was abandoned in WW2 when the improved mediums proved well enough to make the distinction obsolete. The Cavalry tank role has been pretty much taken over by airdropped armored vehicles such as IFVs or Tank Destroyers.

*'''Flame tank''' a tank (going from tankette to heavy, all types were used in WWII) with a [[meme|werfer zat werf flammen]] instead of a big gun as main weapon. Only used in the 1920s-1950s as they were quickly rendered obsolete (it was more cost-effective and just as efficient to have standard tanks have a flamethrower as a coaxial gun), though incendiary weapons of various sorts are still used today, mainly in artillery roles. Typically unpopular with both forces using and opposing them for many reasons: the implications of this weapon were very harsh as the typical man-portable flamethrower has a range of 60 meters max (video games lied to ME?!) and their heavy mechanized versions could reach most of a quarter mile with their concentrated hydraulic spray of diesel fuel. Flame tanks were supposed to start with a "Wet fire", basically spraying the fuel without igniting it into bunkers or fortifications to get enemy units to realize just how hard they were fucked, really weren't protected from the coming blaze at all and in turn they would surrender before being cooked to death. Which a vast majority actually did when '''''hosed with gasoline'''''. The problem was that, due to either open fighting, soldiers that just wouldn't surrender or sadistic crews/commanders, the weapons were often fired outright the first time around to horrific physical and psychological impact on both sides - burning, screaming soldiers, the fumes making crews sick, thick diesel smoke inhalation or oxygen depletion asphyxiating those in poorly ventilated areas (especially caves in the Pacific Front) and the smell of burnt human flesh permanently seared in their minds meant that instant life derailing post-traumatic stress disorder was a very common side effect of witnessing a flame tank in action. Another was that flame tank crews that were captured were usually subjected to torture and summary revenge executions. In the end, flame tanks are remembered as a job nobody wanted to do, an enemy nobody wanted to face, a weapon that accomplished little that soldiers using the man-portable variety (which already had a bad rep' but was begrudgingly tolerated by soldiers as tactically necessary to avoid chemical warfare, nobody in their right mind wanted to clear caves out directly) could not do and pushed the propaganda and soldier's beliefs forward that the enemy truly were barbarians and made of evil, all pushed ahead because a Commissa -- I mean General far removed from the field said they were necessary. Real life Grimdark indeed.
Examples: L3/35 "Lanciafiamme", M3 "Satan", M4 "Crocodile", Flammpanzer III, Churchill Crocodile, Kliment Voroshilov model 8, OT-34, technically any tank with incendiary or thermobaric ammo

*'''Super Heavy Tank''' Superheavies were conceived in World War I, essentially using the term "landship" literally. Armed with giant cannon (sometimes multiple ones, and usually reserved for artillery or battleships) and armor plating so heavy, you'd mistake it for a fortress; they were meant to be the ultimate line breakers. While some prototypes were fleshed out, none (except for the French [[Wikipedia:Char 2C|Char 2C]], although it arrived too late to be used in WW1 and was obsolete in WW2) were put into service because they were simply too impractical. They were often too heavy to be supported by most roads (and off-road would have been worse), and were a logistical nightmare since their engines guzzled gas like no tomorrow. There was also the combined problem of being so slow and so large that they were easy targets for artillery spotters and bombers and it was near impossible to hide in the field due to it's large profile, so it was easy to disable the tank even before it got into effective range (No matter how much armor you put on a tank, artillery designed to level structures will eventually turn it into an expensive hunk of scrap metal). Overall, commanders found out that it was much better to send out multiple medium/heavy tanks to do the job, than sending a single super heavy. Still, because the idea of a multi-turret warship on treads is universally hella cool, that didn't stop writers from including such weapons in the arsenal of their armies, just to show how powerful they are. Super-Heavy prototypes had cannons that could range between 120mm-280mm, with the Nazis having many of the more absolutely ludicrous designs *cough*''Ratte''*cough*''Maus''*cough*. At the end of the day, this whole concept ended up being a useless waste of money in real life, at least until technology improves sufficiently.
Examples: [[Baneblade]], Maus

==Tanks in Warhammer 40,000==

Since [[Games Workshop]] seems to think that tank development in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe stopped somewhere between the World Wars, most of the iconic fighting vehicles of the [[Imperium]] are a mish-mash of modern and historical designs. We can quibble that some of those vehicles are not really tanks but armored personnel carriers or other specialized classes of armored fighting vehicles, but GW's design team has a serious problem with looping their tracks all the way up and over the chassis for that 1918 flavor, and not even in the correct direction for what they were designed for. A variety of other vehicles in the 40k universe are referred to as tanks, but these are often hovering vehicles like those used by the [[Tau]] or [[Eldar]], and thus technically don't count.

==Real vs Fictional Tank Designs==

Its important to know that games like WH40K subscribes to the rule of cool, rather than logic. So while things like the [[Land Raider]] or [[Baneblade]] looks cool; in a real combat situation, these tanks would range from highly impractical to down-right detrimental for everyone involved. Here's a short list of why real-world tanks, aren't designed like most fantasy tanks.

===Profile===

One of the main concerns of a tank designer has always been reducing a tank's profile as low as possible. This is for this main reason: it makes the tank harder to spot, and shoot at, at range. The others are mainly for mobility, like making the center of gravity lower so it doesn't flip over on uneven terrain, or smaller so its able to operate in various locales. Plus smaller tanks mean less material used, so that can be used on another tank or given to another project.

Sure it seems odd that this would be taken into account, given a tank is as large as a city bus; but since WW2: it wasn't really ''that'' hard to disable a tank (rocket launchers, mines, anti-tank guns, AT grenades, aerial bombers, artillery, better concealed tanks, to name the most common), if your opponent had the weapon to do so, and if they didn't: making a tank unnecessarily large just made it easier for your opponent to spot you. Thus, making your tank's profile as low and small as possible, contributed in making it less of an easy target, while still being able to act like a priority target for your opponent.

As with so many other aspects of tank design, there is a trade-off involved. Making a tank ''too small'' can compromise its ability to function as intended on the battlefield. Interwar tankettes were the most extreme example of this, with some that were smaller than the average automobile but lacking armament more powerful than a machine gun and armour that could protect against the same. With larger tanks, you could still run into similar problems by simply not leaving enough space for sufficiently powerful armament or engines (a problem which plagued many British tanks during the Second World War) or by making it too cramped for the crew to efficiently work with (which is common to many Soviet tanks before and after the Second World War).

===Speed===

Like what we've described above: it wasn't that hard to stop a tank with the proper armaments (or at least avoid it once spotted) and once your opponent has the guns to stop it, your hulking behemoth will slowly turn into a liability soon enough. (And even if they didn't have the guns; that makes your tank too-slow of a threat, which begs the question as to why you have it there in the first place).

Tanks were also pretty vulnerable on their own, requiring infantry support to deal with targets at close range (the co-axial gun only had limited elevation and was slow to aim as the entire turret had to face the target, and the pintle-mounted gun was limited to the line of sight of the gunner) as a nutter with a powerful-enough explosive could easily run/sneak to an unsupported tank and blow it to smithereens, or disable it (which pretty much meant the tank is still toast).

Nazi Germany got around this problem by using mechanized infantry (troops transported in vehicles) to support their armored forces, so everyone picked up on that and started making tanks fast enough to keep up with infantry transports to create a combined-arms assault, allowing tanks to deal with hard targets while infantry dealt with other targets that were too small for the tanks to take care of.

So, people started distancing themselves from heavyweight tanks, and started using lighter, but more faster tanks in modern combat (plus advances in modern technology made it that even a medium tank could still be as survivable and powerful as a true heavy, while still retaining maneuvrability).

===Mobility===

An immobile tank, is a dead tank, so people have gone to great lengths to either reduce, or outright remove the many ways on how infantry could disable a tank from moving; but the most common of this is by taking out the tracks with mines or explosives. This was partly fixed by putting the tracks at ground level, covering the tracks with armor, and adding additional armor skirts to further guard it from attacks from the side, ensuring that little of the tracks were exposed to direct enemy fire. Sure it was still vulnerable up-close and mines can still do a number on it, but that's what your infantry support is for (you did bring them, right?).

While the British Mark 1's rhomboid-tracks looks cool; having that on a tank today made it ''incredibly'' easy for an opposing force to disable your vehicle, as the tracks could be easily targeted. Plus even if you were to cover it in armor; it made your tank unnecessarily bigger, and people wanted to make their tanks as low and small as humanly possible. It also made maintenance and repairs unnecessarily complicated (Have to repair the tracks? Too bad, now you gotta get on top of your tall tank to fix that. Hope snipers aren't watching.).

Also while the sponson-mounted guns look cool, they're useless in modern tank combat. Apart from the obvious issues of being unable to bring your full-firepower to bear if your opponent isn't situated right infront of you AND that they have to be larger than the width of your tank: having two of your sophisticated weapon systems near ground level meant a plethora of reliability issues (went through water or muddy terrain? Pray to the Machine God your gun doesn't malfunction if you didn't clean that right away. Went through a building? Hope all that rubble didn't tear off anything important.).

Also note that this setup was done to for trench and fortification clearing, not tank vs tank combat (since WW1 focused on trench warfare than mechanized assaults). Having your turret in be centered with the hull itself, either with a turret or having it built into the tank itself to save on parts, was infinitely more effective. It also made weight distribution more balanced, which made it easier for tanks to maneuver in rough terrain.

===Logistics===

This should be an obvious point, but the Imperium of Man has only been able to create and maintain ludicrous super-heavy tank designs, because they have the aid of the Mechanicus (even if they've been reduced to a shadow of their former glory) to assist with creation and maintenance, plus having access to thousands of planets full of resources to get materiel and fuel from. Plus the creative liberties of simply accepting that "It just works" and "THE FUTURE", because it'd be boring if we had to explain that a Forge World couldn't build a Baneblade because some mining world couldn't produce the output or the resources for it were earmarked to other projects, rather than something more exciting, like foul traitors constantly assailing their supply lines, or the techpriests need some MacGuffin stolen by the Orks. After all, 40k is a wargame, not a [[Administratum|convoluted bureaucracy simulator]].

Another design point for tanks is resource economy. It had (and still has) to be produced using, and maintained with, the least possible amount of resources whilst still being formidable in it's role. If an army would deploy superheavies today, just remotely near the scale of how Imperial forces do during wartime; they'd be bankrupt and end up with a lopsided army. If creation didn't eat up most of their supplies; the amount of resources they'd need to keep these war machines maintained would put the US Army to shame. Once they realize they can't keep it up, they'd start scrapping those and scramble to turn them into practical tanks (assuming they still had fuel left).

It should also be noted that Warhammer 40k (or most military fiction for that matter) tends to focus on the cutting edge of warfare. We have far more images of Leman Russ tanks and the thousand varieties of Guardsmen than the logistical trucks or field kitchens which keep the Imperium's war machine functioning on a day to day basis.

===Armaments===
Putting two cannons as your tank's main armament like C&C's Mammoth Tank looks neat like the, or [[Baneblade|UNLEASHING ELEVEN BARRELS OF HELL]] sounds awesome, but that had it's own set of problems. One is that putting a lot of main guns on your tank requires you to make the chassis bigger, as you need more room to accommodate the guns, ammunition, and larger engine (as you need more power to keep that sucker mobile), which makes it an even bigger target.

Another is that its a waste of resources; those other main guns, ammo, and materials, would be better put in making another tank, and two tanks are still more threatening than one. It is also either overkill, as the main guns of today's battle tanks can typically penetrate tank armor easily enough, or worthless since if you did meet a tank with armor too strong for your guns, having more of them is not gonna help. The probable rate-of-fire, firepower, or accuracy advantage you have over tanks with only one gun, would be easily off-set with autoloaders, specialized ammunition, better targeting systems, and/or a well-drilled gunner crew. That or an auxiliary missile launcher, which is loads more practical and cost-effective.

One more, is that in the event your tank is destroyed; that's a massive ammo-cookoff you're looking at, which can be dangerous to both the crew and surrounding friendlies.

==Character Role==

''See also [[Combat roles]] for other roles''

In many role-playing games, particularly the online ones, the term "tank" has also arisen to describe a character whose primary purpose is redirect all damage from enemies to himself. This was one of the primary purpose of actual tanks as well; tanks, being as armored and threatening, are supposed to get most of the enemy's attention while the squishier units like infantry and light vehicles move into advantageous positions to deal more damage, without the threat of serious retaliation.

See, many enemies in RPGs have ''way too much health'', deal way too much damage for most classes to withstand, and fights with them are unlikely to be decided in one round unless they're uncharacteristically vulnerable to save-or-die rays (which almost never happens).

Furthermore, many of the classes that are best at dealing damage (assassin and wizard types, for example) often have very little survivability when it comes to being punched in the face, in order to balance out classes. If a class can both tank damage and deal high damage at the same time, they either render other classes redundant or can do neither as well as a dedicated tank or damage dealer. (This is where the gaming term differs from the historical/military term - a "pure" tank (unit role) is strictly something that attracts and survives damage, without much or even necessarily any of the punch a tank (vehicle type) has.)

Thus, demand is created for a character whose job is to redirect enemies' aggression away from the squishy members of the party and towards them instead, usually using their mastery of mind-control, irritating sound effects, imposition of dangerous effects for attacking anyone else, or simply cutting insults and rude gestures which draw attention to themselves. They also tend to have abilities that help them in resisting, mitigating, avoiding, or regenerating from some of the damage they suffer (and on occasion act as a secondary damage dealer). In most cases, tanks are also often reliant on healer classes as well to keep them alive while they do their thing, as enemies that require tanks can usually deplete a good chunk of their health in a few attacks. Making sure that chunk is constantly restored is required to make sure they can keep at it.

''[[4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons| Fourth Edition]]'' refers to this role as the "defender," while ''[[Dawn of War 2]]'' vets will recognize it as the "[[Tarkus]]", and later the "[[Apollo Diomedes|Diomedes]]." While it is most obvious in online video games, the necessity of drawing fire away from squishier party members toward tougher ones who can take a beating exists in a variety of different games, from [[Sentinels of the Multiverse| cooperative card games]] to MOBAs. The wargame equivalent would be the [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]].

==See Also==
*[[Team Yankee]] - a tabletop game that revolves around late Cold War tank warfare, with plenty of info on real-world tanks.

{{Vehicle Warfare}}

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]

Tank

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Imperial Knight

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{{Topquote|...who battled courageously during those times, some victorious, some not, but always in the name of chivalry.|The Five Star Stories}}
{{Topquote|There are acts of God you cannot fight; you see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you’re in a <s>Jaeger</s> Knight, you can fight the hurricane. You can win.| <s>Jaeger Pilot</s> Questor Imperialis Noble Charlie Hunnam, from the movie Pacific Rim}}
{{Topquote|1=YOU DIG GIANT ROBOTS, I DIG GIANT ROBOTS, WE DIG GIANT ROBOTS, CHICKS DIG GIANT ROBOTS! Nice.|2=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koesW3xMKtY Ancient Imperial Knight Chant]}}
[[File:Knight vs Trygon.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSrcMaid0mg Hmm... does this look familiar to you?]]]
Somewhere between a regular walker and a [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan]], the Imperial Knights are large single-pilot war machines, similar to the [[Tau]] [[Riptide#XV104 Riptide Battlesuit|Riptide]]. Usually humanoid, the cockpit for the pilot is mounted just behind the head in the main body.

In other words, they're a [[BattleTech|Battlemech.]]

They are really [[butthurt|a fairly fan-wanky insertion]] of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy-style]] [[knight]]s into 40k, which, let's face it, is not exactly a setting devoid of knight analogues; but unlike [[Space Marines|the]] [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|others]], this one is much closer to the original source material: [[BattleTech|aristocratic dicks in high tech armor suits]] [[Bretonnia|grinding the faces of the poor]] while being [[grimdark]] and all knightly and shit, including all of the [[Game of thrones|politics, incest and backstabbing]] that brings.

Funnily enough for such an in-universe niche unit, Imperial Knights (officially,'' Questor Imperialis'') are currently among the most popular models from the 40k range, if the top-seller list of Games Workshop is any indication ([[Space Marines|Hmm, what does that remind you of?]]). This is with good reason; their whole design and grimdark medieval-[[steampunk]] style catches the eyes, and surely a lot of people are buying it just because it looks ''that cool'' ''(or because PP ran [[Warmachine]] into the ground)''. Also, for 150 Naggaroth Buckets you get a unit strong enough to be an army on its own, or it can join ''any'' Imperial force. How economical they are hinges on how invested your opponent is in killing armor; knights barely notice lascannons, but any of the angrier tank killing options will add up fast.

[https://youtu.be/ajP5q2HvycY In short they're big, baddass, chivalrous, stompy mechs. Really, what's not to love?]

Of course this also glosses over the fact that a large number of them are Cogboys(& Coggirls mb? Hard to tell under that armor) who work for the Forge World or Titan Legion directly. Such as House Taranis (see below) and replace their sex organs with drills, mechanical tentacles, usb ports or something.(or not modified at all. Which means they are damaged by Rad poisoning but don't expect an a long explanation of what happens to the human body in this article. [[Radium_Weaponry|TLDR it's]] [[GrimDark|cancer]]) In fact some of the best Knight Patterns are AdMech exclusive. Because no cyborg worth his salt is going to allow some meatbag whose parents who are blood siblings to pilot the best gear Mars has on hand.

==About the Knights==
[[File:Errant Detachment.jpg|thumb|right|EPIC Errant Knights. For when you want to cook your enemies really fast.]]
[[File:PaladinDetachment.jpg|thumb|right|Paladin Titans from EPIC times.]]
The knights are affiliated with, or in some cases part of, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] (rather than being part of the greater Imperium's war machine). Knight Worlds are worlds which supply [[Forge World#Planet|Forge Worlds]] with foodstuff and raw materials, specifically those worlds 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 drop ship, occasionally bringing new knight suits in exchange for the raw materials. Knight Worlds themselves are typically Feudal Worlds, which were easily brought into compliance during the Great Crusade, and which explains the rather aristocratic tone about the Knights. Knight World politics is fueled by the constant resource tithes and the possession of Knight Titans. Any kingdom that possesses a Knight Titan could absolutely smash a kingdom without one, so it behooves a kingdom to concede to being tithed in exchange for the (relatively) ultimate weapon. Once any given feudal kingdom has become a Knight Household, any Household that has more Knights is a huge threat, so getting more is always important. By the time that the escalation becomes preposterous these Households are already shipping knights off-world to cruise the stars and fighting things, so the extra-planetary losses constantly need to be replenished, lest the Households lose their on-world detachments to off-world conflicts. All that said, Knight Worlds tend to exist rather happily alongside their Forge World; Mechanicus get a defensive buffer and food forever, and the Knight Households get to continue ruling their chunks of the planet. Or all of the planet, depending on how far you can stretch a feudal society.

During the [[Epic]] days Knights were a complete fabrication by the Adeptus Mechanicus, supplied as battle fleets where the Imperial armies are in need of them, much like a Titan Legion is. Knights were a gimmick, given to Feudal Worlds that the Mechanicum settled near in exchange for getting shipments of food, manpower, and raw materials. This simplistic lore is [[retcon|no longer the case]]; apparently the original Knight Worlds were not the Mechanicus' idea. The Knights themselves are [[STC]] relics, dating before even the Dark Age of Technology. In a shocking twist, not only does the Knight STC appear to be relatively intact, the Knight itself seems easy to produce for any given Forge World; a rare case of the AdMech not shitting themselves. When Games Workshop released the new "heroic scale" Knight models, they also released new Knight fluff with them. The first Knights were actually colonists, arriving on new worlds during Humanity's first expansion into the galaxy at large. With no way of returning to Terra once they arrived, and long periods with no outside help, those original human colonies needed to be self-sufficient and the Knight suits were sent along with them, made for fighting against the [[Xenos|myriad threats]] [[Chaos|to their existence]]. Additionally, it turns out that giant stompy robots could also be re-purposed for peaceful uses: cutting down trees with their chainswords, blasting apart boulders with their main weapons, or using the sheer size of their bodies as cranes, lifts, earth-movers, and various other construction equipment. As a byproduct of the Throne Mechanicum bonding processes (see below), the Knights' pilots soon came to see themselves as protectors of their people. In the cases where these heavily-armed frontier colonies were never slated for further colonization, suffered a society-collapsing event as they grew, or otherwise remained isolated, Knight Titans were given the opportunity to become the industrial and military backbone of many of these worlds.

During the Age of Strife, when humanity at large lost its ability to travel the Warp and everything generally went to shit, these planets were guaranteed to be alone and afraid, fighting for their survival against everything they already had to fight, plus all of the weirdness that comes with BIG FUCKOFF WARP STORMS. The proto-Knight-World colonies (fully-grown at this point) regressed from large-scale industrial societies into what are functionally feudal worlds with a sprinkling of techno-barbarianism. Why did this happen? Well, there are a number of possibilites: fear and panic over the lack of outside contact could have sparked apocalyptic military conflicts or nuclear wars, the whole "robot uprising" thing that was also happening during the Age of Strife could have resulted in a rejection of automation, daemons might have invaded through a Warp rift, or the entire world could have been slowly ground down to the barest essentials of living by millennia of constant conflict; take your pick! The Knights themselves eventually formed noble households as time went on, or else noble households formed around the knights, due mostly to the fact that only a large-scale organized society with military force can properly maintain a giant stompy robot. By the time of the Great Crusade (more importantly, by the time of the first Mechanicum Explorator Fleets ''during'' the Great Crusade), almost all of the remaining Knight Worlds had dwindled to feudalism over the course of the Age of Strife, and in many cases the survivors were living threadbare on dying worlds, in great need of new raw materials or the expertise required to maintain the suits. This situation was ripe for exploitation, and some clever bastard in the Mechanicum got the great idea of using these worlds as combination Agri-World, Mining World, and military training ground. Several Forge Worlds and lesser Mechanicum worlds were established intentionally within Knight World systems due to the easy symbiosis. It is assumed that any Knight Worlds which were not in need of assistance (or whom the Great Crusade found before an Explorator Fleet) sided with the Imperium at large, as opposed to becoming vassals of the Mechanicum.

As a side note, in a hilarious turn of events, in this new lore these feudal Knight Worlds leveraged their ritualization and xenophobia to purge witches and deviant thought, and therefore psychic influence, from their worlds entirely. This created pockets of relative calm in the hellish storms of un-reality that they floated in, and thus they were saved from the worst of the warpy shit, allowing them to survive into M31 and the Age of the Imperium. This is even more ironic when you consider that in the Dark Age of Technology, they were considered to be little more than a couple of backwater colonies that were never taken seriously by the rest of mankind. Now the hillbillys descendants get to lord over the conscripted masses (in theory). Basically how the US behaves with Europeans after 1945.

Knight Houses make a tradition of sending their Knights on glorious quests across the stars, which mostly involves going where the Imperium/Mechanicum tells them to, and shooting/punching everything dead once they get there. Knight Houses make a tradition of basically everything, but more on that later. These quests, which one can only assume are fulfilled by the Imperial Navy or Explorator Fleets (and *not* just jumping really high, as some fa/tg/uys suggest), must be chocked-full of silly fish-out-of-water scenes as the Knights must putter around the cargo holds of ships, interacting with Guardsmen, slaves, and Imperial navymen. Knights absolutely love going on quests, because *not* going on quests means staying home and doing rituals and ceremonies. The day-to-day lives and operations of Knight Households, and the noble caste that supports them on-world, are so regimented by ceremony that the Knights themselves *fucking hate it*. Eating, sleeping, social interaction, prayer, bathing (when it infrequently occurs), walking down hallways, looking at art, and probably *breathing* are so highly ritualized that it makes Japanese tea ceremonies look like a practice rehearsal of a theatrical production put on by a class of 3rd graders. You have actual, named, 64-part ceremonies described as happening *daily* in the Mechanicus codex, and those are only one of probably three-hundred-thousand common-to-esoteric ceremonies that could be required to properly perform a given action, formally acknowledge a nobleman's change in standing or status, or even to honor a specific year, month, week, or hour of the fucking day. And Emperor save you if you fuck any of it up.

===The Throne Mechanicum===
A Knight's Machine Spirit is of a particularly unusual type: to interface with the suit, an aspiring noble must first join with the Throne Mechanicum (the Knight's control system) in a ritual known as the Ritual of Becoming. Due to a quirk in the bonding process, the device retains an imprint of each of its former pilots' personalities at the time they were first bonded, and as a result individual suits will develop traits echoing those of their former masters. The link also affects the noble's own mind as well; exposure to the metaphorical (or possibly literal, since there's been at least one case where a Throne Mechanicum took over operating the Knight when its noble was slain by using the memories of its old operators) ghosts in the machine inevitably causes the noble to develop strong positive feelings towards the concepts of fealty and hierarchy along with a near-mystical reverence toward the noble's ancestors. Nobody knows why this is, but the Mechanicus thinks it may have been a failsafe in the original plans meant to ensure that no noble would willingly betray or abandon his own House or perhaps a means to guarantee that the Knights would be more inclined to act as colonial defenders. Either way, this benefits the Mechanicus rather neatly.

This kind of "ghost in the machine" presence exists for true [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperial Titans]] as well, though in their case the machine spirit is more of an AI/second ego, and storing past Princeps' personas is something that happens, but the Mechanicus try to avoid/scrub out. Go see the Titan page for a more in-depth comparison.

===Houses===
There are three types of Knight households, though a fourth association does exist.
*Those who align themselves with the Imperium directly are called Imperial Houses, and act as independently operating vassals of a greater empire (much like [[Space Marine Chapter]]s do). This means they get to answer calls for aid whenever they want rather than being ordered to. Most Knight houses are aligned with the Imperium. Examples of Imperial Houses are:
**'''House Terryn''' - House known for its [[Mary Sue|courage and honor]] as well as [[Codex Astartes|rigidly adhering to ritual and ceremony]]. Supposedly its homeworld of Voltoris is so [[Macragge|peaceful and boring]] and the aforementioned rituals so tedious that it only encourages them to campaign across the galaxy, thanks to a law that allows them to be exempt from said rituals as long as they're crusading. (Their colour scheme is [[Ultramarines|blue]].) Has developed an intense grudge against the [[Tau]] after they tried to invade Voltoris.
**'''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 for their efforts against the [[Eldar]] of Alaitoc, and are linked by proximity to the Blood Angels. (Their colour scheme is 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 [[Tyranid]]s. Based on the [[Caliban|mutant infested forest world]] of Raisa, they engage on mutant hunts every year, with the [[A Song of Ice and Fire|winner getting to rule the house]] until the next hunt. (Their colour scheme is [[Ork|green]]).
**'''House Griffith''' - A house of [[Salamanders|hotheads]] who almost exclusively make use of the Knight Errant pattern and come from a planet once inhabited by ''actual dragons''. They are also one of the [[Salamanders|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 [[Rip and Tear|close combat]]. They are also the favorite house of [[Duncan Rhodes|our lord and savior]].
**'''House Mortan''' - A house only recently introduced to the Imperium [[Wat|after being cut off by a nebula which made their planet a night world]]. For thousands of years they fought giant monsters in the dark until the nebula dissipated in M35 and the Imperium arrived.
**'''House Drakkus''' - Featured in the mobile game 'Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade'. Known for being dead, and for having a rather fetching jade-green colour scheme.
**'''House Vyridion''' - A Heresy-era House. Brought into the fold by Fulgrim, House Vyridion neglected to do their research when the Heresy started and took the side of the III Legion. After a few battles, however, they began to get doubts and headed for Terra, surrendering themselves to find the truth. They were then imprisoned for their crimes and nearly starved to death before being freed... to serve in the Webway. It's not known how many of them are alive or if they even have an intact walker any more, but their Baroness did make a vital contribution in briefly KO'ing the Daemon of the First Murder.
**'''House Vyronii''' - House Vyronii is counted amongst the most venerable Knight Houses of the entire Segmentum Obscurus, its Knights being famed for their tenacity and their uniquely sorrowful demeanour. Separated from the rest of humanity's domains for millennia, House Vyronii nevertheless stood their ground against xenos incursions and the frightful megafauna of their home planet, Damaetus III/II. Originally just cream, later added emerald green to represent the green glow of the gas giant they orbited after seeing how lame they looked compared to other Imperial forces.
**'''House Varlock''' - A House based on Cyprus Ultima which appeared in [[Dawn of War 3]]. Worked with the [[Blood Ravens]] in the Acheron Campaign after the Blood Ravens saved them from an Ork incursion. This Knight House has a colour scheme of blue and white with golden trim.
**'''House Draconis''' - Originated from the world of Adrastapol. A world which houses multiple households, all with names that are similar to those of mythological creatures. Draconis is the largest house on the planet, typically being the house to unite the others during times of peril and hardship, such as during the Donatosian War, where House Chimeros and Wyvorn turned against the loyalist forces to work alongside the Word Bearers, which eventually lead to the traitor houses' destruction. They utilise mostly Paladins, Errants and Gallants, with some Crusaders. They feature as the main faction in the books Kingsblade and Knightsblade by [[Andy Clark]].

*Other households are directly aligned to the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] and are based on ''(or linked to)'' Forge Worlds through what is called the "Sidon Protocol". Though they retain their independence from the Cult Mechanicus, they do have reciprocal trade and resupply agreements as well as swearing oaths of protection to the Mechanicum, often directly to specific Forge Worlds. Houses directly linked to the Mechanicus will have access to better weapons and technology than their more primitive cousins. Which isn't surprising because Techpreists tend to be [[Blood_Ravens|greedy buggers.]] Examples of Mechanicum Houses include:
**'''House Taranis''' - The ''First'' of all Knight Houses (read ''Mechanicum'' by [[Graham McNeill]]). They were founded on [[Mars]] during the [[Dark Age of Technology]], and were later the first Martians who met the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] before the [[Great Crusade]], literally the moment after he landed on the planet where he said "[[Awesome|'''Machine, heal thyself.''']]" and fixed one of their suits with a touch. During the Horus Heresy, all but two of the House's nobles on Mars and a few others scattered across the galaxy died defending the Magma City from Kelbor-Hal's forces. With no one on Mars to guide the house, the scattered elements each set out on their own paths and assisted both loyalists and traitors in exchange for resources, believing that they were doing House Taranis's heritage right. This house also has ownership of some of the oldest knight suits. For some reason, their Knights' Throne Mechanicum units lack the typical mind-altering effects that they would normally possess; nobody knows why. One reason could be that the pilots of House Taranis are loyal to the mechanicus first, and house second. Or Mars is hoarding good shit again. Originally colored blue, but later changed their color scheme to predominately red like the other Mechanicus-aligned Houses to show their fealty to Mars and other Forge Worlds who helped replenish them during the Horus Heresy.
**'''House Raven''' - The largest of all Knight Households, formerly based on the world of Kolossi and have close links to forge world [[Heavy mythril|Metalica]]. Suspected to hold secret [[Standard Template Construct|STC]] data which explains why they have so many Knight suits. Their fortress, the ''Keep Inviolate'', was said to be one of the most well-protected bastions in the Imperium, on par with the Fang and the Imperial Palace, and appears on their coat of arms. Following the loss of Kolossi to the schemes of [[Be'lakor]], the House's survivors have become a crusading House eager for revenge against the Dark Master. Those who were taken by [[Be'lakor]] ended up becoming corrupted by Chaos as House Korvax.
**'''House Krast''' - Chrysis the first Knight World to be rediscovered during the Great Crusade. Its proximity to Mars meant it was swiftly brought into the fold, but it was ravaged by [[Horus]] during the [[Horus Heresy|Heresy]], leaving House Krast the only Household left on the planet. They have a preference for hunting traitor Titans since the Warmaster's forces on Chrysis were led by the traitor Titan Legion Legio Mortis.
**'''House Vulker''' - A very wealthy but deeply mysterious house from a star system with vast mineral resources, they never expose any flesh and wear golden masks to cover their faces. Their close links to the Mechanicum are evident in the golden servitors they share between worlds, and their courts being filled with tech priests... Not that outsiders ever get to see inside their courts.

*A few knightly households do not have any degree of independence at all, but instead being subservient to the Titan Legions which they march together into war. These Titanicus Vassal Houses serve as scouts and skirmishers, outflanking and harassing the enemy forces occupying the objectives as well as protecting the Titans from hidden threats. Their knights have a much higher attrition rate than normal, and their machines are not treated with reverence as with other knightly households. On the other hand, they have access to the most advanced patterns of knights due to the intimidatingly insane battles Titans are guaranteed to participate in.
**'''House Coldshroud''' - House Coldshroud serves as vassal to the Legio Gryphonicus, and they drawn their pilots from particular families on planets in the Octad, the region surrounding Gryphonne IV.
**'''House Procon Vi''' - House Procon Vi are unique in that they retain a degree of independence, even having their own homeworld, Procon. Many of the Legio Solaria's Princeps and Moderati which they serve under are actually daughters of House Procon Vi being given as an offering to the Mechanicum (read Guy Haley's ''Titandeath''), while other pilots are these women's descendants and the men become Techpriests. Whether they followed the Legio Solaria's post-Heresy change to allowing men and women to serve is unknown.

*Sometimes individual Knights detach themselves from Noble Houses entirely. Having been dishonoured, shunned, having fucked off themselves, or otherwise made unable to continue life within the Household, they become Freeblades and ply the stars alone (dragging their large pool of retainers along to maintain the suit, naturally). These knights break out to either quest across the Imperium or settle down outside of the ritual of their Household and protect the citizens of whichever worlds they end up on.
**'''Amaranthine''' - Never ever speaks or leaves his suit. [[Inquisitor]]s chase him around trying to have a word about his loyalties.
**'''Auric Arachnus''' - Somehow connected to the [[Ultramarines]] and earned honour after slaying a [[Dominatrix]] during the battle for [[Macragge]].
**'''Crimson Reaper''' - Freak who wears a red & black face mask, who is rumoured to be a [[Vampire|blood sucking mutant]]. Is very prone to collateral damage.
**'''Living Litany''' - A grey, black, and orange Knight Gallant who constantly voxes droning sermons in High Gothic, only changing into loud chants when fighting. He was always a bit bonkers, and in retrospect his fall to becoming the [[Chaos Knight|Dreadblade]] '''Litany of Destruction''' was predictable.
**'''Gerantius ''The Forgotten Knight''''' - Maintains a secret mountain base on Alaric Prime, though his planet is shared by other lesser knight houses. Thought to be [[undead]] and [[Necromancer|in command of spirits]]. Days which he chooses to fight upon are regarded as ill-omens. Rules for him are in [[White Dwarf]], making him a Seneschal-level knight with ''It Will Not Die'' and the ability to both run & shoot in the same phase.
**'''Justice''' - A Freeblade connected to the [[Iron Hands]] chapter who is a master of slaying traitor knights. The Iron Hands chapter appear to be keeping his secrets and will not talk of his past.
**'''Obsidian Knight''' - Fought in the [[Damocles Crusade|Damocles campaign]] along with House Terryn on the planet Agrellan. - Has his own rules in Warzone: Damocles making him an absolute WS/BS 6 [[Awesome|badass]] who hates [[Tau]] with a passion.
**'''Mydos Almighty''' - Hails from a world that was done in by the greed of its upper class, which it fled to actually fight. Rather hypocritically, this Knight is entirely bedecked in fucking GOLD.
**'''Retribution Incarnate''' - A hero of the [[Macharian Crusade]]s, believed to be the last member of an established household.
**'''White Warden''' - The last man standing for House Degallio from the planet of [[Lawful Stupid|Alaric Prime]] ''(same as Gerantius)'', and subsequently made the scapegoat for the planet's losses against the Red WAAAGH!. Known for his cracking mustache and his willingness to stand up for ridiculous laws. Has recently fought alongside the Salamanders in the defense of Nocturne on several occasions.
**'''Tellurus''' - Only living member of a fallen house, and refuses to be seen without armor. Tellurus fought alongside both House Cadmus and House Hawkshroud on Vondrak. ''"...towering and monstrous, a giant of adamantium and fury. With a booming cannon and a roaring chainblade for arms, it was clad in armour the colour of a winter’s sky. Blue and cold, chevroned with streaks of black and amber. A bright gonfalon streamed from its left shoulder. A rearing horse with a fluted horn at its forehead."'' - from ''Knights of the Imperium'' by Graham McNeill. [[Samus|Turns out to be a girl.]]
**'''Domeenito Ohashi''' - Imperial Knight who got stuck on a primitive world under attack by the Orks. [[Awesome|In spite of being sworn to go back to his world of origin, he decides to go freeblade and fights back the Greenskins becoming a hero to the population until receiving Imperial Guard reinforcements. Since then he has wandered across the galaxy helping the Imperium to crush all kind of xenos raiders in the hopes of getting back home eventually.]]
**'''Dyros Kamata ''The Scorched Knight''''' - A Knight whose rider apparently severed all ties with his house and burned off all his livery by walking into a volcano. He eventually learned that his dad was a corrupt prick, so he killed the old man before going off again. Was later killed by Ork bombardment, which royally pissed off [[Ragnar Blackmane]].
**'''Sir Hekhtur''' - A Freeblade from Randoryn Alpha and the last loyal member of House Cereban, he was enslaved for a time by the [[Iron Warriors]] but escaped being corrupted with the rest of his captured household when his Knight Preceptor ''Canis Rex'' broke free of its confinement and blasted its way to its pilot under the influence of its machine spirit. He now fights to free any other Imperial citizens enslaved by Chaos as he was, earning him the epithet of "The Chainbreaker". Appears as the first true named character for the Imperial Knights. Like [[Antaro Chronus]], Sir Hekhtur can keep fighting even if his Knight is taken down thanks to his trusty archaeotech pistol.
**'''Kalena Maxus, The Stormwalker''' - A Dominus Knight Castellan, she was ordered to leave by the High King of Kamdor when it became clear they would be overrun. Her orders were to remember the fallen servants of the Emperor and exact bloody revenge. She now hunts the outer reaches of the [[Great Rift]].
**'''Manifest Vengeance''' - An Armiger Knight Warglaive who is a [[space Wolves|renowned tracker]], also looks like a [[Harlequin]].
**'''Crimson Death''' - An odd Knight of indeterminate Chassis type, though it is described as being reminiscent of a Cerastus Knight Atropos, with a large shield generator mounted in a hump on it's back. Clad in a bastardised version of House Krast's colours, this freeblade utilises servitors mounted into the shield hump, which perform battlefield repairs. It is piloted by Sire J'madus Hw'ss, who has joined with other Freeblades to continue the Emperor's duty across the stars.

===Sacristans===
Unlike the much larger [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan legions]], most Imperial Knight Households do '''NOT''' retain [[Techpriest]]s of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to maintain and repair the Knight suits (though deeply-bonded Mechanicum households usually do).

Instead they invariably include a specific class of individual called a '''Sacristan''', who is basically an artisan and a technology specialist. These Sacristans accompany the knight on his travels and keep his suit operational during the campaign, and if a Knight becomes somehow divorced from his household and becomes a Freeblade, the sacristans associated with the suit shall travel with him. It is assumed/alluded to that Sacristans have a cadre of serfs and underlings whom also follow ''them'' around, all of whom form the cadre of attendants for a single Knight.

Unbeknownst ''(or immaterial)'' to the Imperial Households, these Sacristans '''ARE''' inducted into the Machine Cult in a similar fashion to the [[Techmarines]] of the [[Adeptus Astartes]], having been trained either off-world or under an apprenticeship to an already established Sacristan. So while they may not be fully ordained Tech-Priests, they do further the interests of the Mechanicum while living amongst the Knight Households. Sacristans may be historically connected to whomever maintained the Knights during the Age of Strife, making Sacristans even more inspired by ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' than the Mechanicum itself already is.

===[[Chaos Knight|Chaos and Renegade Knights]]===
[[File:Screenshot_181.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|Like an Imperial Knight, but spiky and evil.]]
Though they are rare, there are a number of Knight Households or lone Freeblade Knights who have fallen to [[Chaos]]. Most infamous of all is the [[Slaanesh]] Hellknights of House Devine, who turned during the [[Horus Heresy]] due to [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Targaryen]]-esque amounts of twincest. That said, Renegade and Chaos Knights are hunted down by Loyalist Households, who view their existence as shaming all other Knights. The "board game" <b>Imperial Knight: Renegade</b> shows one such hunt.

For those who survive, these Renegade Knights (''Questor Traitoris'') can find employment and protection within the warbands of [[Chaos Space Marines]], or find themselves on the heretical end of a [[Daemons|warp incursion]] that puts their skills and equipment to "good" use. Of course, being a massive war machine, Chaos Knights may find themselves converted into massive [[Daemon Engines]] called Daemon Knights. The only real distinction between Renegade and Chaos Knight is that Chaos Knights actually worship Chaos and can become Daemon Knights, whereas Renegade Knights can simply be disowned and mercenary Freeblades who don't always side with for the Imperium or humanity at large. The distinction is often irrelevant during the decision-making process of whether or not Imperial forces intend to kill them (though "kill for the honor of the House" and "kill the fucking traitor with ''extreme prejudice''" aren't exactly the same state of mind for the ones doing the killing itself).

They can be divided roughly into three groups similarly to their Loyalist cousins, discounting Houses sworn to Traitor Titan Legions:

*'''Iconoclast Houses''', whose monstrous oaths to the Dark Gods have turned them into twisted mockeries of their former selves;
*'''Infernal Houses''', pledged to the [[Dark Mechanicus]] in exchange for unnatural power;
*'''Dreadblades''', fallen Freeblades who work for whoever can point them in the direction of someone to kill.

==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. 6th edition introduced 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. Forge World later joined in with several of its own varieties of Knights, 7th edition introduced three other types (the Crusader, Gallant, and Warden) to the main 40k line, and 8th edition added four more (the Castellan, Valiant, Warglaive, and Helverin). WARNING: The following article contains a fuckton of sex jokes about Strength D and such things.

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 Knight's usual role is anti-infantry or anti-light vehicle freeing up the Titans to attack superheavies.

Interestingly, each Knight Pattern can be seen as a miniaturised Titan, Armigers are Warhounds; Questorus and Cerastus Knights are Reavers; and Dominus and Acastus Knights are Warlords.

===Armiger Knight Patterns===
Babys first knight. The smallest Knight class shown to date (roughly the size of a [[Dreadknight]], Grey Knight converters take note), Armigers are piloted by aspiring nobles, lowborn commoners with a knack for war, and the occasional bastard child of the High King. Due to their smaller size and lighter weight, Armigers are far faster and more agile than their larger brothers, which helps them hunt and fight at the flanks of their larger cousins. Basically, they are to larger knights what warhounds are to warlords - they serve as fast support to neutralize threats to the larger engine, while also helping in combat maneuvers. They are given the nickname of '''Baby Knights''', '''Mini-Knights''', '''Moe Knights''', '''Knight Jr''', '''The Wee Baby Brother of the Bunch''' or '''Mini-Me''' [[Dwarf|''for a very good reason'']]. Instead of a full Throne Mechanicum, they use a simpler set of implants dubbed the Helm Mechanicum that can be slaved to a larger Knight's commands- akin to the connection between a knight and his squire. This is even reflected in the name, ''Armiger'' is the Latin term for an Esquire, who was a low-ranking knight or high-ranking squire who served as the shield or arms bearer for another knight, hence the name (Armiger is arms bearer, Esquire comes from the French word for shield).

Strangely, while they can take both a Meltagun or Heavy Stubber as carapace options, they can't take a missile pod like their larger cousins. [[Derp|This is despite the fact that Dreadnoughts, which are smaller, have such an option in both]] [[Havoc Launcher|spiky]] and [[Missile_Launcher#Cyclone_Missile_Launcher|loyal]] flavors.

Tl;dr, they're for when a scion of the Imperium wants to play mecha like the [[Tau|blueberries]] without it literally [[Dreadnought|taking an arm and a leg]] to do so.

====Armiger Knight Warglaive====
[[File:40kForgebane-Forgebane-Armiger.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Armiger Warglaive]]
Armiger Warglaives sprint into pace because they have to. Their weapon loadouts dictates that a fast and swift firststrike always gets the job done. It levels a lance-like beam of superheated directed energy from its [[Thermal Spear]] that can reduce a rockcrete bunker wall to a pool of bubbling lava. Those met by the ensuing charge are struck with an expert sweep of the Armiger's [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chain-Cleaver|Reaper Chain-cleaver]], a saw-toothed weapon that mangles metal and gnaws flesh to ruin with each shuddering impact.

Warglaives are equipped with Thermal Spears, Reaper Chain-Cleavers, and a [[Heavy Stubber|heavy stubber]] or a [[Meltagun|melta gun]]. Sadly it has lost the ability to move and shoot heavy weapons without penalty, but you don't really care about that, because your main weapon is Assault and no one actually uses the pop-gun. Use them if you want to have the firepower of a Knight without wasting a bucket load in points, but watch out for hordes.

Its more [[Dakka|shooty and ranged]] brother is the Armiger Helverin. Thus, the Warglaive is better situated in going up against CQC monsters that would have made mince meat out of the more fragile Knights.
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====Armiger Knight Helverin====
[[File:ArmigerHelverins.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Armiger Helverin]]
The shootier Armiger, armed with a pair of [[Autocannon|Armiger Autocannons]]. The Armiger Helverin is a fast-moving weapons platform designed to lay down blistering hails of heavy fire while running rings around the enemy’s forces. In place of the close-ranged armaments of the Warglaive, each Helverin aforementioned pair of Armiger-class autocannons are capable of firing hundreds of armor-piercing shells per minute, even a single such weapon can swiftly whittle down infantry ranks or shred armored vehicles.

As such, Armiger Helverins are versatile and highly destructive for something its size in contrast to the similarly sized yet underpowered and vulnerable [[Sentinel|Sentinels]], small wonder that they are popular amongst both Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus Noble houses who traditionally relied upon the Helverins' support for their larger compatriots at war. These machines just work wonders.

Despite initial fears that the Helverin would be almost be twice the height, twice the cost, yet only half as shooty as an old-fashioned rifleman dreadnought, these little gun walkers have turned out to pack a surprising punch, with 4d3 shots strength 7 each at a ridiculous 60 inches. Did I mention that each shot deals 3 damage?
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====Armiger Knight Moirax====
[[File:Volkitedhk7g.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Armiger Moirax]]

Fitted with a potent reactor core capable of powering the most destructive weaponry available to its class, the Knight Moirax was a formidable tool in the arsenal Questoris Households loyal to the Mechanicum. However, this energy core was notorious for radioactive instability, and so the Moirax chassis was considered to be an unseemly instrument with which to lay the foundations of the Imperium, seeing minimal use on human-occupied worlds before the darkest hours of the Horus Heresy. - lore from the instruction manual inside the forgeworld kit box

Previewed on Warhammer Community. An Armiger armed with a [[Volkite Veuglaire]] and a [[Miscellaneous Weapons#Gyges Siege Claw|Gyges siege claw]] (likely a scaled-down Hekaton Siege Claw, like how the Reaper Chain-Cleaver is to the Reaper Chainsword) with an in-built [[Irradiation Projector|rad-cleanser]] (basically a 9" flamer that wounds any non-vehicles and non-titans on a 2+). You can replace them with any combination of the following: [[Lightning Lock]]s, [[Graviton Pulsar]]s and Moirax [[Conversion Beam Cannon]]s. It also has no penalty on firing heavy weapons after moving and can perform a heroic intervention on TITANIC units of the same household.

For protection, it used an Ionic Flare Field, which differed from the standard Ion Shield in its radius but at the cost of protection. It could also be equipped with an experimental Construct Shield, which is like the $2 store version of the much more impressive [[Void shield|Void Shields]]. Usually, the Construct Shield was frequently employed by the Magi of the Ordo Katastrophica to ensure their temperamental [[Legio Cybernetica|automata]] survive in battle long enough for them to gather vital operating data. But it seems that they manage to fit it on the Knight Moirax as well.
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===Questoris Knight Patterns===
The vanilla Knights that are found on pretty much every world with Knights stationed on it.

====Questoris Knight Paladin====
[[File:Knight Paladin.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Paladin]]
One of the most vanillas of vanillas when it comes to Knight patterns. Standing nine meters tall, the Knight Paladin represents a perfect balance of speed, firepower and armor, allowing it to undertake a wide variety of roles in battle. Nobles who have the honor of piloting a Knight Paladin take great pride in their ability to carry out a variety of tasks on the battlefield.

The Knight Paladin's all-terrain capability means it can move more quickly through terrain which would be hazardous to traditional wheeled or tracked vehicles and reposition itself to engage the enemy as needed.

The first knight to appear in regular 40k, along with the Errant, the Knight Paladin is armed with a Rapid-Fire [[Battle Cannon]] with an attached [[Heavy Stubber]] and another mounted on their chest/clavicle. Like all non-Forge World Knights, it can take either an [[Ironstorm Missile Pod]] (think Whirlwind minus Ordnance), a Heavy 3 [[Missile Launcher|Krak missile launcher]], or a pair of [[Autocannon|Icarus autocannons]] (I.e. actual anti-aircraft weapons) as carapace weapons to supplement their firepower, can also replace the heavy stubber with a meltagun for extra anti-armor usefulness and can replace its [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet.]]
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====Questoris Knight Errant====
[[File:Knight Errant.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Errant]]
One of the most vanillas of vanillas when it comes to Knight patterns. The Knight Errant are similar to their Paladin brothers, however their pilots are often far more aggressive with a penchant to ignore the whole "Chivalry in SPEHSS!" theme and go straight into [[RIP AND TEAR]]. This would make them a bit more unhinged in following direct orders and would lead to susceptible [[Khorne]] corruption if not for their absolute stubbornness in [[/tg/ gets shit done|getting shit done.]]

Nevertheless, when the going gets tough, [[/d/|they ''really'' like to get in deep and dirty.]] In the heat of battle, almost nothing can stop a rampaging Knight Errant save for a complementary bombardment of anti-tank weapons and the occasional blast of a Titan weapon.

The tank hunter of the Questoris, the Knight Errant is armed with a [[Thermal Cannon]], a Heavy d6 36" S9 Melta weapon. Like the Paladin, it can take either an [[Ironstorm Missile Pod]] (think Whirlwind minus Ordnance), a Heavy 3 [[Missile Launcher|Krak missile launcher]], or a pair of [[Autocannon|Icarus autocannons]] (I.e. actual anti-aircraft weapons) as carapace weapons to supplement their firepower, can also replace the heavy stubber with a meltagun for extra anti-armor usefulness and can replace its [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet.]] Fun fact: In ye olde Epic days, the Errant carried a [[Power weapon#Power Fist|power fist]], from which the Thunderstrike Gauntlet probably draws inspiration.
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====Questoris Knight Crusader====
[[File:99120108005_IMPERIALKNIGHTCRUSADER360.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Crusader]]
Carrying more firepower than a tank squadron, the Imperial Knight Crusader strides into battle with the confidence two main guns will give you. The Knight Crusader is one of the heaviest of the Questoris Knights by virtue of carrying all that damned ammunition. Capable of smashing holes in even the hardiest defense line, the Knight Crusader offers support to its close-range brethren, standing further back and unleashing scathing torrents of firepower to obliterate threats and terrify the enemy.

The first purely ranged Knight, it has the same [[Battle Cannon]] as the Knight Paladin (which it can replace with the [[Thermal Cannon]] for tankbusting) but replaces its close combat weapon with an [[Avenger Gatling Cannon]], which can unleash 12 S6 AP3 Rending shots per turn. You know, for when you need that squad of MEQs wiped out right now and they aren't clustered close enough for the Battle Cannon alone to kill them all.

As an added bonus, the Gatling cannon comes with a built-in [[Heavy Flamer|heavy flamer]] to compensate for its relative weakness at close range. (The key word is "relative". It can still Stomp, after all, and thanks to Smash it's still shitting out S10AP2 with normal cc attacks. It just can't give anyone the D.) Thus, you have a walker that can [[Bullshit|cover both long and close distances with relative ease]] and making it pretty much impervious to most infantry charges.
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====Questoris Knight Gallant====
[[File:99120108005_IMPERIALKNIGHTGALLANT360.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Gallant]]
Designed to smash apart enemies at close range, very few enemies can withstand the initial assault of the Knight Gallant. The ground shakes as the Knight Gallant stomps forward, offering its puny opponent a chance to duel in a completely <s>unfair and one-sided</s> fair and absolutely honorable fight. A Knight Gallant will slam into enemy lines like a giant sumo wrestler, and come out of the other side unscathed. This in itself would make for a hilarious vision of a giant mech bumrushing anything smaller than it like an overzealous Kool Aid-Man.

A noble designated to pilot a Knight Gallant will learn the three basic although pretty simple and straightforward tenets when he is bonded with his war machine. Though they may subtly differ, the three basic tenants are to trust in your Ion Shield, make all speed towards the foe, and strike swift and sure.

The purely choppy counterpart to the Knight Crusader, the Gallant eschews its arm-mounted ranged weapons for a [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] and the [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet]] (described below) making it an absolute beast in close combat but of dubious use if it can't close in for the kill. Carapace weapons can mitigate this slightly, but it'll still struggle against shooty foes if it can't get into melee.
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====Questoris Knight Warden====
[[File:99120108005_IMPERIALKNIGHTWARDEN360.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Warden]]
As befitting of its name, this Knight looks after a swarm of enemies like a prison warden controlling a crowd of rowdy mobs and criminals. Carrying itself into the thick of the action with heavy, thudding steps, and protected by both thick adamantine armor and an Ion Shield, the Knight Warden is perfectly equipped to deal with foes who attempt to use weight of numbers to their advantage.

The anti-horde option, by default the Warden comes with the Crusader's [[Avenger Gatling Cannon]] and a [[Heavy Flamer|heavy flamer]] on top of the obligatory [[Heavy Stubber|heavy stubber]] and [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]], but it can replace the sword with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet]]. Due to this, the Warden is notable for absolutely tearing tarpit heavy armies in one round, sometimes an entire tarpit formation bends over on the ''first attack''.

At first glance, the gauntlet doesn't look like much of an improvement due to the gauntlet giving a -1 hit penalty; however, if the fist ever kills a MC or vehicle the Warden can then throw whatever it killed at someone else. In game terms, this translates to an out-of-phase shooting attack that deals D3 Mortal Wounds serving as an unpleasant surprise for careless opponents.
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====Questoris Knight Magaera====
[[File:Knight Magaera.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Magaera]]
Yet another Forge World model, this one is different however, this one is a Questoris variant, which means it's short and fat. Magaera type Knights are most often used as shock assault units, breaching the most heavily defended enemy positions, while shrugging off heavy weapons fire and [[Bullshit|self-repairing even devastating weapon strikes in a few minutes of Dark Age level of Bullshit.]] It is noted to be favoured by Houses that are especially closely allied to the Mechanicus and share their hatred for flesh; Houses which are outright enslaved don't get a say in the matter.

It was specially made by the Mechanicus to curry favor with Knight Houses (or to control them, depending on who you ask, seriously look at that headpiece), and it shows in the unique wargear options it gets. For a start, it has Blessed Autosimulacrum (giving it IWND-lite), and its ionic shield acts similarly to the Flare Shields normally used by superheavy tanks like the [[Spartan Assault Tank]].

Its weapons are no less unusual- it can replace its chainsword for a [[Miscellaneous Weapons#Hekaton Siege Claw|Hekaton Siege Claw]] which grants it Wrecker (and a built in TL rad-cleanser to fuck with Toughness scores), and at range it can employ a [[Phased Plasma-Fusil]] and a [[Lightning Cannon]] that mulch both infantry and all but the heaviest-armored vehicles. There's a catch, though- its reactor is highly unstable, as reflected by the +1 it gets when rolling on the Catastrophic Damage chart.
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====Questoris Knight Styrix====
[[File:Knight_Styrix.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Styrix]]
Yes, Forge World is releasing another pattern of Knight, and it's another short and fat Questoris chassis with Blessed Autosimulacrum. However, unlike most machines, the Styrix maybe one of the few that the AdMech continuously tries to avoid and even chuck out of the metaphorical window if given the chance. It is basically the bad omen of Imperial Knight patterns.

There is a good reason why it is viewed with caution. The Styrix houses a machine spirit which some say became too accustomed to slaughter during the Age of Strife and the Great Crusade that followed it. Many conservative Knight Houses consider the Styrix to be a malevolent pattern, the wanton destruction it unleashes being beneath a true Knightly Knight with Knightly chivalry and values.

Other Households hold no such reservations, letting loose entire formations of Styrix Knights to annihilate their foes. This one packs a [[Volkite Chieorovile]] and a [[Graviton Imploder]], and shares the Magaera's option of upgrading its Reaper chainsword to a [[Miscellaneous Weapons#Hekaton Siege Claw|Hekaton Siege Claw]] with complimentary [[Irradiation Projector|Rad Cleanser]]. Seriously, it is a miracle that the AdMech did not sanction these machines as techno-heresy when its machine spirit is borderline [[Dreadclaw]] worthy.
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====Questoris Knight Preceptor====
[[File:Sir hektor and canis rex.jpg|250px|thumbnail|left|Questoris Knight Preceptor]]
Like the Errant, Warden, and Paladin, the Knight Preceptor is armed with a [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] that it can replace with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet]] as a melee weapon, but differentiates itself from the more common Questoris variants by its [[Las-Impulsor]]. Essentially a laser shotgun in its function, the Las-Impulsor is effective against infantry and vehicles alike depending on its firing mode. However, unlike conventional Knights, the Preceptor is like the Big Boss or the Master Wushu of Knights who are often the more grizzled and commanding of these warmachines.

Knight Preceptors are commonly piloted by arms-masters and other senior members of a House, and are such, largely responsible for the training of young squires to pilot Knights in the future as well as strengthen their mental fortitude for the Ritual of Becoming. Consequently they are also able to both inspire and coordinate any Armiger-class Knights accompanying them with remarkable skill as well as recruit, train and mentally prepare the Bondsmen for their initiation into the Armigers.

By far the most famous Knight Preceptor and Pilot is the aforementioned Sir Hektur and Canis Rex, otherwise known as the Chainbreaker. What has been said about this Braveheart in Space has already been explained enough. On a side note, although you can't really tell, but Canis Rex has a little compartment for Hektur to ride in, it is a pretty neat contraption.
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===Cerastus Knight Patterns===
Bigger and slimmer than the vanilla Knights, these absolute units bring Mars Pattern Hard Cheddar to the battlefield with exotic weapon systems.
====Cerastus Knight Acheron====
[[File:Knight_Arheron.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Acheron]]
Another Forge World model, tall and lanky like all the other Cerastus pattern models. Acheron pattern Knights were configured as rapid moving strike units who rose to prominence during the legendary battles of the Great Crusade, but whose most terrible renown was to be found on the battlefields of the Horus Heresy. They are employed as weapons of extermination and to inspire fear in their foes. Nothing will sway their attack until the enemy is utterly crushed, never to rise again from the flame-scoured ruins of their strongholds. Rare, even in those ancient times for the singular difficulties of their construction, the Cerastus Knight-Acherons were amongst the most dreaded of their age.

The Acherons’ machine spirits were regarded as [[World Eaters|particularly lusting for wanton destruction]] and only the strongest scion-minds could master them via the Throne Mechanicum, especially during the tumult of open battle. Has a [[Acheron Flame Cannon|Flame Cannon]] to make those Heretics extra crispy, and a [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainfist|reaper chainfist]] (with built in twin-linked [[Bolter#Heavy Bolter|heavy bolter]]) that lets it reroll 1s on the Destroyer damage table against vehicles. Now you can give your opponent the D while also fisting them.

Again, like the Styrix, it is one of those Knight patterns that is pretty damned close to being full blown literal [[Khornate Knights]] that stops just short of being declared as techno-heresy by the AdMech.
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====Cerastus Knight Atrapos====
[[File:99560108146_MechanicumCerastusKnightAtrapos01.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Atrapos]]
One of the rarest and most potent types of Knights, the Cerastus Knight-Atrapos was created solely to destroy heretek engines and xenos war machines whose very nature and existence were considered a blasphemy to the Omnissiah. The machine spirits of the Knight Atrapos are said to carry with them a cold and all-destroying hunger, and for the scion who bonds with them, madness is a constant risk.

With the speed and shielding of the Cerastus chassis, and the Knight Atrapos’ Macro-extinction Targeting Protocols, the Cerastus Knight-Atrapos was an uncommonly destructive weapon of war that would have been God-tier if it was scaled up to an Emperor Titan.

It comes with the same Blessed Autosimulacra and flare shields the Questoris Knights have and also has a special rule that makes all his weapons twin-linked, if it is firing at a Super-heavy or Gargantuan Creature. All of his weapons are very close ranged but they are a big fuck off to armour and thanks to the swiftness of the cerastus knights he should be in range soon. It is armed with an [[Atrapos Lascutter]], a D weapon that can be used both in close combat and as a 8" shooting attack, and a [[Graviton Singularity Cannon]] ([[Awesome|yep, it shoots black holes]]), a 36", S8, Ap2, large blast weapon with Armorbane and the Collapsing Singularity rule. This means that before firing the weapon you roll a D6; on a 1 the knight loses one HP (but the attack is still carried out as long as the knight survives), and on a 6 the attack gains Vortex.
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====Cerastus Knight Castigator====
[[File:Knight Castigator.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Castigator]]
A Forge World model, and another close-combat variant. They accomplish this with a hail of rounds from their [[Castigator Bolt Cannon]]. The Castigator is also equipped with a [[Power weapon#Tempest Warblade|Tempest Warblade]] that can easily destroy enemy vehicles including even fellow Knights. With these weapons, the Castigator can metaphorically [[Anal circumference|shove its giant warblade up the rear armor of any vehicle.]]

While fluff states that it is used to handle and take down hordes of lesser foes that could overwhelm other patterns of Knight through sheer numbers, in actuality there are other Knight variants better eqipped for horde cleansing, such as the Porphyrion or Crusader, who actually have more weapons suited into turning blobs of infantry into minced meat. Hence, it can be argued that the Castigator should be used as more on the lines as both crowd control and vehicle destroyer.

Uses a big fuck-off sword (which is "only" S10, but has the same Deflagrate rule as the [[Volkite Weaponry|Volkite weapons]], rerolls failed armor penetration, and can exchange its attacks to hit everything in base contact once), and a Bolt Cannon which is essentially a S7 AP3 Heavy 8 giant [[bolter]].
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====Cerastus Knight Lancer====
[[File:Lancer-trans.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Lancer]]
One of the more uncommon but highly valued Knights fielded by Knight Houses, the Knight Lancer is a first-strike weapon, attuned to rapid assault tactics and lethal flanking maneuvers. It is renowned for its speed and power, as well as for the temperamental and restive nature of its machine-spirit. Because of this reputation, the most impetuous and glory-hungry of the Knight households are driven to bond with these war machines, their own souls a match for the fury caged within their war engines.

The close assault variant of Knight, much taller and faster than the Paladin & Errant by virtue of longer legs. It is ''far'' more specialized than the Paladin or Errant due to its weapon loadout and suffers if it is not supported. Has a physical ion shield rather than just being a force field, which means it cannot block attacks to the rear, however it ''can'' be used against close combat attacks. In its other arm is has a [[Combi-weapon|combi-melee/range weapon]] called the [[Power weapon#Cerastus Shock Lance|Cerastus Shock Lance]] that gives it extra initiative when it charges into combat, its shooting mode is basically a 18" range 6-shot [[Plasma|plasma rifle]] that concusses its targets. So better to get it into melee with other big things.

On a slightly more hilarious note, the Lancer's ranged attack is of a decent Strength and AP, and fires a lot of shots. It's also not a Template Weapon. While not recommended, it means in a pinch the Lancer ''can'' be used as an anti-aircraft gun should the Knights lack sufficient AA from other sources (e.g. you are running pure Knights and don't have the Icarus autocannons), the amount of shots it fires making it second only to the [[Forgefiend]] in terms of emergency AA. It's also excellent against TEQs! And, with its concussive plasma shots, this thing is actually capable of countering a Wraithknight; even if you don't knock it down to initiative 1, you will be hitting at the same time on the charge.
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===Dominus Knight Patterns===
Do you want to have a [[Warlord Battle Titan]] without selling your kidney? Do you want to play with these titanic behemoths without risking being punched in the face by your friends (and spending several million dollars on superglue)? Then we got the perfect answer for you! You could play Adeptus Titanicus, ''or'', you could get a Dominus. Dominus Knights are basically dwarf [[Warlord Titan|Warlord Titans]] for all intents and purposes.

====Dominus Knight Castellan====
[[File:KnightCastellan.jpg|thumb|232px|left|Dominus Knight Castellan]]

It is the foremost artillery platform within the lances of the knightly houses, the Castellan hammers the enemy at extreme range from the moment the fight begins. Manned by a high-ranking Noble Lord, the Castellan is more akin to a mobile fortress than standard Knight. Thanks to its twin plasma cores, it is can be equipped with a wide array of heavy weaponry which can be explained more below.

Due to being powered by two plasma cores, the Castellan has become an especially shooty pattern of Knight. It is armed with a [[Plasma Decimator]] on one arm to blast apart heavy infantry, a [[Volcano Lance]] on the other for blowing vehicles to pieces, two twin-linked [[meltagun]]s mounted near the head, and three hardpoints for [[Siegebreaker Cannon]]s and [[Shieldbreaker Missile]]s on its back. Seriously, this thing is decked out in so much guns it can make Orks blush in envy. Knight Porphyrion, it's time to step up your game.

One can't help but wonder how it is possible for one pilot to operate all those guns... Not like GW or battletech for that matter cares, of course. Turns out the Carapace Weapons are automated.
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====Dominus Knight Valiant====
[[File:KnightValiant.jpg|thumb|232px|left|Dominus Knight Valiant]]
The Knight Valiant defeats its enemies through the simple principle of applying overwhelming firepower at close proximity. The [[Hellhound Tank|Hellhound]] of the Knight Dominus in contrast to the Castellan's [[Leman Russ Executioner]] profile. With its Ion shields, this Knight can march relatively harmlessly in order for the enemy to get in range with its two [[/d/|large and meaty weapons.]]

Yes, the Valiant is armed with a giant harpoon. Yes, you will be contractually obligated to yell '''"Get over here!"''' when you hit something with it. While the [[Thundercoil Harpoon]]'s range is only 12", it hits with S16 AP-6 for 10 damage (plus d3 more mortal wounds)- more than enough to destroy most tanks in one hit and knocking down most superheavies down a damage bracket (and kill Primarchs). There's also that triple-barreled giant flame called the [[Conflagration Cannon]] that hits like three heavy flamers for S7 AP-2 2 D apiece, but who cares when you have a giant harpoon?

On a side note, notice how the top-most barrel of the Flamer is <s>useless, [[Derp|as it doesn't]] [[Fail|have a pilot-light]]</s> {{Blam}} {{Blam|dependent on the two massive gouts of fire from the flamers directly beneath it to light its stream of promethium, thus displaying the [[Skub|usual efficiency and elegant design characteristic of the Adeptus Mechanicus]] in their holy service to the Imperium.}}
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===Acastus Knight Patterns===
The Domini are big for sure, but these chonkers are as large as it gets without getting into Titan/Ultra Heavy Tank territory.
====Acastus Knight Porphyrion====
[[File:99560108172_AcastusKnightPorphyrion01.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Acastus Knight Porphyrion]]
Among the largest of Knight chassis and by far the bulkiest one yet. When this beast was first revealed, almost everyone and ''I mean almost'' <u>'''EVERYONE'''</u> thought it was going to be a new class of Titan, seriously... this thing is so big it is literally the size of a [[Warhound Scout Titan]] for Emprah's sake. As such, it is one of the most heavily armed and armored of all the Knight chassis in service.

While it has no melee weaponry of its own, it packs a pair of [[Lascannon|twin-linked magna-lascannons]]- which are Ordnance 2 Large Blast lascannons which become Strength D when fired at a range of 12" or less, making it an ideal superheavy-killer. It also comes with a built-in [[Ironstorm Missile Pod|Ironstorm Missile Launcher]] (that can be replaced with a [[Helios Defense Missile Pod]] for anti-air purposes) and a pair of [[autocannon]]s that can be swapped out for [[Irradiation Projector|rad-cleansers]] or [[lascannon]]s.

Since the release of the Dominus, the Acastus has lost its title of Dakka-knight, with only 6 barrels of Hell compared to the smaller Dominus' 8-12, but still holds its own as a pretty potent Titan-killer in a game of Apocalypse since it has two superheavy-busting weapons instead of only one. The Dominus is an all around warmachine, the Porphyrion is here to hunt super heavies.
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====Acastus Knight Asterius====
[[File:KnightAsterion.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Acastus Knight Asterius]]

Continuing the trend of the 50s Atom Punk design of the AdMech. This is another Acastus Knight, this time equipped with two twin-linked [[Conversion Beam Cannon]]s, two [[Volkite Culverin]]s, and a [[Karacnos Mortar Battery]] capable of unleashing radioactive death from afar. Because of the cost and rarity of the weapons they were lugging around as well as the cost of the Knight itself, these big boys were already rare even in the age of the [[Horus Heresy]] with the Asterius patterns being even more scarce than Porphyrions.

Like its counterpart, these were the big boys of the Knight Houses. These mighty behemoths were armed to annihilate enemy armour and hordes of infantry, so it's not surprising that this thing is the quintessential MEQ, TEQ and GEQ pesticide. The carapace hid the aforementioned Karacnos mortar battery, [[Rape|yes, the same weapon found on the]] [[Karacnos Assault Tank]]. Essentially, the Asterius deals with [[Tarpit|hordes and tarpits]] whilst the Porphyrion deals with the more armored meatboys like superheavy tanks, titans and fellow knights.

On tabletop in Horus Heresy, the Titan wannabe over here comes in packing with 8 Hull Points, heavy AP values and a 4+ Ion Shield save. Its front, side rear and armor are 14, 13 and 12 respectively meaning that it can readily walk fast and close enough to unleash its beams of death. With its Initiative 3, WS 4 and BS 5 it may not be hitting that much, but its Strength of 10 means that when it hits, it hits '''''hard'''''. However, it only has Attack 3 which is to be expected for a knight like this.

What everyone is interested of course, is its weapons. The Asterius Conversion Beam Cannon is a pretty nasty weapon with a [[Rape|42-72″ rangeband hitting at S10 AP1, 7″ Massive Blast at its max range. The Sunder rule lets it reroll failed armor penetration rolls, while Wrecker is +1 on the damage tables for fortifications.]] [[Anal circumference|Basically, it can make entire tank fleets bend over in pain.]] While its power is reduced somewhat at close range (losing Sunder and downgrading to Large Blast at ranges of less than 42", and losing Wrecker and going down to a regular Blast at ranges below 18"), it is still a force to be reckoned with even when not at full strength.

There is also the aforementioned Karacnos battery, which handles similarly to the Assault Tank variant. A 60" S5, AP4, Heavy, Barage weapon with Blast of 3". It also continues having the Fleshbane rule that always wounds models on a 2+ and Rad-phage with it’s Toughness -1 for the rest of the game if the unit survive. Not to mention that as an artillery weapon, it ignores cover.

With these weapons, you get the feeling that even the two Volkite Culverins are nothing more than window dressing while they would be a great horde killer on anything else. Also the face looks a bit ridiculous even by Warhammer standards.

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==Times of Epic==
Back in the times of ''Epic Warhammer 40,000'', the Knights we know and love looked and acted very differently than they do now:

{|border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 style="margin: 1em;"
|-
| align=right| [[File:Lancer Command.jpg|150px|thumbnail|centre|Commander type Lancer. They all go really fast.]] || '''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. Now in 40k too, being the first Forge World Knight kit.
|-
| align=right| [[File:CrusaderDetachment.jpg|250px|thumbnail|center|When you need to kill something hard, roll out the Crusaders.]] || '''Crusader:''' Slower, yet sturdier and more powerful, Crusaders are armed with heavy weapons that are usually found on [[Warlord Battle Titan|Warlord]] or [[Emperor Battle Titan|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.
|-
| align=right| [[File:CastellanDetachment.jpg|150px|thumbnail|centre|Castellans. Knight level of [[Dakka]].]] || '''Castellan:''' The short-ranged cousin of the Crusader that swaps its standard 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.
|-
| align=right| [[File:KnightBaron.jpg|150px|thumbnail|center|When a Baron enters the battlefield, [[AWESOME]] ensues.]] || '''Baron:''' The biggest, baddest of all the Knights. Baron Knights are piloted by the deadliest members of a Knight House. Each Baron is actually built from the very basics as an ace-custom for its pilots, combining the power and speed to keep pace with Lancers with armor nearly as tough as a Crusader! Typically armed with Battle Cannons and the Lancer's Power Lance, the Barons lead their kinsmen to war and victory.
|-
| align=right| [[File:KnightWarden.jpg|150px|thumbnail|center|Old people are actually as deadly as younglings.]] || '''Warden:''' Piloted by the eldest (read retired) members of a Knight House, these goofy-looking Knights shouldn't be underestimated, much like 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 Knights are Awesome ==
[[File:Knight Errant of Freeblade Garantius.jpg|450px|thumbnail|left|Knight Errant of Freeblade Gerantius. The Forgotten Knight. Closest you get to the [[The Green Knight|Green]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Knight]].<br><span style='color:green;font-size:150%'>'''DAT FING IS BOOTIFUL!'''</span>]]
Imperial Knight lore is some of the coolest stuff in 40k. True to both the medieval tradition and epic feel that 40k thrives from, Knights protect the Agri Worlds that the Mechanicus use to supply (and predominantly feed) their incredibly ravenous [[Forge World#Planet|forge worlds]]. These Knight steeds are easier to produce by far than even the humble [[Warhound Scout Titan]] and so can be made reliably, produced almost 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 as Knight Worlds, are all on the technological and societal footing of Medieval Europe. A lot of these worlds look like Bretonnia, from [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. Kings and Queens, Arthurian legend, stone brick castles and skullcapped peasantry abound; fields and forests extend to every horizon without end. Remember, [[grimdark|it's much, much more important to obey societal doctrine than to optimize food output]].

Imagine what someone from that world would think when they see an Imperial Knight. The most agile giant robots the Imperium makes, capable of shrugging off lasers and plasma bombs, tower silently over 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 view with awe and reverence, like some amalgam of god and monster. These machine-men could destroy entire kingdoms on a whim by dropping stars from the sky. Kingdoms train their nobles and knightly warriors to fight with swords, horses, and hammers. They conscript armies from farming peasants, and use squads of bowmen to kill men at range....except for the Knight 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 and complexity that the science of the forty-first Millennium proves incapable of comprehending it. Those men are revered beyond their kings, for they are the wielders of magic and death, and are entrusted with more true power than any other man on the planet. Those men fight monsters, murderous warriors from the sky, and even other Knights from enemy kingdoms. Sometimes, when the machine men come down when they aren't expected, the men who pilot the god-monsters must go far away to battle alongside 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, on a war that will never matter on the strategic scale but still must be fought for that is what their protector, the Master of Mankind, demands and requires.

Imagine the man who has the lifelong job of knowing how to run the Knights, whose sacred duty is to recruit and train pilots. Imagine. A lord or general may give the order to bring cavalry around the left flank, and fire the laser cannon onto the walls of his enemy's castle. Despite his most valorous deeds, his children grow up playing with a giant metal god standing over them, silent and omnipotent, resplendent in livery and gold leaf. These children one day grow old and tell stories not of lords and generals, but of the time when their kingdom's metal giant slew a great beast, or razed an entire castle single-handedly, or ran across the entire world to deliver medicine to a dying 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? Their legends are not sagas of inscrutable gods or immortal emperors or statistic-scale tragedies, but of simple, honorable soldiers told by humble, hardworking people centuries after those soldiers are but dust and memory.

If you are not crying tears of pure [[awesome]] right now then you are either have no soul or are [[Sly Marbo]].

==6th Edition and Beyond==
[[File:IKErrant battle.jpg|450px|thumbnail|right|THOU SHALL NOT PASS BY A KNIGHT OF HOUSE TERRYN!! HAVE AT THEE [[Tau|BLUEBERRIES]]!!!.]]

Imperial Knights became a Codex in 6th edition. With the ability to be a Household detachment of 3-6 knights or an allied detachment of 1-3 knights, Knights may ally with [[Chaos]], [[Daemon]]s, [[Necron]]s and [[Tyranid|'Nids]] as Come the Apocalypse, [[Dark Eldar]], [[Tau]] and [[Orks]] as Desperate Allies; [[Eldar]] as Allies of Convenience; and all of the Imperium Faction as Battle Brothers (Yes, even [[Grey Knights]]).

'''Note:''' Imperial Knights are only Vehicles, only scoring if they're your primary. But let's face it you're always playing Purge the Alien anyway, even when it's not. The GW Imperial Knights are not Lords of War for other Imperial armies (the FW ones, however, can fit there), they are an army unto themselves. If you're playing 3-6 as a primary detachment, pick one as your Warlord; he gets relics and +1 WS/BS

Lets do the numbers:
*'''1000 pts''' - You can have up to 2 models to fit the points cost. Sadly this means no Primary Detachment or even formations in low point games as everything has a bare 3-knight minimum requirement. You could run 3 Gallants, and have 75 points left for other options/upgrades, but it's not even remotely competitive, even as the formation. If you run knights at 1000 point, you can count on Cergorach pairing you up against some grinning elfdar d-bag with d-cannons and a farseer.
*'''1250 pts''' - Up to three models this time, making it the first points level you can play with your Primary detachment. With the new codex and a slew of upgrades, depending on what you choose, you can fill out the remaining 100 points with either upgrades to the knights themselves, or take one of the more expensive knights (like the Crusader).
*'''1500 pts''' - Perfect if you plan on only taking Paladins, taking Errants will nab you some extra points to upgrade those stubbers into melta guns (or take a gauntlet for every 2 Errants). At this points cost you can field 4 of these Knights. If you want to field any other types, especially the formations, you're gonna have to start dropping knights, or take a few Gallants to free up the points.
*'''1750pts''' - Now possibly the new sweet spot for Knights. With around 250 extra points to play around with, you can either afford to bring in some Crusaders to pack more damage, upgrade every knight with a carapace weapon, or take 3 Gallants (the cheapest Knights) to bring 5 knights in a 1750 game.
*'''1850pts''' - Similar to above, but now you can field 5 Knights without having 3 or 4 of them be Gallants while still having a decent amount of points to play around with. Note that 5 bare naked Errants cost exactly the same amount, so if you're confident in your melta-spam, this works too.
*'''2000pts''' - Now with upgrades, this has also become a sweet spot for people looking to field the Exalted Court or Baronial Court. With roughly 150 extra points to play with, you can either grant each of your knights one of the relics, or start upgrading them with extra weapons and other whistles. Alternatively, you can field up to 6 bare-bones Gallants at this point, which is just enough to take two Gallant Lance Formations (although this is not wise, it is recommended, if only to see the horror in your opponent's face when 6 knights basically leap across the table to charge him).
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 USD for an entire army of only 6 models, you sir are the envy of many neckbeards and [[Ork#Flash Gits|clearly have more dollars than sense]]. And we thought the Grey Knights were an elite army per model. Or you can just, oh I don't know, scratch build 6 knights and save yourself $820 bucks. Just sayin'.

Note: Flyers may not be laughing quite as hard with the new 7th edition codex, but may giggle a little as the carapace mounted AC isn't too scary (unless you have five knights all with that weapon...but then your opponent may laugh for different reasons). The Warden/Crusaders gatling cannon can do some credible anti-flyer work and may be your best bet. Regardless, it remains a valid tactic to continue to take all those point you couldn't spend (see above) and buy a Vengeance Weapons Battery w. Quad Icarus, or two, or even better a Firestorm Redoubt.

Second Note: FW have made their own version of an all-knight list, which actually has Knights fitting into a modified force org chart.

==Warhammer 40,000 Freeblade==
Yet another exercise in wasted potential, Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade is a [[Awesome|badass looking third person Imperial Knights game]] [[Skub|for iOS and Android]]. You can play it on Windows 10 now!

The plot's simple; you're a newly initiated knight of House Drakkus and your bonding ritual only just finishes when Chaos Space Marines dedicated to Khorne show up and fuck shit up. You end up being the last knight of House Drakkus and you get rescued by the Dark Angels who take you on a merry adventure of fucking [[Orks]] and [[Chaos]] up. Fun fact: canonically, your Freeblade takes the name of "Vortigan". You're welcome.

[[Fall of the Eldar|OH NO]]. Turns out that it is a free2play nightmare, with forced 30 second video ads and amazing amounts of not so subtle hints that you should really be buying their shitty supply drop 'loot crates' and a mind boggling array of other detritus.
You know you have a pile of exploitative and badly written shit on your hands when upon clicking on said loot crate, a [[Dark Angels|derpy marine]] with cybernetic implants and a voice like a talking vibrator pops up and proclaims he "Can scarce imagine what glorious spoils lie within- let us find out!" Bleargh.

The icing on the cake is unlocking new chapters in the story, which require playing variants of story missions (okay) to grinding pointless, barely randomized low-level “patrols” (kill us now). That doesn’t sound bad at first... but you can only do three “patrols” at once with a two hour cool down. If you’re a schmuck and gave them money, you get... up to five. Later chapters require up to 50 “patrols” being done, at which point, you should be playing an actual game.

Its only saving grace is the paint and customise your own knight section, which is kind of fun! One can then take take pictures of said pimped out knight and then promptly uninstall. New update! You can use the ''absolutely pointless'' AR mode to pretend you have actual money to buy an actual Titan!

It's somewhat decent for a mobile game, which only goes to show the [[Fail|pitiful state]] of [[Derp|mobile “gaming”]].

[[Extra Heresy|The paid-for Slaneesh Knight skin has Khorne markings on certain high-end wargear pieces too (probably done on purpose to troll Khornates).]]

Recommended to play on Facebook gameroom if you have it. No ads, MUCH easier play, and the integrity system has been revamped. Also, due to how things work, bring a melta gun, and gatling cannon to Multiplayer. Always will win. This strategy will actually help you get loot mega quick. Play against noobs and [[Profit|rack up the valor tokens until you get the best multiplayer gear which can also be used in campaign]]. This tactic specifically is the most efficient because multiplayer doesn’t damage your Knight as you continue to play, and this method can quickly get you to an ideal ranking. If you reach this ideal ranking, the daily valor token amount will give you enough to buy at least one crate per day (keeping this quota requires you play MP at least once a day). When the season is over, you’ll get an even bigger sum of tokens which you can use to get lots of crates. Basically if you do this right, you’re almost guaranteed to get high quality gear before the season is over. Rinse and repeat. The three super weapons that will be described below can be obtained in these valor crates. Upon getting any or all of these, they will be your go-to weapons from now on.

However, there are 3 super weapons in the game that are hyped up by the in-game offers (which, of course, means money): the Graviton Gun (light), Gauntlet (melee), and Lightning Cannon (heavy). The Graviton gun is a gravity based weapon that’s every bit as deadly as the fluff describes it. It has the dakka of the stubber and tank-busting potential of the melta, making this the perfect weapon against anything short of the melee bosses. The Lightning Cannon has the same anti-tank abilities as the other heavy weapons, but can effortlessly score [[Awesome|multikills and combos thanks to the chain effects of the lightning. It also sounds epic.]] The gauntlet is just a better chainsword which can display lightning or lightning claws. What makes this weapon so great is that while its hit margin is slightly smaller than the chainsword, hitting within the gauntlet’s margin AT ALL [[Cheese|guarantees critical damage on every hit, on top of it already dealing more damage than a chainsword.]]
These weapons individually are game changers. Needless to say, each weapon is a jack of all trades, master of all. If you’re lucky enough to get all 3 of them [[FAIL|(or greedy, if you paid money for them)]], you will be unstoppable. You will be so powerful that the game will actually get [[FAIL|BORING, since everything is easy now.]]

[[Fail|Unfortunately]], there is a bug that causes the game to ‘forget’ your progress and revert your progress to a previous point in time, [[RAGE|removing all the progress you had previously made]].

==See Also==
*[[Chaos Knight]]
*[[Imperial Knight House Creation Tables]], work-in-progress tables you can roll on to generate a Knight House of your own.
*[[BattleTech]], the original "mechas as a stand-in for feudal knights".
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Questoris Knight Crusade (30k)]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Knights (9E)|Tactics on how to play them.]]

{{Mechanicus}}
{{40k-Imperial-Vehicles}}
{{Imperium}}
{{WH40k-Factions}}
[[Category: Walkers]]
[[Category:Video Games]]

Knight

2022-04-10T07:15:16Z

2600:1700:91C1:A4E0:C86:B4EC:A682:22CC: /* Why Knights deserved (and still do deserve) the hate */

[[Image:NormansKnight.jpg|right|thumb|Medieval Europe's equivelent of Hell's Angels]]
''Not to be confused with the [[Imperial Knight|miniature Imperial Titan.]].''

The '''"knight"''' [[Monty Python|(pronounced 'Kuh-niggit' for you Frenchies with outrageous accents)]] is an title given to a loyal servant of a monarchy in olden Europe. To start your knightly lineage, you must be valuable enough to your lord that he eventually bestows knighthood upon you. Once that is done, you are officially part of your kingdom's [[noble|nobility]] (albeit at the near bottom of the ladder, but you're leagues better off than the common folk) and any children you bear will also be knights, who will then continue your proud lineage throughout the ages.

The etymology comes from ''Cniht'' / ''Knecht'' among Saxons in England and Saxony - a house servant. But if you were serving a lord, he might lend you a horse thus making you a ''rādcniht''. Meanwhile in the post-Latin parts of the post-[[Roman Empire|Rome]], the [[cavalier]] was still riding around the estates of post-Gaul. As with the Equestrian class in the Roman Republic, they had to own the land and resources to ''keep'' a horse - and in Dark Age Western Europe, that meant signing on to some feudal lord. So the Venn between "knight" and "cavalier" was a slightly blurry single circle.

The knight started becoming the chivalrous, romantic daredevils we all know and love by the 12th, due to the influence of Christianity and Islam throughout Europe, and to a lot of romantic bullshit from the Languedoc troubadours. They are usually rich-enough blokes that knight families typically owned at least one estate that they may develop as they see fit.

These guys were the greatest thing in Europe's arsenal for nearly a thousand years before being weakened by Swiss pike formations, [[firearm|another Chinese import]], and the idea of a professional and standardized standing army which gradually put an end to the age of knights. Then, in the 19th century and after the French revolution, Romanticists who wanted to defend the old order of things against upstart ideas about "democracy" and suchlike began looking to the past with rose-coloured glasses and forgot about the shitty quality of that period and instead saw dashing knights in shining armor (a phrase that originally meant "the new guy who has never been through battle").

==Misconceptions==
In modern parlance, Knight is the catch-all term for some posh bloke who fought on horseback with decent armour and weapons. It was the case for some time, but the term 'Knight' has started to refer to the ''social rank'' of the man, not the way he fought, around the XIIth century. 'Chivalry' does refer to horsemanship, however.

Most armored guys on the battlefield of High and Late Medieval period (usually carrying shield, non rusted armor and a decent weapon) were [[Men at Arms]] -- a better equipped class of soldier. Through patronage of a wealthy lord, large groups of these blokes were kitted out with decent weaponry and armour (to varying degrees). They sometimes had a horse if there weren't enough cavalry; otherwise they were just a better equipped form of infantry. They were usually of better social standing than their comrades serving in a Lord's (or Knight's) armies as meat shields and arrow fodder (conscripted peasant), although that itself would vary: from men who their overlord might socialise with to a degree, to a better-off commoner like a merchant who simply bought better armor than the smelly peasants, or just some smelly oik with an aptitude for combat who was kitted out at his Lordship's expense.

Since most Knights were fairly wealthy, they nearly always fought as Men at Arms (being that they could afford decent plate armor, an arsenal of weapons, and a war horse, on their own), though not all Men at Arms were Knights. It is also worth noting that Men at Arms usually were poorer equipped than Knights, and often received little to no training which usually lasted between a fortnight and a month. Knights, however, were trained from the age of six and this training lasted until their mentor deemed them ready to be a full knight (that age varied, but generally was around 17-18 years; Edward the Black Prince, for example, was granted full knighthood in 16 years). They also had the option and means of having their own armor and weapons specially made/procured for them. Additionally, any non-noble who was able to attain knighthood though exemplary military service would have been a warrior few could equal.

Knight's tournaments were NOTHING like how we picture them through Hollywood; they were not leisurely affairs of organised jousting with the King's retinue and nobles looking on. Jousting itself was regarded as a sideshow compared to the main attraction of a tourney - the ''melee'', which was in many respects a mock battle, designed to keep knights practiced in combat without actually killing anyone and an attractive prospect for many young knights to rise in stature through winning the tourneys. Two sides of knights would meet in the tourney ground (usually a massive area encompassing the length between ''two towns'') and clash in brutal hand-to-hand combat with the aim of securing opposing knights for ransom (that were subject to the regular rules of war).

It is also worth noting that some Knights did not fight at all, being too sickly, too old when war broke out, or simply too scared. Due to this, some knights engaged in civilian leadership roles, rather than military ones.

==The Modern Take==
In our current times the misconceptions mentioned above have created a stereotype in the general public's mind of what it means to be a knight: an owner of land and a castle, wearing that ridiculous heavy armour on top of a mighty horse and being the upmost example of honour, valour and nobility. This is because during the Victorian era, when commoners started revolting against them. During the 18th and 19th centuries. The upper classes in Europe began romanticizing the dark ages, knights in particular, in poems and stories until what it originally is now buried under a mound of half-truths and plot twisting. In order to justify ruling over their former peasants in revolt and to make themselves feel better. TLDR look up the French Revolution.

Consider that tricky part of the tale of King Arthur: his dad Uther Pendragon wants to have it off with the lady Igraine, who is married to his enemy Gorlois. So, using circumstances and Merlin's magics, Uther takes on the identity of her husband, has his way with her, and then nine months down the line Arthur is born, an illegitimate child. This is left out of many tales except those seriously referencing the old poems as it is not the heroic source of the once and future king that many would expect (in later legend there is emphasis that Gorlois conveniently dies in battle before the conception occurs, therefore changing the fluff of the legend in Uther's favor. A predecessor to Matt Ward, it looks like).

Many still use knights as a standard for human warriors of chivalry going out and slaying various beasts and saving various maidens (most fantasy settings, RPGs and MMORPGs use knights as a class type, some renaming to <s>make them sound more original</s> rip off D&D like 'Paladin' or 'Crusader').

===Why Knights deserved (and still do deserve) the hate===
*Most Knights were a medieval version of [[That Guy]].
*Knights were legally not allowed to be killed in battle. While ransomed by the enemy they would be entitled to food, women and booze.
*They asked the Pope to ban crossbows(and other "missile projectiles:, because they were pussies and didn't want to accept the fact that a lucky peasant can royally murder them before they got close. This failed because it was impossible to enforce and unlike today one nation couldn't punish another doing something they don't like without military forces.
*They could kill peasants/serfs and get away with it (at least their own serfs; killing the servants of another knight without their permission is frowned upon).
*These assholes only had to work three months per year.
*The general incompetence in the way the Crusades were carried out-- general infighting between various warbands with national rivalries broke out, than restored to murdering and raping Slavs and Poles when they were getting their asses kicked by Muslims and the [[Mongols]] from the East.
**The Mongols did their jobs of driving out the Muslims for them. The Crusading Knights who ran away stole all the credit.
**Instead of going home and letting the Eastern Roman Empire(aka Byzantine Empire) administrate the territory they actually did retake (due to the Byzantine army being crippled by the Turks at Manzikert due to inter-dynasty infighting), these assholes set up their own principalities between the Empire and the Jerusalem. During the 4th Crusade, Knights (already ticked off at how the Byzantine populace revolted and massacred Italian merchants in the capital city <s>they were arrogant and were rich due to controlling all the banking like the Jewish people back in Western Europe</s>) led the campaign under orders from Pope Innocent III that ransacked Constantinople once they backed a coup but learned the Emperor didn't have any money to pay for their services. Set up their own empire to get their asses kicked by the "Greeks" a half century later who restored it for a short time. These wars made the eastern empire permanently crippled and easily taken over by the Ottomans. The Crusades also gave Muslims the inroads to take control of Spain for centuries.
*Knights were expensive. Lords could arm several archers and infantrymen for half the price. Knights however, were theoretically the smartest bunches he could summon, as they were trained since birth to be elite soldiers. However without real standardization (unlike modern army recruits), it's hit-or-miss if the training was actually worth a damn or if it even worked in their theater of battle.
*Training wasn't really that practical in the first place. The reason why training of modern soldiers is standardized is so that when brought together they can all function as one unit regardless of origins. Giving each knights' house carte blanche on military training means your army's effectiveness is the equivalent of playing darts blindfolded. While there were Knight Orders that could work together in unison, those groups were rare.
*Only rich kids could become Knights and you had to be part of the nobility in the first place.
*Chivalry only applied when they wanted it to.
*[[/pol/|Some idiots want to bring them back]], despite the fact that guns exist and will get them shot in the face by anyone with a 9mm handgun. Unlike modern wargear medieval armor is not rated against and will perform poorly against bullets, shrapnel and crossbows, etc. Even if it was brought up to spec using modern materials, modern body armor made of polymer, ceramic plates, and synthetic fibers can stop just about everything medieval armor can and more, at a fraction of the cost and weight and minus the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spall glaring downsides].

===Why being a Knight sucked===
*Jousting was pay to win (going back to Knights being [[That Guy]]). Ever play a video game and a new item update releases with cool new weapons and armor? It might have took you days or a week just to get one of them. Then comes this guy with all that new gear stomping you with little skill on their part. Jousting was like that. If a Knight was rich enough he could buy a specialized set of jousting armor that made it impossible to unhorse him. Poorer Knights had to make do with their battle armor, which was designed for movement rather than not falling off a walking glue container.
*Knights had to buy their own equipment, as unlike modern military forces the feudal cheapskates in charge wouldn't foot the bill. If they didn't have a high enough status or weren't buddies with the armorer, there would be a chance of their weapons and armor being of questionable quality and forged by an apprentice instead. This meant that lower ranked Knights may have went into battle with the dark age equivalent of a school science project, regardless of how professional it might look on the surface.
*Becoming a Knight meant that you had to be hit in the face with a gauntlet. Made out of metal. So you could end up talking like a European Little Nicky if the guy knighting you was a big enough jerk. For obvious reasons, this was eventually replaced with the more traditional tapping of your shoulders with a sword.
*As a Squire you had a high chance of being [[rape|raped]] by the man training you, more so if you weren't a noble of high rank. If he's one of those types who took Christianity seriously, there's a 50/50 chance you will also be beaten constantly for failing to live up to his overly high standards.
*Because of how the nobility works, there's a decent chance you're inbred and your to-be wife chosen by arranged marriage will be closely related to you by blood (genetic diversity tends to suffer under eugenics). What's that? You don't want to marry and fuck your sister(?)? Too bad, we need an heir, do it or be disgraced.
*Crossbows and Firearms ruined your day. Some guys who took a vacation in the Far East came back with pretty cool stuff that kills you in an instant regardless of all that fancy gear you got. Luckily for you their weapon takes forever to reload, making a well timed charge or a sneak attack on him seem like a really good idea. Unfortunately that other guy also has a pistol, maybe even two. Worse, he is likely a German mercenary with a Flamberge, whose sword breaks your own in half. ''Then'' he shoots you with one of his handguns.
**Granted a good enough Knight could become a decent rifleman/gunslinger in his own right, but by that time the utility of your original station was pretty much over.
*The Feudalist system was pretty much the mafia of the Middle Ages. You piss off the wrong person above your rank or if they want what you have (land, wife, daughter, livestock, even just your peasants), you and your family could be stripped of your land and titles, either by other Knights, from a siege via cannons, or condemnation as a heretic and burning at the stake, with your assets divided up and even your family given to other nobility.
*Some angry peasant spits on you, or another noble sneezes in your direction. You are now dying of the bubonic plague.
**Or you could get Tuberculosis instead. Or both. Hell, you could just die because of the abysmal hygiene and sanitation standards of the time.
***[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crh26yTqdqk The doctors of the era knew shit all about these things].

==Fantasy Knights in a Nutshell==
If you are a chivalrous knight in a modern fantasy setting, your usual duties will include:

* Quest Taking: from killing a dragon to driving the moles out of the fields of farmers, anything that troubles the people you must take care of. It doesn't have to be you directly, though. If the task is too unworthy for your stature, but still needs fixing, sending your apprentice or hiring other people to do it in your stead also works.
* Monster killing: a category of its own (although often a Quest as well). There are various nasty critters around and in ye olde times you would serve as a pest exterminator for hire. The bigger and badder the monster you slay, the more famous you are with the kingdom.
* Damsel rescuing: even if she is married (or you are), you could get a kiss, a handkerchief, and hopefully [[Profit|a hefty reward]] for giving her a hand.
* Helping out your king: at times you'll be called on to help your king or lord and hook up with a bunch of your knightly mates to rout some naughty foreigners giving the kingdom trouble.
* Wench pulling: you keep an entire industry of busty women in business with the profits from your questing.
* Looking impressive: your armor and weapons aren't just your tools but also your icons. It gives the peasants something nice to gawk at are and often symbols of your deeds and character. Many knights are recognized simply by their gear (i.e: Excalibur for King Arthur).
* Example setting: along with looking good, you have to practice being good to and showing everyone how to be a goody-two-shoes. From escorting ladies to putting your cloak out across a puddle, from saying hello to Ted the stable boy to upholding your kingdom's faith and smiting any heretic who dares besmirch your god, being a choir boy is a 24/7 job. This is also the reason why Knights are typically [[Paladin]] equivalents in fantasy.
** If you should fall short in your chivalry, it usually suffices to take on a particularly challenging and meaningful quest to restore your honor. If there's one thing peasants like better than tales of upstanding knights, it's tales of knights who stumble and get back up again (or die trying).
** The flip side of upholding the code of chivalry is enforcing the code against oath-breakers. Knights who completely ''forsake'' their vows are especially harmful to your profession's reputation, so be vigilant for rumors of 'black knights' and the like.
* Training a squire: Building up a knight household is a ton of work, and if you died without a legitimate heir to your name, all your hard work over the decades would have been for naught. So, you had to train a successor who will carry your knight household throughout the ages. Train them well and don't just treat them as a glorified servant, as that little buttmuncher will be the one who'll be representing your legacy once you're gone, and you don't want your house to be remembered for that dastard who became the unbearable shame throughout the land.

==Real Knights in a Nutshell==
* Bureaucrat: in most areas of Europe, barons were the main land holding class and baronies roughly analogous to large townships (the modern word county coming from the slightly higher rank of count). Knights owed allegiance to barons and generally served as their officers of government, from constable to tax collector. A knight's fee (the quantity of land to sustain a knight) was roughly a couple thousand acres, and the typical barony consisting of roughly a dozen fees. Since a family could reasonably tend 5-10 acres, this basically means a knight was responsible for a few hundred homes.
* Officer: you owe service to your lord. If they call on you to fight, you have to. In this regard knights were analogous to lieutenants or sergeants. Being men at arms, knights were expected to know how to fight, how to lead and teach others to fight. If they were particularly good fighters they might be used more like champions and vanguards, while the less martially able would still be expected to be capable of organizing and leading some men. In medieval Europe, the basic formation was the "lance", roughly equivalent to a squad, consisting of a knight and his retinue (perhaps a dozen men). Lances were organized into companies, captained by a noble (typically a baron or count). Lances wouldn't necessary take the field intact; for field warfare, knights would assemble as cavalry and their retainers would form the body of infantry. Wealthier nobles (particularly in the late medieval era) would sometimes take it on themselves to train and equip whole companies to fight together as a unit (company of bow, company of pike, etc).
* Politician: you're part of the elite which means you have to spend an infuriating amount of time jockeying for influence or just protecting your current position. If you don't play ball by engaging with the rest of the aristocracy and maintaining your status, you'll find yourself in disfavor. If you're not seen as pious enough, the church will start hectoring you with the same effect.

== Old-School D&D ==
Both 1st edition [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2e featured the knightly archetype in their options. For 1e, [[Gary Gygax]] himself created the [[Cavalier]] in an issue of [[Dragon Magazine]] as a variant [[Paladin]]. It... didn't work out so well. For 2e, the knightly motif was conveyed by certain [[Kits]], predominantly for the Warrior class-group, with the most obvious version being, again, the Cavalier.

The Cavalier is not held up very highly by most [[Grognard]]s, for reasons explained on its page.

==D&D 3.5==
Third Edition's version of the Knight was introduced in ''Player's Handbook II'' and [http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060501a&page=2 released for free as part of the book's preview]. They have a high base attack bonus and roll D12s for HP. Their abilities are purely related to taking hits and forcing a single target to hit them, similar in concept to a 4E tank class, but with significantly less versatility in terms of providing damage output, boosting allies or disrupting the flow of the fight to suit his party. Probably one of the weaker classes as too much of its abilities are focused on being a punching bag of HP instead of an actual tank that is hard to hurt and lacks the ability to fuck things over, if you're familiar with how Marking a target works in 4E, its based off this guy, but at least in 4E you have penalties other than the -2 to hit to control your opponent. Like paladins this class has a code of conduct. Unlike paladins, the consequences of breaking this code of conduct last a day tops (directly anyways, who knows what larger setbacks it might result in). The code of conduct consists of what they consider a "fair play". Part of the code of conduct is not dealing lethal damage to helpless foes. By the way, some creatures are immune to non-lethal damage.

Knight is [[Tier System|tier 5]]. Their one task, tanking, is theoretically useful but they aren't that good at it and simply unable to try against most threats. Outside that they aren't very useful.

'''TL;DR''' A bunch of Hit Points that prototyped the tank class mechanics of 4E that lacks any choice beyond taking it in the gut. Avoid and just refluff a paladin as an atheist.

{{D&D3-Classes}}

==D&D 4e==
The knight was introduced in "Heroes of the Fallen Lands", the first of the two Essentials splatbooks for [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]. Flavorwise, knights are protection-focused warriors, champions who lead village militias, caravan guards and adventuring parties, favoring the use of heavy armor, hand weapon and shield to endure attacks as hold foes in place as the rest of their party closes in for the kill. Many knights belong to benevolent military orders, and whilst they are not [[paladin]]s proper, they are still respected for their dedication to good (or at least martial perfection).

Mechanically, the knight is a "simplified" take on the 4e [[Fighter]], this Martial Defender (with some Leader aspects) abandoned the [[AEDU System]] to something closer to an old-school fighter. Instead of the traditional front-loaded approach to class-features, the 4e knight gains different features at different levels. Instead of using the martial exploits system, it uses a combination of heroic-tier Utility powers and at-will stances, which modify the effects of its basic attacks. This formula would be reused for the [[Slayer]], introduced in the same book.

A knight's core power is Defender Aura, an at-will utility used to mark foes, which goes in tandem with its Battle Guardian at-will attack to punish marked foes that try to slip past it. Its other level 1 features are Weapon Talent (+1 to your attack rolls with weapons), Shield Finesse as a bonus feat, access to two of the knight stances, and its only Encounter attack, Power Strike. It gains Improved Power Strike (use Power Strike 2/encounter) at level 3, Combat Readiness (+2 Initiative) at level 4, and Weapon Mastery (+1 damage with weapon attacks) at level 5. At level 7 it gains both an extra knight stance and one of the two Weapon Specializations, which adds a rider to its Power Strike attack; Bladed Step for heavy blades and Staggering Hammer for hammers. At level 8, it gains the utility power Shield Block, and at level 9 its Improved Combat Readiness feature boosts its initiative bonus to +4.

At level 11, it gains Stalwart Assault (Add Con bonus to Speed and melee weapon damage rolls in the first turn in an encounter), Stalwart Action (when you spend an action point, gain Resist 10 to all damage until the end of your next turn), and another Improved Power Strike (Power Strike 3/encounter). At level 12, it gains Greater Weapon Specialization, which gives it either the Shielding Blade or Bludgeoning Counterstrike utilities, ''another'' Improved Power Strike (4/encounter) at level 13, Paragon Weapon Mastery (+2 to all weapon attack rolls) at level 15, Armor of Conviction (gain Resist 5 to all damage while bloodied) and the Bolstering Strike utility at level 16, another new knight stance at level 17, Devoted Knight (using your second wind or total defense creates an aura 1 until the end of your next turn that grants your allies +2 to all defenses) at level 19, and Tactical Focus (you can slide a target you hit with Power Strike by +1 square) at level 20.

In the epic tier, it gains the Knight's Valor utility power at level 22, the Relentless Knight feature (can spend +1 healing surge when you use second wind) at level 23, Epic Weapon Mastery (+3 to all weapon attack rolls) at level 25, and finally Spirit of War (you can make a save to end an ongoing effect at both the start and end of your turns) at level 29.

It gains a chosen Utility Power at levels 2, 6 and 10.

General opinion is that it's a pretty badly handled class. It's strong at the Heroic Tier, but quickly falls behind the [[AEDU System]] classes from epic tier onwards, as its stance-modified basic attacks just don't cut it anymore.

{{D&D4-Classes}}

==[[Pathfinder]] - The Cavalier==
Paizo has added traditional knights/men-at-arms to the Pathfinder roleplaying game, as the [[Cavalier]] class. They're a lot like Paladins without the magic. They differentiate themselves from the ''other'' melee classes in two major important ways: mounts and orders.

==D&D 5e==
Since knightly orders are a big thing in [[Forgotten Realms]], the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] features two class variants with a knightly theme.

The Banneret (or Purple Dragon Knight, in-universe) is a [[Fighter]] martial archetype revolving around the concept of an elite and noble warrior whose skill allows them to inspire others to greatness in battle. It gets a bunch of class features reminiscent of 4e's [[Warlord]], like healing allies when the fighter uses their Second Wind, triggering an ally to attack when you use Action Surge, and the ability to extend Indomitable to your allies.

The Oath of the Crown for [[Paladin]]s, meanwhile, specifically represents the blur between knight and paladin, with a focus on lawfulness, order, and the sanctity of civilization in contrast to the paladin's general focus on doing good. It has features that let it serve as a mighty champion, and spells that tap into its spiritual authority, mostly enchantments like Command and Geas.

That not enough for you? Not only did we get a [[Cavalier]] subclass for the Fighter in the Kits of Old unearthed arcana, November 2016 gave us a full-fledged Knight subclass, which is essentially an even tankier version of the Cavalier. It can mount and dismount for only 5 feet of movement cost, has advantage on saves against falling off, always lands on its feet if it does fall off (providing it's no higher up than 10 feet and isn't incapacitated), has what is essentially the Fighter's Marking ability from 4e, a bonus skill with a "knightly" theme, the ability to make an attack as a reaction to an enemy moving within 5 feet that stops them moving if it hits, the ability to trade combat advantage for a bonus attack, gains a free opportunity attack each round, and gains +1 AC when wearing Heavy Armor.

{{D&D5-Classes}}

==See also==
*[[Bretonnia]]: A nation in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] based around these fuckers.
*[[Samurai]]: The Eastern version.

[[category:history]][[category:Pathfinder]]

Knight

2022-04-10T06:45:59Z

2600:1700:91C1:A4E0:C86:B4EC:A682:22CC: /* Why Knights deserved (and still do deserve) the hate */

[[Image:NormansKnight.jpg|right|thumb|Medieval Europe's equivelent of Hell's Angels]]
''Not to be confused with the [[Imperial Knight|miniature Imperial Titan.]].''

The '''"knight"''' [[Monty Python|(pronounced 'Kuh-niggit' for you Frenchies with outrageous accents)]] is an title given to a loyal servant of a monarchy in olden Europe. To start your knightly lineage, you must be valuable enough to your lord that he eventually bestows knighthood upon you. Once that is done, you are officially part of your kingdom's [[noble|nobility]] (albeit at the near bottom of the ladder, but you're leagues better off than the common folk) and any children you bear will also be knights, who will then continue your proud lineage throughout the ages.

The etymology comes from ''Cniht'' / ''Knecht'' among Saxons in England and Saxony - a house servant. But if you were serving a lord, he might lend you a horse thus making you a ''rādcniht''. Meanwhile in the post-Latin parts of the post-[[Roman Empire|Rome]], the [[cavalier]] was still riding around the estates of post-Gaul. As with the Equestrian class in the Roman Republic, they had to own the land and resources to ''keep'' a horse - and in Dark Age Western Europe, that meant signing on to some feudal lord. So the Venn between "knight" and "cavalier" was a slightly blurry single circle.

The knight started becoming the chivalrous, romantic daredevils we all know and love by the 12th, due to the influence of Christianity and Islam throughout Europe, and to a lot of romantic bullshit from the Languedoc troubadours. They are usually rich-enough blokes that knight families typically owned at least one estate that they may develop as they see fit.

These guys were the greatest thing in Europe's arsenal for nearly a thousand years before being weakened by Swiss pike formations, [[firearm|another Chinese import]], and the idea of a professional and standardized standing army which gradually put an end to the age of knights. Then, in the 19th century and after the French revolution, Romanticists who wanted to defend the old order of things against upstart ideas about "democracy" and suchlike began looking to the past with rose-coloured glasses and forgot about the shitty quality of that period and instead saw dashing knights in shining armor (a phrase that originally meant "the new guy who has never been through battle").

==Misconceptions==
In modern parlance, Knight is the catch-all term for some posh bloke who fought on horseback with decent armour and weapons. It was the case for some time, but the term 'Knight' has started to refer to the ''social rank'' of the man, not the way he fought, around the XIIth century. 'Chivalry' does refer to horsemanship, however.

Most armored guys on the battlefield of High and Late Medieval period (usually carrying shield, non rusted armor and a decent weapon) were [[Men at Arms]] -- a better equipped class of soldier. Through patronage of a wealthy lord, large groups of these blokes were kitted out with decent weaponry and armour (to varying degrees). They sometimes had a horse if there weren't enough cavalry; otherwise they were just a better equipped form of infantry. They were usually of better social standing than their comrades serving in a Lord's (or Knight's) armies as meat shields and arrow fodder (conscripted peasant), although that itself would vary: from men who their overlord might socialise with to a degree, to a better-off commoner like a merchant who simply bought better armor than the smelly peasants, or just some smelly oik with an aptitude for combat who was kitted out at his Lordship's expense.

Since most Knights were fairly wealthy, they nearly always fought as Men at Arms (being that they could afford decent plate armor, an arsenal of weapons, and a war horse, on their own), though not all Men at Arms were Knights. It is also worth noting that Men at Arms usually were poorer equipped than Knights, and often received little to no training which usually lasted between a fortnight and a month. Knights, however, were trained from the age of six and this training lasted until their mentor deemed them ready to be a full knight (that age varied, but generally was around 17-18 years; Edward the Black Prince, for example, was granted full knighthood in 16 years). They also had the option and means of having their own armor and weapons specially made/procured for them. Additionally, any non-noble who was able to attain knighthood though exemplary military service would have been a warrior few could equal.

Knight's tournaments were NOTHING like how we picture them through Hollywood; they were not leisurely affairs of organised jousting with the King's retinue and nobles looking on. Jousting itself was regarded as a sideshow compared to the main attraction of a tourney - the ''melee'', which was in many respects a mock battle, designed to keep knights practiced in combat without actually killing anyone and an attractive prospect for many young knights to rise in stature through winning the tourneys. Two sides of knights would meet in the tourney ground (usually a massive area encompassing the length between ''two towns'') and clash in brutal hand-to-hand combat with the aim of securing opposing knights for ransom (that were subject to the regular rules of war).

It is also worth noting that some Knights did not fight at all, being too sickly, too old when war broke out, or simply too scared. Due to this, some knights engaged in civilian leadership roles, rather than military ones.

==The Modern Take==
In our current times the misconceptions mentioned above have created a stereotype in the general public's mind of what it means to be a knight: an owner of land and a castle, wearing that ridiculous heavy armour on top of a mighty horse and being the upmost example of honour, valour and nobility. This is because during the Victorian era, when commoners started revolting against them. During the 18th and 19th centuries. The upper classes in Europe began romanticizing the dark ages, knights in particular, in poems and stories until what it originally is now buried under a mound of half-truths and plot twisting. In order to justify ruling over their former peasants in revolt and to make themselves feel better. TLDR look up the French Revolution.

Consider that tricky part of the tale of King Arthur: his dad Uther Pendragon wants to have it off with the lady Igraine, who is married to his enemy Gorlois. So, using circumstances and Merlin's magics, Uther takes on the identity of her husband, has his way with her, and then nine months down the line Arthur is born, an illegitimate child. This is left out of many tales except those seriously referencing the old poems as it is not the heroic source of the once and future king that many would expect (in later legend there is emphasis that Gorlois conveniently dies in battle before the conception occurs, therefore changing the fluff of the legend in Uther's favor. A predecessor to Matt Ward, it looks like).

Many still use knights as a standard for human warriors of chivalry going out and slaying various beasts and saving various maidens (most fantasy settings, RPGs and MMORPGs use knights as a class type, some renaming to <s>make them sound more original</s> rip off D&D like 'Paladin' or 'Crusader').

===Why Knights deserved (and still do deserve) the hate===
*Most Knights were a medieval version of [[That Guy]].
*Knights were legally not allowed to be killed in battle. While ransomed by the enemy they would be entitled to food, women and booze.
*They asked the Pope to ban crossbows(and other "missile projectiles:, because they were pussies and didn't want to accept the fact that a lucky peasant can royally murder them before they got close. This failed because it was impossible to enforce and unlike today one nation can't punish another for using certain weapons.
*They could kill peasants/serfs and get away with it (at least their own serfs; killing the servants of another knight without their permission is frowned upon).
*These assholes only had to work three months per year.
*The general incompetence in the way the Crusades were carried out-- general infighting between various warbands with national rivalries broke out, than restored to murdering and raping Slavs and Poles when they were getting their asses kicked by Muslims and the [[Mongols]] from the East.
**The Mongols did their jobs of driving out the Muslims for them. The Crusading Knights who ran away stole all the credit.
**Instead of going home and letting the Eastern Roman Empire(aka Byzantine Empire) administrate the territory they actually did retake (due to the Byzantine army being crippled by the Turks at Manzikert due to inter-dynasty infighting), these assholes set up their own principalities between the Empire and the Jerusalem. During the 4th Crusade, Knights (already ticked off at how the Byzantine populace revolted and massacred Italian merchants in the capital city <s>they were arrogant and were rich due to controlling all the banking like the Jewish people back in Western Europe</s>) led the campaign under orders from Pope Innocent III that ransacked Constantinople once they backed a coup but learned the Emperor didn't have any money to pay for their services. Set up their own empire to get their asses kicked by the "Greeks" a half century later who restored it for a short time. These wars made the eastern empire permanently crippled and easily taken over by the Ottomans. The Crusades also gave Muslims the inroads to take control of Spain for centuries.
*Knights were expensive. Lords could arm several archers and infantrymen for half the price. Knights however, were theoretically the smartest bunches he could summon, as they were trained since birth to be elite soldiers. However without real standardization (unlike modern army recruits), it's hit-or-miss if the training was actually worth a damn or if it even worked in their theater of battle.
*Training wasn't really that practical in the first place. The reason why training of modern soldiers is standardized is so that when brought together they can all function as one unit regardless of origins. Giving each knights' house carte blanche on military training means your army's effectiveness is the equivalent of playing darts blindfolded. While there were Knight Orders that could work together in unison, those groups were rare.
*Only rich kids could become Knights and you had to be part of the nobility in the first place.
*Chivalry only applied when they wanted it to.
*[[/pol/|Some idiots want to bring them back]], despite the fact that guns exist and will get them shot in the face by anyone with a 9mm handgun. Unlike modern wargear medieval armor is not rated against and will perform poorly against bullets, shrapnel and crossbows, etc. Even if it was brought up to spec using modern materials, modern body armor made of polymer, ceramic plates, and synthetic fibers can stop just about everything medieval armor can and more, at a fraction of the cost and weight and minus the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spall glaring downsides].

===Why being a Knight sucked===
*Jousting was pay to win (going back to Knights being [[That Guy]]). Ever play a video game and a new item update releases with cool new weapons and armor? It might have took you days or a week just to get one of them. Then comes this guy with all that new gear stomping you with little skill on their part. Jousting was like that. If a Knight was rich enough he could buy a specialized set of jousting armor that made it impossible to unhorse him. Poorer Knights had to make do with their battle armor, which was designed for movement rather than not falling off a walking glue container.
*Knights had to buy their own equipment, as unlike modern military forces the feudal cheapskates in charge wouldn't foot the bill. If they didn't have a high enough status or weren't buddies with the armorer, there would be a chance of their weapons and armor being of questionable quality and forged by an apprentice instead. This meant that lower ranked Knights may have went into battle with the dark age equivalent of a school science project, regardless of how professional it might look on the surface.
*Becoming a Knight meant that you had to be hit in the face with a gauntlet. Made out of metal. So you could end up talking like a European Little Nicky if the guy knighting you was a big enough jerk. For obvious reasons, this was eventually replaced with the more traditional tapping of your shoulders with a sword.
*As a Squire you had a high chance of being [[rape|raped]] by the man training you, more so if you weren't a noble of high rank. If he's one of those types who took Christianity seriously, there's a 50/50 chance you will also be beaten constantly for failing to live up to his overly high standards.
*Because of how the nobility works, there's a decent chance you're inbred and your to-be wife chosen by arranged marriage will be closely related to you by blood (genetic diversity tends to suffer under eugenics). What's that? You don't want to marry and fuck your sister(?)? Too bad, we need an heir, do it or be disgraced.
*Crossbows and Firearms ruined your day. Some guys who took a vacation in the Far East came back with pretty cool stuff that kills you in an instant regardless of all that fancy gear you got. Luckily for you their weapon takes forever to reload, making a well timed charge or a sneak attack on him seem like a really good idea. Unfortunately that other guy also has a pistol, maybe even two. Worse, he is likely a German mercenary with a Flamberge, whose sword breaks your own in half. ''Then'' he shoots you with one of his handguns.
**Granted a good enough Knight could become a decent rifleman/gunslinger in his own right, but by that time the utility of your original station was pretty much over.
*The Feudalist system was pretty much the mafia of the Middle Ages. You piss off the wrong person above your rank or if they want what you have (land, wife, daughter, livestock, even just your peasants), you and your family could be stripped of your land and titles, either by other Knights, from a siege via cannons, or condemnation as a heretic and burning at the stake, with your assets divided up and even your family given to other nobility.
*Some angry peasant spits on you, or another noble sneezes in your direction. You are now dying of the bubonic plague.
**Or you could get Tuberculosis instead. Or both. Hell, you could just die because of the abysmal hygiene and sanitation standards of the time.
***[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crh26yTqdqk The doctors of the era knew shit all about these things].

==Fantasy Knights in a Nutshell==
If you are a chivalrous knight in a modern fantasy setting, your usual duties will include:

* Quest Taking: from killing a dragon to driving the moles out of the fields of farmers, anything that troubles the people you must take care of. It doesn't have to be you directly, though. If the task is too unworthy for your stature, but still needs fixing, sending your apprentice or hiring other people to do it in your stead also works.
* Monster killing: a category of its own (although often a Quest as well). There are various nasty critters around and in ye olde times you would serve as a pest exterminator for hire. The bigger and badder the monster you slay, the more famous you are with the kingdom.
* Damsel rescuing: even if she is married (or you are), you could get a kiss, a handkerchief, and hopefully [[Profit|a hefty reward]] for giving her a hand.
* Helping out your king: at times you'll be called on to help your king or lord and hook up with a bunch of your knightly mates to rout some naughty foreigners giving the kingdom trouble.
* Wench pulling: you keep an entire industry of busty women in business with the profits from your questing.
* Looking impressive: your armor and weapons aren't just your tools but also your icons. It gives the peasants something nice to gawk at are and often symbols of your deeds and character. Many knights are recognized simply by their gear (i.e: Excalibur for King Arthur).
* Example setting: along with looking good, you have to practice being good to and showing everyone how to be a goody-two-shoes. From escorting ladies to putting your cloak out across a puddle, from saying hello to Ted the stable boy to upholding your kingdom's faith and smiting any heretic who dares besmirch your god, being a choir boy is a 24/7 job. This is also the reason why Knights are typically [[Paladin]] equivalents in fantasy.
** If you should fall short in your chivalry, it usually suffices to take on a particularly challenging and meaningful quest to restore your honor. If there's one thing peasants like better than tales of upstanding knights, it's tales of knights who stumble and get back up again (or die trying).
** The flip side of upholding the code of chivalry is enforcing the code against oath-breakers. Knights who completely ''forsake'' their vows are especially harmful to your profession's reputation, so be vigilant for rumors of 'black knights' and the like.
* Training a squire: Building up a knight household is a ton of work, and if you died without a legitimate heir to your name, all your hard work over the decades would have been for naught. So, you had to train a successor who will carry your knight household throughout the ages. Train them well and don't just treat them as a glorified servant, as that little buttmuncher will be the one who'll be representing your legacy once you're gone, and you don't want your house to be remembered for that dastard who became the unbearable shame throughout the land.

==Real Knights in a Nutshell==
* Bureaucrat: in most areas of Europe, barons were the main land holding class and baronies roughly analogous to large townships (the modern word county coming from the slightly higher rank of count). Knights owed allegiance to barons and generally served as their officers of government, from constable to tax collector. A knight's fee (the quantity of land to sustain a knight) was roughly a couple thousand acres, and the typical barony consisting of roughly a dozen fees. Since a family could reasonably tend 5-10 acres, this basically means a knight was responsible for a few hundred homes.
* Officer: you owe service to your lord. If they call on you to fight, you have to. In this regard knights were analogous to lieutenants or sergeants. Being men at arms, knights were expected to know how to fight, how to lead and teach others to fight. If they were particularly good fighters they might be used more like champions and vanguards, while the less martially able would still be expected to be capable of organizing and leading some men. In medieval Europe, the basic formation was the "lance", roughly equivalent to a squad, consisting of a knight and his retinue (perhaps a dozen men). Lances were organized into companies, captained by a noble (typically a baron or count). Lances wouldn't necessary take the field intact; for field warfare, knights would assemble as cavalry and their retainers would form the body of infantry. Wealthier nobles (particularly in the late medieval era) would sometimes take it on themselves to train and equip whole companies to fight together as a unit (company of bow, company of pike, etc).
* Politician: you're part of the elite which means you have to spend an infuriating amount of time jockeying for influence or just protecting your current position. If you don't play ball by engaging with the rest of the aristocracy and maintaining your status, you'll find yourself in disfavor. If you're not seen as pious enough, the church will start hectoring you with the same effect.

== Old-School D&D ==
Both 1st edition [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] 2e featured the knightly archetype in their options. For 1e, [[Gary Gygax]] himself created the [[Cavalier]] in an issue of [[Dragon Magazine]] as a variant [[Paladin]]. It... didn't work out so well. For 2e, the knightly motif was conveyed by certain [[Kits]], predominantly for the Warrior class-group, with the most obvious version being, again, the Cavalier.

The Cavalier is not held up very highly by most [[Grognard]]s, for reasons explained on its page.

==D&D 3.5==
Third Edition's version of the Knight was introduced in ''Player's Handbook II'' and [http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060501a&page=2 released for free as part of the book's preview]. They have a high base attack bonus and roll D12s for HP. Their abilities are purely related to taking hits and forcing a single target to hit them, similar in concept to a 4E tank class, but with significantly less versatility in terms of providing damage output, boosting allies or disrupting the flow of the fight to suit his party. Probably one of the weaker classes as too much of its abilities are focused on being a punching bag of HP instead of an actual tank that is hard to hurt and lacks the ability to fuck things over, if you're familiar with how Marking a target works in 4E, its based off this guy, but at least in 4E you have penalties other than the -2 to hit to control your opponent. Like paladins this class has a code of conduct. Unlike paladins, the consequences of breaking this code of conduct last a day tops (directly anyways, who knows what larger setbacks it might result in). The code of conduct consists of what they consider a "fair play". Part of the code of conduct is not dealing lethal damage to helpless foes. By the way, some creatures are immune to non-lethal damage.

Knight is [[Tier System|tier 5]]. Their one task, tanking, is theoretically useful but they aren't that good at it and simply unable to try against most threats. Outside that they aren't very useful.

'''TL;DR''' A bunch of Hit Points that prototyped the tank class mechanics of 4E that lacks any choice beyond taking it in the gut. Avoid and just refluff a paladin as an atheist.

{{D&D3-Classes}}

==D&D 4e==
The knight was introduced in "Heroes of the Fallen Lands", the first of the two Essentials splatbooks for [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]. Flavorwise, knights are protection-focused warriors, champions who lead village militias, caravan guards and adventuring parties, favoring the use of heavy armor, hand weapon and shield to endure attacks as hold foes in place as the rest of their party closes in for the kill. Many knights belong to benevolent military orders, and whilst they are not [[paladin]]s proper, they are still respected for their dedication to good (or at least martial perfection).

Mechanically, the knight is a "simplified" take on the 4e [[Fighter]], this Martial Defender (with some Leader aspects) abandoned the [[AEDU System]] to something closer to an old-school fighter. Instead of the traditional front-loaded approach to class-features, the 4e knight gains different features at different levels. Instead of using the martial exploits system, it uses a combination of heroic-tier Utility powers and at-will stances, which modify the effects of its basic attacks. This formula would be reused for the [[Slayer]], introduced in the same book.

A knight's core power is Defender Aura, an at-will utility used to mark foes, which goes in tandem with its Battle Guardian at-will attack to punish marked foes that try to slip past it. Its other level 1 features are Weapon Talent (+1 to your attack rolls with weapons), Shield Finesse as a bonus feat, access to two of the knight stances, and its only Encounter attack, Power Strike. It gains Improved Power Strike (use Power Strike 2/encounter) at level 3, Combat Readiness (+2 Initiative) at level 4, and Weapon Mastery (+1 damage with weapon attacks) at level 5. At level 7 it gains both an extra knight stance and one of the two Weapon Specializations, which adds a rider to its Power Strike attack; Bladed Step for heavy blades and Staggering Hammer for hammers. At level 8, it gains the utility power Shield Block, and at level 9 its Improved Combat Readiness feature boosts its initiative bonus to +4.

At level 11, it gains Stalwart Assault (Add Con bonus to Speed and melee weapon damage rolls in the first turn in an encounter), Stalwart Action (when you spend an action point, gain Resist 10 to all damage until the end of your next turn), and another Improved Power Strike (Power Strike 3/encounter). At level 12, it gains Greater Weapon Specialization, which gives it either the Shielding Blade or Bludgeoning Counterstrike utilities, ''another'' Improved Power Strike (4/encounter) at level 13, Paragon Weapon Mastery (+2 to all weapon attack rolls) at level 15, Armor of Conviction (gain Resist 5 to all damage while bloodied) and the Bolstering Strike utility at level 16, another new knight stance at level 17, Devoted Knight (using your second wind or total defense creates an aura 1 until the end of your next turn that grants your allies +2 to all defenses) at level 19, and Tactical Focus (you can slide a target you hit with Power Strike by +1 square) at level 20.

In the epic tier, it gains the Knight's Valor utility power at level 22, the Relentless Knight feature (can spend +1 healing surge when you use second wind) at level 23, Epic Weapon Mastery (+3 to all weapon attack rolls) at level 25, and finally Spirit of War (you can make a save to end an ongoing effect at both the start and end of your turns) at level 29.

It gains a chosen Utility Power at levels 2, 6 and 10.

General opinion is that it's a pretty badly handled class. It's strong at the Heroic Tier, but quickly falls behind the [[AEDU System]] classes from epic tier onwards, as its stance-modified basic attacks just don't cut it anymore.

{{D&D4-Classes}}

==[[Pathfinder]] - The Cavalier==
Paizo has added traditional knights/men-at-arms to the Pathfinder roleplaying game, as the [[Cavalier]] class. They're a lot like Paladins without the magic. They differentiate themselves from the ''other'' melee classes in two major important ways: mounts and orders.

==D&D 5e==
Since knightly orders are a big thing in [[Forgotten Realms]], the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] features two class variants with a knightly theme.

The Banneret (or Purple Dragon Knight, in-universe) is a [[Fighter]] martial archetype revolving around the concept of an elite and noble warrior whose skill allows them to inspire others to greatness in battle. It gets a bunch of class features reminiscent of 4e's [[Warlord]], like healing allies when the fighter uses their Second Wind, triggering an ally to attack when you use Action Surge, and the ability to extend Indomitable to your allies.

The Oath of the Crown for [[Paladin]]s, meanwhile, specifically represents the blur between knight and paladin, with a focus on lawfulness, order, and the sanctity of civilization in contrast to the paladin's general focus on doing good. It has features that let it serve as a mighty champion, and spells that tap into its spiritual authority, mostly enchantments like Command and Geas.

That not enough for you? Not only did we get a [[Cavalier]] subclass for the Fighter in the Kits of Old unearthed arcana, November 2016 gave us a full-fledged Knight subclass, which is essentially an even tankier version of the Cavalier. It can mount and dismount for only 5 feet of movement cost, has advantage on saves against falling off, always lands on its feet if it does fall off (providing it's no higher up than 10 feet and isn't incapacitated), has what is essentially the Fighter's Marking ability from 4e, a bonus skill with a "knightly" theme, the ability to make an attack as a reaction to an enemy moving within 5 feet that stops them moving if it hits, the ability to trade combat advantage for a bonus attack, gains a free opportunity attack each round, and gains +1 AC when wearing Heavy Armor.

{{D&D5-Classes}}

==See also==
*[[Bretonnia]]: A nation in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] based around these fuckers.
*[[Samurai]]: The Eastern version.

[[category:history]][[category:Pathfinder]]