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GW States:

"They may also be taken as allies; you can include up to three Imperial Knights as a single allied detachment for each primary detachment in your army" As such any 40k army can take them as a allied detachment.


So from what I understand a Imperial Knight is a small combat walker of the Adeptus Mechanicus that is one-man version of a Titan. Obviously Imperial Knights would be found throughout the imperium & amongst imperial forces. What I am interested in is, under what circumstances would it be appropriate to see these running around in Tyranids, Ork, Necron, Tau, armies etc? It makes perfect sense that many would belong to Chaos as many joined the ruinous powers during the HH & what not, but when would it be appropriate for the other Xeno races to be running around with them? Has there ever been a 40k article that stated Imperial forces fought against Imperial Knights belonging to said Xeno races?

Because there are Knight Houses that are pure mercenary groups. Highest bidder and all that.

Orkified Knights, perhaps some sort of Necron walker, Imperial forces allied with Tau, chaos corrupted knights, etc.

Actually, I don't think Tyranids can take any allies other than themsevles. So I don't think you'll ever get go see a knight unit attached to a nid army.

Other than that, knights, being ancient war machines piloted by feudal knights, can be easily obtained by Chaos and Ork warbands through various means. Their pilots all the more easier convinced by them.

I can't see a bunch of feudal aristocrats be keen on the whole "Greater Good" mumbo jumbo, and willingly embrace their relatively more modern social structure. Status Quo is God, for a bunch of over-privileged noblemen, after all.

As for Eldar/DE, it depends; some of the knightly orders on a planet might align themselves with said faction to a). preserve themselves from whatever the eldars had against them; b). instigated a Coup d'état; c). be misled into siding with the xenos.

Some necron lords, being newcrons, does negotiate. So some knights might be forced into fighting for the Dynasties. But it's a very specific situation where Necrons would ever have need for the Imperial Knights IMO.

If Orks can use those new knights, then oh boy am I gonna be happy! Now I can get ideas for a grot stompa!

For Tau I see Gue'vesa or Demi-urg Auxilliaries with Knights or Knight-like machines.

In the Titanicus Comic Book the Hive Mind managed to overcome the connection between the crew of the Titan and took full control of it.

Knights have a simpler version of the interface that allows the suit to be controlled so I guess the same thing could be possible. It's only ever happened in Titanicus but it could be away to get around Knights being used by Tyranids.

Necrons could use it by employing Anrakyr's hacking technology on a grand scale.

Hive Mind are powerful enough, psychically, to interface remotely with the MIU by Puppetmastering the Knight's pilot, even if they don't get Telepathy in game any more. Don't worry, they're not the only ones who can't use the full range of their powers on the tabletop (Ahriman!).

Tau don't need Knights, but they could build them if they wanted, and wouldn't turn away a Knight household that wanted to convert.

Orks are Orks, they build their own knights!

Eldar have their own Knights too.

the knight come from the HH book Mechanicum, in which they are awesome, pretty sure the knights of taranis are one of the first knightly houses to meet the emperor. the thing is there is no mention of any of the houses joining Chaos, pretty sure all of them fight alongside various loyalist titan legions.

also there is no hint of them being part of some fuedal system, they are just called knights


Automatically Appended Next Post:
so i dont see why they wouldnt side for the highest bidder in some cases

 MrBlackledge wrote:
the knight come from the HH book Mechanicum, in which they are awesome, pretty sure the knights of taranis are one of the first knightly houses to meet the emperor. the thing is there is no mention of any of the houses joining Chaos, pretty sure all of them fight alongside various loyalist titan legions.

also there is no hint of them being part of some fuedal system, they are just called knights


Automatically Appended Next Post:
so i dont see why they wouldnt side for the highest bidder in some cases

House Devine were an order of Knights that fell to Slaanesh, check out Hell Striders, Questors and Scourges.

really? can honestly say i did not know this, thank you P.S whats the point in a robot turning to slaanesh? it has no emotions. i know the crew do but really.. whats the point?

 MrBlackledge wrote:
really? can honestly say i did not know this, thank you P.S whats the point in a robot turning to slaanesh? it has no emotions. i know the crew do but really.. whats the point?

Obviously you have never seen Tetsuo the Iron man

The narrative example given in Apocalypse for why Tyrannids could team up with Imperials was gene stealers taking over, and even used gene stealers taking over a titan as an example. So I guess the narrative for a knight group attached to gene stealers would be that they're piloted by gene stealers?

 MrBlackledge wrote:
really? can honestly say i did not know this, thank you P.S whats the point in a robot turning to slaanesh? it has no emotions. i know the crew do but really.. whats the point?

Knights aren't robots. They are one-man (or woman) piloted walkers. So it's quite feasible for the pilot to turn to Chaos. Over time, the corrupting effects of Chaos often eventually merge the pilot with the machine, too.

 MrBlackledge wrote:
really? can honestly say i did not know this, thank you P.S whats the point in a robot turning to slaanesh? it has no emotions. i know the crew do but really.. whats the point?

Well the Crew control the Knight. A Knight only has a single occupant so if they have fallen to Slaanesh, why not take your big killy robot with you, all the better for killing in the name of your Dark Master.

I hope this heralds the release of a new gigantic Nid kit at some point, all these big $190 kits can be any manner of sculpt, after all.

Adapt the Hierophant to a plastic kit like you've done with other FW kits and I'd be all over it! Or something similar anyway - a true Tyranid heavy, packing so much fething heat.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Because there are Knight Houses that are pure mercenary groups. Highest bidder and all that.

Freeblades aren't really "mercenary" groups. Nor are they Houses. They're specific Knights.

The transfer sheets actually reflect this, with the Freeblade heraldry being for specific Knights rather than generic "House Crests".
The list of Freeblades that we have so far are the "Obsidian Knight"(the only Freeblade on the transfer sheet included in the Knight box), "Crimson Reaper", "Gerantius, the Forgotten Knight", "The White Warden", and "Amaranthine".

From White Dwarf:

While the overwhelming majority of Imperial Knights belong to houses, some are unable to maintain their place. These are known as the Freeblades.

Whether they have been dishonoured, shunned by their peers or perhaps can simply no longer abide the drudgery of courtly life. These either set out on their own, wandering the stars in search of worthy cause, or else they settle in further isolation, offering their protection to those who need it.

Freeblades, eh?

That's so win. I can't wait for my kit to arrive.

I'll help you out on the lore: Money grab.

It's just a ploy to get people who need to win the game so desperately to feel like they accomplished something in life to buy multiple $140 kits.

Right so any army can use these as allies. Well that's one way to sell kits. Sigh.

If GW doesn't care about game balance, why should they care about background?

 MrBlackledge wrote:
really? can honestly say i did not know this, thank you P.S whats the point in a robot turning to slaanesh? it has no emotions. i know the crew do but really.. whats the point?

Pleasure in all things. You're wired into a hard-core killing machine, why not re-wire that connection into a pain/pleasure response while slaughtering?

TiamatRoar wrote:
So I guess the narrative for a knight group attached to gene stealers would be that they're piloted by gene stealers?

Victims of a Genestealer's "kiss" become subject to the brood mind, all it takes is a single Purestrain to sneak into a barracks in the middle of the night to convert an entire unit..

In days of yore Tyranids also had brain-bug-things like the ones in Star Trek II for taking control of people.

 MrBlackledge wrote:
the knight come from the HH book Mechanicum

Knights are way older than the HH books.