New Knights From GW!

You may have seen these images floating around the web today. If not, read on!



Next weekend we get preorders for new Imperial Knights! A new codex that is supposedly twice the size of the current one. Rumor has it there will be more named Knights in it, including the data sheets for Gerantius and possibly the Obsidian Knight. Hopefully we'll see more named character Knights with data sheets like Amaranthine, etc.

A set of Knight specific Data Cards.

And three new Knights! What are the three new ones? The Crusader, Warden, and Gallant. The three new Knights offer new weapon load outs borrowing from the Paladin and Errant and adding new stuff on top of it. Specifically the Avenger Autocannon and Thunderstrike Gauntlet as arm weapons, the option to replace the shoulder mounted Stubber with a Melta, and Carapace weapons. The three options there are Ironstorm Missiles, Stormspear Missiles, or an Icarus Autocannon for some AA capability.

Oh, and did I mention the Gauntlet gives you Hurl? If you destroy a vehicle or monstrous creature (not Gargantuan MCs or Super Heavy Vehicles sadly) in close combat you get to throw them at your enemies. How freaking cool is that?! So go ahead, throw a Land Raider at your enemies for a S7 large blast attack.

So here's some images. The text is hard to read so I will type it out for you so I'm the only one to destroy his eye sight. Nice of me, eh?

The important paragraphs that I can read:

Imperial Knight Wardens are masters of close range firefights and battles in cramped city confines. Undaunted in the face of enemy fire they often mastermind attacks on enemy barricades and bunkers. On one arm they carry an avenger gatling cannon, on the other a reaper chainsword or thunderstrike gauntlet, both more than capable of ripping a tank, monstrous alien creature, or armoured fortification to pieces. The Knight Warden can be further equipped with a shoulder mounted meltagun and a carapace mounted support weapon. Should the Warden expect to encounter enemy tanks, the stormspear rocket pod (shown here) is the ideal solution, while the icarus autocannons (shown on page 7) are perfect for dealing with aircraft.

But wait, there's more! This impressive plastic kit makes not one but five different classes of Imperial Knight: the Crusader, Gallant, Paladin, Errant and, of course, Warden. Turn the page to see what else you can make with this great new kit.

So it seems the old Paladin/Errant kit is going away in favor of a new version that builds them all. In some ways, that should make people in the magnetizing camp happy as they will be able to buy the extra bits and make their Knights able to be any of the variations.

 And again, the the text:

In stark contrast to the bellicose pilots of the Knights Gallant, those Nobles given the honour of commanding a Knight Crusader are thoughtful, tactically aware warriors. Armed with enough guns to quell a rebellion, they stride at the rear of a Knight lance, laying down a hail of bullets and battle cannon shells in support of the advance. Continued fire from a Crusader can reduce entire formation to steaming gore and ruined metal in minutes.

In total, the Imperial Knight Crusader carries four ranged weapons: the thermal cannon, the avenger gatling cannon, a heavy stubber and a heavy flamer. Alternatively, why no go out all guns blazing and build it with six as shown below. Here, the thermal cannon has been replaced with a rapid fire battle cannon and heavy stubber, and a pair of Icarus autocannons have been mounted on the carapace to deal with enemy flyers.

That is a lot of firepower. This thing is a beast and will lay waste to enemy units. Keep it protected as it seems that it will have very little close combat ability.

Whoever leaked these images didn't snap a pic of the Gallant. It's possible it isn't in the White Dwarf issue. However, the Gallant is obviously this one from the teaser video:

A chainsword and a thunderstrike gauntlet. Obviously this one is geared to close combat, and I want to see the rules to see what they do about it having two weapons. Does it just get one extra attack choosing to go at Initiative with the D strength chainsword or at Initiative 1 with the gauntlet? Or does it get more attacks? Or can it divide them up between the two weapons? Time will tell. It doesn't have much ranged weaponry. From the picture it can obviously take a carapace weapon, and it likely has the shoulder mounted stubber. I would hazard a guess it likely has the heavy flamer as well.

Another interesting set of questions is: are the old Paladin and Errant getting updates as well? Possibly the chance to take the Gauntlet? Will they get the option of carapace weapons? Of swapping the stubber for a melta gun? We shall see. It's all in the same box, and it certainly ups the possibilities for the old models. Carapace weapons seem ripe for magnetization.

One final image, in German:

The Warden comes in base at 375 points (equal to an Errant) with an avenger gatling cannon, heavy flamer, heavy stubber, reaper chainsword and ion shield. The gauntlet is a 10 point upgrade from the chainsword. Stubber can be swapped with a melta gun for 5 points. You have a choice of one carapace weapon for the following costs: Ironstorm Missiles for 30, Icarus Autocannon for 35, and Stormspear Rockets for 40. The rest is pretty standard: WS/BS of 4, S 10, I 4. Armor is 13/12/12 with 6 hull points, but it has 5 attacks instead of 4. Six S D attacks on the charge can make anyone sweat, even if it's the gauntlet hitting at Initiative 1. Followed by D3 stomps.

These are very welcome additions to the Knight range. There's been some Internet rage over the Knight codex being replaced after only one year, but let's face it, the whole codex became obsolete within a couple months when the 7th edition came out and the FAQs replaced nearly everything but the Warlord traits and the data sheets in the codex. Other rage is directed at the new Knights being on the same Questerois pattern chassis as the previous ones, rather than sticking to the old Epic 40k look of the units. Again, let's be realistic, why reinvent the wheel when they can just slightly retool and offer it all in the same kit? We now have 5 total Knights instead of two (not counting Forge World Knights which brings the total to 10) and the new ones seem to be real bruisers. Not to mention that there's likely an expansion of fluff. I see it as a cause for celebration that the Knights are still getting love.

With the new kit housing five variants, expect to see an increase in the cost of buying the kit. The old one about ran $140 US, I would expect to see at least a $20 increase. Someone on Facebook mentioned it would cost £90 which at the exchange rate as of this writing would make it $137.99 which is cheaper than the current kit. So I'm skeptical on that price. Although if they keep it the same price (or less), I will be pleasantly surprised and won't complain as I will need to buy at least three more kits (yes NEED, not want, NEEEEEEED!!!). Heck, I still have one unbuilt as I am still working on my Castigator.

Needless to say, I am super excited about this. My wallet... not so much.