Knights were introduced in the late 80's with release of the Adeptus Titanicus sourcebook for the Epic tabletop game. Three types were introduced in the early 1990s. The Knight Wardens had a defensive role. They were armed with long ranged, heavy weapons and were well armoured. Knight Paladins were jack-of-all-trade units, armed with a ranged and a close-combat weapon. Knight Lancers were scout units, armed with a single ranged weapon but were faster than the other Knights. Afterwards, the miniature range was reworked and the rules were updated. Knights were subdivided into the Paladin, Knight Errant and Lancer types, along with the Knight Baron as a superior command unit. A number of Knights were included in the Titan Legions box set.
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| GW Catalog circa 1988 |
In the background, they were smaller, one-man counterparts of the much larger Titans which were crewed by many more people. Originally, they were derived from Eldar technology and were copies of Eldar Knights, used by Exodites to assist in the herding of large, dinosaur-like reptiles they used as livestock. Human Knight Titans were used in the same fashion, and were assimilated by the Imperium's armies whenever they were encountered.
Outside the tabletop games, Knights have not appeared much in other media. The 2008 Black Library book 'Mechanicum' features several Knights from a Mars based legion set at the outset of the Horus Heresy. Knight Paladins were secret units in PC game Epic 40,000 Final Liberation.
The old Epic range was what first peeked my interest in 40k. I remember my Dad brought home some 5 foot x 5 foot green felted boards and a couple of friends pretty much begged to have them for their Wargaming. So they invited me along; it turned out to be Epic that they played. I was introduced to the Titans and Knights and became hooked as an interest. Brings back memories.
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