40K Lore: Eldar Knights and the Future Codex
Lets take a trip down memory lane to see what the Eldar may have in store for us in their new codex.
First of all, lets define exactly that that picture up there is. That is a scale sheet of the Epic-scale (6mm) Eldar Knight miniatures that were released in the early 1990s. There were Imperial ones as well, but that’s for another day. The title picture is of an ancient Armorcast 40K scale Towering Destroyer licensed from GW back in the day.
Back then, we got this entire range of “baby titans” called Knights. These were roughly on par with things like Stompas, and were no match even for scout titans, but were much more powerful than say a Land Raider, or Dreadnought. Basically they were in the Baneblade range of things.
Backstorywise Eldar Knights were Exodite constructs. The larger “formal titans” were built by the Craftworlds. There was a big feudal background to the Exodites described, and with their primary food source being dinosaur meat (I’m totally not making this up), the Exodite nobility designed larger constructs for the shepherding of their dinosaur flocks – hence Eldar Knights!
There was an entire hierarchy between the three types, with some slower and more well armed (Towering Destroyer), and others built for speed (Bright Stallion). Different levels of Exodite nobility tended to ride various types.
Of course in the Dark Millennium things are never peaceful and in times of need, the Exodite Knights would ride into battle on their wraithbone mounts to defend their homes against either rival Exodite clans, or invaders.
So why are we talking about this?
Because one of the rumors we keep hearing about the upcoming Eldar codex is they are getting a walker of some type that is roughly twice the mass of the Wriathlord. More intriguing, several sources have mentioned the kit walks on FOUR LEGS. And with the latest trend of the designers reaching back into the early days of GW’s creative past for ideas to pull into the present – those knights up there got me thinking.
Who knows, some slight ret-coning may see Bright Stallions on a tabletop near you in the days ahead.
-What’s your take and which Eldar Knight would you want the most?
