Knight Gallant

The Knight Gallant pattern Imperial Knight walker, is a close combat specialist. The Nobles that pilot Knights Gallant are aggressive and short-tempered, their minds constantly occupied with proving themselves in glorious combat. Armed with Thunderstrike Gauntlet and Reaper Chainsword, they eschew the use of long-ranged cannons in favour of wargear that can pummel, shred and tear their foes apart in combat. Difficult to restrain with tactics and logic, they will often spearhead an assault in search of renown.

History
Impetuous. Mad. Beyond bellicose. These words and more have been used to describe Knights Gallant, for they are considered by the majority of their peers to be the most reckless and combative of all Imperial Knights. Man and machine share the same traits -- they are aggressive, bold and difficult, if not impossible, to restrain. They long to attack, and will do so with unrelenting fervour. A noble destined to pilot a Knight Gallant will learn three basic tenets when he is bonded with his Throne Mechanicum. Depending upon the specific Knight household or the ancient heritage of the Throne, these commandments might be phrased in many different ways, but they all boil down to the same three truisms: trust in your ion shield, make all speed toward the foe, and strike swift and sure. Equipped exclusively for close-ranged combat, a Knight Gallant will thus charge headlong at the foe, its immense strides allowing the bipedal giant to cover the battlefield swiftly.

Once a Knight Gallant closes the distance, the towering walker can unleash its adamantine fury. The reaper chainsword deals death. Long sweeping arcs of the blade will scythe down infantry or destroy light vehicles, while brutal stabs effortlessly chew straight through battle tanks or enemy walkers. Yet a Knight Gallant does not live by its blade alone, for its other arm bears a thunderstrike gauntlet. This weapon -- surrounded by a sparking nimbus of power -- can deliver the coup de grâce to anything on the battlefield. Its thunderclap impact can punch through any amount of armour plating, ripping the hearts out of enormous beasts, and flipping vehicles onto their roofs. Although geared towards close combat, a Knight Gallant does bear a single ball-turret mounted weapon. Typically this is a heavy stubber – its flurry of rounds used to pin foes down before a charge, or to decimate hordes attempting to swamp the Knight through weight of numbers. Some Knights Gallant opt instead for a meltagun, using its searing heat to dispatch tanks at close range.

When a household formation of Knights Gallant take the battlefield, they are sure to attract a disproportionate amount of the enemy’s firepower. Indeed, most foes will do anything they can in hopes of preventing the Knights from reaching their front lines. Since the Great Crusade there have been many tales of the devastation wrought by these aggressive Knights, for their bold and reckless attacks have made them famous across the galaxy. It was a Knight Gallant that charged the vaunted heretic stronghold of Archeonite, smashing its way through thirteen defensive lines to batter down the citadel's gates. It was a trio of Knights Gallant that counter-attacked the Tyranid invasion of Grodisphere -- ploughing headlong into a siegebreaking line of Carnifexes, blunting that xenos offensive in spectacularly bloody fashion. Indeed, the great conqueror Lord Solar Macharius is said to have favoured the Gallant Lance formation above all others for breaking enemy battle lines.

Gallant Lance
With more momentum than a runaway mag-train, a Gallant Lance hits with such ground-shaking impact that shockwaves can be felt miles away. Even a Battle Titan must fear such a collision, for each of the three Knights Gallant that make up the Gallant Lance formation is, in its own right, a formidable killing machine. Given enough time, such a tsunami of hurtling adamantine armour, swinging reaper blades and lightning-wreathed thunderstrike gauntlets could completely stave in an Imperial Navy battleship. Gallant Lances charging full tilt have even been known to crack open the reinforced ferrocrete walls of traitorous hive cities -- once within, their murderous prowess is such that the previously confident foe will flee their stronghold rather than face the Knights in combat.

Wargear

 * Reaper Chainsword
 * Thunderstrike Gauntlet
 * Heavy Stubber
 * Ion Shield