Cobra (Eldar)

Eldar Portal

Biel-Tan Cobra (2008)

The Cobra is an Eldar Engine of Vaul, a Super-Heavy Tank which combines the speed and grace of Eldar anti-grav technology with terrifying firepower.^[1]

In Eldar mythology, the cobra was the brother of the serpent but a short-tempered, fickle ally, to whom the serpent turned to for aid only during the darkest days of the War in Heaven. The Cobra is a war engine hunter, utilizing terrifying weaponry designed to destroy enemy super-heavy vehicles and Titans in a single blow.^[1][2][3]

Technical Information

The Cobra is built upon the same chassis and utilizes the same gravitic motors as found on the Scorpion, giving it similar speed, mobility and protective qualities, including the use of a Titan-grade Holo-field.^[1][2] As well the number of crew is kept to a minimum (a pilot and gunner), so that more Eldar can be freed up to perform other battlefield duties.^[3] The biggest difference between the two, though, is the Cobra's armament, a single massive hull-mounted Distort Cannon, or "D-Cannon." A direct hit from the D-Cannon will tear apart whole sections of even the largest Titan, dragging machine and crew screaming into the nightmarish hell that is the Warp. Even Void Shields provide no defensive barrier against this massive vortex weapon.^[1] Battlefield reports tell of whole sections of reality torn away after the Cobra's main weapon fires, leaving nothing in its place.^[1] The only consolation is that the D-Cannon does not have the same range as weapons found on the Scorpion, and in comparison to its brother the Cobra loses some versatility in exchange for its firepower.^[1][2]

Besides its D-Cannon the Cobra also mounts a smaller secondary weapon, either a Bright Lance, Eldar Missile Launcher, Scatter Cannon, Shuriken Cannon or Starcannon. Some Cobras are also upgraded to include Star Engines and/or Vectored Engines.^[3]

Technical Information[2]
Length	18.43m
Height	6.8m
Wingspan	10.31m
Estimated Weight	70 tonnes
Barrel Length	15.6m
Armour	12-15mm material unknown
Combat Speed	60 kph
Estimated Max Speed	280 kph
Crew	1 driver, 1 gunner
Armament	Distort Cannon
Main Ammunition	Unknown

Images

• 

  Alaitoc Cobra (2001)

• 

  Epic Scale Cobra

Trivia

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

Notes on Development History

• The Cobra may have alternate aesthetic designs as a result of differing consensus between Bonesinger Design Schools which were known to Imperial Scholars as Warp Hunters.^[2b] This may have been the result of confusion, as the Warp Hunter is a separate vehicle.^[3]

Conflicting sources

The Cobra was introduced in Epic 40,000 as a part of the line refresh of the new edition of Epic.^[5] When Design Schools were introduced in Epic: Swordwind (2005) it was clarified that the Warp Hunter had been an incorrect name by which Imperial Scholars had incorrectly identified a Cobra from a different Design School.^[2b]

However, Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara (2011) contradicted this clarification, establishing that the Cobra and the Warp Hunter were in fact two different vehicles.^[3] This has left the relationship between the original Epic-scale Warp Hunter in the strange state of being an alternative design for two quite different vehicles.

• 

  Early Warp Hunter^[4]

• 

  Early Warp Hunter^[4]

See also

• Eldar Vehicles
  • Warp Hunter

Sources

This article or article section is based on information from a Fanatic Press publication such as Fanatic Magazine or one of its predecessors (e.g. The Citadel Journal, Necromunda Magazine, etc.). These publications regularly featured articles submitted by hobbyists, and as such, their content may or may not be in contradiction to established background lore.

• 1: Imperial Armour II - Ork, Eldar and Dark Eldar Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 16
• 2: Epic: Swordwind:
  • 2a: pg. 23
  • 2b: pg. 76
• 3: Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara, pg. 196
• 4: Renegades, pg. 33
• 5: Epic 40,000 Magazine Issue 3, pgs. 12-15 ^{Fanatic Press}