PsyCoteaz - Kirby's Grey Knight army list [Part 4]

Here we finally are, a very long-winded account on this list is coming to an end. We've analysed a lot of choices that I want to include in this army list and have boiled them down quite a bit but we still need to sort out the Troops! The obvious conundrum is balancing model numbers and durability whilst still maintaining effective point usage.

Let's look at some basic templates of options:

2x Jok, 1x Acolyte, Rhino = 114 points (monkeymobile) 

This can also be done in a Chimera with more Joks and aims to provide fire support from downfield whilst holding objectives.

8x Psykers, 1x Acolyte, Rhino = 124 points (psybunker)

Still that love/hate relationship...7 Psykers gives you that coveted S10 AP1 blast whilst the acolyte ensures Perils doesn't wipe out the squad. 36" range means this unit can be quite safe and attempt to avoid psychic defense but is still limited by Ld8 and no skulls in the army.

3x Acolyte, Razorback w/TL-assault cannon, Psybolts = 97 points (passback)

Cheap scoring option with a big gun. This is the pinnacle of fragile Troop with only three T3/5+ models hanging around. For an extra 12 points can up it to six but still not exactly reliable. That being said it's cheap and has a pretty effective gun on the Razorback. You could also go for ranged guns such as LasPlas or TLLC to help the Dreadnoughts in ranged suppression or for cheap scoring firepower a Psyback (HB + psybolt ammo). Edit: after play-testing these final options have been more useful as the passback is just too expensive and suffers too much on the damage chart if out of position (short-ranged, one weapon, etc.).

11x Crusaders, Chimera = 220 points

A Coteaz 'bodyguard' which is decently durable and brings a bit of dakka to the field with the Chimeras guns but still suffers from the issue of no frags and assault transport. No rad grenades either means they won't be wounding a lot of things on 2s but Coteaz does hand out hammerhand.

10x Grey Knights w/2x psycannons, psybolt ammo, MC hammer, Rhino = 295 points 

What will most likely be the 'standard' template for a strong scoring presence in Grey Knights, it's 90 points more expensive than a Tactical squad but has 2x heavy/special weapons compared to the heavy/special combo. Add in psybolt ammunition and there is some decent duality against low AV tanks and Fortitude of the Rhino gives the squad a lot more options in terms of movement and shooting. Expensive but very solid at holding midfield and putting out firepower.

Putting it all together

So there are some really cheap options, fire support options and expensive options. I think the Dreadnoughts in the list as it stands are enough fire support since we are aiming for a midfield dominate list. Monkeymobile type units would be very beneficial in providing MM to midfield and lascannons from backfield (whilst also scoring) but aren't really helping the list saturate midfield. The same can be said of the Psybunkers who want to stay at range as much as possible to avoid any potential psychic defenses and combats. This leads us to the Crusader/Death Cult Chimeras or MSU passbacks. The Crusaders/DCA are quite expensive and very aggressive in nature. They'd work great as a counter assault unit but are quite pricey and not as durable as we'd like. MSU passbacks (or whatever other weapon configuration) is quite cheap but not at all durable in terms of scoring. However it does provide excellent midfield firepower and obviously another vehicle chassis. I like the idea of this but we'd really need to shore the scoring ability in some other way. The Crusader squad is again a potential choice with 11 3++ models but the Grey Knights are studier for the most part and more capable of providing firepower in midfield (18 S5 + 4-8 S7 rending shots). They work just as well as a counter-assault unit if necessary as well.

So we've got our basic outline of what we want to do with our Troops now let's see what we can fit in. We have 535 points to fiddle with. Two full squads of GK would be great but likely out of the question as they are 295 a pop. Let's take a single squad then with 240 points left. That's not really enough for any considerable amount of passbacks so we're going to need to drop something. I'd prefer not to lose the Psyfledreads as they are the only ranged fire support I have. With the Grey Knights as a scoring option I'm happy to lose one of the Purifier squads. I lose some combat ability and midfield supremacy but still have two squads to back it up. This gives me 510 points to play with and a lot more room for options! 

I could take all of those points and purchase 5 passback squads and use leftover points for upgrades but the list still suffers a bit from so-so scoring. Let's take 4 passback squads then and see what we can do with the leftover points. There's only 122 so we can't do too much. A min-sized GK squad costs 150 so let's see if we can't reach that level; we need to shave 28 points. Easy to do, we'll drop a Purifier w/Hammer (Corteaz can now ride in that squad) freeing up 29 points and leave us with 15 MEQ + 12 GEQ as Troops in six metal bawkes. Not great but a lot better than just GEQs. Let's take a loo at the overall list.

The Finale

Coteaz

7x Purifiers w/4x Halberds, 1x Hammer, 2x Psycannons, Rhino

8x Purifiers w/4x Halberds, 2x Hammer, 2x Psycannons, Rhino

10x Grey Knights w/2x psycannons, MC hammer, psybolt ammo, Rhino

5x Grey Knights w/psycannon, Rhino

4x3x Warrior Acolytes w/Razorback w/TL-assault cannon, psybolt ammo

3x Dreadnoughts w/2x TL-autocannons, psybolt ammo

Totals: 1849 points

43 infantry

11 tanks

This gives us a lot of firepower at the 24" range. We could get more by changing the 5x GK squad into a small Purifier squad w/2x psycannons but scoring is already an issue with the list. Our Purifiers aren't great at cc but are quite scary to most things that aren't TH/SS Terminators and are very effective at controlling hordes. The mass of S7 and S5 firepower behind them from the passbacks and Grey Knight Strike Squads is very effective at dropping tanks and infantry alike whilst the Dreadnoughts can cover the whole advance in the early stages of the game.

There are also easy options for scaling up and down. To 1750 we simply need to drop one of the passbacks (or the 5-strong GK squad) and an upgrade. To take it down 1500 we'd need to drop a passback, the small GK squad and a Dreadnought so perhaps not as feasible there. For scaling up to 2000 though we've got a lot of options. We can fill out the small GK squad and give it double psycannon, psybolt ammo and a hammer (1995 points) or add a Libby in for improved midfield dominance. If we were to do this I'd change one of the passbacks to a Chimera based squad so the Libby can hitch a ride. We could also re-add the third Purifier squad but some points would need to be cut elsewhere. For that reason I'd stick with either the 2nd full GK squad or Libby at 2000 points.

I hope these posts have given you an insight into my thought processes behind this list and the overall evolution and how it changed (somewhat). I'll be doing some play-testing over the coming weeks (had a couple games so far) to see how it fares and if any tweaks are needed though c&c are welcome!

P.S. Most of the pictures in these posts has come from BulldogUK on Warseer. His minis are mad!

Edit: And here's an updated version after some tinkering and play-testing (i.e. finally being convinced over the passback mehness). Overall a bit of firepower is lost but your scoring is much more secure. They symmetry is also pretty.

Coteaz
8x Purifiers w/2x psycannon, hammer, 5x halberd, Rhino
8x Purifiers w/2x psycannon, hammer, 5x halberd, Rhino
2x10x GKSS w/2x psycannon, MC hammer, psybolt, Rhino
2x6x Acolytes w/Razorback w/psybolt
2x6x Acolytes w/Razorback w/las, plas
2x Psyfledreads

Totals: 1850 points
61 infantry (38 MEQ)
10 tanks