Dan rants- Grey Knights, what they are, and what they aren't.

First things first kids - stop with the tears, GK's aren't the end-game for 40k. They all have force weapons, oh noes, world implodes.
Now that I'm past that bugbear, lets have a look at some misconceptions that I thought were obvious in the GK codex.

Lie Number 1: GK's all have power weapons, therefore are all assault troops of AWESOME!

Wrong. GK's do all have power weapons. That doesn't mean all GK's are dedicated assault units. GK's, in general, are NOT an assault army. DCA are about the only thing in the list that functions purely as an assault unit, with DK's a passable second. Paladins, Purifiers, Grey Knights, and the like, are NOT assault units.

Paladins are WS5, with 2 attacks, and 2 wounds, I hear you cry! They also only have a 5+ invo. Dedicated units of CC troops will still tear them to shreds, although wound abuse can do a passable job of keeping you alive. TH/SS terminators make you cry, as they do everyone else, in assaults. (But you are still better than they are, for other reasons. More on this later.)

Okay, what about Purifiers! Surely they are better, you can spam I6 halberds! No, still not an assault unit. They are still -just- marines. Torrenting or power weapons from invulnerable or fast troops still smash them. Sure, you can do some damage and smash units which can't beat Marines in combat but you're not a CC unit.

GKSS and Interceptors are not assault units either. They just aren't.



Get this into your heads people - you are a midfield DEFENSIVE army. You pack neither the bodies, nor the bonuses, nor the FNP, to roll through people in CC. Your sweet spot is 18+ inches away, and you want to shoot shoot shoot. Kirby and Stelek both have written lists that advocate this and you know what? They are fudgemuffining right. You WANT people to assault you. You want to have them run through terrain, or sanctuary (so tasty) or into your Counter Attack wielding units of GK's with force weapons. The longer you can keep shooting, the better off you will be.

Lie Number 2: Razorbacks are for hiding in, for scoring metal bawkses with psyheavybolters!

Guess what, they are. If you're crap henchmen, in a Coteaz list. For GK's? No. I've seen some advocating of this style of play and I commented on it in a previous post. The 1+1 concept works for GKS, BUT THEY ARE NOT BLOOD ANGELS OR SPACE WOLVES, OR MECH MARINES. These armies keep short ranged, single shot weaponry, inside the box, so that if someone does come close, you can counter it. Grey Knights keep 24" range, rending firepower, or infantry decimating firepower, in every unit (unless your doing some fluffy thing).


Simple steps for GK players, that should be the rule, not the exception. 1. Drive your razorback towards your midfield, and park it up sideways. 2. Pile your marines out, and put as many of them between each razor as possible, with the psycannons sticking out with clear LOS. 3. Either pop smoke, or open fire, dependant on how far you had to move. GK's do razormech by DOUBLING your fire power, not by hiding it inside boxes. By deploying out, you are providing your opponent with 2 targets, both of which are within threat range. Like any razor list, you will lose tanks/models. Unlike any other razor list, you don't have to be within 12" to make those foot units threatening to infantry.

Do. Not. Hide. In. Boxes. Your wasting 110 pts (minimum) of shooting power every turn, in an army that pays a premium for its units, based on their arms and armament. Note here though, when your units get whittled down, jump in the damn boxes. This is why I like to have some Rhinos available as well when I take large squads as if the psycannon still lives he can use that top hatch.

Lie Number 3: Draigo Lists are overpowered

They really aren't. They are 2 wound terminators. They die to torrenting, just like ANY other terminator unit. 5 Paladins still takes 10 unsaved wounds to kill. So does 10 TH/SS Termies. Deal.


Lie Number 4: GK's are newb friendly

They are not. They are as easy to pick up as any other PA army, just they cost more. Played against other newbs, with similarly newb armies, they will appear to be strong. Played by newbs vs intelligent, well skilled players, (our readers, I hope) they are JUST MARINES. Seriously people. Every tourney army is geared towards killing marines, or MEQ, as they will be over 50% of your opponents in most cases.  Please stop freaking out about force weapon carrying dudes, its getting boring.

Truths, as Dan see's them. 

The army is like the DE - best used in the hands of a veteran player. Units, much like the DE, can function in isolation, but do so averagely, and really need support. No melta pounces on the conviction that melta is required in 5th ed armies, and psycannons on every unit means midfield threat is amazing. You can do damage in assaults, but like the DE, it is basically an option to finish an already mauled unit, rather than what you should be aiming to do. Rifledreads are awesome, but hey, guess what, nothing new. They were still awesome at str7, just seems like everyone has forgotten that.

Grand strategy is nice, but isnt essential. It's best used on things like scouting units, or granting counter attack, or scoring dreadnoughts (yes, I know what the BRB says, about walkers, but any TO worth a damn can see that the GK codex states otherwise. Some may not, and they, are douchewipes.)

The scout shunt list is -OK-. Its not the end of the world. Competent players will still castle, and prevent you from getting a good first turn assault - they would do it with BA jumpers, or anything else that's going to assault them anyways. This is no different.

Librarians are amazing. So much utility, and not locked into abilities for a whole tourney, is grand. You do pay for it though, and an option for PA on these characters would have been nice (or artificer, even). 4 powers are must haves, in my opinion - Shrouding, Sanctuary, Might of titan, and WARP RIFT. Yes, rift. its 5 pts, for a guaranteed pen, at melta range. You pay more for a meltagun on a Grey Hunter, who can miss, and really needs to be 2" closer to guarantee a pen. Oh, and its a template, so ignores cover saves. Must have.

Coteaz is great, I just won't write a list for him. The other inq's are more like upgrades for units of GK's, rather than being real IC's on their own - rather, they are a cheap way to get rad nades, or similar, into a squad of paladins or the like, so they can lay the beat down a little harder.

                                                     They still aren't assault troops though.

So basically, that's that off my chest. Looking forward to getting more games in, and I'll probably not play my GK's in a tourney till much later in the year, say when another codex comes out, after the hype dies down.
Happy daemon hunting, you lot.

SneakyDan