Email in: Site comments + list help

"Hi Kirby,
I just wanted to say I enjoy the site. The jargon and abbreviations took some getting used to, but it is nice to read well-thought-out articles, written by adults who really enjoy the hobby.

Anyway, I'm trying to get back into playing semi-regularly and have a bunch of GKs that never saw action in 3rd or 4th edition. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to help me build a competitive GK list that meets the following criteria:
1) Uses a Dreadknight (impulse purchase)
2) Contains some GK terminators (love the plastic & metal models)
3) Does not use a Stormraven or multiple Razorbacks/Dreads (not in the budget)
4) If possible, I'd like to fit in an Interceptor squad or two

Everything else is on the table - assassins, inquisitors, special characters, etc. As you can probably tell, I'm trying to fit a 4th ed. =][= army into 5th... (I also have a 3rd/4th ed. Tau army that needs to join 2011, but that is a separate email).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Mike"

Taak was supposed to do a post on jargon/abbreviations but that never eventuated. Maybe one day... Glad you enjoy the site however :).

So we are looking at a core of DK, GKT and Interceptors on which to base our army upon but no points limit! Argh. I'll see if we can't create a scalable list which moves from 1500 to 2000 to give you at least a skeleton of a list on which to base your efforts.

You're going to need at least two DK so I'm afraid another purchase is in order and if you're looking to go higher in the points, three. Otherwise we can make a list without multiple Rhino/Dread chassis since we are going to use a GKT basis. We might need a couple though but they can easily be worked in or out as needed. So let's see what we should start with.

Two Dreadknights. We'll run them with Heavy Incinerators for the moment at 160 points each but if we need to drop this for points later we can. We'll then also take three small Interceptor squads with a Psycannon and MC Hammer as distracting and mobile units. Each of these is 145 points so we've used a total of 755 so far with our HS and FA.

We then need to decide what we're going to do with our Elites, Troops and HQ. A Libby is probably going to be a good idea for things like Summoning and Shrouding so we'll take the Libby w/Quick, Might, Shrouding, Santcuary, Summoning and three servo-skulls for 190 points. Expensive but a great centre-piece for the army. A Xenos Inquisitor with Plasma Syphon probably won't go amiss either since we are using 2+ armor based units for the most part. We'll take him with a Syphon, combi-melta and three skulls for 54 points which leaves us 501 points for Troops at 1500. Not much but let's see how much each GKT squad costs us.

We want a Psycannon obviously and then depending on how Falchions are FAQ'd, one hammer and several Halberds. We could keep some swords for 4++ in combat but hitting your opponent first and killing them is a better deal than a 4++. If it was 3++...well different story. We can master-craft the weapon on the Justicar but since we want the Hammer on a regular guy to avoid death by Perils, not really worth it. Each of these squads then sets us back 225 points and three of them takes the army total to 1674. We'll need to drop an Interceptor squad and the Inquisitor then for a 1500 point list. The scaling would therefore look like this:

1500 (1495) -
Libby w/Quick, Might, Sanctuary, Shrouding, Summoning, 3x Skulls
5x GKT w/psycannon, 4 halberds, 1 hammer
10x GKT w/2x psycannons, psybolt ammo, 8 halberds, 2 hammers
2x5x Interceptors w/psycannon, MC hammer
2x Dreadknights w/Heavy Incinerators

1750 (1740) -
Turn the 5x GKT squad to 10x with Psybolt ammo

2000 (1999) -
Add Interceptor squad + DK, remove all Heavy Incinerators, add Xenos Inq w/Syphon, 3x Servo-skills

Hope that gives you some food for thought and is also a good basis for anyone looking for a GKT based list.