PM in: Army List...Sort of?

"I'm looking for some advice on my grey knights and your blog's articles have been very helpful, however since I seem unable to email in my list to your blog directly I thought I'd use another method.

Anyway I look forwards to seeing what feedback I receive on you blog...

Thank you

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I’ve been trying to decide on how to go about building my Pre-Heresy 1k Sons themed Grey Knight army and I’ve finally come down to two lists, I plan to build both lists the question really is which one first?


LIST 1 THE GIANTS ADVANCE!
HQ
195 - Grand Master: Psybolt Ammo and Rad Grenades

ELITES
195 - Venerable Dread: 2 TL Autocannons and Psybolts
195 - Venerable Dread: 2 TL Autocannons and Psybolts

TROOPS
470 - 10 GK Terminators; 2 Psycannons and Halberd, Justicar with Halberd, 3 Halberds, 2 Daemon Hammers, 2 Swords and Psybolt Ammo.
470 - 10 GK Terminators; 2 Psycannons and Halberd, Justicar with Halberd, 3 Halberds, 2 Daemon Hammers, 2 Swords and Psybolt Ammo.
225 - 5 GK Terminators; 1 Incinerator and Halberd, 2 Halberds, Daemon Hammer, Sword and Psybolt Ammo.

Total Pts: 1750
Total No: 21 (4)
Kills Pts: 6 (8 if divided using combat squad)

Originally I had planned to have them deep striking but the 2 tournaments I'm attending don't allow special characters. So instead of having Mordrak or spending 55pts on a psychic beacon inquisitor in order to get the squads on the board quicker I asked what was the best transport for the army. However several people told me that the GK terminators biggest strength is their shooting and recommended a foot slogging force (most of the time).

That may seem weird as there are armies that will dance around it but remember that’s 26 terminators and 2 venerable dreads matching across the board with 30 S5 shots, 16 S7 shots and 8 S8 shots on the move. That’s a lot of firepower to soften the enemy up before finishing them up close! However Land Raiders and Leman Russes will be this list's worst nightmare, in which case I'd likely deep strike the army!

I could also scout 1 of the squads to make my opponent deploy his units close together, away from the short table edges. Or if I’m lucky enough to roll 5-6 give all my terminators an extra move.

What are your thoughts on this list?

LIST 2 STRENGTH IN VARIETY
HQ
205 - Grand Master: Master crafter sword, 2 servo skulls and Rad Grenades

ELITES
207 - 8 Purifiers: 1 Daemon Hammer, 5 Halberds
207 - 8 Purifiers: 1 Daemon Hammer, 5 Halberds
(mounted in the storm ravens)

TROOPS
225 - 5 GK Terminators; 1 Psycannon and Halberd, 2 Halberds, Daemon Hammer and Sword
225 - 5 GK Terminators; 1 Psycannon and Halberd, 2 Halberds, Daemon Hammer and Sword

FAST ATTACK
205 - Storm Raven: Multi-melta and Lascannon
205 - Storm Raven: Multi-melta and Lascannon

HEAVY SUPPORT
135 - Dread: 2 TL Autocannons and Psybolts
135 - Dread: 2 TL Autocannons and Psybolts

Total Pts: 1749
Total No: 27 (4)
Kills Pts: 9

Originally I had terminators in the Ravens with incinerators but I thought I'd drop them for Purifiers to act as the army’s two hard hitting close combat units which is why I decided not to give them any special weapons as they’ll spend most of the time in transit or in combat.

The terminators have more of a support role in this army and will deep strike to pick off enemy squads and do some objective grabbing. I’ll use the grand strategy ability to make the purifiers or dreadnoughts scoring. The only downside to this army is I need first turn to avoid the risk of having my storm ravens shot down before they can get the purifiers where they need to go. Feel free to suggest improvement for this list?

So I have to get this army ready for a tournament in January and given how much time I’m spending painting the models I need to decide on what I’m building first so I can setup deadlines for the completion of the units.

So which ever list people think is the more effective will be the one I build first?"

First off, nice Terminator conversion. I like. To the lists - I think the 1st one is your better bet. There are some changes I'd make such as having all psycannons on the Terminators, changing the small GKT squad for something else (Interceptors?) and running the Ven Dreads as regular Dreads. It keeps the core GKT theme but adds some flexibility in there, especially with the Grandmaster. The problem of course is you only have a couple of vehicles in the Dreadnoughts and whilst VenDreads are quite durable, increasing that saturation can be quite important. With 20 GKT as your scoring (capable of combat squading) + a Grand Master you're pretty set as well and having the mobility of the Interceptors can help a lot. Not sure if this fits into your fluff theme though... Also the Grandmaster doesn't need psybolt ammo and I'd rather see those 5 points spent on an Incinerator for him.

The 2nd list I like less. Purifiers can be good in combat but they are expensive, without WS5+ and no invulnerable. Plus you lose multiple psycannon options and don't have grenade jockeys for them where they really shine. I think these guys are simply better as 10-man squads as well where they can take maximum benefit from Grand Strategy and bring a bunch of psycannons to the table. Add in a couple Rhinos or Razorbacks by dropping the Stormravens to keep your vehicle numbers up and you gain overall firepower but lose some mobility. Extra points can get you another Dread/GKT squad.

I just feel the Stormravens aren't the best bet as transporting huge combat units. I agree with your locals' assessment regarding Terminators, they are better on foot shooting and the same can be said of most Grey Knight units (henchmen being an obvious exception). Unless you want to grab Coteaz and grab some DCA which I don't think you do, the Stormravens aren't adding enough to Grey Knight lists IMO. The question is how do you want this list to fit in with your fluff concept? Are you happy with a hybrid mech/Terminator force with GKT, Rhinos/Razorbacks and Dreads? If so we do have a lot of options in that regard but if you're set on the Stormravens I would probably be leaning towards a Coteaz list which doesn't fit with the 1ksons at all I believe.