Email in: First time wh40k player

"Hiiiii

I've been a warhammer 40k fan for ages and the urge to get into tabletop finally overcame me, I've been doing research for what I feel is probably long enough (every single link on your blog is blue for me now =P) and I've drafted up a grey knights list upon hearing that 1750 is most commonly played here in Australia (regional currently but moving to Melbourne very soon). My insight's probably limited by the fact that I'm lacking any actual experience, so I figured I'd try running the list past you.


Anyways, the reasoning's fairly simple - front AV 12 everywhere invalidates a huge amount of the enemy's firepower and the list generates quite a lot of long range return fire, hopefully meaning that meltas can't get close enough to do anything nasty- psyfledreads provide the firepower to pretty much guarantee popping three transports a turn, the ml/hb chimeras throw out some s5/s6 shots at a decent range and a bunch of high strength/low ap blasts for destroying MEQs with the chimeras providing some melta (I figure the other firepower makes melta in less demand, the only thing I'd really need it for is popping land raiders) and using the two stormravens to pump out ungodly amounts of high strength shots for torrenting anyone outside a transport - I know hurricane bolters and psybolt are usually frowned upon when put together, but I figured with this much target saturation and outgoing firepower I'd be able to let my stormravens sit there moving 6 inches at a time and mowing things down.
 
So my question is this, where am I going wrong, and what would you change? This is my first list so I'll have inevitably screwed something up - do I need more melta/flamer power, am I wasting my time with stormravens, do I need to change the weapons on the chimeras? Is the entire concept sub-par? (hope not)

1749/1750
Coteaz
Inquisitor w/ 3 servo skulls
Stormraven w/ hurricane bolters, assault cannon, heavy bolter, psybolt ammunition
Stormraven w/ hurricane bolters, assault cannon, heavy bolter, psybolt ammunition
3x acolyte w/ 3x melta in searchlight, 2x heavy flamer chimera
3x acolyte w/ 3x melta in searchlight, 2x heavy flamer chimera
4x acolyte w/ 4x bolters, 6x psyker in searchlight, ml/hb chimera
4x acolyte w/ 4x bolters, 6x psyker in searchlight, ml/hb chimera
3x servitor w/ 3x plasma cannon in searchlight, ml/hb chimera
3x servitor w/ 3x plasma cannon in searchlight, ml/hb chimera
Dreadnought w/2x twin linked autocannon, psybolt ammunition
Dreadnought w/2x twin linked autocannon, psybolt ammunition
Dreadnought w/ 2x twin linked autocannon, psybolt ammunition


My other plan was replacing the chimeras with 3x acolyte las/plas or assault cannon razorbacks with maybe a few of the above melta/flamer chimeras and replacing the stormravens with a grey knight deathstar with coteaz and a pimped out ordo xenos inquisitor running around ripping things up, figured with 3x hammerhand I'd be able to rely on getting at least two off a turn, and s6 paladins fighting with rad and psychotroke grenades would tear through just about anything in the game - would that work better? Can't figure out how I'd get the paladins anywhere interesting in time though, which is mostly why I dropped the concept in favour of stormravens/chimeras.

Sorry if that was too wordy, feel free to cut bits out if you end up posting this on the blog - and while I'm on the subject, thank you for your blog, it's been a great way to learn about some of the less obvious (to a newbie) warhammer concepts."

The concept you have going is fine though the Stormravens are expensive for what they give and can't sit back at range unlike other such units like Dakka Preds. The only changes would be to your Acolytes - specifically the Servitors. Acolyte armies are weak in terms of staying power so you need all the bodies you can get. You've got Chimeras with the space for lots of bodies so I'd be dumping the Servitors in place of at the minimum, bolter Acolytes (body numbers are more important here) in place of them and in addition to the melta squads.

Beyond this, you're relying a lot on the Dreadnoughts and the S6 firepower of the Chimeras to do vehicle damage. When you pop things open, especially MSU squads, you have the firepower to wipe them out really easily. The issue is if your opponent drops your Psyfledreads, you could find yourself in a bit of bother taking down enemy tanks. The only way to really stop this is to introduce other units like Purifiers in Passbacks over the Stormravens (though this eliminates your AV12 wall). Otherwise, dropping the Psykers to make every squad Acolytes with bolters/stormbolters + some meltaguns gives you some mid-late game anti-tank firepower if needed. You lose the blasts of the Psykers (though you could keep smaller numbers in a couple squads) but you do have a lot of anti-infantry and templates already.