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| CMON |
I've been reading for a little over two months and have been inspired to return to 40k. I previously played Tau and having lost more than I won for a period of two years I gave up. All that is changed with the reinvigoration Grey Knights recieved (a while back, for sure) and I've signed up to fight for the Emperor. Here is the explaination behind my list.
I initially began by playing around with Castellan Crowe lists which were very easy to understand and employ with only three unit types: Crowe, Psyrifle(Ven)Dreads, and Rhinos w/ Purifiers. Was a good way to ease back into the saddle. I was successful with Crowe but I felt that Crowe, himself, was a handicap to the list. Then Necrons came out and I realized the need for bubble wrap - not just against Necrons. Whelp, that meant something that can walk immediately in front of Rhinos, Razors and Dreads, sometimes out of cover, and still survive long enough to accomplish it's job. Paladins seemed best suited for that job. I built Paladins into my Crowe list and (you guessed it) taking elite Purifiers as troops with Paladins as bubble wrap proved too expensive - no room for fire support. Crowe was already in line for the headsman's axe and was punted. I replaced those sweet Purifiers with Strike Squads sitting in Psybacks. The trap-off was less S7, rending shots (which are amazing - one psycannon took out a Monolith in turn two last night ^_^) at 24" for more reliable S6 shots at 36". Resonable. Ohh, no more I6 on my troops. Add in a Grand Master with Rad Grenades and Servo-skulls and you have my current list at 2000 points:
[HQ]
Grand Master - 205 points (Incinerator, Sword, Rad Grenades, 2x Servo-skull)
[Elite]
Paladin Squad - 455 points (7 Paladins, 2 Psycannon, Psybolt Ammo, 2x Halberd, 2x Sword, MC Sword, Hammer, MC Hammer)
Venerable Dreadnought - 195 points (Plasma Cannon, TL Autocannon, Psybolt Ammo)
[Troop]
Strike Squad - 185 points (Psycannon) x4
Razorback (TL Heavy Bolter, Psybolt Ammo, Dozer Blades) x4
[Heavy Support]
Dreadnought - 135 points (2x TL Autocannon, Psybolt Ammo) x3
With objective missions I give my Dreadnoughts scoring from Grand Strategy, sometimes the Paladins if I want to make a hard push with them and leave some Psybacks in my deployment area. In annihilation missions I give my dreads re-roll to-wound rolls of 1. Since they are killing nearly all infantry on 2+ this is handy and the occasional help on vehicles is nice. Otherwise the Grand Master walks with the Paladins.
Paladins are bubble wrap for my mech train but also provide 8 Psycannon shots (I wish I could fit a Psycannon on the GM) at 32" (with movement). This is a reaction to Scarabs, yes. But they have proven handy enough against Tyranids lists, Dark Eldar webway lists and other CC threats that I'm comfortable fielding them as a standard selection. Deployment and cover is key for these guys, 5++ from shooting isn't reliable.
The Venerable Dreadnought walks up the center with my Psybacks and Paladins providing cover/bubble wrap. He is my passive (and usually unnoticed) psychic defense with Improved Aegis. His BS5 makes the Plasma Cannon worth it and combined with good Servo-skulls is down-right deadly. It also adds some (read: very little) AP3 which is a huge gap in the list. Paladins are kitted for wound allocation fun.
Strike Squads are small and vulnerable in CC. The lone Psycannon in each goes unused until I must jump out, but is cheap. The Psybacks have a 48" arm (with movement) which makes them good fire support and are good mobility for my scoring units.
The Psyrifle Dreads are obvious. Sit back in cover and kill transports first, fire support next, then anything that is dumb enough to get out of cover. These are amazing. I want more of them.
Most armies can't field just four fairly small troop squads at 2000 points. Grand Strategy negates this for the most part. The list in it's current form is 17-8-2 (W-L-D). With Crowe I was running about 1:1 (W:L). I'd like to know what you think about the list and the reasoning that went into it. Feel free to post your response to 3++.
v/r
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Yalp"
I think the list concept is fine here though Paladins are probably a bad choice in relation to "need bubble-wrap against Necrons" as Scarabs are annoyingly effective against Paladins (they being one of the few units with really good armor saves and multiple wounds). Ignoring that though, the list works fine with lots of firepower and a very nice mini-rock unit which your army isn't built around.
Some suggestions though. I'd drop the Ven Dread and one of the Strike Squads for 2x5x Purifiers w/2x Psycannons + Psyback. This is exactly correct in terms of points so no issue there and grabs you three more psycannons (and another Psyback) and the loss of some S8 firepower. Personally I think this is a better bet as you also get two units very capable of trashing Hordes thanks to cleansing flame and more stormbolters is never a bad thing. Only issue with this is you then go down to 3x5x Troops as your starting point. Obviously this isn't so bad with the Grand Master but you are relying on him to give you more scoring options and sometimes you're going to roll that 1 and be in a bit of a pickle when there are five objectives.
Beyond that though you have decent firepower, a nice amount of vehicles and a fairly decent body count so really all you're looking at is tweaks.
And I've just noticed something - your Strike Squads shouldn't be 185 points but rather 165. This gives you an extra 60 points to play with if you switch one of the squads + the Ven Dread out for some Purifiers. Not a lot you can do with that but if you drop some Dozer Blades you could get a TDA Inquisitor for another relentless Psycannon. Otherwise use them for upgrades like HKM, extra GKSS, searchlights, etc.
