Goatboy – GREY KNIGHT HOOOO!!!
Goatboy here again – talking about my love of 3+ armor saves, and in particular, Grey ones.
That’s right, I am obviously a marine fan and this new codex is a neat one. Do I think it is the best? Who really knows. There are a ton of neat things in there and some interesting designs that I think might make for some neat games. So without further ado – some more Grey Knight thoughts.
First of all I am a fan of the models. I don’t know what it is – but that Dread Knight just looks bad ass to me. It just has a cool, don’t “f” with me type of look I like. I am also a fan of the almost fully plastic miniature set that the new Grey Knights bring. I don’t know about you but I only like my special characters to be metal. So giving me an army that has almost all the options sitting in nice plastic form makes me a happy goat.
Rules wise we got some interesting things. This army is full of pyskers so obviously some form of psychic defense is a good thing to have if you expect a lot of these armies out there. The interesting thing is that most of these powers are not that offensive. I feel that most of the abilities really go along the lines of more utility stuff versus actual mind bullet punch. This isn’t a bad thing as it creates an army that tries to have all of its pieces work together to create a whole. Each cog in the machine moves and twists to boost and benefit each part of this metallic (or grey) machine.
We also have 3 different ways to create “troops” or new scoring units. Obviously three different Special Characters create different avenues for the army. This creates 3 distinct armies which is a lot more then any other book out there. This is one of the first times I have seen a book with such strong, rules written army lists. You can have the all Paladin army, or as I like to call it the “I PAINT GOODS AND CAN FINISH AN ARMY IN A WEEK”. You have the massive Bullet Storm Spam list with Purifiers and all their wonderful guns. You can also go into the odd Inquisitor human list with Henchmen and all their flavors. Beyond this you got the regular Grey Knight book and other neat things. This is really an interesting book as I feel we have a lot of things to discover and try out within these pages. It might not be as deep a codex as some other books but I still feel it has some the type of rules that make you create all the options in the book. Which is a bad thing for my wallet.
Some interesting rules are that the units with Nemesis Force Weapons can activate all of them. That is right, all those weapons can activate as a Force Weapon and blow your mind up. This is pretty scary as that many instant death wounds can do a number on many of the “hammer units” other armies are taking to cram down their enemy’s throats these days. This creates an interesting dilemma in list building as folks are going to have to factor in the possbility of facing entire squads of instant death wielding foes when they are working up their armies. As far as I’m concerned change is good for the tabletop.
Obviously a playtest codex was leaked early and this new one we got has a lot of different things in it. For one the Dread Knight is not nearly the beast it once was. It is still good, but it now doesn’t feel as much of a punch to whatever junk the Tyranid’s have between its legs, arms, or chest. It is still better than most but it isn’t nearly as insane. It is a S6/T6 2+/5+ inv save monster so watch out for it. At least now it has to still be scared of the returning jerk from the past – the Plasma gun. That’s right if Grey Knights start to rise more and more into your local game tables expect more Plasma guns to come out of the woodwork. I’ve been playing with a unit of Plasma junkies for awhile now and find them pretty good as secondary wound givers to some of the tougher units out there.
The Mandatory Goatboy Current “Grey Knight Thought” List
HQ: Castellan Crowe – aka bad HQ but with cool rules
HQ: Librarian – 2 – 3 powers
Elites: Vindicare
Elites: Techmarine, Orbital Strike, Servo Skulls X 3
Troops: Purifers X 10, Psycannon X 4, Psybolt Ammunition, Rhino
Troops: Purifers X 10, Psycannon X 4, Psybolt Ammunition, Rhino
Troops: Grey Knight Strike Squad X 10, Incinerator X 2, Psybolt Ammunition, Rhino
Heavy: Dread Knight
Heavy: Dread Knight
List Ideas
It has some shooting, some tricks and other annoying things. The interesting thing about the list is that it kills some rocks pretty hard and to some others it just dies too. A very rock, paper, scissors type of list. An Incubi squad crushing in should destroy them pretty good so it is interesting. This is an 1850 list with some fun stuff and I feel it gives me what I need other then having to buy 6 boxes of regular Grey Knights… haha. Plus I get to make a bunch of Rhino walls as needed :).
