40K Rules Conundrum: Grey Knights Stratagems “Grey Area”

Get ready for a Warhammer 40,000 rules debate – This time it involves the Grey Knights and the rest of the Space Marines.

The Space Marine codex dropped this past weekend and the world got access to everything inside. Included in that book is a set of 26 Stratagems that players can get access to if their army is Battle-forged and they bring a Space Marines Detachment to the game. The Grey Knights book is due out this weekend, but we happen to have a copy of it already. Included in this book is another 16 Stratagems for the Grey Knights. These Stratagems are available to the player if their army is Battle-forged and they bring a Grey Knights Detachment to the game.

Those rules are are pages 196 and page 98 of their respective codexes. The question that we stumbled across is what exactly is a Space Marine Detachment?

Is a Space Marine Detachment based off the Keywords? If that is the case – what is the keyword(s)? The Faction Keywords are Imperium, Adeptus Astartes, & <Chapter>

Is Grey Knights not a Space Marine <Chapter> also? They have the same Keywords: Imperium, Adeptus Astartes, & Grey Knights (which may or not be a Space Marine Chapter depending on your interpretation).

So if that’s the case, do Grey Knights have access to 26+16 Stratagems (minus <Chapter> specific ones, obviously).

What if I simply take a Grey Knights Detachment + a Space Marines Detachment? That meets the qualifications for getting access to both sets of Stratagems anyways. So can my Grey Knights benefit from Stratagems that require units have a <Chapter> ?

What about Stratagems like Orbital Bombardment? That requirement only states that you have to have a Warlord with the Adeptus Astartes keyword – only the Space Marines AND Grey Knights books both have that Stratagem. They are named the same and there is a rule that says you can’t use the same stratagem twice in a phase (BRB Matched Play – pg  215)but one is a “Space Marine Stratagem” and the other is “Grey Knights Stratagem”. How would that work? Can a Grey Knights Warlord use both as they have the required keyword.

Kill the rules debate with FIRE! Or from Orbit…. only way to be sure.

So what’s your take? Are Grey Knights a Space Marine Chapter? Do they also get access to the Space Marine’s Stratagems, too?

Author: Adam Harrison

Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and now Tex-Pat, Adam covers all things Tabletop Gaming. Which includes Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and everything else that involves dice, boards, cards and a table. A hobbyist, player, and collector of miniatures and games, Adam's current obsession are his Death and Chaos Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, an expanding collection of Marvel: Crisis Protocol minis, and his ever growing Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.