It's been awhile

It’s been a while since I posted so this might be a big one (post that is!)

I’ve decided that I’m going to attend a local 1 day tournament, which happens to be this Sunday! I was thinking I take my marine to this as I wouldn’t have much time to play test my grey Knight and also I didn’t really want to paint a whole army in a month! When I got my hands on the new ‘dex and models though I changed my mind.

So far I’ve managed to play 5 ‘test’ games and even though my win/ loss record isn’t that good they’ve all taught me something.

Game 1 – Ben’s Imperial Guard – Big Loss

Ben’s army wasn’t the standard leafblower but did have griffon and contain a couple of leman tanks.

I had only just got my ‘official’ copy of the codex and none of the new models yet. As such I was using a list I’d quickly thrown together:

Grand master

Brotherhood champion

10 purifiers

10 terminators

5 terminators

Dreadnought – 2x TL autocannon, with psybolts (psyfleman)

Ben stole the initiative, lemen russ shot killed all 10 purifiers. Terminators made their way across the battle field and killed a couple of units.

What I learnt – Termintors are beast in close combat, I need stuff to take down big tanks, GM’s not that good.

Game 2 – Paul’s Chaos Deamons – Loss

Paul’s army was a mix of daemons including a soulgrinder

As I had now read the codex, and got my new models, I started tailoring my list, mainly for anti daemon:

Libby

Big squad of terminators

2x small strike squad in razor back

5 purifiers

Dreadknight

Psyfleman

Paul got, and took, first turn so I couldn’t warp quake him. I decided to stand back and shoot. Paul came towards me and killed most of my men. At one point my purifiers cast cleansing flame and suffered a perils of the warp!

What I learnt – Don’t stand back and shoot, GK’s kill daemons in CC. Libby is GREAT (especially sanctuary power), dreadknight is pretty good.

Game 3 – Bert’s ‘nids – Big Loss

Bert is one of, if not the, best gamers at the club.

Bert’s army – mix of big guys and little guys. Stuff of not was doom of malentai, deathleeper, tervigon, and quite a few spores.

My army was the same as game 2.

I won, and took first turn, got warp quake off which forced Bert to drop his spore away from me. Deathleeper at a lot of shots, and survived, than ate quite a few terminators. I force weaponed a few big dudes, basically threw the dreadknight away, my dreadnought instant killed doom, the rest of the guys swamed over me.

What I learnt – purifiers aren’t that good, got killed too easily!  Dreadknights personal teleporter isn’t that good.

Game 4 – Simon’s Ultramarines – Big win

Simon run a fairly standard SM list – assault terminators and captain in land raider, vidicator, couple of dreadnoughts.

My list –

Libby

Big squad of terminators

2x small strike squad in razor back

Vindicare assassin

Dreadknight

Psyfleman

I’d decided to drop the purifiers for a vindicare assassin, I also swapped around some wargear.

Everything went to plan, terminators and dreadknight DS on time, turn 2, and on target, tanks to servo skully. Although in took the assassin several turns to kill the vidicator, he did hold it up all game, also managed to blow the turret off a predator. The dreadknight was an absolute handful for Simon. With a heavy incinerator and heavy psycannon the tactical squads were no problem, then finished off the predator with his sword.

What I learnt – sever skulls are great for pin point teleports, dreadknight is even better than I thought, vincare is good, can be excellent (I got a penetration of 29 for 1 shot!)

Game 5 – John’s Chaos Space Marines – Loss (almost draw)

John’s another big player at the club, he’s very knowledgeable, more than happy to share this knowledge which makes games ‘v’ him very educational.

Johns army – Kahn and daemon prince leading 2x 10 man CSM squads (1 in rhino), 9 Tzeench terminators, 2x oblitirators

My army – As game 4

Daemon prince ran towards me killed stuff then died, CSM squad died when my dreadknight showed up (deep struck turn 4), terminator arrived (deepstruck turn3) killed an obliterator then died to mass plasma from the terminators. Instant killed Kahn with dreadnought

What I learnt – DS’ing is not reliable, doesn’t turn up when you want, reinforced that servo skulls are needed for accurate teleport, reinforced how good the dreadknight is.

Summery

Librarian is a must for his force multiplying powers.

Assassin is most for anti vehicle.

Dreadknight is a must if you want your opponent dead.

Psyfleman is a must for light vehicle killing and special character instant killing.

Don’t stand back and shoot.

Think A LOT before deciding to DS, terminator and dreadknight need to be killing stuff not sitting off board.

Codex: First thoughts

I’ve had a backup copy of the grey knights’ codex for about a week now and have been messing around with various different builds. I’ve been focusing on the 1500 points level as I’ve got a tournament of that size mid May in which I plan to blood the Knights.

The most obvious thing that I’ve noticed with the new ‘dex is that even though the knights are cheaper you still don’t get many of them! Where as a space wolf grey hunter is 15 points a standard knight is 20. Now I personally think 1 on 1 that extra 5 points is more than worth it for it get you a storm bolter, force weapon -1 LD as psychic powers cast at you, the ‘deep strike’ USR and the hammerhand (+1S) psychic power. All this for 5 points, and -1A.

HQ wise there are some very nice special characters, trouble is there high point cost. At 1500 points I can’t really justify the outlay for one of these. As such I’ve decided to go for a librarian. Why - the brotherhood champion only has 1 wound, the grand master is far better than the brother captain (and for only 25 points more) but I don’t think either can get there points back in this size game and the inquisitors are out as I want knight only. For this size game I want a force multiplier than can help me get the most out of my small army. I know the GM is a multiplier but not by enough IMHO.

For troops I’ve got for 2 strike squads and a terminator squad. Strikes squads as there, IMHO, worth there points and terminators as they are both hard as nails and fluffy.

I’ve decided to include a dread knight as the model is cool, rules are bad either! I’ve given him a personal teleporter, even though at 75 point it’s not cheap, as I can’t resist the thought of a grey knight monstrous creature jumping, literally, up and down on the enemy.

All I’ve got to do now it wait for the models to get delivered, paint them and playtest them!

Squeeling like a little girl

I'm excited.

Yes, at last there arrival is imminent.

Just ordered the following
2 X 5 man power armoured grey knights
2 X 5 man terminator armoured grey knights
Grey knights Codex
Dreadknight
2 X Razorback's
Terminator Librarian
Venerable Dreadnought
lots of resin bases

that together with the stormraven I ordered about a week ago, the 20(ish) unmade power armoured dudes I've got at home and my existing knights should give me a nice size GK army, to start with that is.

Hopefully will have enough of this made up for a tournament in may I'm off too.

Will post pictures as soon as.

Genuine Rumours ????

I've been reading several rumour on the new GK 'dex over the last couple of weeks but to me there has been something not quite right with any of them, either something out of place or obviously wrong.


Stumbled across some new rumours this morning that I feel might be accurate(ish)

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Lord Draigo: WS 7 BS 6 S 5 T 5 W 4 I 5 A 5 Ld 10 Sv 2+      Points - 275
Wargear: Titan Sword (S 10 vs Daemons and Psykers), Storm Shield, Frag and Krak Grenades, Psyk-out grenades
Special Rules: Lord of Titan (Allows you to take Paladins as troops), Psychic Mastery 2, Eternal Warrior
Powers: Hammerhand, Psychic Communion, Cleansing Flame

• Amazing stat-line, but very costly. Strength 10 against Daemons and psykers isn't anything too exciting for me, but Paladins as troops is awesome if Grand Masters in general don't bring that upgrade. He has a decent power selection, with the Purifier power and Grand Master ones. I'm assuming he is an Independent Character, but he may not be. I really don't think he warrants a super-one man unit with that point cost, but I could be wrong.

Mordrack is looking like this:
Mordrack: WS 6 BS 6 S 4 T 4 W 4 I 5 A 4 Ld 10 Sv 2+        Points - 200
Allows you to take Ghost Terminators
Deeps Strikes first turn like a drop pod.
Has the ability to give out upgrades like a Grand Master

• Tough to take this one with too much accuracy, as it is just a bunch of other rumors applied to one model. Also, having four wounds with only WS/BS 6 seems a bit odd, but I guess not everyone should have 7 or higher.----- 

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Not sure where these rumours originated but I can't claim credit to them.

To me Lord Draigo sounds/ looks like a grand master SC and has the stat line and tools to kick ass. Seams like he's the guy that lets you take Paladins as troops. On the fluff side I'm thinking the top GM?

Mordrack looks to be to to a Grand master what Pedro Kantor is to a chapter master, gives special access to troops but basically similar.

Just some questions I have though are - What are psyk-out grenades? Is Mordracks stat line the same as a 'basic' grand master? What are 'ghost terminators'?

Too Many Space marine Chapters?

A couple of weeks back, before the latest copy of white dwarf came out, it was rumoured that the rules for the Stormraven would be published allowing this vehicle to be taken by any space marine chapter. Thankfully, although the rules were in WD, there was no sentence suggesting it could be taken by other chapters. Up until this point there had been lots of chatter of the web about how people would integrate the ‘raven into their army.

This along with the general feel on the web that there are too many power armoured armies available got me thinking.

Are there too many Space marine chapters and are they really that different?

Short answer, no.

Back in the late 80’s early 90’s there was 1 space marine list and you could paint it in any colour you wanted. The only exception to this was the grey knights. They had the basic SM army list, with a few add ons.

When 40K 2ed came out the ultramarines came out with their own codex, shortly to be joined by space wolves. Now the wolves do have power armour but they were/ are a very different army in my opinion. They have comparable units, yes, but each one has its own special rules meaning the army plays differently.

Fast forward to 40K 3ed and you get Ultramarine, Space wolf, Blood Angles, Dark Angles and Black templar Codex’s. Yes each of these army, in the main, had a troop with a standard marine stat line encased in power armour. Each army had/ has its own units and special rules though.

Fast forward again, this time to 40K 5ed and you get, mostly, the same codex’s but this time they seem to have diverged from the standard marine chapter even more! Just looking at the SM codex on its own, it’s got several special characters that change the very essence of the army and how it plays. I think GW was wrong in saying that any SM army can use any SC as this stopped the characters being special, it just made them plain boring characters. I do agree with it on the level that GW isn’t forcing you to paint the army in the way they want you to paint it though!

Going back to the storm raven. If it was allowed in, say, an imperial fist army I think it would just be wrong. The Imperial fists are known for their stubbornness and building fortifications. Giving them a fighter bomber would be wrong! The ‘raven just fits in with the blood angles style of warfare!

So the long answer is still no. Although there are lots of power armoured armies out there they are all different, they all have unique units and/ or special rules. People can’t complain that too many armies are the same then moan that they don’t make a unique vehicle generic!

What would be good is if GW could split the CSM, elder and ork codex’s up. There are different chapters of CSM, different craftworlds and different ork clans after all. Exploring the background behind these different factions would be interesting and also make armies more varied!

That’s my opinion any ways

Photos - Grey Knights -Thought it was about time!

Grand Master

Land Raider Crusader

 Retinue

Brother Captain Stern

Land Raider

Power Armoured Squad

Complete 1750 point army

Cometh the Grey Knights

I thought that as this blog is meant to be about my journey into the new Grey knight I'd post a few of the rumours and my thoughts on them

HQ

Special characters – lots of them, one of them accesses cheap terminators, stern has a SS, inquisitor accesses storm troopers

SC's are always fun and add fluff , trouble is they can be overcosted or overpowered. As I like fluff this is a good rumour. :-)

 Inquisitor lord has henchmen – cross between archons court and IG command squad, they can have their own transport

Again more fluff :-)

Elite

Dreadknight

Dreadnought/ penitent engine mix

Monstrous Creature

Gatling psycannon (str 5 but 12 shots.)

DCCW

Could be good if they get the rules and points right. A big hulking grey knight does sound fun though.

Elite terminators/ Paladins – 2 wounds, FNP, 4++/ 5++, can get FNP with the apothecary

Read various versions of this one but 2 w terminators with FNP sounds evil, in a good way of course!

vindicare assassin is 0-3 has unlimited special rounds (4d6+rend vs. armour, wound on a 2+, destroys inv save)

callidus assassin – drops ‘bomb’, then can shoot the flamer then assault as normal in turn it appears.

All Assassins in one entry, same one stat line, options allow for customization into temple variants

All the rumours I've heard for assassins make them sound like one man armies, just as in the fluff! :-)

Troop

Basic grey knights - 20 pts little more for the justicar.

Point reduction is always good. As long as they still kick ar$$ of course!

Fast Attack

Storm raven - 99% confirmed

I'll either be using this or a land raider, see what special  rules (if any) it gets. And I like the model!

Heavy Support

Purgatory squads with all the extra special weapons can become troops.

Presume this will be a special character? If so I can see many a drive by shooting :-)

General

new unit –

"The Grey Knights are getting a new unit or they are getting an upgrade that causes an automatic hit to any enemy model in base-to-base with them. This hit wounds on a 4+ regardless of enemies toughness with normal saves allowed and occurs before ALL attacks (think old mandiblasters), but still adds to combat resolution at the end of combat."

"The power mentioned is (I think) the new Holocaust. How I was told that it works is as follows:
Lets say we have a unit of 20 Gaunts charging some Grey Knights. One of the Knights has the Holocaust power. After assault moves are done but before attacks are resolved, the Grey Knight passes his psychic test to use Holocaust. Each model in the enemy unit is hit once by an attack that always wounds on a 4+ and allows normal armor saves. What that basically means is that before anyone gets to swing, the Knights can blow through half of a unit that has a poor armor save. In the above example, we're looking at 9 dead Gaunts most likely - and that's before the Knights attack."

Many questions about this: is this a unit or psychic power, base to base or whole unit, does this replace holocaust....

Allies are out

Fine with me

Death watch Squads

There have been mumblings and I hope they're in!

Fearless out, ATSNKF in

Sounds good, no more extra wounds in CC

psycannons are str 7 with rending

A Grey Knight weapon that can take out power armour and vehicles, me like :-)

nemesis weapons are now

sword that grants +2 str
halberd that grants +2 int
these could psychic powers

What was wrong with universal +2 strength! An initiative bonus is always good

psychic powers – makes storm bolter rending and/ or S5, makes a vehicle AV14 on one area, PAGK can teleport

Many many question about these, what, who, where, when....

gk army has access to landraiders, rhinos, stormravens, and the chimera.

Not sure how fluffy the rhino and chimera are!

normal GK’s don’t have access to melta’s. melta’s are a rare occurence in the codex

No change from now then!