Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Grey Knights

Why Play Grey Knights

It's a Codex by the Mattard meaning that it includes units stolen from other Codexes and turned up to eleven. If you enjoy Power-Armored Creed and gigantic baby carriers this is the army for you.

Have you ever wanted to field an army composed entirely of Psykers and/or Terminators? Have you wanted to field an army with units so expensive that even Space Marines will outnumber you? Do you like to hop on the bandwagons of the newest codex so other players don't know how to properly counter your army yet? If you said "yes" to the first two questions, Grey Knights is for you. If you said "yes" to the third question, go soak your head in a bucket of ice water and rethink your life.

Alternatively, you're a vet, or you remember the days before this horrid codex. You'll find the Grey Knights to be easily one of the most expensive armies per-model, and sometimes grueling to play in a way that doesn't turn any gaming circle against you, but there's an army worth playing in there. All you need is a black sharpie, a copy of the 3rd edition codex, and the skills to splice fluff from the 3rd ed into the latest codex and a sharpie to blank what remains and offends the senses, but can't be pulled out and replaced.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Lord Kaldor Draigo - HE MAKES IT HAPPEN - The obligatory "super special character who costs more than a Land Raider" of this Codex. Creed has donned his robe and wizard hat Terminator armour and gotten hold of some of the shiniest toys mankind has to offer, making him a respectable fighter, nearly impossible to kill (2+ armor, 3+ invuln, Eternal Warrior) and a nightmare against any dedicated Daemon player. Additionaly, if you ever wanted to field a 1,000 point army consisting of 14 models, he makes Paladins Troops. On the other hand, he sucks in the shooting phase, with just a storm bolter.

• Grand Master Mordrak - A Grey Knight Grand Master with a Daemonhammer, who can perfectly deep strike on turn one. Mordrak is unique in that he isn't an Independent Character; instead, he's always accompanied by a unit of up to 5 Daemons Ghost Knights. Ghost Knights are standard GK Terminators who can't take any upgrades at all, apart from a Brotherhood Banner or alternate Nemesis weapons, but they get +1 to cover saves (mostly useful against plasma/melta), and can spawn more if Mordrak takes a hit. However, if Mordrak dies, the entire unit dies, so watch out for units that can pick their targets.

• Brother-Captain Stern - A solid close-combat character, pretty much a standard Brother-Captain with a force sword, with two gimmicks. His first gimmick is the Strands of Fate ability, in which he can reroll a single to-hit, to-wound, or saving throw per turn; however, for every such roll you take, your opponent also gets to make the same kind of roll. Don't go abusing it or a canny opponent will use it to screw you over. His second gimmick is his psychic power Zone of Banishment, which makes Stern forgo his normal attacks, but causes every unit within 6" of him (friend and foe) to make a Strength test or be instantly removed as a casualty (and Daemons have to reroll this test if successful). This can be very risky if he's got a squad following him (as any respectable Independent Character should), but it makes him an absolute rape-train against tarpits.

• Castellan Crowe -Your average Brotherhood Champion with some extra toys and +50% points also. Sacrifices Force Weapon for a Daemon sword (WTF?) that rends on 4+ and makes units assaulting you gain Furious Charge and re-roll to hit (Yes, he buffs your enemy if they charge you; this increases the chances of being able to Heroic Sacrifice something really nasty if you deploy him right). Not really worth it unless you're planning on bringing massive amounts of Purifiers which he makes Troops, which you should really consider doing, since Purifiers are the shit. In short if you want to spam psycannnons from hell to breakfast, Crowe is the tax GW makes you pay for that tactic. Otherwise, you should be looking elsewhere.

• Grey Knight Grand Master- Your big customizable HQ choice. Grand Strategy gives a special skill to D3 of your units, and he can be kitted out to take on practically anything. Not much else needs to be said other than this makes a nameless character better than Creed.

• Grey Knight Brother-Captain - Pretty much the same as a Grand Master, with the same options. Only difference is that he doesn't have Grand Strategy, can't take Psy Mastery Level 2, has one less BS, and is 25 points cheaper.

• Brotherhood Champion - The only Grey Knight (as in, not an Inquisitor) HQ choice to not wear Terminator armor (so he can fit in Rhinos and Razorbacks). The Brotherhood Champion causes the unit he's in to re-roll failed rolls to hit on the charge, so he's the closest thing to a Chaplain the Grey Knights get. He's also unusual in that he doesn't attack normally, he has to pick one of three stances in the assault phase. Sword Storm has the Champion make a single attack against every enemy in base contact with him (so stick him in the thick of it), Blade Shield means he does not attack but can reroll any saving throw he's called upon to make (worthless, you're supposed to kill the enemy, not wait for them to kill you), and Rapier Strike, which performs D3 Initiative 10 attacks (+1 if he charged) to any Independent Character or Monstrous Creature in base contact. If he dies in melee combat, then he can perform a psychic test to perform one final attack against another enemy model; if it hits, the enemy dies, no saves allowed. He only has one Wound, too, which means he may very well end up using this attack. Can be useful as an expensive "torpedo" unit against even more expensive enemies like Tyranid critters.

• Librarian - Psychic specialist, wears Terminator armor and has a psychic hood. Can take as many psychic powers as he likes and can be upgraded to cast up to three of them per turn, but you have to pay for each psychic power you take, so don't take anything you won't need.

• Inquisitor Coteaz - The big bad Inquisitor, with a master-crafted Daemon hammer, a psyber-eagle (Which is apparently more lethal than a storm bolter), and some nasty psychic powers. If an enemy unit arrives from reserve within 12" of him, he and his unit can shoot at it, even if it's not his turn. He also makes Inquisitorial Henchmen Troops and removes the limit you have on them, so you can easily make a Grey Knights army without any actual Grey Knights. And the cherry on top? You get all of this for a paltry 100 points.

• Inquisitor Karamazov - Hang on, isn't this guy Ordo Hereticus? What's he doing here? He's no longer a Monstrous Creature anymore, despite his size, but he does have the statline of one, and has a master-crafted multi-melta (that he can fire on the move and assault in the same turn) and power sword, and an orbital strike beacon (that he can fire on a friendly unit to prevent scatter). However, he can't embark on transports and has no Invuln save; a single S10 hit is all that's needed to end Krazypantsoff's purges. Which, honestly, you can't really blame the Tau player for enjoying.

• Inquisitor Valeria - An Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with lots of nifty toys to play with. In addition to a laspistol (lol) she has a Graviton Beamer, a S10 AP1 Pistol(!) that can be fired once per game. She also carries a power weapon that lets her roll an additional two attacks, but makes her attack herself if she rolls a double for those two. Her Hyperstone Maze can instantly kill any Independent Character or Monstrous Creature, provided they roll over their remaining Wounds on a D6. Finally her last piece of special wargear means that successful saves against her attacks have to be rerolled. She's pretty reliant on chance, but her scary-good wargear makes up for her unimpressive statline.

• Ordo Malleus Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Terminator Armor, Incinerators and Psycannons, Psybolt ammunition, Empyrean brain mines, the Hellrifle, a Daemonblade, and Nemesis Daemonhammers. Could probably benefit the most from being made a Psyker.

• Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Inferno Pistols, Condemnor Boltguns, Thunder Hammers, Null Rods, and Psyocculums. Probably the shootiest of the three, surprisingly.

• Ordo Xenos Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Needle Pistols, Scythian Venom Talons, Conversion Beamers, Digital Weapons, Rad and Psychotroke grenades, and the Ulumeathi Plasma Siphon, which is useful for defending against plasma-happy units. Unfortunately it won't bother plasma cannons that much and meltas will be completely unaffected. Good for going after lighter units. The horrible abomination called the Grey Knights FAQ allowed Ward to fix his shitty little siphon so he could give the Tau a little bit of the old butthurt for making the Ultramarines get off of their asses to actually do something.

Elites

• Techmarine - While not worth it for their vehicle-repairing abilities in any codex, they have easy access to Rad and Psychotroke grenades on a Power Armoured body. Stick one in with an assault unit and enjoy the results. They remain a great source of multiple flamer attacks boasted by a ton of melee attacks, so don't underestimate them if you need some cheap additional melee punch. If you actually want to make use of their repair ability putting them in a Stormraven is your best bet, since they've been recently FAQ'd to allow internal repairs.

• Purifier Squad - Super-PAGKs, Purifiers get cheaper special weapons, Fearless, and replace Warp Quake with the Cleansing Flame psychic power, which causes additional wounds to all enemy models in combat on a 4+ (but allows armor saves). These guys can probably benefit the most from a Razorback.

• Venerable Dreadnought - A more powerful Dreadnought, 60 points more expensive, but with better WS/BS and the ability to force your opponent to reroll vehicle damage. However, it competes with many other choices for the Elites slot; you may have to settle for the standard garden-variety Dread if you run out of room.

• Paladin Squad - Super-Terminators, Paladins get +1 WS, +1 Wound, the Holocaust psychic power, and can take an Apothecary for 75 Points or master-crafted weapons for 5 points each. Powerful, but extremely expensive and don't score unless you take Draigo. Steer clear of anything that inflicts Instant Death: A single Demolisher Cannon shot can ruin this expensive squad's day in a heartbeat. If you really want your opponent to hate you, give them all different equipment so you can do Nob Biker-style wound allocation abuse. Can't do this anymore.

• Assassins -The assassins were "fixed" in 5th ed, meaning that they lost most of their special powers. Instead they got a statline that could make a Phoenix Lord green with envy and are actually viable to play now.
  • Callidus Assassin - Her phase sword no longer ignores Invulnerable saves, but does inflict Instant Death instead. The Neural Shredder also tests against the enemy's Leadership rather than Toughness. Send her against big multi-wound thickies with poor leadership (Ogryns, Ork Nobz, etc.).
  • Eversor Assassin - Comes with melta bombs, a lightning claw, and a Poisoned (2+) AP2 pistol. Pretty much guaranteed to cause some damage, and get shot to death the very next turn unless your opponent is a blind dumbass. Alternate strategy: Use this guy like Dark Eldar and bog him down in close combat with a squad he will win against but wont kill in one turn. Easily allowing you to massacre weaker squads packed together (Those devastators should probably have been spread out, but your opponent didn't think about that, did he?) And then continue on the rampage like nothing happened.
  • Culexus Assassin - Forces Leadership tests on people shooting at him, and can't be shot at if they fail this test. His gun fires faster if there are psykers around him. Good thing the Grey Knights are pretty much all psykers...
  • Vindicare Assassin -You can no longer shoot units in combat or your own units. You can however:
    • Pick out any model in a unit.
    • Ruin any Inv. save Wargear within 36" and in LoS on a roll of 2+
    • Wound on 2+
    • Deal 2 wounds.
    • Penetrate vehicles on 4d6. This has become a favored tactic for taking care of AV14 vehicles that you can't simply spam to death with psycannons.

• Inquisitorial Henchmen - Your Inquisitor's band of ragtag misfits, think of them as the Inglourious Basterds IN SPACE! Coteaz can make them Troops, but really, why aren't these guys Troops as standard?
  • Arco-Flagellant - Puts out 4 S5 attacks per turn (that unfortunately allow armor saves) and has Feel No Pain. Good for being used as beatsticks against low-armor units, such as Orks or lesser daemons.
  • Banisher - He can take an Eviscerator, and forces Daemons within 6" to reroll their invulnerable saves. Otherwise, his statline is nothing special.
  • Crusader - Comes with power weapon and storm shield, use them to suck up wounds that would otherwise be unsaveable. Not so good for offense, having only 1 attack, but at least they're cheap.
  • Daemonhost - Fun the same way that Orks are, being unreliable but interesting.
  • Death Cult Assassin - If you use Crusaders for defense, you use these girls for attack. S4, 3 power weapon attacks (4 on the charge) and 5+ invuln saves, they can dish out the hurt, but they can't take it.
  • Inquisitorial Servitor - Well-armored and start with power fists, but are better when outfitted with heavy weapons. A cheap way to put some plasma cannons onto the field.
  • Jokaero Weaponsmith - Space Monkeys that make your guns better! Yay! Also, their digital weapons can function as either a multimelta or a lascannon (and a heavy flamer, too, but who cares), making them one of two anti-armor units in the codex. Unfortunately, suffer when taken in bulk, due to being expensive and having mediocre BS.
  • Mystic - Good for one thing and one thing only: Preventing deep-strikers from scattering. You shouldn't need more than one or two.
  • Psyker - S10 Ap1 Large Blasts. The Vindicator wishes it could do this shit. Unfortunately you need eight of them to pull off such a powerful attack, and really when has daisy-chaining eight psykers together ever been a good idea? You know, aside from the Grey Knights.
  • Warrior Acolyte - Glorified Guardsmen. They're cheap, expendable, and they can have their wargear customized:
    • Any of them can swap out their usual wargear for boltguns, storm bolters, or hot-shot lasguns.
    • Up to three can take meltaguns, plasma pistols, power swords, combi-weapons, etc. You can kit them out to deal with nearly anything.
    • Carapace armor doubles their cost, and power armor more than triples it, but makes them a lot more survivable.

Troops

• Grey Knight Terminator Squad - Terminators as Troops, a Marine fanboy's dream come true! Dead 'ard, killy, and scoring, these guys are great for wrenching objectives from your opponent's grip. However, they will get expensive very quickly, especially if you take too many of them. Unlike PAGKs, Terminators don't lose their force weapons if you give them special weapons, like psycannons or incinerators, and Termies are Relentless, so they can be kitted out for shooting without losing any assault power. They even have grenades. Just about the only thing these guys don't have are Storm Shields (though a Force Sword gives them a 4+ invuln save in close combat).
  • Justicar Anval Thawn - A Fearless Terminator Justicar with a force halberd who can stand up again on a 4+ if he dies. However, after he dies, he's a separate unit, and with only one Wound he'll just end up as target practice for a Guardsman with a plasma gun. Might be good for one last "Fuck You" to the enemy, but at 75 points for a unit that isn't that much better than a standard Terminator Justicar (who is free) you're the one getting fucked.

• Grey Knight Strike Squad - Your basic Power-Armored Grey Knights. While they're not as durable as GK Terminators (who also share the Troops slot) and have 1 Attack instead of 2, they're cheaper (You can take two PAGKs for the cost of one GK Terminator), you can fit these guys in a Rhino, which gives them some much-needed mobility, and they can Sweeping Advance, which Terminators cannot do. They also have the "Warp Quake" psychic power, which fucks up deep-strikers. Use these guys against hordes and other lighter units while your Termies handle the big guys. Keep in mind that taking a special weapon like a Psycannon or an Incinerator will cost you a Force Weapon attack or two, so think wisely.

Dedicated transports

• Rhino - Look, Rhinos! RHIIIINOS! Our Grey Knights are hiding in MEHTAL BAWKSES, the cowards! THE FOOLS! Pretty much a must for PAGKs, they give Strike Squads, Purifiers, and Purgation Squads some much needed mobility. Cannot carry Terminators, so leave these at home if you plan to take a lot of them.

• Razorback - A Rhino with a big gun on the back. Good for providing fire support for PAGKs of all kinds.

• Inquisitorial Chimera - Pretty much only good for Inquisitors and their henchmen, you shouldn't need more than one or two unless you want to field a no-GK army. In which case you may as well be playing Imperial Guard.

Fast Attack

• Stormraven Gunship - Flying Land Raider, covered in guns, good for transport and blowing shit up. Use them to drop Interceptors and Dreadnoughts into your opponent's midst. Also, it can take a teleport homer, which allows you to zip around and safely deploy reserves in addition to its transport capabilities. Finally, unless you're bringing lots of Jokaero, this is your only method of getting effective anti-armor into your list. Seriously consider taking as many of these as you can afford to.

• Grey Knight Interceptor Squad - Your only other Fast Attack choice, these are just PAGKs with teleporter packs that make them look like something from a cheesy '50s sci-fi movie. Ask the enemy to take them to their leader.

Heavy Support

• Purgation Squad - Your Devastators. A PAGK Strike Squad that can take four heavy weapons without restriction, instead of one per five models. Park them in cover or they will die. Oh, and due to Astral Aim, they don't even need line of sight to their targets anymore (but the targets will get a 4+ cover save).

• Dreadnought - It's a Dreadnought, what's not to like? Autocannons with psybolt ammunition make for surprisingly nice long-ranged anti-tank (two twin-linked Autocannons with Psybolt ammo is 10 points cheaper than a twin-linked Lascannon) but the Assault Cannon is better for close range. It's no slouch in melee either (unless the DCCW was exchanged for another gun). However, it shares the common Dreadnought weakness of meltas and monstrous creatures.

• Nemesis Dreadknight - Xzibit's take on Power Armor, this unit alone is probably responsible for at least 30% of the rage directed against the Grey Knights. A mechanical Monstrous Creature with a 2+ armor save and a 5+ invulnerable save, this thing is designed to take on Greater Daemons, Tyranid bio-monsters, and the like. Slap three on the field and watch your opponent complain incessantly. However: 130 points seems cheap, but keep in mind that this means it will have no upgrades or ranged weapons at all; ranged weapons cost 30+ points apiece, and the Teleporter costs 75 points. Close combat upgrades are the cheapest and may help in melee, but you'll be down -1 Attack for close combat for giving up one of your doomfists. The Teleporter does not make them lose Monstrous Creature status. Watch out for Necrons and Gargoyles, they will ruin your shit. Be afraid of Dark Eldar players, their Venoms, Warriors, Hellions and Scourges can drop a surprising amount of poisoned shots on your Dreadknights in one turn, Blasterborn squads will rape a Dreadknight unless you take the Field. Even still just don't take it against Dark Eldar armies that are shooty.

• Land Raider/Crusader/Redeemer - The choice of Space Marines everywhere for Terminator transport, the Grey Knights Land Raiders are similar to the Land Raiders used by everyone else. The standard "Godhammer" pattern is schizo, the Crusader has the best transport capacity, and the Redeemer is excellent for mowing down swarms of troops. DO NOT take Psybolt ammunition for the Crusader, because the Hurricane Bolters will no longer count as Defensive weapons.

Tactics

Anti-Armor Tactics

While anything AV 10-12 will pose about as much challenge to your psycannons as wet cardboard, AV 13-14 can be a problem. You don't have many good options for tank hunting and its important to choose the right one. The first option is MOAR PSYCANNONS. Even AV14 will eventually falter under a hail of S7 rending shots, this just isn't the most efficient use of them. Your second option is a Vindicare. His special penetrating shot will allow you to neutralize armor early on at long range. It can be fragile and expensive, but this has come out as the favorite choice for most armies. The third choice, if by some exceptionally bad manly choice you've built a Coteaz army, is to use laser apes. Since their digital weapons can count as both lascannons and meltas (among others) they are equipped to deal with just about any situation. You can also spam Razorbacks with lascannons.

What to buy

every time you buy Grey Knights, Ward gets a raise. Buy more Coteaz, and get some Sisters of Battle to provide the Inquisitorial Henchmen, thereby denying Ward his moneys.

Also, if you want there's a better way to use Grey Knight without having to buy their specific models. The Space Marines have a chapter similar to the Knights and it's called the Exorcists. Check them out on the Warhammer40kwikia for a complete history. Basically, they are a secret project conducted by the Inquisition in which they have the Marines possessed and later exorcised so they can gain a resistance to Chaos. Plus they are invisible to all the Daemons except the ones who are incredibly powerful. They have a mutual respect going on with the Inquisition and apparently team up with them on various occasions. This gives players a fluffy reason to field them with Inquisitors on the field. So there you have it, buy Space Marine models, paint them in Exorcist colors, and make Matt Ward cry.

For people NOT interested in being butt-hurt over the latest codex and instead just want to play /TheGame/, a good starting choice is, of course, a couple squads of either GKTs or GKSSs, depending on your financial restrictions and what amount of points you're looking to start with. For the recently-inducted, 500-750 pt. games are a good way to get your feet wet, and thus you will probably want to go for a pair of GKSSs and a Librarian [whose psychic attacks are fuck-right devastating]. A good expansion will be with Terminators and one of the more specialized HQ units, or if you're looking to have some diversity, an Inquisitor and their retinue. Invest in at least one Stormraven, a Dreadknight, and either a Rhino or a Land Raider, depending on the balance of power-armor units to terminators, respectively. And of course, be sure to ignore the people rolling their eyes for selecting the Grey Knights; Matt Ward's silliness aside, the Grey Knights ARE a pretty fuckawesome army list with a good aesthetic design for the hobbyists and, with practice and patience, can efficiently lay waste to anyone they stand against. If you balk at the Grey Knights fighting something other than daemons, well...if you look hard enough and scream you battle litanies loud enough, ANYTHING you set in front of your Knights on the tabletop will look like a daemon.