Grey Knights

Grey Knights
Battle Cry	"We Are the Hammer!"
Number	666
Founding	Second Founding (sort of)
Successors of	None
Successor Chapters	Exorcists (not official)
Chapter Master	Kaldor Draigo
Primarch	The Emperor
Homeworld	Titan
Strength	1000 Marines
Specialty	Killing Daemons, being better than you
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Unpainted (hence, "grey")

The only thing they don't get is life insurance

More like Gay Knights after new codex, amirite? (no, not really It's not their fault Matt Ward Ultra-defecated on their decency)

The Grey Knights are a bunch of fucking badass SPESS MEHREENS that also, like their brethren, do it for the EMPRAH. The Grey Knights are the legendary 666th Spess mahreen chapter made by the Emprah (despite the fact that there were only 20 Space Marine Legions before their creation).

Overview

They're all made with the Gene-seed of the Emperor himself, making them sort of like mini-primarchs. The Grey Knights work under the Ordo Malleus and specialize in killing anything daemonic, so they're typically called in to deal with giant greater daemons of death or Chaos Primarchs themselves, and boy can they ruin any daemon's day. People outside the Ordo Malleus and high-lords of Terra do not know much about the Grey Knights, other than they exist and totally kick-ass, because their base of operations and anything that happens within their Chapter are never discussed outside the Ordo or by the High-lords though as the First war of Armageddon, Dawn of War:Dark Crusade, and Dawn of War:Soulstorm show, they'll work with other Chapters if the Ordo Malleus or one of their higher-ups decides that their presence is needed or if their presence is requested by the overall commander of Space Marine operations.

They don't necessarily have to fight Daemons and will readily deal with more mundane things like witches, mutants, and heretics. These would normally be left to the Ordo Hereticus and their chamber militant the Sisters of Battle as well as their inquisitorial stormtroopers. Grey Knights also occasionally fight Xenos which would normally be left to the Ordo Xenos and their chamber millitant the Deathwatch which is composed of the hardest non-grey knight space marines around as well as the usual inquisitorial stormtroopers. Again, this is rare as the Grey Knights and their Ordo Malleus Inquisitorial Stormtrooper allies will typically feel that this is a waste of their talent.

All of this changes when Xeno Warp entities like the Avatars of Khaela Mensha Khaine and Enslavers appear or when said heretics, mutants, and witches bring out Daemons or some combination of the above, but this tends to end up causing two or if they're really unlucky; all three branches of the inquisition to descend down upon the poor sap. Fighting Inquisitorial Stormtroopers from all three branches, the Sisters of Battle, the Deathwatch, and the Grey Knights all at once is a challenge that most sapient entities would much rather slowly gnaw all of their legs off than face.

"The Daemonic leads to two crimes; You turn away from the path of righteousness. And, you abandon the Emperor as the object of your devotion. For the first, death is merely a just retribution. The second is a heresy so terrible that no punishment can be sufficient. Yet the search for an appropriate penalty continues, and it shall be found." ~~ Codex: Daemonhunters 3rd Ed

Grey Knights are also the most elite of the Space Marines and are trained in the most ball-crushingly hard process that even veteran space marines consider "hard". Unlike other marine chapters however, they're all Psykers and only induct Psykers as recruits from the inquisitorial "Black Ships", which collect Psykers throughout the Imperium for training. They're also the most pure of the Space Marine chapters, every last one of them thinks that Chaos is fucktarded and not a single Knight ever succumbed to Chaotic influences. thanks to Ben Counter at least one has fallen under Chaotic Influences. Even a basic Grey Knight is capable of one shotting a lesser daemon with his force halberd in fluff terms, and a typical nameless Greater Daemon or Daemon prince can be sent shrieking back into the warp with one swing from a Grey Knight Grand Master. But for really big Daemonic threats like the Daemon Primarch Angron and An'ggrath, lots of Grey Knights will be needed to bring down the gribbly warp monster. Unless you are Draigo, who is actually Chuck Norris in terminator armour. Seriously, he carves names into Daemon Primarch's hearts, beats Bloodthirsters barehanded and makes swords out of them. In other words, he's an even bigger and more annoying mary sue than Calgar; God...Motherfucking...Damnit...Ward.

TRUTH

They are given the absolute best equipment the imperium can give, their basic troopers are nearly as well armed as most chapter's terminators, coming with a stormbolter and a force weapon vs a termies storm bolter and power weapon and they have access to the monstrously powerful Psycannon. However, they always prefer fighting at close combat where they can use their force weapons.

The wrath of Ward

Table-top wise, Grey Knights are the optimum commando army, you're normally outnumbered but you are capable of tearing shit up if you lead your troops correctly. In an average 1,000 point match, you'll have 20 models and a land raider. But it's okay, because they kick ass. Plus all of their models subscribe to the Rule of Cool, they're more awesomesauce than regular marines and all their basic weapons are fuckawesome and their units all look really damned cool.

GO GO GREY KNIGHT RANGERS...wait someone forgot to form the head...

Though they are individually more powerful than the Deathwatch of the Ordo Xenos and are both more individually powerful and experienced than the Sisters of Battle of the Ordo Hereticus, they lack the experience and versatility of the Deathwatch who probably also outnumber them somewhat, and are vastly outnumbered by the Sisters of Battle, which keeps a balance of power between the three orders of the inquisition.

Quotes from Brother-Captain Stern

They also make fanatical faith in the God-Emprah cool:

"We are warriors of the Grey Knights, armored in Faith, shielded by Devotion, and armed with Purity of Purpose. But greater even than these, we carry the light of the light of the divine Emperor of Man into the dark places to purge the daemonic wherever it may be found."

+++++++

"There is nothing in the arcane and blasphemous arsenal of the forces of Chaos that can compare to faith. With the power of faith, our weapons become shining instruments of deliverance that can cleave the mightiest daemon in twain. With the power of faith, our minds appear as slivers of pure agony to the daemon, driving into the wretched forms of those who would dare stand before us. With the power of faith, our words become commands that cause the daemon to cower and cringe in terror. I could meet my enemies unarmed without a shred of fear in my chest, for I know that the Emperor watches over me and guides my hand. So let them come. We shall show them what the power of faith can do."

Suddenly Fail

This article or section involves Matthew Ward, Spiritual Liege, who is universally-reviled on /tg/. Because this article or section covers Ward's copious amounts of derp and rage, fans of the 40K series are advised that if they proceed onward, they will see fluff and crunch violation of a level rarely seen.

When the Grey Knights Codex update was announced, there was considerable discussion amongst /tg/; finally, an army that needed it was going to get an update. Anticipation turned to balls-out horror, however, when it was discovered that Matthew "Spiritual Liege" Ward was going to do the codex. Matt was notorious for fucking up the fluff of the Blood Angels (turning them into necrophiliacs) and Space Smurfs (turning them into SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH marines, simultaneously enfuriating those who actually liked the Ultramarines fluff in which they took their lumps but fought on (I.E. the Manly route) and those who already disliked Ultramarines. Virtually all the fluff in the 5th Edition Space Marine codex was for the Ultramarines, with especially strong emphasis placed on shafting any army who told Rawbutt Girlyman to go fuck himself, such as the Raven Guard and Black Templars).

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK!!!!!

Considering that Matt had placed so much ascended fanboy wankery on the Ultramarines, many, especially on /tg/, were wondering how, exactly, he was intending to handle the fluff of the Grey Knights, who were trained to be the best of the best. The face-palm worthy answer came in the form of leaked information regarding the Codex:

He would handle it exactly like the giant faggot that he is.

Gray Knights now roam around carving their names in the daemon hearts of daemon primarchs - you know, the ones that single-handedly destroyed empires and have ascended to daemonhood. That any man would be capable of this, given that the Warp is the very essence of the Daemonic and ergo their numbers are limitless and their powers inviolate, and the 10+ years of canon regarding just that was completely disregarded - because Matt Ward said so. So they have one guy (who is such a bit of lunacy that 1d4chan has given him his own article) running around the warp, killing Slaanesh's chosen handmaidens, burning down the gardens of Nurgle, and though it wasn't expressly stated in his fluff article, likely figuring out Tzeentch's Infinite Labyrinth. True to all Matt Ward fluff, how Draigo managed to escape going insane from warp exposure, become Slaanesh's buttsex-slave after setting eyes on She who thirsts, being popped like a Zit by Khorne, not catching space daemon AIDS from being in the plaguefather and Mortarion's presence (let alone carving anything on his heart), or simply being drowned in bodies that make his armor/invulnerable saves irrelevant (the usual way to deal with Grey Knights on the tabletop) is never explained. This is Ward we're talking about, and he shows as much grace as black Irish lepers when handling fluff.

Not content to rape canon with just one codex entry, he then made it so that Daemonhosts could be taken by a Grey Knights army. For the uninitiated, this was, again, another slap in the face of 10+ years of canon, since in literally every fucking work put out by Games Workshop, has had them view Daemonhosts as the darkest form of Heresy and dealing with those that harbor them the same way they deal with anything daemonic. Not content to leave well enough alone, they can now work with radical Inquisitors, who, again, now harbor the daemonic in the form of Daemonblades.

Remember the good ol' days?

Then he gave most of the Sisters of Battle special characters to the Grey Knights, such as Lord Krazypantsoff, since - y'know, that army hadn't been brutalized enough for Matt's taste. Which is why he then included the Bloodtide. A Basilicae of the Sisters accidentally release a Bloodthirster of Khorne. Some of the sisters turned bad, some stayed pure, most ended up deprived of blood and skulls. (Part of this is based off a book/movie. Google Bloodtide.) The Grey Knights pop in, see that some of the sisters are pure, and decide to murder them all and paint their armor and swords in their blood in order to better fight the demons. Apparently being turned into fancy armor coating is the new way to treat unpopular elements of the game, rather than tyranids.

He then proceeded to give the Grey Knights an absolutely-ridiculous-looking (and widely mocked by /tg/) walker called a Dreadknight that counts as a monstrous creature, can do a huge personal teleport to get where it needs to be, and which basically is a Grey Knight Terminator hooked into a bigger armor suit - yes, it's every bit as insane and retarded (and broken) as it sounds. As one clever Ultramarines player, fed up with Matt Ward's shit, put it:

"Yo dawg, we heard you like powered armor so we put powered armor in your powered armor so you can go to war while you go to war"

Quite.

Inexplicably, despite the fact that you could snipe the Grey Knight out of the Dreadknight, since apparently armouring the head is for losers, the rules don't display this. Exactly why Ward thinks that bullets are somehow less damaging against the Knight's head when it's put in a suit of armor that mostly covers its body and limbs is a mystery. (Although the codex does say something about there being an invisible shield of ridiculous strength protecting the pilot, without any regard to what kind of implications Super-Strength Force Fields have, simply because Matt Ward wanted to make the DreadKnight look like the Power Loader from Aliens)

Throw in a ton of extra cheese, a commander that out-Creed's Creed (it can Scout more units than Creed can with Tactical Genius) by a sizable margain, throw in a ton of retarded violations of fluff like the aforementioned, and several other bits of flaming stupid (such as the oversight which allows players to take entire armies of Jokaero, which, depending on who you are, could be a bad thing or a funny thing), and you have the new Grey Knights Codex in a nutshell.

The God-Emperor of Mankind wept tears of sorrow at the ruination of his favored sons. And at the same time, tears of rage at the homosexual Ultrasmurf fanboy whom he wishes no less than his eternal torture at the hands of the Inquisition.

Pretty much the only redeeming quality of the book is that it allows the use of viable Inqisitorial-henchmen-only armies. With liberal use of the aforementioned space monkeys, it is now possible to make a fairly fluffy and effective counts-as Mechanicus force. Or at the very least, field your Dark Heresy group on the tabletop.

Of course, in the interim, we still have Khornate Knights to facepalm over.

The Grey Knight's Super Secret Box

Deep within the core of Saturn's moon, Titan, which has been hidden in the Warp during the Horus Heresy, in the heart of the Grey Knights fortress lies a super secret box containing something so super secret that only Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo knows what is inside and nobody else. It is unknown what lies within the box, but it is believed that if it is opened that untold horrors would spill into the material world. But anything could be inside the box, even a piece of string, a secret compartment within the actual secret box that holds one of the deepest and darkest secret of the Imperium that's triggered by pulling a string, or another box that contains another secret box.

Of course, we'll never now since the box will only be opened when "All is lost", ie: the 43rd millenium, when Tyranids finally eat Ultima Segmentum, the Eye or Terror eats Cadia, Yarrick kills Ghazghkull, Macha gets laid, Indrick Boreale is resurrected to speak normally, Abaddon finally does something competent and gets his arms back, and the Primarchs come back just in time for a threesome with 'Nids and Chaos to see who gets the Astronomican.

Basically, Matt Ward read The Sphere and thought he was being clever by putting a Pandora's Box reference in the codex, that or Matt Ward just happened to watch the Super Secret Box episode of Spongebob Squarepants while doing the GK Codex and thought: "why the fuck not?", and threw it in for content's sake. It is also possible that the box contains the remains of Matt Ward himself, and at the moment these remains are released this horrid creature will resurrect, raping the last remaining bits of sanity and awesome left.

The Vets' Lament

Actually, Veteran daemonhunter players are the most vocal detractors of the new codex, being well-read on the old fluff themselves. It's because the dick (also known as 'Matt Ward') ultimately made them hate their own armies, where once the Knights and their fluff were a source of great pride and manliness. Not to mention having to endure the nearly-constant whining of other 40k players and idiocy of the new Knight players who just jumped on the bandwagon because they thought the Knights looked like 'awesome paladins in space!' with their 'awesome new stats!' and their 'awesome new fluff!' and their 'awesome imba gear!' and their awesome awesome douchey shit reasons. While the players who already liked the knights way before they were considered kool, get fucking alienated.

It is now, however, to the daemonhunter veterans that the dedicated Grey Knight players take their pride from. Most vets don't give a puritan rat's ass at the copious bitch-whining and numb-dickery abound (besides, you think the Blood Angels and Space Wolves give a flying fuck what other people say?), the vets just shrug and play like they always do, while silently reminding themselves of the 25-points-per-Grey-Knight days when even just 1 win out of 7 defeats against 4th and the new 5th edTards, was already considered a great time. And, counting themselves lucky that they got an update at all unlike those poor Deathwatch bastards ... (even though every grudging victory now leaves them feeling a little emptier inside).

The new direction now for the experienced Malleus players is creating Grey Knight lists that give their opponents the advantage, and religiously denying some of the more effective weapons (2 psycannons in the entire list, max) and units (never picking heavy support even against imba Guard Tank SQUADRONS). And putting special inhibitions in their style of play (win the game using just one psychic power once the whole battle). It's not something we like doing (though most of us will tell you "We enjoy the challenge" or some bullshit), but it was done out of necessity, since...well, full grown men will revert to 5-year-olds when you force insta-kill their Hive Tyrant using a fast-attack Knight, the noisy-whiny result wasn't pretty...or conducive to friendly play. So, yea (we're not letting you win, we're just pulling our punches a bit making it easier for us to lose, and probably never fight at full strength ever again).

...Thank you for nothing, Matt Ward.

Rest assured though, these sad veterans of the long war are not alone; there are many Ultramarines fans who are likewise displaced by Ward's nonsense. The only solace we can take from this is that the displaced are far from alone and most assuredly not simply a minority. And, in all likelihood will be joined shortly by the distraught on-the-verge-of-suicide players of the Necrons. You have our sympathies, guys.

Ben Counter's Part

SPOILERS AHOY In this editor's not so humble opinion, in comparison to what Ben Counter did to Grey Knight fluff, it's encounter with Matt Ward was just being felt up in a sketchy club. The reason I say this is that Counter went after the heart of the Grey Knights: that none have succumbed to Chaos. Read from 'Hammer of Daemons':

[Alaric] was stripped to the waist, and there were countless new scars on his chest and arms. He had a brand, too, a deep angry welt in the shape of Khorne's stylised skull burned into his pectoral.

"When did I get this' he asked.

"After the sacrifices," replied Kelhedros matter-of-factly. ...

"You took it as a great honour. Gearth and his men now aspire to receive the same mark."

Soooo...a Grey Knight went into mindless berserker mode in gladiatorial games set up to honor the Blood God and impressed them so much he got a brand and was happy about it? Sounds like succumbing to me. Yeah, he talks about having it burned off later, but if he were so pure he wouldn't have gotten it in the first place. So not only did he do the Blood God's will and rejoice in it, he also inspired others to follow in his bloody footsteps.

Oh, and that Kelhedros he's talking to instead of murdering the fuck out of? Space elf.

A little later Alaric-a Grey Knight, mind you-is talking to one of the random other prisoners:

No, Haggard. You did what you had to do to survive. I cannot begrudge anyone that, not after what I have done on this planet. At least it will end here.

...no righteous fury? No vindictive "FOR THE EMPRAH"? Nope, just, I've been a bad boy too so you can as well. And he wasn't blacked out when he said this.

Talking to the guy who started a cult around a ship's log written by a daemon and feels bad about falling for a daemon's lies:

"The Faith is not a lie," said Alaric. "How many of your faithful would have survived without it? How many would have become corrupted?"

So believing in something that's not the Emprah, that was made by a daemon is not corruption? And it's suddenly cool to believe in something that's not the Emprah if it means you'll survive?

Many of them would die. Alaric knew he was sacrificing them for ihs own ends, but that was the way the galaxy worked. It was a cruel place, but that meant that, sometimes, he had to be crueler.

If I have to explain how this is a Warp fueled sentiment, you've no clue how 40k works. Incidentally, he's talking about sacrificing over 4000 guardsmen (the remainder of the forces that he and his fellow Grey Knights failed and caused to be captured, then later Alaric killed the fuck out of them in the games) just so HE could escape.

In engineering his escape, Alaric used a plan worthy of the Lord of Changes himself, causing all of the Khorne-sworn lords to turn on each other in an orgy of bloodshed which even drew the Blood God's attention:

There was a sound on the wind that carried further than the clashing of blades and the screams of the dying.

It was laughter.

Khorne was enjoying this particular spectacle.

Some taunting (but cutting in that it's true):

What about Skarhaddoth? I saw you kill him. You are teh champion of Drakaasi. How does it feel to be proclaimed the planet's most dedicated servant of Khorne?

More of his internal proof of fall:

[Alaric] had learned a lot. He could fight like an animal when he had to. He could give up everything he had ever been taught in the duelling vaults of Titan and revert to the brutality written into his blood. He could go further than his enemy, be more relentless, more devoted to bloodshed.

And he hasn't succumbed to Chaos how?

And the final nail:

"You turned us against one another. Our hatred was our strength and our weakness. Our pride, our wrath, our devotion, all these were just a weapon for you." Venalitor smiled. "The Dark Gods would be proud of you, Justicar." Alaric had never heard anything so hateful, because he knew it was true.

Now, for all of you who hate Mr. Ward for fucking over Grey Knight fluff. I want to point out that 'Hammer of Daemons' was published in 2008. Codex: Grey Knights in 2011. Ben Counter SET THE STAGE for Grey Knights making SoB hats.

I'm not asking you to forgive Ward, but realize he's not the only one you should hate.

Which is a crying shame, because the first two books were unspeakably badass without any atrocities like this.

STILL...

Daemonhammer does have a few strong redeeming qualities though, making it still part of rule of cool. Such as Alaric's epic jesus-denial of the three temptations of the dick Tzeentch daemon. And Alaric's constant mentioning of the a Grey Knight's diamond-hard Core of Faith. Which if taken in the whole picture, as Ben Counter probably intended it to be, means that even though a Grey Knight's mortal body could be taken over by Chaos, the Core of Faith serves as the proverbial life-raft for the soul, allowing Alaric to always come back to himself. That's what we guess, is what ol' Ben really meant; like the God-Emperor's body can decay, but His mind still guides the light of the Astronomicon. And at the end, it can't be denied that One Grey Knight ultimately survived, if a little dirtier, and defeated a whole Chaos world single-handedly. Which is a Grey Knight's job anyway, that's gotta be worth Something.

Oath of Titan: The Six Hundred and Sixty-Six Secret Words

Praise the Emperor for his sacrifice,

as He endures so shall we.

We who are Hunters of Daemons,

shall strive in his name eternally.

We the Order of the Hammer,

shall delve into the Dark Shadows.

We shall seek out the Tainted,

we shall pursue the Vilest Evil.

It is we who stand guard,

our Eternal Watch shall not fail.

For we are the Ordo Malleus!

We Grey Knights are the Hammers,

we slay the Darkness without fear.

Founded in great mystery we were,

Chapter six hundred and sixty six.

Though on Titan we be hidden,

yet our eyes encompass the Galaxy.

No Devil shall elude our gaze,

no Daemon shall elude its Fate.

We shall be the Keepers Immortal,

all Secrets shall be our Knowledge.

We are the Guardians of Mankind!

Caution and secrecy are our code,

watchfulness and patience are our way.

Hidden from the Eyes of Chaos,

we strike without warning or dread.

Though we find ourselves in Shadows,

no Blackness will enter our Hearts.

No treachery will touch our souls,

no pride will sully our thoughts.

We shall be Pure amongst Impurity,

we shall be Innocence amongst Guilt.

We are the Imperium’s Hidden Saviours!

We are spread across the Heavens,

our watch is untiring and ceaseless.

The Emperor shall guard our Souls,

as we Guard those of others.

Our will shall be our weapons,

our faith shall be our armour.

Our minds will be secure fortresses,

no Temptation will weaken our resolve.

Though unnumbered lurking perils await us,

our blades will ever be ready.

For we are the Emperor’s Vengeance!

Masters of all weapons are we,

no defence exists against our wrath.

With the Nemesis shall we fight,

with an Aegis to shield us.

In bloodshed shall we save Mankind,

Death shall be our Everlasting Creed.

War Unending shall be our Fate,

in battle shall we be steeped.

We shall be unstinting in Hatred,

we shall hunger for Holy War.

For we are Swords of Justice!

When all flee in hideous disarray,

strong and sound shall we stand.

Cowardice is wholly unknown to us,

our courage comes from the Emperor.

Unbowed and unshaken against all foes,

we shall claim victory with blood.

Steady and surely we hunt them,

those who dare oppose our wrath.

Death stalks us in many forms,

the grotesque and the utterly inhuman.

We are the Bringers of Hope!

Bloody battles unending constantly await us,

redemption the reward for our vigilance.

When Possession rears its unspeakable head,

ours is the blade that descends.

When Empyrean Horrors invade our realm,

our Exorcisms shall hurl them back.

There is no Chaos spawned horror,

which can resist our indomitable anger.

With undaunted courage we shall prevail,

no arcane magicks shall overcome us.

We are the Bearers of Victory!

No corruption shall blemish our Galaxy,

no Immaterial Fiend shall be spared.

No Malevolent Spirit will oppose us,

no Creation of Sin shall survive.

No Unholy Deed shall go Unpunished,

all Blasphemous Acts shall be Atoned.

No Spawn of Misrule shall avoid us,

all are banished to the Void.

Nothing shall evade our Cleansing Fire,

not Daemon or Spawn or Renegade.

For we are Mankind’s Divine Blade!

Heavenly Blessings are laid upon us,

the Warp is ours to Tame.

Though Sorceries shall be against us,

no Witchcraft will bring our Doom.

Though Spell or Incantation blocks us,

the Emperor shall see us Victorious.

No Hex can overcome our determination,

our resolve is strong as steel.

Sigils and wards shall watch over us,

prayers shall serve as our Guide.

For we are the Emperor’s Chosen!

There is much darkness awaiting us,

yet the Emperor lights our path.

Falsehood surrounds us at every turn,

yet no Traitor shall confound us.

No despicable trickery will thwart us,

no Damnation shall bring us low.

There is no peace for us,

for an eternity we will strive.

Though mere mortals in His service,

everlasting shall be our True Duty.

Gallery

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  An adequate synopsis of the level of bullshit in the new Grey Knight codex.

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  So, um... WHY IN THE NAME OF BUGGERY WASN'T THIS USED FOR THE DREADKNIGHT MODEL?!?

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  Yes let's all ignore the unique and immensly powerful deamon sword he's holding

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See Also

• The 666 Rituals of Detestation - All Grey Knights initiates must pass these trials before they become a full-fledged battle brother.
• Daemonhunters
• Tactics/Grey Knights

Chaos just can't catch a break these days can it...