Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Grey Knights (section)

===Why Play Grey Knights?===

The [[Grey Knights]] are the Emperor’s final creation, an army of Space Marines whose might and dedication eclipses all others. Their all-consuming mission is to confront the Daemons of the Warp wheresoever they might manifest. Each Grey Knight has the power of an army in his own right, capable of felling the greatest of Greater Daemons with a single blow. When the Chapter fights as one there are few who can oppose them. Yet, as the Imperium approaches its twilight, the daemonic threat grows ever greater and the Grey Knights ever more beset.

Though the Grey Knights wield the finest armaments that the armouries of the Imperium can provide, their chief weapon comes from within: a psychic might that can cleave through armour, summon sanctifying flame or return life to the dead.

A Grey Knights army will always be outnumbered (with the exception of facing custodes or Knights), but each of your warriors is easily as powerful as the mightiest hero in your opponent’s ranks. Terminator Squads, the elite of other Space Marine armies, are the mainstay of your force. 

Purgation Squads lay down a storm of heavy weapons fire, Purifiers immolate the foe with azure flame. Strike Squads attack wherever the enemy is most vulnerable, and towering Nemesis Dreadknights stride imperiously across the battlefield, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

=====Pros=====
* The Grey Knights are an army of Psyker Space Marines, each one equal to a Veteran among their Astartes cousins. The standard Strike Squad statline has 2W and 3A (the latter including a baked-in Shock Assault).
* The Grey Knights have strong assault and mid-range shooting. At a minimum, you're getting a storm-bolter and a force sword on every infantry model.
* Great looking infantry models with lots of customization options. They are not really hard to paint either to look decent and [[Duncan_Rhodes|Duncan]] has pretty neat tutorials on them.
* A low model count allows for easy movement and understanding of the game.
* Daemons and Psykers are a massive liability when playing against you. This benefit can't be understated, as GW is now focusing more on the Chaos vs Imperium conflict, and most Chaos armies rely on some form of daemon unit or psyker buff to function properly. 
* Force weapons ''absolutely everywhere'', and they're no longer subject to Deny the Witch, which means you're always putting out 2 wounds to everything in melee!
* All of your Squads can now cast full Smite, not just the Baby Smite of 8E. 
* You are one of the factions that benefit most from the psychic phase. You get an army-wide boost to deny, and every PSYKER unit (except a few honoured knights) know at least 3 powers: Smite, a set power for each unit type, and a new unique power from your BROTHERHOOD sub-faction choice. Your 2 psychic disciplines are good, with some powers that allow you to buff yourself in both offense and defense, hurt others really really badly and TELEPORT ALL ACROSS THE BOARD. EVERYONE CAN CAST. EVERYONE CAN DENY. 
* Pretty much ANY one of your units can start the game in deep strike reserve. Everyone has some sort of teleportation device - and even if they don't, there's a stratagem that allows you to teleport units in anyway. 
* Named character options are abundant, and overall pretty good even if overpriced.
* One of the only armies with Terminator troops. Even Dark Angels lost their Deathwing as Troops. So GK is a good army if you want to bring a pure Terminator army.
* Absolutely no Mary Sue Marines in the codex. For those vets who never wanted the Primaris to exist, in this army they still don't.
* Warlord traits are vastly improved, including one for extra ObSec to even the odds against your dudes.
* 9th Edition's looking to be kind to them, between the general upgrades to all marines as well as all the special stuff available to them.

=====Cons=====
* A low model count means each loss hurts much more. In order to win, you must find ways to block line of sight, find cover saves, and get into assault as soon as possible.
* The codex is extremely limited in terms of unit selection.
* Other armies have access to high strength and AP weapons; 5++ isn't going to save you all the time. However, with new powers and stratagems, you can greatly increase the durability of key units, especially units with Terminator keyword (so Paladins too).
* Very limited access to ranged AP-3 or better, plenty of AP-3 close combat though.
* Poor long-range shooting options without combos. Somewhat mitigated with lascannons but few things take lascannons. 
* Lack of stuff from Forge World. [[Derp| Despite the fact that Grey Knights were more or less established during the]] [[Second Founding]], leaving you at a disadvantage on tables when the models/rules are permitted.
* No Psychic Primaris Marines, even [[Librarian]]s, despite you know, with this whole [[Great Rift]] situation Grey Knights should have been the first Chapter to be reinforced with them.
* Perils of the Warp is a thing. You may find yourself having to burn command points to keep your dudes from dying.
* Stratagems can be really good, but you can't use all of them, so careful planning and weighing up of the situation is needed to get the most out of your army.