It seems everywhere you go these days it’s Grey Knights all the time. Why? Well lets face it, they have a very broad appeal and in the local environment they seem to be easy to win with.
Casual players may not have adapted to their tricks and tactics yet, and the GK’s can win just on their base stats and average play alone.
I’ve seen it at my store, people that had a hard time consistently winning games, started rolling opponents with their shiny new GK army. Now I mean hey they paid for the minis why not play with them sure, but I can imagine that makes a lot of veteran players out there very unhappy. Not everyone can afford new minis with each release- heck sometimes each edition of the game.
The last time that I can remember an army came out and divided gamer opinion so much was the Zilla Nids back five or six years ago. They also had that broad appeal (big scary monstars, rawr), and were easy to use for both novice and veteran alike.
Fast forward to now, and are Grey Knights jumping the shark? Only time (and 6th Edition?) will truly tell.
So how does one deal with the warriors of Titan? First lets tale a look at what makes them “so good” and develop some strategies to counteract their strengths.
Their current meta seems to revolve around three solid lists, each with variants. There are of course other lists that were stronger before the summer 40k Rulebook and Grey Knight FAQ’s came out, but still very viable against most other armies.
Draigowing
The first list is of course Draigowing, which generally spams out Paladins or regular Terminators with as many Psycannons as possible for shooting. Sometimes you see Mordak in there, or a Librarian, or another Chapter Master for grenades (which they probably don’t need- topic for another day).
So generally lots of high strength power weapons (thanks to hammerhands, etc), and Feel No Pain multi-wound models, that have a threat range starting at 42″ (6″ move plus 36″ for psycannons). At 24″ to 30″ inches they are even deadlier to infantry models with their possible strength 5 stormbolters, and at twelve inches most every unit and the game with die to their assault.
In assault most optimal load outs have weapons that swing at variable initiatives, i.e mixing halberds for I6, splashing a few hammers for anti-armor and I1, and there will yet be a few swords in there (apothecary, etc) at I4. This is good for messing with your opponents wound allocation, forcing him to maybe lose chump models early, and saving the juicier ones to get hammered or just jammed up with to many wounds to save them all later on in the initiative step.
Strenghts: High strength power weapons, good mid range shooting with psycannons, and strength five stormbolters. Draigo, and Librarian witchery.
Weaknesses: Mobility, range, and “low” model count/ scoring units.
Psynoughts
Another popular list, that seems to be doing well is multiple copies of Dreadnoughts armed with Psybolt Autocannons. They spit hot fire at Strength 8, and have a respectable range. They are even better fielded in three’s or sixes. Mixed with either Cotaez and Henchman, or strike/ purifier squads and the result is a very well rounded adaptable list.
Strenghts: Multiple Long Range high strength shots, good scoring unit loadout, adaptable.
Weakness: Coherency, Reliance on line of sight, weaker infantry, no invulnerable save.
Cleansing Flame
One list that I really like is basically Purifier Spam. These guys are the swiss army knife of the book, able to handle both hordes and normal units with relative ease. Mix in the ability to have boosted psycannons and the fact that they are fearless, and you have a serious threat that’s field-able in semi large numbers. The trick is to make them/ get scoring units into the mix.
Strengths: pretty much good at everything
Weaknesses: Scoring units, No Invulnerable save
Those are the popular lists as far as I can tell, and now I have a few ideas on how to defeat them with Blood Angels.
But that will have to wait until next time. -MBG
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About the Author: Rob Baer
