New Grey Knights Reveal Explained!
I've been burned before trying to pint out some of the negatives with New Games Workshop, but I think the latest Grey Knights Codex reveal has a few question marks surrounding it.
I was flicking through my Codex Space Marines today, trying to justify my Space Marine Field Police using the White Scars chapter tactic, when the similarities between the latest Codex Chaos Space Marines stratagem reveals and the Space Marine ones became clear to the point of absurd.
An hour later I saw Warhammer Community had uploaded the Grey Knights staff, and it felt like deja vu... and it suddenly clicked as to why the Grey knights got their codex in the first batch.
I also think a lot of what I said on my full break down of their leak will still be true. Have a look if you want a full context of where all this is coming from.
An interesting choice, and a really great way to make the Dreadknight design useful. Ever since it first came out people have dubbed it the Nemesis BabyCarrier, and as a dad myself I can attest to the very close similarities. It's also a wasted design... there's no one important piloting that thing, or at least not important in the context of your army. No one was really interested in seeing the pilot of a dreadnought, as the dreadnought chassis itself is the defining characteristic of the model (with the following exceptions: Bjorn the Fell Handed, Tankred, and Judge Dreadnought).
However, having a character ride the baby carrier, whilst still goofy, does mean the character has rules to support the extra fluff investment. I'm not explaining this well, but all I'm saying is that there's more weight to seeing the pilot now than before.
In practical terms, this means your small point armies can roll your behemoth and hero into one choice. Did I say behemoth and lord? I meant HQ and Heavy Support. We're playing 40K, not Age of Sigmar!
It's a good set up, allowing smaller armies to get some muscle with more points efficiency. In larger forces... be careful putting that many points in a single model, as it will get alpha struck of the table. Just ask Magnus.
Grey Knight Stormhawks and Stormtalons. Good. There's actually not much more to say than that, as the Grey knights really lacked any long range support beyond the Dreadknights and Land Raiders. This is a good way to redress that balance.
Also, psychic pilot may be a thing again!
Now Sanctic needed absolutely no help, it already being one of the best Disciplines out there. Purge Soul was a good way to thin the herd for low Leadership armies as well as bigger monsters, Gate is awesome for putting that Dreadknight where you want it (and teleporting Land Raiders), with Hammerhand effectively giving everyone power fists.
Now they have a wall hack on their guns:
Okay, good for heavy weapon units, but equally good on standard Strike Teams. Those guys will still be pumping out 4 shots a man at 12-inches, and a line of sight blocking wall will mean they don't get hit back!
It's hard to see how they could get more powerful than the four powers they have now... but let's face it, they're Grey Knights. There's probably a power which will let you take your opponents minis and stamp on them with a combat boot. And you'll get re-rolls on the test.
There's no praise I can give to the stratagems though, them being copy/pasted from the Space Marine and Chaos Codex. Here are the Grey knight reveals:
And from Codex Space Marine:
And the Chaos Space Marine reveals:
Being fair, it makes sense that they'd all have similar stratagems. They're all really different flavours of power armour, and fluff wise their tactics would be similar. It also would be very unfair to say they're all the same faction with different art designs. The difference here is made up by the units themselves, and it's hard to even pigeon hole them in terms of differences. There isn't the psychic one, the close combat one, the shooty one, or even the elite one... there are just too many differences, even between Grey knights and Space Marines.
Because giving everyone extra Leadership and attacks isn't enough, you can now do point blank d6 mortal wounds... for a Command Point.
All these releases have me in deep, deep torment, wanting to collect, paint and play everything in the shop. I really wish I was one of those guys who could stick to an army all the way to 1850 points and beyond. but then again, the school's league format means I can jump around the codexes a bit.
Good to be a teacher sometimes.
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you want to support me directly, use the affiliate links below. I get a small percentage of purchases you make her, and you get cheaper miniatures! If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
I was flicking through my Codex Space Marines today, trying to justify my Space Marine Field Police using the White Scars chapter tactic, when the similarities between the latest Codex Chaos Space Marines stratagem reveals and the Space Marine ones became clear to the point of absurd.
An hour later I saw Warhammer Community had uploaded the Grey Knights staff, and it felt like deja vu... and it suddenly clicked as to why the Grey knights got their codex in the first batch.
I also think a lot of what I said on my full break down of their leak will still be true. Have a look if you want a full context of where all this is coming from.
 |
| Space Wolves had True Grit once for holding a bolter one handed... |
Grand Master Nemesis Dreadknight
So the Grand Master of your Grey Knights can now ride a Nemesis Dreadknight.An interesting choice, and a really great way to make the Dreadknight design useful. Ever since it first came out people have dubbed it the Nemesis BabyCarrier, and as a dad myself I can attest to the very close similarities. It's also a wasted design... there's no one important piloting that thing, or at least not important in the context of your army. No one was really interested in seeing the pilot of a dreadnought, as the dreadnought chassis itself is the defining characteristic of the model (with the following exceptions: Bjorn the Fell Handed, Tankred, and Judge Dreadnought).
 |
| Judge Dreadnought is the most feared of the Space Marine Field Police |
However, having a character ride the baby carrier, whilst still goofy, does mean the character has rules to support the extra fluff investment. I'm not explaining this well, but all I'm saying is that there's more weight to seeing the pilot now than before.
In practical terms, this means your small point armies can roll your behemoth and hero into one choice. Did I say behemoth and lord? I meant HQ and Heavy Support. We're playing 40K, not Age of Sigmar!
It's a good set up, allowing smaller armies to get some muscle with more points efficiency. In larger forces... be careful putting that many points in a single model, as it will get alpha struck of the table. Just ask Magnus.
Air Support
 |
| Silver paint? Or just bare steel? |
Grey Knight Stormhawks and Stormtalons. Good. There's actually not much more to say than that, as the Grey knights really lacked any long range support beyond the Dreadknights and Land Raiders. This is a good way to redress that balance.
Also, psychic pilot may be a thing again!
Psychic Powers
Now Sanctic needed absolutely no help, it already being one of the best Disciplines out there. Purge Soul was a good way to thin the herd for low Leadership armies as well as bigger monsters, Gate is awesome for putting that Dreadknight where you want it (and teleporting Land Raiders), with Hammerhand effectively giving everyone power fists.
Now they have a wall hack on their guns:
 |
| Shoot through walls with no cover |
Okay, good for heavy weapon units, but equally good on standard Strike Teams. Those guys will still be pumping out 4 shots a man at 12-inches, and a line of sight blocking wall will mean they don't get hit back!
It's hard to see how they could get more powerful than the four powers they have now... but let's face it, they're Grey Knights. There's probably a power which will let you take your opponents minis and stamp on them with a combat boot. And you'll get re-rolls on the test.
Stratagems
There's no praise I can give to the stratagems though, them being copy/pasted from the Space Marine and Chaos Codex. Here are the Grey knight reveals:
And from Codex Space Marine:
And the Chaos Space Marine reveals:
Being fair, it makes sense that they'd all have similar stratagems. They're all really different flavours of power armour, and fluff wise their tactics would be similar. It also would be very unfair to say they're all the same faction with different art designs. The difference here is made up by the units themselves, and it's hard to even pigeon hole them in terms of differences. There isn't the psychic one, the close combat one, the shooty one, or even the elite one... there are just too many differences, even between Grey knights and Space Marines.
Relic Banner
Because giving everyone extra Leadership and attacks isn't enough, you can now do point blank d6 mortal wounds... for a Command Point.
 |
| d6 Mortal Wounding Smite at 6-inches |
All these releases have me in deep, deep torment, wanting to collect, paint and play everything in the shop. I really wish I was one of those guys who could stick to an army all the way to 1850 points and beyond. but then again, the school's league format means I can jump around the codexes a bit.
Good to be a teacher sometimes.
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you want to support me directly, use the affiliate links below. I get a small percentage of purchases you make her, and you get cheaper miniatures! If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
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