The Knights of Titan have already seen massive changes with their Faction Focus. It's clear that while GW thought Death Guard needed to be a little less tough and punch a little harder, Grey Knights needed to be tougher and punch a little softer. But of course, the huge change was pushing the mobility of the army over it's presence as a force of Psykers. This isn't to say we're not in for some fun psychic shenanigans, but getting your elite force exactly where you need it is the order of the day.
ARMY RULES
The Grey Knights have an exceptionally potent army rule, allowing one or more units from your army to reposition each round based on game size. We do now know that this doesn't allow you to skip Battle-shock for these units, and that they have to test after they arrive if they would normally take a Battle-shock test. But you could still use this to take a unit and move it out of range of a debuff.
Either way, between Teleport Assault and Teleport Shunt, it's going to take some effort to prevent Grey Knights from being where they want to be. Now let's see what they can do when they get there.
STRATAGEMS
Radiant Strike - 2CP
One of the two Stratagems previewed by WarCom, this still looks really good. Depending on what other buffs you can get, this could help you get some Mortal Wound action back.
Death from the Warp - 1CP
This will make Grey Knight positioning even more devastating. Honestly, I think you're usually going to want to use this on a unit that Advanced, so you get the most benefit from it. There's nothing stopping units that used Deep Strike from firing, so the ones using Teleport Shunt need it more.
Prognisticated Arrival - 1CP
I'm pretty sure this strat is misspelled . . .
Since mobility is now the main focus of the faction, armies that can screen out Deep Strike are going to pose a significant problem. Being able to bring your units in up close and personal will be vital.
Haloed in Soulfire - 2CP
Our other previewed strat is very situational. Most of the time, you'll probably be Deep Striking in nice and close. But every so often, you'll need to move on a vital objective that will take your opponent a turn to get to. When you do, giving your whole unit Lone Operative will be very nice. Smart players will even be able to use it to draw enemy units out of position.
Mist of Deimos - 1CP
Okay! I am legit laughing at this strat! This is so good! You drop in a powerful unit to take out a priority target. You blast that target to smithereens. Your opponent moves to respond. Then you just shoot them your best quip and peace out. I love it!
Truesilver Armour - 1CP
It's Armour of Contempt. Note that while this is color coded for use during your opponent's turn, there's nothing in the text that actually says you can't use it during your Fight phase.
ENHANCEMENTS
First to the Fray - 35 pts
This is an awesome ability, and easily worth the price of admission. When you put this on a character, he and his Unit has to start in Reserves. But that unit never counts towards the mission limit for Strategic Reserves. But the big benefit here is you can always arrive in round one. You even get to include a Transport, though that might stop you from arriving on Turn 1.
Sigil of Exigence - 30 pts
Wow! They're really playing up the mobility here. This allows you to peace out, or even just reposition, when your opponent tries to shoot you. Definitely worth 30 pts.
Domina Liber Daemonica - 20 pts
So one thing people noted was there didn't seem to be much playing to the Grey Knight's identity as Daemon hunters. This is understandable, since setting up a single faction as another faction's hard counter is both difficult to balance and potentially bad for a meta. Still, it's nice to have options to play this aspect of the army.
Inescapable Wrath - 15 pts
You're arriving from Deep Strike. If you have any desire to Charge, you'll want this bonus.
DATASHEETS
Kaldor Draigo - 155 pts
Draigo looks like a beast! His ANTI-DAEMON rules are only going to come up occasionally. But even without them, he hits like a truck and can actually reliably charge out of Deep Strike. The fact he gives a unit a 4+ FNP against mortals is gravy.
Grand Master Voldus - 115 pts
Here's another anti-daemon ability that is still good against other targets. In addition to having pretty good attacks with his hammer, Voldus dishes out mortals every time he fights. He also provides a blanket -1 to Hit for his unit.
Grand Master - 115 pts
This is another one of those cases where I'm curious about pricing. Voldus has a better combat profile, but this guy can take a psycannon. Also I'd argue Voldus has better abilities, though these aren't any to sneeze at. Both are good, I'm just not sure they're worth the same points.
Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight - 245 pts
Hmm . . . 245 pts for 13 T8 Wounds with a 4+ Invuln and a decent combat profile with full re-rolls against Monsters and Vehicles . . . I gotta say, I liked that re-roll ability in the faction focus and I still like it here. I'm just genuinely struggling to decide if he's expensive or not. I think he might actually be priced okay.
Castellan Crowe - 95 pts
Okay! Do you want to just absolutely roast a unit of infantry? Do you want to drop a unit in the center of the board and shout, "Bring it!" while holding the Overwatch card? This is your man. He even gets to shrug off a wound each turn to boot.
Brother-Captain Stern - 110 pts
Here's a classic from 9th - Mortal Wounds on 6s! Not DEVASTATING WOUNDS, but additional mortals. He also gets to resurrect once on a 2+.
Brother-Captain - 95 pts
SUSTAINED HITS 1 on PSYCHIC attacks is very nice. Then you get to re-roll the wounds on those attacks too. Seems pretty good to me!
Brotherhood Champion - 85 pts
But this seems better. Yes, it's one less wound and pip of Toughness. But I feel Fights First and re-rolls to Hit and Wound against characters is well worth it.
Brotherhood Librarian - 110 pts
One shot on Purge Soul hitting on 3s is so unreliable! And all you get if you focus it is PRECISION? He does give a 4+ FNP against Psychic attacks for when that matters. But you're really paying a premium for Vortex of Doom.
Brotherhood Techmarine - 85 pts
Oh cool! He gets to fight with his plasma cutter! He can still repair D3 wounds on a vehicle, but he can select a separate vehicle to get the +1 to Hit. That's kind of a nice upgrade on a standard Techmarine.
Brotherhood Chaplain - 90 pts
Grey Knights don't really seem like much of a fear based army, but handing out that Battle-shock penalty is still potentially useful. Mostly you're looking for that +1 to Wound in melee.
Brotherhood Terminator Squad - 225 pts for 5 models (45 pts per model)
I just realized I still don't know what a generic Terminator Squad costs . . .
Since you're probably going to be throwing these against some serious threats, the LETHAL HITS ability on the charge is very good. They also just get to have an Apothecary and Ancient. That all looks pretty good even at that cost.
Strike Squad - 135 pts for 5 models (27 pts per model)
Considering the amount of jumping around you're going to be doing, Sticky Objectives is nice. But that still seems pretty expensive to me.
Paladin Squad - 255 pts for 5 models (51 pts per model)
6 pts more a model for the new version of Transhuman and no Apothecary? Also their OC is worse. If they still had hammers, this might be fine. But they've got the same weapons as Brotherhood Terminators. You're not taking these unless you desperately need one more unit of Terminators.
Purifier Squad - 150 pts for 5 models (30 pts per model)
I just noticed that Purifying Flame isn't TORRENT. That means this isn't a particularly good Overwatch target. They might still be worth taking for Crowe and getting the extra attack in shooting. They're only 3 points more a model.
Servitors - 50 pts for 4 models (12.5 pts per model)
You can use these as a Bodyguard for a Techmarine, screen with them, or just fill that last 50 points. They do have some nice guns they can take.
Grey Knights Venerable Dreadnought - 155 pts
Grey Knights get to keep their Ven Dread and it also comes with that aura of re-roll Hits and Wounds of 1. So far, this is your best source of firepower. I can't help looking at a profile like this and thinking it's not as good as a War Dog. You can't Deep Strike him either.
Interceptor Squad - 160 pts for 5 models (32 pts per model)
Lightning fast and it has Fire and Fade. I'm still noting how the point total keeps creeping up, but I definitely think it's worth it this time.
Purgation Squad - 165 pts for 5 models (33 pts per model)
And up . . . and up . . . I don't think this is worth more than Interceptors. INDIRECT FIRE is good if you can get around the penalties or just put out so many shots and AP they don't matter. Though the idea they could roast a unit with their Incinerators from the other side of a wall is kinda funny.
Nemesis Dreadknight - 215 pts
The fact this gets full access to Advance and Fall Back and Shoot and Charge probably makes it better than the Grand Master and 40 pts cheaper.
Grey Knights Vehicles
We end the Datasheets with all the Grey Knights versions of Space Marine vehicles . . . which are the same Space Marine vehicles. It's nice to know they have these, especially the Land Raiders. But there's nothing to comment on here.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Grey Knights are definitely priced as an elite army, and they do have elite capabilities. You're almost always going to be able to out maneuver your opponent, and that is going to win games. Keeping that in mind, I don't think they're over-costed compared to other things we've seen. Except the Dreadnought, where I think they forgot they didn't give it Deep Strike and Teleport Assault. As long as you remember to bring some high Strength fire power to make up the lack of it in your infantry, I think this army is going to be pretty scary.
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