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This is Part I in a series of 3 tacticas which I will call - Grey Knight Competitive Builds.

Part II can be found here: Grey Knights Psycannon+Stormbolter-Spam - Is it a Tournament-worthy Build?

Part III will be up in some later date.


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The grey knights have some very good dreads. Take some dreads with dual TL-autocannons and pysbolt ammonition and you've got 4 twin-linked S8 shots each. On top of that, they have a chance to ignore shaken/stunned results and some decent anti-psyker defenses (-4 on their LD). I see a GK dread build as a very viable build and perhaps one of the best dread-spam builds out there.

Consider the following 2 builds:

GK Dread List #1
Coteaz

Vendread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 195
Vendread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 195
Vendread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 195

8x GK Strike Squad - 1x Psycannon, 1x Daemonhammer, 1x Halberd, Psybolt Ammo, Rhino - 245
8x GK Strike Squad - 1x Psycannon, 1x Daemonhammer, 1x Halberd, Psybolt Ammo, Rhino - 245
5x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Meltas, Chimera - 105
5x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Meltas, Chimera - 105
5x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Plasmas, Chimera - 105
5x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Plasmas, Chimera - 105

Dread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 135
Dread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 135
Dread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 135

2000pts

Dreads stay behind transports for cover.


GK Dread List #2
Coteaz

Vendread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 195
Vendread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 195
Vendread - 2x TL-autocannons, Psybolt ammo - 195

5x GK Strike Squad - 1x Psycannon, 1x Daemonhammer, 2x Halberds, Las/plas Razorback - 210
5x GK Strike Squad - 1x Psycannon, 1x Daemonhammer, 2x Halberds, Las/plas Razorback - 210
5x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Meltas, Chimera - 105
5x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Meltas, Chimera - 105
4x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Plasmas, Chimera - 101
4x Acolyte Warriors - 3x Plasmas, Chimera - 101

Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator - 160
Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator - 160
Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator - 160

1997pts


Though the dreadknights aren't dreadnoughts, they're very good as anti-infantry, counter-assault units.


Though GK dreads don't have AV13, they have arguably the best ranged AT of all the dreads currently. List #1 has basically 24 TL S8 shots (of which half are BS5) and 3 venerable dreads. List #2 doesn't have as much AT but has better anti-infantry.

How do you think a GK dread list compare to other dread armies? How about compared to any all-comer's army in general? Is it a competitive build or just a 1-trick pony? Discuss.

I know that I plan on taking two Psy-Rifleman Dreads in my list, for sure.

However, I think one of us miscalculated. I reached a total of 155 points per. 115+10+10+20=155.

The first auto is 10pts, the second only 5pts and most ridiculous of all is psybolt ammo for only 5pts!!! 115+10+5+5 = 135. Better than you thought, huh?

Psybolt ammo is 5 points.
What. The. Feth.

S8 Autocannons everywhere!

My friends hated rifleman dreads before, now they will their models will have to inscribe anti-dreadnought runes on their armor.

jy2 wrote:The first auto is 10pts, the second only 5pts and most ridiculous of all is psybolt ammo for only 5pts!!! 115+10+5+5 = 135. Better than you thought, huh?

It sure is. I think when I was calculating, I just assumed it was 20 points like it is on Strike Squads and Storm Ravens. But hey, 40 more point to play around with is always fun.

Daemon Hammers are the same as Nemesis Fists except for the stun. Greaswords or nothing, guys.

Also, I would be careful about giving the Dreadknights too many upgrades. 130 points for a MC with fists is great. A 25 point greatsword for rerollable hit/wound/pens is good too. 40 point Heavy psycannons? 70 Point teleporters? I think they all have uses, but if you're not careful these things start costing a lot without getting any more survivable. All it takes is a few plasma, melta or las cannon shots to get around that 2+ armor save and bye bye dreadknight. Power weapon can hurt too.

As for the lists, I think they both work, but would probably go with the first one, though i'd think about just using 3 5-man henchmen groups and taking 3 5-man strike squads in las/plas razorbacks, which is probably more of a personal preference than a necessary improvement.

The second list is good, i think, but the weapons on the dreadknigths are not as useful in my opinion as the autocannons, and IMO cost too much to take too many of. I would personally take Coteaz, 3 ven dreads, 2 melta henchmen chimeras with a mystic, 3 strikes with las/plas razorbacks, and 3 dreads with greatswords. You could either move everything forward with the tanks, or move the vehicles would move forward, and be mid field by the time the dreads and strike squads start dropping.

The S8 riflemen dreads are ridiculous. I know whenever a new dex comes out everyone crys "the sky is falling, the Sky is falling". I didn't get to read through all of it but this one seriously has me very worried.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think this may be the 40k version of the fantasy Demons

Can you also do Str 7 assault cannon? That would be pretty good against vehicles...

jcd386 wrote:Daemon Hammers are the same as Nemesis Fists except for the stun. Greaswords or nothing, guys.

I believe it also gives them S10, good enough to wound Tyranid monstrous creatures on 2's and pound monoliths into slush. But you're right, greatswords are pretty good....if only DK's were better in assault. Their pitiful 3 attacks make me not want to spend the points on them though.

jcd386 wrote:
Also, I would be careful about giving the Dreadknights too many upgrades. 130 points for a MC with fists is great. A 25 point greatsword for rerollable hit/wound/pens is good too. 40 point Heavy psycannons? 70 Point teleporters? I think they all have uses, but if you're not careful these things start costing a lot without getting any more survivable. All it takes is a few plasma, melta or las cannon shots to get around that 2+ armor save and bye bye dreadknight. Power weapon can hurt too.

I agree. They're not survivable enough without T7 and 4++ Inv that was originally in the leaked codex. I much prefer the heavy incinerator for horde control. I think dropping the heavy psycannons is the way to go.

gorium wrote:Can you also do Str 7 assault cannon? That would be pretty good against vehicles...

Yes you can. However, their 24" range and being non twin-linked makes them not as attractive.

A nemesis doomfist is a dreadnaught close combat weapon, ie, it doubles the Str. And, if the DK has 2 of them (like they normally do), they gain an extra attack. So, taking the hammer makes you lose one attack and gives you the stun effect. BAAAAD.

As they come, you have 4 attack at S10. Taking the sword lets you choose between 3 re-rollable S6 attacks, or 3 S10. The rerolls are better against things that are T4, or against light vehicles, or vehicles that moved. The S10 is good for instant killing things.

jy2 wrote:

gorium wrote:Can you also do Str 7 assault cannon? That would be pretty good against vehicles...

Yes you can. However, their 24" range and being non twin-linked makes them not as attractive.

I disagree. Put them on termie squads and it's a 4 shot krak missile with half the range and rending on a melee powerhouse unit. Now imagine if the unit has 2 wounds each, wound allocation setups and FNP, and for kicks strikes in melee at higher than int 4?

Forget Vendreads for 195... 3 Vindicares will each be popping a tank per turn, and there is no limit on total number or type of Assassins.

EDIT: For 50 points less than that VenDread!

Edit: NVM, the assassins are not Unique anymore. Ss, yeah, spam those bad boys.

And, giving an assault cannon psybolts turns it into a psycannon. They are good, but since you have access to a good amount of those already, the S8 might be more useful since it wounds T6 on a 2, instant kills T4, and ignores FNP on most units. Then again, rending is nice, and you get more shots, so it might be a tossup, and probably depends on what else you take in the army.

If GK termies could take Assault cannons, then i would say yes, but since they can't, it doesn't matter.

jcd386 wrote:Sadly the assassins are Infantry (unique), which means you can only take 1 of each, right?

And, giving an assault cannon psybolts turns it into a psycannon. They are good, but since you have access to a good amount of those already, the S8 might be more useful since it wounds T6 on a 2, instant kills T4, and ignores FNP on most units. Then again, rending is nice, and you get more shots, so it might be a tossup, and probably depends on what else you take in the army.

If GK termies could take Assault cannons, then i would say yes, but since they can't, it doesn't matter.

Ahah! I knew there had to be a limitation...

If only Eversor's didn't fail so hard without Infiltrate...

they aren't unique, but each takes an elite slot

No, i was wrong....lol. They are only unique in the PDF (i saw the book yesterday but can't remember either way, but someone else said that they are not unique anymore, and i think they are right). Sorry for the confusion.

They are unique in the actual codex. Page 89... each one is listed as Infantry (Unique).

jcd386 wrote:A nemesis doomfist is a dreadnaught close combat weapon, ie, it doubles the Str. And, if the DK has 2 of them (like they normally do), they gain an extra attack. So, taking the hammer makes you lose one attack and gives you the stun effect. BAAAAD.

As they come, you have 4 attack at S10. Taking the sword lets you choose between 3 re-rollable S6 attacks, or 3 S10. The rerolls are better against things that are T4, or against light vehicles, or vehicles that moved. The S10 is good for instant killing things.

I see. Ok, you've convinced me....to not take either of them. Dual doomfists it is then.

juraigamer wrote:

jy2 wrote:

gorium wrote:Can you also do Str 7 assault cannon? That would be pretty good against vehicles...

Yes you can. However, their 24" range and being non twin-linked makes them not as attractive.

I disagree. Put them on termie squads and it's a 4 shot krak missile with half the range and rending on a melee powerhouse unit. Now imagine if the unit has 2 wounds each, wound allocation setups and FNP, and for kicks strikes in melee at higher than int 4?

Sorry, but GKT's cannot take assault cannons, I don't think. Then again, psycannons are better assault cannons anyways so there is no need.

shealyr wrote:Forget Vendreads for 195... 3 Vindicares will each be popping a tank per turn, and there is no limit on total number or type of Assassins.

EDIT: For 50 points less than that VenDread!

I fail to see how vindicares are better insofar as AT is concerned. You only get 1 shot, and the surplus of cover nowadays makes that highly accurate shot less reliable. It is a numbers game and I would much rather have 4 BS 4/5 TL-S8 shots when dealing with vehicles.

Also, did the vindicare lose their night-fight special rule? If so, they are much less survivable than before.

jcd386 wrote:
If GK termies could take Assault cannons, then i would say yes, but since they can't, it doesn't matter.

Ah your right, but then again the psycannons are basically assault cannons and I see nothing that states the ammo doesn't stack with them, so str 8 assault 4 rending is a go!

I expect to see many many players pick up GK, though not for dreads but that could become the norm in tournies.

juraigamer wrote:

jcd386 wrote:
If GK termies could take Assault cannons, then i would say yes, but since they can't, it doesn't matter.

Ah your right, but then again the psycannons are basically assault cannons and I see nothing that states the ammo doesn't stack with them, so str 8 assault 4 rending is a go!

I expect to see many many players pick up GK, though not for dreads but that could become the norm in tournies.

No, psybolt ammo does not work with psycannons. They only work with bolter ammo, assault cannons and autocannons. We can't have our cake and eat it too.

jy2 wrote:

juraigamer wrote:

jcd386 wrote:
If GK termies could take Assault cannons, then i would say yes, but since they can't, it doesn't matter.

Ah your right, but then again the psycannons are basically assault cannons and I see nothing that states the ammo doesn't stack with them, so str 8 assault 4 rending is a go!

I expect to see many many players pick up GK, though not for dreads but that could become the norm in tournies.

No, psybolt ammo does not work with psycannons. They only work with bolter ammo, assault cannons and autocannons. We can't have our cake and eat it too.

Riiiiight...someone mentioned using psybolts with terminator assaultcannons, and i was saying that they can't have them, but if they could, it would be worth buying them and the psybolts since they would essentially be psycannons, and it would effect the storm bolters in the squad as well.

Sorry if that was unclear.

Think of it like this.

the Psycannon has Psybolt ammo included in it's profile.

juraigamer wrote:

jcd386 wrote:
If GK termies could take Assault cannons, then i would say yes, but since they can't, it doesn't matter.

Ah your right, but then again the psycannons are basically assault cannons and I see nothing that states the ammo doesn't stack with them, so str 8 assault 4 rending is a go!

I expect to see many many players pick up GK, though not for dreads but that could become the norm in tournies.

To be honest, this the only Marine army that has really ever tempted me. I don't intend on picking it up right now, but if I were to start a marine army, this would be the one.

If nothing else, pick up this army for its absolutely gorgeous models. They are a beauty.

I would object about the Stormbolters on the PAGK...I don't get how they would function.

Models are badass though.

Are you talking about the functionality of stormbolters in the game or the appearance of them as modeled on the mini? Functionally, stormbolter-spam, especially S5 psybolt stormbolters, is just plain awesome against infantry.

So is the DK worth taking? It is a expensive model after all and I dont want to waste money on a model that just looks awesome or something
What I'm looking for in a HS unit is it's flexibility, options for making it more long range support or middle range support,something like that.

jy2 wrote:If nothing else, pick up this army for its absolutely gorgeous models. They are a beauty.

That's what I like most about the Army, is the Marine models. In my opinion they are way better than the other marine models. I'll probably give it a few months, and some time studying the codex, for me to decide. Gorgeous is certainly the right word.

jy2 wrote:Are you talking about the functionality of stormbolters in the game or the appearance of them as modeled on the mini? Functionally, stormbolter-spam, especially S5 psybolt stormbolters, is just plain awesome against infantry.

I'm just talking aesthetics with the side feed and all - it's a bit wierd. And I have no doubt that S5 Stormbolter spam is going to be nasty.