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So I started reading this thread out of curiosity, outside of cent star gks seem like a pretty difficult army to play in the current ed of 40k. Now I have yet to play a game with gks in 7th, but I play about 5 games a week vs opponents ranging from mid tier to gt winners (win loss record doesn't matter as has already been established above) so I have a pretty good understanding of how competitive play works, maybe this advice will prove helpful.

1) warlord traits

I would always roll strategic. If you look at the chart there is almost no bad roll. 1 is fantastic, especially in a low model count army where every save counts. 2 is nice for an alpha strike army, you can force night fight and deny the benefits of it to your opponent. 3 allows some tactical flexibility with infiltrating, which is never a bad thing. 4 allows you to reroll reserves and is a bit more situational but never a bad thing. 5 while on paper can hurt you more often then help, can end up being a game saver in the right instance, even when it hurts you the rest of the table is so useful that it's worth the risk of landing IMO. 6 is the least useful on this table, but having one relativity useless result is better then the 3 or 4 most other tables have.

2) warlord

As far as who to make warlord, it all depends on your list, but I like to make it something that is a super pain in the ass to get. For example in my gt eldar list I'm currently playing, I make it the dire avenger exarch in a wave serpent. Allows me to be aggressive with my jet seers because they give up nothing when they die, and the exarch in the serpent takes a lot of work to kill. In the 25 or so games since I started using him, I have only given up warlord once. Since a lot of you guys seem to use NSF, you could take an allied bb army and stick the warlord in something that is a pain in the ass to kill (guard blob is one example that comes to mind). It also depends how much killing the warlord is worth in the missions you guys play.

If you look past the tone of the article (may be a language barrier thing idk) the general advice is sound for beginners.

I'm just starting to use a nsf with a Tigurius centurion star ally.

The librarian is the warlord, because he's invisible with Tigurius, and Draigo as the warlord is lulsy.Though, it is tempting to make the centurion sergeant the warlord when I bump the allied list to a cad in higher point games, so I don't lose the slay the warlord points to a bad perils roll. (Something that cost me a game the other day, Tigurius rolls a one then double sixes... I lost by one point, and the warlord living would have denied my opponent kingslayer and slay the warlord.)

In my 1500 the two NDKs have teleporters, incinerators and a greatsword, as that's what I could afford points wise. They seem like amazing distraction carniifexes, and S10 Ap2 force weapons seems silly. And with 5 attacks (and a how hit) on the charge at ws5... Hot damn. Shunt, burn, if they live burn again, charge.

That list also has a deep striking minimum strike squad with an incinerator for the troops choice, because it's cheaper.

The fact that force swords can be equal to relic blades that have force also makes me chuckle.

Is there really any reason to take anything but force swords on the troop choices? Maybe a daemon hammer on a random mook to handle vehicles, or falchions if you somehow have the points to spare...

Though, while I get all those NDKs built, I'll have to try making the cent sergeant the warlord in the future. I didn't even think about that. Would suck to lose Tigurius' warlord trait, but i have devastator and tactical doctrines as well as prescience...

 DarkLink wrote:
As the guy who held top GKs through almost the entierty of rankings HQ, and so far through Frontlines's ITC, and can count on (almost) one hand the number of tournaments I went worse than 50-50 in streching all the way back to the Daemonhunters codex, I officially learned everything I know from this thread* .

Seriously, though, not bad basic advice.

*if by this thread you mean Way of the Water Warrior.

Just noticed this comment - that article was written about my army in 4th ed!

I have been messing around with Grey Knights a fair bit of late and am liking them - I feared they were too specialised and too fragile (sounds odd when talking about Terminators or Dreadknights, but you have all too few of them in a Grey Knights army, and the first turn Deep Strike rule encourages you to put them in harm's way), and I am somewhat paranoid about their lack of long-ranged firepower...

bibotot wrote:
- Ignore the Dreadnought. It's gak. Unless you still have that model since 5th edition or you like Dreadnought in general, don't bother it. If you do field the Dreadnought, let it be and don't put Sanctuary on it. It's a complete waste of psychic dice.

I have yet to use a Dreadnought - got one model, the FW variant with Psycannon, but he just sits on the shelf looking pretty as he creeps near 200 points (got to go venerable with the FW kit, I reckon). The one thing that interests me about Dreadnoughts in a Grey Knights army, however, is the ability to give him a TL Lascannon. It is one solution to the long-ranged firepower/anti-tank option, and not amazingly expensive at that.

Currently, for anti-tank duties, I use a couple of Razorbacks with TL Lascannon, anchoring the back line. However, the main unit for anti-tank work I use is the Stormraven - I have a suspicion that GW intended it to be the main anti-tank unit. Load it up with Lascannon and Multi-Melta, and you are good to go.

bibotot wrote:
- I don't understand why people keep using Librarian or Kaldor Draigo as Warlord.

Speaking as someone who regularly does this, the attraction is that, point-for-point, the GK Librarian may just be the best HQ choice in the game. The W2 _is_ an issue, but jack him up to Lvl 3, give him the Demonica book that gives him an extra power and then hope for the Warlord trait that gives him another power, and he suddenly becomes very versatile. Add Paladins to flavour and for durability.

Not saying this is the right choice, but it is why we do it

Incidentally, you mentioned Terminators but not Paladins specifically. Paladins are eye-wateringly expensive and die just like any other Terminators to Demolisher rounds, and can be whittled down effectively enough by Star Cannons and Disruptors. However, they are very, very capable and against lesser weapons almost impossible to shift. I have only just got round to adding an Apothecary (the points cost in the previous Codex made him somewhat inefficient, but I am loving the revised cost), and I rarely leave home without this squad.

bibotot wrote:
Use the Dreadknight as Warlord and give him Personal Trait.

Now that is a very interesting idea. Others have pointed out the dangers of doing this, but I'll have to give this one some thought. Could certainly wrong-foot an opponent expecting the usual Librarian warlord.

bibotot wrote:
- NSF does not allow Storm Raven to come in on first turn. Never put anything inside a Storm Raven if you are using this detachment.

Again, with the old Codex, the Interceptors had a good rule for disembarking from the Stormraven on the move, but that is now gone. It now gets used as pure tank-hunter.

bibotot wrote:
- When Deepstriking, be conscious about whether you want your IC to be with the unit or as a separate entity. In the case of the latter, it's more risky but allows better flexibility. For example, a Librarian with Combi-melta can damage a vehicle while Terminators attack foot soldiers. Incinerator a the best choice for Deepstrike units because they can run into better position before unleashing the holy flame.

Against Eldar (any flavour) and Guard, the Incinerator is such a lovely weapon, and with the Deepstrike/Move/Flame approach on turn one, you can have a very good chance of nailing the enemy warlord from the get go. Kind of puts a downer on your opponent However, Librarian wandering about on his own? Makes me feel uneasy

bibotot wrote:
Use the Teleport to shunt them across the field.

Oh, yes. There is an argument for keeping the shunt in your back pocket for later in the game, but I have found Grey Knights need to hit hard and fast in the first turn if you are doing the deep strike thing, or your attack will get stopped in its tracks, and having the no-scatter move across the table gets the units exactly where they need to be.

bibotot wrote:
- Cleansing Flame is a very potent power that can be of great use if you land in the middle of a Tau gunline or at the rear of most vehicles. If you are using 3 dice on it and 2 on Hammerhand, you doing it WRONG. Put at least 4 on Cleansing Flame. If necessary, ignore Hammerhand and put all 5 on Cleansing Flame.

Agreed. Hammerhand is normally the sort of power you attempt if you have some spare dice at the end of the phase (and with Grey Knights, that is easily possible). Same with Sanctuary on Dreadnoughts, by the way.

bibotot wrote:
Here are some fun, yet competitive allies for the Grey Knights:

I have only ever used a Knight ally for Grey Knights, and just once, mainly because of the whole long-ranged firepower paranoia I have. Might try an assassin at some point, but I wanted to keep the Grey Knights more or less 'pure'. However, Grey Knight allies for my Dark Angels or Guard, well, that is another thing entirely...

Some interesting points you have raised!