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So I'm reigniting my old flame of Grey Knights with the new codex and new models. My current plan is to create a full mechanized company that does the usual Grey Knights dirty work. You know...mop up daemonic infestations, kill entire penal colonies due to daemonic invasion and what not. There's also going to be some fluff connections to the First, Second and Third Armageddon Wars in varying degrees, as well as 13th Crusade and some connections to the fighting on Scelus. Trying to keep my personal fluff as in line with published fluff and all that. Using 6 as a prime number. Chapter 666 and all. Only the

This is my current breakdown for my proposed company...
(1) Grandmaster...Grandmaster makes sense as there is a council of Grandmasters...so concievably one per company or one per every two companies numbers wise. Only there for big fights though
(2) 2 Brother Captains...Always have redudancy
(10) 2 5-Man Paladins... Each Brother captain has 5 men at his side, each squad goes in a crusader
(20) 4 5-Man Terminators... Break the 6 man size to fit in Standard Class LRs, will write appropriate fluff
(42) 7 6-man Strike Squads
(24) 4 6-man Purifier Squads
(24) 4 6-man Interceptor Squads
(12) 2 6-man Purgation Squads
(2) 2 Dreadnaughts
(5) 5 Dreadknights
(4) 4 Land Raider Standard Class
(2) 2 Land Raider Crusader Class
(15) 15 Razorbacks
140 Members of this company, plus 2 Dreadnaughts, and various Techs and Pilots of vehicles.

I feel like it fits my perceptions of a Grey Knight Strike force...but anyone have any input as far as anything I'm missing fluff wise? Should I be strictly adhering to anything?

According to the new fluff you should be adhering to Codex organisation... yeah... most people didn't like that.

purplefood wrote:According to the new fluff you should be adhering to Codex organisation... yeah... most people didn't like that.

Actually, no. Try reading the codex, it specifically states that(aside from radical thinking Brother-Captains) a Brotherhood consists of an equal amount of 3-5 squads each of Terminator squads, Strike squads, and Purgation squads.

Also, OP, Brotherhoods are lead by a Brother-Captain. Grand Masters are assigned to individual forces from the Council to lead forces that the Brother-Captains can't(say if they're already involved elsewhere).

Purifiers and Paladins belong to their respective orders and are assigned to forces much like Grand Masters.

I did read the codex.
Admittedly only once on its release and since then i haven't re-read it...
Gonna need to do so it seems.

Page 12 is what you're looking for, Purplefood.

Much obliged

Here is what I get from the codex.


The chapter is divided into 8 Brotherhoods. There are about 100 or so marines in a brotherhood.

Command:

-Each Brotherhood is lead by 1 Grandmaster who sits on the council, and 1 Brother Captain.
-Each Brotherhood has 1 Champion
-Librarians are not limited per brotherhood, and seem to be much more numerous than in a Codex Chapter.

Troops:

-There is no set limit like in a codex chapter.
-The only squads that belong to the brotherhood are Strike, Interceptor, Purgation, and Terminators.
-The standard size is 10 or 2x5 like normal Marines, but they are often not at full strength.

-Purifiers and Paladins are a Separate Brotherhood (think 1st company in a Codex Chapter)
-They will be on loan to a given strike force, but are not a permanent part of it.

Vehicles/Dreadknights

-no set limits, you can take whatever you want.

===============

That being said, the Grey Knights might draw from 2 or more Brotherhoods to make a given strike force (letting you have 2 Brother Captains and a Grand Master for example)

It really all depends on what you want to depict. Is it a Standard Brotherhood at full strength? or is it a particular Strike Force made up of whoever was available for combat duty at the time.

My main drive for having 2 Brother Captains and the high amount of purifiers is that the fluff behind this brotherhood is going to include extended deployments in some pretty rough battles that included a merging of what previously was two brotherhoods (in a single strike force) to become one. Instead of one Brother Captain being removed from the Brotherhood, instead the two utilize dual leadership in organizing their strikes. I'll write my fluff and then decide what terminology to use to regard to the groups.

Anyone know where the rumored ~3000 man strength of the Grey Knights came from? Is that still a viable #?

8 regular Brotherhoods, plus the Purifier and Paladin brotherhoods(which arn't of a specified size)

seanzor wrote:Anyone know where the rumored ~3000 man strength of the Grey Knights came from? Is that still a viable #?

It came from the GK Black Library book. The Grey Knights Codex states that they are at ~1000 like a standard Codex Chapter, however.

Svendrex, the Grand Master entry states that the Grand Masters aren't tied to a certain Brotherhood, only that they fulfill the secondary duties generally associated with Company Captains(Master of the Watch, Master of the Fleet, etc.) in addition to their duties to the Council.

Also, Interceptor squads(fluffwise) aren't a squad type in Brotherhood organization, they're simply Strike Squads from the Brotherhood with the Interceptor packs.

and the GKs saying they are a codex chapter could be a front of secrecy.


they are the Inquisition and don't have to follow the Codex, but they might say they do just to stay under the radar.



if every brother hood had 5 squads each of Terminators, Strike, and Purgation squads then that would mean 150 marines over 8 companies. add in pilots and support personel(say 10 per company) and you get 1280 marines.

the Purifier Brotherhood rarely numbers more then 40,

Paladins are probably around 75-100,

that puts them at 1420 marines at full strength, not counting any commanders like Grand Masters, Librarians, Chaplains, Techmarines, or Dreadnoughts(which, although part of their former brotherhood, are not counted in the total)



of course, the Brotherhood totals arn't said to be fixed so there could be massive fluctuation. the numbers might not count GKs permantly tasked with guarding certain places throughout the galaxy.

Platuan4th wrote:

seanzor wrote:Anyone know where the rumored ~3000 man strength of the Grey Knights came from? Is that still a viable #?

It came from the GK Black Library book. The Grey Knights Codex states that they are at ~1000 like a standard Codex Chapter, however.

Svendrex, the Grand Master entry states that the Grand Masters aren't tied to a certain Brotherhood, only that they fulfill the secondary duties generally associated with Company Captains(Master of the Watch, Master of the Fleet, etc.) in addition to their duties to the Council.

Also, Interceptor squads(fluffwise) aren't a squad type in Brotherhood organization, they're simply Strike Squads from the Brotherhood with the Interceptor packs.

On page 12 is says that the Brother Captain is in "active command" of a Brotherhood, but that the Grand Master "holds final responsibility over the Brotherhood". According to that it would seem that the Grand Masters are tied to a brotherhood.

Fluff wise interceptors are just Strike squads with different backpacks, you are correct.

The Grey Knights -

Council of Grand Masters - 8 Marines
Librarius - Maybe about 20 Librarians
Chaplains - About 10

8 Brotherhoods

Brother Captain
Brotherhood Champion
4 squads of Terminators - 40 marines
4 Strike squads - 40 marines
4 Purgatation squads - 40 marines

Purifier Order - 40 marines

Paladin Order - 75 marines

Techmarines - 10

I put the number at about 1123 if all these were rounded up to even. It obviously varies between Brotherhoods and it's not accounting for possible support like drivers of vehicles and initiates.

As far as i know Grey Knights dont have Chaplains, well not in the new codex, their training is lead by the Brother Champions and according again to the codex that the composition of each Brotherhood depends on the command but it they are normally made up of 3-5 terminator purgation and strike squads. This is due to the realisation that this model is most effective and variations are normally due to casualties or commanders preferences.

As per the Grey Knights Omnibus, they do have Chaplains, in the fluff at least. It's only really discounted if GW say they don't or another more recent source contradicts this. Neither of the two have occurred to my knowledge, so it's safe to assume that they do have them, and that they're even more important in the Grey Knights than in regular Space Marine chapters.

I was soooo hoping for Psychic Chaplains.

but i guess Matt Ward didn't think GKs needed to be any more badass

I might make my own profile for one, I have the model at least. Nemesis Crozius Arcanum, Aegis Rosarius, carried in a Crusader with my paladins.