Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello. I'm looking to start an army. From talking and watching people at my local game store, I am a little familiar on the different armies and how they work. What it comes down to, is I really like the GK models. My big concern is when I watch the couple GK players play, they seem to really suffer in objective games because they simply dont have enough models on the table to stay on objectives. It seems since you don't have a lot of models, you need all of them to hold off the enemy. If you leave some behind to sit on objectives, you dont have enough fire power to hurt your opponent. Could anyone offer any opinions or advice because this game is a lot of money and Id hate to start an army that is no fun to play because I would keep getting beat due to not being able to hold objectives or just get beat down by sheer numbers.

Grey Knights is one of the most resilient army there is.
You get 2+ armor saves everywhere wich is -duh- great.
As for firepower, stormbolters and their special weapons are a world of hurt.
The only not=fun thing with GK is that people find them over powered.
Wich is silly.

I don't think you can really go wrong with Grey Knights.

From a hobby-perspective, I believe it is far and wide best thing there is in 40K. You can start smaller than virtually any army (except perhaps some highly-specific lists with no room for expansion) by building a core of Terminators and Paladins. And you can - from a hobby-aspect - take it farther than any army too with the unlimited modelling and conversion potential of henchmen.

The ability to use allies in 40K 6th may have put other armies back into the competition at least somewhat, but Grey Knights is still the best hobby-platform you will ever find in 40K, past or present.

Grey knights are also one of the cheaper armies out there. My impression is that they are one of the more forgiving armies (I've heard them described as an entry-level army). There are plenty of ways to win with them (mercer has a series of battle reports here with a purifier list, and he seems to do well with them). Just stay away from a paladin-heavy list if you're worried about the model count.

If you like the models, go for it. From experience I know that all decent players can make the army they like best work, no matter how bad it is. And GK are far from bad.

Coteaz seems to be the way around the troops problems you described, but then again, I'm not a GK player.

GK are great. If you use Coteaz, then yes, you can get around the problem, but as a GK that doesn't much like the henchmen (I mean I play the GK for the big baddies. If I wanted little princesses I'd play IG.) that's not how we usually solve it. We just accept our weakness.

We use our superior strength to destroy the other guy's troop choices, and then we're on even terms.

And like someone said, we're not as expensive to collect as most of the others. Less to paint too.

Yes, you are going to suffer a little from not enough troops, but that's just how we are. Join the ranks, brother.

Just don't over-equip your models...

The basic GK is only 4pts more expensive than a basic Space Marine, and your ranged weapon upgrades on par with everyone elses. So to really be out numbered to the point you'd struggle to compete, you'd need to be;
a) playing an army of strictly terminators and/or paladins
b) sinking at least 30-40% of your total pts into things like your HQ's and shiny vehicles like a Stormraven or Land Raider.
c) equiping every single knight with specialist assault weapons like halberds & falcions and/or giving psybolt ammo to only a minimum sized squad.
d) a combination of all of the above!!!

With the amount of firepower & tricks availible to the GK's, being down a few models compared to your opponent is nothing to worry about. If things like Ork or Tyranid hordes make you poop your pants, then counter them appropriately! (ie: if you have regular opponent who likes 30 strong units, take a squad of Purifyers who will auto-burn roughly half of them in combat by passing a psychic test!)

Grey Knights = 40k 'easy mode'.

Sixtysix wrote:Hello. I'm looking to start an army. From talking and watching people at my local game store, I am a little familiar on the different armies and how they work. What it comes down to, is I really like the GK models. My big concern is when I watch the couple GK players play, they seem to really suffer in objective games because they simply dont have enough models on the table to stay on objectives. It seems since you don't have a lot of models, you need all of them to hold off the enemy. If you leave some behind to sit on objectives, you dont have enough fire power to hurt your opponent. Could anyone offer any opinions or advice because this game is a lot of money and Id hate to start an army that is no fun to play because I would keep getting beat due to not being able to hold objectives or just get beat down by sheer numbers.

Well you don't need to run Terminators & Paladins. You could try using Crowe with Purifiers or just running Strike Squads as your troops and try to make a bigger list there. You can also take Coteaz and have Inquisitorial henchmen as troops but they would die a lot easier. The most resiliant lists for Grey Knights will run around those Terminators and Paladins, even if they do suffer in objective games.

It all depends on what you want really. Do you just want an army that looks good? Are you wanting to capture objectives? Or do you want your army to be hard to kill?