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Hello folks! After reading up on the old grey knight grandmaster, and his first to the fray special rule - I figured I would take him for a whirl at a 2500 Point Steamroller tourney in my area. To be honest, the army performed a lot better than I anticipated. Of course for those of us who don't know, Mordrak is used as a premier alpha strike unit. Usually his ghost knights, a libby, and some other HQ's tag along to deepstrike your first turn without scattering (that's what first to the fray does). Oddly enough, he is not an independent character, so only other independent characters and his upgradeable unit, Ghost Knights can be in the same unit with him. I got to thinking about an alpha strike list attempting to establish synergy between the grey knights and other armies.

Some initial ideas were Belial and Deathwing. First turn deepstrike, twin-linked weapons, spilt fire, mix of hammers and powerfists, and no scatter! When used in combination with the Mordrak bomb, things tend to go south for my opponent really fast.

Another idea was attaching a TON of SPEHESS MAHREENS CHAPTA MASTAS for LOLZ. Calgar, Lysander, Grandmaster, and ML3 Libby anyone with a few body bag ghost knights thrown in (only possible through Unbound and RAW)?! Pretty much, anything that can deep strike and is an independent character works well with Mordrak. Personally, dropping lysander so close turn 1 seems so good!

So Deep strike first turn with angry terminators and kill stuff, what about long ranged fire support? Imperial Knights anyone? Ultimate distraction carnifex! Or just take Imperial fists chapter tactics on some devastators. Woolah! Tank hunter shenanigans. Open those transports so your angry termies and clean up whats left. Light up tanks and have fun. Sounds good to me!

Or the classic Astra Militarum (IMPERIAL GUARD) parking lot of wyverns, heavy weapons teams, etc.

So here's the list, 2500 points unbound:

(For purposes of organization, I will arrange units by their classification; i.e, heavy support, HQ, etc. for the convenience of readers. BE AWARE this list is unbound)

HQ:
Grandmaster Mordrak 200
5 Ghost Knights, 4 Halberds, 1 Daemon Hammer (Strength 10 anyone? x2 S from Daemon Hammer plus +2 S from hammerhand. 4x2+2=10) 200
Grey Knights Librarian, Master Level 3, Nemesis WARDing Stave, (always roll on divination or sanctic!) 235
Grey Knights Brother -Captain, Psycannon, Master-Crafted Nemesis Force Halberd, Psychotroke Grenades, Rad Grenades, 230

Belial, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, 190
Interrogator Chaplain, Terminator Armor, Powerfield Generator, Mace of Redemption, Storm bolter, 200

Elites:
10x Deathwing Terminators, Storm bolters, Powerfists, 2x Chainfists, 2x Cyclone Missile Launchers 500

Heavy Support:
10x Devastators (Imperial Fists), 4 Lascannons, 220 (always combat squad)
10x Devastators (Imperial Fists), 4 Lascannons, 220 (always combat squad)
10x Devastators (Imperial Fists), 4 Lascannons, 220 (always combat squad)

Fortification:
Aegis Defense Line, Icarus Lascannon, 85

Total Points: 2500

Doesn't look like much and it isn't. We did 6 rounds/2500 points/battleforged or unbound/roll for deployment, missions, and if they were eternal war of maelstrom. Anything can be used as long as it is sanctioned by the rules (no Forgeworld). I went 5 wins, 1 loss and got 2nd.

All I can say is alpha strike terminators caught people off guard. Tank hunters devastators were the MVPs of my army. Usually every turn, a few vehicles of my opponent's would die (in addition with the occasional flyer). Super HQ's were nearly unstoppable; the Captain soloed a swarmlord. The typical first turn for me was, drop 20 terminators in my opponent's face. Split fire, twin linked missiles, flatten a monstrous creature, infantry, or really big unit. Grey Knights cast psychic shenanigans. Devs light up vehicles. I always went for my opponent long ranged units first to shut that down, and elites. Riptides weren't an issue with Deathwing cuz belial soaking up wounds and the Chappy's powerfield generator. Guard parking lot was a joke, squishy is all I'll say. Orks still had their old codex and lost miserably cuz I faced a total newb. Nids were insanely tough cuz of the swarms I faced, I lost that battle. SPEHESS MAHREENS gunline is popular in my area, pretty much like everywhere else....needless to say it was like a repeat of the Guard Parking lot. Lastly, I faced chaos space marines allied with daemons.....you can see where this is going.....

Thanks for reading! Any pointers, tips, and comments are greatly appreciated!

That looks like a really fun list man. That man Terms covered with 12 spread out las cannons is nuts. I think this shows one of the funner and yet still competitive side of unbound lists. Normally its hard to get that kind of anti-tank with that many terms.

Edit:: Sorry, missed the Icarus, make that 13 Lazzies.

Did both term squads regularly reach CC?

ShadarLogoth wrote:
That looks like a really fun list man. That man Terms covered with 12 spread out las cannons is nuts. I think this shows one of the funner and yet still competitive side of unbound lists. Normally its hard to get that kind of anti-tank with that many terms.

Edit:: Sorry, missed the Icarus, make that 13 Lazzies.

Did both term squads regularly reach CC?

Thanks for the comment Shadar! It was indeed, fun playing this list. 13 Lascannons makes mech-armies cry especially when it's Astra Militarum.

To answer your question, yes. The Terminators made to close combat every round. Usually I put my opponent's into making several choices:

1. Do not engage Terminators but rather run away and avoid combat while shooting at them.
2. Engage terminators to prevent another round of shooting from them (but die to an angry chaplain and PMSING Belial in the process), especially the Deathwing.
3. Focus fire everything into my Terminators in an attempt to kill them.

Spontaneously, the Deathwing were usually the first of my units to bite the dust from mass fire from opponent's. When I deep strike with my termies, I am REALLY aggressive when deploying them. I deep struck my Grey Knights 6 inches away from Skarbrand once. Usually I used target priority and determined what was the biggest threat to my termies and eliminated it turn 1.

Several benefits to deep striking right in the opponent's face is the chance to score a few random secondary objectives (First blood, or the Behind enemy lines one lol), or completing a Maelstrom of War objective (hold objective marker 6 or something). Most armies now, or the competitive ones or just straight up gunline with tons of mechanized units. Dropping 20 terminators off at the front door makes the opponent re-deploy their ENTIRE DEPLOYED ARMY and avoid the threat altogether. That's my two-cents! Thanks again!

Btw, a neat little "suite" for anti-tank and flyer is:

10x Devastators, 4 Lascannons, Chapter Tactics Imperial Fists (220; always combat squad)

Aegis Defense Line, Icarus Lascannon, 85

305 points, you get anti-flyer and anti tank in the extreme! You'll be (on average rolls) insta-gibbing 2 tanks/ or 1 flyer and 1 tank a turn.

EDIT: typos lol