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Hi people, how is everything???

I'm an old player (used to play like 10 years ago, took a break and now i want to come back) and i have narrowed down my favourite armies to Space Marines (mainly Iron Hands for durability and Imperial Fists for shooting) and Grey Knights (their models and colour scheme are just amazing)

Could you give some input on how those armies work? I know SM have flexibility and GK are a more elite army, but what are their tactics? Are they competitive?

I like to play both choppy and shooty, maybe a little more choppy.

Thanks a lot !!!

GK is ridiculously monobuild. How much do you care about that?

Vanilla Space Marines are very flexible and powerful now, especially with all the supplements and formations. They are very competitive and have lots of options. Sadly that means the stand-alone codexes (blood angels, space wolves, etc.) seem to be lacking in comparison.

Grey Knights are a very different animal. If you want to be competitive, you have very few options (unless you're allying with vanilla Space Marines, which kinda defeats the purpose) and even then, some match-ups will be very difficult. GK just don't have the Take All Comers (TAC) flexibility of Space Marines.

If neither of those things are absolutely critical to you, Grey Knights are definitely choppier than standard marines. They all have force weapons (which have a variety of bonuses) and all are psychic (giving you S6 in melee with Hammerhand, which is nice) and storm bolters, making them better than standard marines in almost every regard. You also get Dreadknights which, despite being standard in any GK list these days, are one of the few Monstrous Creatures in the Imperial forces and great fun to field.

Good luck and have fun!

DoW

SM have all the toys and all the wins, while GK have better looking models and are more fun to play. Most people would rather win than have fun. : (

SJ

Unless you've suffered recent head trauma, the vast majority of people would choose SMs over GKs. I love the GKs and their fluff, but any new (or newly returning) player will get way more variety, fun, and mileage from the SM codex and its swath of dataslates and supplements.

Definitely Space Marines. Between all the different Chapters, you can play them in many different ways while still getting to use most of the good toys. Grey Knights are monobuild and are rapidly approaching ally-only status.

BUT, all of the new psychic shenanigans that the regular Space Marines can do, the Grey Knights can do as well.

I play GK and I'd say pick SM. I love the GK models and fluff, but the codex just has very little to offer right now unless you're head over heels for Dreadknights. GW literally chopped the last GK codex in half and it's pretty disappointing... They're still playable, just very mono build.

I think GK and SM allies have a lot of options. True, the variety is mostly on the SM side but if you're on the fence why choose? Have the best of both worlds