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I am about to start playing grey knights army, and It would be awesome if I knew what to get before I started making purchases
I've got about 300 dollars to spend
What am I buying to make a good small detachment?

What kind of army do you want?

Inquisitorial, purifier, draigowing?

http://www.bartertown.com/trading/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=212616

buying used can be a great way to get started
I did a bit of searching and found this guy. Ask him to cover shipping if you buy 300 bux of stuff. That's half off retail
Once you have a base, you can start adding things like allies, additional Units, etc

 ImotekhTheStormlord wrote:
What kind of army do you want?

Inquisitorial, purifier, draigowing?

Whichever one is the best

 Njal Derphunter wrote:
Whichever one is the best

No...just no.

Don't pick an army because its the best. If your looking to start an army, start it because you think the models, playstyle, and fluff are cool. Pick an army you think is cool. Learn it really well. You will do yourself more of a favor than trying to get a 'big dog army'.

If your trying to jump on the 'power bandwagon', your going to be left out in the cold 6 months later. Ask CSM players how well those triple helldrake armies are doing against Tau and Eldar. Ask the Tau players how they like that wave serpent spam. Chasing the 'best army' will leave you poor and GW laughing their way to the bank.

To answer you question -- all 3 suck in today's competitive meta. My Eldar/Deldar army would have no problems tabling them all but the draigowing -- which I would table everything except draigos paladins and win. Tau armies can do the same thing.

To reiterate -- if you want to play GK because they are cool -- do so. They are a cool army with lots of fluff. If you want to take them to 'win', your probably going to 'lose'.

 labmouse42 wrote:

 Njal Derphunter wrote:
Whichever one is the best

No...just no.

Don't pick an army because its the best. If your looking to start an army, start it because you think the models, playstyle, and fluff are cool. Pick an army you think is cool. Learn it really well. You will do yourself more of a favor than trying to get a 'big dog army'.

If your trying to jump on the 'power bandwagon', your going to be left out in the cold 6 months later. Ask CSM players how well those triple helldrake armies are doing against Tau and Eldar. Ask the Tau players how they like that wave serpent spam. Chasing the 'best army' will leave you poor and GW laughing their way to the bank.

To answer you question -- all 3 suck in today's competitive meta. My Eldar/Deldar army would have no problems tabling them all but the draigowing -- which I would table everything except draigos paladins and win. Tau armies can do the same thing.

To reiterate -- if you want to play GK because they are cool -- do so. They are a cool army with lots of fluff. If you want to take them to 'win', your probably going to 'lose'.

He's got a great point. If you play the army you love, every game will be fun to some degree. Even loses.

Hey there!! First of all I can tell you that GK are really an enjoyable army to play with and have a lot of cool models.. Nowadays they are not top tier army but still has , as everyone their pros and cons . My only "warning" to you would be that as an elite army GK will ALWAYS be outnumbered !! and I mean that a Tau player for example will have about 80 to 100 models at 2k points while you 'll have 40 at best ..You can go Inquisition but then again I would suggest you to go IG if that would be the case (IMHO of course) ..

Now when I started gathering my army I bought 4x GKSS boxes (using them also as Interceptors as I've magnetized their backpacks/jetpacks) 2x Terminator boxes 2x Dreadnought boxes (I found their autocannons by ADL and converted the models) and an old miniature of brother-captain Stern which I magnetize it's close combat weapon hand in order to add sword/hammer/halberd and playing him either as a Grand-Master or Mordrak .

I think the above are good solid choices to have as your core of the army IMO . Then if you want to go Inquisition or add another allies detachment you can buy something else . I still using all the above in my lists but that depends on your play style of course ..

Hope that helps !!

I totally agree with labmouse42 's point of view (ought to give him the credits for his point of view)

Draigo
Coteaz
2 Terminator boxes for Paladins
2 grey knights boxes for strikes or interceptors
A Dreadknight

Your good to go for 1750 and up pts.

 Rotary wrote:

 labmouse42 wrote:

 Njal Derphunter wrote:
Whichever one is the best

No...just no.

Don't pick an army because its the best. If your looking to start an army, start it because you think the models, playstyle, and fluff are cool. Pick an army you think is cool. Learn it really well. You will do yourself more of a favor than trying to get a 'big dog army'.

If your trying to jump on the 'power bandwagon', your going to be left out in the cold 6 months later. Ask CSM players how well those triple helldrake armies are doing against Tau and Eldar. Ask the Tau players how they like that wave serpent spam. Chasing the 'best army' will leave you poor and GW laughing their way to the bank.

To answer you question -- all 3 suck in today's competitive meta. My Eldar/Deldar army would have no problems tabling them all but the draigowing -- which I would table everything except draigos paladins and win. Tau armies can do the same thing.

To reiterate -- if you want to play GK because they are cool -- do so. They are a cool army with lots of fluff. If you want to take them to 'win', your probably going to 'lose'.

He's got a great point. If you play the army you love, every game will be fun to some degree. Even loses.

My first army was Space Wolves, and they are my favorite
Grey Knights has always been in the back of my mind, and I love them

However, I want to buy what is the best in their army.
Whats more annoying than buying the wrong thing and getting crushed all the time? And spending money on models you wont use?
I am starting a GK army because I like them, but I also want to win with them
I want to win
I want to bring them to tournaments
And I don't wanna waste time buying things I cant use In tournaments competitively
That is why I asked this question
I'm still gonna mess around and have fun with them, but I want what is competitive first ( I'm just that kind of person )


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Spectral wrote:
Hey there!! First of all I can tell you that GK are really an enjoyable army to play with and have a lot of cool models.. Nowadays they are not top tier army but still has , as everyone their pros and cons . My only "warning" to you would be that as an elite army GK will ALWAYS be outnumbered !! and I mean that a Tau player for example will have about 80 to 100 models at 2k points while you 'll have 40 at best ..You can go Inquisition but then again I would suggest you to go IG if that would be the case (IMHO of course) ..

Now when I started gathering my army I bought 4x GKSS boxes (using them also as Interceptors as I've magnetized their backpacks/jetpacks) 2x Terminator boxes 2x Dreadnought boxes (I found their autocannons by ADL and converted the models) and an old miniature of brother-captain Stern which I magnetize it's close combat weapon hand in order to add sword/hammer/halberd and playing him either as a Grand-Master or Mordrak .

I think the above are good solid choices to have as your core of the army IMO . Then if you want to go Inquisition or add another allies detachment you can buy something else . I still using all the above in my lists but that depends on your play style of course ..

Hope that helps !!

I totally agree with labmouse42 's point of view (ought to give him the credits for his point of view)

This helps, thank you. And don't get me wrong, I also agree with that point of view. I wouldn't have started any of my armies had I not liked them.
I think grey knights have awesome lore, and are also a change from what I'm used to.
But again, I wanna get what works, and I don't feel like accidentally getting a gak unit yanno? I'm young and money is PRECIOUS
So I'd frankly be disappointed If I was losing every single game with this new expensive army I bought, even though I love my models to death.
That's why I went looking for advice, and maybe I should have been clearer in the first place. I apologize if I came off in the wrong way

Everything that has GK on the box you will use. The termis and strike force is your first buy. All the cool stuff comes later, keep in mind GK need a lot of baby sitting and is unforgiving.

All of the major GK builds are viable, some more than others, but nothing is truly bad.


There are basically 4 options for troops. Which one you want to use will dictate what else you buy.

GK terminators: A good mix of durability, shooting, and melee ability.

GK Strike Squads: While they do have Nemesis Swords and access to other NFWs, you should only use these guys as a shooty unit with a last resort ap3 force weapon if needed. The melee weapon upgrades are too expensive to be worth it on models with only 1 attack.

Purifiers: Basically a Strike Marine with an extra attack, Fearless, and a swap of Psychic powers. You must take Castellan Crowe as an HQ to take them as Troops. They have some advantages over Strike Marines. 1) For 1 point above a Strike Marine with a Halberd, you get a Purifier with a Halberd. 2) Their signature power(Cleansing Flame) is more useful than the Strike Squad power(Warp Quake) This gives them much greater melee potential while maintaining the same shooting ability for roughly the same cost as a similarly equipped Strike Squad.

Henchmen: You have to take Coteaz to get these guys as troops. These guys are cheap, real cheap. You can literally spend less than 50 points on your mandatory troops choices, leaving more space for the rest of the army. But you get what you pay for. The advantage is the squads are highly customizable. you can have Death Cult Assassins, Crusaders, Humans in PA, Monkey's with lasguns, Servitors with heavy weapons, etc... Upgrades can get expensive fast.


If you want to go mostly shooty, Strike Squads are the best bet. Keep them with swords, psybolt ammunition, as many psycannons as you can squeeze in, maybe 1 hammer if you need to crack a heavy tank, and give them either a Rhino or Razorback. A Razorback with either a HB or Assault Cannon with Psybolt ammo put out a lot of heavy fire power.

If you want a mix of shooty and melee, go with Terminators or Purifiers. Either will work well.

The nice part about GK is you can buy whatever cause it all has great uses, Buy a box of termies and BAM! they can be Termies or paladins, or ghost knights, or thrawn!
Buy a box of strike squad and BAM! strike squad, interceptors, purifiers!
Buy a grand master and BAM! grand master, or mordrak lol
Buy a squad of guardsmen BAM! arcolytes!

One never goes wrong with draigo or coteaz or dreadknights either!

IMO everything in the codex has a spot except a few of the different henchmen and assassins, but thats my opinion

1 box of terminators
3 dreadknights
kitbash/convert some assassins

Draigo
Vindicaire
Eversor
Callidus (the one that polymorphs)
1 Paladin (apothecary, daemon hammer)
1 Paladin (apothecary, daemon hammer)
Dreadknight, teleporter, heavy incinerator
Dreadknight, teleporter, heavy incinerator
Dreadknight, teleporter, heavy incinerator

That's pretty close to 1850 right there. Maybe if you have the points you could convert another terminator to be a librarian with some cool abilities. Or you could make another grandmaster to ensure everything scores lol.

 Grey Templar wrote:
All of the major GK builds are viable, some more than others, but nothing is truly bad.


There are basically 4 options for troops. Which one you want to use will dictate what else you buy.

GK terminators: A good mix of durability, shooting, and melee ability.

GK Strike Squads: While they do have Nemesis Swords and access to other NFWs, you should only use these guys as a shooty unit with a last resort ap3 force weapon if needed. The melee weapon upgrades are too expensive to be worth it on models with only 1 attack.

Purifiers: Basically a Strike Marine with an extra attack, Fearless, and a swap of Psychic powers. You must take Castellan Crowe as an HQ to take them as Troops. They have some advantages over Strike Marines. 1) For 1 point above a Strike Marine with a Halberd, you get a Purifier with a Halberd. 2) Their signature power(Cleansing Flame) is more useful than the Strike Squad power(Warp Quake) This gives them much greater melee potential while maintaining the same shooting ability for roughly the same cost as a similarly equipped Strike Squad.

Henchmen: You have to take Coteaz to get these guys as troops. These guys are cheap, real cheap. You can literally spend less than 50 points on your mandatory troops choices, leaving more space for the rest of the army. But you get what you pay for. The advantage is the squads are highly customizable. you can have Death Cult Assassins, Crusaders, Humans in PA, Monkey's with lasguns, Servitors with heavy weapons, etc... Upgrades can get expensive fast.


If you want to go mostly shooty, Strike Squads are the best bet. Keep them with swords, psybolt ammunition, as many psycannons as you can squeeze in, maybe 1 hammer if you need to crack a heavy tank, and give them either a Rhino or Razorback. A Razorback with either a HB or Assault Cannon with Psybolt ammo put out a lot of heavy fire power.

If you want a mix of shooty and melee, go with Terminators or Purifiers. Either will work well.

Thank you very much, this is very useful advice

If you look at tournament GK lists, you will see the same 5-9 units appearing in all of them. Those units are:

Coteaz + henchmen

Strike Squads with psycannon and psybolt ammo

Purifier Squads

Dreadnoughts with 2x AC and psybolt ammo

Dread Knights

Razorbacks with HB or Assault cannon and psybolt ammo

Stormravens

Terminators

Paladins with Draigo


These are units that you should build your army from. Also you see that allies are often taken in competitive lists like Necrons or IG.

Purifiers also have the ability to take 2 psycannons per 5 GKs as opposed to the strike squads 1 to 5 ratio. That's a big plus. 6 squads of 5 purifiers can throw out 24-48 S8 AP4 shots per turn (depending on if they moved or not).

the codex

Polecat wrote:
If you look at tournament GK lists, you will see the same 5-9 units appearing in all of them. Those units are:

Coteaz + henchmen

Strike Squads with psycannon and psybolt ammo

Purifier Squads

Dreadnoughts with 2x AC and psybolt ammo

Dread Knights

Razorbacks with HB or Assault cannon and psybolt ammo

Stormravens

Terminators

Paladins with Draigo


These are units that you should build your army from. Also you see that allies are often taken in competitive lists like Necrons or IG.

^This is pretty much the backbone. But it's also way over $300. The cheapest is Draigo and 2 terminator boxes + 2 psycannon bitz from where ever you want to buy them from. Thats an HQ and 1 troop. Easy allies but clocking in at 1005 pts with 4 psycannons, apothecary, and brotherhood banner as the upgrades.

Paladins lost their competitive edge with the change to wound allocation. They also find objective games to be nearly impossible to win.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Paladins lost their competitive edge with the change to wound allocation. They also find objective games to be nearly impossible to win.

They're still top tier if they bring their robot friends. Such good complimentary Armies, and oh so fluffy! (note, only half this sentence is accurate)

Ok, that's a REALLY tight budget. Two dreadknights are almost 100 bucks.

Here's my advice to save money:

IF you want Rifle Dreads, try to find some used dreads on ebay. The old Assault on Black Reach Dreads can go for pretty cheap. Ditto for rhinos and razorbacks, they are MUCH cheaper used (and already constructed!), especially if you are patient.

DON'T buy Coteaz. Kitbash him from bits from friends, using a Fantasy Warrior of Chaos body as the base. (Don't buy any HQ in fact, build your own from bits).

Also I would choose at most 2 out of 3 of the following (PA GK, TDA GK and henchmen). No sense buying all three

anonymou5 wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Paladins lost their competitive edge with the change to wound allocation. They also find objective games to be nearly impossible to win.

They're still top tier if they bring their robot friends. Such good complimentary Armies, and oh so fluffy! (note, only half this sentence is accurate)

I don't know. How many paladin/'cron lists do you think are going to be in the top bracket this weekend at NOVA?
My guess.....0.

We might see some in middle table obscurity (that's where you can find me!)

I've seen many Cron/GK lists, but I haven't seen a Paladin/Cron list ever.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I've seen many Cron/GK lists, but I haven't seen a Paladin/Cron list ever.

Must not be looking very hard. The top team at ATC featured paladins and necrons and jy2 is reporting every game on this very forum. And didn't Nick N win Adepticon this year with pallies + crons?

Thats actually awesome, I might get that cron ally thing going
Crons was my second choice for starting a new army, so that'll work perfectly

Super Newb wrote:
Ok, that's a REALLY tight budget. Two dreadknights are almost 100 bucks.

Here's my advice to save money:

IF you want Rifle Dreads, try to find some used dreads on ebay. The old Assault on Black Reach Dreads can go for pretty cheap. Ditto for rhinos and razorbacks, they are MUCH cheaper used (and already constructed!), especially if you are patient.

DON'T buy Coteaz. Kitbash him from bits from friends, using a Fantasy Warrior of Chaos body as the base. (Don't buy any HQ in fact, build your own from bits).

Also I would choose at most 2 out of 3 of the following (PA GK, TDA GK and henchmen). No sense buying all three

300$ as in a starting money.
ik em irl

Well, with $300, if I was starting over with GKs, here is what I would buy.


Codex: $33

Brother-captain(can be a Grandmaster or a Librarian. Use extra bits from terminator box to customize him): $19.25

1 Dreadknight: $53.75

either get 3 boxes of Terminators or 4 boxes of PAGKs: $150 or $132 respectively.

Vindicare Assassin: $16

Then you have between $44 and $62 to play with. Get another box of whatever strikes your fancy. Dreadnought, another box of Terminators or PAGKs, another HQ, etc...

 Grey Templar wrote:
Well, with $300, if I was starting over with GKs, here is what I would buy.
...
Brother-captain(can be a Grandmaster or a Librarian. Use extra bits from terminator box to customize him): $19.25

Better to buy a single figure from the Terminator box from a bits seller for much cheaper than $19.25.

This threads really helpful for me to as I've no idea what to buy and I have no money to buy anything really. A friend of mine did however took a pair of binoculars, lobbed off a crouching guardmen with a sniper rifles head and glued the binoculars to it with one of the little rods from a scarab and green stuffed a nice hood on it and said here's your new vindicare assassin just about an hour ago and I think it is great then he threw in two metal ninjas he painted and said here death cult and or whatever assassin you want them to be and I think they look great!

3 dreadknights 10 paladins a set of 5 paladins drago and if you got points left add some tech marines and libby

Super Newb wrote:
Ok, that's a REALLY tight budget. Two dreadknights are almost 100 bucks.

Here's my advice to save money:

IF you want Rifle Dreads, try to find some used dreads on ebay. The old Assault on Black Reach Dreads can go for pretty cheap. Ditto for rhinos and razorbacks, they are MUCH cheaper used (and already constructed!), especially if you are patient.

DON'T buy Coteaz. Kitbash him from bits from friends, using a Fantasy Warrior of Chaos body as the base. (Don't buy any HQ in fact, build your own from bits).

Also I would choose at most 2 out of 3 of the following (PA GK, TDA GK and henchmen). No sense buying all three

If you want dreadnoughts I have them the x2 autocannon they are custom.