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Hi,

I've been reading through codex Grey Knights and had a question about Nemesis force weapons. In part of the rules it states:

If a unit is striking at different initiative orders, take the Psychic test to 'activate' the force weapons immediately after the first unsaved wounds are caused. Any further wound caused by the unit's Nemesis force weapons will be bound by the result of that psychic test

What I'm not sure on is what this means exactly. So if I had a squad of Grey Knight terminators and armed 1 or 2 of them with Nemesis Force Halberds, they would get +2 initiative. So I would strike with those first, then make the psychic test, If I passed does that mean that the wounds inflicted by the halberds would still be able to use the instant death rules? Or only the models with force weapons used after this?

On a side night, do you have to take the psychic test every round of combat? Or is it only for every new combat joined? I'm guessing it's every round, in case you're fighting multiple units etc. and this would also reflect the concentration needed by a psyker

Nemesis Force Halberds are still force weapons so they will inflict ID with a successful Psychic test. The added benefit is the swords and demonhammers will then inflict ID as well since the squad already activated their Nemesis force weapons.

You test to activate every round of combat

Every round as in player turn yes.

Basically, the first unsaved wound from each force weapon is ID. You only have to test once per squad in combat.


You still have to keep tract of them all though. Only one ID wound per model is allowed as they dont have multiple warp charges.

INcorrect. Brotherhood of psykers means that ALL weapons in the unit, apart fmo ICs, activate, and ALL wounds from that weapon are ID causing.

Hmm...... well now i know why they nerfed power weapons to AP3........

Eihnlazer wrote:
Hmm...... well now i know why they nerfed power weapons to AP3........

No, that's not the reason in the slightest, but it's good that you're thinking.

The Nemesis Force weapon rules allows a unit of Grey Knights (and any attached Inquisitors with Daemon Hammers) to attempt to activate their NFW also soon as the unit deals its first unsaved wound. In the case of Nemesis Force Halberds, once that first unsaved wound is dealt, every NFW user in that unit including any attached ICs roll to activate their Nemesis Force Weapons (if able). Any successful activation will deal Instant Death, including that unsaved wound that triggered the activation. If the unit of Brotherhood of Psykers fails to activate, all of their weapons remain inactive for that combat turn. ICs roll separately, with their individual rolls only effecting their individual weapon, yet they too are rolling to activate on that first unsaved wound dealt by the unit, not necessarily one they specifically dealt. Activation still requires a Warp Point, so if the unit blew its Warp Point on Hammerhand at the start of combat, it won't be able to activate its NFWs.

As savvy GK player will either include an IC to provide Hammerhand so the BoP unit can activate their NFWs, or they will save HH for units of single wound models and use their Warp Point on units of multi-wound models.

SJ

Thanks for all the advice, if I take a brotherhood banner to auto activate the nemesis weapons, I take it this still uses the HH though.

TommyBs wrote:
Thanks for all the advice, if I take a brotherhood banner to auto activate the nemesis weapons, I take it this still uses the HH though.

Nope, don't think you can't use hammer hand with BB.

Sorry I didn't mean HH I meant their WP

Yes, of course it does. You just don't have to take any tests.

Banners are well worth the points, not only does it allow auto-activation, but you get an extra attack per model. It is, however, not worth taking on units below max size (excluding Ghost Knights).

SJ

I guess the other thing to clarify (sorry I'm new to GK) is that if I take an IC attached to my unit, what you're saying above is that he can use HH (and it affects the unit?) and the unit could activate the force weaponse? Is that correct or would it just be 1 of the 2 regardless of whether or not there is an IC in the unit (representing the fact that he has actually joined the unit)

If the ic activates hammerhand it affects the unit. However, when the rest of the unit activates their force weapons it does not activate the ic's weapon

Rorschach9 wrote:
If the ic activates hammerhand it affects the unit. However, when the rest of the unit activates their force weapons it does not activate the ic's weapon

Misleading. If an IC expends his Warp Point on Hammerhand, the BoP unit including the IC will have a +1 to Str for that turn of combat. As soon as one unsaved wound is dealt with an NFW, the entire BoP unit including the IC can roll to activate their NFWs (BoP unit makes one roll, IC would make a separate roll). Since the unit still has a Warp Point, they would expend it to activate all of their NFWs. However, if the IC is a Mastery Level 1 Psyker, he has no Warp Points left, and therefore cannot activate his NFW. If the IC was a ML2 Psyker, he would have one Warp Point available to spend on activation. If the BoP unit had casted Hammerhand, only the IC will be able to activate, although he could roll to activate after one of the BoP models deals a wound, due to the NFW special rules.

NFWs are a special type of Force Weapon that allows group activation on a single unsaved wound, which is different from normal Force Weapons which trigger off individual unsaved wounds that are dealt.

Hammerhand throws in a complication due to the player having to decide whether or not a model casts Hammerhand on the unit based on any need to ID. Taking a Techmarine with your BoP is great because the Techmarine doesn't come with a NFW as standard, but does have Hammerhand, and can bring Rad and Psychotropic Grenades. Or you can bring a ML2+ IC to get HH off while still allowing NFW activation. Most of the time, though, you will either pop HH versus single-wound units, or save your WP for activation versus multi-wound units.

SJ