Aeri wrote:
Hey Guys!

I am still having trouble building a working list with the GK models I have so far.

Here is what I have in my collection:


Grey Knights:
*************** 4 HQ ***************
Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight

Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight

Lord Kaldor Draigo

Librarian GK

*************** 3 Troops***************
Strike Squad
5 Strike Marines
Strike Squad
5 Strike Marines

10 Terminators or Paladins
(2 Heavy Weapons, Melee Weapons magnetized)

*************** 1 Elite ***************

Venerable Dreadnought

*************** 2 Fast Attack***************
Interceptor Squad
5 Interceptors

Interceptor Squad
5 Interceptors

*************** 1 Flieger ***************
Stormraven Gunship


Officio Assassinorum:
*************** 2 Elite ***************
Vindicare Assassin

Culexus Assassin


Imperial Knights
*************** 1 Lord of War ***************
1 Imperial Knight Paladin/Errant/Gallant/Warden/Crusader




I am most certainly facing Tyranids and I know that it is going to be an uphill battle.
Can you give me some advice on how to build my list and how to actually use it? If you reccommend getting more units of any kind. which ones should I buy?
I couldnt figure out how to use GK in 8th edition yet.
Your help is appreciated!

He won roll off, chose his side. I deployed first and went first.

I deployed the 3 Rhinos adjacent to one another in a line. Crowe stood on his own at th right end of the line. The Two Purgation Squads deployed left, on an objective, out of sight. In the teleportarium: Stern, Draigo, 3 Strike Squads.

Death Guard deployment: Pox Walkers cut off Deep Strikes on my right. His Engineer Pox Walkers took station on his objective (center right of me). The Daemon Prince stood next to them. His 3 PlagueBurst Crawlers were up front and ready to bring the pain, in position to bring their flamers to bear in a broken line across the front of his deployment, and then his Death Guard Marines filled the gaps between them with plenty of plasma goodness (3 per squad). His Captain stood to my far left with those Marines. Two other characters were interspersed, Psykers of some sort, giving him 3 with his Daemon Prince included. The Foetid Plague Drones prepped to surge forward and wreak havoc as well.

Turn 1:

Nothing Burger. I advanced all three Rhinos and popped Smoke. Only shots came from Green Squad (Purgation) who used Astral Aim to fire. I think I put a couple of wounds on the PLagueburst Crawler on my far left. Blue Squad (Purgation) came out of hiding but couldn't reach anyone, which was a mistake in retrospect. Not much happened outside of that.

IN his turn he brought his Plague Drones and plasam wielding Deathguard forth, blasting at the plating of my tanks. A Crawler also let loose on me. The Smoke Launchers paid dividends and it took some effort for him to crack the shell. I wisely had placed the Rhinos against ruins, so that I could disembark into them. The net outcome was that I lost 2 Purifiers to the death throes of the Rhino, but no one else was now able to shoot them other than the other Plagueburst Crawlers. So they collectively killed more of the Purifiers in one of the Orange Combat Squads, leaving one alive Enemy Psyker powers were largely bounced.

The round went to the DeathGuard, 3-2

Turn 2:

The Purifiers catapulted themselves out of the Rhinos and into the enemy, getting as close as they could while Brother Captain Stern descended to bring his Psychic Locus into play to assist them. The Orange Combat Squads ascended a ruin level to see and exert pressure. Probably should have brought them out too but I knew I'd need some shooting help just in case and I overestimated myself in the Psyker phase. As things turned out I really should have come out to play. One Rhino veered left to help with the Captain and his buddies on the left while the other rhino streaked right to assist there and lock things up if necessary. Blue and Green Purgation Squads moved up again and maintained my rear objective while contributing fire. Castellan Crowe took station on level two on the center objective to control more.

The Strike Squads all descended near the Plaguebuarst Crawler on the far right. So did Draigo, giving them re-rolls.

The Strike Squads all shot up Marines and then charged the Crawler on the right, barely enveloping it and making it immobile. The Yellow Combat Squads took to the middle, blasting the central units with Psychic fury and then shooting them and then charging them. Purple Combat Squads took on the left flank to limited success.

I failed three Psyker tests, but so much damage happened despite the mediocre Psycher phase (partially because everything seemed to have the Daemon Keyword) that the Purifiers were then able to shoot and charge a lot of the enemy and destroy huge chunks of it. Enemy overwatch and power fists took a toll and a significant number of Grey Knights fell to the heinous counter blows, which were fewer in number but seemingly highly effective. The Daemon Prince was smitten off the board.

On his turn his Power fists again had a very serious impact, and his Captain finally killed the last of the one Orange Combat Squad but not yet the others. His Psykers struck deadly blows and killed all but one of two different Combat Squads. However only two full combat squads actually fell per se, and the enemy were exposed.

Turn 3:

It was clear that the ensuing devastation we were about to mount would be all consuming flame for him. He simply didn't have enough models to survive my cleansing flame and FAR too much of my forces were free to shoot him with a rain of ultra accurate shots. Draigo and Crowe were about to enter the fray for realsies, and his best units were broken. After I moved all my units into killing position, he conceded. Tattered as my melee elements had become due to his effective counter punches, we were still just too potent to handle and he was going to lose most everything except for perhaps some Pox Walkers.

Grey Knight Victory 33-5

I had wanted a game against them, as they present pretty large challenges for Grey Knights. A lot of AP, and a lot of shots: two things Grey Knights don't like, so I wondered how I'd fare against them. The second game was against an Ultra Marine player using the new codex, so two big time challenges in one day.

We played Dawn of War ITC mission 3 (4 objectives, diamond formation)

The Ta'u force had 6 Broadsides and a Coldstar, a metric ton of fire warriors, some Pathfinder and other Markrlight units and a Crisis Team rocking the missiles (that was an unusual choice but apparently its to better deal with Primaris Marines, which made sense)

Turn 1

Grey Knights streaked forward, doing what we could to take cover in the bottom of the central ruins. I was very well hidden and remembered to pop smoke. Smoke played big, helping me take a lot more punishment and ultimately one Rhino went down but I was able to spill them into the building to protect them. The Cold Star failed its bid to kill anything and was exposed, so he took some Pathfinders and charged my Rhino to keep it in place and keep my Purifiers from getting any closer than necessary.

Turn 2

Surviving Rhinos split off, dumping their contents. The Purgation Squads had moved up last turn and did so again to pout on the fire. Orange Squad Jumped the left flank, Purple Squad jumped the Center while Yellow Squad stayed in the building to gank the Pathfinders, the Coldstar and then charge the enemy lines safely. The Grey KNights slew several units that turn, first with Cleansing Flame, then with purifying Bolters and Crackling Psycannons, and then full on rushes. Draigo dropped in on the right and charged Fire Warriors along with two of his erstwhile Strike Squads, while the 3rd Strike Squad alighted next to the central building. The pincer was closing in.

But Darkstrider is crafty and had his Fire Warriors drop back and blast the offending Grey Knights and a serious amount of them went away near the center of the action. To the left , the Tau flank was collapsed but on the right, the Fire Warriors tenaciously held on to the objective and put fire on the strike Squads with the Broadsides. The Crisis team tore at the Rhino that was threatening to lock things up.

3

Unable to repel the chargers well enough they surged again though this time many of them were simply out of range to be very effective with their smites. The Purgation Squads again moved forward to bring weight of fire down on the alien threat, while the Purifiers, tattered but largely still functional, pressed forward with Graigo further pressuring the right.

The Tau were now desperate. Forced to the center and barely holding out, they once again retreated, fired and did their gruesome work. Their results were fading but their spirit wasn't as the Ethereal zipped around trying to avoid entanglements. The Broadsides had been killed on all but the right flank at this point and the situation was dire. Not enough whole units of Purifiers had died and the next turn was going to be awash with flame, and they knew it.

4

As predicted, the Purifiers that remained brought Cleansing flame and washed a huge swath of the enemy away and then Draigo smashed into the Crisis team ending them. My right flank was clear other than the Broadsides and the characters of the Tau force aong with a couple Fire Warriors huddled in the middle.

The Tau, defiant, had a good round by finally finishing whole units off in numbers with very few resources left. However it was to be their last gasp as the Tau were subsequently swallowed to a man by the remaining forces. At this range the Purifiers that remained and Castellan Crowe as well as Draigo were indomitable.

33-5 Grey Knight Victory

1

He opted for "less aggressive", and used the Thunder fire Cannon and the Stratagem to roll an ABSURD amount of fire into my Blue Squad (5-man Purgation sqaud). I think he rolled like a total of 34 shots and landed enough to kill all six; and with Devastator Doctrine, it was -2 AP. That ended the debate on whether he could take them out. He did, with prejudice. A bit of a shock to the system, and also a Marked for Death target. Given my army build it ensured he would kill more as well. The Land Raider got to JUST within 24" range and put some wounds on the lead Rhino it could maneuver to see, Chapter Master turning it into an effective killing machine. It did 6 wounds on its own!

All that I COULD do was move the Orange Purifier Squad back to the rear right objective, and camp it from inside the Rhino which was an enormous waste of a resource but was the only answer to at least even the objectives held (and for future rounds). The other two Rhinos jetted to the left of the LOS blocking building to limit fire on themselves... and I made a critical error. I didn't pop smoke, as I had done so successfully against the T'au and immediately regretted it. Other than that, Green Squad (10-man Purgation squad) set on my left side objective in cover.

Tie on objectives, but couldn't make up the kill.

2

He adjusted his Engineers and pushed his veterans out of the land raider, then maneuvered it to get into juice range with his multi-melta, Chapter Master in tow. The first pod dropped with Lascannon Devastators into his own backfield, again playing it conservative. He wasn't going to get baited into the Purifiers et al. The Raider took 2 wounds off the Rhino with the big gun and then peppered the tank. I failed 6 more saves which was getting old and was avoidable given I had not popped smoke. His Devastators had to finish the job. Thunder fire Cannon rained death again with 26 more shots. Half of Yellow Squad was gone. The Vets then charged in, and killed the other half of Yellow Squad, right in front of Castellan Crowe. Another huge loss.

Purple Squad and Castellan Crowe as well as Draigo and Stern did considerable damage to the Land Raider with their Smites, then killed the Veterans that were left with Crowe. Draigo was able to pop the Chapter master with Psychic fury due to a great Deep Strike position. Then Draigo failed his charge at the Snipers above him.

While this was going on, Green Squad moved up in order to get some shots on the Land Raider as well, and it was down to 4 wounds. The three Strike Squads all alighted in on my left side and charged the Engineers deep in his territory dead to a man. They had been holding his Priority Objective, giving me the Bonus point. The Strike Squads were now much safer and in the cover of ruins. Orange Squad just quietly waited in their Rhino holding the objective to the rear. Crowe had no choice and charged the Land Raider to nerf its shooting next turn and took three wounds trying. Not great, but necessary.

3

Devastators took out the last Rhino with Land Raider help after it fell back (Ultramarines can do that). A drop pod with more Devastators (Heavy Bolters) dropped at the back and center of my deployment zone halfway between Green and Orange Squad with Tactical Doctrines activated. The Assault Marines Deep struck in and nabbed a corner spot in my rear zone towards green Squad, hoping to take minimal overwatch to charge.

The Thunderfire Cannon took aim and shot about 28 times into half of Purple Squad, killing them. The Land Raider also fired its cannons at Draigo and…to my utter disgust… took all but one wound from him. I couldn’t believe the luck. All bad for me it seemed in this game. But it was what it was.

At this stage his Devastators in his own backfield also shot their bolters into the Strike Squad in cover. And I failed 5 out of 5 saves, from 12 Bolter shots. Absurd. It wasn’t enough to stop me from being on the objective though. 5 of his scouts came over to get as close as they could but it wasn’t enough. He threw his Engineers at me but I killed them. No more Engineer points for him.

The Heavy Bolter Devastators laced into the Rhino holding my rear objective and almost killed it. The Assault Marines who alighted failed their charge on Green Squad, perhaps the best news of the day so far. Castellan Crowe, as brave as he was, was shot dead in the streets.

The Grey Knights saw their leader go down and rallied what little strength they had. The Strike Squads to the left on the Bonus objective destroyed the Scouts that were trying to take the objective while a few more managed to charge his Devastators in his backfield trying to pin them against the board edge and stop them from getting away or shooting. The Flamers of the Inquisition are no trifling matter, and did work on overwatch and on the offense!

Draigo tore apart the Snipers above him and prepared to end the scouts below next turn. Brother Captain Stern was about all that was left midfield and so he moved into the building for cover and then failed to get his smite off. He desperately tried to get a charge into the Land Raider as Crowe had done and made it, taking another wound off of it but then taking an absurd number in return. Not going well… Either way, the enemy backfield was torn up and feeling the pressure. If the scouts and Marines in front of Craigo didn’t kill Draigo, he would certainly kill them and claim their objective! As it was, we controlled 3 tenuously. The Green Squad shot up the Assault Marines with Astral Aim, but amazingly only killed 4. Disappointing.

4

Thunderfire Cannon killed Purple Squads remnants finally with a big barrage of shots, fueled by a Psyker power that gave him a Command Point (he was out) which he used to fuel the Thunderfire Cannon again. The Land Raider pulled away from Brother Captain Stern and killed him as well as shooting at Green Squad (Purgation) to little effect, who were still holding the objective against the Assault Marine advance. His Heavy Bolter Squad took aim and whittled Green Squad down to size.

The Assault Squad ran at and destroyed the Green Purgation Squad, giving them the Objective there. The Devastators moved away from their two remaining Grey Knight tormentors and then killed the ones holding the Bonus objective. Dunno how he finagled it to allow them to get loose but I didn’t argue it. They now had reaffirmed their control of their Primary Objective at great cost and the Strike Squads were destroyed once and for all.

Draigo and His Knights prepared for another push. With the Snipers dead he dropped a Vortex of Doom on the Tactical Marines, killing three of them and taking 3 wounds from Tigurius. Then he went to use Purge Sould on Tigurius… and rolled double 1’s. Instead of swooping down and decimating everything on his turn, he died to a miscast… It was heart breaking. The enemy really had nothing left there to stop Draigo from controlling that objective, so it was a big deal.

Orange Squad had bided its time long enough and poured from the Rhino towards the Heavy Bolter Devastators in my backfield. Their bolters and Psycannons ripped up 3 Marines, a little disappointing but the Rhino did add two more to it.

5

Predictably the Thunderfire Cannon nailed half of Orange Squad with another blizzard of shots but because of cover and no Devastator Doctrines, we managed to lose only 3 of the Psicannon side of the unit. A small miracle perhaps. The Land Raider really wasn’t fast enough anymore to xoom into better firing position so largely the tatters of his forces stood their posts otherwise, sort of wondering why they weren’t dead by Draigos hand.

Orange Squad tracked down and murdered the Heavy Bolter Devs that were left and then the Drop Pod itself was wrecked. The 7 Remaining members of Orange Squad stood looking at the ruins where the Assault Squad was, waiting for an epic end. They dared the Assault Squad to leave their ill gotten objective and face the Grey Knights as men.

6

The Assault Squad honor was to indeed launch forth and fight them, The battle was fierce but the Grey Knights fell. The Thunderfire Cannon killed the two man Psycannon half of Orange Squad with only 9 shots, the most pedestrian amount he rolled all night.

At this time the only thing left on the board for the Grey Knights was the damaged Rhino and it had no shots so it stayed at its post, and guarded the objective that it could. It had one Hit point left on it but one was enough.

27-19 Victory but WAIT… It wasn’t. IN ALL six turns, my opponent had used 8D6 instead of 8D3 shots on the Thunderfire Cannon (stratatgem to fire twice)! The heinous amounts of losses it wracked up over the course of the game were entirely false and inflated numbers. As it was, the 5 point round he had turn one wouldn’t have likely happened and so on. So many more Smites would have gone off, killing the LR, and so on.

My opponent agreed that his misunderstanding of the Thunderfire Cannon probably indicates that it was really a loss for him given what I could have and would have done without those losses. He also may have used 1CP instead of 2 to fuel it after using his Psyker to get him a CP back.

Grey Knight Victory by Ultramarine concession. A Rematch is therefore in order.