The Blood Hunters: Militant Psyker Division got 2 games in yesterday..awesome little bit of playtesting for the Grey Knight codex. Victories in both...thoughts:
The reliability of TL Psybolts and Autocannons is a great touch, but we already knew that the Rifleman Dread was awesome, though some doubt it...at S8 it can't be denied...I ran 3...overkill?
The psycannons are short ranged but once in position its great...lets face it, alot of armies COME TO YOU. This backs up my opinion and those of others online that GK are very much a defensive army...
Shrouding makes a huge difference to survivability and is a must for anyone who can't roll 4+ consistently - which is all of us!
Warp Rift is amazing...auto pen, no cover as a template was fantastic against Dark Eldar and is an amazing tool to smash through a heavy tank that you can't be arsed to Rend your way through. Not so hot against high Initiative targets,but is great a tool to remove expensive elite marines such as Deathwing, Marine characters etc. Shit, its just Jaws but with less range, more spread..like shotgun jaws over sniper jaws..
Quickening...meh. Sanctuary is far better! Most enemy units GK can hit first with Halberds at I6, but against faster opponents..Sanctuary is wicked as alot of these faster opponents do not have grenades. Also looking at you lash whips.
The 'simples' concept works.
No fucking about, just bodies and guns, 36 scoring marines at 1750.
With 6 being 2+ saves in an 11W/2+ unit makes for a highly survivable unit - the Libbie with 3++ from shrouding and the Inquisitor for extra dakka and taking a wound every round from small arms fire...very tough. Ofc, they will die to masses of plasma...no Siphon :(
Halberds are great for I6,3 attacks on the charge is good, but the GKT's aren't combat troops either, but after shooting 2 relentless psycannons and some storm bolters..well its pretty strong to charge the remains of any unit.
Hammerhand rocks. I6, S5 Force Weapons is cool. Libbie casts H/Hand, squad ignites its lightsabers..
3 x 10 man strike squads are great. I typically left one as a whole and combat squaded the others.. the 5 man with Hammer Justicar in a Razorback are very useful, was not afraid to pop them out to add extra firepower against troops..20 SB shots makes a difference...
The troops are good. But want to confirm a few things. Strike Squads are so not combat units. Fuck power weapons/force...Against non-assault oriented forces after you've gunned them with SB's maybe..
THey are most definately still marines...I lost 24 out of 30 in my first game, which although I quite comfortably took...still lost alot of men.
All my vehicles survived both games. Fortitude rocks. Dreads with Cover, shrouding and fortitude are amazing!
Don't get any ideas in your heads though..Razorbacks still die like av11 if can roll more than a 1 or 2!!
Tried out a Techmarine with Orbital Strike Relay...was very cool. Fun over competitive even with Servo Skulls to guide it...was great fun dropping D3 S6 large OB blasts on clumps of transports. Bolster Defenses is cool, dump your techie in there and watch as he drop bombs from on top of the ruin...fun times. Doesn't get targeted cause he's too far away and you are throwing so many other viable targets at the enemy..
Nothing really insightful here..but thought I'd share some thoughts..Painting today...
What about those of us who can't reliably roll a 3+?
ReplyDeletesounds interesting. i really hope the Techie is viable, he seems to be. hadn't really considered the relay tbh, but now you mention it, it could be quite useful.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that Bolster + Shrouding is a little wrong...
@BroLo...for those that can't roll 3+? See Atreides comment and have your whole army camped in a massive, 2'x2' Bolstered ruin in your deployment zone, add Librarian and shrouding and your good to go...just. don't.move. lol. I'm funny.
ReplyDelete@Andy...I think that on initial playing, the techie is viable, but I think he is perhaps more for fun/semi-competitive games, unless you are determined and work him and 2 mates armed the same in with that fucking walking chair Inquisitor dude with his 'whatever it takes' special rule...
i was seriously considering Karimov actually, as i think he is quite powerful and has pretty good rules, but 200 points is just a little steep.
ReplyDeleteThe SC in general are quite expensive, whereas I think you get a lot of bang for your buck by keeping things simple - because it really does all work...Librarians are as good as we all hoped or heard. The utility is amazing..
ReplyDeleteand I mean come on, what kind of a world is it we are living in when we are genuinely considering taking a fucking Techmarine?
I love this kind of world...
I really like the Libbys piled up with a few powers to take advantage of that being able to cast 2 abilities in each turn. Shroud and Sanct defensively, and I quite like QS (anti-eldar/characters - I run a smaller unit with only 2 halberds so handy for that), Might (hihi landraiders, St10 hammer w/ 2d6?) and ofcourse warp of sheer awesomeness. And don't forget that he actually has a hood ....
ReplyDeleteI like the GKM's as well - just as much for their grenades lol.
Got an apoc game on thursday which I am just going to test some of the units in a stripped down version of my 1750 list. Unless every other sob there is running GK's - then I'll run some silly apoc "wing" or stupid deathstar SC/combo (BA terms with a reclusiarch and corbulo or something)