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| Not my work, but it's awesome, and is the kind of thing I am going for. |
As a few of you are aware, I have been thinking very heavily about constructing a Grey Knights counts as army since I saw the leaked codex a few months ago. When building an army, I have to consider two things. Firstly, is it competitive? This is very important to me, because if I can’t go to tournaments and stand a chance of winning, I won’t have fun with it. Whether you approve of it or not, this is a simple fact. Secondly though, it has to be a real converting and building challenge, and the end result must be totally unique. I am very proud of my armies, and I don’t mind admitting that the praise I get for my conversions is worth as much as a win to me, because the effort involved is actually far greater. This is another personal choice thing, and it means that any army I make is going to take me a long time to construct. Each unit has to fit a theme, and there will always be certain units my list has to have in it, because I want to build them.
These two aspects make the creation of an army list early on extremely important. This is because I have very little spare cash to invest, and nowadays I have even less time. It is pretty important, therefore, to get a workable list sorted from the start. Now, before anyone says it, I am aware that building a list like this and expecting it to work with no practice is a sure-fire way to disappointment. However, I do intend to proxy a lot of this for a while, since building it is going to take about a year, and I do get to play at least one game most weeks. I just want to get a basic framework to work from so I don’t waste my time and money.
Now without further ado, the units I must include in the army are as follows:
- Purifiers – at least 10 of these, since they are what I have already built, and they took bloody ages and look awesome. These guys are the 1st company of the Desert Lions space marine chapter and have wrist mounted flamers and chain-halberds. More on them soon.
- Dreadknight – for the same reason. Additionally, this army is themed around forgotten and forbidden tech, including robots, anti-grav and bionic enhancement, and the Dreadknight fits the theme perfectly.
- 5+ terminators/paladins – these will be my converted robot maniples, so I need at least 5.
- A couple of rhinos/razors – as many as needed really. I have some good plans to convert them to anti-grav transports, and with no modelling for advantage, I promise ;)
Units I would like to include, but are not essential in any way, are:
- Dreadnoughts/Ven Dreads – these guys fit the theme (robots) and they are disgusting in the GK dex.
- Henchmen – easy to make into chapter serfs/scouts/techpriests/servitors. Fluffy and effective.
Combining the above with the need for competitiveness in 1750 points proved a bit of a challenge for me. I am so used to working with the IG dex that attempting to use another without any real opportunity to test things is difficult. My best effort so far is below.
Coteaz – 100
Purifiers x5, 2 psycannons, master crafted hammer, 2 halberds, rhino - 194
Purifiers x5, 2 psycannons, master crafted hammer, 2 halberds, rhino - 194
GK Terminator Squad x5, psycannon, master crafted hammer – 230
GK Terminator Squad x5, psycannon, master crafted hammer – 230
Henchmen squad, 6x acolytes, psyback – 74
Henchmen squad, 6x acolytes, psyback – 74
Henchmen squad, 6x acolytes, lasplasback – 104
Henchmen squad, 6x acolytes, lasplasback – 104
Psyfledread – 135
Psyfledread – 135
Dreadknight, heavy incinerator – 160
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1734 (a few points to spend, and a few master crafted bits can be removed)
I don’t think this is too bad. It is not completely optimised, and I know it could be improved infinitely with the subtraction and addition of certain units. However, I don’t think it is terrible, and it contains all the units I want. Additionally, this list favours the way I play. I like flexible lists with a lot of options and a lot of tools, and I certainly seem to enjoy playing hybrid armies.
One change I have considered is making the terminators into a single unit of paladins (maybe 6 or 7) and sticking Coteaz with them. Currently he doesn’t really have anywhere to go, and this would make him vaguely useful.
The acolyte loadout also sucks, in my head anyway. I am not sure what works with these guys (or even if acolytes are the way to go), so advice would be appreciated. I thought about making one into a unit of servitors and maybe a jokaero in a chimera and putting Coteaz with them.
Thanks for reading everyone. I look forward to hearing any feedback!
I've found that with henchmen you do need a few of them...they are so easy to kill once demeched that you do need 5/6.
ReplyDeleteSo i'd keep that, but I'd run them at 5 each.
With the leftover points and the points saved from the drop from 6 - 5 acolytes, give them a gun! A boltgun is a single point right? Throw those in..if you can throw in Storm Bolters then even better!
This at least gives them a purpose.
On the otherhand, there is a temptation to use them outside of their metal box if you've paid the points for a gun...
This leads to death.
That said, you do have a strong scoring presence in the Terminators....I'd keep them as Troop Termies personally...
good advice, thanks Ven.
ReplyDeletewhat do you think of the list overall? any glaring weaknesses that need addressing, or is it reasonably solid?
also, where would you put Coteaz?
I like the list - its a good (better) variation of the list you played against me.
ReplyDeleteDreadknights are tough, superstars? No. But they do draw away quite a lot of fire power from the rest of the list, or run ragged. Either which way.
Coteaz is situational - where your punching the terminators + purifiers forward - he could be a big help there. If you need a "solid defence" for example 2 objectives - he's handy to throw in on the objective holder acco's? Gives them a bit more durability + stubborn to make them less likely to high tail off the edge of the board.
I love that dread - really want to try and make that lol.
I like the list, I think it has a lot of cool tools, a good scoring core, tough dudes in the termies (who give and gain added protection to/from the Dreadknight...ap1/2 etc. except vs DE - mass poison or blasters)
ReplyDeleteGood combat potential in the termies, but not lethal.. still, great for finishing stuff off or taking on tact squad equivalents.
No Hammer-style units which keeps effectiveness up overall.
Perhaps mount up the termies into one unit, just to keep KP count lower/tougher in balance with easier troop KPs available?
Finish those points off with Acolyte guns as previous comment and good to go...
Well..test anyway.. ;)