While the release of 8th Edition is still just under two weeks, pre-orders are on fire, and most importantly, stores have the rulebooks, starter sets and indexes for customers to browse through and get a pre-emptive jump on the release!
I had a chance this weekend to sit down read all five of the Indexes; and when I say read, I mean flip the pages at blinding speed as I tried not to have a mental overload when faced with the colossal information dump directly into my brain! The amount of content in these books is brain-melting…
While flicking through, a few surprises lay within the pages. Firstly, several units were missing from the indexes; most notably, the Astra Militarum's Vendetta. Now, before anyone loses their minds, before you go rip apart your most beloved conversions, there may still be hope for you. Forge World is releasing Indexes alongside the Games Workshop ones. I don't know entirely what to expect from these books yet, but I know that all the Forge World products will be getting rules. This may include units that we did see in 7th, but aren't currently seeing in 8th, as things like the Vendetta had upgrade packs available from Forge World. It wouldn't surprise me to see some units slip away into obscurity, as has been the way in past editions (Doom of Malantai? What Doom of Malantai?), but for the most part, most every unit is present and accounted for.
The other surprise to me was the inclusion of a couple of dark horse units making their triumphant returns! If you were involved in 40k when Apocalypse first hit the scene, you would remember the Terminus Ultra, a Land Raider variant sporting three Twin Lascannons and two Lascannons at the expense of all transport capability; a titan-killer if there ever was one. I was genuinely shocked to see this tank make an appearance.
I could go on and on and do a full break down of every single faction, but we don't have all day. So, i decided to knuckle down, narrow my crosshairs and tackle an army close to my heart, and one manageable enough that I can well and truly wrap my head around this edition without overwhelming myself with a massive array of units.
My trusty Grey Knights!!
Grey Knights have been given the tools to dish out some serious hurt. Firstly let's look at their army special rules, then I'll give you a breakdown of my initial 2000 point list.
Being marines that are so inclined toward the Imperium, all Grey Knights "Shall Know No Fear" (seems appropriate, considering these tough-as-nails super troopers kick down the gates of hell on a regular basis just to remind the Chaos Gods what's good) which allows them to re-roll failed morale tests.
They're also Daemon Hunters, which gives them re-rolls to all wounds in combat against daemons! Pretty nifty, but fairly situational…
Teleport Strike is a crucial, powerful factor that opens up tons of tactical options for this army. Most infantry (Purgation and Purifier squads excluded) have the ability to be held in reinforcement to drop in at the end of any of my movement phases, 9" away from enemies, allowing me to hit weak points and expose vital elements of my enemy's force.
Lastly, Rites of Banishment tackles the glaringly obvious problem posed by a whole army of Psykers having access to Smite. The range of Smite for all Grey Knights has been reduced to 12" instead of 18", and only does one mortal wound instead of D3 (unless you're a daemon, in which case, hold onto your undies and cop three mortal wounds to the face!). This makes total sense and puts an appropriate limit on what would otherwise be a ridiculous, abusable avenue of damage output!
We also got a re-worked, condensed Psychic Discipline.
Purge Soul is similar to its previous incarnation, able to clip a few wounds off units if dice go my way.
Gate of Infinity essentially takes Teleport Strike and wraps it up in a neat little psychic package that any unit can use during the game, without having to sit in reinforcements for too long.
And lastly, the star power, the jewel of the Ordo Malleus' eye; Hammerhand. Most of you know now that To Wound is much simpler now. you're either higher, equal or lower. The only other modifiers are if you're double strength than the toughness of the target. Hammerhand is a straight +1 To Wound in combat. Not +1 Strength, not some petty buff. +1 To Wound. To put this in perspective, a S4 Strike marine goes to S5 with a Halberd as a basic stat. With Hammerhand, I'm wounding T8 vehicles (Stompas, Land Raiders, Imperial Knights to name a few) on a 4+. And did I mention that all Nemesis Weapons do D3 damage? Needless to say, Grey Knights are bringing the heat to close combat!
So, on a fundamental level, these are the core building blocks upon which all Grey Knight Brotherhoods will be built! All in all, I'm very happy with the "army rules". When we first got a teaser about Smite, I knew that Grey Knights would be hindered some way to prevent abuse of this; otherwise it would be a matter of Teleporting in and Smiting key elements off the board in a display of psychic might and mind bullet…ness? It's still a handy tool to have in my powerful (but still relatively limited) arsenal.
Speaking of, Grey Knights are still dreadfully limited in their options. While they are spoilt with piles of different Nemesis weapons (which are pretty crazy, especially if there's someone that needs their soul sucked out!), they are still very, very limited in ranged weapons. Storm Bolters, Psycannons, Psilencers and Incinerators. Aside from vehicles, thats literally it. Dreadknights get bigger versions of those guns, but that's still pretty much it. In a way, I enjoy the harsh limits of this faction, because it condenses the information I need to absorb. Experience will tell.
With the basics laid out for you, I want to present you with my first list.
Grey Knights
2000 Points
Battalion Force Organisation (+3CP)
HQ - Lord Kaldor Draigo
HQ - Brotherhood Ancient w/Nemesis Force Staff
Troops - 5 Strike Marines w/2 Nemesis Swords, 2 Nemesis Halberds, 1 Psycannon
Troops - 5 Strike Marines w/2 Nemesis Swords, 2 Nemesis Halberds, 1 Psycannon
Troops - 10 Strike Marines w/6 Nemesis Halberds, 2 Nemesis Hammers, 2 Incinerators
Troops - 10 Terminators w/3 Nemesis Hammers, 5 Nemesis Halberds, 3 Nemesis Swords, 2 Psycannons
Dedicated Transport - Razorback w/Twin Assault Cannon
Dedicated Transport - Razorback w/Twin Assault Cannon
Heavy Support - 5 Purgation Marines w/1 Nemesis Sword, 4 Psycannons
Heavy Support - Land Raider Crusader w/Twin Assault Cannon, 2 Hurricane Bolters, Storm Bolter
So, let's break this down!
I decided to use a Battalion, as in 2000 points, it's really not difficult to meet the requirements, and Command Points will be a valuable asset, particularly with an elite army. HQ was the first organisation slot that I filled, and it wouldn't be Grey Knights if I didn't have the man, the myth, the legend himself, Kaldor Draigo. This guy is an absolute monster! With a S8 -4 Damage 4 sword, disagreements will not end well. I think that in most games, I'll Teleport him into the thick of it along with the unit of Terminators (who'll typically take Hammerhand, as Purge Soul is a little unreliable and Teleport makes the need for Gate of Infinity pretty much redundant) to spearhead the assault. They can drop within 12" of an enemy, which allows their Storm Bolters to really warm up the barrels, dumping a total of 32 shots into nearby enemies (not counting the pure stopping power of the two Psycannons). While a charge directly after Teleport is unlikely for both Draigo and the Terminators, I can see their charges as a worthy factor for Command Points to be spent on for added probability.
The second HQ I took was a Brotherhood Ancient, a towering Terminator carrying the banner of my Brotherhood, gifting +1 to the Leadership and Attacks of nearby Grey Knights. I also gave him a Staff to increase his Invulnerable to keep him alive for as long as possible. While I can scrape him in under the Reinforcements threshold (Draigo and his entourage are almost 750 points!), he will typically ride his chariot, the Crusader! Accompanied by 10 Strike Marines with an array of close quarter weapons of death (multiple Halberd attacks with Hammerhand! Well, I've already mentioned what they can do…), this creates a second hammer combination of units capable of tackling the most fearsome foes! My original thought was to run Purifiers in place of the Strike Marines, but the difference in points was prohibitively large. And in assault, there is not really a huge difference between the two. I say this now, but the dice will surely make me eat my words.
I actually love the fact that the Banner Terminators (there's also a Paladin version) and Apothecaries are heroes now! It changes them from being mandatory unit upgrades to powerful heroes that impact heavily upon the game!
With these two Heroes and their retinues, I have two potentially devastating strongpoints. While these are both very obvious threats, they aren't really in the business of subtlety. Nothing says "I'm about to tear your jaw off and beat you to death with it" quite like a Land Raider full of psychically infused super soldiers with magic spears and hip-fired heaven bullets!
With a huge chunk of my points spent on very few models, I knew that I needed bodies and survivability to compete in scenarios. While I had already purchased two of my three troops choices, I really wanted to add some firepower and support for the Land Raider. Two more units of five Strike Marines with Psycannons mounted up in Razorbacks with Twin Assault Cannons (12!! 12 Shots at S6 -1!! Start spinning those barrels), while a five man Purgation Squad would fill the role of backfield objective campers and gladly sit on a key position in cover and kick out 16 S7 shots while hiding behind the relative safety of a 2+ save.
So, I have my two Hammers to take the fight to the enemy and get up in peoples grill, two mechanised squads to push up, claim objectives and lay down suppressive fire, and a small firebase to hammer threats from afar (and when I say afar, I mean a measly 24"…). This army gives me tons of mid-strength, mid-range shooting (32 S7 Psycannon Shots, 36 S6 Assault Cannon Shots and more bolter shells than a man should ever have access to) which should give me the tools to whittle down units and give light and medium vehicles a kick in the tracks, while my two empowered Hammer units are my answer to things such as Imperial Knights and other large, tough models. Hey, I didn't necessarily say it was a GOOD answer… I think Draigo will definitely be a star of the list, as now he will be much harder to kill before he starts swinging the Titansword.
Now, I'm self-aware enough to recognise that my list has some blinding weaknesses. Model count is the obvious one. With only 37 Infantry and 3 Vehicles, every body that hits the floor is going to hit me hard. If one or both of my spearheads get blunted (as they inevitably will be), I am going to be up against it!
The other one is facing hordes. While I have a ton of high rate-of-fire shooting, an experienced player will know that you can't kill everything, and that the masses of Orks or Tyranids will hit my line eventually, and when they do, my D3 Damage Nemesis weapons will be all but useless against a unit of thirty one-wound models. I'll have to play smart and prioritise targets to get the most out of my units!
It's satisfying to see that the strengths and weaknesses of Grey Knights have stayed true in the transition to the new edition. Now that I've had a chance to see rules and plan lists (and finally use that hobby cash that has been burning a hole in my indecisive pocket), its full steam ahead for the Brotherhood. I'm busy getting 1000 points painted to start making battle reports, but the 2000 point list above is the main goal. I'm sure the entire list will be tweaked after a few games, but I think it gives me a solid foundation of units with which to build upon and mix and match as I see fit!
I'd love to hear your army plans for diving into 8th Edition!
Thanks for reading,
Throw Dice, Have Fun
Gabe
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