Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Grey Knights

This article or section involves Matthew Ward, Spiritual Liege, who is universally-reviled on /tg/. Because this article or section covers Ward's copious amounts of derp and rage, fans of the 40K series are advised that if they proceed onward, they will see fluff and crunch violation of a level rarely seen.

This is the latest Edition's tactics. 5th Edition Tactics are here.

Why Play Grey Knights

Once an army so elite and difficult to play with that the mere use of them on tabletop made your dick grow three inches longer, its Codex has been rewrited by the Mattard in 2011, meaning that it now includes layers of cheese, units stolen from other Codexes and turned up to eleven, and nightmare fueling fluff abomination (but some cool stuff as well).

Have you ever wanted to field an army composed entirely of Psykers, Terminators, and units so expensive that even Space Marines will outnumber you? Do you like to buttfuck daemons and hunt Chaos all day? Does the idea of Power-Armored Creed and gigantic baby carriers gives you a boner ? Do you like to hop on the bandwagons of the newest codex so other players don't know how to properly counter your army yet? If you said "yes" to the first three questions, Grey Knights are for you. If you said "yes" to the fourth question, Grey Knights are PERFECT for you!

Alternatively, you're a vet, or you remember the days before this horrid codex. You'll find the Grey Knights to be easily one of the most expensive armies per-model, and sometimes grueling to play in a way that doesn't turn any gaming circle against you, but there's an army worth playing in there. All you need is a copy of the 3rd edition codex, the skills to splice fluff from the 3rd ed into the latest codex, and a sharpie to blank what remains and offends the senses, but can't be pulled out and replaced.

Indeed, aside from the fluff massacre, the stolen units, and some retardly cheesy combinations (1*Crowe + 3*Paladin + 6*Purifiers + 3*Stormraven + 3*Dreadknight = enjoy being raped by twelve years old brats), the Grey Knights are a pretty awesome army to play with, having really cool and customizable aesthetics and being very, very, very adaptable. There is just no useless unit in this codex, and each of them can be kitted out to do anything you wish, allowing one to build a very personal army : just have the balls to play it more fluffy-wise and less trololoptimizing-wise, for instance by leaving a couple of Paladins home and taking a Venerable Dreadnought instead. Palatanks are bodyguards for the Grand Masters above all (and Emprah knows, if there is one nameless HQ in this codex you'll take, it will be a GM) so no need for spamming : a couple of them are enough to protect the man. And do not fear to use Ward units. Although they can be used to make your army really overpowered, they have cool designs and are kitted with nice guizmos that can be fun to use for everyone on the table if your army is balanced enough.

As far as apocalypse goes, you're pretty much boned there unless you take silly amounts of Jokaero (and isn't any amount of technophile space orangutans silly?), whose lascannons are pretty much your only bet against the Superheavy vehicles that will be stomping around the gameboard (or daemonhammers with hammerhand, as discussed later). As for fliers, your only chance is to throw up as many high rate of fire weapons into the air as possible and hope something hits. Much like Chaos. It is however, hilarious to see a single PAGK one shot An'ggrath in melee. You also have Razorbacks for lascannons. And don't forget the special Apoc formation of Purifiers and Crowe, which can be absolutely rape-tastic.

In short, if you want to play this army and have any sort of respect, you need first to go here and learn the old ways (assuming you haven't done so already), and then, if you wish to use some new Ward units, do it with moderation, just as you would with vodka : few is cool, but too much can ruin the party.

Unit Analysis

Note, nearly all Grey Knight units have Nemesis Force Weapons, they are considered power weapons and when the first unsaved wound is taken a leadership is taken to activate force weapons. If passed, any models suffering from any unsaved wounds from Nemesis Force Weapons are killed instantly. This means you'll typically rip through any monsters and multi-wound infantry unfortunate, or stupid enough, to get caught with you in melee. Against multi-wound daemon, all unsaved wound result in them having to take a leadership test and are removed as causalities if they fail, though they're more likely to go down normally than for this to happen. All Grey Knights also have Preferred Enemy against Daemons.

All Grey Knight units also have a psyshic power called Hammerhand, which gives the unit +1S before combat, which is applied before any modifiers (stacking with daemonhammers to grant S10). Remember that you can only use a force weapon or Hammerhand, not both.

Weapons

Grey Knights don't have access to most the standard wargear of other marine armies. Their upgrades for their infantry are mostly limited to their exclusive wargear. These are their close combat weapons, all of which follow the above rules for Nemesis Force Weapons in addition to whatever else they do.

• Nemesis Force Sword: Standard weapon for the codex, and improves one's invulnerable save in close combat by 1 (this is probably why the Grey Knights can't use storm shields, do you honestly want to face a squad with a 2++ save?). This can be replaced with the following:

• Nemesis Daemon Hammer: Standard thunder hammer plus Nemesis Force rules. It's cheap to add to a squad, so it doesn't hurt to take one.

• Nemesis Force Halberd: Adds +2 initiative to wielder. Purifiers have these flying out of their asses. The only time you probably won't want them is against Orks, Imperial Guard, or Necrons, since your base initiative is generally higher than their's.

• Nemesis Force Falchions: Gives an extra attack, nothing special.

• Nemesis Force Warding Staff: Costs a lot of points and you only get one per unit, it gives the wielder a 2+ invulnerable save in close combat. Your enemy is usually going to avoid fighting you in CC so this isn't worth taking. Can be nice for a paladin to accept challenges or for Librarian/Techmarine to protect their asses from powerfisting.

The Grey Knights all start with storm bolters, which squads and characters can spend points to buy psybolt ammo to give it an extra point of strength (this also applies to vehicles). They can be replaced with the following:

• Psilencer: Nice silencer pun, asshole. A gatling gun that fires off six shots a turn at strength 4 and wounds daemons on a 4+ if whatever you'd roll otherwise wouldn't get a better roll. Let me tell you why you will never take one: First of all, it is meant to help you wound high toughness Greater Daemons, all of whom have toughness 6. The other two GK special weapons, the Incinerator and much beloved Psycannon, both wound these kinds of models on a 4+ or more already so the Psilencer's killing power is completely redundant. A shame, for this is quite a cool item fluff-wise, a xenos-technology based minigun shooting not bolts, but projectiles of raw psychic power. Its heavy version on the Dreadknight is still worth considering as it is the only multi-shot ranged weapon available to that unit. Shooting a Greater Daemon with a heavy psycannon is great for 1 hit that will wound on a 3+, but pumping out 12 shots that will wound on 4+ is arguable better.

• Incinerator: Strength 6 AP 4 flamer. Not a bad choice, but generally the psycannon is a better pick. Hilariously destructive against Blobguard, Blobtau, and Blobanids though, fire it and watch instant death melt those hundreds of units away. I've seen just a few incinerators table hormagaunt spam lists with ease.

• Psycannon: both the good ol' signature ranged weapon of Grey Knights and the shit responsible for 20% of the rage directed against them, a strenght 7 PA 4 rifle with two firing modes: 2 shots as an assault weapon or 4 shots as a rending heavy weapon if the shooter didn't move on this turn. It is always fired in the latter mode if the model using it is in terminator armor. Is by far the most used of the ranged weapons, for being both cheesy and awesome : it fires silver-tipped bolts covered with anti-daemonic symbols and impregnated with massive amounts of psychic energy, making it able to tear holes in motherfucking tanks.

HQ

• Lord Kaldor Draigo - HE MAKES IT HAPPEN - The obligatory "super special character who costs more than a Land Raider" of this Codex. Creed has donned his robe and wizard hat Terminator armor and gotten hold of some of the shiniest toys mankind has to offer, making him an outrageously powerful fighter, nearly impossible to kill (2+ armor, 3+ invuln, Eternal Warrior) and a nightmare against any dedicated Daemon player, or any psykers because his sword (a regular force weapon, not a Nemesis one, meaning no 2+ invuln, you powergamer) becomes strength 10 when fighting either. Even the Swarmlord and Mephiston should fear him (not Mephiston due to his artificer armor). Additionally, if you ever wanted to field a 1,000 point army consisting of 14 models, he makes Paladins Troops. On the other hand, he sucks in the shooting phase (with just a storm bolter and an anti-daemon/psyker flamer attack that he hardly needs either), and now he'll have serious trouble with trying to take on other Terminators as his force weapon is AP3 to which Termies and their equivalents can take their 2+ save against.don't forget he get grand strategy.

• Grand Master Mordrak - A Grey Knight Grand Master with a Daemonhammer, who can perfectly deep strike on turn one. Mordrak is unique in that he isn't an Independent Character; instead, he's always accompanied by a unit of up to 5 Daemons Ghost Knights. Ghost Knights are standard GK Terminators who can't take any upgrades at all, apart from a Brotherhood Banner or alternate Nemesis weapons, but they get +1 to cover saves (mostly useful against plasma/melta), and can spawn more if Mordrak takes a hit. However, if Mordrak dies, the entire unit dies, so watch out for units that can pick their targets. Because of 6-th edition focus fire rules and ghost knights' Stealth Mordak would ALWAYS be focus-fired down the turn he deepstrikes, so he is now absolutely useless get the Stealth benefit as as well as long as at least one Ghost Knight is alive, since models with Stealth now pass it on to their whole unit.

• Brother-Captain Stern - A solid close-combat character, pretty much a standard Brother-Captain with a force sword, with two gimmicks. His first gimmick is the Strands of Fate ability, in which he can reroll a single to-hit, to-wound, or saving throw per turn; however, for every such roll you take, your opponent also gets to make the same kind of roll. Don't go abusing it or a canny opponent will use it to screw you over. His second gimmick is his psychic power Zone of Banishment, which makes Stern forgo his normal attacks, but causes every unit within 6" of him (friend and foe) to make a Strength test or be instantly removed as a casualty (and Daemons have to reroll this test if successful). This can be very risky if he's got a squad following him (as any respectable Independent Character should), but it makes him an absolute rape-train against tarpits.

• Castellan Crowe -Your average Brotherhood Champion with a better statline some extra toys and +50% points also. Sacrifices Force Weapon for a Daemon sword a stick that's considered a normal weapon, rends on 4+, and makes units assaulting you gain Furious Charge and re-roll to hit (Yes, he buffs your enemy if they charge you; this increases the chances of being able to Heroic Sacrifice something really nasty if you deploy him right). In 6-th edition 4+ rending is EXTREMELY cool, because this one of the few non-monstrous AP2 (most of the times) close combat weapon without that "unwieldy" bullshit, and it autowound ANYTHING up to and including biotitans on 4+. Also remember that he's a Purifier and therefore gets the Purifier psychic power described below. He's a surprisingly good one man tarpit against hordes (think Ork Boyz or Gaunts) since he wounds half of them each turn in combat and can stay there for a long time with his rerollable 2+ and 4++. Not really worth it unless you're planning on bringing massive amounts of Purifiers (which he makes Troops), which you should really consider doing, since Purifiers are the shit. In short if you want to spam psycannnons from hell to breakfast, Crowe is the tax GW makes you pay for that tactic. Otherwise, you should be looking elsewhere.

• Grey Knight Grand Master- Your big customizable HQ choice, and by far the fuckingest unit of this army, no matter which codex you're talking about. Although he costs a lot more than a regular marine commander with similar stats besides having BS6, he is a pysker, comes with terminator armor, and can equip any of the Grey Knights' heavy weapons, meaning he can actually take advantage of his high BS (an Orbital Strike Relay gives him some fucktastic firepower, but the shots always scatter, and even terminator armor doesn't let him move and fire ordnance, so even though that offers a powerful long range weapon that, thanks to its three different modes, can be useful against almost anything, leave it on the weapon rack). He can also take all the stuff available for Grey Knights, including rad & psychotroke grenades (the latter letting so much hilarity ensue : it's damn uproarious to eat popcorn and watch the Swarmlord cowering in fear, Black Templar Terminators beating the fuck out of each other, or twenty Ork boyz having so many different bad trips that the battlefield becomes the film set for Gremlins 3). In a nutshell, he can be kitted out to take on practically anything. His main selling point, however, is Grand Strategy. Grand Strategy gives a special skill to D3 of your units. Including scouting. Yup. This makes a nameless character better than Creed. The following Grand Strategy abilities are:
  • Hammer of Righteousness: Lets the unit(s) re-roll any to-wound rolls of 1 for the rest of the game. Maybe you could take this if you feel like fooling around with units full of daemon hammers or are using a ton of pyscannons against stuff that they'll wound 2s, but you have better options.
  • Shield of Blades: Gives the unit(s) counter-attack. Pretty good choice, letting your opponent know that your unit is going to really inflict some pain in close combat if they don't get to charge. If you're using Draigo and a Paladin army, this is good choice.
  • Spear of Light: Gives a unit scout, which isn't as good now with outflanking getting nerfed meaning you can't combo those together.
  • Unyielding Anvil: This name makes no sense, eh whatever. This lets the selected unit(s) claim objectives as if they were troops. Unless you're using Draigo to make Paladins troops, this is probably your best pick.

• Grey Knight Brother-Captain - Pretty much the same as a Grand Master, with the same options. Only difference is that he doesn't have Grand Strategy, can't take Psy Mastery Level 2, has one less BS, and is 25 points cheaper. Is mostly overshadowed by other choices, many players will gladly spend the extra points for Grand Strategy, and if they don't want to spend as much they'll usually get an Inquisitor.

• Brotherhood Champion - The only Grey Knight (as in, not an Inquisitor) HQ choice to not wear Terminator armor, though he does still have have artificer armor (so he can fit in Rhinos and Razorbacks). The Brotherhood Champion causes the unit he's in to re-roll failed rolls to hit on the charge, so he's the closest thing to a Chaplain the Grey Knights get, and also gets to re-roll his failed rolls to wound. He has better WS and I than the other Grey Knight HQs, but can't replace his weapon and the only wargear choices he gets is upgrading his storm bolter with psybolt ammo (this can turn off some players). He's also unusual in that he doesn't attack normally and he has to pick one of three stances in the assault phase. "Sword Storm" has the Champion make a single attack against every enemy in base contact with him (so stick him in the thick of it); "Blade Shield" means he does not attack but can reroll any saving throw he's called upon to make (worthless, you're supposed to kill the enemy, not wait for them to kill you); and "Rapier Strike," which performs D3 Initiative 10 attacks (+1 if he charged) to any Independent Character or Monstrous Creature in base contact. If he dies in melee combat, then he can perform a psychic test to perform one final attack against another enemy model; if it hits, the enemy dies, no saves allowed. He only has one Wound, too, which means he may very well end up using this attack. Can be useful as an expensive "torpedo" unit against even more expensive enemies like Tyranid critters.

• Librarian - Fuck, we love this guy. A psychic specialist, wears Terminator armor and has a psychic hood. He can take as many psychic powers as he likes and can be upgraded to cast up to three of them per turn (which is probably the reason Grey Knights have no pysker special character), but you have to pay for each psychic power you take, so don't take anything you won't need. What make him awesome, however, are precisely his powers. He has access to Smite and Vortex of Doom from the standard marine Codex, and a ton of other choices that make him a deadly HQ in any phase:
  • Quicksilver, which makes a target friendly unit within 6", including the Librarian and the one he's attached to, Initiative 10. You probably won't use this too much because of the initiative bonus granted by halberds, but might be handy to take against high initiative units like Wyches and Genestealers.
    • Alternate Opinion This power allows you to kit the libby and the unit he's joining (most likely of termies) with swords (for the boosted invuln) or falchions (for extra attacks) and still enjoy the benefits of being faster than whatever you're fighting against.
  • Might of Titan aka "Avada Rapedavra" which gives an extra point of strength to the Librarian and any squad he's attached to and lets them roll an extra D6 when rolling for penetration, which stacks with Hammerhand, so whatever he and his squad hit is going to die, no matter what it is.
  • Warp Rift, which uses a template that forces everything caught in it to take an initiative test or they die, and vehicles suffer an automatic penetrating hit. Your Librarian just took a level in badass.
  • Dark Excommunication, which negates all demonic gifts in base contact with Librarian before blows are struck, as if daemons weren't screwed enough already, this keeps them from hiding behind Blessings of the Blood God and removing power weapons and rending. Not as needed anymore since the Bloodletters can't ignore the armor on your terminators anymore.
  • Sanctuary, now effects all enemies and makes any enemies with 12" of the Liberian that want to assault any Grey Knight codex units (this includes non-Grey Knights) take a difficult terrain test and a dangerous terrain test. Got hit pretty badly by the new rules since units can take armor saves and against dangerous terrain tests, so you're probably better off picking something else it can still ruin the shit out of tarpits or vehicles.
  • The Shrouding, gives a unit within 6" stealth, and if it isn't in cover it receives 6+ cover. Nice.
  • The Summoning, pulls any friendly unit except for vehicles (unless they have right upgrade) to the Liberian using Deep Strike Rules. Kinda fun to watch your opponent's face as you summon Palatanks right before being charged by an ennemy unit who tought the Librarian would be their new piñata.

• Inquisitor Torquemada Coteaz : "Torquemada – do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada - do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada - do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it - you can't Torquemada anything!" [1] - Completely different from the Daemon Hunters Codex in both fluff and gameplay, but is nonetheless still loved, he's the big bad Inquisitor, with a master-crafted Daemon hammer, a psyber-eagle (which is apparently more lethal than a storm bolter), and some nasty psychic powers. If an enemy unit arrives from reserve within 12" of him, he and his unit can shoot at it, even if it's not his turn. He also makes Inquisitorial Henchmen Troops and removes the limit you have on them, so you can easily make a Grey Knights army without any actual Grey Knights. And the cherry on top? You get all of this for a paltry 100 points.

• Inquisitor Karamazov - Hang on, isn't this guy Ordo Hereticus? What's he doing here? He's no longer a Monstrous Creature anymore, despite his size, but he does have the statline of one, and has a master-crafted multi-melta (that he can fire on the move and assault in the same turn) and power sword, and an orbital strike beacon (that he can fire on a friendly unit to prevent scatter). However, he can't embark on transports and has no Invulnerable save; a single S10 hit is all that's needed to end Krazypantsoff's purges. Which, honestly, you can't really blame the Tau player for enjoying. He's an Independent Character, so you can join him with some shootty unit and PURGE EVERYTHING with orbital strikes. And he also has a nice set of grenades...

• Inquisitor Valeria - An Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with lots of nifty toys to play with. In addition to a laspistol (lol) she has a Graviton Beamer, a S10 AP1 Pistol(!) that can be fired once per game. She also carries a power weapon that lets her roll an additional two attacks, but makes her attack herself if she rolls a double for those two. Her Hyperstone Maze can instantly kill any Independent Character or Monstrous Creature, provided they roll over their remaining Wounds on a D6. Finally her last piece of special wargear means that successful saves against her attacks have to be rerolled. She's pretty reliant on chance, but her scary-good wargear makes up for her unimpressive statline.

• • Note on regular Inquisitors, all three versions have much lower stat-lines than the Grey Knight HQs, but they're incredibly cheap points wise, especially given their options. The main reason you'll likely take one these guys is because their low cost frees up a lot more points for the rest of your army. And don't ask why army book about the army of the Ordo Malleus has Inquisitors from the other two branches that are supposed to have their own armies.

• Ordo Malleus Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Terminator Armor, Incinerators and Psycannons, Psybolt ammunition, Empyrean brain mines, the Hellrifle, a Daemonblade that lets the player roll 2D6 for a random ability that might be useful or useless depending on the situation, and Nemesis Daemonhammers. Could probably benefit the most from being made a Psyker.

• Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Inferno Pistols, Condemnor Boltguns, Thunder Hammers, Null Rods, and Psyocculums. Probably the shootiest of the three, surprisingly.

• Ordo Xenos Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Needle Pistols, Scythian Venom Talons, Conversion Beamers, Digital Weapons, Rad and Psychotroke grenades, and the Ulumeathi Plasma Siphon, which is useful for defending against plasma-happy units. Unfortunately it won't bother plasma cannons that much and meltas will be completely unaffected. Good for going after lighter units. The horrible abomination called the Grey Knights FAQ allowed Ward to fix his shitty little siphon so he could give the Tau a little bit of the old butthurt for making the Ultramarines get off of their asses to actually do something. Incidentally, someone really needs to make a tournament-legal GK army consisting of nothing but max numbers of Ordo Xenos Inquisitors and max numbers of space monkeys - Jokaero with this as a banner: http://goo.gl/FRng0 SUFFER NOT THE ALIEN TO LIVE!

• Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Hector Rex (Forgeworld) - This is one buff Inquisitor. Unlike a majority of Inquisitors (well, humans overall), Rex is as strong as your average Space Marine which is shown on his profile with him being S4 (though he remains T3 like the rest of the average humans, a tear shed in pity). Equipped with Artificer armor, Storm Shield, a bolt pistol, and a Nemesis Force Sword that requires no worse than a 4+ to wound a Daemon, Rex seems like the poor man's Draigo (though model wise he's Draigo superior, the badass looking mofo he is). He also has Psyker Mastery Level 2 along with 3 Psychic powers available to him (Sanctuary, Holocaust, and Dark Excommunication to be exact), Stubborn, and let's you take a unit of Henchmen that doesn't take up a Force Org. slot. At 175 points, he's not too shabby. Also, fluff wise, this guy is arguably the biggest badass in the Imperium, he fricking flipped off An'grath before fighting one on one, and beat him!

Elites

• Techmarine - What's fun about these guys is how useful they are for everything that ain't engineering (their motherfucking main purpose !) : while not worth it for their vehicle-repairing abilities in any codex, they have easy access to Rad and Psychotroke grenades on a Power Armored body, can trade their servo-arm for a Conversion Beamer, and (if keeping the servo-arm) remain a great source of multiple flamer attacks boasted by a ton of melee attacks. Thus, don't underestimate them if you need some cheap additional melee punch or a powerful inexpensive sniper. Stick one in with an assault unit (if in can-opener mode) or send him camping far, far away from the battlefield (if in Simo Häyhä mode, as the further you are, the more efficient the Beamer is, and believe us, for a Strenght 10 AP 1 Explosion in your opponent's ass, you'll be more than willing to make Bob the Builder walk a bit), and either way enjoy the results. If you actually want to make use of their repair ability putting them in a Stormraven is your best bet, since they've been recently FAQ'd to allow internal repairs.

• Purifier Squad - A fucking rape train against tarpits. These are super-PAGKs with cheaper special weapons, Fearless, and replacing Warp Quake with the Cleansing Flame psychic power, which causes additional wounds to all enemy models in combat on a 4+ (but allows armor saves). These guys can probably benefit the most from a Razorback.

• Venerable Dreadnought - A more powerful Dreadnought, 60 points more expensive, but with better WS/BS and the ability to force your opponent to reroll vehicle damage. However, it competes with many other choices for the Elites slot; you may have to settle for the standard garden-variety Dread if you run out of room. This has become a unit of extremely questionable merit, mostly due to cost-vs-benefit. The Venerable upgrade might save your bacon against a single lascanon or melta hit, but against high rate of fire strength 6/7 shots (assault cannons, autocannons, and their equivilants) you'll be stripped of hull points regardless. The increased BS is nice, I guess, but most of the ranged options are already twinlinked (TL BS5 is better than TL BS4, but it's a difference between 97.2% hit chance and 88.8% hit chance, you make the call). The increased WS is nice if your goal is close combat, but that also requires surviving long enough to get in to close combat. And this is at a price bump of more than 50% from a standard Dreadnought.

• Paladin Squad - Super-Terminators, Paladins get +1 WS, +1 Wound, the Holocaust psychic power, and can take an Apothecary for 75 Points or master-crafted weapons for 5 points each. These guys will run over an enemy who lacks high AP weapons. Extremely powerful, but extremely expensive and don't score unless you take Draigo. Steer clear of anything that inflicts Instant Death: A single Demolisher Cannon shot can ruin this expensive squad's day in a heartbeat. Nevertheless, Paladins will get the job done. Another way to use them is to stick a couple of them with an apothecary to an Independant Character's ass and use them as "Look out, Sir !" meatshields.

• Assassins -The assassins were "fixed" in 5th ed, meaning that they lost most of their special powers. Instead they got a statline that could make a Phoenix Lord green with envy (WS and BS 8 (that's higher than HQs in this book, and most every other book), S and T 4, 2 wounds) and are actually viable to play now.
  • Callidus Assassin - Her phase sword no longer ignores Invulnerable saves, but does inflict Instant Death. The Neural Shredder also tests against the enemy's Leadership rather than Toughness. Send her against big multi-wound thickies with poor leadership (Ogryns, Ork Nobz, etc.).
  • Eversor Assassin - Comes with melta bombs, a lightning claw, and a Poisoned (2+) AP2 pistol. Pretty much guaranteed to cause some damage, and get shot to death the very next turn unless your opponent is a blind dumbass. Alternate strategy: Use this guy like Wyches and bog him down in close combat with a squad he will win against but wont kill in one turn. Easily allowing you to massacre weaker squads packed together (Those devastators should probably have been spread out, but your opponent didn't think about that, did he?) And then continue on the rampage like nothing happened.
  • Culexus Assassin - Forces Leadership tests on people shooting at him, and can't be shot at if they fail this test. His gun fires faster if there are psykers around him. Good thing the Grey Knights are pretty much all psykers...
  • Vindicare Assassin -You can no longer shoot units in combat or your own units. You can however:
    • Allocate wounds he inflicts.
    • Ruin any Inv. save wargear within 36" and in LoS on a roll of 2+, plus a wound on a 4+.
    • Wound on 2+.
    • Deal 2 wounds.
    • Penetrate vehicles on 4d6. This has become a favored tactic (along with hip-thrusting, hump-catting, and bear-blasting) for taking care of AV14 vehicles that you can't simply spam to death with psycannons.
  • The Vindicare is probably the one you'll use the most since he's one of the few decent long range options the Codex has.

• Inquisitorial Henchmen - Your Inquisitor's band of ragtag misfits, think of them as the Inglourious Basterds IN SPACE! Coteaz can make them Troops, but really, why aren't these guys Troops as standard?
  • Arco-Flagellant - Puts out 4 S5 attacks per turn (that unfortunately allow armor saves) and has Feel No Pain. Good for being used as beatsticks against low-armor units, such as Orks or lesser daemons. Can glance light vehicles to death in a heartbeat.
  • Banisher - He can take an Eviscerator, and forces Daemons within 6" to reroll their invulnerable saves. Otherwise, his statline is nothing special.
  • Crusader - Comes with power weapon and storm shield, use them to suck up wounds that would otherwise be unsaveable. Not so good for offense, having only 1 attack, but at least they're cheap.
  • Daemonhost - Fun the same way that Orks are, being unreliable but interesting.
  • Death Cult Assassin - If you use Crusaders for defense, you use these girls for attack. S4, 3 power weapon attacks (4 on the charge) and 5+ invuln saves, they can dish out the hurt (not so much anymore as power weapons are AP3), but they can't take it.
  • Inquisitorial Servitor - Well-armored and start with power fists, but are better when outfitted with heavy weapons. A cheap way to put some plasma cannons onto the field.
  • Jokaero Weaponsmith - Space Monkeys that make your guns better! Yay! Also, their digital weapons can function as either a multimelta or a lascannon (and a heavy flamer for painful overwatches), making them one of two anti-armor units in the codex. Unfortunately, suffer when taken in bulk, due to being expensive and having mediocre BS.
  • Mystic - Good for one thing and one thing only: Preventing deep-strikers from scattering. You shouldn't need more than one or two.
  • Psyker - S10 Ap1 Large Blasts. The Vindicator wishes it could do this shit. Unfortunately you need eight of them to pull off such a powerful attack, and really when has daisy-chaining eight psykers together ever been a good idea? You know, aside from the Grey Knights. They have only one wound, so if Perils of the Warp happen (1/18 chance), your enemy will laugh as all eight psykers die simultaneously. The Mattard fixed this with the new 6th edition UR. Only one whiny squishy psyker will die if you roll Perils.
  • Warrior Acolyte - Can be anything from simply Glorified Guardsmen to I-wish-I-was-a-Space-Marine. They're cheap, expendable, and they can have their wargear customized:
    • Any of them can swap out their usual wargear for boltguns, storm bolters, or hot-shot lasguns.
    • Up to three can take meltaguns, plasma pistols, power swords, combi-weapons, etc. You can kit them out to deal with nearly anything.
    • Carapace armor doubles their cost, and power armor more than triples it, but makes them a lot more survivable.

Troops

• Grey Knight Terminator Squad - Terminators as Troops, a Marine fanboy's dream come true! Oh, wait, you could do that with Dark Angels the whole time. And have them in the Elites as well. Anyway. Dead 'ard, killy, and scoring, these guys are great for wrenching objectives from your opponent's grip. However, they will get expensive very quickly, especially if you take too many of them. Unlike PAGKs, Terminators don't lose their force weapons if you give them special weapons, like psycannons or incinerators, and Termies are Relentless, so they can be kitted out for shooting without losing any assault power. They even have grenades. Just about the only thing these guys don't have are Storm Shields (though a Force Sword gives them a 4+ invuln save in close combat so quit your bitching). New edition pimped them as all 2+ units! Now they can't be killed in initiative order with power weapons, so they are even better in close combat than they used to be.
  • Justicar Anval Thawn - A Fearless Terminator Justicar with a force halberd who can stand up again on a 4+ if he dies. However, after he dies, he's a separate unit, and with only one wound he'll just end up as target practice for a Guardsman with a plasma gun. Might be good for one last "Fuck You" to the enemy, but at 75 points for a unit that isn't that much better than a standard Terminator Justicar (who is free) you're the one getting fucked. He's been slightly buffed now that he gets those character benefits and gives Fearless to the squad, but his only real use is still to force opponents at an objective to sit there and babysit him, lest he get up and claim the objective when they leave.

• Grey Knight Strike Squad - Your basic Power-Armored Grey Knights. While they're not as durable as GK Terminators (who also share the Troops slot) and have 1 Attack instead of 2, they're cheaper (You can take two PAGKs for the cost of one GK Terminator), you can fit these guys in a Rhino, which gives them some much-needed mobility, and they can Sweeping Advance, which Terminators cannot do. They also have the "Warp Quake" psychic power, which fucks up deep-strikers. Use these guys against hordes and other lighter units while your Termies handle the big guys. Keep in mind that taking a special weapon like a Psycannon or an Incinerator will cost you a Force Weapon attack or two, so think wisely.

Dedicated transports

• Rhino - Look, Rhinos! RHIIIINOS! Our Grey Knights are hiding in MEHTAL BAWKSES, the cowards! THE FOOLS! Pretty much a must for PAGKs, they give Strike Squads, Purifiers, and Purgation Squads some much needed mobility. Cannot carry Terminators, so leave these at home if you plan to take a lot of them.

• Razorback - A Rhino with a big gun on the back. Good for providing fire support for PAGKs of all kinds.

• Inquisitorial Chimera - Pretty much only good for Inquisitors and their henchmen, you shouldn't need more than one or two unless you want to field a no-GK army. In which case you may as well be playing Imperial Guard, although they can take Terminator's in them! BAWKSES, FOR TERMINATORS!

Fast Attack

• Stormraven Gunship - Flying Land Raider, covered in guns, good for transport and blowing shit up. Use them to drop Interceptors and Dreadnoughts into your opponent's midst. Also, it can take a teleport homer, which allows you to zip around and safely deploy reserves in addition to its transport capabilities. Finally, unless you're bringing lots of Jokaero, this is your only method of getting effective anti-armor into your list due you not getting the regular heavy weapons for your squads and you don't get to field predators. Seriously consider taking as many of these as you can afford to. However, instead of the badass Bloodstrike Missiles you get Mindstrike Missiles, so your only tank-killing goodness comes from Multi-Meltas and Typhoon Missile Launchers. Alternatively, you can fit it with Psybolt Ammunition for an extra 20 points and turn the twin-linked Assault Cannon into a S7 AP4 with Rending that can at least glance (if not penetrate) Landraiders and Monoliths on one out of 6 hits. And with the flyer rules (shooting four weapons at full BS, not counting the one extra from Power of the Machine Spirit), the hurricane bolters (at S5 due to the Psybolt ammunition) become a great way to tear through light vehicles and infantry.
  • Oh, as of 6th edition, this a flyer so now your opponent needs 6s to hit it, or in simpler terms, the damn thing is nearly invincible.

• Grey Knight Interceptor Squad - Your only other Fast Attack choice, these are just PAGKs with teleporter packs that make them look like something from a cheesy '50s sci-fi movie. Ask the enemy to take them to their leader.

Heavy Support

• Purgation Squad - Your Devastators. A PAGK Strike Squad that can take four heavy weapons without restriction, instead of one per five models. Park them in cover or they will die. Oh, and due to Astral Aim, they don't even need line of sight to their targets anymore (but the targets will get a 4+ cover save). Incinerator's work wonders here, seeing as they ignore cover saves. You probably won't get as much use of them as devastators in other armies since they still the Grey Knight heavy weapons are all close to mid-range, not something you need to have a squad stand back away from the enemy and fire.

• Dreadnought - It's a Dreadnought, what's not to like? Autocannons with psybolt ammunition make for surprisingly nice long-ranged anti-tank (two twin-linked Autocannons with Psybolt ammo is 10 points cheaper than a twin-linked Lascannon) but the Assault Cannon is better for close range. It's no slouch in melee either (unless the DCCW was exchanged for another gun). However, it shares the common Dreadnought weakness of meltas and monstrous creatures, though it's capable taking most monsters down with, unless they're immune to instant death, because its fists are still considered Nemesis Force Weapons. Psyfleman dreads are the bane of transports, pumping out FOUR count them, FOUR s8 shots at long range. 3 of these plus 3 Venerable psyfledreads can blow apart anything below AV 13 to bits without breaking a sweat.

• Nemesis Dreadknight - Xzibit's take on Power Armor, this unit alone is probably responsible for at least 30% of the rage directed against the Grey Knights. A mechanical Monstrous Creature with a 2+ armor save and a 5+ invulnerable save, this thing is designed to take on Greater Daemons, Tyranid bio-monsters, and the like. Slap three on the field and watch your opponent complain incessantly. However: 130 points seems cheap, but keep in mind that this means it will have no upgrades or ranged weapons at all; ranged weapons cost 30+ points apiece, and the Teleporter costs 75 points. Close combat upgrades are the cheapest and may help in melee, but you'll be down -1 Attack for close combat for giving up one of your doomfists. You may as well, because you don't get any real benefit from Doomfists, they're Dreadnought Close Combat weapons, and so a Monstrous Creature can't use them to buff himself to Strength 10. It's purely there because Games Workshop didn't want to give him one of the other Nemesis Force Weapons to make him Initative 6, Strength 10, 4+ Invulnerable save, or anything else (because giving him Falchions is stupid, and giving him any other weapon is overpowered) now according to the new rulebook and FAQ Dreadknights are now strength 10 since Dreadnought close combat weapons dont just effect dreadnoughts, and even with the Sword that lets them reroll hits, wounds, and armor pens equipped they are still S10, and since none of their weapons have the specialist rule they keep the +1 attack. Enjoy! The Teleporter does not make them lose Monstrous Creature status. Watch out for Necrons and Gargoyles, they will ruin your shit. He also is the only one non-fearless MC in entire 40k, so beware the IG psyker squad on Chimera, or even paired with Hellhound, because it could tank shock this guy, and chase him in 6’, for no regroups allowed. Be afraid of Dark Eldar players, their Venoms, Warriors, Hellions and Scourges can drop a surprising amount of poisoned shots on your Dreadknights in one turn, Blasterborn squads will rape a Dreadknight unless you take the Field. Even still just don't take it against Dark Eldar armies PERIOD. Even 10 Wyches pistoling this guy to death will kill him.

• Land Raider/Crusader/Redeemer - The choice of Space Marines everywhere for Terminator transport, the Grey Knights Land Raiders are similar to the Land Raiders used by everyone else. The standard "Godhammer" pattern is schizo, the Crusader has the best transport capacity, and the Redeemer is excellent for mowing down swarms of troops. In 6-th ed. defense weapon rules are gone, so don't fear to take Psybolt ammunition for the Crusader. Unlike other Marine Chapters, you get Psycannons instead of Assault cannons, meaning you have longer range and higher strength, for no penalty.

Apocalypse units

GREY KNIGHTS THUNDERHAWK GUNSHIP (Forgeworld): Like regular Thunderhawk, BUT EVEN BETTER. It can replace ALL of its four twin-linked heavy bolters for twin-linked Psycannons for 20 pts only. Trololo. Just remember, that with 6-th ed there would be A LOT more skyfire weapons all around.

Tactics

Anti-Armor Tactics

While anything AV 10-12 will pose about as much challenge to your psycannons as wet cardboard, AV 13-14 can be a problem. You don't have many good options for tank hunting and its important to choose the right one. The first option is MOAR PSYCANNONS. Even AV14 will eventually falter under a hail of S7 rending shots, this just isn't the most efficient use of them. not to use Psycannons primarily as anti-armour because Rending is Hail Mary faggotry even with 4-8 shots per unit, so instead invest in some Dreadnoughts with Psycannon Bolts and Twin-Linked Autocannons. 4 twin-linked S8 shots per turn per Dread is enough to push damage past most cover saves (unless you have some fucker with a GK Librarian giving everything Stealth) and is good for most vehicles between AV10 and 12; for everything else, there's Meltaguns. Your second option is a Vindicare. His special penetrating shot will allow you to neutralize armor early on one tank per turn at best assuming it fails it's cover save at long range 36 inches which is not really long range. It can be is fragile and too expensive, but this has come out as the favorite choice for most cockmonglers armies . The third choice, if by some exceptionally bad manly choice you've built a Coteaz army, is to use laser apes. Since their digital weapons can count as both lascannons and meltas (among others) they are equipped to deal with just about any situation. They also have special Monkey Powers which make ordinarily-nasty weapons even nastier. Rending Multimeltas with 36" range? Yes please.

You can also spam Razorbacks with lascannons, but your best bet is to just bite the bullet and bring Coteaz with a bunch of Meltagun Henchmen in Chimeras and use them like Imperial Guard Vet squads. Using Coteaz also lets you bring Death Cult Assassins, which you should due to dual-wield Initiative 6 power weapons that murder most everything in close combat and also DAT ASS. Run them in Chimeras so you can team them up with a Librarian for maximum rape-train (+2 Strength with 2D6 for armour penetration = they will kill Walkers as well as everything else, including Paladins).

Glance to the death!

In new edition autocannons are even more cheesy then they used to be cause now venichles have HP, which they lose with EVERY glance. So take your dreads and glance LRs to death. Watch your opponents crying. Plasma-henchmen and psycannons are nice in glancing AV 10-12, and even 13. Enjoy.

Army variants

• Draigo's Shiny Dozen: Take Draigo, take 2-3 squads of Paladins as troops with diverse wargear, don't forget the psycannons and maybe a Psyfleman dreadnought or 2, a Landraider is useful, but you will lose something for it. Below 1,500 points you will literally have roughly 12 models on the field. This army is good for newbies as it does not require much time and money to build it. A 500 point Army taking only Draigo and four squads of only one Paladin each, giving one Master Crafted, can and DOES WIN you a game against a captain with a plasma pistol, and two tactical squads (Each with Plasma Cannons, Plasma Guns, and... Shit everything plasma!), this has been proven. Be sure to play this song to your opponent when you bring this list, as it describes what they're in a nutshell.

• Coteaz Leaf Blower: Remember those annoying as fuck leaf blower lists that finally made IG in 5th edition an army to be feared for the first time in 40k? Well Coteaz can imitate these lists, using GK Psyfleman Dreadnoughts, Henchmen squads of Jokaero spamming lascannons/meltas and Warrior Acolytes packing meltaguns/flamers in Chimeras acting as MechVets. There aren't really any extras you can add to this as you're taking full Troops and Heavy Support slots, if you have spare points grab a Vindicare assassin and GK Veteran Psyfleman Dreadnoughts to max out that long-to-mid range anti-tank. Advantages over the IG variants is the stupidity of lasermonkeys, GK vehicles using Fortitude and Vindicare Assassins. The disadvantages are that people already hate you for being GK, anything that can get to close combat will auto-win, although this really shouldn't happen, only Vanguard Veterans and CSM Lesser Daemons can assault the turn they deepstrike to the best of my knowledge, everything else needs to survive for at least one of your shooting phases, that said watch out for Dark Eldar Wych lists, if you're too far forward they can pull of their first turn assault shenanigans, so against DE army that is Wych heavy(unlikely as it is) use your Chimeras as a buffer against them, also keep your dreadnoughts back as they can assault them, avoid being shot due to being in CC and thanks to Haywire grenades they have a reasonable chance of beating it and then moving onto your less resilient squads.

• Purifires: This is the way many people love to play GK in Russia. They fill out their troops choices with 5-6 Puries with psycannons on las-plas razors, one pack include 8-9 Purifiers and Libby which ride a Land Raider or Stormraven to rape everything in CC. Garran Crowe (which is motherfucking badass and has a cool look) is taken as HQ. Psyflemen dreads are used as heavy support. So you can have a motherfucking gunline which deals with almost any armor and not to suck in HtH.

What to buy

every time you buy Grey Knights, Ward gets a raise. Buy more Coteaz, and get some Sisters of Battle to provide the Inquisitorial Henchmen, thereby denying Ward his money.

Also, if you want there's a better way to use Grey Knight without having to buy their specific models. The Space Marines have a chapter similar to the Knights and it's called the Exorcists. Check them out on the Warhammer40kwikia for a complete history. Basically, they are a secret project conducted by the Inquisition in which they have the Marines possessed and later exorcised so they can gain a resistance to Chaos. Plus they are invisible to all the Daemons except the ones who are incredibly powerful. They have a mutual respect going on with the Inquisition and apparently team up with them on various occasions. This gives players a fluffy reason to field them with Inquisitors on the field. So there you have it, buy Space Marine models, paint them in Exorcist colors, and make Matt Ward cry.

For people NOT interested in being butt-hurt over the latest codex and instead just want to play /TheGame/, a good starting choice is, of course, a couple squads of either GKTs or GKSSs, depending on your financial restrictions and what amount of points you're looking to start with. For the recently-inducted, 500-750 pt. games are a good way to get your feet wet, and thus you will probably want to go for a pair of GKSSs and a Librarian [whose psychic attacks are fuck-right devastating]. A good expansion will be with Terminators and one of the more specialized HQ units, or if you're looking to have some diversity, an Inquisitor and their retinue. Invest in at least one Stormraven, a Dreadknight, and either a Rhino or a Land Raider, depending on the balance of power-armor units to terminators, respectively. And of course, be sure to ignore the people rolling their eyes for selecting the Grey Knights; Matt Ward's silliness aside, the Grey Knights ARE a pretty fuckawesome army list with a good aesthetic design for the hobbyists and, with practice and patience, can efficiently lay waste to anyone they stand against. If you balk at the Grey Knights fighting something other than daemons, well...if you look hard enough and scream you battle litanies loud enough, ANYTHING you set in front of your Knights on the tabletop will look like a daemon.

Also, if your opponent is loose with his WYSIWYG rules, the Dark Vengeance starter box provides you with warrior acolytes right off the bat. The cultists with guns can be used as almost any warrior acolyte option you can have, barring the melta guns and plasma guns. I would also like to point out that Sisters of battle actually serve a purpose (HUZZAH(?)), serving as warrior acolytes with a few weapon load outs, which is okay I guess if you only want melta guns.