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Blood Vow

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Grey Knights, how will they play versus DoA




Well Grey Knights are the rage with the new codex ready to release to the public shortly. There has been quite a few rumors floating around and many are based on the leaked playtest codex. One thing to keep in mind is that generally the playtest version of a codex is more powerful than the actual final codex. Also every time a new codex is soon to release there is much fanfare and extolling how over the top it will be. There are some substantiated bits of intel incoming now that the black boxes have been shipped off and received at hobby stores around the US. As I predicted some of the really nasty stuff has been toned down a bit like the much feared dreadknight dropping from T7 to T6 - it's basically an expensive daemon prince that has access to some good shooty and can move like jump infantry if you're willing to pay the extra points. There is also the much feared force halberd that adds +2I which will certainly be a major pain for DoA armies...



Here are seven things to keep in mind if you are a DoA player and feel uneasy about how the new Grey Knights will affect your army:

1) Grey Knights are very expensive so expect to see very small armies; you'll actually have more models on the table for once. That is always an advantage and one we seldom have so use it for all it's worth.

2) Grey Knights are expensive Marines that have access to some terrifying psychic powers like Quick Silver (I10 for the entire unit it's cast upon). If their psychic powers don't go off reliably then they are basically a small army consisting of over costed Marines. All of a sudden our Librarians and Furioso Librarians just got a lot better!

3) DoA is more mobile. The new Grey Knights sound like they will be more mobile this time around with access to some jump infantry, the Stormraven and some conventional transports (rhinos and razorbacks) but overall they have to go foot slogging, mech or a combination of the two. If they mech up then that is even less Grey Knights on the table. Mobility is one of the greatest assets to any DoA army and I see this as being one of our biggest advantages versus Grey Knights.

4) The basic weapon skill for Grey Knights has dropped from WS5 to WS4... that's huge since both DoA and Grey Knights are melee armies... We will hit just as well in close combat plus we have access to more buffs that allow us to reroll missed hits in assaults. This is a big nerf to Grey Knights, which is another boon for DoA armies.

5) Their toys are expensive - the more they take the smaller the army. Sure the force halberd is bad news for us but I don't expect to see big squads of Grey Knights all wielding them... All the better reason to take some more stormshields now if you're really worried about it.

6) Grey Knights are no longer fearless so you can actually break them in close combat now or even from shooting.

7) The Sanguinor is major problem for Grey Knights being an Eternal Warrior along with his strong stat line plus special abilities. He will make a perfect counter to Grey Knight HQs and should be able handle most of their units in melee.

I don't have any tips yet for the Inquistorial side of the new codex but I will say I plan to use my Vanguard to snipe units like the Vindicare assassin. Matt Ward wrote both of these codices so I don't see him releasing a newer codex that completely nerfs an older codex.

G

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