When 10th edition Warhammer 40k was released, Peter told us what he would do with Orks in the new edition. Despite being a primarily Age of Sigmar site, this has proven to be a popular article and so (eventually) we are expanding the series. Now feels like the right time with a flood of codecies arriving now.
Grey Knights, those esoteric psychic warriors, raised at the end of the Heresy as the final bullwark against Chaos. Grey Knights date back to the origins of 40k (in rouge trader) getting their first army list in 2nd Edition and a full plastic range in 5th edtion. It’s still with us today.
Grey Knights are bar none the fastest army in the game. Their Army Rule, Teleport Assualt, lets you pick up 2 units (at 1000pts) at the end of your opponents turn and deepstrike them in your next movement phase. They have two (2) detachments, Teleport Strike Force and Warpbane Task Force. We’ll be building around the Warpbane Task Force folr the rerolls.
As with all these articles, there are some affiliate links for Element Games (UK) and Amazon (US) if you want to buy them. But Bricks and Mortar first! You’ll miss your FLGS if it shuts down.
Combat Patrol Grey Knights
The Combat Patrol is filled with goodies and makes for fantastic savings when you’re starting out in collecting an army for 40k. They are RRP of £100 (US/UK), $238 (AUD), but most FLGSs provide a discount on this.
Inside the box you get:
1 x Grey Knights Librarian (NA separately) [£25]
1 x Nemesis Dreadknight [£44]
5 x Grey Knight Terminators/Paladins [£37]
5 x Strike Marines (build as Purifiers) [£42.50]
That’s £148.50 bought separately with a couple of caveats, the Grey Knight’s Librarian can’t be bought separately. However you can use a Space Marine Librarian, it should be on a 32mm base though. And Strike Marines are only packaged in tens.
Halving the discount because you only get 5 Strike Marines we still have a saving.
Total So Far
There’s no way around this, Grey Knights are a very elite force. This is already 665 points our of the 1,000 pts.
Getting to 1,000 points
To get to 1,000 points we only need another 2 boxes
And that’s it. Together we have 995 points.
With Grey Knights you are paying for that mobility, they have had a lot of point increases during tenth edition.
Codex Costs
As everyone who buys from Games Workshop knows, once you’ve got the models you’ll need the Codex. Grey Knights are listed as Space Marines (everywhere) but unlike other chapters they have their own codex (to be released). For now though you only need an index, available free from Games Workshop
Total so far at RRP: £186.50 – only Custodes is this cheap to get started with.
The Army List
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- FACTION KEYWORD: Imperium – Grey Knights
- DETACHMENT: Warpbane Task Force
- TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 1000pts
+ - WARLORD: Char1: Brotherhood Librarian
- ENHANCEMENT: Radiant Champion (on Char1: Brotherhood Librarian)
- NUMBER OF UNITS: 6
- SECONDARY: – Bring It Down: (2×2) – Assassination: 2 Characters
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHARACTER
1x Brotherhood Librarian (135 pts)
- 1x Nemesis force weapon
- 1x Purge Soul
- 1x Combi-weapon
- Warlord
- Radiant Champion (+15 pts)
1x Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight (210 pts)
- 1x Nemesis greatsword
- 1x Heavy incinerator
- 1x Heavy psycannon
BATTLELINE
5x Brotherhood Terminator Squad (200 pts)
- 1x Justicar
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• 1x Storm bolter - 1x Terminator
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• 1x Storm bolter - 1x Terminator with Ancient’s Banner
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• 1x Storm bolter
• Ancient’s Banner - 1x Terminator with Heavy Weapon
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• 1x Incinerator - 1x Terminator with Narthecium
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• Narthecium
5x Strike Squad (120 pts)
- 1x Justicar
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• 1x Storm bolter - 4x Grey Knight
• 4x Nemesis force weapon
• 4x Storm bolter
OTHER DATASHEETS
5x Purifier Squad (125 pts)
- 1x Knight of the Flame
• 1x Nemesis force weapon
• 1x Purifying Flame
• 1x Storm bolter - 4x Purifier
• 2x Nemesis force weapon
• 4x Purifying Flame
• 2x Storm bolter
• 2x Close combat weapon
• 2x Psycannon
1x Nemesis Dreadknight (210 pts)
- 1x Nemesis daemon greathammer
- 1x Gatling psilencer
- 1x Heavy psycannon
As an alternative to the Warhammer app, which I’d recommend if you can access it, I’ve used New Recruit https://www.newrecruit.eu/ to build the list.
Grey Knights Librarian
You need a HQ and you have the choice of 2, the Librarian or the Dreadknight if you build it as a Grand Master Dreadknight. For now we’ll just talk about the Librarian, I don’t recommend making him the Warlord in our list though. The Grey Knight’s librarian is more potent than a standard Space Marine Librarian.
Grey Knight Librarian’s have an ability called Vortex of Doom, a psychic attack, in your shooting phase that can do up to 2D6 Mortal wounds. But he can also kill himself. Here I would suggest adding the Librarian to the Terminators for protection.
I’ve used the more recent Librarian in Terminator Armour image because the model in the Combat Patrol is no longer available. If you decide to field more Librarian’s he’s a good basis. I recommend not building him with the storm bolter and adding a holster so you can choose his ranged weapon. And he should be on a 32mm but no one seems to notice.
Grand Master Dreadknight and Dreadknight (GMDK and NDK)
Your heavy hitters. With reroll ones to hit and full rerolls when in Hallowed Ground they are very efficient. Currently Hammers are the best melee weapon and in Warpbane a combination of Psycannon and Psilencer are best. I like to still mix my weapons and have the Heavy Incinerator on at least one. As always with these sorts of models I recommend magnetising the melee weapons.
The GMDK and NDK both have very good but different abilities. The GMDK gets full rerolls (hit, wound and damage) against monsters or vehicles in the fight phase once per game. The NDK gets an even stronger rule, Advance and charge, Fall back, shoot and charge. Your opponents will not like these
Grey Knight Terminators
For a 1000pt list Terminators might be overkill at 200pts but they are one of the best things to pair with the Librarian. Build them just like the box are with the banner (ancient), incinerator and Narthecarium. The combination means that they are OC3, 3 wounds that can return a model each turn. With the Librarian they are rapid ingress threat that can’t be ignore, walking forward to delivery Vortex and a devestating charge (with Lethal wounds).
Better yet you can pair them with the Purifiers for a 6″ inch charge or just to get rerolls.
Grey Knight Strike Squad
You’ll only need 5 of these guys and you don’t need the heavy weapons. Here to make your home sticky and then hold out until late game. They have a 2+ save and solid melee so are more of a threat than many opponents will realise.
Grey Knights Purifier Squad
Strike marines with more heavy weapons (2 per 5) and a psychic attack (Purifying Flame). I think they are a must have (in small numbers) for Warpbane, the area within 6″ of them is Hallowed Ground. That means deepstriking them somewhere and being able to drop 6″ from the foe. They are capable of surprising output (they can, with luck, kill a WarDog in melee) and they have a 2+ save making them hard to kill. Because they get rerolls I’ve used the Psycannon to boost them into tough infantry (Terminators, Sanquinary Guard) but the incinerator is just as valid.
WHAT NEXT?
If I was going to expand into a full 2000pt army I would pick up another Combat Patrol because you can use 10 Terminators and 2 Librarians. After then you need to decide if you are going to go shooting heavy (Dreadknights) or Terminator heavy or maybe explore troop options with Razorbacks.
Me personally, I would look at another 1 x Librarian, 2 x Dreadknights (NDKs) and 1 x Strike Squad Box. The new Strike Squad I’d build as Interceptors and the squad from the 2nd Combat patrol as Purifiers. Of course there are other options like Kaldor Draigo or Castellan Crowe to explore.
I hope you enjoyed this Grey Knights Starter Army article. How would you build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box? I’ll revist the article when our codex drops (I didn’t mention that this is my main army). There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.
— Brett
