Grey Knights...Here we go again.....

Waaaaaaaaay back in 5th Ed I had a lot of success with GreyKnights at tournaments and swore that id never again go back to "old faith full"
So for 6th Ed I started out with cron air (6 night/doom scythes) and won my first 2 tournaments.





All of a sudden 6th Ed exploded and the meta changed almost weekly.Necron wraith spam became huge and everyone went very heavily into troops and lots of bodies on the board.

I thought I would counter the meta with a very anti infantry heavy army.There was really only one choice and that had to be Dark Eldar! Well so I thought.It was in fact 6 months of heartache and struggle trying to make Dark Eldar work and with awful results and my inability to "stand back/hide" I just gave up and went back to the drawing board.

Helldrakes kind of guided me in the right direction.When they were FAQ'd they became an auto take for everyone who could squeeze at least 1 into a list as an ally or just go all out for chaos and have 3.
Not only do they have an AP3 turret mounted torrent flamer but also vector strike without a cover save! So that meant that 80% of troops and vehicles were pretty much useless.
This is an objective based game and in order to score you need troops on the ground.Even mighty space marines cant hold up against a heldrake so what can?

FNP,invulnerable save and transports are a good place to start. Most transports are armour 10/11/12 so you would think pretty good protection? WRONG!!!! Omg I may as well just hand over VP's before the game even started.My benchmark was a razorback.Without cover the helldrakes just vector strike and glance to death or explode your armour pretty easy then BBQ your troops inside.
Multiply that by 3 and your scoring units are toast by turn 4.
The only guaranteed transport to protect you is a landraider.you just have to hope that by turn 4/5 that you have destroyed the 3 Helldrakes your up against(not easy believe me) and then you can deploy.If you haven't killed them,your troops will get out...and be toast :-(

OK so... FNP.Plagues marines.Probably best of the bunch. 3's to wound and then a 5+ FNP. Ok not as easy to wound but a 5+ save is not the best and its an expensive unit just to sit there.Add to that the fact you would want to use max points elsewhere (probably 3 helldrakes) plague marines are not the answer.

Invun save.I'm looking at a guaranteed invun save rather than hoping to get the right attribute/psychic power. Terminators are the obvious start but yet again they are expensive and only have a 5+ unless you go all out DarkAngels with storm shields.Yet again I face the issue with points costs.

So where do I go? The answer came in the form of GreyKnight crusaders. 15 points each with power weapon and 3++ storm shield.45 points for a scoring unit that's easy to hide and can take a few hits.You can have 1 model remaining (33% of unit strength) and still rally and even use them to hold up bigger units.

Are heldrakes that scary to go to such measures.Yes! If you want to compete in a tournament you will at some point come up against 3 if you want to make it on the top tables.

Crusaders are also great for hiding in other units and taking saves.If you have them as part of a unit in a flyer,and it explodes you have 3++ saves to help keep all your good stuff alive :-)

Crusaders are armed with a power weapon.Mine are armed with a power axe so they can take out any model in the game and can at least hold up the nastiest of monsters and hit back.
They are also amazing at taking over watch fire so your killy stuff is well protected :-)

So that leads my on to death cult assassins!!! They are just as good as they have ever been...as long as they get into combat.Ive modelled mine with 2 power weapons.A power sword and power axe.Now they have lots of uses and very multifunctional.

So my troops are sorted.Cheap ,hard hitting and well protected.I need coteaz to make them troops so hes and auto take. Add to that another inquisitor with rad grenades (-1T in combat) and psykobroke grenades,3+ armour save and level 1 psyker with power sword,that's the HQ slots filled.

Now for the in your face punch that Ive missed using in 6th Ed.

LANDRAIDERS!!!! Ooooooh yeah baby!!!!

Pretty much hard as f*ck to pop (so far) in 6th ed and untouchable vs Helldrakes and tesla weapons that flood the tournament scene.

Flyers. Yes you need em to win.I know of no tournament winning army that has done it without a flyer(or FMC).So it has to be a storm raven.Add to that they are the best anti-psyker weapon in the game I just had to have one!

So the list:-

HQ
Inquisitor coteaz

Ordos Inquisitor
rad grenades
psychotrope grenades
power armour
lvl 1 psyker with power sword
digital weapons (I had 5 points spare!)

TROOPS
7 deathcult assassins with power axe and sword.3 crusaders with power axe and storm shield
7 deathcult assassins with power axe and sword.3 crusaders with power axe and storm shield
4 crusaders
3 crusaders
3 crusaders

FAST ATTACK
storm raven with multi melta and assault cannon
storm raven with multi melta and assault cannon

HEAVY SUPPORT
Land raider redeemer + multimelta+psybolt ammo
Land raider redeemer + multimelta+psybolt ammo
Land raider (god hammer) + multimelta+psybolt ammo

1848 points

So all troop units have the best vehicle protection possible.They are all assault vehicles.
If the storm ravens blow up then my 3 man crusader units have an excellent chance of surviving with a 3++ save.
The assault units really smash face and can hold up against bigger/elite units.
Lots of psychic powers but can do without them if I'm facing eldar etc etc.

Please feel free to post comments,questions and suggestions.

Gareth