GK HQ Choice

[Pig Of Sparta]

So I've painted a few GK models in my 15 years or so in this hobby, but never been able to afford to put together an army. With the event of these new fangled plastic kits I'm gonna be able to finally field one. However after perusing the 'dex I'm a little stumped as to what HQ to choose.

 

Troops wise I've started with a block of two squads of GK Terminators, who'll get halberds and have magnetised heavy weapons so I can swap 'em out for versitility.

 

I've been converting a Stormraven so that has to go in the list. It's armed with Heavy bolters and plasma cannon. I'm gonna magnetise the Hurricane sponsons and hatches so I can swap them in/out as neccessary.

 

I know that I need more bodies on the board now (I'm thinking a couple of PA squads of some variety) and I'm woefully lacking in anti-armour and ranged fire support, those I'll beal with in due course (I'm planning a Dreadknight and possibly a Land Raider. I know that this isn't very competitive, but as I said this is just for friendly games and I subscribe to both the 'rule of cool' and the 'what will I actually paint' directives.

 

So that leaves an HQ choice and I've no idea. When I've posted up army lists before on the B&C I've had a tendancy to be a little HQ heavy. Now with the high cost of all GK units I don't want to sink too many points into one/two model(s) when those points will be better off being spent getting more bodies on the table. This also rules out Special Characters for the time being and as I want this to be a purely GK army, Inquisitors are out too.

 

So what would I be better of with; Grand Master, Brother Captain, Brotherhood Champion or Librarian?

 

I know that technically this is an Army List question and so would probably be best off in the Armies of the Imperium forum but I'm really just after a few opinions and I think that I might not be the only person tripping over this stumbling block....

 

any help will be appreciated,

 

cheers

 

James

[thor1234]

well Grand masters with Blind and rad grenades seem to be popular choices, he comes in at about 200 points depending on weapons, but is pretty solid with a 3++ save in CC, defenesive grenades and -1 T to enemies he charges he makes a good unit......

[Red Lost Soldier]

Grand Master will be a popular choice if you need extra scoring units, and sounds like you may need them running with GKT for troops. The versatility of picking a veteran skill in non objective missions also is attractive. He is also a match for most other combat heroes, with standard equipment. Psychic Communion can help you if you play the reserve game, but your GM needs to be on the board for that, and he'll probably be in your 'Raven most games. He is already expensive so keep your upgrades down to a minimum.

 

The Librarian is another fantastic choice, he is more of a force multiplier on the ground. I think the best thing if you take him, take Might of Titan and you can make your GK the equivalent of MC's in combat which may help you in the anti tank department. Shrouding, Sanctuary or Quicksilver to keep your small force alive, and possibly Summoning to give you versatility in the movement phase. I would again advise keeping upgrades to a minimum again, as with most GK he comes with enough equipment to get the job done.

 

I don't think anyone will ever take a Brother Captain when the Grand Master does everything he does far better, for a small points increase. The Brotherhood Champion will be a niche choice, as he is rather expensive for a 1 wound model. I'd recommend the Librarian or Grand Master.

[jimbo1701]

I'd second the votes for GM or librarian. They both have a lot more to offer in terms of bolstering your entire army as well as the squad they're in.

[number6]

There's always the terminator-armoured Inquisitor with a psycannon! That's as cheap as it gets, and quite a good bargain for the points if you ask me.

[Gentlemanloser]

There's always the terminator-armoured Inquisitor with a psycannon! That's as cheap as it gets, and quite a good bargain for the points if you ask me.

 

/seconded!

[The Rose Princes]

if inquisitors could have Orbital Relay i would be totally sold on them 24/7, but they cannot so i have to choose one and one GK HQ.

 

personally unless you are specifically going for the summoning powers (or some other libby only power), the GKGM is just so much prettier.

[Fred Johnson the 3rd jr]

There's always the terminator-armoured Inquisitor with a psycannon! That's as cheap as it gets, and quite a good bargain for the points if you ask me.

 

WORD. If the GM is looking too expensive, and ESPECIALLY if you don't need his Grand Strategy for anything grand, a lowly Inquisitor in TDA with a psycannon can be a good idea, since it is at least 80 points less than a bare GM.

 

Then again, if you don't need Grand Strategy, a Librarian casting 4 powers each game turn may be too good to pass up. But that pushes you into 175+ point range for an HQ again.

[Pig Of Sparta]

Thankyou for all the replies. I decided to go with the following:

 

GK Grand Master with halberd, psybolt ammo, rad grenades and 3 servo skulls. I ran him in a game last week and he and his accompanying squad of terminators happily shredded most of my opponents army on their own (thanks mainly to luck and my poor reserve rolls).

 

Once again thanks for the tips and pointers

 

cheers

 

James

[Haakon_Stormbrow]

i'd have to say why?

i'd personally never ever take a halberd, it is a total waist.

keep him with the sword so he has a 3+ invulnerable, he's already initiative 5 so he will go first in most cases anyway, having a 3+ invul over a 4+ far outweighs the need for a init 7 over init 5.

 

second your grand master will be str 5 from hammer hand, so you will most likely already wound on 3's, theirs not much need to wound on 2's, switch rad grenades for psychotroke, they can give you re-rolls to hit, reduce your enemy to ld 2, auto hit, reduce enemy to init 1 or cause your enemy to kill himself.

they are more fun and more effective.

 

a good trick is if you put him with terminators with a bro banner then he casts +1 str and the banner auto casts instadeath.

 

and just for you maths hammers out there....

 

take the gm with rad grenades charging every turn for 6 turns against marines.

he hits on 3's with 4 attacks on the charge =2.7 hits wounding on 2's = 2.2 wounds per round of charging, giving 13.3 wounds over the 6 rounds of battle.

 

now lets do the same with psychotroke grenades.

we will pretend we roll in turn order so 1, then a 2 then a 3 and so on.

turn 1 4 attacks, hitting on 3's = 2.7 hits, wounding on 3's = 1.8 wounds

turn 2 4 attacks, auto hitting = 4 hits, wounding on 3's = 2.7 wounds

turn 3 4 attacks hitting on 3's with re-rolls = 3.6 hits, wounding on 3's = 2.4 wounds

turn 4 (same as 1) 1.8 wounds, but if you win combat your guaranteed that they'll run or cop extra saves.

turn 5 (same as 1) 1.8 wounds, but they are initiative 1, just 1 more reason not to need a glaive...take the sword!

turn 6 (same as 1) 1.8 wounds, but they must pass an init test or the enemy attacks each other. so vs a 10 man squad you could get another 1.5 wounds, total =3.3 wounds.

 

so the total ignoring all other advantages the psychotroke give over rad is 13.3 wounds to 13.8 and this is just with your gm, if he is with a terminator squad the effects go up exponentially.

 

 

so again switch to a sword and take psychotroke grenades above all others.

[Marmande]

Rad Grenades give you the option of not always needing to use Hammerhand, or reducing an Instant Death-vulnerable Monstrous Creature down to T5 (which you can wound on 4's if you can pass Hammerhand), and for cheaper than Psychotrokes. Not to say you should never take the latter, but if you're looking to cut points that's one option.

[Sothalor]

Rad grenades also have the advantage of reliability. You always know what they're going to do, every time. Psychotroke grenades can (and probably will) fail you with its random results when you need it most.

[Brother Tancred]

Personally I like taking a librarian with sword, 3 servo-skulls and warp rift/quicksilver. Supports the termies with either hammerhand or quicksilver but can really hurt the enemy in shooting with warp rift.

 

Then again, if you don't need Grand Strategy, a Librarian casting 4 powers each game turn may be too good to pass up. But that pushes you into 175+ point range for an HQ again.

 

How do you get 4 powers a turn? He can only be upgraded to psychic mastery 3 = 3 a turn.

[Drachnon]

Personally I like taking a librarian with sword, 3 servo-skulls and warp rift/quicksilver. Supports the termies with either hammerhand or quicksilver but can really hurt the enemy in shooting with warp rift.

 

Then again, if you don't need Grand Strategy, a Librarian casting 4 powers each game turn may be too good to pass up. But that pushes you into 175+ point range for an HQ again.

 

How do you get 4 powers a turn? He can only be upgraded to psychic mastery 3 = 3 a turn.

Without upgrading you get 2 powers per player turn. With 2 player turn per game turn that adds up to 4 powers. It's slightly deceptive though as you usually won't be using 2 powers in both turns.

[lordsloth]

I feel like inquisitors can make for nice support HQs in lower point games (though at 1500 I suppose you could already go for one expensive HQ).

An inquisitor with a nice array of grenades does alot for your unit in cc. He doesnt do alot as a fighter, but this creates a problem for your opponent when choosing if he's going to allocate wounds to the inquisitor or not. On the one hand, he's not an immediate danger, but on the other hand he does do usefull things that annoy the opponent.

Alternatively, an inqusitor with psykerupgrade can do the hammerhand for your squad, allowing them the option to use their force weapons in the same turn.

Or, as was mentioned above, an inquisitor can give you an extra 3w psycannon in your squad.

[Haakon_Stormbrow]

Rad Grenades give you the option of not always needing to use Hammerhand, or reducing an Instant Death-vulnerable Monstrous Creature down to T5 (which you can wound on 4's if you can pass Hammerhand), and for cheaper than Psychotrokes. Not to say you should never take the latter, but if you're looking to cut points that's one option.

 

 

rad grenades cost the same as psychotroke grenades for a gm.

 

you always use hammerhand unless the gm is alone.

if a gm wth a squad of termies with a banner casts hammerhand then all get +1 str, and the termies are free to insta cast instant death, which affects all but the gm.

 

if you take 4 x glaive and 1 x hammer then you will kill the thing with the hammer, your init 6 termies will strike first giving a chance to kill the mc before it attacks back.

either way giving a chance for the gm and the squad to instahit/re-roll to hit/ have enemies assist them/lower enemy ld to 2/cause enemies to be init 1 is far more effective, just dont roll a 1 and you will be better off.