hypothetical strategizing

[Shyft]

I've been thinking about a lot of what I'd like to do with my GKs once I get the new codex, and a few things were jumping out at me as potentially interesting.

 

Disclaimer: I have nothing against competitive-mindset advice, such as the fine nuggets of wisdom granted by HERO. I am, depending on my mood, variable in my approaches to list-building and gameplay. Short version: I don't always want to run a hyper-competitive list, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear ideas from people who think that way!

 

So anyway, Ideas, discussion, we have them, and it will be good.

 

So, Ideas!

 

I've been looking at Servo Skulls, GK Strike Squads and Storm Ravens. Also Psychic Communion.

 

alright, the basic idea i'm looking at lies in using Grey Knight Strike Squads (though regular troop terminators could work just as well), to teleport in mid-field, within stormbolter/psycannon range to let loose an opening salvo. The Servo Skulls would help me lay down a much more precise deep-strike spread.

 

To aide in this, I would prefer to employ in some capacity Psychic Communion, which would require a Grey Knight Grandmaster on the table at the start of play before Reserves start rolling. Of Downside there is that the GKGM is now probably back-field and nowhere important like getting into close combat.

 

On top of all of this is the Storm Raven (Or Ravens, if points allow). Which leads me to the following.

 

The basic idea is that early on, the storm-ravens deliver close-combat focused troops into the enemy lines, preferably at a weak point in the enemy lines. If done well, the opposing player is forced to focus their efforts on the storm raven and units now in their rear lines. While this is happening, on my subsequent turns, deep-strikers come into the field, aided by servo skulls.

 

Now the opponent is forced to decide between rapidly increasing midfield presence, the deep strikers, or the SR and whatever the SR carried into combat. At this point the SR doesn't need to remain alive, but if it does, gravy.

 

Problems:

 

It relies on a fair amount of chance. I'm 100% certain people are going to be reminding me of this and explaining when/where the random element can/will break this down. By all means please do. I'll most likely use your advice at some point! But in the meantime, I'll try to apply my own crunchmind brain to the following.

 

Reserves Roll: Baring Psychic Communion, (which is it's own hurdle), reserve rolls are random. Following that are Deep Strike results and scattering. Servo Skulls help mitigate this, of course, but it's not a foolproof plan by any means.

 

Any unit deep-striking midfield, as opposed to riding up in a tank: 5th edition is the tank edition, with good reason. Deep Striking into the field and without an easy way to position your guys can lead to all kinds of unfavorable positions; out of cover, too far away to shoot but close enough to be shot at, in enemy assault range, etc.

 

Storm Ravens: Every gun that can hit this thing is going to be targeting it, especially if you have just one. This is is going to be even more true if you have nearly everything held in reserve other than this.

 

Advantages:

 

High Mobility: Deep Striking can eat up a massive amount of terrain, and get your shooting forces into the fray that much faster. The Storm Raven itself should not be discounted for how fast it can go as well. It's able to put pressure on table quarters very easily.

 

Target Denial: As a general strategy when facing against heavy shooting armies like IG, reserving most or everything is good because it denies targets. Downside is that if luck is against you, your forces arrive piecemeal and they get torn to shreds.

 

Alternate Ideas: Instead of Deep Striking the STrike Squads or Terminators, a GKGM could grant them the Scout Special Rule. Amusingly, this could let them outflank as well as infiltrate.

 

So yeah, that's my idea. A sort of one-two punch. Storm Ravens charge in, get some guys into the enemy line, everything else Deep Strikes or walks up, forcing the opponent to split their attention.

[Resv]

One thing that you might try that I have been playing around with is adding an Inquisitor to the mix. You don't have to take his band of merry men and instead attach him to one of your power armor squads. This is an easy way to get another set of Servo Skulls, 6 total (which is awesome), and another unit with Psychic Communication (which does stack). Most people at my FLGS jumped right over the basic Inquisitors in favor of much more expensive HQ's to supplement their GM but I have found them to be a cheap utility HQ that can add just a little more flexibility.

 

When it comes to Storm Ravens there is one thing to always remember, they work better in groups. A lot of players are going to tell you that they will just get shot out of the sky in turn one. This really only happens if you only have one storm raven on the board sticking out like a sore thumb. Two should always be the minimum amount you want to field.

[Shyft]

Yeah, and really, the amount of weapons on the table that can hit a storm raven (krak missles most notably, and lascannons) early on are actually fairly modest. Oh there are exceptions of course, but 3-6 shots is not horrible imo. I'm of course aware you can see like, 12 or more, or twin-linked.

 

Having an inquisitor on the table alongside a regular squad of GKSS or GKTs would actually serve my purposes very well! I would be able to put my GKGM/Librarian in the storm raven along with paladins or purifiers, to charge into the enemy lines!

 

so if a basic inquisitor is an HQ choice, that leaves 3 Elite spots. I love paladins more for going into assault than Purifiers (which I feel are better for counter-charges). So Ideally, I'd like a squad of pallies, a vindicare assassin, and either another paladin squad or a purifier squad. Note that I'm almost 100% certain that purifiers are just as good at charging into battle as paladins, It's just a perception/preference deal.

 

and yes, two storm-ravens would be choice, I only physically have one though, heh.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Dude thats pretty much my strategy in 2,000 points or higher. Ride Grandmaster and Librarian in Stormravens with Terminator/Purifier bodyguards, seed 2-3 skulls in enemy's face, bring on Strike squads on Turn 2 and focus my shooting+assault on a section of the enemy army.

 

I'd recommend an Inquisitor only if you really can't afford the Grandmaster+Librarian combo. But yeah, unless you mechanise with Rhinos, Deepstriking off servo-skulls is really the only other way to get those Strike squads into the mid-field quickly. By combining with a Stormraven Terminator/Purifier lightning assault, you can soften up the targets you need to die, then assault the things you don't want shooting up your precious Knights. The good part about it is that Deepstrike and Stormravens can fly/land behind any 'bubble-wrap' or tank walls the enemy puts up.