"Zero Day" Grey Knights

[Cmdr Shepard]

I saw you added the Vindicare to the list. He is a very valid option to counter high AV targets on first turn, especially if you have the first turn.

If you have Coteaz in your army you can increase the chances to have the first turn. However fielding Coteaz for the only purpose of granting the Vindicare a first turn shot may appear impractical.

However hes is a very interesting character in his own.

[Something Wycked]

Ah! How could I forget Coteaz! He's a decent character in his own right that brings along Turn One Insurance. Thanks for that :)

[Brother Dylan]

I suggest adding the humble strike squad to the list. One it fills in your troop selection for the list of units, two with a rhino they can easily open fire on a unit turn one as they have essentially a 36 threat range.

 

One note I'm confused by some of the text in unit 4, are you saying the scouting interceptors are in the stormraven?

[Cmdr Shepard]

Ah! How could I forget Coteaz! He's a decent character in his own right that brings along Turn One Insurance. Thanks for that :)

I'm always glad to help a Battle Brother :P

 

If you already had the first turn Coteaz will make extremely difficult for your opponents to sieze initiative, since they have to roll two consecutive 6!

[Something Wycked]

I suggest adding the humble strike squad to the list. One it fills in your troop selection for the list of units, two with a rhino they can easily open fire on a unit turn one as they have essentially a 36 threat range.

Funny that I didn't consider that point because I think of Strikes in a Rhino as too expensive :) Strikes make up the Troops in my lists, but I use them for home objective camping or Deep Strike support for the Interceptors. I'll add your idea in, thanks!

 

One note I'm confused by some of the text in unit 4, are you saying the scouting interceptors are in the stormraven?

Nope, giving Scout to the Interceptors and then plugging them into a Stormraven would do no good, since the rule wouldn't transfer to the vehicle. An Interceptor squad with Scout has a 30" assault threat range on the first turn without taking into account deployment zone sizes. Scary, eh?

[thade]

So, I've noted this in two other threads already and I'm embarrassed to only do so here now.

 

You want two ICs with Psychic Communion in your Zero Day list.

 

Standard arrival from Reserves is determined by a d6 roll: On Turn 2, 4+ and you arrive; on Turn 3, 3+ and you arrive; on Turn 4, 2+ and you arrive; you arrive automatically on Turn 5 and beyond (1+, effectively). Here is a simple format I'll use to demonstrate the use of Communion: 4/3/2/IN

 

One application of Psychic Communion allows you to choose one of two Reserve Roll Formats, as it were: either 5/4/3/2 (if you want to try and delay) or for zero-day, 3/2/IN/IN.

 

Two applications of Communion stacked gives you this awesome choice: 6/5/4/3(/2/IN) to delay (for things like a Callidus when you might need to delay her arrival by a great deal) or for zero-day, 2/IN/IN/IN. Yep. With two stacks of Communion, your reserves are in on Turn 2 on a roll of 2+.

 

Suddenly the GK are a Drop Pod force without the Drop Pods. :) Outflankers and DSers can arrive very reliably on Turn 2. Bam!

[DarkGuard]

thade you are bang on about how useful two Psychic Communions are. The best way is two Inquisitors hiding in vehicles in the corners, but a Grand Master and an inquisitor could also work.

 

However, I think you might have got the Reserve dice rolls a bit wrong. Psychic Communion allows you to add or minus one from your Reserve rolls. This only affects turns when a number would be rolled, remembering that a 1 always fails. So even with Psychic Communion Turn 4 is a 2+ as a 1 always fails and PC doesn't change it to auto. Again, 2x PCs doesn't make Turn 3 an auto, but rather a 2+, which you get with 1 anyway. So rather 2 PCs just mean you've got 2+ for Reserves until Turn 5, when they are auto. Likewise, if you want to decrease, you can still only do this from Turn 2-4, as Turn 5 is auto, and so you can't increase it or decrease it.

[thade]

Does one always fail in this case? Is it ever a "one" when you roll the die and add two to it? I'm honestly unclear on that.

 

Worst case, the format is then 2/2/2/IN/IN :confused: but then it means you can't delay past turn five...which I don't think is their intention.

[DarkGuard]

You are indeed correct about the 1s thade. For some reason I thought it was a general rule, but upon closer inspection it seems that rule is only on rolls to hit and wound, and so you could effectively get an auto in early turns through PC. However, I'm standing by what I said about auto. PC allows a modification of the dice rolls made. On Turn 5 you don't roll dice, so you can't modify them. I also feel that GW would have intended this, as otherwise you've got Terminators dropping on objective on Turn 7 with your opponent not having much chance to stop them. Plus, Turn 5 could be the last turn, so with the exception of mishaps, I feel that GW would prefer all forces on the table by Turn 5, hence the automatic entry of Reserves.

[thade]

You are indeed correct about the 1s thade. For some reason I thought it was a general rule, but upon closer inspection it seems that rule is only on rolls to hit and wound, and so you could effectively get an auto in early turns through PC. However, I'm standing by what I said about auto. PC allows a modification of the dice rolls made. On Turn 5 you don't roll dice, so you can't modify them. I also feel that GW would have intended this, as otherwise you've got Terminators dropping on objective on Turn 7 with your opponent not having much chance to stop them. Plus, Turn 5 could be the last turn, so with the exception of mishaps, I feel that GW would prefer all forces on the table by Turn 5, hence the automatic entry of Reserves.

I'd like to throw this to the OR board before we get too mired in it here; need my rule book first though. If you have it, feel free to start the OR topic yourself. :)

 

My feeling is that the reason they said "auto-in on turn five" is that by the implicit progression (roll 4, roll 3, roll 2) you'd have to roll a 1...which you can't fail. Nothing says you can't modify this implicit die roll, and that adds a nice degree of control. Granted, the chances of delaying a Reserved unit at Turn 5 even with two stacks of Communion isn't perfect (3+) but it's better than no chance at all.

[DarkGuard]

A good idea, if you haven't already I'll start it soon, and include the quotes etc. Sorry to derail this Something Wycked, please forgive me :unsure:.

[thade]

A good idea, if you haven't already I'll start it soon, and include the quotes etc. Sorry to derail this Something Wycked, please forgive me :).

I mean, it's legit; it does change my little contribution there. ;)

 

If it's me, I won't get to it until reeeaally late; going to the club after work (where I'll ironically have my rule book but be otherwise engaged).

[Something Wycked]

Not a derail at all fellas, this is certainly a viable strategy, especially when it can be done for 110 points :)

[DarkGuard]

Not a derail at all fellas, this is certainly a viable strategy, especially when it can be done for 110 points :D

 

Fair enough, if you want to comment I have now created the new thread, hope it's not too hard to read: C:GK Psychic Communion and Turn 5.

 

Obviously what you take from that thread will help you with how well you think that tactic would work.

[thade]

Well, actually, insofar as this thread is concerned, my mistake is more or less irrelevant. The idea is "zero day" here, so you'll want basically everybody in on Turn 2, no? :lol: 2+ !

[DarkGuard]

Well, actually, insofar as this thread is concerned, my mistake is more or less irrelevant. The idea is "zero day" here, so you'll want basically everybody in on Turn 2, no? :) 2+ !

 

Very true, but it's also an interesting debate for people who would prefer to delay certain elements of their army.

[Something Wycked]

Absolutely, both uses are viable. Get the units you want in your opponent's face ASAP, and hold back the ones you'd like to use for late game contesters/grabbers.

[Something Wycked]

Updated the OP with a couple of the newer additions and reorganized the format.

[Something Wycked]

After a long hiatus, I've done my last bit of work on the article. I'll start to format it for article submission- in the meantime, I'm certainly open to more ideas ;)