Grey Knight HQ Choices

[ChaosPhoenix]

I started working on a new Grey Knights list and the HQ choice is giving me a tougher time than expected. The general choice is between Libby, Grandmaster and... both. So I hope, I can leech some of your brainpower.

Here are some general thoughts:

 

Grandmaster

Grand Strategy: More scoring units is nice, because I mostly have only two Strike Squads

More wounds/ tougher to kill in cc

Blind Grenades/ Rad Grenades/ Psycho-Freakout Grenades (forgot the name)

Another (expensive) PsyCannon

 

The Grandmaster is okay in melee, can add some firepower. While psibolts won't be worth it for the single unit price, an Incinerator or PsyCannon might be worthwhile. He buffs his unit with defensive grenades and debuffs the enemy unit with -toughness and a chance of devasting debuff. But his grenades work only in the first round of close combat. With Grand Strategy he is able to change your army, including more scoring units or counter-attacks.

 

Librarian

Buffs nearby units with +1Str/ +1d6 Pen/ ini 10/ stealth

More Squishy than Grandmasters

Generally Cheaper than Grandmasters

 

He is able to share some his buffs with all units in your army, if they are in range, but he lacks the grenades and heavy weapons. Shrouding an Sanctuary can boost your defensive capabilities to the max.

 

While the Librarians buffs are generally stronger and can benefit different units, do we really need them? Most units don't want to go into close combat anyway, so do we need might of titan? A rad grenade does practically the same thing, except for armor. We loose armor penetration, again bad for tanks. Quicksilver greatly benefits the "kill it before it kills us" mentality Grey Knights need, won't we kill most things first anyway? Heavy armored combat units, get eaten by I6 Purifiers. Fast (high ini) close combat units are light armored most of the time. So we better stay away from them and shoot anyway.

That being said, I really like Shrouding and Sanctuary, if a Paladin-Roadblock is standing somewhere in the midfield (on an objetive at best). Combined with a Grandmaster with defensive and rad grenades, you can really take the ooomph out of a Dark Eldar close combat attack. But it's very expensive and useless if your roadblock gets avoided.

 

So the Librarian is more flexible, but maybe not needed. The Grandmaster is great, but maybe in the wrong place and both are good, but expensive. What do you think?

[Fred Johnson the 3rd jr]

It really, truly, entirely depends on what else goes in your army list. Sometimes a GM is a better choice, sometimes a Librarian is. (And for particular builds, Crowe, Draigo and Coteaz are necessary choices, although sometimes even when optional they are a good idea).

[number6]

I often use an OM Inquisitor for my HQ.

 

Sometimes even the lowly Brotherhood Champion.

 

And yes, even the Brother Captain gets used in one of my primary army lists! :woot:

 

There is more -- MUCH more -- than just GM and Librarian. Those choices aren't always appropriate.

[ChaosPhoenix]

Yes, I agree. Grey Knights have a lot of flexible HQ choices, although I wish the Champion would work better (or at all). I was concentrating on those two, because I can't decide, not because the rest isn't good. But if you can add an analysis of the other HQs, it would be great.

 

On Librarian vs. GM, I might use both of them at first, but thats a huge chunk of points, even at 1750 pts.

[Simo429]

I still think xenos inquisitors with both types of grenades are the best HQ's in the codex but not overly fluffy.

[skarn]

I lean towards the libby (or coteaz), simply because I hate the thought of my GK being gimped against khorne daemons in combat, and I don't use DK.

[boreas]

I love Coteaz... He's pretty cheap, he gives you about 65% chance of going first with the re-roll to seizing the initiative, brings sanctuary, gives a 24" bubble of DS denial. He's also ok in CC and gives stubborn to his unit IIRC...

 

Phil

[Wicks]

Heck! I think a captain with nothing on him is strong. Put him in a small unit of terminators which is a bargin at about 240 points !!! :P

 

I hope this helps!

[BrotherWasted]

Grandmasters are the only HQ you need outside of something that requires Crowe/Draigo/Coteaz to unlock stuff.

 

I find Librarians to be incredibly overrated, tbh. Sanctuary does nothing - it's so hard to fail a dangerous terrain test anyway. Might of Titan is overkill and not noticed in combat most of the time, Quicksilver is also pointless for the most part, except on the odd chance you come across Dark Eldar or DCA. Shrouding and Summoning are cool though.

 

That, and he has two wounds. No HQ over 100pts should ever have less than 3 in design, IMO.

[Fred Johnson the 3rd jr]

Sanctuary can stop units from assaulting you at all that round. That's a pretty big deal. MoT I agree with you on, considering Hammerhand cast from two different sources stack (an IC and the squad). Quicksilver obviously is useful, unless you are spamming purifiers or terminators with 90+% halberds. Shrouding is indeed cool, but the Summoning is terrible.

 

So a Librarian is incredibly useful. Problem is he is incredibly expensive. 150 base, almost always at least 3 additional powers, and since most of the time he'll end up in combat he needs a stave so he doesn't die in two seconds. 150 + 15 + 35 = expensive.

[BrotherWasted]

More or less.

[The Holy Heretic]

I go for the grandmaster. He is more tactically versatile with his grand strategy, while the librarian is just buffs a unit - and mostly this is wasted, as libbys usually hang with paladins, who already are pretty awesome.

 

Also the gm's grenades might not be as powerful as the libbys powers, but they will always work :

 

BTW: I run mine with Blind, Rad, Psychotroke and an incinerator - the psycannon is just too expensive

[Drachnon]

I used to field a GM but now field in OX or OM inquisitor. Two reasons:

1. It can ride in Rhino's and Razorbacks.

2. It frees up enough points for another scoring unit.

[nurglez]

The librarian is awesome vs some armies, and not so great vs others. If you are playing vs a force which doesn't have that many units with assault grenades, charging through sanctuary is very very painful, while might of titan's gives great defence vs vehicles in assault. However, as I run a Draigo wing force, my ideal libby costs about 210 points minimum (5 powers, warding stave), so I often dont use him unless I'm playing at 2000 points.

 

I very much like Coteaz, though I haven't tried him out yet either. for 100 points he is a bargain, even if you are not using henchmen.

 

When it comes to Grand Strategy, I find the best way to approach it is to assume I will only benefit 1 unit with it, so any extra is a bonus :)