starting a GK force

[Vagrant]

a friend of mine bought a squad of purifiers for me to build and paint for him. seeing that he owns a game shop that does not do table top games and that he has been out of the game for a few years, he told me to build them with the best possible load outs. i have the codex and i bought him crowe as a gift. here is what i am thinking...

 

KoF/MC staff/digi weapons

2 psycannon

2 halberd

razor back/assault cannon/psybolt ammo.

 

thoughts? ideas? suggestions? :D

[Gentlemanloser]

I'd prefer to keep them simple.

 

KoF with Halberd

4 x Purifiers with Swords, 2 x Psycannon

Heavy Bolter Razorback if you've got it.

 

You could build them all with Halberds. You could add a Hammer user to the squad as well. This could be your KoF, but there are pros and cons to that. Pro, you can MC the hammer. Con, you could lose the KoF to a Perils/Challenge.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Staves are ludicrously expensive for squad leaders, he's only 1 wound anyway. For challenge purposes, a halberd is superior anyway, I6 is priceless.

 

I've found this build to work very well against most opponents.

 

Flame Knight w/halberd, Purifier w/hammer, 4 x Purifiers w/halberds, 4 x Purifiers w/psycannons

(295 points)

 

The reason you take the hammer on a squaddie is to prevent challenges or Perils wiping him out early. Also, like with Grey Hunters, or Crusader squads for Templars, having it on a squad member means he can hide behind the front rank and still attack, so you can preserve him over less important models (like the psycannons or halberdiers).

 

Once they get to the mid-field, things just evapourate. TDA is really the only thing that gives them trouble, and thats because I can't roll Rends to save myself.

 

Coteaz helps out a lot here. Firstly, he's an awesome hero to attach, as he brings 'Prescience' and another Divination power (the 'Ignore cover' power is hilarious, as is the Counter-Attack+full BS Overwatch shooting). Secondly, he brings scoring Henchmen, which means Chimera access. Purifiers love the Chimera, they can fire all four psycannons out of the top hatch and it provides more anti-infantry on top of that.

[Toasterfree]

i am going to say that even though they are stupid expensive, for soaking up a challenge the staves are PRICELESS.

 

What I was thinking about going to was this kind of set up

2 cannons

1 sword

1 hammer

1 stave (flame)

 

this still gives me the shooty that i need from the squad, PLUS the survive-ability of the staff in a challenge. even at i6 that guy is gonna get punked by a terminator, or a CH with a 2+ armor save of any kind. hammer still gives you good ability against vehicles and its good for evening out the fight.

[worloch]

I guess the first thing you're going to pick up from the answers posted is that their is no "best" possible load out - it is far too subjective.

 

More context would be good for eliciting useful feedback. How does he like to play? Fluffy lists, dramatic lists, tournie type lists, etc? Do you/he have an idea what kind of army they'd be going in; what role you/he sees them filling?

 

When I take Purifiers, I'm usually taking them as a CC element, so I put Halberds on the first 5 - fairly cheap (for a GK elite unit ...) and effective. If I'm only taking 5, I'm done. With an attached HQ (pretty much any GK HQ), on the charge they will generally wreck stuff, between In 6 and 2x HH's (St 6).

 

Now, if I'm taking 10, Combat Squads start to become an interesting proposition, allowing me to take 4 Psycannons, peel them + 1 one more off, and use them to lay down psycannon death while the first 5 go on to have some fun in CC, as above.

 

Conversely, I may throw in a Hammer (not on the KoF) some days, but since I usually run them with an IC or two (Techmarine + HQ), stacking HH usually works well enough.

 

 

There are a lot of options, most of them expensive, and it is hard to say what is best without looking at the rest of the army.

 

Based on what comes in the box though, and not knowing what your buddy already has, I'd say build 3x Halberds and 2x Psycannons. You can only make 2x Psycannons per box (without getting creative), so unless you know you absolutely don't want the Psycannons, you should probably have them.