A Heretic's questions about Grey Knights

[DoomulusPrime]

Greetings, Grey Hunters of my kin....

 

So, i have a friend who is interested in starting out 40k, and since i have an army of Grey Knights that has been lying around untouched for years now, i offered them to him.  I have a few questions though, mostly about what units he should get next, since i've never played with them, and only faced them once when their codex was new (Interceptors spread out and cast Warp-whatever, and prevented me from even deploying....still, not my worst pick-up game against a stranger, as he was only mildly smug...).

 

Well, down to business then.  

 

So the army he's getting from me is made up of:

 

1 GK character in Terminator Armour

2 units of 5 GK Termis (Justicars with Daemon hammers, and one Psycannon in each)

1 unit of 10 Purifiers (Justicar with DH, 4 Psycannon, and the rest Halberds)

1 GK Dreadnought (magnetized to accommodate either two twin Autocannon, or one Autocannon and one powerist)

1 unit of 5 Interceptors (Just. had DH, 1 Psycannon)

1 Nemesis Dreadknight (with Heavy Psycannon and Sword)

 

What should he get next?  Whats the best way to run the GK char?  Should he be run as a Librarian? Which of the Nemesis weapons are considered to be the best?  

 

I was thinking he should pick up a Stormraven or a Land Raider Redeemer.  He's quite keen on the idea of taking allies too, looking particularly at Blood Angels, Eldar, and Tau (because of their aesthetics, though i did try to impress upon him that the latter two at least are considered highly competitive, but that Blood Angels are more fluffy).  On our trip into the FLGS, he noticed the Blood Angels box containing the Stormraven, BA Librarian, BA Hammernators, and a Dreadnought.  Would that be a prudent purchase for him?  

 

Lastly, looking over the Daemonbane special rule, it seems that as long as i can DtW his rolls on casting Force, i don't really have a lot to fear as a Daemons player.  Am i wrong about that?  In an average game, i'm generating 18+ power die before using Malefic shenanigans.  Speaking of Daemonology, is Sanctic that dangerous to me?  it seems that Banishment is the power that will hurt me the most, but as long as i keep to cover, im sure i can minimize it's impact.  

 

tldr:  What should he get next?  As a Daemons player will i my face stomped it?

[Adeptus]

More Terminators, another Dreadknight and a Stormraven.

[Emicus]

I reckon he's got a big enough force already to wet his palate :) Try to get some games in, get a feel of the army, if it's the sort of thing he likes, then take it from there. There's nothing worse than going all-out buying whatever army, spending ages putting it together, then discover that the play style doesn't suit you!

 

He might want to do some surgery on the purifiers and interceptors to change the psycannons. They were great before, but being salvo they're very troublesome to work around unless you are relentless (terminators).
​Run the GK character as either a grandmaster or librarian, try things out! Divination is cool. Sanctic works for a lot of people.

 

As for purely competitive units he might wish to buy to stomp face, NDKs. With allies? Centurionstar, that's where you have  centurions and Draigo gating them around the table. Or Blood angels flesh tearer detachment, loads of drop pods, purifiers, cleansing flame, turn 1 GG either win or lose.

 

As a daemon player you have a lot of dirty tricks up your sleeve and can give him a good run for his money, even if GK have a fair share of special rules to try to combat the daemonic tide.
​He won't have flyer defence worth a damn, wings on everything.

He will be fairly reliant on the psychic phase, you can dominate it utterly.

Anything with 5+ initiative puts a nasty dent into both NDKs and terminators.
​Av 13 is a bugger.

Summon, summon, summon up some cheap chaff, not to mention free heralds and Bloodthisters. Yes he'll instant death Bloodthirsters like no tomorrow, but your higher initiative will leave a ragged wound in his forces, and how many points did you pay for it?

​I'm sure some of the more experienced players will chime in with additional cheeky daemonic tricks as well. What GK has got going for them is the preferred enemy Daemons on everything, daemonbane and force on near everything, Deny the Witch rerolling 1s, psyk-out grenades removing charge bonuses when attacked by psykers, brotherhood of psykers, psychic pilots or daemons and everything having banishment lowering your invulnerable save by 1, stacking.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

He should get a Raven to try out. Never ever get a Land Raider of any kind though, they're deadweight. 

 

As for you as a Daemon player, you are in a lot of strife. Your best bet is to spam Daemon Princes and Bloodthirsters, and try to tear his tiny number of infantry apart in melee. You are faster, you wound on 2's normally and you'll even shred DK's with good rolls before he can swing back. Be prepared to trade, GK will hit you back equally hard if they're not dead. Also, GK shooting is supremely evolved to kill Daemons. Psycannon and storm bolter tear down your invul saves with sheer wound output, 'Banishment' ensures your invul stacking is a waste of time, 'Preferred Enemy' ensures we barely need 'Prescience', incinerators and 'Cleansing Flame' delete your infantry...oh and gatling psilencer denies FNP and if you fail you save you insta-gib with 'Force' up. 

 

Soulgrinders are also good. ScreamerStar is pretty bad though. You should probably still take a few Heralds, just to keep up in the WC spam, but the GK player can always save his dispel for you major spells like 'Forewarning' or whatever. Plus, forget using psychic bullets on us, a Librarian will Deny on a 3+ with his stave.