Allies Primer

[Emicus]

As I’m far enough in the process of drooling over Imperial Guard to have actually ordered some models (not necessarily for allies) I’m going to attempt a small run-down on things that might benefit our esteemed chapter.
Oh, and I’m not into Forgeworld. If you are, the Guard has a loads of it.
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Imperial Guard as allies for Grey Knights

Context
First some context: As a GK player you are very likely rocking some Librarians, Terminators and NDK’s. You’ve got that deep strike/shunt alpha-strike punch but you feel a bit iffy about running Deep Strike Terminators without bringing an Aegis w/ Comms-relay, and having anyone to sit on it and making it work with deployment without getting shot can be interesting. You’ve probably got a Stormraven or thinking about one, loaded with Purifiers for the wonderful possibilities. But then you can’t even have NDKs holding the Aegis ‘cause silly turn 2 fliers, so you’ve got a bunch of Interceptors that die like Marines, but at least they can take some Incinerators. Most objective based missions can be a chore, because NDKs can’t do everything and terminators without Gate of Infinity are slow as molasses and either in combat or dead half-way through the game regardless. *

*If you are running a vastly different list/army composition than this; 1, give us a run-down and 2, the following “fill in the blanks with Imperial guard” might not apply.

 

What can the Guard do for me?
The Holy Emperors second Hammer, the esteemed Imperial Guard or Astra Militarum if you’re posh and speak High Gothic, are renowned for their cheap, expendable and easily redundant units. So what are the blanks that needs filling in from the Grey Knights perspective above?
- Long range shooting. (Greater than 24”)
- Bodies that are cheap enough to sit back on home objectives.
- Reserve manipulation
- Anti-tank/anti anything at range greater than Close Combat.
- Worthy mentions

 

Long range shooting

GK sport 24” guns, and the cool ones are Salvo so either you can’t move, field lots of terminators, lean heavily on NDKs or get desperate fishing for the Relentless warlord trait.

 

Foot soldiers
For 190 points you can have 3 Lascannons, albeit BS3, but they’ve got loads of ablative wounds, fill your required 1 troop slot, can get orders boosting lasgun fire output, split fire, shoot AND run, ensure a good run move for the objective dash or cause Pinning. This is also 3 separate squads, but can be combined in to two (20 men w/ 16 lasguns, 2 laspistols and 2 lascannons, and 5 officers w/3 lasguns, 1 laspistol and 1 lascannon). Additional 3 lascannons can be taken as a Heavy Weapon Team for 105 points but they are a separate unit like the officers.
 

If you splurge a whopping 60 points without upgrades (and you can take an additional lascannon here) you can give even better orders including: Ignores Cover, Tank Hunter/Monster Hunter and automatic re-grouping, while also filling your allied HQ slot.

 

This squad can be re-jigged in many ways, but you can make a dreaded 50man blob with 5 lascannons for 41 ablative wounds on 5 lascannons, throwing in a vox caster to ensure orders and a Company Command Squad for the better orders for a total of 450 points. Costly but they will hold that home objective, your Lascannons will take a long time dying, and with Monster Hunter/Tank Hunter or Ignores Cover they will put a dent in things. Can sneak in a 50 point Psyker for Divination if you like.

 

Options include Sniper Rifles, Flamers, Grenade Launchers, Meltaguns and Plasma Guns that can be taken in addition to the heavy weapons for closer range firefights, or Autocannons or Mortars being the most noteworthy alternatives to the Lascannon. Autocannons are half the price and twice the shots, and mortars are S4, Ap6, Heavy 1, 3” Blast, Barrage for 5 points and can thus be fired without line of sight with a range of 48 inches.

 

Tanks, Tanks, Tanks
With long range options but not limited to:
- Leman Russ Battle Tank, AV 14/13/10, 3HP, 72” range, S8, AP3, Large Blast
- Leman Russ Vanquisher, AV 14/13/10, 3HP, 72” range, S8, AP2, Heavy 1, Armourbane
- Deathstrike, AV12/12/10, 2HP, 12-Unlimited range, S10, AP1, Ordnance, 10” Blast, Barrage, Ignores Cover, One Use Only.
- Wyvern, AV12/10/10, 3HP, Open Topped, sporting 2x Stormshard Mortars with 48” range, S4, Ap6, Heavy 2, Barrage, Small Blast, Ignores Cover and Shred. If you haven’t been on the receiving end of this tank and think it looks weak, think again. 4 small blasts that re-roll scatter, ignore cover and has Shred for re-rolling wounds kills terminators by weight of fire… for 65 points each.

All the above options except the Deathstrike can be taken in Squadrons of 1-3 and are all costed cheaper than a terminator unit without upgrades.

 

Artillery
Aside from the Wyvern and Deathstrike mentioned above there is:
- Manticore: 24-120”, S10, AP4, Ordnance D3, Barrage, Large Blast, Missile
- Hydra: 2x 72” S7, AP4, Heavy 2, Skyfire
- Bassilisk: 36-240”, S9, AP3, Ordnance, Large Blast

 

Bodies that are cheap enough to sit at home.

Cheapest you can do as GK is a 35point Rhino that can’t contribute diddly and is likely the only vehicle you have, which will eat the entirety of your opponents anti-tank arsenal. With Guard you can have an Aegis sitting and/or home-camping unit that fills the requirements for an Allied Detachment for 85 points (Commissar + 10 Veterans). It’s not going to win you games having zero upgrades and can’t contribute any more than the Rhino, but they won’t eat the entirety of the enemy’s anti-tank arsenal either. In addition they won’t run away from getting shot thanks to the commissar’s LD9 or ability to shoot a friendly to bolster morale. These boys have an easier time surviving than your Rhino aside from anti-tank as they are easier to hide and can also Go To Ground. Plus, you can split them up and take 2 objectives.

The next step up for GK is a 110 point Strike Squad, which would net you a nice 25 point saving.

The above long-range shooting can also apply here, will cost more points but also contribute more.

 

Reserve manipulation

70 points for an Aegis w/Comms for re-roll is all well and dandy but can we get any cheaper? If you bring the Company Command Squad, which you might for the excellent orders, you can take a Regimental Advisor, type: Officer of the Fleet for 20 points. He can take an LD test every turn to either Co-Ordinate Reserves giving you +1 to your reserve roll, or Intercept Reserves giving -1 for your opponent. 2+ Reserves? Yes please.

 

Aegis has a ~89% chance of making your reserves, and the Officer ~83%, albeit you must make a LD9 test beforehand. On the flip-side he can also mess with your opponent and save you 50 points if you are also taking Guard for other things. If you are purely taking Guard for the Officer of the Fleet it will set you back 140 points minimum.

 

The effects also stack if you want to as-near-as-possible guarantee your reserves with a ~97% success chance.

 

Anti-tank/anti anything at range greater than Close Combat

Aforementioned Foot Soldiers and Tanks, Tanks, Tanks apply once more here. However there is a virtual smorgasbord of other options. Especially of the vehicular variety.

 

Sentinels
Sentinels come in two varieties Armoured and Scout. The main differences are Scout Sentinels have Outflank and AV10 all around for 35 points, and Armoured has AV12 front and can take Plasma Cannons for 5 points more. Both types are Walkers with 2HP and can be taken in Squadrons of 1-3 coming with Multi-lasers standard. 36”, S6, AP6, Heavy 3. You can stock up on wonderful ways of killing the Enemies of Man with Autocannon, Heavy Flamer, Lascannon, Missile Launcher or the Plasma Cannon. Bear in mind BS3 but with either Outflanking or Plasma cannons, their excellent range and cheap, cheap cost they can do you right.

 

Leman Russ, varieties of
There are 8 kinds of Leman Russ. What they have in common is AV14/13/10 OR better, with some options sporting AV11 rear armour, and 3HP. Smoke Launchers, Search-lights and Hull-mounted Heavy Bolter are built in for your convenience. The main difference is weapon loadout and starts off at 120 points.
- Battle Tank: 72”, S8, AP3, Ordnance 1, Large Blast.
- Demolisher: 24”, S10, AP2, Ordnance 1, Large Blast.
- Eradicator: 36”, S6, AP4, Heavy 1, Large Blast, Ignores Cover.
- Executioner: 36”, S7, AP2, Heavy 3, Small Blast
- Exterminator: 48”, S7, AP4, Heavy 4, Twin-linked
- Punisher: 24”, S6, AP-, Heavy 20
- Vanquisher: 72”, S8, AP2, Heavy 1, Armourbane.

You can take upgrades such as Dozer Blades, Camo Netting (+1 Cover), Augur Array (locator beacon) and more, on top of Pintle-mounted Heavy Stubber/Heavy Bolter AND Sponson-mounted Weapons including 2x Heavy Bolters, Heavy Flamers, Multi-meltas or Plasma Cannons.

In addition you can take a Tank Commander or Knight Commander Pask to make the Tank a HQ unit and BS4 but requiring a second tank. Pask gives his ride an additional special rule depending on the gun, such as Rending for the Punisher. 20 Shots at S6 and rending never cared so little about AP-.

 

Ride of the Valkyries/Vendettas
Want some fliers aside from the Stormraven? Here you go. Both have AV12/12/10, 3HP, Searchlights, Extra armour and Grav Chute Insertion which is a poor/suicidal mans’ Skies of Fury.
-Valkyrie: Transport 12, Multi-laser and Hellstrike Missiles but can swap for Lascannon and Multiple Rocket pods. Take a look at the Vendetta instead.
- Vendetta: Transport 6 and 3 x Twin Linked Lascannons for 170 points.

 

Veterans
Has BS4 compared to the BS3 of most Guardsmen units and can take 3 x special weapons including Plasma guns and Meltaguns. They can also receive orders and take upgrades such as +1 to cover save or 4+ armour save. They can take a Chimera (see below) Transport for mobility and survivability with 2 fire points. This whole shebang will cost you 155 points for a Chimera w/10 Veterans, 3 Meltaguns.


Worthy mentions

Aside from all the above there is some funny, cool, great or mental units that don’t necessarily fit in the above categories.

 

Chimera
The humble Chimera is a 65 point transport with AV12/10/10, 3HP, a Multi-laser, Heavy Bolter, 2x Lasgun Arrays (occupants can shoot with the array if fire points are already in use), Searchlight and Smoke-Launchers and a lot of upgrade potential. Upgrades such as a Dozer Blade will rarely go wrong. Has 12 seats and can drive through water.

 

Conscripts
If you have a blob of Guardsmen you can take a squad of Conscripts as well. 50 guys is where the squad caps out, and the price is 150 points. “Lasgun 1p, Frag Grenades 1p, Flak Armour 1p, human filling free.” They are WS2, BS2 and LD5 but otherwise equal to Guardsmen in stats. Where they shine though is in tar pitting greater, bigger, meaner units by having either a priest or commissar nearby.  The Commissar gives them higher LD, and if they decide to run you can blow one of their brains out to make them stay put. The Priest on the other hand gives them Zealot and after a LD test can give them re-roll to wound or re-roll armour saves.

 

Baneblade/Superheavy/Lord of War
There are 8 variants of the Baneblade, if you like big tanks and firepower, this is where it’s truly at. For the specially interested: go look them up, for everyone else, here’s 2 neat variants you might like.
- Baneblade: For 625 points you can have 4xLascannon, 4x Twin-linked Heavy bolters, Autocannon, S9, AP2, Apocalyptic Blast AND a S10, AP2, Large Blast Template.
- Shadowsword: 555 points gives you 4 Lascannons, 4 Twin-linked Heavy bolters and the Volcano Cannon. Volcano Cannon is 180” range, S: Destroyer, Ap2, 7” Blast. (Large Blast is 5” for comparison)

 

Both are 9 HP, AV14/13/12.​
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I hope this post has been to some assistance. If anyone are capable of making "in post links"/anchors, whatever they are called to make navigation easier/faster. Please do so.
 

The Emperor Protects,
Emicus out.

[casb1965]

Nice write up Emicus.

Only proviso I would add to that is if you want a Baneblade/SuperHeavy/LoW you'll have to take the IG as a CAD rather than an Allied Detachment, this adds to the points cost and requires 2 Troop choices. No Commissar and unit of Veterans to satisfy the forge org rule.

[Emicus]

That’s absolutely true casb1965. But where is the line between allies and... something else? Is is only allies when it’s an allied detachment? Is it “Allies-that-are-a-CaD”? Imperial Superfriends? For me personally I reckon it’s 2 (or more) allied forces regardless of the name or type of the detachment.

However the order of listed participants should follow by magnitude.
1500 points of IG and 700 of GK is obviously (to me) IG allied with GK, and vice versa.
Imperial Knight, 1500 points of GK and 93 points worth of Inquisition would then be: GK with IK and INQ.

I believe this system makes sense and is something people could get behind. But that’s another topic entirely.
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I reckon if you are going with a Baneblade you can stomach another 60 points for a second squad of Veterans for the second Troops unit though :) so 145 points worth of “tax” units, but you could make them useful. 3 Objective holders, 2 Meltagunbunkers (Chimeras) for example. Granted the points costs go up and up the more you want them to do.

[hendrik]

nice writeup.

As a imperial guard player myself i need to warn you though that even though our units are cheap, they quickly amount to quite a hefty sum, so it's important to keep track of that.

In general i'm under the assumption that grey knights lack 2-3 main things:

-(mobile)bodies

-long range (AT) firepower

-aintiair.

For this allies are a good idea to call upon, however one must take in mind that their point cost should not exceed 500-750 pts, before the grey knight list starts to lose it's general playability (not that it does gain other benefits, so a trial and error gameplay is recommended. some of you might prefer a 1000-500 pts matchup, where others go 750-750, or even 500-1000 perhaps? find out what you like, and what you feel comfortable with.

 

let me start out on the bodies. With your low model count it's important to have enough units being capable to hold and grab (in case of maelstrom games) objectives. This is something mechanized imperial guard lend themselves too perfectly. why mechanized? sure, you can have all those men on foot, but with the plentora of maelstrom missions, how will you get that mobility? a chimera is only 65 pts and carries two heavy weapons(hull mounted and turret). A perfect troopschoice to be taken as allies is the following:

platoon:

PCS (heavy weapon), chimera (HB, ML).120 pts max

inf sqd(heavy weapon), chimera (HB, ML).135 pts max

inf sqd(heavy weapon), chimera (HB, ML).135 pts max

this is already 390 points(max,eg when taking lascannons), but gives you 25 scoring bodies, and 9 heavy bolter shots, 12 multilaser shots and 3 x the heavy weapon shots when you're not moving. However, you're little guys are also protected from a lot of weapons that could harm them on turn one while remainign in their mobile bunker. stay in your DZ for 2 turns plincking away shots at the enemy and then rush flat out to contest some objectives from turn 3 onwards.

 

However if you like this set up you should check out inquisitorial allies. they can basicly do the same, but even better!

-pros: their boltgun armed henchmen cost as much as our lasgun armed ones, and sine you can't recieve orders when you're inside a vehicle the boltgun clearly comes out on top. The HQ tax is low, and for 10 points you could get an extra warpcharge added to your pool (which is of more use i guess to grey knights in particular)

-cons:no reliable heavy weapons in the squad itself(servitors and mind lock),unless you take a jakaero (bonus point, the chimera just became a swiss army knife!)

 

my conclusions: if you want a reliable mobile bodie supplier, i would go for the inquisitorial allies. if mobility is less of an issue for your grey knights, and you only need troops to hold objectives in your own deployment zone guardsmen rock.

 

secondly, long range firepower:

There are two ways to go around this, either you take a lot of troops with heavy weapons (mobile or on foot), and try to cram in another tanks of two without spending too much points. Alternatively, you buy the minimum veteran squad, give it a mortar (65 pts) and use a lean russ commander+bodyguard tank as the basis for your allied force. this option will not grant you many troops, but it's the cheapest way to get the heavy armour in without big trooptaxes.

 

thirdly anti air:

just like with the long range firepower there are the two options: either lots of bodies via a platoon (and possible sabre heavy weapon squads as AA), with added fliers/hydras, or the bare minimum company command squad (with master of the fleet for the reserves roll) and veteran squad, with all the other goodies attached.

Personally i think bringing the extra bodies will be the better option in both cases.

[Prot]

Very Emicus, and some great thoughts Hendrik.

 

I have a fair sized IG army, and I've always been a fan of the humble Chimera. It's just best fielded in multiples imo so it causes split fire, or difficult target priority. Even mixing in Rhino's could help diversify. But a good Chimera strategy in the back of your army for Maelstrom like you say is plausible.

 

My own experiences against IG I think Wyvers are fantastic against so many things because of all their special rules, but with Grey Knights, I'm not too sure. The Manticore is fantastic... I always use it as a vehicle sniper which could be super helpful for us. By the time it's spent its rounds, your Grey Knights should already be deep into those hiding units, but until you get there, this is a good unit for getting those castled up armies, and indirect units. (The indirect snipe method is nice here too.)

 

Cheap guardman + cheap las teams might warrant an Aegis and comms as well.... or just anti air if you want. I've always had a problem leaving 'expensive' short ranged Grey Knights to man a.... wall. lol

[casb1965]

That’s absolutely true casb1965. But where is the line between allies and... something else? Is is only allies when it’s an allied detachment? Is it “Allies-that-are-a-CaD”? Imperial Superfriends? For me personally I reckon it’s 2 (or more) allied forces regardless of the name or type of the detachment.

However the order of listed participants should follow by magnitude.

1500 points of IG and 700 of GK is obviously (to me) IG allied with GK, and vice versa.

Imperial Knight, 1500 points of GK and 93 points worth of Inquisition would then be: GK with IK and INQ.

I believe this system makes sense and is something people could get behind. But that’s another topic entirely.

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I reckon if you are going with a Baneblade you can stomach another 60 points for a second squad of Veterans for the second Troops unit though so 145 points worth of “tax” units, but you could make them useful. 3 Objective holders, 2 Meltagunbunkers (Chimeras) for example. Granted the points costs go up and up the more you want them to do.

The line is a CAD has 2 troops and an allied detachment only needs 1. It's a fine line but the difference between having a LoW or not :)

[march10k]

My own preference for fielding guard as allies would be, keeping things relatively cheap, but making them a CAD, a tank commander with wingman as HQ and two veteran squads with the forward sentries doctrine, autocannons, and chimeras.  That gives you two russes, two empty superscoring chimeras, and two superscoring autocannons in cover with +1 to their save.  The Chimeras should sit and shoot their 36" range weapons for two turns (helps prevent exposing their AV10 flanks prematurely!), then move 18" on turn three, hopefully onto an objective from which they can shoot for the rest of the game.  The autocannon teams should be camping objectives in cover while reaching out 48" with the most efficient gun in the game right now.  The two tanks have to deploy together, but can split fire by rolling 9 or less on 2D6.  I'd say pask in a vanquisher for the commander, and probably a standard leman russ with a hull lascannon for the other.  What I've just described runs about 650.

 

The reason for the tank setup is if you're shooting at AV14, you have the option of shooting the hull lascannon at the same target as pask, and AV13 or worse, hey, pieplate it, and the lascannon snap-shoots.  Also, if you get a weapon destroyed result against the turret...Most of the time, you're going to be splitting fire, so if you can't afford the ten points for a lascannon on the wingman, it's fine.

[Emicus]

Surprised we have no-one playing or thinking about playing other armies that could give another ally tun-down?

How about "marines, varieties of"? Or perhaps some heretics playing eldar that could throw something together. The purpose for this is to throw ideas together and consolidate to a big fat allies guide, yes?

[Reclusiarch Darius]

As I said in the OP, all Imperial Allies can and should be considered. There are quite a few factions now to choose from. Xenos and Chaos however are off-limits, as per general forum rules. 

[Zhukov]

Space Marines are becoming an even more attractive ally it seems!

 

1 thing which makes me rather excited:

 

You can now take a Chapter Master on Bike and a Command squad on Bikes, without the need of a 2nd HQ to unlock the Command squad! Not only that: With Iron Hands the squad + Chapter Master will have 4+ FnP. Yeah baby! Unkillable Chapter Master for everybody! (well untill he gets stomped or D'ed lol)

Apparantly you don't need 5 man Bike squads anymore to make them troops, in which case you could take 2x3 Bikes for cheap OS scoring.