Best NFWS for GK Units?

[Rommel44]

Hey mates. I am seriously considering starting a GK Army here eventually and before I do, I have been trying to plan ahead tactic-wise. With that being the case, I'm intrigued on what is the best CCW per unit in the GK Codex, and from looking around this is how I have personally seen it at this time:

 

* Falchions for the Strike Squads and Interceptors, while the Justicar rocks the Hammer.

 

* Halberds for the Paladins, as they already come w/3x attacks each. Some Hammers are always a good option.

 

* Have seen a mix in regards to Terminator Squads, however from what I have seen Swords and Falchions are common to go with some Hammers.

 

* Purifiers are basically worthless this edition so no need to comment lol.

 

* As for the Nemesis DK, while some people like the Hammer, the Greatsword seems to get the most positive reviews.

 

Just my take on it from a first glance, but feel free to let me know otherwise or your own opinions. Especially from the veteran players. 

[Bjarni St.]

For Power Armour Falchions on everyone all the time unless you have 13 pts spare to drop on a Hammer for the Sergeant.

Hammers on Paragons as was said, and this holds true for WS2+ characters as well. Falchions are still roughly even with Halberds even on A3 models standard, and better with Hammerhand. Personally, I don't have enough Falchions as it is so my basic Paladins kept their Halberds.

Terminators, Falchions. Keep in mind a lot of what you see is what people have modeled and what was better isn't necessarily now.

For the Dreadknight you're not going to go wrong with either a Sword or Hammer for Grand Masters. Some people rate Fists only for the +1A but I don't, the D3 damage is too much worse against even W2 models that it's not worth potentially squishing an extra Guardsman some of the time. Keep in mind though that against single wound models without FnP the Fist you still have is usually your best weapon.

[Captain Coolpants]

Someone has math hammered this numerous times.

 

Falchions are always statistically better with and without hammerhand against anything up to toughness 6 I believe it was.

 

Hammers you only ever want to put on things that have ws 2+ or have numerous attacks because of the -1 to hit.

 

Thats not saying everything else is bad. But the maths says this is most efficient.

 

 

I personally though, try to put hammers on all my justicars to help them stand out, and although most of my guys do have falchions, I always sprinkle in halberds and swords to give a more varied look.

 

With dreadknights though, ive always preferred the hammer. The sword looks too stumpy.

[Waking Dreamer]

With dreadknights though, ive always preferred the hammer. The sword looks too stumpy.

The NDK's Greatsword is pretty large imo. Besides superheavies melee weapons, only the largerest Greater Daemon melee weapons rival it for size.

[Ninjoe42]

I like to throw a stave on a paladin as well. I think they don't get enough love personally, but it's primary use is to bump that Invuln save to tank anti-armor shots in close quarters. Throw Sanctuary on the unit and you've got a 3W guy with effectively a storm shield to absorb a few hits, let you go combat focused character hunting like swarm lords

[Panzer]

I like the Stave but I'd like it more if its invul buff would work against shooting as well. ^^

[Adeptus]

The other things to remember are:

 

1) Aesthetics. We play with toy soldiers because they look cool. If you think Halberds or Swords look cool, don't be afraid to buck the trend and use them.

 

2) Edition changes/FAQs. Last edition (or was it the one before?) Halberds were the no-brainer option. For Strikes it was Swords. Now it's Falchions for everyone. Unless you're going to the effort of magnetising your weapons, you will sooner or later find yourself stuck with sub-optimal weapon loadouts. However, if you build with the ones you think look the coolest, well then they will always look cool no matter what.

[Aothaine]

I like the Stave but I'd like it more if its invul buff would work against shooting as well. ^^

 

I'm with you sfPanzer. My justicars always have staves. The only thing that uses hammers in my mind is units that hit on 2+, basically the GM, GMNDK, BroCap? maybe?

 

Otherwise they are all staves and swords. 

[skinomyteeth]

Nah. You got it all wrong. Just keep buying boxes of Paladins and make all the weapon options.

[Panzer]

Except that the GK boxes are really lacking bitz for all the options they have on the Datasheet. That's a general problem of units with lots of options but it's really annoying for GK when it comes to melee weapons. ^^

[HighMarshalAmp]

Mathhammer then.

I drew this up when I was first planning Grey Knights.

It lists the required rolls to hit and wound MEQs and their required saves without any modifiers but the Knights' AP.

The #W gives you the average number of wounds ONE attack with that weapon (that's one attack with one Falchion as well) will deal against an MEQ.

The 1A WS 3+ #W, for example, takes into account the one additional attack two Falchions net you. It gives you the average number of wounds a model with 1A and a WS of 3 will deal in the fight phase against an MEQ.

Take a look.

As you can see, only at 3 attacks do Falchions and the Halberd break even with the Halberd getting better from there.

But this is a list centered only on those 4 weapons.

It is a list of the pure average numbers and does not take anything else into account.

No damage characteristics (just multiply the #W by 2 for that specific average value), no modifiers, no invuln saves a weapon provides, no enemy modifiers, no stratagems.

And, mostly, no TEQs and no vehicles.

So it might very well be that 'Bumpoke of the Ancients' for 3CP suddenly turns the Sword into an Sx3 AP-7 D3d6 that ignores any damage taken by the wielders unit on a rerollable 2+ for the rest of the game.

And what's more, there will be hordes of people along shortly schooling me on how the mere numbers don't mean anything and you will have plenty of opportunity to learn all about how to tilt those numbers in your favor from their rants.

But me?

I've settled for Falchions on anything with up to 2 attacks and Halberds for 3 or more