Strategies VS Other Armies

[PureShield]

I was wondering if it is possible for us to make a extensive list of strategies to use based on what army you are playing against. Such as what to look out for, what units work better, what stratagems to use and when etc.

[jeffersonian000]

There is really only one strat that is effective versus all other armies ... shelve your GK and play a different army.

 

I’m not being mean or a downer, but until GK get a significant buff in the next CA, GK are not an army you play to win.

 

Personally, I play my GK to have fun challenging myself, but there are no winning strategies versus any other army at the moment.

 

SJ

[Panzer]

GK are lacking options. There's more or less only one thing you can do with a GK army and it either works and you can put up a bit of a fight or it fails and you're screwed.

The Codex doesn't really offer the flexibility to adjust to different kinds of opponents unfortunately.

[techsoldaten]

*sigh*

 

While I agree with the substance of jeffersonian's comments, that there are no strats that are effective against all other armies, that's not really the question. The question is what's the best strategy against specific armies.

 

Grey Knights are 40k on hard mode. Strategies are going to reflect this and nothing is going to work all of the time. I've got about 20 games under my belt with 8th edition Grey Knights and can talk about some strategies I've used against specific opponents. YMMV.

 

Chaos

 

The faction I play against most often is Chaos - not Thousand Sons or Death Guard, but Alpha Legion / World Eaters / Black Legion / Night Lords. Some of these comments will apply to regular Astartes.

 

In general, I find the best strategy is to use movement to your advantage. Chaos armies are mid-range and Grey Knights have a number of advantages in how they get around.

 

Interceptors work well, drop them in front of a close combat unit to make use of smite / rapid-fire Storm Bolters. It's not hard for a small Interceptor squad to reduce a 40-man Cultist unit to 20-models then clean up in assault / morale. I've had a 10-man Interceptor squad wipe out a 40-man Cultist squad in a single round.

 

Storm Ravens work well, move them up the board, shoot up heavy infantry / light tanks, and drop Strike Squads to clean up the chaff. I've had a couple games where my Storm Raven removed a couple screening units from the board before a Strike Squad shot up a Daemon Prince and took it out in assault.

 

Gate of Infinity works well, when it works, at dropping other units anywhere on the table. I've had a couple games where I moved a Land Raider Crusader across the board to clear out an objective and deposit a Strike Squad to claim it.

 

The trick is to try and concentrate your units in one place on the table and fight from there. I've have a couple games where, after shunts / loss of units with GoI / deep strikes / etc, half my army was too far away from my opponent to do anything. And it was the half that included the beatsticks like Draigo, NDKs, etc. The units to watch out for are Daemon Engines, Berzerkers, Bikers, and Terminators. Anything that's not light infantry requires a specialized unit, and you're not going to have many of them playing Grey Knights.

 

Guard

 

Fighting against Guard with Grey Knights sucks. They are going to outnumber your forces and it's hard to figure out where to start.

 

In terms of Strategies, units with hammers are very important. Find ways to get them on the table and keep them alive for killing tanks. You will be killing a lot of chaff before you get a shot at the tanks. I have 3 Apothecaries with hammers and they do a lot of killing once we get into assault.

 

So... the only list I've had anything resembling success with against guard featured Apothecaries and Paladins, 3 of each, Draigo, and a Brotherhood Ancient. The Paladins would get shot up, the Apothecaries would bring back the dead models, and the killing would continue. The extra attacks from the banner plus the rerolls to hit would make this big glob of models an actual threat.

 

Deep strike them danger close, shoot up whatever is nearby then charge whatever is right in front of you. Don't shoot the unit right in front of you, your opponent will remove models to make charges impossible. Instead, be very picky about where you place models and work from the outside in to your opponent's forces.

 

Before anyone starts whining about how bad this list would be... it's not great. The games that went worst for me had tanks kiting my army while moving backwards, there was absolutely nothing they could do outside of cc. The games that went best for me, which I think of as more typical, had a gunline where screening units didn't leave tanks with anywhere to move.

 

Daemons

 

I've got nothing on Daemons.

 

Nurgle is almost impossible to beat with Grey Knights. Try killing a Great Unclean One and have your opponent bring it back immediately using a Stratagem. It's like eating ferrum primavera pasta with a light topping of thumbtacks.

 

I won one game against Khorne, Bloodletters hate Storm Bolters. But Bloodthirsters absolutely could care less about small arms fire.

[Ninjoe42]

I feel like many of our strategies could be an article titled, "Stormbolters and You." I know we get the best use out of them at 12" and closer, but don't forget they still work alright at greater ranges.

 

Mostly I think against any particular enemy we have to be very careful to select advantageous matchups. Paladins and GMNDKs against big things, massed storm bolters against chaff units. We excel at elite unit killing though, those d3 damage melee wounds add up quick

[PureShield]

Thanks for all your thoughts on tips and strategies. I definitely agree with what your saying about focus your army on one area at a time. I had a match where I alpha strike deployed my GMNDK on one side, and my Paladins with Apothecary on the other side hoping to surround my enemy. Not only was I missing out on my re-roles, my Paladins and Apothecary missed out on a lot of action.