All Terminator Lists Part 3: Grey Knights!

Well I’m finally finishing this out from back in July. There have been one or two people who bring it up regularly and I felt like I should complete this especially since I’ve been on such a Terminator kick this last year. You can see the other two articles here:

http://hulksmash-homeplace.blogspot.com/2011/07/all-terminator-lists-part-2-wolfwing.html

http://hulksmash-homeplace.blogspot.com/2011/07/all-terminator-lists-part-1-deathwing.html

Grey Knights are the third book that can take terminators as troops. Grey Knights are unique though in that they can take two different kinds of terminators as troops. Paladins and standard GKT’s. I’m going to split the two because I don’t think they mesh well in a single list. So we’ll start with the Paladins J

Since it’s been so long I’m going to remind you guys that I generally hate combining vehicles with Terminator lists in the current environment. This could change based on how we start to see Necrons being built but right now I’m still not a fan of scoring terminators supported by vehicles. And also this is geared for 2,000pts just like the previous articles. Anywho onto the Paladins!

We’ll start with the obvious tax involved with a Paladin list. His name is Draigo and he’s even more of a CC beast than Logan for the same cost. He does give up some of the more useful support rules but he excels at taking St8+ hits for his Paladin friends. Let’s take a look a brief look at the Paladin entry:

-Excellent shooting 5-man squads providing 8 St7 24” shots on the move

-Wound allocation shenanigans (duh)

-WS5 (something I feel is regularly overlooked)

-Lots of wounds for the points

-Particularly succeptible to St8+ AP2 weapons

-Extremely low model count

Sound about right? Well it does to me so let’s build a list. We’ll start with my basic Paladin unit:

5 Paladins:

1xSword

1xHalberd

1xHammer

1xHammer & Psycannon

1xSword & Psycannon

It comes right out at 315pts. It’s got 10 wounds against St7 or less, puts out 4 rending autocannons worth of firepower on the move, and is pretty solid in CC. If I want it in a single entry to take advantage of Grand Strategy I’ll just double up on every model. Let’s start with 3 units:

Draigo-275

10 Paladins like above-630

10 Paladins like above-630

Total: 1535

So forty terminator wounds (not including Draigo) with 32 Psycannon shots. Now you could ramp up an additional 5 paladins for 1850 and add an extra unit like an assassin for 2k but I don’t advise it. What will the above have issues with? Hordes for one or lots of light infantry units that hide in cover with heavy weapons or that can swamp the Paladins in CC. It also has trouble outside of 30” for ranged support and is very afraid of lascannon-type weapons equipped heavily. So what are some support units?

-Dreadknights w/Heavy Incinerator

-Purifiers

-Interceptors

-Librarian

I left out the vehicle options as I don’t think they are a good idea in a list like this. With Purifiers you’ve got horde control in CC and relatively cheap units with lots of psycannons you can add to the list. Interceptors add some speed and additional storm bolters but are probably the worst of the options. Librarians are a solid addition for stealth and other powers. And finally Dreadknights with heavy incinerators which are massively helpful for tearing apart units with a ranged flame template and not too shabby in CC. Which would I pick? Something like this:

Draigo-275

5 Purifiers w/2 Psycannons-140

10 Paladins like above-630

10 Paladins like above-630

Dreadknight w/H. Incinerator-160

Dreadknight w/H. Incinerator-160

Total: 1995

Why? The dreadknights add some support for the list you can’t find elsewhere. The Purifiers, while adding horde control in CC, also add cheap psycannons to the army bringing the total number of shots per turn between 36-40 which is very nice. Draigo can either enhance the Paladins or Dreadknights with grand strategy. The reason for no Librarian mostly comes down to not like the way it would make me play. Basically I’d be tempted to clump up for the stealth and that would affect my flexibility. It’s a personal choice but one that people would need to consider.

For a GKT list it gets a little easier. You’re going to have less wounds on average but more actual models. You run less psycannons (only 2 per 10) but have a slew more stormbolters for anti-infantry and you can upgrade those stormbolters to St5 which is a nice and not pointless upgrade like on Pallies. This is where I would start:

-Malleus Inquisitor w/TA & Psycannon-80

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

This is a good point to launch from. The extra psycannon shots from the Inq. will be a help at taking out tanks while the GKT loadout will produce lots of wounds on the way in from shooting and will probably end most combats before the other guy gets to swing. Continuing the build would look something like this:

-Malleus Inquisitor w/TA & Psycannon-80

-Malleus Inquisitor w/TA & Psycannon-80

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

So I’ve added more psycannons and troops. This sits at 1,570 leaving us 430pts to play with. For me the threat is large AP2 blasts. I can handle most anything else with relative ease but closing with these tanks will eat your squads our in a hurry. Here are some options in keeping with no armor:

-2 Dreadknights w/H. Incinerators, 2 Soladins w/Hammers-430
-2 Dreadknights w/Teleporters-410

-2x5 Purifiers w/2 Psycannons, 2 Hammers, 2 Soladins w/Hammers-410

-5 Terminators w/Psycannon, Dreadknight w/Teleporter-430

The first is obviously going for the in your face distraction that can still lay a hurt on vehicles. I’d prefer to give them heavy incinerators to increase their flexibility but the additional 40pts would be hard to come by without losing something I like. The second choice is a blend of approaches. Basically keeps the enemy busy eliminating close threats so you can advance safely. This works best if you don’t run into many Medusa in your area J. The third is basically for deepstriking. I’d probably drop a single hammer out of each purifier unit to make one of the inquisitors a Communion psyker and increase the threat level early. And lastly is soft approach allowing for a few more troops with the distracting Deathknight.

All that being said this is what my final list would look like based on my current knowledge level with terminator based armies:

-Malleus Inquisitor w/TA & Psycannon-80

-Malleus Inquisitor w/TA & Psycannon-80

-Soladin w/Hammer-55

-Soladin w/Hammer-55

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

-10 GKT’s w/8 Halberds, 2 Hammers, 2 Psycannons, Psybolt Ammo-470

-Dreadknight w/H. Incinerator-160

-Dreadknight w/H. Incinerator-160

I chose the Soladins because you can also add the Inquisitor to them to give you another unit running that can target independently. It’s a flexible list with slightly less psycannon shooting than the Paladin list (32 vs. 36-40) but has twice as many stormbolters and they are all St.5.

Overall my favorite list to build all Terminator lists out of are the GK’s. They provide tons of shooting, solid CC, and can have some fun support units. The Spacewolves come in a close second due to the customization of their terminators and amazing support units in the form of long fangs, scouts, and lone wolves. Bringing up the rear is Deathwing. While they are all extremely survivable (stormshields everywhere) they are required to enter extremely deadly ranges to full impact the enemy.

Hope you guys enjoyed. I know it’s a long one but at least I put in pictures to break up the wall of text J