When Days Turn Blue to Grey (Knights)

With NWG behind me, Conclave is the next event on the cards. It is on this coming weekend, Oct 15th-16th, in the Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick, hosted by the Gathering. 40k is on the 15th and Fantasy is on the 16th. For Fantasy I will be returning with my currently reigning Chaos list to try and take home number four.

However 40k is my real focus, as has been the case recently. I've altered my Grey Knights list quite a bit from the norm. however I will only get one or two games in with it before hand so will have to go on my intuition for this one. The tournament is 2000pts standard, and the list is as follows.

Coteaz

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor
Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades, Power Armour, Psyker (Hammerhand), 2x Servo-Skulls


Vindicare Assassin

6x Purifiers
3x Halberds, 2x Psycannons, Daemonhammer in Transport 1

6x Purifiers
3x Halberds, 2x Psycannons, Daemonhammer in Transport 2


4x Henchmen
Jokaero, 3x Warrior Acolytes with Meltaguns in Transport 3

6x Henchmen
Jokaero, 3x Warrior Acolytes with Meltaguns, 2x Warrior Acolytes with Storm Bolters in Transport 4

5x Grey Knights
Psycannon, Psybolt Ammunition in Transport 5

5x Grey Knights
Psycannon, Psybolt Ammunition in Transport 6

5x Grey Knights
Psycannon, Psybolt Ammunition in Transport 7


Dreadnought
2x Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought
2x Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought
2x Twin-Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition


Transport 1: Rhino
Transport 2: Rhino
Transport 3: Chimera with Searchlight and Heavy Flamer
Transport 4: Chimera with Searchlight and Heavy Flamer
Transport 5: Razorback with Pysbolt Ammunition
Transport 6: Razorback with Pysbolt Ammunition
Transport 7: Razorback with Pysbolt Ammunition

The biggest difference between this and my other lists is the inclusion of Strike Squads and the exclusion of Terminators. As I had expressed before several times, I was feeling Terminators were slightly inadequate, especially when compared to the competing Strikes. For this list the Strikes were cheaper, more numerous, added cheap tanks to the army, and gave protection against deep strikers.

I still wanted Purifiers in the list as their value in any list is unmatched. However I also wanted a Vindicare after his performance at NWG, so considering Crowe had gotten himself sacked, I settled for the two squads. The change to Rhinos was something I had been considering for awhile after a conversation on Warseer about Purifiers specifically get more out of Rhinos than Razorbacks; compared to the Psyback, both vehicles cannot shoot when moving more than 6", the Razorback gets 3 TL shots at S6 when going less than 6", the Rhino gets 4 Rending shots at S7 when moving the same (so roughly equals), however when stationary the Rhino gets the buff of going up to 8 S7 Rending shots because the Purifiers carry two Psycannons.

Moving on from that I had a HQ slot to fill in, which was going to be a second OXI, and another bucket of points to fill. Looking at what models I had left and what the army lacked I decided to go for two Henchmen squads, and given I didn't think I'd have my Servitors in time, I opted for two Melta squads in Chimeras. The Jok were a secondary thing where when it was all done I had 82pts or something, and they were one of the few things I had to fit the bill; it was just good luck that they happen to gel very well with Melta squads, especially when the last few points went to Storm Bolters. In the end I decided to swap one OXI for Coteaz, so the two squads could score.

Now as I said above I haven't gotten to play the army yet (but will get a game or two on Wednesday). It is a primarily shooty list, though if needs be the Purifiers can charge in. With the combination of Coteaz, Servo-Skulls, and 3 Warp Quakes I can control the board very well against reserve style armies, with Coteaz' Spy Network gelling with this quite well to make sure that after deployment such armies stay in second place. Coteaz will usually go with Purifiers, both for a combat boost and as they most benefit from I Will Be Expecting You. After that it is a matter of loading the guns and ploughing the way home.

There are enough bodies and tanks for objective missions (40 infantry, 7 hulls) so there can be tank shocking and pillboxing a plenty, and for the first time I am playing an army where I have units that aren't expensive scoring units, meaning not every loss impacts my ability to win the scenario.

I will report in on successes or lack thereof come Wednesday, with full Conclave reports the following Tuesday on. Note this list is also a lead in to my 2500pts list for KingCon in November.