Foray into 40k

Another weekend has came and gone, and I'm not really feeling a whole lot better about my Grey Knight army. This was my second weekend play testing some Grey Knight lists and I'm just not loving the play style of lists that I've been using. I've been playing with lists utilizing Coteaz and different combo's of henchmen to get a feel for them.

To Coteaz or to not Coteaz? That is the question.
While some of these have worked well, some have flopped. One of the obvious items to me is that you really have to have a good feel of what you are up against to make these different henchman lists work. I'd love to be at this level, but sadly I'm not. For this reason, I'm going to begin play testing some list without Coteaz.

So what worked in the henchmen warbands?

A unit of 3 Servitors w/plascannons, 6 Psychers, and two Crusaders with Coteaz. This was a big success in the bulk of my games. This unit creates a huge amount of 36" firepower at a relatively low cost. I've heard some critique's of the blasts as being unreliable, but I find it no more unreliable that BS 3. Unfortunately, everyone I played knew how dangerous this unit was and targeted it accordingly. Coteaz being able to use I've Been Expecting You and Sanctuary is huge with this unit, so it will undoubtably be a major target.

Combinations of units you want with Death Cult Assasins works. Dropping in 4 or 5 DCA with other henchmen such as psychers or Warrior Acolytes w/melta or flamers. The Death Cult Assasins can be hell on wheels once released from the Chimera. If the Chimera isn't popped from afar, then the unit that busted it open is probably in trouble. I used different IC's such as a Grand Master and a Techmarine to really buff up the DCAs with Hammerhand and/or Rad Grenades.

What didn't work with the henchmen warbands?

There goes another henchman
Getting shot! If you can't keep your henchmen warbands in Chimera's until you want them out (if at all) then they aren't worth having since they get shot up so quickly. You have to immediately find cover..... or else. One solution for this could be fielding a Librarian to keep with them to cast shrouding. Loosing the flexibility of Grand Strategy probably isn't worth that though.

Henchmen on foot. I tried some crusader's on foot, and they served their purpose of holding an objective, but were pretty ineffective outside of that. If you need cheap wounds with a decent save, they aren't bad, but I'm afraid this army can't afford to have something so single dimensional.

Units not to leave home without:

3 Dreadnoughts with two twin linked autocannons with psybolt ammo. These fill out the heavy slots, but they are amazing. Being able to cast fortitude keeps these gun lines from being stopped. The only thing I would consider is adding one more in the elite spot by adding a Venerable Dreadnought.

Purifiers, Purifiers, Purifiers. These guys are so multifunctional. Combine their fuctionality with the Grand Strategy ability and you really have something special. I had been putting two units of 8 in Rhino's with 2 psycannons and halberds and either making them troops or giving them the scout ability. In the right match, letting them reroll 1's to wound could also be huge though. With scout, they are able to outflank and this can be huge in keeping our opponents honest, or do a scout move and quickly get within the 24" range sweet spot. I may have to play test Crowe some just cause these guys have been working well. The only issue with them is keeping them alive once the rhino goes boom. This is more difficult, but still easier than henchmen.

Where to find the points?
So what's next? I'm going to try out some terminators and potentially a stormraven. I also fielded a Grey Knight Interceptor squad in one match which worked pretty well. I'll coninue my play testing it. I'm also wanting to try Mordrak to add a more assault oriented element to the list. I'll let everyone know how these fair in the upcoming weeks. For those of you who having been playing Grey Knights or against Grey Knights, drop me a note and tell me what you're having success or frustrations with. I've got to get this list coming together better with several tournaments coming up.