"We are the warriors of the Grey Knights, armoured in faith, shielded by devotion and armed with purity of purpose. But greater even than these, we carry the light of the divine Emperor of Mankind into the dark places to purge the Daemonic wherever it may be found."

Brother-Captain Arvann Stern.

DESIGNER'S COMMENTARY

Overview:

The Grey Knights were created by the Emperor to combat the Chaos Gods. They have powerful, unique rules and great flexibility that lets them adapt to the battle as it develops. Each of them excel in a particular form of warfare, but at just five operatives they are one of the most elite teams in the game; you’ll have to plan your attacks carefully, as losing operatives early can be crippling.

How to Play:

The Grey Knight’s first key strength is their flexibility when selecting operatives. When you find out which kill team you’re playing against, you can put a lot of thought into choosing if you will bring a more balanced kill team or if you will focus on having either more melee or ranged specialized operatives. This gives the team plenty of replayability and opportunities for experimentation as try different operatives in different matchups.

Once they set foot in the killzone, you’ll have five of the best operatives at your disposal. Their selection of weapons are fearsome, capable of dispatching most enemy operatives in one attempt. This is backed up by great stats: extra wounds over regular Astartes combined with that ever impressive 3+ Save and 3 APL. This raw strength is where the Grey Knights draw a lot of their power, so expect some exciting activations when your operatives go all out!

The Brotherhood of Psykers faction rule allows the Grey Knights to react and adapt to whatever is asked of them during their activation: use it to boost their damage with melee weapons, their accuracy with ranged weapons or their abillity to shrug off ranged attacks. However, if you wish to fully utilise that rule’s potential, you have to plan in advance how you will pay for the 1 AP cost of using its stronger effects.

Making mistakes when positioning your operatives is the easiest way to get them killed, and at just five operatives, you will frequently be outnumbered. If your operatives are incapacitated too early, you can fall behind on VPs without a realistic way of catching up. This is where this team’s teleporting capabillities come in clutch, allowing newer players to correct those mistakes by rescueing exposed operatives with the Librarian’s Gate of Infinity unique action or the Teleport Assault ploy. On the other hand, a shrewd Grey Knights player may set a trap pretending to leave an operative exposed to the enemy, only to then teleport it away or in place of an operative better equipped to deal with that situation.

Still, don’t be afraid to show restraint. It can be tempting to rush out guns and weapons blazing - especially if you are counting with a teleport to get you out of trouble - incapacitating the first thing your operatives encounter, but if you then lose your operative when the enemy counterattacks, the trade won’t have been worth it. Against teams with more operatives, each of your operatives needs to incapacitate multiple enemies to make up the difference, so bide your time until you can threaten a number of enemies at once. Sometimes it can be worth conceding the midboard in the first and second turning point to come out strong in the third and fourth.

When you need to play aggressively, do so wisely, using a few tricks to improve your chances of surviving. For example, position your operatives so they are obscured or not a valid target for as many enemies as possible, or charge an expended enemy so you can’t be shot. Use the Shrouding, Armour of Faith and Transhuman Physiology ploys, the Aegis Shield faction rule, the Mists of Deimos unique action, and the Sanctus-V Bioscryer Cuffs and smoke grenades equipments to keep your operatives alive that little bit longer. This way you can start to incapacitate the enemy, but reduce your opponent’s capabilities of responding. Then, as they start to lose more and more operatives, you can be even more aggressive, knowing your opponent is running out of ways to respond.

In summary, load up on some of the best rules available in the game, but think carefully about how and when to use them. Get the right balance and your operatives will become the true elite of kill team.

Kill Team Concept

Teleporting elite psyker marines

Key gameplan aspects

• Control objective markers and hold your ground;
• Strategize in advance how you are going to use the teleports to move your operatives in position or out of trouble during the battle;
• Stun, slow down and knockback enemies to shape the flow of the killzone in your favor.

Operatives role in battle

• Justicar and Brother-Captain contest objectives;
• Paladin knocksback enemies to peel for allies;
• Champion can be rewarded for playing aggressively;
• Interceptor use its teleport to flank unexpected enemies;
• Librarian stuns enemies and has a strong ranged AoE attack. Use its teleport to provide support for the team rescueing exposed allies or setting them up for their next activation on the following turning point;
• Purgators can bring a psilencer to shoot down elites or a psycannon to blow up horde teams;
• Purifiers provide short range AoE damage versus hordes, area denial and damage over time.