GK 1,500pts Tournament Practice vs Space Wolves

[Pawn of Decay]

40K Army: Other

Ok so as the title of the thread says, this is a practice game for a tournament that my friend is going to. Due to various reasons I can't make the tournament, so my friend has asked me to give him a couple of practice games. The way I use my Grey Knight army is quite different from the usual run of the mill Tournament army, but it is a devistating army and works well. He is going to be taking his Space Wolves to the tournament and his list is as follows:

Rune Priest: Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Choose of the Slain
Wolf Guard (3): 3 Power Fists, 3 Combi Meltaguns
Grey Hunters (8): Wolf Standard, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino
Grey Hunters (8): Wolf Standard, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino
Grey Hunters (8): Wolf Standard, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino
Long Fangs (6): 5 Missile Launchers, Razorback with Las/Plas
Long Fangs (6): 5 Missile Launchers, Razorback with Las/Plas
Long Fangs (6): 5 Missile Launchers, Razorback with Las/Plas

The list that I have decided to go with is as follows, any comments or assistance would be great.

Grey Knights - 1,500pts

HQ:

Inquisitor Coteaz - 100pts

Xenos Inquisitor - 85pts
- Rad Grenades
- Psycotroke Grenades
- Hammerhand

Troop:

Grey Knight Strike Squad (10) - 255pts
- Mastercrafted Daemon Hammer
- 2 Psycannons
- Psybolt ammo.

Inquisitorial Henchmen (10) - 150pts
- 7 Deathcult Assassins
- 3 Crusaders

Inquisitorial Henchmen (8) - 92pts
- 3 Warrior Acolytes with meltaguns
- 5 Psykers

Chimera - 55pts
- Hull mounted heavy flamer

Inquisitorial Henchmen (8) - 92pts
- 3 Warrior Acolytes with meltaguns
- 5 Psykers

Chimera - 55pts
- Hull mounted heavy flamer

Elite:

Vindicare Assassin - 145pts

Fast Attack:

Storm Raven - 205pts

Heavy Support:

Land Raider Crusader - 265pts
- Multi Melta

Nemesis Dreadknight - 200pts
- Heavy Psycannon
- Heavy Incinerator

1,499pts

[Gaargod]

I'm curious, why have you got a storm raven and a land raider? Take 2 of either, not one of both - target saturation being the key here. If you have 2 land raiders, this stresses their anti Av14, but every tournament player should have options versus just 1. Or taking 2 storm ravens, you add more to your Av12 numbers, and stress the mid strength AT. Besides which, strike squads need neither - rhinos are fine if you're taking 10 of them, or razorbacks for smaller squads.
In either case, give the poor Storm Raven a multi-melta. Power of the Machine Spirit is your friend here - welcome to my movement 24" multi-melta. Personally I prefer the plasma cannon to the assault cannon, but that's very up to the individual.

Not a massive fan of psykers. Up to you, but... meh.

Heavy psycannons are a waste of points. The dreadknight is good with the incinerator, as he can drop in and burn something, but the psycannon is very meh, as it's Blast and expensive.

[Pawn of Decay]

I'm curious, why have you got a storm raven and a land raider? Take 2 of either, not one of both - target saturation being the key here. If you have 2 land raiders, this stresses their anti Av14, but every tournament player should have options versus just 1. Or taking 2 storm ravens, you add more to your Av12 numbers, and stress the mid strength AT. Besides which, strike squads need neither - rhinos are fine if you're taking 10 of them, or razorbacks for smaller squads.
In either case, give the poor Storm Raven a multi-melta. Power of the Machine Spirit is your friend here - welcome to my movement 24" multi-melta. Personally I prefer the plasma cannon to the assault cannon, but that's very up to the individual.

Not a massive fan of psykers. Up to you, but... meh.

Heavy psycannons are a waste of points. The dreadknight is good with the incinerator, as he can drop in and burn something, but the psycannon is very meh, as it's Blast and expensive.

Well first of all thank youfor your input. I appreciate the comments, they always give me things to think about and I like to bounce ideas off of people.

The whole Storm Raven and Landraider combo is an interesting debate. There have been many people such as your self that has suggested taking 2 of 1, or dropping them both altogether. The way I look at it, whilst it does not improve my target saturation, they both provide very different threat levels that an opposition has to deal with. Depending on scenario units will interchange between what rides in what.

Yesterday against my friends Space Wolves I won the dice for first turn. With this in mind the Deathcult Assassin unit and theXenos Inquisitor jumped into the Storm Raven. This allowed them the first turn 24" Flat out movement and the cover save. The Strike Squad jumped into the Land Raider and moved up with the Dreadknight along side on a flank. The two Chimera's sat on the other flank further behind supporting the Storm Raven. The game was annhilate.

Now in this scenario the Long Fangs etc. have options and a lot of things that need to have fire power dealt to it. Being able to put pressure on the two flanks from two seperate threat levels provides people with interesting choices. So far this tactic and the use of the two vehicles has been working. A lot of games the Storm Raven can end up with nothing in it. It can be an expensive option when this happens, but it largely gets ignored in those situations. It does run with the Twin Linked Assault cannon and Twin Linked Multi Melta. Tournament players and enviroments will also expect to see duplicates of things. 2 Land Raiders or multiple Storm Ravens are what they will expect and will in their mind have ways of dealing with them. Mixing it up a bit can throw them a little. Wonder why I have chosen to go down that route and sometimes can cause them to underestimate the game state.

The Grey Knight Strike Squad in this set up is a firebase. It kicks out a lot of resonably high strenghed shots at a resonable range. It's also not shabby in combat due to being Grey Knights. A lot of games they walk on foot with Coteaz. The issue I have with the Rhinos is whilst they are a brilliant piece of kit and see regular play in armies such as my Chaos Marines, if I want to adapt my playing style with the same list they can be restrictive. Moving Characters around and supporting different elements can be an issue if the transport capacity stops you.

Psykers is something I am trying out at the moment. They have been a bit hit and miss for me so far. In the game last night they performed brilliantly at the start being out of range of the Rune Priest and killed a lot of lang fangs more than making up their points. 1 unit did comit mass suicide however which is always a little unfortunate. I think I like them because of the Assault Element of the Blast. That and it provides a good help to anti hoard with more large blast templates.

My real issue I have with this unit at the moment is if I were to not use the Psykers, what would I replace them with for their points cost to give me a similiar result?

The Nemesis Dreadknight set up is expensive, but I have found that the Heavy Psycannon doesn't perform as badly as people think. It is a slightly worse Battle Cannon on a move and fire monsterous creature. It can still out right kill MEQ's with rending and provides a nice fire platform. The shooting from the Dreadknight can deal a resonably decent amount of fire power. Adding the second gun also means that it becomes more of a visible threat. Running around with just the incinerator can leave people to ignore it and concentrate on other elements of the army. I have found that giving it the second gun, people shoot at it more. A Str 7 Ap 4 large blast with rending is not a bad gun at all.

The game incidently ended up as a win to me.

Kill Points of
Grey Knights: 10
Space Wolves: 4

We are going to try a few different scenarios at the weekend. A couple of my other friends are going to join us so I will be playing against Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Space Wolves and Imperial Guard with the same list.

[greenelite]

I would drop the psybolt ammo for the strike squad. The effect it has on Space Marines doesn't justify the points. I would also trade the Psykers for Purifiers/Strike Squads, and the Dreadknight for a Venerable Dread. But that's more of a personal preference on my part.