Still thinking I would like to build this next army as Grey Knights. Still thinking I would like to play with Stormravens. It just sounds... fun. Sue me. Lol.
As I was thinking about my Stormraven ideas, one thing kept bothering me, and that is that the Stormravens will certainly just get killed immediately if I'm going second. There's just nothing you can do to keep an AV 12 vehicle safe if it's hanging in the sky.
Now, I LIKED the idea of 3+ cover saves on the Stormravens. Still do really, but I think sometimes you can get too obsessed with "gee whiz" ideas and end up with a final product that's... lacking.
The other big problem with the lists I had put up is that while they had some decent punch, most of the really dangerous stuff was either the Dreadnoughts or was riding in the Stormravens. That meant that if I had to keep the Ravens in reserve (while going second), I had only two real threats starting on the table (the Dreads) and then a bunch of light anti-tank (the Bolterbacks and their Stormbolter Acolytes). Well, that means that the Dreads get focused down and die. Plus, if I DO leave the Ravens in reserve, I have kind of crappy chances of bringing them on Turn 2 when I need them.
So... what to do?
Well, Stelek wrote a "Best of" Grey Knights list which was pretty neat. Pretty straightforward, but, ya know, a lot of his lists seem pretty "well, duh" after he writes them, but before he does wierdly enough no one ever saw it.
Anyways, Fanboi moment done.
But it's true what he said, that if every unit has a Strength 7 rending gun, and you have 20 units, you don't really "need" either melta nor long range firepower. That being said, I don't entirely agree with his assessment that replacing the two Purgation squads with 3 Dreadnoughts would really dilute the effectiveness of the list. Yes, you would have clearer targets. But those targets would be in cover and possibly out of range of a lot of your guns. Yes, you have less stuff in midfield, but really two less Razorbacks and 10 less Marines... I'm not sure that's really going to make or break you. Well, let me rephrase. I DO think it dilutes the list - a bit - but I don't think it breaks the effectiveness of the army.
But taking that same core, Assbacks, Strike Squads, and Dreadnoughts, whatever you add to that doesn't necessarily become the sole target because those elements are a strong and threatening force.
But we still have the problem of what to do if you are starting second. And if you are reducing the number of Psycannon equivalent guns in your force, you might want to have a bit more melta-guns to crack the truly hard targets because while you don't NEED melta... it's still nice to have.
So taking Stelek's idea of twin Inquisitors, what can we do with that? Well, we want them to be able to start on the board in Razorbacks, so we will leave them in Carapace armor for now. We want to be able to start the Stormravens in reserve and have them reliably zoom on and make trouble turn 2, so we will make them Psykers and give them both Psychic communion. We want to make best use of the investment in inquisitors we can, so throwing in a couple of Henchmen squads is probably helpful in getting the most bang for your buck. And since the Henchmen squads can ride in the Stormravens and help zap things in midfield, let's give them some Melta. They are completely disposable units, so I'm just going to give them one extra body (and maybe I'll give that up too), plus three Warriors with meltaguns.
Let's give the Inquisitors a Servo-skull each as well. That way if we get first turn we can zoom over the Skulls, Sky of Shadows the Henchmen in and hopefully not deviate off of our targets. 2 Twin Linked Multimeltas and 6 Meltaguns can put a pretty big dent on something if we need to. Plus the skulls are helpful with people that want to get cute with Scouts or Infiltrators.
At the end of the day, the Inquisitors also will contribute 5 Force Weapon attacks on the charge. They are base I4, and if they get Hammerhand from their Strike Squad they can make a pretty effective contribution to putting down the baddies. Other than that... they hang out and look cute. They are 55 points, so this seems reasonable. Unfortunately, I could only fit in 5 Strike Squad/Assback units. I'm not sure if, taken as a whole, this list "works." But I did find the process of putting it together to be interesting, and thought you might too.
Here's the list I came up with:
Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, Psyker, Psychic Communion, Servoskull.
Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, Psyker, Psychic Communion, Servoskull.
Henchmen x 4, Meltaguns x 3
Henchmen x 4, Meltaguns x 3
Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammo
Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammo
Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammo
Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammo
Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammo
Stormraven, TL Multimelta, TL Plasmacannon, Spotlight
Stormraven, TL Multimelta, TL Plasmacannon, Spotlight
Dreadnought, TL Autocannons x 2, Psybolt Ammo
Dreadnought, TL Autocannons x 2, Psybolt Ammo
Dreadnought, TL Autocannons x 2, Psybolt Ammo
That's 2000 points on the dot. There's a little flexibility. I don't "need" the fourth Henchman or the Servoskulls or the Spotlights... but it's pretty narrow.
I end up with 5 AV 12 vehicles and 5 AV 11 vehicles, so I actually have a little "better' armor saturation than Stelek's list, with the same number of hulls and half of them 1 pip higher armor.
Comparing myself with Stelek's "Best of" list. As far as light/medium anti-mech, I have a bit less. Stelek has 10 TL Assault Cannons and 10 Psycannons. I have 5 TL Assault Cannons, 5 Psycannons, 3 TL Autocannons, and 2 TL Multimeltas. So 15 versus 20, but I have a few that are a bit higher quality.
Anti-infantry is still more than adequate. Stormravens can pop 5 Small Blasts on an exposed unit once per game, and of course you still have a pretty hearty amount of Stormbolters and Psycannons, Assault Cannon shots.
So... is it worse? Yeah... probably. Hard to beat the master, lol. It's got half as many Marines. But it seems pretty decent, certainly will win some games.
Thoughts welcome, I like discussions.
