by lords2001

Characters and their units

Note – Draigo, Coteaz and Crowe will be looked at along with the unit choice they unlock as troops – most of the time these characters are chosen because of their ability to modify the FOC and so should be looked at in this context as well. I’ll do the troops unit they unlock first –

Paladins – Avoid if with friends/ Snog if single –

Paladins – This unit is rather unique – squad size can go from 1-10, each model has 2 wounds, 3 attacks, a psychic shooting attack @ 12″ S5 large blast, frag and krak grenades as well as the ability to add the following-

+1 attack and activating force weapons without a psychic test via the Brotherhood Banner

Add 2 special shooting weapons per 5 men

5+ FNP via an Apothecary

specialist Nemesis Force Weapons

master-craft any weapon taken for +5 points

So why aren’t these guys the best unit to take ever? Firstly – cost. A basic unit of 10 at 550 points isn’t massively more expensive than a unit of Deathwing Knights or TH/SS Deathwing, especially considering the 2 wounds and extra attack.

However, the basic unit is left with a conundrum – it is no better at shooting than regular Grey Knights at almost 3x the base cost, and small numbers of terminators on foot are usually not a serious threat. They also can’t upgrade their 5+ invulnerable save via Storm Shields – leaving them greatly vulnerable to S8+ weapons and CC attacks that are either AP1/2 or cause a lot of armor saves. I see people mostly using the following two setups:

a) Take a single paladin (often referred to as a Solodin) and use them as disruption units – the model is still reasonably durable (2+ Save, 5+ Invul, 2 wounds), can still cause real trouble to GEQ or MEQ squads not designed for combat by tying them up and slowly killing them, and can throw out that 12″ S5 blast that will collect a fair number of lightly armored units.

They can also be good barriers against enemies charging you – and some armies will want to, due to design or desperation. Strategically placed they can hold up charges or divert them, or at least force the opponent to move a little more or less than they would prefer. Run solo (or in units of two, I guess) they can have a good place in your GK army, which is why they get the optional tag Snog.

b) A full unit, almost always with Draigo and potentially other IC’s attached as a death star unit, usually with 2-3 of the options I mentioned before. Now this gets pricy really quickly – 10 Paladins with 4 psycannons (which should be your standard loadout), a warding stave (2+ invul in CC), Brotherhood Banner and Apothecary will set you back a cool 750 points. Add in Draigo, and you’re over a thousand points in 11 models (or 24 wounds). And you can sink even more points into this deathstar unit via IC’s joining.

Doing so will leave you chronically short of mobility, firepower and manpower in the rest of your army. And the biggest change to the unit from 5th to 6th is seen here in this particular unit – the new wound allocation rules mean that you can’t allocate wounds between Paladins as you could in 5th edition, ensuring those 2+/5++ saves you fail will start removing models far quicker, even with Draigo leading the way.

But a full unit of Paladins is a very, very tough unit to kill and will destroy most units it hits in CC (outside of TH/SS terminators).

This is why I gave large squads of Paladins the Avoid mark (and I’ll throw in 5+ model squads into this category too) – almost every option to use Paladins requires you to throw your points away far too quickly to make it a winner. HOWEVER if you want to make a GK army for you or your friends on the cheap ($200 or so can see you done), or just plain love deathstar units, this may be the Snog for you.

Draigo – Avoid, he’s too expensive for you –

Draigo was a reasonable catch in 5th edition – unlocked Paladins as troops, incredibly tough to kill via shooting, damaging and tough in close combat, murderous to Daemons, horrifically expensive.

6th edition changed Draigo somewhat – the main new benefit being his Fearless status now conferred to any unit he joined – useful for stopping units from being tank shocked off the board or running after a bad round of shooting.

However, that doesn’t change the downsides 6th Edition bought him – he was mainly a buffer to load AP1/2 or S8+ shots on to for Paladins while the rest of the Paladin squad could soak up torrents of fire among them. Now with casualties being taken from the front, and changes to Look Out, Sir rules meaning that you have to allocate wounds to the closest model, his ability to filter wounds around is diminished. And with the changes to force weapons, he is now using an AP3 sword – not a good option for a 275 point character. Definitely an Avoid unless you want to run a full Paladin deathstar unit, which has issues as I’ve outlined above.

In other words, if you want to take Paladins, either leave them in the elites slot on the FOC and keep them small or take a Grand Master to make use of his Grand Strategy to make them scoring/scout etc.

Purifiers : Snog on their own, Marry if they score

This will be one of my more contentious statements, but Purifers have a lot going for them in 6th Edition. They have basic MEQ veteran stat lines, cost 24 points apiece, and can get 2 special weapons per 5 men, as well as discounted Nemesis Force Halberds and Daemon Hammers. 6th Edition didn’t change many or really any of their core abilities or uses – Purifiers were good then and are so now. Why?

Compared to a normal GKSS, they are superficially superior, with Fearless, 2 attacks and better access to weapons. They trade in the Warp Quake psychic power for Cleansing Flame – on a successful psychic power test= in combat, before blows are struck, every enemy model engaged in the combat takes a wound on 4+, AP-. While this is not especially powerful against marines (less than 2 casualties on average for a full 10 man squad) it has the ability to be devastating to horde units, especially if you have multiple units engaged in the same combat.

Fearless is a mixed bag – you won’t be running, and they have to kill every last one to be rid of the unit, but the inability to go to ground for the +1 or +2 to your cover save can be painful.

However, the true strength of the unit lies not just in psychic powers but their ability to get discounted Halberds, taking them to I6, for 2 points a model, and the ability for a 10 man squad to get 4 psycannons. This allows the unit to put out a decent rate of fire on the move, and a punishing amount when stationary and in range (16 shots is no joke) along with addition storm bolter fire.

So why are they not seen everywhere apart from on my army board? Because while they fight better than GKSS, shoot better than almost any infantry unit around, they die just as easily as a Dark Angels tactical marine at just about double the cost. This means they are often targets of opportunity for enemy players early on in the game to limit return fire, and if you put them in a Rhino, only 2 out of the potential 4 special weapons can fire from inside. And their 24″ or less range is duplicated throughout the rest of the GK infantry choices, meaning you aren’t adding anything new to the shooting, just more.

So as elites choices, their expense vs survivability leaves them vulnerable, though they do nicely fit inside an Inquisitorial Chimera vacated by another Henchmen unit. And quite simply, to have 2-3 of these units not scoring can create a big hole in your points limit – they can cost over 300 points a unit.

They do make a good counter-assault unit or buffer unit if you are worried about hordes – the ability to combat squad and potentially cast Cleansing Flame twice for every unit (or at least having a better chance of getting one cast off) is a great boon. So Purifiers as non scoring elites choices receive a Snog rating – you can have a good time with them but they aren’t always on the dinner invite list.

As troops, I think they can work better. “You’re an idiot!” I can hear you thinking. “You just said they can cost too much when taken in numbers, why take even more of them and make them your scoring models to boot?”

Well, Mr. Strawman, I think the difference is that as troops and in numbers, the amount of firepower they can deploy when moving into midfield makes up for their lack of survivability (usually). 16 Psycannon and 12 bolter shots can be scary to a unit, but up to 72-96 psycannon shots and 60 bolter shots when stationary (and 36-48 on the move) can be devastating. Even flyers will start dropping under weight of fire, especially with the addition of Divination psychic powers and Psybolt Ammunition.

And while enemies can deploy in the magic 30.1″ away zone against them, once in midfield and covering the angles (usually turn 2, sometimes turn 1 or 3) your surviving troops can push out that high level of stationary or mobile firepower. And if they reach the midfield and objectives, the opponent will need to kill every one of your Purifiers to stop them.

Finally, the benefit of running them en masse is that almost every army that outshoots Purifier lists can be beaten in combat or survivability, and almost every army that can out assault them (not many left with the sad fall of Chaos Daemons) you can out shoot. This all round ability requires you to make judgement on your opponents list, and play to your strengths of being capable while limiting yourself to taking mass casualties though silly mistakes (bunching up when the enemy has templates, etc).

A caveat, if I may, just in case I inspire someone to go and buy 10 boxes of Grey Knights : if GW makes a competitive army that can shoot 30″ or more and is decently maneuverable (Dark Eldar fit the 2 latter qualities, the new Eldar potentially all 3) then Purifiers as a general core of a list could find themselves in trouble – you could find yourself constantly out of range and unable to pin the enemy down – the worst of both worlds.

Castellan Crowe – You wish you could Avoid him

Crowe is a character that has almost no purpose other than taking Purifiers, which he moves from the Elite slot to the Troops slot in the FOC.

So let us take a quick look at Castellan Crowe

Compared to a Brotherhood Champion, Crowe is 150 points, comes with an extra wound, point of WS, and Initiative. An OK trade for 50 points extra on the face of it. He uses all of the other beneficial Brotherhood Champion rules exactly the same as his 100 point brethren.

But why is Crowe bad? It’s because you compare Crowe to a generic Brotherhood Champion, and then you see what you lose. Independent Character status, meaning he can’t join units to hide from fire. You lose your force weapon, instead gaining a 4+ to rend weapon. Oh, and if he is ever charged, the opponent gets preferred enemy and furious charge.

Many players call him the ‘Crowe Tax’ that you pay to get Purifiers, and to a large extent it’s true.

If you do find yourself taking him due to wanting to run Purifiers, then you have a couple of options to use him.

Just run him forward and hope nobody can be bothered sparing the firepower to kill him

If he is your Warlord, especially if you are going 2nd, completely hide or reserve him. No point giving up Warlord and First Blood secondary objectives in the same failed 2+/4++ save.

First Blood secondary objectives in the same failed 2+/4++ save. Hide Crowe amongst your models and hope nobody notices him until its time to strike

Plant him on an edge where outflanking units could prove troublesome – he isn’t great at killing units but he is a decent blocker of generic infantry/cavalry

Place him out of LOS where you don’t want the enemy elite models to go.

Why that last point? Because Crowe has the Heroic Sacrifice special rule. This means when he dies, he nominates one of the models that killed him (if there was more than 1), makes a melee attack, and if it hits the target (usually on a 3+ due to WS8) he just needs to pass a psychic test. That model then is removed from play, no saves, nothing but salty tears of those whom underestimated Crowe or his Brotherhood Champion friend.

The process is complicated, but a decent chance to succeed (~61%) – I have used Crowe to block and/or kill Dreadknights, the Swarmlord, Necron Overlords – the list goes on. The reason I mention this rule especially here instead of in the Brotherhood Champion listing, is that Crowe can be useful under the right circumstances and really change the shape of the game. It’s not always or even usually possible, but the chance does exist – so use him tactically if possible, or hide him/sideline him if not and enjoy your Purifiers as Troops. And never, ever take him otherwise.