Following on from our initial look at Grey Knight special rules and psychic powers, we take a look at their “unique” Stratagems. I say unique in quotation marks as many of them are similar across the other two books which have been released already. We will touch on these as we go through it but there are a nice handful of totally Grey Knight ones. Grey Knights will always find it a bit harder to get Command Points than other armies, particularly if they are after Defenders of Titan / Brotherhood of Psykers special rules (remember though, your army only needs to contain a Grey Knights unit detachment in a Battle-Forged army to access these). Their base HQs are expensive – even their cheap ones are closer to 200 points than 100 points, so your initial investment for a standard Battalion and 3 CP is steep. Adding in one or two Imperial Soup detachments for an extra one or two CP is not hard but you’re really massaging the numbers. Unfortunately, Draigo does not have a CP bonus unlike most of the other big chapter masters of renown but he does most of his work with a sword so I guess that makes sense… Anyway, a Battle Forged Grey Knights army is looking at 6-7 CP, maybe, maybe 8, unless you look to do another Imperial Soup Battalion detachment. We will err on the side of caution and consider 6-7 CP our ballpark.

Let’s begin!

Tactical Flexibility (1CP) – The exact same as the Space Marine version, you can combat squad mid game if, and only if, there are 10 models. Given the strong advantages Marines have with MSU style lists which is doubled with Grey Knights access to Smite on each squad, this is not going to be of much use. Firstly, it’s a waste of a good CP – take the re-roll at least. Secondly, if you’re taking larger units, you are combat squadding them early or there’s a very specific reason you are not combat squadding them (Kill Points for example, Morale defense layers, etc.) and not hoping you can do it mid-game. Even if you were thinking of planning around this, the opponent kills one model and you can no longer proceed. Not useful given you have to do this at the start of a movement phase.

Truesilver Armour (1CP) – Same as Armour of Contempt for Space Marines. By itself, not amazing but against particular armies can have an important moment in the sun. Basically, you get a 5+ FNP save against Mortal Wounds for a vehicle. Any list with a lot of Mortal Wound inducing damage (i.e. Tau seeker missiles, smite spam, etc.) will make this Stratagem seem useful. Any list without and this is useless. 5+ FNP is not a lot but it can encourage the opponent to shoot at a different target or make some of the harder to down models (*looks at Stormraven*) have an extra 33% durability against Mortal Wounds which are often one of the most efficient options in that regard.

Only in Death Does Duty End (1CP) – Same as the Space Marines but two important differences. Firstly, it’s 1CP and not 2CP. Secondly, Grey Knights characters generally punch a lot harder than Space Marines. The two main named characters – Draigo and Voldus, are monsters who can do up to 15D each (as unlikely as that is) and that’s not even looking at the Grandmaster Dreadknight (GMDK) who can benefit from this strongly even if not in combat. Getting an extra shooting or combat phase out of the GMDK who is likely to be a huge target for 1CP is pretty gold. 1CP for an extra fight phase for nearly any of the Grey Knights HQs is also very powerful. This is gravy though. Don’t hope for your character to die to use this, although out of turn activations are great, you’d rather have your expensive character still kicking. Keeping one or two CP around for late game re-rolls or ODDDE is not a bad idea.

Honour of the Chapter (3CP) – Same as the Space Marines one but for Grey Knights and again, important difference is that Grey Knights, while not fantastic in combat, are a lot more punchy than standard Marines. Still, at 3CP, this is potentially half of your CP pool and cannot be used on the GMDK who counts as a vehicle. You can use this on Draigo / Voldus but a larger unit is going to do this more justice, particularly if that unit is say Paladins. While not really useful for its cost, in the right circumstances, paying 3CP to maximise an alpha strike, kill an important unit, capitalise on a consolidation, etc. can be worth it. One to keep in the back of the think tank.

Wisdom of the Ancients (1CP) – I promise there will be unique ones soon… Re-roll 1’s within 6″ of a Dreadnought. Slightly useful if your Grandmaster dies or you need to spread out the re-roll bubbles (such as the Grandmaster is hoofing it forward and you need something to grant re-rolls in the backfield). Grey Knights generally do not have that big a backfield though so it can certainly be useful but not something that would come to mind every game.

Teleportarium (1CP) – Finally, something unique. Basically, any unit Infantry / Dreadnought which cannot use Teleport Strike can still Deep Strike at the cost of 1CP. This feels kind of similar to something Space Marines have… oh but no restriction! Normal reserves as they say. This is nice to get some of the non-Teleport Strike models (Purifiers, Servitors, Purgation Squads and Dreadnoughts) into the same deployment options as everything else in the book but unfortunately those units (sans the Dreadnoughts) are not exactly in high demand. Deep Striking a MM Dread though does seem like something to consider… Useful to have but given Teleport Strike exists and this does not work on Dreadknights, not something needed often.

Mental Focus (1CP) – Sort of like Empyric Channelling from Space Marines but does not need other psykers nor get the +2 bonus (which would be crazy easy to get and OPAF for Grey Knights ) but you do get to cast another power. Useful if a support character needs to punch out all the support spells and you still want to Smite but given the access that Grey Knights have to raw number of psychic powers and units to cast them, this is only really going to be useful later in the game as your units die off or you put yourself in a bad position (or your opponent did) where you are out of range.

Teleportation Boost (1CP) – An Interceptor Squad can shunt again. I love Interceptors – they are pricey at 25 points but 12″ moves for an army with such short-ranged weapons and the ability to be placed without a psychic test anywhere on the table once per game? You have me sold as it gives the slower Grey Knights army quite a few options with Gate of Infinity also lying around. Allow me to do it twice at the cost of a CP? Done deal. Board control and movement is very important so spending a CP to get access to it can be game changing, regularly.

Psychic Channelling (1CP) – Grey Knight version of Empyric Channelling, you can roll three dice for a psychic test and pick the highest two. I believe it increases your Perils chance slightly but will also make casting that tougher Vortex of Doom a little bit easier. Not a huge fan of VoD, but in the right circumstances such as an Imperial Knight standing in the middle of an army with units surrounding it, it can do a fair chunk if damage. Making sure it gets off, hopefully at a higher power, is where Psychic Channelling comes in. It does not become anywhere near what I would say reliable but certainly improves the math. I also cringe at the fact that I said hopefully in a discussion of tactics… I think that makes my point. Otherwise using this when you really need to get a power off or forcing it through a potential Deny the Witch is another nice toolbox piece for 1CP.

The Aegis (2CP) – The first of the old special rules / options turned into a Stratagem. The Aegis allows you to deny an extra power than a unit may normally be able to and deny the roll on three dice, pick the two highest. This is another useful toolbox addition if you need to stop that all important psychic power from going off but Grey Knights generally have lots of opportunities to Deny the Witch nonetheless, so it’s not as useful as it could be, particularly at 2CP. If the Librarian was in more demand as well with his +1 on Deny rolls, this would be a great option for him but he generally take a backseat to Voldus. Again though, in the right circumstances, stopping Hypnosis from being cast can win the game.

Heed the Prognosticars (2CP) – Add one to the invulnerable save of a character. This was being used with Sanctuary to give the GMDK a 2++ but now will only work on Dragio for that (until it gets FAQ’d?) with no sanctuary combination. HtP is a fantastic backup plan if Sanctuary fails to go off or you have two GMDKs that would like a 3++ (that seems steep points wise and CP wise for me though). At 2CP it is not something you can have for the entire game so is looking to deter shots at crucial moments or make Draigo into a model that can literally go toe to toe with anything and be on the favourable side of the math.

Armoury of Titan (1CP/3CP) – Grey Knights do not have a lot of Relics to begin with and given that most armies will have Voldus or Draigo as one of their HQs (maybe Stern too?), the options are limited for using the Relics and the one free Relic is often all you need. There are certainly cases where having a second Relic would be handy so spending the CP there is not unheard of but not something you will do as commonly for Space Marines who have a lot nicer options there. Look forward to more in the next post when we discuss the Relics and Warlord traits.

Orbital Bombardment (3CP) – Desc covered this. It’s unreliable though hitting a parking lot around Girlyman or other based bubble lists on T1 would be kind of amusing. If it was a flat 6″. If there was a set number (particularly 6″) we would be all over it for simply knowing you’re getting X units in that radius. It would still be unreliable but the threat of hitting units within 6″ of any point of the board would be grand. But when it’s D6″ you could get just Girlyman himself – randumb is bad, particularly when it costs you 3CP. Save it unless someone bunches everything within 1″ of somewhere, then wonder why (even after combat you can spread out more than that easily).

Psychic Onslaught (2CP) – The first of the old Psybolt Ammunitions, this allows a unit with psilancer / psycannon weaponry to gain +1S and -1AP. The damage on some of these weapons (i.e. Heavy Psycannon) becomes impressive with this but is expensive at 2CP and can be used on one unit only. This particularly limits Psychic Onslaught as there are not many units which can really get lots of these type of weapons. Purgation squads for sure but they then become a huge target and would only really get one shot off after they deep strike. The problem multiples when we consider how bleh Psycannons are at 1D and while four Psilancers are very decent and cheap, their main target (multi-wound models) does not care if they are S5 or S4 (unless they are T8, which is rare) and while -1AP is great, 2 CP for 16 shots at -1AP to improve damage slightly? I will pass. This is best used on a GMDK with its Gatling Psilancer and Heavy Psycannon but you really want to know your math before activating this to make sure you are hitting certain break points.

Psybolt Ammunition (2CP) – The second of the old Psybolt Ammunitions, this one applies to bolter weapons and is the exact same (+1S, -1AP for a unit). Given the mass of bolter weapons around, this may seem a bit easier to apply but then you want a really big squad to use it on and 10 Strikes or Interceptors to me is lost mobility, flexibility and baby smite. It’s certainly an option though. The Stormraven is also an option as with two Hurricane Bolters, it still gets 24 shots and if it has a Heavy Bolter, there’s another six shots that will benefit. It looks good on paper, but I would rather have the Tactical flexibility of MSU. If Tactical Flexibility was done at any time rather than at the start of your movement phase, this would be a nice, but costly, combo. As is, I think it is generally not worth using unless you really need that extra S/AP from a Stormraven / Land Raider Crusader.

Finest Hour (2CP) – One of the most underrated stratagems IMO, Finest Hour doubles the range of an aura for a character. That means 12″ Chapter Master Draigo, 12″ Psychic Locus, 12″ Litanies of hate, 12″ Sacred Banner, etc. This can allow a lot more flexibility in model and unit placement during the movement phase which, as we know by now, is really bloody important and valuable. Allowing your entire army to spread out at a key juncture and still get Dragio’s re-rolls is massive. It’s 2CP so not cheap but there are a lot of applications for this.

Stratagems completed! There are lot of niche cases or nice to have in your back pocket options here which is great. Very few of them stand out as super amazing but in the right circumstances, most of them have a pretty decent use which to me is the point of these the way they are written (rather than out of activation defensive actions, though some of them are that…). From one game to another the set of Stratagems you may need to call upon will vary wildly and while there are certainly some options you will be going in thinking about using (Heed the Prognosticars, Psychic Onslaught and Finest Hour for example), remembering each one for their potential impact sans a few (Tactical Flexibility, Orbital Bombardment, etc. for example) will be important. Cheat sheets before games to identify what you may need would be very wise.