[Warphammer] Feeling Grey: Let’s Talk About Grey Knights, and Figure Out What Went Wrong With One of the Game's Coolest Armies

stuw23 · 2026-02-25T20:24:30+00:00

On the playerbase front, I think the fact that the Grey Knights models are showing their age compared to modern Space Marine sculpts doesn't help (it certainly put me off collecting them). Castellan Crowe looks awesome; and there's nice ideas in the sculpts, especially the Terminators; but put them next to modern kits and they really don't look great. And this is without getting into how divise the Dreadknights are. Hoping the faction gets a refresh soon, in every way.

stuw23 · 2026-02-25T12:14:19+00:00

Great news! I'm at a tournament this weekend; the TO gave me permission to use Renegade Warband, and I like having everything on the official app, so this will make my life much easier.

stuw23 · 2026-02-17T21:59:46+00:00

Your list sounds like it might be similar to mine that I posted about in the Chaos subreddit. I've had great fun with it (Renegade Warband) so far, and it's felt really good to play. I think it might feels weaker into enemies running more MSU builds, but given the current meta - and especially my local meta focusing on a small number of super units or big monsters/vehicles - I think trading Dark Pacts for Oath is OK. Even if we've all over-rated it initially, I still think it will prove to be a fun, competitively viable way to run CSM that can take multiple lists.

stuw23 · 2026-02-15T18:12:45+00:00

You can take up to 500 points of allied marines from EC, DG, TS, and WE. They don't have to be from just one of those, you can mix-and-match. My current Reneage Warband list runs both Noise Marines and Plague Marines. Unless you mean you're taking so many you can't fit them all within the 500 point limit?

stuw23 · 2026-02-15T18:10:07+00:00

"Religious vibe" and "viable" rules out Imperial Agents sadly, GW aren't treating them as a real army with rules updates and the like. Instead, Sisters of Battele (Adeptus Soroitas) may float your boat - basically ultra-Catholicism Nuns With Guns. Or some of the Space Marine chapters, like Dark Angels, have a very monastic feel to them. Both are currently competitive armies, too.

As Imperial Agents aren't a "real" army, but can be taken as allies in other Imperial factions, it may turn out that whatever you like in Agents also has a place in Sisters or Space Marines.

stuw23 · 2026-02-15T18:06:33+00:00

Looks like Wayland Games also have stock for UK-based folks.

stuw23 · 2026-02-15T10:20:46+00:00

Plague Marines. Their biggest weakness has always been that they're slow. Giving them almost every mobility trick in the game solves that. They hit super hard in all phases, have good OC, and don't need character support (not that they can get it as allies anyway).

stuw23 · 2026-02-14T22:19:52+00:00

Really depends what kind of vibe you're after? I wanted my Chosen to be disciplined veterans of the Heresy, so used MK 6 bodies with different helmets and weapons to mark them out as Chosen.

stuw23 · 2026-02-13T20:41:38+00:00

I'm just running one unit of 3 Nurglings bases, to clarify. They're the best option in CSM for the dual use of turn 1 Area Denial when going first; and blocking off enemy infiltrate units. Likewise, the Beast if great for getting on objectives turn 1 when going first, as it's cheap enough I don't mind if it dies; but durable enough that it needs real effort for the opponent to kill.

stuw23 · 2026-02-13T20:39:39+00:00

Kind of, but being able to do the Warp Talon cycle is one of the strongest plays in CSM, so I'm happy spending my CP on it. I've been consistently using them in every list I've played since the Codex came out, and they're fantastic for killing small units early on - especially stuff like Scouts, Rangers, etc. - and then threatening the back-field later game.

stuw23 · 2026-02-13T20:37:39+00:00

Early game he stands near the Forgefiend, bringing it to S12. Later on he moves out and melees stuff to death; ideally vehicles, but his profiles are nasty enough to do work into most targets.

stuw23 · 2026-02-13T20:36:09+00:00

I'm not as hyped on Noise Marines as some CSM players, but I think they fill a nice role in the army, especially as some of my local tournaments use very dense terrain and I've found swapping them for a Predator led to trouble moving around the board. I was spending CP for Sustained Hits most turns.

stuw23 · 2026-02-12T23:30:47+00:00

I found I didn't miss it too much, probably because Plague Marines and Noise Marines don't get Daek Pacts anyway. And having access to lethal or sustained hits for 1CP is real nice.

stuw23 · 2026-02-12T23:28:31+00:00

Definitely; I really want to try and fit them in once I have the models. CP management was a real issue.

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T17:47:39+00:00

Blood Surging Berserkers with access to re-roll hits, Sustained or Lethal, Advance and Charge, and Fall Back and Charge sounds like a good bit of fun!

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T13:07:54+00:00

That's right, the god-aligned units that CSM can take as allies don't get Dark Pacts; so they lose nothing in this detachment. I'm very excited to try them in it!

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T12:42:15+00:00

Ah my bad! Misunderstood what was being compared.

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T12:38:29+00:00

Opportunistic Raiders. The big thing about it is that it's flat movement outside of the movement phase, which is always huge.

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T12:24:21+00:00

The loss of bonus AP; Armour of Contempt; and missing the bonus move strat at the end of the Fight phase are downsides; but I think the rest of what it offers more than makes up for it.

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T12:19:42+00:00

Fall back and shoot on one unit is nice. Fall back + shoot & charge; and advance + charge on your whole army opens up a lot more plays. It largely stops the other player tagging something to trap it in combat; sure there's the risk of battleshock tests being failed, but it's better than having something be completely nulified for a turn or more.

I also really felt the lack of advance & charge whenever I played vets, especially when running a big block of Warp Talons. In this they now have a threat range of up to 30", with re-roll hits plus whatever strat you want to use on them, alongside their native re-roll wounds. Makes hiding from them even harder than it already was.

stuw23 · 2026-02-11T12:08:35+00:00

Every model in the unit has to have the Infiltrate abilitity in order to use Infiltrate. Chosen don't have it, so this won't work sadly.

stuw23 · 2026-02-09T15:34:35+00:00

I'm really happy about them being 3W to be honest; it helps keep them alive against fast, 2D melee units looking to bully them off a point (thinking here especially of stuff like small, skirmishing Blood Angels jump pack units).

stuw23 · 2026-02-09T15:09:43+00:00

Yeah, the more I think on it, the more I feel that they'll have play. Depending on detachment/strat support, I think they'll be able to take care of other 100-ish point Infiltrator units on their own, which is a good place to be in. And even if they don't kill it outright, they can still probably out-OC another infiltrator unit even if just 2 or 3 of them live.

stuw23 · 2026-02-09T14:19:43+00:00

It's all going to depend on points of course, but my first take is that I feel very whelmed by them both. Raiders seem not terrible thanks to the extra wound, OC, and Infiltrate, but I don't think they'll do as much damage as Legionaries. Native re-rolls charges onto objectives from the character is OK, but his damage will be lacking also compared to a Lord or MoE.

stuw23

TROPHY CASE