7th Edition 40K - New Grey Knight Codex Review - Draigo, Brotherhood Formation and Conclusion

This is the last guest post from Matt (something I hope he'll do again as it saves me A LOT of time). I'll add my own thoughts on the book at the end but here's the final bits from him.

Kaldor Draigo

My joint favourite character in 40K (tied with Mephiston). I actually think that he has gotten better, even better than he was in 5th edition. Yes his stats have dropped, but this really does not matter at all, except maybe the T5 to T4 drop a bit, but this is nothing compared to the improvements.

Firstly he always hits at S7 AP2 I5 and his weapon is Master Crafted. If he uses Hammerhand this becomes S9 AP2 I5!! Don't forget that he is also Eternal Warrior and has a Storm Shield. 

But that's not it. Attach to Draigo's squad (or just to Draigo) either Stern or a Librarian with Sanctuary and Draigo can now have a 2++ save!! 

But that's still not it, make the squad they are attached to a Paladin unit with an Apothecary and now Draigo has FNP 5+!! Basically he can become The Emperor if you want him to be. Yes I know to buff him to that level costs a lot of points, but I'm just saying that it is possible. 

However, there is one other thing that is great about Draigo and that's the fact that he knows Gate of Infinity. This means that he can be attached to any squad (not just GK squads remember) and teleport them around the board all game. This brings about many possibilities (not least of which is easy last minute objective grabbing) and if just used within the GK codex means that the unit he is attached to can start on the board and still Deep Strike into the enemy lines.

I love him more than I used to (and believe me he really does love him, almost as much as I love Arjac - Alex).

Grey Knights Brotherhood Formation

I'm not going into this because it's a bit rubbish. If you are playing a game with this many points then you won't want all the units listed here. The bonus you get of harnessing Santic powers on a 3+ isn't even close to being good enough to offset all the rubbish units you have to run.

Conclusion

I really like the codex overall. I think that GW have done a decent job of separating the Grey Knights out and making them good enough to run on their own in 7th edition without the need to run Inquisition alongside them. There are some obvious choices within the codex like Dreadknights for Heavy and Purifiers for Elites, but there are many decent HQ and special character options which means that many different types of list can be put together. For example, you could have a Deep Strike heavy list with the prospect of everything arriving from turn one, or you can run a mechanised list with land raiders and rhinos. Both types of army can make for good, even competitive lists. I will certainly be trying them out at tournaments myself.

I have to say I agree with Matt that they've managed to keep GK unique and powerful enough for you not to need to run Inquisition. In some ways it's a shame that a lot of the funky special rules have been lost but it makes for a simpler army and takes away some of the avenues for cheese that existed before. I know some may not be a fan but this has seemed like the way GW were going to go for a while. There are some that don't like the new SW or Ork books either but if you plan on playing competitively you just have to swallow the bitter pill and move on. I was certainly negative about the SW book when I first read it but I'm really starting to love it now. There's no question the GK book is all about Purifiers and Dreadknights but I think this was pretty much the case before anyway.

That's your lot then. Two codexes wrapped up in the space of a month. GW are certainly keeping me busy (well Matt this time). Rumours have it that DE are next with a possible Inquisition update also suggested. After that it's BA and hopefully Matt will step up again as they're another one of his long term armies.