GK Competitive Lists

[DarkLink]

For fun, I’ve thrown together a list of categories of competitive GK lists. Some are more competitive than others, and I won’t get too specific with the lists since GKs are pretty flexible, but these are what I see as the competitive GK lists.

I’ll also note that the GK codex has good enough internal balance that you can mix and match these categories together with a little experimentation.



Hybrid
Slightly misleading, as hybrid GKs are really probably full meched up. However, with all those Storm Bolters and Psycannons your GKs won’t actually spend much time in Rhinos, and if you have Terminators they will be footslogging.

The list is straightforward. A unit of 10 Terminators or some Paladins is a solid core for shooting and CC, and gives you somewhere to put a GM or Librarian, but isn’t required. A couple GKSS units in Rhinos will give you scoring. A pair of 10 man units and a pair of 5 man units is a flexible core. A couple psyrifle dreads then fill out your core, for their long range fire support.

Then, move on to Purifiers, Purgation squads and Henchmen. Coteaz is a good option here, as he gives you cheap mobile scoring and lets your GKs dedicate themselves to the frontline fighting. Librarians and GMs are both good options, depending on if you want the Grand Strategy/Grenades or Shrouding/Psychic hood.

Ultimately, you’re left with a more or less fully meched army, with plenty of bodies, scoring units, guns and psycannons, that can still bring the pain in CC. A solid list by any 5th ed standard.



Driagowing
A little infamous, this is a solid list but a very unforgiving one due to the low model count. One roll that comes up with a lot of 1’s can really screw you. Focusing on Paladins (and thus Driago) and Terminators, a Librarian becomes important for his force multipliers, and Techmarines are vital for their Grenades since you probably won’t have a Grand Master or Xenos Inquisitor. Be careful not to spend too many points on single model units though.

Here, Paladins are your frontline combat unit. They pack in the Psycannons, and are beastly in CC, especially when backed up by Driago. Conveniently, Driago is also awesome at blocking melta/lascannon shots with his face, which will save you a lot of Paladins.

Next, Terminators and Psyrifle Dreads provide fire support. Terminators are also pretty good in CC, so they can back up your Paladins, plus aren’t nearly as vulnerable to high strength weapons. And Psyrifle Dreads give you the vital ability to open enemy transports from across the board, while hiding behind cover saves and Fortitude.

Power armor units and henchmen are generally avoided here, since they become easy targets for your opponent’s anti infantry stuff that would otherwise bounce off your Paladins. That’s not to say that a scoring razorback isn’t of any use, though.

Lastly, transportation for your units can become an issue. Without Interceptors and with very few units, you might have trouble projecting force where you need it. Thus, Land Raiders and Storm Ravens. A single Land Raider is fine, since you can screen it from melta pretty easily with your Paladins/Terminators, but multiple Storm Ravens are probably a necessity as one is easily shot down.

Note that I’m actually including Greywing lists in this category. Even though they don’t have Driago, all Terminator lists play very similarly to all Paladin lists, which play similarly to lists that mix Terminators and Paladins. There are some difference in the details, obviously, but for my purposes we can gloss over those.



Foot
Like Footdar, but without the weaknesses. To differentiate from Driagowing, these lists focus more on GKSS and the like as opposed to Terminators.

First off, the Grand Master is the default HQ. Librarians have some good options, too, though I’ve come to prefer more bodies and guns instead of the relatively minor benefits the Librarian brings. Xenos/Malleus Inquisitors can bring more grenades/psycannons as well, making them useful. 3 or more Psyrifle Dreads are practically a requirement here (seeing a trend with this?).

Since only GKSS and Terminators can score by default, and you don’t want to be forced to always use the Grand Strategy to make stuff score unless really needed, the list is built around these guys. 10 or so Terminators backed up by 20 or so GKSS is a very solid core. Stick the GM with grenades in the Terminator unit and you have a CC unit that can kill most anything, and the GKSS bring lots of Storm Bolters and Psycannons for cheap.

Beyond the core of the HQ, scoring units and psyrifle Dreads, your focus is on getting mobility and psycannons. Purifiers and Purgation squads are both good choices for their psycannons (plus Purifiers are awesome in general), and Interceptors are flat out amazing in this list. A couple squads of Interceptors combined with Outflanking via the Grand Strategy practically erases your mobility issues if you know how to deploy correctly.

I’ll also add that, while not technically “foot”, a couple Rhinos doesn’t hurt this list, especially if you don’t like Interceptors. Generally, though, this list trades vehicles for more bodies, taking into consideration of the fact that 4-5 Rhinos is about the same cost as 10GKSS with Psycannons. As a result, this list is build and functions a bit differently from Hybrid GKs.



Crowe
The other infamous GK list. Since everyone and their mother loves Purifiers, everyone and their mother is willing to suffer Crowe in order to build an army around them.

The list is pretty simple. 1. Crowe. 2. Purifiers with appropriate mixes of Halberds, Hammers and Psycannons. 3. Psyrifle Dreads. That’s about it. You can take a couple min GKSS units for support and extra scoring, maybe Coteaz and a few henchmen, but combining Crowe, Purifiers and Psyrifle Dreads and the list falls into place.

The only further distinction of note is that you can go either full 10-man squads or go MSU with Razorbacks and small squads. Or you can mix it up. It really depends on what you want the list to accomplish, but keep in mind that pure MSU spends a lot of points on not-very-useful Rhino chassis (at least, not very useful for GKs compared to other SM armies), and 5 man units have virtually no combat power, even if they are GKs. 6x5 Purifiers in Razorbacks is not the best way to go with this list, or with GKs in general.



Inquisitorial Circus
Coteaz + Henchmen + Psyrifle Dreads. What more is there to say?

Henchmen are a flexible unit, with some good and a lot of bad options. A couple DCA squads with Rad/Psykotroke Grenades gives you a brutal counter assault unit that you would otherwise lack. Psykers give you a powerful AP1 large blast with a big threat range. Acolytes and Servitors bring melta. Psyrifle Dreads bring ridiculous amounts of heavy firepower. This here is the time to go MSU and cram as much stuff into the list as you can. Take units in pairs for redundancy, and once you run out of troop slots spend the rest of your points on Psyrifle Dreads.

Just keep in mind this is a very fragile army, so your goal is to blow your opponent away before they can hurt you. First person to make Leafblower comparisons gets slapped.





Now, you can also build a list around Mordrack. I, however, have not spent much thought on that subject, and don't feel that you can get a super competitive list out of it. Against some armies it works well, but others it kinda falls apart. It's a real one trick pony. Every time I've seen a Dreadknight, I've ignored it until it assaulted me, then I killed it in CC. And it doesn't have any good guns, so... basically Mordrack lists lack the heavy firepower that GKs need. Probably pretty fun to play, though.

[AngelsofDeath]

Point being? GK Codex is really good? Or GK Codex is really over powered?

I have yet to see a bad WAAC army come out of this Codex. We can only hope or cry when the Necrons come out and they have orbs that prevent all psychic powers and have the always strikes first rule regardless of Int value. OR some other kind of crazyness that makes them the next best army that all the WAAC players will flock to like vultures to a carcass.

[thecactusman17]

Decent Inquisitorial Squad setup:

1/2 DCA, 1/2 Crusaders, shove them in an assault transport with either Coteaz or a techmarine and watch things die brutally.

On the other hand, 3 meltas and 9 stormbolters in a Chimera for a measly 160 points is an absolute steal.

[DarkLink]

Point being? GK Codex is really good? Or GK Codex is really over powered?

Neither. The point is, the GK codex is pretty well done in that there are a wide variety of competitive lists. You could take any of the lists I mentioned to a tournament and do well, and I'm sure there are other types of lists you could put together and be competitive as well.

There are some units that just kinda suck, like the Brotherhood Champion, and some units that are decent but don't fit in well to most competitive lists like the Dreadknight and Purgation squads. But for the most part, the codex has very good internal balance.

[Mr.Pickelz]

locally, my draigowing is doin just fine for me, wins and losses, 30 paladins and draigo... The biggest problem is the low amount of psycannons in the force, but with aggressive tatics i can usually hold the middle of the board early on and do well in melee, thanks to halberds. biggest downfall is the shooting phase in which due to lack of psycannons, mech armies are still the paper to my rock.

[blackjack]

"6x5 Purifiers in Razorbacks is not the best way to go with this list, or with GKs in general."


Well my 6x5 purifier, Razor spam army is doing great so far... Undefeated in about 12 games to date. Why do you think it's not the way to go? sure 30 marines is not alot for an enemy to kill but keep in mind that the fire power output nutralises alot of threats.

My list

Crowe.
Ordos xeno inq, rad, psyco, plasma syphon.
6x5 Puris, Razor w Psi ammo (halberds, 2 psi cannons, and hammers on half the units)
1 Ven dread, 2 auto cannons, psi ammo
3 dreads, 2 auto cannons, psi ammo.
2000pts

[DarkLink]

Well, it's kinda relative. It's actually a decent list, and in most cases a really good list. But it doesn't quite mesh with the GK strengths as well as some of the other lists up there, in my opinion. And it only really works with Purifiers, because Purifiers are rather underpriced and really really good.

The problem with the list, though, is that you lose combat power extremely quickly. You get tons of psycannons and such, sure, so you can hold your own in shooting against most everyone. But in the battle reports that I've seen with this type of list where they fail, it's because they lack the CC strength that the GK codex inherently has. With only 5 dudes a squad, a couple turns in and with 2 psycannons a squad even one or two casualties means that you rely almost completely on Cleansing Flame for your CC punch, and against a lot of armies it isn't that potent.

Also, though psybacks are good, with MSU you're spending a lot of points on vehicles. Consolidating a couple small units together can save almost enough points for another psyrifle dread, for example.


So I don't want to sound like it's a horrible list or anything, because it is a pretty good list. But it doesn't quite play to the GKs strengths. Remember, GKs may not be a pure assault army, but when every one of your guys has a power weapon assault is fairly integral to what you do. Same thing with shooting and storm bolters/psycannons. You shoot, shoot, and shoot some more, then you slaughter what's left in combat on the counter assault. The problem with pure MSU is that it can only really shoot. While it's very good at that, I feel you lose more than you gain with the GK codex specifically.