Grey Knight Strike Squads and Transports

[house_cawdor]

Would Grey Knight Strike Squads really use transports? They have always been stated to teleport into battle to reduce losses, so why do they have rhinos? I can see squads that do not rely on Deep Striking to use them (Purifiers, Purgation Squads), but GKSS???

[Wildcard]

Hard to tell with the new fluff.. yet here are some points worth of noticing:

- There may not be battle barge available to provide teleporter platforms.
- It may not be possible to do pinpoint insertions.
- Purifiers are truly rare (was it 40 or so in the whole chapter), so these are not gonna be in majority of the engagements.

Rhinos and Razorbacks provide shelter, mobility and added firepower in situations where you must force your way through, like shielded underground caves and fortifications..

[Wildeybeast]

Don't forget the unpredictable nature of teleporting troops into the middle of battle. You really don't want to materialise in the middle of unit of enemy troops. And I'd expect a warp incursion of daemons might affect teleporting.
Also, do GK have scout squads? Because if not they are going to need troops on the ground to provide accurate coordinates for teleporting.

[house_cawdor]

I love how the codex states Purifiers are rare except you can still have them as troops and people fit way in excess of 40 in certain lists.

Also, it seems hard to make a mixed list of deepstriking and transporting units as there are going to be a lack of targets either of the table or when reserves come in.

Hmm, I'll keep working on a list that uses non-redundant units...

[Denied]

I love how the codex states Purifiers are rare except you can still have them as troops and people fit way in excess of 40 in certain lists.
.

Actually I run a competitive purifier list and you can only fit (at max) around 38-40 purifiers in a 2K list and this is if you ARE using transports. Obviously if you are foot slogging them then you could probably get closer to 50, but no one in their right mind foot slogs them.

Remember also you can ONLY bring them as troops if you use Crowe so you max out on 60 Purifiers in this situation ad if you run them completely naked that's 1440pts alone.... so your statement is invalid.

[house_cawdor]

Sorry if I hit a soft spot Denied!

First, While I prefer 1500 pts, many people play much higher (2000-2500) so my point really isn't invalid.
Second, I'm sure there is someone out there who does not use Rhino/Razorback Spam
Third, If Purifiers are so valuable, do you think they would ALL be sent to the same battle?

As useless as fluff may be to some, the armies used to be defined by fluff (like it or not) and make interesting lists...

[DarkLink]

First, While I prefer 1500 pts, many people play much higher (2000-2500) so my point really isn't invalid.

Most people play between 1500 and 2000pts. Outside of 'ard boyz or apocalypse (which is a whole different matter altogether) I virtually never see or hear about anyone playing over 2000pts.

Second, I'm sure there is someone out there who does not use Rhino/Razorback Spam

So you're worried about the possibility that there might, theoretically, be someone out there who plays an odd list that doesn't fit the fluff? While half the space wolf armies in existence have triple long fang squads and librari-errr, I mean rune priests? Because runic powers are totally different from psychic powers. Totally.

Third, If Purifiers are so valuable, do you think they would ALL be sent to the same battle?

Yes. If you read the codex, you'll find at least one case of exactly that happening, as well as one instances of literally all the Grey Knights being deployed all at once.


I'll point out that the codex says 'there are usually about two score Purifiers'. That doesn't mean exactly forty. That means roughly forty. As in, there could be more. Maybe 45. Maybe 50. Either way, nothing to get your panties in a bunch over.

[doom-kitten]

Wasn't this about strike squads? Always interesting to see how something completely different then the original topic can cause so much anger.

[DarkLink]

This is a thread about fluff. This is srz business.

That was sarcasm, by the way.

[Kawauso]

I think it makes sense that they'd use transports.

Teleporting isn't always reliable, as has been pointed out. Beyond that, it's dangerous, even for Grey Knights. Wherever possible, I imagine deploying troops via Thunderhawks with the appropriate ground support would be preferable.

Also, don't forget what transports would offer the GK. It's a mobile piece of cover, a heavy fire platform - and it gets them around. What if they need to go somewhere after they teleport down to the surface of a planet? They're not going to wait around for a lift back to their battle barge to teleport again, most likely. Having a transport for a squad allows them to redeploy and traverse distances that would be too great to go on foot in a timely manner and too short to make going back into orbit to re-teleport practical. And don't forget that most of the tabletop battles typically represent part of a larger conflict or ongoing campaign.

Just my 2 cents.