Building on a Budget: Grey Knights

Grey Knights are literally the best weapons that mankind has to offer. Every single one of them is a Psyker, and they're all Space Marines. They're an entire Chapter of Librarians. Why would you not want to play them? In addition, they have Troops models that cost 33 Points per model. That's going to get you to 1850 Points taking units that you'll probably want to be taking anyway. Which that in mind

Rule #1; Get to 1850 as cheaply as possible, while
Rule #2; Not being bad.

Rule #2 says that deliberately taking units because they are expensive points-wise is not allowed. Because that's being bad. But, Grey Knights' expensive units are actually good. You want to take those units that would normally be considered 'bad' in any other army. Score!

Spoiler: List Building Process
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You can basically pick any HQ you want. Every single one of them (except the Techmarine) is 0.2 or under. So, while we could pick other, cheaper options, we probably wont save that much money. So let's just go with the best option;

(0.20) (W) Librarian; ML3, Melta Bombs, Domina Liber Daemonica - 165 Points

He's effectively an ML4 Librarian, in Terminator Armour. Now, he really wants a Nemesis Daemon Hammer for 5 Points. But, the model comes with a Staff, and Melta Bombs are the same points. If you really need that S8 Force Weapon, roll up Hammerhand and you'll be good. So, yeah. That's Warlord taken care of. One of the best models in the book. So easy.

So, Troops;

(0.42) Strike Knights (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 130 Points
(0.39) Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points

The extra currency cost of the Terminators is offset by the fact that they cost more points. Anyway, Strike Knights are functionally identical to Terminators, except that Terminators have 2 attacks each and 2+/5++. The Strike Knight with the Incinerator loses his Melee weapon, while the Terminator doesn't. In any case, Terminators are far superior to Strike Knights, and, they just so happen to be a tiny bit more efficient. It's not even a question.

(0.39) Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
(0.39) Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
(0.39) Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
(0.39) Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points

Incinerators are S6, AP4, Template weapons. In a meta that is more and more frequently 'T3, 4+/FNP, Cover save', Incinerators are arguably one of the - if not the - best weapons in the game for killing Infantry, and Grey Knights can take lots of them. If your meta is T4, 3+ Armour, then it really doesn't matter what you take. Yes, Terminators are Relentless, and yes Psycannons have Rending. Still, an Incinerator is half the points.
However, it's worth mentioning that the Strike Knight box comes with two Psycannons, not one.

Well, we've got Infantry-killing in spades. We now need to be killing Vehicles. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of leeway in the Grey Knights' book. Every single Terminator you own could be taking a Daemon Hammer. But, you only get one per box, so that means trawling auction sites for parts, or PROTIP: Buying a Terminator Assault Squad box, using the Hammers out of that box and then making Lightning Claw Terminators. However, there aren't a great deal of uses for Claw-Terminators, so, don't do that unless you have a plan.

(0.49) Nemesis Dreadknight; Personal Teleporter, Heavy Incinerator, Daemon Hammer - 185 Points

Remember how Strike Knights come with two Psycannons per sprue? Well, if you buy two boxes (or one of those boxes of ten), that gives you four Psycannons. We've established that the efficiency between Strike Knights and Terminators is basically 'nil, so it's not like you're losing money, just that Terminators are better. Still, we need two boxes of Strike Knights to get four 'Cannons. So, let's get rid of one of those Terminators, and save ourselves a bit of money since we probably don't need five Troops units.

Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points

(0.39) Strike Knights (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 130 Points
(0.32) Purgators (x5); x4 Psycannons - 170 Points

Purgators also have Night Vision, to get rid of Stealth on the first turn during Night Fight. Y'know, just in case you aren't ruining people who enjoy Cover Saves' day enough. S7 Rending isn't the best. But it's the best you've got. Because of the silly number of shots that four Psycannons churn out, they can also serve as Flier defense in a pinch, doubly so if you're playing against Daemons. The main problem with Purgators is that you need two boxes to make one (good) unit, and that's simply not viable if you want to spam them.

So, where are we at?

(W) Librarian; ML3, Melta Bombs, Domina Liber Daemonica - 165 Points

Strike Knights (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 130 Points
Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points

Purgators (x5); x4 Psycannons - 170 Points

Total: 1035 Points

Well, we've established that having another unit of Purgators simply isn't viable on our wallet. So...

(0.49) Nemesis Dreadknight; Personal Teleporter, Heavy Incinerator, Daemon Hammer - 185 Points

Unfortunately, running our Dreadknight by himself is asking for trouble. Let's give him some backup.

(0.37) Interceptors (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 150 Points

Much cheaper than a second Dreadknight. But, do you know what's cool about Grey Knights? Pretty much everything is built using the same kit, and now we have another two Psycannons. So, if we want to buy another box, we have four Psycannons, and look! It's a second unit of Purgators!

(0.32) Purgators (x5); x4 Psycannons - 170 Points

You now have even more Flier defense if you need it, too. Since it's not like you're going to pick up a Stormraven (0.55) anytime soon.

Total: 1540 Points.
We're getting pretty close to the end. Maybe we should start thinking about a bodyguard unit for our Warlord. There are two options; Purifierers give our Warlord Fearless (which does matter), but, since Marines can't be Swept, it's not like losing Assault matters, since if you die to shooting attacks, you'll just ATSKNF back into the fight next turn. Besides, a unit with a 3+ save and no Invulnerable isn't a particularly good bodyguard unit for our Warlord.

(0.23) Paladins (x5); Apothecary, Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer - 315 Points

Wait...0.23? Why not just make a whole army out of Paladins and save heaps of money? Like a lot?
Because we're not being bad.

In any case, we're now at 1855, so let's drop Melta Bombs off of those Strike Knights.


Spoiler: Grey Knights, CAD
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(W) Librarian; ML3, Melta Bombs, Domina Liber Daemonica - 165 Points

Strike Knights (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer - 125 Points
Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points
Terminators (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 190 Points

Paladins (x5); Apothecary, Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer - 315 Points

Interceptors (x5); Incinerator, x1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, Melta Bombs - 150 Points

Purgators (x5); x4 Psycannons - 170 Points
Purgators (x5); x4 Psycannons - 170 Points
Nemesis Dreadknight; Personal Teleporter, Heavy Incinerator, Daemon Hammer - 185 Points

Total: 1850 Points

The only models in the list that can't Deep Strike are the Purgators.


0.34. Not the cheapest by any stretch. Orks come with a single 800 Point model, and Dark Angels and Chaos Marines both can abuse the Dark Vengeance set. Blood Angels are slightly cheaper, but they're bad. Now, if you want to hard derp mode into 3 units of Paladins (0.23), you can do that. But you should never go full derp mode. You can save a bunch of money by dropping the Strike Knights and a unit of Purgators, and picking up Kaldor Draigo (0.16). But, it's not really worth it. Since those 16, S7 Rending shots that ignore Night Fighting are quite good. Especially if you plan on holding your Purgators on Objectives so you don't lose, and those Strike Knights are ObSec, and anyone who tells you that ObSec doesn't matter are kidding themselves.

But that's what BoaB is all about, isn't it? Do you want to win games? Or do you want to spend less money? You want to try and do both, right?