Indicium: Forgeworld Grey Knight Updates

In case you didn't know, Forgeworld has released updated rules for the Inquisition and Grey Knights here.

Nothing too exciting but at least they are staying current as quickly as possible. The surprise here is how little they seem to understand their own actual ruleset. I own a Grey Knight Redeemer and plan to play with the psybolt upgrade as psycannons. Per the FW rules, I would end up paying 15 points more for the same stat line and the simple privilege of calling it a psycannon rather than an assault cannon with psybolts.

Same thing goes for the dreadnought upgrade. Basically a 5 point premium for the privilege of calling it a "psycannon"!

Indicium: Games Workshop UK Sweet Spot

Not directly related to the game, but I noticed recently that there is a sweet spot when ordering from the UK GW site and shipping to the United States.

The discovery came about when I realized that the US GW site no longer stocked the Grey Knight terminator psycannon arms. Considering that I had recently purchased six metal terminator bodies from ApocaBitz for use with those arms, I was justifiably upset. Calling US GW customer service rendered no satisfaction, only the statement that the bits had been discontinued in favor of the plastic terminators soon to be released.

In a state of desperation, I ended up at the UK GW site and found that they still carried the bits. I added these to my shopping cart, clicked Check Out, and found that shipping to the US was in the neighborhood of 8GBP (pound sterling) which is roughly $14! All that for something like five total ounces of metal.

I decided to see what else I could order so I added a few more things to my shopping cart. In doing so I noticed several things:

• Every item added to my cart showed up at a 17% discount from the list price
• As long as the total cart value stayed under 50GBP, the shipping remained 8GBP
• As soon as the value went over 50GBP shipping jumped to 24GBP (about $40)

The 17% discount is the VAT that gets taken off when the shipping address is in the US. This alone is more than enough to offset the cost of shipping on an order that is just under 50GBP.

Moreover, ALL Necromunda models are discounted about 20% on the UK GW site from their US counterparts. 

In all, I ended up ordering two arbites gang boxes, one escher booster, and the aforementioned psycannons. After all the dust had settled (VAT, US vs UK price differences, etc.), the shipping and the psycannons were essentially FREE.

So if you are considering picking up any Necromunda product and shipping to the US, do it from the UK GW site (just keep it under 50GBP per order). For anything else, you are still getting a discount especially when the UK site has product no longer available elsewhere.

Exemplum: Calling down the Nightmare

The new Grey Knight codex presents a new spin on a very old concept - the orbital bombardment. The legacy Daemonhunters book presented these attacks as a separate Heavy support choice that essentially bombed one piece of terrain for almost the entire game. Great concept; poor execution.

The new book provides a great new way to deliver this payload in the form of the orbital strike relay. Offered as a 50 point option on the grand master, brother captain, and the techmarine as well as included in Karamazov's cost. Giving the relay to either the grand master or brother captain is frankly a waste as these guys will always be moving and the relay requires a stationary model to use.

However, the techmarine offers the most affordable choice and he doesn't eat up a valuable HQ choice. Karamazov effectively becomes 150 points and is a perfect choice for a firebase, regardless.

The simplest way to run this list is to take Karamazov with a bunch of monkeys parked in a piece of terrain bolstered by the relay techmarine. The techmarine literally hides out of line of sight, picking out a separate target, while the man in the yellow hat and his curious monkeys target their armor of choice.

At the end of the day this is not a "competitive" choice (little on my blog really is) but I think this would be a fun and effective way to bring a little mini-exterminatus to a tabletop near you!

Commutatus: Karamazov Battle Dais

So with the inclusion of Karamazov in the new Grey Knights codex, I decided to try my hand at converting a mobile dais for my inquisitor. Originally, I had thought to go with a platform mounted on tracks - a sort of mini-tank - but then I realized, "Hey, this is 40k. Why go with anything resembling reality?!". And thus the above chicken walker was born.

Unlike the Karamazov model, I didn't want my inquisitor permanently mounted. I liked the idea of Inquisitor Josiah Starck being able to pound ground when he needs to but also being able to mount his mobile platform of doom, swinging his sword and screaming, "Walk me closer to the enemy!".

The dais is open and easily fits a 25mm base. I chose this metal inquisitor to be my new Starck (he has been through several iterations) due to the plus-sized sword and the massive =][= symbol on his collar. The dais itself will get a few more bits, including an underslung multimelta, more leg armor, and additional scrollwork.

As a size comparison, the dais stands slightly taller than a rhino. But as an IC infantry model, Karamazov can join with a hench squad for additional protection (leadership and extra wounds) and he can get cover just by being in area terrain.

Commutatus: GK Thunder Hammer Fin

This is the final version of the thunder hammer for my Grey Knights. I added the flamer muzzle tip to the end of the hammer as a finishing touch. Like a good bits hunter, I let no piece of the carcass got to waster.

So far, my list has one ten man Purifier squad and one ten man Grey Knight Strike squad. For the Purifiers, I am using the classic metal power armor Grey Knights and for the Strike Squad I am using robed marines from the Dark Angels sprue. The Purifier squad gets two hammers, one of which is master crafted and the Strike squad Justicar gets a master crafted hammer as well.

I used the etched brass Inquisition symbols from Forge World for a little more detail on the hammer.

Commutatus: GK Thunder Hammer Redux

I came back to my original TH conversion after a day or so and realized I wasn't too pleased with it. So instead, I whipped up these more proper looking hammer heads and pinned them onto the GK halberds.

The conversion is fairly straightforward. Take a Tau flamer and cut the "cartridge" and the body as shown above. Then simply glue the cartridge on the taller end of the body piece (I like the ridges facing front) and add an aquila embellishment from one of the many marine bits sprues you have lying around. Mine came from the Ravenwing sprue as it was a little thicker and I like the rivets.

I also added the tech piece from the power mace that comes with the Dark Angels upgrade sprue to give it some more distance and more closely resemble terminator hammers.

I have yet to trim the halberd handles a little shorter and may add some to the handle itself.

Exemplum: Necromunda Enforcers as a Warband

With the new Grey Knights book on the horizon, I have been exploring some options to create an Inquisitorial warband that mixes elements from all the henchmen without being too spammy or too ineffective. As a devout Necromunda player, I have long been a fan of the Enforcer models but have never really wanted to run them as a gang. In taking another look recently at what you get in the Enforcers box, I realized this it was an excellent starting point for an Arbites inquisition unit.

For a reference to the contents of the box, check out the lead-in image as well Waggerz excellent post on Eastern Fringe (special thanks to Waggerz for the image and the thread). First off, none of the models come with weapons molded on. This is a rarity for any metal line and makes this box an excellent starting point. Furthermore, the weapon options and models are almost spot on for what a warband can run.

Here is a sample warband made from the Enforcers box:
Arcoflagellent - cyber mastiff
Crusader - Arbiter with shield and maul
Acolyte w/boltgun x2 - Arbiters w/ boltgun
Acolyte w/laspistol + ccw - Arbiter sergeant
Acolyte w/special weapon x 3 - Arbiters w/ plasma pistol, flamer, plasmagun

So that's eight guys that translate right out of the box into a reasonable warband. However, because none of the weapons are molded on, you can easily convert from whatever bits you have lying around.

For my warband, I would arm all three special weapon acolytes with meltaguns (the metal bits version work just fine) and would like swap the maul for a power sword to be closer to the crusader's actual look. Other than that, I would run them as-is.

Certainly this is not a "competitive" load-out for a warband, but I do feel like it well represents an Arbite squad without sacrificing too many extra points. I would consider playing the mastiff as an assassin to represent it's speed and agility or if I needed the points, to just drop it down to a basic acolyte.