Codex Grey Knights 7th Edition full review

The Book itself:

Pretty hot damn gorgeous. One of my favourite covers so far - on par with the Eldar one. It's only 96 pages mind and due to the small army list section there's plenty of room for background, artwork and information on heraldry and the organisational structure of the chapter, right down to each and every brotherhood (of which there are 8) and it's specialty, grand master and brother captain. Plus there's 2 pages on each of the special characters as with the additional sections in the Space Wolf book and a whole host of fluff around campaigns, the forming of the Chapter etc. The cards are also very nice and pretty much what we are used to seeing now. Also note that the sanctic cards are different to the ones that come in the main psychic power deck. I know it's not got a model release and it's less pages for your money (and effectively less content than the old book) but it's still a quality piece of work. 

Major Ommissions:

As per GW policy, gone are the two special characters Mordrak and Thawn (sucks for anyone who converted Ghost knights) which is a shame. Having said that Mordrak is mentioned and one of the Warlord traits still represents him well enough. As to be expected, all the Inquisition and Assassin elements have been removed. IMO this is a good thing so now Grey Knights really is all about the Grey Knights and the other elements can be added to other Imperial armies independently. All other changes and ommissions will be covered in the relevant sections below.

Additions:

None quite frankly. When I say compact BTW I really mean compact at just over 20 entries the GK codex has less than half as many as the Space Wolf codex, hopefully meaning more rules for fluff etc. There are no new additions or models and the datacards are the standard 1.1-1.6 GK specific ones with duplicates of sanctic thrown in. More on those later.

Army-wide rules:

ATSKNF, combat squads and brotherhood of psykers are retained as they now appear in the main rulebook. (subtly different but this was already FAQd) Psychic pilot also, but it is now dreadnoughts only. Mastery levels are obviously now widespread. Preferred enemy: Daemons is now simply listed under units rather than under the main rules. Purity of spirit is effectively just restating how sanctic is special for Grey Knights as per the rulebook. Really the only big change is the aegis, which instead of penalising enemy psykers now allows rerolls on deny the witch rolls of 1.

Wargear:

The weapon costs and stats got pretty shaken up. For power armoured troops the costs of ranged weapons are now equivalent to flamer/melta/plasma (incinerator/psilencer/psycannon), with terminators paying the same plus 5 per weapon. This makes life a lot easier when list building that's for sure. Special issue wargear is basically melta bombs, digital weapons, a teleport homer and master crafting one weapon and is limited to characters. Personal teleports are pretty much the same but much cheaper for dreadknights. Brotherhood banner is simply a 12" Ld reroll and +1 attacks for the unit and is Paladins only. Dreadnoughts have the same standard weapon options as other marine codexes as do vehicles. Melee weapons are pretty cheap with most models coming with swords as standard, with halberds the cheapest upgrade, followed by a pair of falchions, a stave and a hammer. This pricing makes much more sense than the old pricing and several of these items have changed in their abilities.

Now, before I cover the new stats for weapons I'll talk about the elephants in the room. Several pieces of wargear are now gone and this leads to a somewhat bland book. Servo skulls and special grenades are now limited to inquisition only. Grey knights retain psyk-out grenades which changed a lot. They can now be thrown 8" and are s2 blast with psishock, meaning that a random psyker in the unit suffers a perils if the unit is hit. In an assault they are effectively defensive grenades that work on psykers. So no more initiative lowering on daemons. Psy-bolts and Psy-flame no longer exist, which is a shame as although I thought they could be spammed by certain units it was nice to at least acknowledge the fluff in game terms. No more orbital strike relay either, yet again marking the death of another bit of great fluff.

Nemesis weapons have also changed. They are all force weapons with the daemonbane rule, which now grants rerolls to wound/pen. Swords are now simply AP3 and no longer grant +1 to saves. Falchions are just a pair of swords for the extra attack. Hammers are just thunder hammers with the 2 rules mentioned above. Staves are where the real difference occurs. They are now much cheaper and more readily available, but the 2++ in combat is replaced by them being effectively force mauls with daemonbane and ward, giving the unit admantium will. Worth throwing one in per unit I reckon for that alone. Doomfists have been replaced by bog standard power fists, with dreadknights able to upgrade to daemon hammers or a greatsword. More on them later.  

Ranged weapons have also changed a little. I'll say it again - no more psy-bolts or psy-flame. Incinerators and heavy ones remain the same except for gaining soul blaze. Psilencers are also mostly the same except rather than wounding daemons on a 4+ they now have force! Ouch! A much needed improvement and makes them more effective against different armies. Now if you're charging your force weapons anyway you'll be able to doubly benefit. Psycannons predictably gained the salvo rule and the heavy psycannon gained a second fire mode with a salvo 3/6 profile instead of large blast. This makes the humble psycannon a lot less effective and justifies the price drop on power armour but not (relentless) terminator armour. It should also be noted that the techmarine retained his conversion beamer option - glad as I spent a while converting one!

Vehicles:

It should be noted that all vehicles save for dreadnoughts are now simply standard Space marine vehicles. Yep, no more fortitude, no more aegis and costs in line with other space marines codexes. All vehicles save for dreadnoughts have lost psychic pilot, so no more warp charge spam with transports. The vehicle armoury has lost the warp stabilisation field and truesilver armour, which I always thought were nice touches. As mentioned above, Psy-bolts and Psy-flame are just plain gone. No more rifleman dread spam, no more hurricane bolters of awesome. Just plain gone. The entries in Imperial armour 2 for the GK dreadnought, land raider and razorback now make sense as does their costing. Of note with the stormraven is that weapon entries are not present - an errata issue I'm sure as the picture even shows a multi-melta. Mindstrike missiles are gone and replaced with stormstrikes also. Ouch.

Psychic powers:

Before I summarise the powers (same as the rulebook) I will quickly run down which powers have been lost from the previous book, not including those that still exist even if slightly different. All powers except for those of the Librarian are pre-defined for units now so no need to roll. (I'll note which have access to each)

The sanctic powers are as follows:

Pri - banishment (3) - malediction - daemon unit in 24" gets -1 to ++ save (all)

1 - Gate of infinity (1) - blessing target psyker - remove target and unit and deep strike them (Draigo)

2 - Hammerhand (1) - blessing targets psyker - him and unit have +2 strength (All except dreadknights/dreadnoughts)

3 - Sanctuary (1) - blessing targets psyker - +1 to ++ save for him and unit. (daemons treat terrain in 12" as dangerous) (Stern, dreadknight, dreadnought)

4 - Purge soul (1) - focussed witchfire (24") roll off and add Ld - if GK wins, target suffers wound (Draigo)

5 - Cleansing flame (2) - nova 9" - s5ap4 assault 2D6, soul blaze, ignores cover (Crowe, purifiers)

6 - Vortex of doom (3) - witchfire 12" - SDap1 assault 1 blast vortex

To make a bit more sense of that, basically all units have banishment as it's the primaris. Almost all units have hammerhand except for dreadnoughts and dreadknights (like they need it!) who have sanctuary instead. Purifiers and Crowe have cleansing flame and the special characters have a couple of extras. Brother Captains, Grand masters and librarians can generate powers from sanctic, diviniation, pyromancy, telepathy and telekinesis as normal.  

The lost powers are might of titan (although hammerhand is now +2S), dark excommunication, quicksilver, shrouding, summoning (effectively gate), warp rift, warp quake, astral aim, holocaust, reconstruction, fortitiude, sanctified flame (Draigo), zone of banishment (though it still exists as a rule not power), heroic sacrifice (still exists as a rule not power) and psychic communion. Wow, when you list them like that the Grey Knights really lost a lot of powers! I'll look at specifics when I get onto unit entries.

Relics:

None are particularly expensive and range from 10 to 25 points. I'll list them in point order:

1 - Bone shard of Solor - 3++ if within 12" of a daemon. 2++ if they're Khorne and also gain hatred:Khorne

2 - Fury of deimos - 36" assault 3 stormbolter - master crafted, precision shots

3 - Cuirass of sacrifice - terminator armour with FnP and IWND.

4 - Soul Glaive - effectively a 2-handed halberd that rerolls to activate force and can reroll to hit/wound/pen when activated against all enemies.

5 - Domina Liber Daemonica - bearer gets one extra sanctic power. units in 6" reroll 1s when casting sanctic powers (!)

6 - Nemesis banner (paladins only) all units in 12" fearless, unit gains +1 attack, daemons in 12" treat open ground as dangerous terrain

Warlord traits:

1 - Daemon slayer - warlord has hatred daemons and rolls 2+ to cast banishment. (Draigo)

2 - hammer of righteousness - warlord and unit have hammer of wrath (Crowe)

3 - unyielding anvil - warlord and all units in 12" are stubborn. (Stern)

4 - First to the fray - warlord and unit auto arrive from deep strike in turn one and only D6 scatter.

5 - Perfect timing - warlord and unit have counter attack

6 - Lore master - warlord knows one more sanctic power than normal for his ML.

Missions:

1 - destroy the daemon - VP accumulator depending how many daemon units killed

2 - psychic communion - psychic power casting accumulator

3 - no witnesses - 1VP if all enemy ICs dead

4 - deeds of legend - 1vp if win a challenge, D3 if it was an IC or MC.

5 - teleport attack - 1 vp if 1 unit arrives by deep strike or if you teleport shunt / gate of infinity

6 - rites of exorcism - opponent picks an objective. D3 VPs if you control it that turn, 1 VP any subsequent turn

Detachment:

The Grey Knights Nemesis strike force detachment limits your troops to 4 slots and ups your elites to 4 also, with  2 HQs, 2 heavy and 2 fast (as well as a LoW and fort). Only 1 HQ and 1 troops are compulsory. Command benefits are the usual reroll to warlord traits from the GK book. Rites of teleportation is the perk which grants reserve rolls from turn one if deep striking on a 3+. These models can run and shoot (any order) the turn they arrive. Pretty handy TBH - I can't see anyone not wanting to take the detachment unless they particularly want to load up on heavy/FA slots.

The army list:

On to individual units now. I'm going to omit the rhino, razorback, land raiders and stormraven from this as they're now effectively the same as their codex counterparts.

Draigo is now a Lord of war and so doesn't count against your HQ slots. He no longer makes Paladins troops and has had his stats reduced to WS6, S4 and T4. His points have reduced accordingly though. He knows 4 psychic powers (mentioned above) and has daemon slayer as his trait. The titansword is now a S7 ap2 MC nemesis weapon and so may be less effective against daemons (no more instakilling the big chaps) but is overall more effective against most other things. He retains fearless and eternal warrior. He may no longer be the heart carving badass he once was but he can still go toe to toe with the likes of Lysander. Plus don't forget he can use hammerhand to get S9 as well as having hatred: daemons and being able to cast banishment on a 2+. Still the man for the most part.   

Brother Captain/Grand Master got rolled into one unit entry. base cost and stats for a BHC are the same except they now no longer have psychic communion and have lost half their wargear options as discussed above. The grand master is a slightly more expensive upgrade than before but for that you get an extra attack (no BS6) and automatically become ML2, so a net cost reduction. They both get access to relics and special issue wargear, ranged weapons and melee weapons which with the exception of the hammer and psilencer all got significantly cheaper. These chaps also benefit from being the only units except the Librarian which can choose from different disciplines now and don't have preset powers. They also lost their grand strategy rules but these are now rolled into warlord traits and less relevant in 7th.

Stern has changed a bit. He's a power weapon cheaper and he has unyeilding anvil as his warlord trait. Zone of banishment is replaced by a pimped version of banishment, which targets all models in 24" rather than a single one in 12". (-1 to all invulnerable saves on daemons - yes please!)He is otherwise pretty much the same with ML2 and his strands of fate rule. By no means a bad choice for only 10 pts more than a grand master and Vs daemons he's certainly worth deep striking in.

Librarian stats stayed the same but he got a significant price drop and is now 135 points when upgraded to ML3 as opposed to the 200 points he used to be! He also got access to combi-weapons as well as usual range of weapons, thought he begins with a stave and needs upgrading for a ranged weapon and other melee weapons. He also lost a lot of wargear options same as the BHC/GM sadly but still benefits from being able to choose powers same as they do. A solid choice for a bolstering unit.

Crowe is a power fist more expensive now and retains his stats except for attacks which, like the brotherhood champion, are now standard at 3. his warlord trait is hammer of righteousness and he is pretty much a mix between a brotherhood champ and a purifier. He no longer makes purifiers troops or has master swordsman (no rending on a 4+), but on the plus side the blade of antwyr no longer grants enemies a boost against him and he can finally join other units as an IC. Potentially devastating in a group of purifiers but as always getting them to the fight is key. Otherwise he's a bit lackluster.  

Brotherhood Champions got a big overhaul. They now cost 50% more though. The anointed blade changed to a master crafted nemesis force sword, so no net change there. He lost a point of weapon skill but gained a much needed extra wound and a base attack level of 2. Speaking of which, the old herald of titan rules are gone and replaced with blade shield (reroll all saves) or sword strike (gains smash), both of which are improvements IMO. Heroic sacrifice is no longer a psychic power and is nowehere near as good as before in that it is simply a normal attack that doesn't remove the opponent. I never saw them used before and with that points cost doubt we will see them now. Had they stayed the same points or got a minor increase they would have been a viable choice, but when you can get a ML3 librarian for cheaper or a brother captain for the same points I'm not sure they're worth it.

Techmarine - these chaps may have lost a power in the form of reconstruction and cost the same as before. In fact, very little has changed about them save for access to no longer existent upgrades. Thankfully thought they retained access to the conversion beamer and now can be taken one for each HQ instead of taking up an elite slot.

Dreadnought - now a single elite entry with venerable as an upgrade in line with costs in codex marine books. They got a bit more expensive base but cheaper overall as a venerable dreadnought. Psyflame and Psybolts are now gone so they are less devastating than they used to be and also lost reinforced aegis in favour of the new aegis rule. Their powers are preset and they are the only vehicle in the book to come with the psychic pilot rule now. I can still see a place for the humble dreadnought in army lists, especially being a source of banishment to keep those pesky daemons at bay.

Paladins have also changed very little except for getting access to land raiders as dedicated transports. They now come with a minimum of 3 models and have lost holocaust in favour of banishment. The apothecary is now almost a quarter of the old cost making them much more favourable an option. Access to ranged weapons is the same (2/5) and any model can take melee or special issue wargear, meaning you can load them up with melta bombs and master crafted weapons if you choose. They are the only unit to get access to banners in the army now. Still a solid choice, but no longer made troops by Draigo.

Purifiers are still IMO one of the best units in the book, if not the game. They cost a power fist each but are definitely worth it. For that extra 5 points over strike squads you gain access to an extra ranged weapon (2/5), an extra attack, fearless, soul blaze on all CC attacks and ML2 (plus automatic access to cleansing flame, arguably one of the better psychic powers). Despite the melee weapon costs all being the same now, I can't see a good reason not to include these chaps over a regular strike squad, especially now they've lost warp quake. Definitely one of the stand out units for me.

Terminators got significantly cheaper making them a viable choice when compared to both paladins and purifiers now. Not much else changed aside from the addition of land raiders as dedicated transports and the loss of access to banners.

Strike squads lost warp quake and have to pay a premium for the Justicar now but otherwise stayed the same. Not much else to say really. Aside from delivery they pale in comparison to purifiers veen more so now.

Interceptors got a hair cheaper and retain their warp jump ability. Same as strike squads, they have to pay a premium for then justicar and also lost warp quake. Again, good for mobility, poor compared to purifiers.

Purgators lost astral aim and gained night vision (not very useful when your maximum range is 24") but otherwise are the same. They may not be able to deep strike but can still take 4 weapons for every 5 men which is good to min-max a squad as even purifiers require 10 men for 4 ranged weapons. You pay a premium for the justicar as with the other squads.  

Dreadknights are one of the winners in this book. Their base cost is slightly higher but the teleporter is 40% of the old cost. Plus all the weapon upgrades got cheaper. With doomfists gone there's now a real reason to upgrade the CCW to either a hammer or a greatsword, which is the same as a hammer but swaps concussive for master crafted. Very tasty in the old book, near mandatory now.  

Formation - Grey Knight brotherhood - allows teleport strikes the same as the detachment, but crucially also allows for all psychic tests to be passed on a 3+ so long as the grand master is still alive! As with several company sized formations, the biggest problem is going to be squeezing them all in to a game as even the bare minimum is likely to cost you 1750 pts. 

Conclusion

Much more streamlined and easy to build a list from, but the book lost a lot of flavour in the process. So many psychic powers have gone with little to replace them. Instead of being fixed, wargear has just been removed. Overall on the surface it appears to be a nerf, although arguably one that was needed. No new models doesn't help the cause either, and removing the two special characters that added a bit of flavour seems like a kick in the teeth. A simple conversion pic would have sufficed to keep them in and would still mean selling more terminator kits for GW.

Terminators and dreadnoughts got a points reduction as did the majority of vehicles, but they lost a lot for that reduction. Power armour took a beating with the exception of purifiers. My conclusion is that purifiers and dreadknights will be more popular than ever with more librarians making it into lists too. Grey Knights will remain competitive but sadly they may become a mono-build army.  I haven't had a chance to examine all the potential combos and psychic shennaigans - this is just my knee jerk so please feel free to disagree and comment. Cheers.