Know thy enemy pt 1

So it's official, the new rules are out and tourney legal and the new models are flying off shelves. The Grey Knights are in town to layeth the smacketh downeth on all things that want to rip out of the warp and then wait for a turn while you shoot at them before trying to kill you. (very sporting of us right?)  Well the Knights are bringing the pain and being sporting isn’t the goal. They are the 18 year old playing Black ops against the 8 year old and talking trash the entire time. Perhaps they are just shiny grey new model goodness but as a demon player I think I am allowed to paint them in a slightly bad light since the book is designed to make my army easier to kill. GREY KNIGHTS SUCK...well not really but its fun to say.

The internet kool-aid while better than hater-aid tends jump to rock paper conclusions that can mislead. Is this a bad match up? Yes it is. How bad? Depends on the lists it will be a hard fought battle though…… oddly those are my favorite games so this book doesn’t make me want to hang up my army just yet. People are going to focus on the anti demon nonsense more than anything but you need to also remember that knights can lay down a ton of shooting when built correctly as well.

I won’t do a unit by unit break down of what units in the Demon Dex vs Grey Knight units I think I want to approach this from a different direction. First I’ll go over the Gods in a general sense and review the Grey knights units and abilities with some thoughts on them relating to my demonic friends out there throwing dice.

NURGLE

Let’s start with Nurgle. I always say Papa Nurgle makes orks cry, but its pretty safe to say Grey Knights are like a giant bottle of bleach to old Nurgle. For the most part they all pack power weapons to counter your FNP, they all have the ability to be str 5 or better with just as good shooting so your toughness isn’t impressive anymore. They get preferred enemy in assault which is just like rubbing salt in the nurgle wound. OH and they can cause instant death. So everything that makes you annoyingly hard to kill, the Knights ignore. It’s like going to the prom with your mom, you still get to come to the party but really what’s the point. Nurgle units aren’t going to match up well against the Knights they have too many tools to deal with you. Plague bearers in Cover are still annoyingly hard to kill with shooting but if they charge then they do pretty well killing off the slimey objective holding zombies.

What this means


Plague bearers are still going to be great troops to hold objectives and tie units up. They just won't be a great tar pit against the Knights. The Great Unclean One matches up really badly with the new codex though so I expect to see him vanish from lists in the future, not that he was overly popular. With SW, IG, and GK being able to drop him easily I see him as just a points sink now. The Nurgle Demon prince I am not sure of yet. I wonder if he will pull his weight in a match up vs the Knights or if he is bad enough that people drop him for another flavor.

Slaanesh

The Lavish Eldar created God and his units are still invited to the party despite the new holy party crashers. The neshy units still have higher base Init than most the Knights bring base, however anyone who brings glowing pointy sticks of blessed "increase init action" will be at Init 6 and striking first. Add in preferred enemy plus the ability to raise strength and there is a bit of a issue. However I personally feel that since most Knights are marines so don’t bring a ton of attacks to the table combined with the speed of the Neshy units means you should be able to decide who you charge and end up in combat with for the most part. Slaanesh has high init and lacks strength plus toughness, so with the crappy basic saves most demons get they aren’t going to be dominating combats like they are used to. Get into combat with a Libby and your fiends are going to lose rending plus hit and run due to the strip away gifts "Grinch" like power he brings to the table. So as you lose squad size your Neshy units are going to be way less effective VS the knights.

What this means

My initial thoughts are that KOS are going to show up on the table top a little more often. He is going to be a utility choice that players who aren't running him are going to consider now since he has fleet and his uber init means he is still a problem in combat. cheaper than a Thirster, and can bring grenades which is a lacking ability in this codex. The Fiends are losing a step in this match up but are such a good unit that they won't be vanishing in any lists any time soon. If your running deamonettes or heralds of neshy already I prob can't convince you that you should've already dropped them for better options before the knights became a problem so you'll prob still run them and if your winning with them then keep doing what your doing. Seekers are still viable with the reach and grenades they seem to be about the same to me as long as your not trying to get by with a min squad of some kind.