Wrath of Khan


I have not played my Space Marines since the Tyranid codex came out.  I had three lists I tended to use Bikers, Terminators and my "Wrath of Khan" list which was Grey Knights being lead by Kor'sarro Khan.  Now I can hardly make any claims to it being a competitive list it suffers all the problems of any single land raider build; however strength 7, Initiative 5 Marines tended to chop through a lot of competition and being a troops choice could score the objective they had taken.  The basis of my list was as follows

1500 Wrath of Khan
160 Kor'sarro Khan
275 Grey Knights x10
205 Tactical x10; Flamer,Missile, Rhino
190 Telion's Sniper Scouts x10
190 Sterngaurd x5; Rhino; 2 Lascannons
115 Dread w/ Plasma Cannon
115 Dread w/ Plasma Cannon
250 LRR w/ MM
       26 Marines, 10 Scouts, 5 Vehicles - 10 Kill Points

So with Codex: Grey Knights hitting the shelves I can no longer ally in my Grey Knights.  However I can build something similar with the new book.  As much as I liked Telion's ability to assassinate melta and power-gloves he was just not consistent enough in play to be worth taking an actual assassin.  We could take henchmen with magic monkeys to be a cross between the Sterngurad's Lascannons and the the scouts however I would prefer to keep it all marines.

1500 Grey Knights
190 Grand Master w/ Rad Grenades
283 Purifiers x10 w/ 9 Halberds, Hammer, Psybolt Ammo
180 Strike Squad x5 in Plasmaback
140 Strike Squad x5 in Rhino
182 Purifiers x5 w/ 2 Psycannons, Halberd, Rhino
135 Dread w/ TL-Auto x2, Psybolt Ammo
135 Dread w/ TL-Auto x2, Psybolt Ammo
255 LRR w/ MM
26 Marines, 6 Vehicles - 11 Kill Points

We have lost ten warm bodies and gained a vehicle.  Between Rad grenades and Hammerhands we still have (effectively) Strength 6 and have gained grenades and power weapons all round.  The Librarian is probably a better HQ choice but Grand Strategy means we can still have a scoring unit jumping out of the Land Raider if needed.  I am sure I could build (or just cut-n-paste from the internet) a more competitive list however this allows me to play by old marine list how that Codex: Demonhunters is defunct.  It is not really playing to the Knights strength of staying at 20" and waiting for the enemy to assault you.  It is purely just for fun.

I am not sure on the lone Plasmaback?  Maybe I should use the extra points for some Psycannons on the Strike Squads?  The second Purifier squad has only a single Halberd just because there was nothing else to do with two points!  At hight point levels I would bump them up to ten strong and buy an APC, for the Purifiers in the Raider, so that I could combat squad the unit and have them all mobile.

I like the 40k background but have never been one for building my army based upon it.  To me marines were always Space Knights and tactical marines never really lived up to the ideal I wanted.  Grey Knights on the other hand, running around with assault weapons and vorpal swords, really do capture my imagination as Space Knights.

I own Brother Stern and about 25 Grey Knights so with a mix of blue and grey marines I could play this list as is.  However if I want to build it any higher I am going to need some more Psycannons.  Now that suits me just fine as I had seen these lovely miniguns on maxmini and wanted to have some marines running around with them. Now I finally have a good reason to buy them.  They also have some decent hammers and steam punk weapons.

Of course I still need time to finish off my Tyranids so none of this is going to happen before the summer and probably not until much later this year once my training is out the way and I have a job again.

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