The Grey Knights
First of all, who are they? The Grey Knights (GK) are a secretive chapter of the Imperium and the bane of Daemonkind. From Titan, a hidden moon in Imperial Space, they are trained harder and with discipline greater than any other Chapter of Space Marines. The reason for this is that they consistently face the deadliest foes of Mankind time after time, often against unwinnable odds.
They recruit solely from psykers, so must be discliplined in mind as well as body. Though fatality rates among those aspiring to join their ranks are high, it's effectiveness is shown in results for not one Grey Knight has fallen from grace and given into the temptations of the Chaos Gods.
How The New Edition Works With The Knights
A starting point for the Grey Knights and in the 8th Edition, it was one of it's downfalls - was Command Points. The Grey Knights are an immensely CP heavy faction but using them wisely yields the most results.
#1:
The changes to Army Composition; see Strike Forces - aside from now having a supreme amount of possibilities - Strike Force games allow you to start with 12CP! When you pair this amount of CP with troops like Grey Knights Terminators, this is when the faction really comes into the limelight.
#2:
One of the choices for spending your CP, is "Fury of the Proven". You can use this in any phase, and only when selecting a "Grey Knights Terminator" unit. However, until the end of the phase when resolving an attack made by a model in said unit, add 1 to the hit roll. Meaning that since Terminators in general hit on 2+, you're never going to miss in that particular fight.
#3:
"Steady Advance"
This stratagem in particular, can make your Strike Squad into something fairly strong, into a powerhouse. You'll WANT this if you go against Astra Militarum, or Chaos with a lot of cultists for example. Armies that are numerically superior against you, will help you so much.
#4:
The Nemesis Dreadknight is a core heavy element to a Grey Knights army. They are useful in taking out more armoured opponents, tough to take down and dependant on the weaponry can deal some damage to numerical forces too. However, you've always had the option to have a Grandmaster in one as an HQ element - now it's even more powerful.
The Grandmaster in a Dreadknight can FIRE and MOVE without penalty, and now he won't have to fall back in order to use his expensive but deadly weaponry. Using him alongside the "Overwhelming Assault" strategem for 1CP, you can add +1 attack, and re-roll wound and damage rolls of 1!
#5:
Grand Master Voldus. The master of the Grey Knights leadership. An expensive model to field, but worth it. Why? Voldus can use up to three psychic powers in one phase - that's why. But since we're hogging all the Command Point usage as per normal - we can now have Empyric Surge to add to the mix:
The +1 to every psychic test can for example mean the difference between a 1 mortal wound smite, and a D3 mortal wound smite (11+ 2D6 roll). Of course perils of the warp still effect you, as a Knights player - every risk is mostly worth the reward - as long as the Emperor smiles upon your dice throws!
These five examples are a perfect example of how the 9th is going to effect every faction in the game and we cannot wait for how it's going to shake up the game. Aside from spending an extra hour trying to remember the new rules during the game, we hope this blog brought some useful information for aspiring new psychic blessed Marines, or those wishing their downfall.