Warhammer 40,000: Codex Grey Knights review
The famous psychologist, Kurt Lewin, once said: “if you want to truly understand something, try to change it”. Something true for the process of writing codices: if you want to write a good codex you need to understand what you’re writing about, and if you’re going to make changes, you really have to understand what is being changed. The Daemonhunter codex has indeed changed, it doesn’t get much bigger than a name change. And so now we’re talking about Codex: Grey Knights, but what else has changed ?
Knight Shift
The section on the geography of Titan is not particularly well written and its inclusion seems all the more pointless for that. In the Dark Eldar codex you got a real sense of Dark Eldar and how they have an almost symbiotic relationship with their environment; in this book it has all the atmosphere of a surveyors report. The background also labours the point of how the Grey Knights ruthlessly kill or mind-wipe other Imperial agents, to the point where it seems that they usually end up killing more of their own side than the enemy – a very repetitive part of a section that is shorter than normal and bereft of ideas. The only two-page story the author manges to put together comes to the inevitably brazen, GW-sales pitch conclusion, where the shiny new item saves the day.
Of course, with the change in name the focus of the material was always going to be different. But in a book where the Inquisition should still be an important factor there was a severe lack of information on this important part of the Imperial machine, mere sentences in comparison to the GK material. If the Daemonhunters codex talked too much about the Inquisition, to the detriment to the Grey Knights, then this book has gone too far the other way to the point where it seems the Inquisition parts were included merely to stop this being just another Marine Codex.
This is also reflected in the rules. Whilst the three main Ordo’s of the Inquisition are represented with rules, they seem to be included as an afterthought. There are not many options for how you can kit out your Inquisitors, immediately invalidating a large number of conversions around the world. Added to that is the fact that this elite arm of the Imperium have worse statistics than a Commissar Lord and you begin to think that maybe the author didn’t understand what he was changing.
This feeling is only enhanced by the fact that the elite of the elite now have the statistics of a normal marine, are no longer fearless (perhaps not the worse change though) and have lost their shrouding ability. Instead you have a number of different Nemesis Force Weapons that give different bonuses to the wielder (to Strength, Initiative, Saving Throw etc). With an anything goes, mix-and-match attitude to how your squads have access to these weapons there will be more than the normal amount of beginners confusion as players try out and settle on their builds of choice.
As is increasingly the case with new Codices and Army Books, most of the time seems to have been spent on writing up the rules for the Special Characters. Mordrack’s teleportation and other benefits stand out for the little extra he costs above a standard Grand Master, and of course those who want to field an old-school, non-GK, Daemonhunters army have no choice but to take Coteaz in order to access henchmen as a Troops choice; this could and should have been a purchasable upgrade for any Inquisition HQ, to give the players some say in what they they are ultimately investing a lot of time and money into.
Shades of Grey
This extra attention given to the special characters is annoying because it only highlights the lack of detail and precision given to other units in the codex. Surely the Imperium-wide vehicle types (Rhino, Land Raider etc) should have been able to take GK-specific weapons such as Heavy Incinerators or twin-linked Psycannons ? The much-discussed Nemesis Dreadknight though does seem to be a good addition, bringing a rare (or even unique ?) monstrous creature to the ranks of the Emperor’s servants.
As with the Vanilla Space Marines Codex, why are there only two Troops choices ? I can understand why GW would want to limit you to play a Grey Knights only army in Codex GK, but if that isn’t viable due to a lack of options then why remove the Stormtroopers as a Troops choice at all ? Another Force Organisation Chart travesty is the small number of Fast Attack choices compared to the Elite section. Of the two choices we have the Stormraven Gunship, which looks like it will be rolled out to all the other Space Marine chapters in the future, and the Interceptor Squad, which rules-wise gives something different and unique, but uses the same basic plastic kit as three other units in the army, not lending itself to much visual variation on the field.
Maybe that’s why the pictures that accompany the codex are not as inspiring as in other releases. The focus on GK means that you are looking at variations of the one type of paint job, and the large group shots just feel overcrowded, with too many models in shot and too many buildings in the background giving an overall impression of muddy-greyness.
Grey Matters
The author of this book has done the equivalent of tending to a bonsai tree with a chainsaw, leaving not much more than a stump for the the reader to play with. The number of entries available for selection may have increased, but it feels like the amount of choice has decreased, making this a mostly poor read from start to finish. Hopefully they will not play in as tiresomely repetitive way as the book has been written, and hopefully your local games scene will not see a repetition in builds that a book like this can often lead to.
As you have probably guessed, this release has really disappointed me. The golden rule is if you have to change something, make sure that change is for the better. Heraclitus once said that “nothing endures but change”, but lets just hope that we don’t have to endure these changes for as long as between the last edition and this one. And if (god forbid) the same author is given the same job again, lets hope his understanding has improved over the intervening years.
Changers in the Knight: 4/10
God, I didn’t even play 40k and I enjoyed your review!
I love how you are objective and state a clear sense of purpose of what a codex is supposed to have. This is different from the “What no ____?! This sucks!,” crowd.
I love the witty titles and sarcastic sentences.
🙂
Hmm, looks like someone has caught the MattWard-Hate….
@Zincite – It’s not Mat-Ward-hate, more GW-policy-disappointment, of which Mat-Ward-hate is just an early symptom (don’t worry though, I’m on medication for it, “build two Grey Knight Terminators with a glass of wine every night until the urge to tut subsides”).
If I had another thousand words I could have pointed out some more of the things I like in detail (I quite like the background for the Special Characters, I just don’t like the fact that Special Characters are the main route to unlocking options that should be there by default). But possibly I would have just found more things to complain about 😉
When you go from one edition to another of a book the background should be refreshed, it’s a healthy thing to do, especially when there’s been a 7 or 8 year gap. The trick is knowing what to change, what to remove, and what to keep; and in my (entirely subjective) opinion, Mat’s got it wrong.
Anyway Zincite, do you have an opinion on the book ? Do you own a GK/DH army or is it something you’re looking to get into ?
oh, and thanks Ben 🙂
Some points well taken, others not so. I think the comments regarding the photos in the book and the lack of variety in the troops choices are very subjective. Many people see the fact that you can make all the troops choices from one box as a huge plus and major stride forward, and without the rules matching, you couldn’t do that. I haven’t seen the photos in the codex, but the ones in the new White Dwarf are gorgeous and inspiring in my opinion. Of course you’re entitled to your own opinion, but it’s certainly not an unbiased point. I agree that it doesn’t make sense that you can’t have GK specific weapons on kits, but are those weapons available as plastic add-ons? I guess you could do conversions, but I think GK is trying to move away from wirte ups that they don’t have models for.
Thanks for the review, it was quite refreshing that it was NOT about “this unit sucks” or “this unit is too OP”.
I have to agree that the overall story part is missing…it seems too much of it did indeed go to the characters. Don’t get me wrong, some of them ARE great …I love thawn….never play him (75 point upgrade?), but his story is cool. It would have been nice to see more overall story content.
I have to agree, the inquisitors “feel” (quite subjective, I know) like add’ons.
I also don’t like that, as you stated, we are going to see “cotaz lists” and “non-cotaz” lists….
thanks for the review.
Oh, and yes, I play GK (among others).
😉
@ScottyD – of course, it’s a review, my opinion of a new product. Some people will agree with me and some will not. For me when it’s something subjective like this all opinions are equally valid, and it’s great that we have a medium to discuss what we think. I haven’t had a chance to check the new White Dwarf (April ed?), but I’ll make sure to have a look as I’m a sucker for a pretty picture.
Not sure what you mean by my opinion not being an unbiased point. My review is pretty much biased by what is put in front of me, and I try to go in with no preconceptions (to the point where I don’t follow the online discussions for any product I’m asked to review). Still, I’ll be interested in your opinion of the codex when you get the chance, your review of the review was interesting though 😉
@Davethegamer – There’s plenty of “this unit sucks” discussion out there, so I wanted to write something different, I’m glad you think I’ve succeeded. Contrast the expense of Thawn with the relative cheapness of Mordrak, who doesn’t cost much more than a normal Grand Master and has some interesting abilities.
I thank you for a great review of the new, but not better, GK Codex. I could feel your disappointment and disdain as I do mine. I must agree that there seems to be an overlook of all things Daemonhunter, and a cleansing of GK armies by removal of Stormtroopers. My question is why does a company that sells minatures take out variation of available models from their sales? What would be the harm for stromtroopers to remain as troops? or if more Inquisitor choices were still available? if the GK are the elite of the elites, where is their chapter specific special vehicle (like Baal predator)? is the Greyknight all there is? did I read about this in the fluff before now?
@Greg Smailes – A number of very good points you make there – well, they must be good points if I agree with them 😀
I’m very glad that you made this review, and that you stated things in a pretty un-biased way. I have been wanting to make a GK army since initial rumors that the DH codex was being updated, and I will still be making them, but I admit that I find the new codex a little disapointing.
The greatest area of concern for me are the modifications made to the grey knight strike squads. As you mentioned, it is rather lame that the greatest warriors of man-kind,the secret last line of defence of the imperium against the overwhelming chaos, made of specially created gene-seed and put through the absolute toughest training to fight creatures who’s proximity can drive anyone insane; are vanilla space marines. On top of that, they are no longer able to use their WRIST-mounted stormbolters in close combat either, which leads me to ask: what is the point of having your gun hooked onto your arm if its not going to make it any easier for you to use your sword, nor do you intend on ever punch-shooting* someone? (*The super awesome act of grabing onto/picking up/punching a foe with your non-sword arm whilst firing your weapon, thus resulting in just about the coolest way ever to kill a heretic.) What is offered to replace this loss, are psychic powers. On 20 point and up regular grey knights. That are in tiny five or ten man squads. WITHOUT invulnerable saves. I want this army more than anything else right now, but using any power short of a full ten man squad is like crossing the highway with your eyes shut: you hope nothing goes wrong, because if it does, your done for.
The other flaw is the Pladin squad. While a little over powered, they cost insane amounts of points, too much to take chances with deepstrike mishaps, and with no access to dedicated transports or stormshields, protecting them will waste even more points while using up important force slots. Not to mention that they are veritable bullet magnets, the second they are in the open, they will most probably eat some meltas, and losing just one or two is equivalent to a full squad of almost any other unit from any codex… not a very viable unit choice.
Lastly, I admit that the inquisition feels a bit neglected in this release, but that doesn’t really bother me as much, since I strongly dislike henchmen warbands, and other than karamazov, i dont like any other the inquisitor models [if it doesn’t look epic, it probably isn’t =) ]
Im still going to make a grey knight army, and I’m still glad they are being updated , I just wish that they worked better as the elites they were meant to be. I will be even happier when the grey knights will get their proper codex, in 7th or 8th edition.
>>but if that isn’t viable due to a lack of options then why remove the Stormtroopers as a Troops choice at all
Stormtroopers are still in the codex. Take your storm trooper mini, put them on the table and anyone who’s read the codex will know they are the warrior acolytes with carapace and hotshot lasguns. Their fluff blurb says they can be storm troopers, just as IG vets with camo cloaks can be catachan devils or tanith or tallarns, they do not need hyper-specific entries to represent them.
Stormtroopers have even been expanded beyond their old choices, with boltguns and stormbolters in their arsenal. They can also take three special weapons now, an improvement over the 3e limitation. Yes, they are bs3, but when you take your Inquisitorial Stormtroopers minis and place them on the table, everyone you play against knows exactly what they are.
>>and of course those who want to field an old-school, non-GK, Daemonhunters army have no choice but to take Coteaz in order to access henchmen as a Troops choice
Yes, you need Coteaz, just as Salamanders need Vulkan, Bikerz need Wazdakka and Hellions need the Baron, this is simply a design philosophy of 5e that has been going on with years. I wish any generic inquisitor could unlock them too, but I’m not shocked that it turned out this way either.
Don’t just look at what’s not in from Codex: Daemonhunters, look at what’s new, or look at how it’s been modified.
You now have Ordos Xenos choices, the henchmen with Coteaz can be fielded independent of their HQ choice and in wildly customizable squads.
You can have entire units of Crusaders, you couldn’t do that with C:DH
You can have entire units of Acro-Flagellants, a choice not even in C:DH
You have Jokaero who upgrade squad gear, a completely new option for the Inquisition. You now have psychatoke and rad grenades, which haven’t been seen since 2nd edition.
And unlike C:DH, a lot of these henchmen actually kick ass on the tabletop!
Nearly any army you had in C:DH, you can easily field with C:GK. In reverse there are many configurations with C:DK that would be impossible to use with C:DH
C:GK has actually inspired me to start an inquisitorial warband due to the multitude of flavorful choices it gives, it is a good successor to the Daemonhunters codex.
Dropping storm troopers from the troops section is unforgivable marketing exploitation. But why are henchmen not alowed grenade launchers? I now have 5 minatures i cant use and squads short of special weapons. I guess i need to get Coteaz.
@Repent – I think it will be possible to get some enjoyment out of this book, I gave it 4/10 and not 0/10. But the key word is disappointing, because this is possibly the faction with the most potential to be interesting, but it’s been turned into just another Marine codex.
@S – Thanks for the intelligent comments and alternative view. Not one I feel I share though. Calling an Inq Henchman squad of Warrior Acolytes a Stormtrooper squad is a gross misnomer. Yes, you can use the same models, but that’s where the similarity ends. You may as well say that equipping them with power armour and bolters makes them space marines, which is a closer analogy than the vets as Tallarn/Catachans etc.
You simply cannot field an Inquisitorial force without taking Coteaz. Shocking ? perhaps not. Annoying ? very much so; it may be 5th ed design philosophy, but if it’s something I don’t agree with and think is a big problem with this codex, of course I’m going to mention it in my review. Just saying “that’s how it works in 5th” doesn’t wash.
It would obviously be very wrong to say that C:DH was a great codex, or maybe even a good codex, but for me it is the best parts of that codex that have been changed. Unfortunately, and I think this is where maybe you have missed my point, a lot of these new additions take away the flavour of what I thought was good in C:DH. The Jokaero are indeed a welcome addition, and with good rules too, but too much has been put into too small a category in a passing nod to non-GK forces, and it doesn’t work for me.
However, two people are allowed to have different opinions; whilst it is great that you have been inspired to create an inquisitorial force, I’m left feeling that
I have no way of using my lovingly painted Hector Rex modelthey could have expanded both the GK and Inq lines equally, whereas what has been delivered leaves the Grey knight units being overly repetitive and the Inquisitorial choices a mere appendage.@Kurt – I noticed that too. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Stormtroopers” can’t take Grenade Launchers because the author forgot to include them.
I think that the updates to the grey knights are brilliant, at 3e it was very difficult to have any variety in a pure grey knight army, with the new codex there is much more choice, even if it is a bit repetitive.
The main problem i have with this codex is, like many others, the inquisition side of things. Inquisitors are much less customizable now, Games Workshop would have done well to have allowed players who were pure Inquisition to keep using the same models, perhaps it would have been better to have left them out of this codex and wrote a separate codex that allowed them to ally with other imperium forces like before. Overall though, if you had a pure grey knights army like me, this codex isnt too bad.