2000 Point Grey Knights List (Draigo)

I am a very big fan of Draigo and the paladin star. Here is my attempt at a 2000 point list:

Lord Kaldor Draigo - 275

Librarian, might of titan, quicksilver, sanctuary, the shrouding - 170

10x Paladins, psybolt ammo - 710
1. Justicar, nemesis force halberd, storm bolter
2. nemesis force halberd, storm bolter
3. master-crafted nemesis force halberd, storm bolter
4. nemesis force halberd, psycannon
5. master-crafted nemesis force halberd, psycannon
6. nemesis force halberd, master-crafted psycannon
7. nemesis warding stave, storm bolter
8. nemesis deamon hammer, storm bolter
9. nemesis daemon hammer, psycannon
10. brotherhood banner, storm bolter

Dreadnought, 2x twin-linked autocannon, psybolt ammunition - 135
Dreadnought, 2x twin-linked autocannon, psybolt ammunition - 135
Dreadnought, 2x twin-linked autocannon, psybolt ammunition - 135

Total: 1560

This leaves me with 440 points to work wit., I need at least one more troops choice. Here is what I have come up with so far:
1. Two ten man strike squads with two psycannons a piece. (Can drop psybolt ammo on the paladins to pick up a hammer for each squad.)
2. two five man terminator squads with one psycannon a piece.
3 One five man strike squad and two five man interceptor squads with one psycannon and a hammer a piece.

Let me know which one of these options seems the best. Also, let me know if you can think of something better that I could be doing with those points.

Well, Paladins dont have Justicars, so you need another Option to split up all the Wounds. Also you need some Swords, that will help you to split up your Wounds and it will give you better InvulSaves in CC and you need 'em. Additional you dont need a Squad full of Halberds if you have a Librarian with Quicksilver in there, that gives your Halbers and Swords I10, so just take the Swords.

I would suppose this:

I. Paladin NFS, SB
II. Paladin NFS, PC
III. Paladin NFS, AP
IV. Paladin NFH, SB
V. Paladin NFH, PC
VI. Paladin NFF, SB
VII. Paladin NFF, PC
VIII. Paladin NDH, SB
IX. Paladin NDH, PC
X. Paladin BB, SB

NF(Nemesis Force) S(Sword) H(Halberd) F(Falchion)
NDH(Nemesis Deamonhammer)
SB(Stormbolter)
PC(Psycannon)
BB(Brotherhoodbanner)
AP(Apothecarius)

With this you have in my opinion the best split up for wounds and you pay only 30 Points more for the Paladins without the Psybolt Ammo(But with Apo), but even that would be in the Budget. Also you have the best balance between the different Weapons and you realy need the Swords for their InvulSaves in CC.

But the greatest weakness in your List are Tanks like Demolishers or Vindicators who crush ur Paladins at ease. Or Plasmacannon squads in Cover. Against Mech-Spam you have the 3 Dreads, but thats to much for a Pala list, you can play three of them with Purifiers because they are mobile enough but you need the Points for another Strike Squad. Also i hardly suggest some Intereptors zu jump to your Long-Range Threads like Tanks or Heavy Weapon teams who will blow you up with no problem, before any of your Paladins have killed an enemy with his Blade.

I forgot that the Paladins don't have a justicar. I agree with the need for the Nemesis Force Swords but I don't agree with the Nemesis Force Falchions. It was my understanding that they were pretty bad. They only give one extra attack, because of the FAQ. If they gave two extra attacks, then I would definitely be with you on that. I don't think that the apothecary is worth the points. 75 points is a lot of points to spend on Feel No Pain that you wont get the majority of the time. People tend to fire heavy weapons at the paladins, which for the most part will ignore their Feel No Pain. Here is a new load out for the Paladins:

10x Paladins - 685
1. nemesis force sword, storm bolter
2. nemesis force sword, psycannon
3. master-crafted nemesis force sword, storm bolter
4. nemesis force halberd, storm bolter
5. nemesis force halberd, psycannon
6. master-crafted nemesis force halberd, psycannon
7. nemesis warding stave, storm bolter
8. nemesis deamon hammer, storm bolter
9. nemesis daemon hammer, psycannon
10. brotherhood banner, storm bolter

I am unsure about the psybolt ammo. Does it do enough to justify the extra points spent on the Paladins? Also, with the shrouding plus cover, the paladins have a 3+ cover save. With proper spacing, you can mitigate the majority of damage of the strength 10 templates. You can space the paladins 2 inches apart and only have 3-4 Paladins hit on a direct hit. Draigo obviously takes the first wound and then you start taking the 3+ cover saves. You should only fail 1. If you have a tchmarine, and the cover that you are in is ruins, then you get a 2+. Which is silly. Paladins with a 2+ cover save never die.

I believe that you have to run all three of the psyflemen Dreadnoughts. The army, as you stated, is vulnerable to strength 10 weapons. The Dreadnoughts allow you to deal with them if you go first. Also, the Dreadnoughts give you the reinforced aegis. Which can keep you paladins alive. A Psyker Battle Squad can run the Paladin unit off of the board with their minus leadership power. They only need to kill three models in order to force the test. I have the leftover points to take another troops choice without dropping any of the Dreadnoughts. I am still unsure of what that troops choice should be. I really like the two terminator squads, but I am not sure weather they help enough or not. Let me know your thoughts.

Well, with WS5 one additional Attack is in my opinion more usfull than reroling an exisitng one for the same pricel and with Qicksilver you already have I10.

And with so less units the Enemy is forced to fire everything he has on you, you are true if you say that he will aim his Big Guns on you, but he wont stop shooting is smal ones too if there is only this Target, and even an 2+ Armorsave brakes after several hits. You are right, normaly you dont Need an Apothecarius if you can deliver enough other Target for him to shoot at, but with a 10 Man Deathstar that makes up 35-45% of your Armys Points and with the HQ nearly 60% he must shoot at this unit.

An believe me, Demolishers/Vindicators or PCs crush this Pala-Footsluggers to the ground, I\'ve played em serveral times but my enemys are also expierenced Players with good lists and if they start to Focus S8+, DS2- Weapons on the Palas they are Doomed if theres enough in the Enemys list. Also Dark Eldars will laugh about that with their mobility.

A Pala-Footslugger-Deathstar will only stand against Small-Fire Armys with low mobility or requires support of other Units who can compensate this. And when you put ur Paladins with a 2++ CoverSave into a Ruin, nice, but they laugh about ur 24" Range. Paladins must advance and they need a working unit composition to be effectiv.

The problem with other Terminators is that they are also very slow, you can build up a Wall with them perhaps so the enemy must fall back to his side while he shoots you but on a 2000 Points match you field just a few, very slow units that can be gunned down very fast (Depending on your enemys lists).

And a Dreadnouhgt with Twinlinked S8 can only Glance the AV14 of a Demolisher for example, they are only useful against T4 LP>1 Units or Transporters, but they dont get the heavy tanks. Just imagine a Full loadout Plasma Executor or Plasma Demolisher. They can crush your whole "list" if you get unlucky. And they only cost 165 to 230 with Plasmacannons. If I would field IG I can buy nearly 5 full Plasma Executors, that makes 25 S7 DS2 Blast Shots with a Range of 36", so I can place my Tanks, let you come with ur 24", I unload all my Shoots, then, if you could reach me, I drive back and still shoot at you with 15 S7 DS2 Blast Shots and perhaps I use my LCs to steal Draigo some LPs or I spray HB Rounds.

The Palawing-Lists are very powerfull but if you know to conter, they have no chances unless you have the right composition. But with so less points less you cant realy field other usefull units.

My next question is, is the Paladin star not worth playing at this points level? I was interested in it after Blackmoor did well at NOVA. I have liked the army since the book came out, but was unsure of how good it was. His army was this:

Draigo
Librarian
Paladins max unit
Strike Squad min unit
Interceptor max unit
3x Psyflemen

Well, in this List the Interceptors were a Key-Element cuz they can compensate the Weaknes of the Paladins and bring an early threat to the enemy. For Examplen they Jump to enemy Tanks and kill em from the Rear und crush som Weaponteams to make the Deathstar effektiv.

Also the Psyflemen provide good support against the Mech-Spam. This is a combination that can work and a Unit-Composition that could do the job but at all its still quite dangerous and requires some expirence and enemys without the right guns und setup to counter this.

But for unprepared lists this can cursh em.