2K "Shooty" GK army

Ok, here is a list I'm working on to use when I finally finish my tour and get back to US. My philosophy here is 3-fold:
1. a lot of shooting
2. smaller and more mobile units
3. and a lot of patience (waiting for the opponent to come after me before closing in for cc)
My intent is to use positioning, shrouding and targeters while filling the air with lots of lead and lascannon shots to maximize shooting damage. The GM is pretty tooled up and I don't normally do this but with our "retinue" advantage in effect, he's very well protected and will have a chance to deal a lot of long range and cc damage. The HQ + Elites cost is high but they practically double as a mobile purgation squad w/ 4 psycannons b/w them. Please let me know what you think and how I can possibly improve it.

HQ - GM w/ MC NFW, psycannon & icon (if vs. Chaos, I'll switch out the icon for incense and grimoire) (215)
Retinue - 3 GKT (1 psycannon) (163)
Elites - BC w/ psycannon + 3 GKT (1 psycannon) (254)
Troops - 6 PAGK w/ targeter (176)
Troops - 6 PAGK w/ targeter (176)
Troops - 6 PAGK (175)
Troops - 6 PAGK (175)
HS - LR w/ extra armor & SL (258)
HS - LR w/ extra armor & SL (258)
HS - GK dread w/ TWLLC, CCW w/ incinerator & extra armor (150)

Looks like an effective list, especially shooty-wise, how come no ML on the dread though?
For a ranged list its likely to have more opportunities of popping enemy armour than a CCW

I thought about that. I figured having the CCW will come in handy if and when enemy infantry gets close enough, hence the incinerator too. I plan for him to sit on my own objective and be a defending unit...

He has str 6 even without the CCW tho, which is pretty good vs most infantry

Correct. The CCW ignores armor saves though, just in case he tangles w/ terminator types or characters. The ML does give me an extra krak or frag missile at 48". I guess it kinda depends on which army I'm facing.

Looks good. My only concern is your 'smaller and more mobile' GK units. There's a lot of nasty stuff flying around at 2000 points that could wipe out a small squad like that with one lucky blink. Personally, I'd run one 9 and two 8-man squads. Just a thought.

Good call NemesisForce. I was actually thinking about that. You think 3 units of larger troops vs. 4 smaller units should be reasonably adequate for the objective based games? I haven't really played a lot of objective based games in 5th ed.

Three squads definitely can do it since you don't have to capture all of the objectives with scoring units. The key is which objectives to contest and LR's make very mobile, last turn contesting units.

Good point. I'll post the revision today and see how it looks. Do you agree w/ having a 4-man HQ squad and a 4-man Elites squad vs. having a big HQ squad? I figured on having two heavy hitting units that can support my PAGK in more than one location. Plus of course having a total of 4 psycannons...

I had two 4-man GKT squads in a 2000 point tournie last October and they survived pretty much intact 4 out of the 5 games. They were the spearhead of my force in every game so they saw a lot of action. That one game was a bitch though. My first time playing Eldar and he introduced me to some Dragon? guys packed to the hilt with melta guns. Couldn't do much against that since I wasn't expecting it.

Ok, so instead of 4 6-man PAGK squads, I have:

TR 9-man PAGK w/ targeter (251)
TR 8-man PAGK w/ targeter (226)
TR 8-man PAGK (225)

Yup. Fire dragons. Them and howling banshees are usually the first units I try to decimate from long range. Coz when they get up close, it's bad news for us.

I've been toying with the idea of swapping my dread for a 3rd LR. I'm thinking the 3rd LR strengthens all 3 LR, is more mobile, and also serves as a transport. Not to mention, I get another TWLLC. I'll have to trim off 158 points somewhere though...any thoughts Brothers?

Hard to say, 750+ points alone in tanks leaves very little left for other stuff. That being said it also means you get an insanely hard to kill and mobile army, with amazing flexibility.

Personally I prefer the dread to a 3rd LR. The only place you're going to get those other points would be to downgrade the GM or start removing PAGK's. I know you want more AT but if you're gonna pick up a 3rd LR why not go with a LRC?

Two LR's and a Dread worked really well for me at 2000 points. The Dread saved the bacon on more than one occasion by charging and denying the enemy my home objective.

Thanks for feedback Brothers. Mulled it over some more and I'll probably stick w/ the dread. I forgot that in 5th ed., my dread can also run, giving him an effective range of 12" to either contest an objective or charge and engage a unit. And getting a 3rd LR or LRC means I lose 3 PAGK and the GM's icon and MC upgrades. While he does have a retinue, these upgrades might come in handy since there are a lot of uber HQ's and creatures out there, specially at 2K points.

Additionally, dreads in bunkers are a beautiful thing

There are alot of advantages with using a Dread, especially them being quite good in CC and being practically unkillable unless someone has str 6+ models (in CC).

Not to mention they can be pretty good little firebases

Ok, so here' my fine tuned list. I tried to think "tournament style" where I'll be using the same list regardless of what army I'm up against. I basically gave up the GM's icon and 1 PAGK but in exchange, got dozer blades for the LR's, SI and HH for the GM and added 1 incenerator each for the 2 squads that will be mounted.

HQ - GM w/ MC-NFW, psycannon, SI & HH + retinue (3 GKT w/ 1 psycannon) (373)

EL - BC w/ psycannon + 3 GKT (1 psycannon) (254)

TR - 8 man PAGK w/ targeter (226)
TR - 8 man PAGK w/ targeter (1 incinerator) (236)
TR - 8 man PAGK (1 incinerator) (235)

HS - LR w/ EA, DB & SL
HS - LR w/ EA, DB & SL
HS - GK dread w/ TWLLC, DCCW w/ incinerator & EA

Should be competitive vs. any army I think...any thoughts?

I notice the targetter is pretty cheap at 1 point, do you find it useful in most games?

Definitely. It's actually more for the benefit of the GKT's. But since I can't give them targeters, I give it to the Justicar. While only the model with the targeter can pre-measure distance to an intended target, it'll give me a good "relative" assessment of distance for my other units as well. Comes in handy when I want to stay at maximum psycannon range so I can also maximize shrouding

Haha very true, and having no guess weapons there isn't a huge downside. Do you tend to try and keep your justicar centered in your squads so that you get the most accurate reading for all models about to fire?

Yup The unit containing the Justicar would usually be located in the center of my deployment zone to give me a good bearing on either side of the board. And the Justicar himself would be in the middle of the squad usually in the 2nd row.

How do you work out which units will be mounted in LR's? Is it reliant on the game, or do you generally prefer certain squads?

I'm assuming since your GKT squads are quite heavy with psycannons you trudge them?