"Grey Knights: One Dimensional?" Topic

The Grey Knights in Warhammer 40,000 are an elite Space Marines force dedicated to fighting Daemons.

Do you find that this makes them too one-dimensional for general gaming in 40K?

You should probably define "one dimensional."

Good at only one thing

Definitely; getting their own army book kind of flew in the face of the "Special Forces that are only called out to fight unstoppable demonic hordes" description that they used to have. There's very little reason (if any) for them to fight any non-demonic forces.

There's very little reason (if any) for them to fight any non-demonic forces.

The Codex comes up with some reasons: (1) they were in the area, (2) they were investigating for Daemons and found something else instead.

Seems like you could also use them against Space Marines and Imperial Guard, on the "you know too much, you must be exterminated" sort of missions hinted at in the Codex.

And if taking Inquisitor Coteaz as an HQ, the sky's the limit for army building…

I don't think they're one-dimensional in the sense of "only good at one thing". Clearly they're good at a lot of things, or against a lot of opponents, hence their popularity since the new codex.

In terms of their point and purpose though, yes, I agree that they're supposed to be a specialist force for dealing with serious daemonic threats. I don't like to see them as widely present as they have been of late as it goes against the fluff.

On the other hand, if people with Grey Knight armies were only ever allowed to use them against Daemons, it might get boring for them pretty quickly.

Too one-dimensional for general gaming in 40K? No of course not I like my Space Monkeys in one dimension. Can't handle two or three dimensions. I mean with all that dark matter and stuff.

They seem to be pretty competitive overall at the moment so I would say no.

Designed for one thing – yes

Good for more than one thing – also yes

Even back with the old codex, I had better success with my Grey Knights up against xenos (Tau, 'nids) than daemons, so yea, in this players experience they were not one-dimensional.

There's very little reason (if any) for them to fight any non-demonic forces.

Other than they seem to rake me hard every time I play against them… And I play IG…

The problem I have with Grey Knights is that they made them so they're NOT one-dimensional. They are supposed to be rare demon hunting specialists. They should easily annihilate demonic armies on even-point matchups, and potentially have a very tough time against conventional forces- which frankly they shouldn't even encounter. To make them viable they had to get all kinds of neato weapons and powers that are nasty to everyone, not just psykers and demons. A full army of GK wouldn't really be fun for demon players, unless they tweaked them up for regular forces and down for demons.

I can't figure out why they decided to make a full army of Grey Knights, other than GW must one-up everything they do. Super cool uber marines had to become even more elite, and the Deathwatch, and Space Wolves, etc. just wasn't cutting it apparently… therefore Grey Knights army.

I loved using just a squad of GK Termies back in Rogue Trader and 2nd. I even had a Grey Knight army from the Slaves to Darkness book, and GK weren't THAT different at that point- not the travesty they are now. Don't even get me started on the Matrix Dreadknight…

Their uniqueness of purpose was one of the coolest things about them. In previous editions it also gave a neat instant-backstory when you allied them to another force.

That they are a stand-alone army now kind of defeats that original vision of an elite force that takes on special assignements or allies with exisiting forces.

Not surprising though. GW has been systematically trying to limit every army to a single codex. It's like they don't want you to play any 40k faction if they can't do their best to compell you to make an entire army out of it.

I mostly play scenario games of 40K. A buddy was building a Kroot force when the last version of the Grey Knights came out and we did a few games with them against Kroot. They kick the out of kroot. We stopped playing them against Kroot pretty quickly.

I would like them to be more one-dimensional as others have pointed out. The current list makes them a little too good overall.

I have used them mostly in three way games where they are hunting down a renegade xenos inquisitor that uses chaos against other forces, like the nids and necrons.

I liked them when they were squads.

I agree they should have left them as a special force that you could use as an ally contingent with Space Marines, Imperial Guard or as part of an Inquisitor force. Now they are the over the top army that cannot be beaten.