After some deliberation among the team we've decided that we're going to use the next few months to focus on solo projects or backlog bits we're not had time to do over the last year; we've actaully run two Tales back-to-back, which was pretty exhausting!
As a group we've been using our Tale of Four Warlords projects to prepare for tournaments or other gaming events, and so it seemed only right that my next solo project focused on the same thing.
Last year, before we really got in to 40k, James spotted a exciting 'little' event (100 participants... so not that little) down in London called the Fun & Fluff (presented by the London Wargaming Guild and run out of Dark Sphere in Shepherds Bush).
Follow the link for full details, but it's exactly like it sounds; a house-rule heavy, model-restricting tournament that aims to pitch beautifully painted and narrative-themed armies against one another in a tournament where being a nice guy and running a cool, thematic list bags your more points than cheesing a must-win list...
Sounds like bliss!!
Myself, James and Tim have all signed up and are looking to build suitably narrative armies to take to the event.
Since winning games doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of the event I've decided to go with something far from optimised.
The Grey Knights; The Knights of Titan, Bane of Daemons and Defenders of the Imperium.
Yes - I'm painting an elite strike force of shiny silver boys to complement James elite strike force of shiny gold boys!
Why the Grey Knights?
Well - when 8th Edition first dropped and all we had available were the Indexes I became a little obsessed with running a hyper elite Terminator force. I'd just picked up Guilliman, Voldus and Cypher as part of the Triumvirate of the Primarch set and was ready to build a strike team around Voldus. I also had a few Grey Knights in the backlog from a project my fiance started but lost steam with.
So I rooted through the back-log, dug out and dusted off the mini's, and set about planning a list
So what's in the list?
Since narrative is a major part of the project I've picked a force that follows a singular theme.
And that theme is: Terminators
The Grey Knights are known for their ruthlessness in punishing Chaos, specifically daemons. Daemonic incursions are fuelled by the biggest and most powerful of the beasts.
Grey Knight Terminators are well equipped to deliver a surgical strike against these Daemonic Leaders, using teleportation to arrive exactly where they need to be and using their psychic and physical might to overwhelm their opposition.
I already had a converted Grey Knight Chaplain, converted Brother-Captain, Brotherhood Ancient, Apothecary and Paladin squad in my backlog, which seemed like the perfect starting point for the project.
After a short search on Facebook Marketplace I was able to source some more Grey Knights to add to the collection, swelling out the force with yet more Terminators!
One of the restrictions on the tournament is that all lists must be constrained to a single Batallion, which has unfortunately stopped me running a pure Grey Knight Paladin list (since they're elites). But a few minor alterations to the models at hand yielded 15 Terminators (a troop choice for the Grey Knights) to fill my mandatory Troop component
Originally I planned on using Voldus, the Chaplain and the Brother-Captain as my HQ choices but the final list ended up a little different.
With my remaining points I added in the Apothecary and Brotherhood Ancient (both in Terminator armour of course!), and also a Dreadknight.
I figured that the all-terminator list was lacking any fire support and serious anti-vehicle potential (Knights aren't an issue for the list because they're banned in the tournament), and the Dreadknight offered me both. Plus you can deep strike him... which plays into the theme of the list nicely.
Draft 1 of the list was good, but was about 40-50 points short of the 1500 point limit. A Grey Knights full Terminator list doesn't leave a lot of options for additional 40-point filler units... but what it did offer me was scope to upgrade my Brother Captain to Lord Kaldor Draigo!
So the final list ends up looking like:
Grand Master Voldus
Lord Kaldor Draigo
Grey Knight Chaplain in Terminator Armour
5x Grey Knight Terminators
5x Grey Knight Terminators
5x Grey Knight Terminators
Brotherhood Ancient
Apothecary
Dreadknight
A full deep strike list perfect for decapitation strikes!
What's the narrative?
To me, this list represents an Execution Strike force. Maximum damage with minimal man investment.
Grandmaster Voldus, tasked by Lord Guilliman himself, leads the force to secure worlds on the edge of the Great Rift; those worlds beset by Daemonic incursion and Chaos invasion.
Whilst Voldus has not been specifically tasked with purging the Xenos taint from Imperial Worlds he will do as as required, given his mandate to secure the frontier.
That being said, in these Dark Times it becomes ever harder to guard the secrecy of the Knights of Titan. Voldus's Execution force is small enough to enter a zone of engagement, deal with the imminent threat and disengage before being discovered by the wider Imperial Citizenry... but when required the Grey Knights will turn their blades on the tainted innocent; for to know of Chaos is the first step of damnation.
Voldus protects the frontier by any means necessary, and will sanction the death of Imperial citizens if it safeguards the increasingly vulnerable wider Imperium
This narrative will perfectly set up most conflicts for the Grey Knights at the tournament, bringing about believable narratives when fighting any Xenos, Heretic or Imperial list.
What's next?
Over the coming weeks I'll post up some updates on the models as they're painted. Since I've picked up some new stuff for the list it doesn't completely tie in with my Bash the Backlog series, so unfortunately they'll be minimal cross over with my existing posts. That said, it does mean I've got a new and exciting project on the go that wouldn't really be feasible anywhere else!
If you want to follow closer updates then visit my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmedge/?hl=en
Good luck with all your hobby endeavors out there!
Until next time!
Until next time!
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