June List: Mordrak Shock

As the weekend draws near with the first of two June event's I'll be playing in, it's time to talk about the list.  I've been grinding away assembling and painting new models for my Grey Knight collection.  I wasn't able to get everything fully finished, but I did get 3 colors on all the models and it doesn't look too rushed IMO.  Over the past four weeks, I've assembled and painted Mordrak, 7 ghost knights (unit of 5 + 2 to spawn), a nemesis dreadknight, and some interceptor backpacks.

Inspired by my ability to repaint and base a bunch of tyranids for last month's event, I rolled my prize credit into some new terminators for ghost knights.  Airbrushing makes for fast painting sometimes, but I fell behind batching the models in pieces to eliminate over spray since I would be airbrushing 6 colors from angles that would be impossible on assembled models.  My 4 month old son is also starting to teethe and his increased crankiness has also reduced my painting time and stamina.  He's so entertaining though I could hardly blame him.

"Show me your war face RAAAWWRR!"

Hahaha... anyways.  I also spent more time than I should have on detailing Mordrak who is mostly finished except for a few minor touches and the base.

He's easily the most detailed model I've ever painted with my first attempt at battle damage/chipped paint.  I used every technique I've learned to date on him with airbrushed whites, greys, and reds, dry brushed metallics, wet palette blending, and freehand hazard stripes.

On to the list:
Mordrak
Ghost Knights x5 + hammer x1, halberd x1, swords x2, banner
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon
Strike Squad x5 + psycannon, razorback w/psybolt ammo
Stormraven + typhoon missiles
Interceptors x5 + mc hammer, halberds x2, psycannon
Nemesis Dreadknight + teleporter
Nemesis Dreadknight + teleporter

My original design gave each strike squad a rhino, replaced the stormraven with a rifleman, and gave the NDK's one hammer and one sword.  I wasn't even close to being able to paint a new rhino so I swapped in the stormraven to net more painting points (25% of this tournament's score).  I also like the new dynamic and added speed to synergize with the list.  Mindstrike missiles are underrated also and can with the game by alpha striking a key psyker.  I also lost the anti-mech efficiency of the rifleman, but the comp penalties for transport spam in this event will discourage heavy mech armies (I hope).

So the theory hammer works as follows.  Mordrak uses the grand strategy to give units scout, NDK's first and interceptors as well if possible.  They scout up 12" giving me a 30" first turn assault threat range.  This is banking on opponents not being able to shoot them all down in one turn.  Mordrak and his ghosts deep strike turn one and do not scatter.  Stormraven goes flat out or just up 12" to dump out the psycannon.

I had a chance to practice the list last night and it's a lot of fun to play.

You'll have to wait until after the tournament for the battle report as I use every remaining free minute to continue painting the unfinished models.  The list is gimmicky, but it's been one I've been dreaming about since the codex came out.  Most of our local events feature comp in one form or another, that's why my original GK army has no special characters or duplicates.  The store credit I won last month and 6th edition on the horizon gave me the perfect excuse to build this army.  I'll be seeing 5th edition out by playing a fun army that offered great modelling opportunities and unique gameplay mechanics.  I hope you enjoy reading the upcoming reports as much as I enjoy playing the army.