Detachment Focus: Warpbane Task Force

Merry Grotmas! Games Workshop is releasing a new series of detachments – one per army, every day until Christmas. In this series we’re looking at these new detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games.

Grey Knights have had an interesting time of it so far in 10th Edition. They have an exceptionally powerful army rule, being the original introduction of continuous “uppy-downy” access army-wide, but their Teleport Strike Force Detachment is so-so – it has a few exceptionally good Stratagems and one of the best enhancements in the game, but the Detachment Rule can be somewhat redundant given it adds simply more mobility, and it’s short of force multipliers. That’s left them very dependent on the strength of their datasheets alone to get things done, which has been okay for them after tweaks to power up Dreadknights and various points cuts, but it’s left them with a relatively small suite of builds – generally either going hard on Dreadknights alone, or supplementing them with some Terminator bricks taking advantage of Mists of Deimos and the Sigil of Exigence to play keep-away, and leaning on 3” Deep Strike from Prognosticated Arrival to lock-in scoring.

That changes with the arrival of the new Warpbane Task Force, which opens up a much more all-rounder playstyle via consistent boosts to damage output, and provides better support and incentives for the use of various power armoured units, especially (but not exclusively) Purifiers. There’s still good reasons to use Dreadknights and Terminators as well, and there are also real tradeoffs – you lose some of the defensive tools Grey Knights have come to rely on, so you need to be more judicious in positioning against high threat foes. It definitely isn’t just a straight upgrade, but that feels like a success as a Grotmas present for an Index Army – this should open up new builds and strategies, while leaving reasons to stick with what you know if that playstyle works better for you. Let’s dig in.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes.

Detachment Overview

Okay, first up, if you’ve skipped the introduction, it’s important to remember that Teleport Assault is the Grey Knights Army Rule, not their current Detachment rule (which is 6” auto-Advance). You still get your regular diet of redeploys here.

Alongside that, this Detachment gives you a spin on the “area control” style rules previously seen in Daemons and Canoptek Court, rewarding you for conquering various areas of the battlefield, and adding a Grey Knights spin on it by allowing Purifiers to extend the area. It doubles down on this with tools designed to allow Infantry to secure and hold positions, and punish foes who approach them. It provides ways for smaller units to actually get things done, avoiding polarising the army to just Dreadknights and Terminator bricks, and it also provides re-rolls! Do you know how many rules in the existing Index hand out any re-rolls beyond a single model? Two, and they aren’t on the good stuff.

This should pull the army towards fielding a wider variety of toys, backed up by smaller quantities of reliable hitters like Dreadknights (and maybe add a role for MSU Paladins, which are extremely good here). It does also support going all in on some big heroic plays, so if you want to chuck a single squad of silver-clad knights into the heart of the foe and have them start swinging, there’s some fun for you here as well.

The Video Version

If you’d like to watch a video version of this review, we’ve got you covered:

Detachment Rule: Hallowed Ground

When running this detachment, parts of the battlefield get defined as being within your Hallowed Ground. Your Deployment Zone always is, and then at the start of each phase:

• No-man’s land becomes part of your Hallowed Ground if you control half or more of the objectives in it (so usually two).
• Your opponent’s Deployment Zone becomes part of your Hallowed Ground if you control half or more of the objectives in it (usually one).

In addition, anywhere that’s wholly within 6” of a PURIFIER SQUAD always counts as being within your Hallowed Ground.

In terms of what this actually does, all your Grey Knights units re-roll 1s to Hit all the time, and any that are either PURIFIER SQUADS or wholly within your Hallowed Ground get full re-rolls to hit instead.

Talk about a turnaround from no re-rolls at all. This rule is excellent – army-wide re-roll 1s to hit would be a fantastic rule for a 3+ WS/BS army by itself, and getting to upgrade it to full hit re-rolls some of the time (with an unusually high degree of control thanks to the Purifier clause) makes it even more attractive. There’s not a massive amount of nuance to using this as it just makes your whole force better – the only particular things to bear in mind are that you may want to take a Purifier MSU as well as a large unit with Crowe to set this up in emergencies, and that anything with native WS/BS 2+ becomes especially strong (as they functionally don’t need to worry about the positioning aspect), making Paladins and the sword options on Dreadknights appealing. Purgation Squads also love it, as it mitigates the impact of firing Indirect.

Finally, I also realised, fairly deep into writing this (and please be assured that I sighed deeply afterwards) that this is pretty good with Servitors in Strategic Reserves – two BS4+ multi-meltas or plasma cannons is suddenly pretty interesting if walking them onto the table in the right situation means they come with full re-rolls.

Stratagems

Most of the Stratagems in this detachment are aimed at Infantry options, though there’s still one universal buff. That shouldn’t stop you taking Vehicles – the Detachment rule is so good for any high threat stuff that Dreadknights and Stormravens can still thrive.

• Sanctified Kill Zone (Battle Tactic, 1CP): Speaking of Stormravens, this is the universal buff, and very good with them. This gives one unit that is wholly within your Hallowed Ground re-roll 1s to Wound when they Shoot or Fight, or full Wound re-rolls if they’re a Purifier Squad. You can pop this as a mild damage boost whenever, but it’s especially good on either a large Paladin unit, big Purifier Squad or a Stormraven, turning any of the three into extra nasty threats. It’ll do its best work on Castellan Crowe with a unit of Purifiers, as he’s got that sweet Devastating Wounds ability you want with re-rolls.
• Flames of Sanctity (Strategic Ploy, 1CP): From the broadest Stratagem straight to the narrowest – this is a trick exclusively for Purifier Squads. At the end of the Fight Phase, you can activate it on a Purifier unit that was eligible to Fight this phase, and roll to inflict d3 Mortal Wounds on each enemy unit within 6” on a 4+, or on a 3+ if the unit has Castellan Crowe in it. Narrow it may be, but you will absolutely use this – Crowe with a full Purifier unit should be a lock for most builds of this detachment, and if they’ve decided to go for the throat amidst the foe, this can inflict a tonne of damage, or perhaps help flip an objective.
• Hallowed Beacon (Battle Tactic, 1CP): This allows a non-Terminator INFANTRY unit to Deep Strike 6” away from the enemy, as long as it arrives wholly within your Hallowed Ground. This is obviously much more restrictive than Prognosticated Arrival from the Index, but you can still Charge after it, so with careful setup it can provide a powerful delivery mechanism for something like the full squad of Purifiers. Worth highlighting that you can also do a little bit of a two-step with a small unit of Purifiers and a large one – you can bring in the small Purifiers 9” away to extend your Hallowed Ground, then drop the big unit closer and go ham. Can also be useful for squeezing some end-game value out of a Strike Squad, but not being able to target Terminators at all definitely makes this a bit more niche.
• Fires of Covenant (Battle Tactic, 1CP): Continuing the theme of hurling a big unit amidst the foe’s lines then making their life a misery, you activate this stratagem at the start of the enemy’s Movement Phase, and pick one of your INFANTRY units. Each time an enemy unit ends a move within 6” of them that phase, they take d3 Mortal Wounds on a 4+, or 2+ if your unit is wholly within your Hallowed Ground. This is most disruptive in situations where you’ve either flung a unit right into the enemy castle, or when they’re aiming to dominate the mid-board, both situations where the opponent may not have any choice but to come within range. It can also be a one-two punch with Flames of Sanctity, though it’s important to remember that the utility of broadly scattering around Mortal Wounds can vary a lot depending on the matchup, so if you’re throwing a unit into peril to pull this off, make sure it’s worthwhile. It’s also a great way to utilise the Paragon of Sanctity Enhancement to get the “full” version of this on a unit that’s pushed out of your normal Hallowed Ground radius.
• Aegis Eternal (Battle Tactic, 1CP): Gives an Infantry unit within your Hallowed Ground a 4+ Invulnerable Save against shooting. No nice way to put it – this is bad. Your units have 2+ saves anyway, so you need to be being hit with lots of attacks of AP-3 or better while not having cover before it’s ever relevant. It doesn’t even work in melee, which is where it would be marginally more likely to do something. Getting this instead of Armour of Contempt is the biggest strike against this detachment.
• Repelling Sphere (Battle Tactic, 1CP): Get orbed, idiot. You use this at the start of the opponent’s Charge Phase, pick one of your INFANTRY units and until the end of the phase any charges against them get -1 to the roll, or -2 if the unit is wholly within your Hallowed Ground. This is pretty potent, as it can massively throw off attempts by your opponent to scramble their forces into position to fight back against you, especially if they’re planning on using any sort of Deep Strike charges. Grey Knights are also durable enough that failing one charge out of a planned pile-on can be a disaster for the opponent if you get to swing and fight back.

Enhancements

The Enhancements for this army lean into the board control theme of the detachment, helping seize and maintain your positions, or get the most out of units on a roaring rampage.

• Mandulian Reliquary (20 pts): This gives the bearer +3OC while they’re not Battle-shocked. It can go on any Grey Knights Character, and the obvious use here is sticking it on a Grand Master Dreadknight, as OC7 on one of those is fairly spicy, as going above five means you outclass the vast majority of other Vehicles/Monsters, and non-Battleline MSUs. Alternatively, you can push the OC of a Brotherhood Terminator MSU with a Character to a truly silly 20, which is impressive for six models but also probably closer to funny rather than good, since the difference between 17 and 20 isn’t going to matter that option. Just put it on a Dreadknight.
• Radiant Champion (15 pts): Gives one of your INFANTRY Characters Precision, plus while within your Hallowed Ground they deal an additional Mortal Wound each time they score a wound in melee. Shane has (correctly) pointed out that taking this on a Brother Captain is very strong – he gets built in Wound re-rolls and Sustained Hits, meaning that he’ll reliably dish out some extra pain, with the option of punking out enemy Characters.
• Phial of the Abyss (25 pts): Gives the bearer’s unit Stealth. Neat if you decide you still want a full Brotherhood Terminator squad in here, as those are already a nightmare to kill. Alternatively, put it on Paladins to stack with their -1 to Wound against high Strength stuff for fun and profit.
• Paragon of Sanctity (10 pts): Once per battle, at the start of a phase you can pick a visible friendly unit within 18”, and count them as within your Hallowed Ground for that phase. This feels like something you almost always want to squeeze in – the floor of it is upgrading a unit to full hit re-rolls once per game, which is worth 10pts, and it also opens up the option of guaranteeing that one of your Stratagems pops off at full power.

Playing This Detachment

This Detachment is definitely one that is carried by the sheer power of the Detachment Rule. There’s some good stuff in both the Stratagems and Enhancements, but a higher proportion are situational or hard to build for than you like. Happily, army-wide re-roll 1s to hit is neither of those things, and a situational ability to up that to full re-rolls is just delightful. Getting more value out of your units when they do stuff opens up more flexibility to use smaller or varied squads, while still supporting already strong choices like Terminators and Dreadknights. Opening up the power of various MSU choices gives you quite a few more ways to build the army, and it seems like there’s a few powerful angles available.

Double-stacking a Rhino with two Purifier MSUs (similar to how Chaos has played all edition) suddenly seems interesting, for example, as being able to send them out to smash something with access to full hit and wound re-rolls suddenly seems great. Paladins being one of the units that pay less for an MSU also looks spicy in this detachment, as either on their own or with any sort of Leader they’re very reliable killers. Add a few big hammers, and maybe a couple of Dreadknights to terrify the foe, and you’ve got a much higher threat build than was previously available. Alternatively, take a Stormraven and blast someone to bits with full hit re-rolls, that’s always nice.

Mike P: My mind immediately goes to Purgation Squads and Aircraft. Because we have such easy access to full Hit rerolls, I want to apply those rerolls to two types of damage that are hardest for opponents to avoid: Indirect Fire, and Aircraft. With full hit rerolls to get around only hitting on a 4+ when firing indirect, Purgation Squads with Psycannons are going to provide very real indirect.

Wing’s idea to run Purgation Squads in Rhinos is honestly going to be quite powerful. You’ll want to run at least 3 units of Purgation Squads in this detachment, so one 10-man bomb with Crowe and then MSU squads in a transport sees like a powerful combo.

The only unit I’m not very excited about here is Terminator bricks. Without access to a -1 AP stratagem, I worry they’ll be too fragile for the points–especially in melee now that you can’t use Mists Of Deimos to take a brick of 10 Terminators to safety. Land Raider Redeemers are also way worse without access to -1 AP, but that was a list style that had fallen out of favor anyway.

Strengths

• Easy access to hit re-rolls, which the Faction lacks currently.
• Strong burst melee from Purifiers, who can easily stage in a rhino.
• Broad support for the unit roster.

Weaknesses

• Poor defensive Stratagems compared to Teleport Strike Force.
• Stratagems overly dependent on maintaining Hallowed Ground.
• Weaker scoring options than the Faction is used to.

Army Lists

We’ve got two different takes on lists here, depending on how many characters you want and if you’re up for including Dreadknights.

Wings’ All-Rounders

Army List - click to expand

No huge surprises here – a bit of everything that makes this detachment good, plus the reliable fallback of ramming Draigo and some boys straight into the enemy. Brotherhood Captain with your Paladins is a troubleshooting threat, the big Dreadknight smashes onto an objective, and you get the double Purifier Rhino to spit out wound re-rolling murder whenever you do so need it.

Shane’s Nu-Crunch

Army List - click to expand

Shane has gone for more of the traditional tools with a big Terminator unit and multiple Dreadknights, adding in newly powerful Purifiers in support, plus some cheeky Servitors to smoke something.

Final Thoughts

Wings: If you want a more direct spin on Grey Knights, this is definitely for you. The Army Rule means you keep some of the mobility power they’ve always had, but trade off quite a bit of it for raw power. Whether that’s worth it will be something we see in time, but for a faction which has thus far struggled to get access to re-rolls, being able to spit out fully hit and wound re-rolling melee threats from a Rhino will surely be something of a relief. Only big shame is that I think the Invulnerable Save stratagem is weirdly too narrow – it needs to be melee too to make up for, well, not being Armour of Contempt. Still, a pretty good one overall.

Mike P: One of the complaints Grey Knights players have had in 10th Edition is that their army is all about scoring and shenanigans, but they have had basically no offensive buffs to help them take the fight to the foe. That will definitely change now that we have the Warpbane Task Force.

This seems like a really fun detachment. The buffs are wide enough that basically everything in your Grey Knight collection will be viable in the Warpbane Task Force.

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