Terminators of the Grey kind: They don't suck.

Cool Mini or Not.

The current common consensus is that Grey Knight Terminators are not that good compared to Strike Squads. In fact, some people dare to say that Terminators are bad and that if you take them, you don't know how to play Grey Knights properly.

This is something of a ridiculous statement and I believe it needs to be addressed. After chatting with VT2 on occassion, I've been able to clarify all these points and effectively give them a good curbstomping.

I've heard the many common arguments used to promote Strike Squads over Terminators and hopefully, I'll be able to present why these trains of thought are not really that good, all things considered.



First up:

 1. When comparing equal points costs, 10 strikes will be able to hurt more tanks, deal more anti-infantry fire and take more wounds due to bodies.

This is the crux of the argument and the first one to break down. Mathematically speaking, it'll take a total of 90 bolter shots from BS4 on average to kill a Strike Squad of 10 Grey Knights, over the exact same of 90 bolter shots to down 5 Terminators. They're equal at the moment. It's hard to dispute that double the guns on your Strikes will put out more damage than the Terminators, seeing as twice as much is better than having only once as much.

Then we have two psycannons on the Strike Squads that if they stay still, do double the firepower of the lone relentless terminator. This is all well and good, but the key here is that this argument falls flat on it's face once you realise this is not at all a realistic scenario.

I'll pin the main point down that, when have you ever seen somebody, anybody take a 10 strong Strike Squad on foot? Even from people who, for all intents and purposes, aren't that good at writing lists?

Anybody?

I didn't think so. 

This is a great white room scenario that in theory works but in play, you'll never ever see. The reason Strikes are taken is for the delicious metal box, where they get to a point and disembark. To have 10 Strikes in the open means taking a Rhino, which is less common because a Razorback fits the style of Grey Knights better. Park up, hop out, blast the enemy to pieces.

You're a mid-range shooting army, not Mech-Marines, so you need to act as such. You could Deep Strike your Strikes, of course. Just like you can pod your Tactical Marines. Tell me how that works for you. A more realistic Scenario then is to compare the general setups that you're likely to see, the ones that are proven to work. 5 Strikes in a Razorback with either las/plas or a heavy bolter, stormbolter and psybolts on your vehicle.

In comparison, the two units score very differently now. The Strikes cost a minimum of 165-180 whilst your Terminators still cost 225 from the start. Sure, you've got a vehicle, but you want to be out of your vehicle to bring your MSU firepower to arms, so you'll still not be out in the open. You could of course take a Rhino with an extra Stormbolter and Psybolts on your 10 man Strike Squads, costing you 275 points total. On a basic troops choice, this is a huge sum of points, and definitely takes you down a few notches in terms of point efficiency against the Terminators.

As an added, though not very thought out point, that vehicle concedes another Kill Point. It's not a good point on a not-good system, but there you go. 

The last point to consider is that even if 10 Strikes were brought to the field on foot, they would get more Psycannon shots if they stayed still. The game right now means you can't just stay still with your 20 point tactical marines and hope to win: It's assumed that you must keep moving. If you do stay still, the game is clearly in your favour anyway. You can't guarantee on staying still, so mobile firepower is much more valuable. That, the Terminators bring.

2. Having more Strikes means you get more attacks on the charge over Terminators, thus they can do combat better. 

I can simply put this argument down by saying free special weapons.

I must elaborate though! For starter, if we still stick with the 10 Strikes, they will indeed get 5 more attacks on a charge. This can be put down by saying if you're relying on the charge to win combat, that's not a good strategy. Grey Knights do not have the defences nor the volume of attacks to win in combat, and combat should be a last measure after you turn the enemy into a bloodied smear on the floor from shooting. They both get 10 attacks after the charge, which means Terminators lose a few attacks.

Terminators however, get something far more valuable than 5 attacks. Free special weapons. 

Halberds are everything you want. They're free. They let you hit before anything that isn't a pumped up Eldar or a Tyranid with a Lash whip, but the latter you have little issue with anyway. Strikes will hit at the same time as the enemy or in the case of guardsmen and the likes, first. Terminators will almost always hit first.

You hit first, you remove chunks of the enemy, you take less attacks back and less wounds in the first place. This is Grey Knight combat in a nutshell. I wouldn't care about 5 more attacks if my enemy was already dead. If that wasn't enough, free hammers mean you can threaten anything from Monstrous Creatures to vehicles, whilst Strikes pay a premium for the pleasure. Even your sword isn't useless on a Terminator, improving your Invulnerable save to a 4++ is not something to be ignored. 

Quality over Quantity wins this round.

3. Warp Quake is a great psychic power that helps to shut down Daemons and reserve based lists.

 Another good point. I can see the use of Warp Quake in any list but again, the point is not feasible in a real scenario. You shouldn't take Strikes simply for their Warp Quake, otherwise why not just take Terminators and Interceptors, which can easily cover the board better due to their own ability to Deep Strike and be able to move 12" to gain board coverage?

Against Daemons, you need no more help to beat Daemons, exactly like taking Psilencers because you think you need more strength 4 shots to boost your anti-infantry.

Against reserve based lists, it's not like you're limited in how to deal with them. Firstly, you can do reserve shenanigans better due to a mixture of Grand Strategy, Servo Skulls and Psychic Communion. In fact, so far you're the premier Reserve army with a combination of these. Secondly, if they Deep Strike close to you, they've done your job for you and got to 24" distance. No need to use Grand Strategy to Scout your Terminators up-field, you've already brought them to me to eat hot Stormbolter ammo. 


So far, these points have been accounted for. Now for some arguments in favour of Terminators.

1.  Where are you going to stick your Librarian, Grand Master or Terminator Psycannon Inquisitor?

This point is very important. All of these will be common choices in a Grey Knight army and being in Terminator armour means you can't embark on your vehicles. Other than a Chimera I guess, but what's not riding in your Chimera that your Inquisitor dragged along? Probably something that is much more vulnerable than your Grey Knight Terminators.

So where do they go? You're not going to run them on their own, the same reason Castellan Crowe is not considered a wise option because he doesn't get to join a unit. The answer is a unit of Terminators (or Paladins, but if you have Paladins then why not just take Draigo instead to make them score?) which will help be ablative wounds and get the job done. It's a sensible option and one always worth bringing up.

2. Are you going to use Grand Strategy on Strike Squads? 

It's not a stretch of the imagination to say that Grand Strategy is a very potent ability. It allows you to modify your deployment, gives you more punch and makes more units Scoring if you're lacking troops. If you've got a Grand Master with a unit of Strikes (ignoring the fact that he'll need terminators to hang around with to avoid being shot to pieces), do you really want to waste it on them?

If you're going to use Grand Strategy, you need every inch of mileage out of it. Terminators do this better. Sure, you can do a 12" scout move in your Razorback to get into a proper position first, but with Terminators you get more bang for your buck. Scouting Terminators advance upwards to help their issue of speed, or 10-30 Outflanking Terminators that come in on Turn 2 is going to be a nightmare to deal with. Entire blocks of Counter Attacking Terminators (who do combat better, as covered above) will hold an objective and bubble-wrap better than strikes, who either are 5 strong or stuck in a Rhino and can't assault anyway.

When Grand Strategy is in play, you need to maximiseit, and Terminators do the job better. 

3. Why can't I hold all these missiles?

One of the biggest arguments for Terminators is that on a model per model basis, they are just as if not more durable than Strikes. The opportunity cost must be explained, that AP 1-2 weapons or Power Weapons and things like that will rip through both at an equal rate, but the situations where these come up need to be realised: If you're being hit by AP1-2 weapons, they're usually anti-vehicle weapons that aren't pounding on more important things (your Dreadnoughts) or you're caught in a bad situation. In the case of Meltaguns, you're going to be a move and an assault away from them anyway, and a Meltagun can't fire if you're in combat with it.

More important, AP3 weapons are common. Missile Launchers are nearly everywhere and the big two armies that people love to repeat, Space Wolves and Imperial Guard, will pack AP3 weapons here, there and everywhere. Strikes in the open will take a missile to the face and explode. Terminators have a 5/6 chance of simply not giving half a shit and then return fire with a Psycannon barrage.

You'll face Dark Eldar and the likes who have Darklight Weaponry codpieces but Dark Eldar and Grey Knights are a matchup that can go either way. Unless they lance spam (which they won't, venoms are far more common) it's going to be hard to bring enough firepower to down all the Terminators. In extreme circumstances, you can hold in reserve and come down on them turn 2 on a 2+ and drown them in a wave of 2+/5++ bodies. 



All in all, I'm not even trying to hint that Strike Squads are inferior to Terminators. My points are clear that Terminators remain a great choice and you can't go wrong with them. The Internet says MSU strikes allday errday. I say, drown them in Terminators.