There are plenty of other sites that discuss the various Grey Knight options, wargear, and tactics, however this one differs in others because it won't be looking at this from a competitive tournament style and from the perspective of the army's narrative. The Grey Knights have typically carried Nemesis Force Weapons, mostly swords and halberds. This version of the Grey Knights have expanded the Nemesis Force Weapon selections to include Daemon Hammers, Warding Staves, and Falchions for the infantry, and the Doomfist and Greatsword for the Dreadnoughts and Dreadknights. Each of the options now provides a different effect for the weapon user, ranging from increased invulnerable saves in close combat, increased initiative bonuses, and to additional attacks. All the NFWs are force weapons in the hands of the Grey Knights, which means that multiple wound creatures are going to hate close combat with the Knights. What is missing between the versions is the increase in strength bonus of the old NFWs. The 5ed version does not increase the damage potential. This is balanced off with the special bonuses each type gets and really forces a combination strike with the psychic power, Thunderhand. This combination does give the GKs more of a reliance on their psychic potential, which did seem to be missing in 3rd edition.
As an Imperial force, they have all the standard weapons: Assault Cannon, Autocannon, Boltgun, etc. What's new would be the Condemnor Bolter. It's to hunt werewolves and vampires. It's a single-shot stake on a Boltgun used on psykers. It's a characterful piece of wargear, forcing psykers to survive the Perils. Other anti-psyker weapons include the Mindstrike Missile, Null Rod (which has been upgraded from the previous version), and the Psyocculum (BS bonus versus psykers). The Conversion Beamer makes another appearance, which makes more sense on a Pre-Heresy army than on a Chaos hunting one. It would have been more worthwhile if the Purgation Squads could take the Beamer, but only Techmarines and Ordo Xenos Inquisitors are allowed to. The Needle Pistol makes another appearance, similar to the previous one, and the Orbital Strike Relay is wargear that brings the Orbital Strike from the 3rd Edition back. The Psycannon has been upgraded with a higher strength, rending, and rate of fire. Rate of fire would define the Psilencer, a weapon of possible alien origin. The Scythian Venom Talon make little sense in this codex, since it really is a Ordo Xenos weapon.
For the Radical, two weapons that may be used are the Daemonblade and the Hellrifle. The Daemonblade has 2 of 9 random powers that gives it bonuses. The Hellrifle is a marine killing sniper rifle.
Grenades. It makes no sense, but Grey Knights now get a whopping 8 different grenade types. The Frag, Krak, and Melta bombs are standard types. Blind grenades, Empyrean Brain Mines, Psychotroke Grenades, Psyk-out Grenades, and Rad Grenades are the new ones. All the new grenades affect the assault phase in some way. The Psychotroke ones have 6 random options, the Rad penalizes a unit's toughness, the Psyk-out knocks warp sensitive creatures to a minimum initative, and the Brain Mines just keep you from doing anything.
For Vehicles, only 2 really new items are worth reviewing: Truesilver Armour and Warp Stabilisation Field. Truesilver wounds Daemons and psykers for every successful strike on the vehicle. The Warp Field lets a psyker move the vehicle via Summoning.
The equipment section has a number of items that look worthwhile. The Iron Halo is now available to GK independent characters. GK Brotherhood Banners for their Terminator squads gives them a bonus attack and auto activate the Force Weapons. Psybolt/flame adds one more strength to the bolt and flamer weapons. Servo-skulls now act like the version from Dawn of War, need I say more. The Plasma Syphon lowers plasma weapon wielders' BS with alien crystals, which gives the GKs a nice shield against those weapons when a Xenos Inquisitor joins them.
In the end, the wargear section is fairly confused. There are a lot of radical inquistor weapons and Xenos weapons that require inquistors to use. In the end, this edition feels more like a video game with all the options and benefits available to the Grey Knights and inquisitors. The gothic feel of the weapons, psychically imbued and sanctified in purity, aren't as evident in this edition. At times, the weapons have that feel with the inclusion of the psybolts, psyflames, and psycannons. But then the grenades and alien weapons make the codex less about Grey Knights and more about deviant inquisitors.
Next up: HQ options
