Grey Knights Draigowing Paladin Tactics

Apothecary Paladin with Halberd.

Banner Paladin with Psycannon.

2x Sword Paladins.

Sword Paladin with Psycannon.

Halberd Paladin

Master Crafted Halberd Paladin.

Halberd Paladin with Psycannon

Hammer Paladin

Hammer Paladin with Psycannon

735pts.

This set up maximises on your hard hitting fire power with a full compliment of 8 Psycannons. 

With every squad member having different equipment (with the exception of 2 Sword Paladins) you maximise your wound allocation potential as you can allocate a wound to each member of the squad without losing a single model. 

The size of the army means that you only have 3 kill points but the size of your squads means that you can spread out to hold multiple objectives.

Your Apothecary (although expensive) may lose his ability to shoot but you can use him as the model which you shoot holocaust from allowing every other member of the squad to still shoot their Psycannons or storm bolters.

By taking the Banner Paladin your squads have a minimum 3 attacks per Paladin per squad even if you are charged along with the option to auto pass Nemesis Force Weapon activation.

So those are the pro's of Draigowing, but why do I feel that this army can't be used at 1500 points for example?

The reason that this list isn't effective at 1500 points is that you need to lose 250 points, to do this you would need to lose the Apothecary ability and the Banner on both squads along with at least one other Paladin. However by losing 1 Paladin from a squad you must also give up 2 Psycannons, by doing this you are losing 25% of your hardest hitting fire power...while this may mean that you can re-organise your wound allocation so you can still take a beating without losing too many Paladins but you will find that you cant pack as much of a punch against your opponents, for example if your opponent is flanking on both sides then you need the added strength to hold them back, or your opponent may just ignore your weaker squad all together and just concentrate his fire on your full powered squad until they're eliminated essentially leaving you dead in the water...

Now for the best Draigowing tactics...

From experience firstly I would say despite temptation don't combat squad keep 2 large squads and unless you are deep striking in which case you want Draigo on the board to manipulate those reserve rolls...however the main tactic remains the same...manoeuvre the army as 1 big block and be mindful of the objective remember 10 paladins can make a mighty long objective holding conga line. Another reason not to combat squad is that the larger squad conveys better wound allocation ability so you can keep wounds off those all important Psycannons.

Secondly make sure you prioritise your targets and concentrate all your firepower on it until it is completely decimated, this is what Draigowing does best so don't be tempted to charge your squad in unless you're confident of totally destroying what you charge by the time your next game turn comes round as you dont want these expensive units getting tar pitted in a huge fight while your opponent's other units go off grabbing objectives etc.

If the unthinkable should happen and 1 of your squads does get charged do not support by charging in alongside your battle brothers, cut them loose...the best support you can provide is moving away from the combat and shooting at any of your opponent's squads moving in to aid the combat or claim objectives, this may sound harsh but those 10 Paladins should be able to fight through most things or at least tar pit them leaving you free to continue peppering your opponent with mass firepower.

So lets break down the Draigowing tactics into some easy to follow bullet points:

There will always be situations where you will need to adapt the tactics spoken about here but if you keep these as your fundamental tactics both you and your opponents will realise that Draigowing is a force to be reckoned with...hell just ask Adam over at the Space Wolves blog, he's still trying to figure out how to beat me as I spank his puppies round the table!