Grey Knights: Rejoice children of the Emperor, we are here to save you! Imperial Citizen: Hurray it's the Grey Knights! GK: FROM YOURSELVES! IC: Oh no, it's the Grey Knights...
Certainly tragic but they try their best no matter what and they’re very skilled. They managed to widdle the numbers of one of the biggest tyranid fleet and survived over 100 years in the warp, held their grounds against chaos long enough for other astartes chapters they reinforce them. These guys are tragic but they’re no where near the term weak. Anyways this isn’t an angry comment rather a supportive comment about the Lamenters and I’ll be waiting for the video too.
Lore aside, I actually really vibe with the GK aesthetic something fierce. I LOVE the sharp terminator knight heads and the wrist bolters. Genuinely some of my fave designs, shame they have such inconsistent lore :(
@@klortikterra4423 I love the blend of middle ages plate with the grimfuture tech of 40k. It kinda feels like what the marines were going for but never quite hit for me (except for MK2-3 which are appreciated)
@@bearsayshet710 i am a massive history nerd, and the medieval look was one of two big factors to playing them. other being they countered my dads chaos (he's been collecting since 2nd)
90% of the reason I like the Grey Knights is because of their aesthetic. I love the schizo tech future knight work gold lettering inscribed on it. The remaining 10% is, as a Paladin Sorcerer multiclass enjoyer, they're basically the Sorcadin of 40k.
God i love Grey Knights. Im such a Grey Knight enjoyer. Every day i wake up and put on my finest clothes, go down to the hobby shop and buy more Grey Knights. They have the best writing in the setting and absolutely wipe the tabletop. Grey Knights could beat Custodes so easily if you really think about it. I love the Grey Knights. I can feel Kaldor Draigo coming inside me
While the vast majority of their Ward Era lore has been de-canonized, the damage is still very much done amongst the old guard (or anyone who joined pre-8th edition). You'll still find many people who consider the Grey Knights as nothing than a chapter of Gary Stu archetypes.
In your dreams maybe. Draigo 1v1 Morty and carving a name into his heart is still canon. I haven't seen evidence that any of his other feats aren't canon either.
Keep in Mind, the grey knights were written, concepted and "WrItTeN" by the same guy of "he who shall not be named" that made the ultramarines Gary sues until 8th edition. That being said, I do like that they're the inquisitions true hammers against chaos, there's some cool lore behind them (first battle of Armageddon) that is there. Like you said though, its like they're the 40k equivalent to a faction wide very, VERY bad fan-fic.
I have the idea that the Grey Knights are secretly not of the Emperor's Geneseed and are actually Thousand Sons. Janus was a TS after all and was their first grand master, and it would fit the whole "Everyone is a psyker" thing
The Grey Knights should be the very embodiment of the all that's best about the Astartes ( who are in the words of the Emperor 'the defenders of humanity' ), right down to not allowing Inquisitors to wipe out uncorrupted loyalists, sadly their writing is generally bad because it apparently has to be grimdark ( such as wiping out the sisters for no sensible reason, fighting the Space Wolves because an Inquisitor with questionable authority says so, or killing innocents who 'know too much' ). Much like the Custodes, they were also never conceived in the game as being an Army in their own right, originally they were meant to be a small elite unit to drop on a Greater Deamon/Avatar like a bomb for Imperial forces.
To me they should be like the Men In Black of 40K, and I think one of the better interpretations of the grey Knights was in Chaosgate: Daemonhunters, showing them not beign lap dogs of inquisitors and actually questioning them and confronting the one in their ship, and you know, ACTUALLY SHOWING EMOTIONS!
@@SeanCrosser I think if the baseline humans are aware that daemons are real then so too are the angels of the God Emperor, it's something to reaffirm faith when you see the deamonic foe slain by the Grey Knights, and you shouldn't be killed just for bearing witness.
@@edgieststalker8141 I sometimes think since the Fall of Cadia they should stand in the light now rather than hide in the shadows, the Imperium needs such things to rally against chaos. I really should get around to looking at the Chaosgate game, that sounds cool.
@@SeanCrosserthough it wasn’t really decanonized . 40k usually retcones things by replacing those moments in the old lore . For instance older lore said space marines were space cops . Now their super soldiers That moment where the grey knights kill the sisters hasn’t been replaced by newer lore or officially confirmed to be noncanon
I've always imagined the Grey Knights as having strength in between the regular Astartes and Custodes, as they are classified in lore as Sanctic Astartes instead of Adeptus Astartes, as well having tougher and more rigorous training in comparison to the other Astartes. I do understand the unappeal of having Spacier Marines that are better just because, and I do hope that their lore is written in a way to make them earn that Spacier Marines title. Hel, I'd even do it myself if I had experience writing at all lol
Also if it makes you feel better, the Grey Knights on tabletop are just worse than other astartes in general. They are basically a shooting army without the shooting, as their melee is alright but nothing better than anyone else's, and they have no good shooting weapons for their infantry. Their best model is the fucking Thunderhawk, and that costs over $900
@@Streygenmoment Well, if the models would be as good as they are in the lore, Custodes would win every game. So of course you have to balance it out. I really like the elite nature of the GK's. One of my favorite characters in 40k is Garran Crowe - unfortunately, there aren't too many books with these boys.
@@ruinerblodsinn6648 counter point, the army cannot fight vehicles effectively unless you spam Paladins/Chaplain combos, Librarians, or Nemesis Dreadknights. We are an Elite army without the strength of one
thier actually equal since a grey knight can increase thier strength speed and resilience beyond that of a marine. they literally bless thier bodies with battle powers, to enhance combat ability.
@thewerdna To be fair, Ward also worked on the Necrons 5th edition - the one that turned the Necrons from 'scary emotionless robots' to 'bickering Egyptian robots.' Your opinion on that change could vary, but that codex also introduced all the big Necron characters we know today - the Silent King, the forgetful Zandrekh, and even Trazyn the Infinite
The Emperor's Gift is an excellent read and now on audible for those that prefer audiobooks. It's a slower-burn than other ADB stories. I found the pacing drew me closer to the main characters such that the things they eventually see and do hit harder than the usual bolter-porn action that can be absorbed at a distance. He quite literally places the reader inside the minds of the main characters as much of the dialogue between them is done psychically. So, communication isn't just restricted to words and largely incorporates touches of images, emotions, etc. It's a good book.
I view Grey Knights (which I also play) as an over specialized force meant to deal with a specific threat and nothing else. Their gear is so tailored to deal with demonic forces that to be used in any other setting other than to smash demons to paste makes them look like generic space marines in overly polished war gear. Like a Grey Knight Grand Master could be using a master crafted, finely inscribed, thrice blessed, dipped in the blood of saints, thunder hammer so holy that to even look at it makes demons explode. But against orks, tau, eldar or some human that blinked when he should have ran, its just a lead weight on a stick.
With that in mind it's really funny to imagine a squad of Grey Knights genuinely struggling more against a "simple" Genestealer Cult infestation over something insane like boarding a daemon-possessed ship.
Yeah. Against demons, their thrice-warded, perfectly honed minds are the sharpest, hottest 1000° kitchen knife. In front of a zoanthrope, they're fancy canned food. Losing a Librarian to brain burnout sucks, but it's even worse when the entire chapter is made up of Librarians.
I do love the idea that Grey Knights fare terrible against everything else, even though I'm pretty sure the lore states they have 3 times more plot armor than Ciaphas Cain.
@@CoffeeMaus OH heavens no. They lost a Grand Master to Logan Grimnar during the Months of Shame exodus, they lost an entire brotherhood to Angron, They lost another to warp travel drive failure (which came back a few centuries later), and nearly lost another to gellar field failure. They got it rough.
Say what you will about the Grey Knights, but their armor is simply incredible. They are a royal pain in the ass to paint well, but when they are done right, very few armies can match their look on the tabletop. Lore-wise, yes they are kind of all over the place. But I think it’s fitting that they did pick up a “Primarch” in the Horus Heresy Lore: the Noble Shard of Magnus.
Going off of you mentioning how Grey Knights are the better overall Space Marines, there is a story (I know, writers can be inconsistent with portrayals, as you mentioned) of the Grey Knights getting shit-stomped by the Space Wolves in something called the Months of Shame. It's definitely something to look into if you haven't already and kinda shows that while they are cool, at least in my opinion, they can struggle against other loyalist chapters.
Honestly I like how the Grey Knights are portrayed in the whole Armageddon fiasco. Instead of being uber-chads who can beat daemon primarchs on a regular basis literally almost the entire force deployed there was killed trying to banish Angron, and even then not permanently. Along with them also getting the fuck beaten out of them by the Space Wolves while the whole of the Inquisition was backing them I feel like it a lot better showed how while the Grey Knights are very good at dealing with Chaos they'll struggle against other threats, and even then when dealing with Chaos even they have limits.
If Grey Knights are the biggest bestest space marines who can all have Terminator Armor, here's the BIGGERER, BETTEREREST Space Wolves man who can SPRINT FULL SPEED in terminator armor and follow that up with a perfect decapitation of a Grey Knight Grandmaster!
@SeanCrosser to be fair space wolves are probably the worst chapter for any Astartes to fight just because they've been used as executioners of Space Marines for a very long time. Leman Russ even wrote an entire book on the subject of how to wipe out an Astartes Legion. Not to mention they're use to fighting psykers. Honestly there wouldn't be a worse match up for the Grey Knights than the Wolves.
The Grey Knights are essentially just loyalist Thousand Sons. Their gene seed obviously comes from Magnus despite what the lore says, because the Emperor clearly doesn't have gene seed since he's neither a Primarch nor even an Astartes and only Magnus's gene seed has the properties of the Grey Knights, making almost all recipients into psykers. The Grey Knights aren't (or shouldn't be) the best at everything: they're just the best psykers among the Space Marines, with an exclusive focus on fighting Chaos, especially demons, and that's all. If you really like the Thousand Sons but you want to play loyalists then the Grey Knights are your guys. GW / Black Library needs to get somebody on the Grey Knights who knows how to write. They look amazing and just need some better stories about them.
This reminds me of an old-ish SsethTzeentach video where he was browsing Sonic OC characters and there it was, Terminus, the Knight of Endings, literally a Grey Knight, which got as edgy as you can imagine.
I enjoy the theory that each Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights hosts the Noble Shard of Magnus. Instead of the shard having died along with Janus, it just possessed the next Supreme Grand Master and continues to do so. Which would give at least some plausibility to how Kaldor Draigo could have gone up against Mortarion.
That such funny idea. Like imagine being in their shoes. Y’all are a chaos cult, you’ve gotten the evening ready, Steve has brought the blood and skulls it’s gotta be great. Y’all get around the pentagram and say Hamana eight hundred times. Then there’s a giant flash of light. And the a great ass, sliver knight runs out, kills everyone, doesn’t elaborate, and disappears
Grey Knights were my favorite when I first got into the lore but I think Imperial Fists and Black Templars will always be my real favorite chapters. I really like the Salamanders, Iron Warriors and Blood Ravens as well. Most legions or chapters are pretty easy to get behind. But I guess i just like the I.F. and B.T. for personal reasons. Fists embody the calmness and objectivity I wish to aspire to and the Templars wrestle most directly with the bottomless well of rage that resides in them all. I know none of that is about GK but tbh my favorite thing about them is how they're represented in TTS, especially Draigo xD
Haha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's a fan of multiple chapters. Hell, I'm sure this is the norm but being new to the community, it's still cool to see. My favs are the Salamanders, Raven Guard, and Dark Angels.
@@genefactor007 Nice, man! Welcome to the community :D Yeah as far as I can tell most people like multiple factions, even if they don't play multiple or dive as deep into the lore. For a long time I was a total Imperium fanboy, but got into some chaos factions and the necrons. An' den derez da ORKS (deyz da best) Dark Angels and Raven guard are cool as hell too! Really there aren't many chapters I dislike, off the top of my head. There's a lot of surface level stuff and good/bad jokes about most factions. But there's something for just about everyone in Warhammer :)
It was such a stupid, edgy thing. Makes zero sense to slaughter incorruptible sisters to fight demons instead of... just fighting demons with them. Nemesis Force Weapon +1 or a squad of highly devout, furious women bearing bolters and flamers that could hold off enemy advance while you huddle up for a banishment ritual? Silly question, stupid choice.
I actually don't mind the idea of the Grey Knights being better than most other Space Marines. These are _supposed_ to be the guys you call when you need a Bloodthirster deleted. They wouldn't be as suited for traditional warfare as other Chapters but, outside of Custodes, they should absolutely be the last ones anyone would want to fight head-on.
The Grey Knights are cool in concept, but dumb in execution and inconsistent in lore. I still prefer the Blood Ravens for the role of Loyalist Psychic bois. Nathaniel Garro is still better than Kaldor Draigo. No cap. He just is.
These lads can also be such a tragic bunch. Their recruitment comes from taking members from other chapters and further breaking them down mentally and physically just to remake them into stronger warriors. So you're taking someone that was already broken down and had parts of their personality burned away to make a super soldier and you're doing it again, but more brutally. Poor knights don't even have memories of their childhood, if their lucky they have faint echoes of their past. In the hands of more competent writers we could have some very interesting stories, sadly more often than not the Greryknights feel like either like diet Custodes or jobbers in order to highlight just how strong a daemon ,or daemon prince, is.
@@Miron_Marnicin the 8th and 9th addition codex’s, it states that Grey Knights recruit from all manner of Imperial worlds, barbaric worlds, Black Ships, civilised worlds and also the recruiting worlds of the Astartes, often without their knowledge. Some chapters, notably The Exorcists and The Silver Skulls identify certain of the own recruits in whom the Grey Knights may show an interest and offer them over. It’s not clear how far down the road these recruits have gone before being transferred.
@@Eagle-eye-pie Alright. I knew that the GK recruit from basically the entire Imperium, but I didn't know that the Astartes homeworlds also count. But still, they have the Emperor's own gene seed, so it is not possible to make an aspirant with some organs implanted a Grey Knight. Or maybe they can. I don't know, it is the inquisition after all.
@@Miron_Marnic I couldn’t find any indication that the recruits taken from Astartes worlds had received any implants or especially any gene seed before being taken. As you say, this wouldn’t make sense anyway, so it should be assumed the recruits are at an early stage of recruitment imo. The real trials begin on Titan!
I love the grey knights I think them being "better" then other Astartes comes down to the fact that they are all space wizards with all the positives and negatives that entails I can see in a fucked up way why they can kill greater daemons far easier then normal heretic Astarte's since their gear is designed to hunt Daemons, It makes sense they can crush daemons that normal marines would struggle against but have a far harder time killing normal traitors since they special anti daemon gear is far less effective. I kind of like that since it makes them seem like the specialists they are meant to be rather then just better space marines
A custodes remarks that without them being psykers (since they were fighting alongside Custodes, and therefore Sisters Of Silence), they're JUUUST a bit better than standard Astartes in combat, due to their focus in teamwork, and working together in small groups against hordes is practically their schtick. I doubt they could hold a siege as well as Imperial Fists, do taxes like Ultramarines, or sneak behind you like Raven Guard, though.
I love the aesthetic, especially in the artworks since the minis are kinda outdated with those bulimic thigh, and I don't really see them as just another chapter but better. I like how their psychic trait is more oriented towards channeling it through their weird weapons or in a defensive way, while having the classical sorcery represented better in the thousand sons. I'm ok with there being a top secret psychic chapter that excels against daemons and as a result are on average better than other SM. Too bad their lore is all over the place and mostly sucks.
Honestly I like the Grey Knights because futuristic super soldiers in knight armour fighting demons with power swords is a really cool aesthetic. The main problem with them is how they were/are handled in the lore with their main character stndrome and such. But still I personally just think having a middle ground between space marines and custodes being neat, partly justified with their niche being nigh uncorruptable psykers whose job it is to fight demons but... I understand other people's disliking of them since the space marines but better part of them does add to the "im specihul" aura around them. Do I have a point or am I just an outlier?
I have the Sonic OC issue you brought up, but with Custodes. They're just too obviously Golden Special Best Space Marines. "Each hand-crafted by athe Emperor himself!" It turns me off completley. I don't have that with The Grey Knights, so this was interesting :) Maybe becuse I never engaged in specific stories of thier lore? Perhaps I DO see them as having a niche that they excell at? (The Chaos Gate game has also recently reinforced how BADLY outnumbered they always are. Always vulnerable. Every mission is one mistake away from losing the whole squad)
My first real interaction with GK's was chaosgate daemonhunter, where it fekt harder to deal with marines than it did daemons. You can bench press that plaguebearer but you gotta use true xcom tactics against deathguard. I really like how their task force in Angron's Ark of Omen book was described too. Very much so a "oh hey GK's are here!....oh fuck gk's are here what the fuck is coming" They showed up are preparing for Angron and theres nowhere where i felt like that was not a serious notion
Grey knights just always called to me as Gray Knight has been my handle for many things for years before I even heard about them, and they're just really cool with their paladin aesthetic, and well, paladins, another thing I've been a big fan of. Castellan Crowe is a BAMF, and also nearly saved me in a game I played against my friend playing nids with his fight on death and repeat nearly wiping a unit on his own. His fuck you I'm the most uncorruptible deal with it, this insanely powerful sword with a demon inside it constantly trying to turn me and everyone around me to chaos, ya it's just a regular ass sword in my hand because I refuse to give in and use it. He's the best.
Another case of why trying to powerscale anything in 40k is a futile effort. Each BL and Codex writer is working off their own headcanon on that and GW doesn't care as long as the models sell. Characters are as powerful as the plot needs them to be which gets crazy with the authors that dont understand the meaning of restraint. Which isn't helped by the fact that there are several characters who are essentially immortal so them getting beaten doesn't change anything major. The Avatar of Khaine, Grearer Daemons, Daemon Primarchs and the Tyranid Swarmlord all have enough notable losses to put a sizeable dent in their perceived threat level.
That bit where they struggled against a plague marine when they could normally defeat a greater demon with little difficulty may be an example of the perils of overspecialisation. They're too good at fighting demons that they are ill-equipped for even proxies for demons.
Grey Knights are what got me into 40k because I thought they looked cool. I learned about their lore, learned how fucking dumb they actually are, and I still like them the most because they look cool.
Grey knights when written well and in concept are super cool, but the way they are portrayed seem like that one kid at recess with an anti everything shield.
Thematically cool but not always interesting on their own, Grey Knights are, however, the catalyst for more than one interesting story centered around another faction, like when the Space Wolves punched them in the face over killing a planet they just fought and bled to defend, or the Fall of Shadowbrink where they fail outright ad get eaten by Tyranids because they were so worried about the Daemon relic they were guarding cracking open, only for the bugs to easily defeat the Daemons and banish them back to the Warp pretty much by accident.
"They're bureaucrats, Morty, we don't respect them!" I like the part in the lore where Logan Grimnar kicked some of their shiny asses... The Knight Errants were cool though...
The one thing I really dislike about them is the "remove those who shouldn't know about us" bit(the novel of hyperion does redeem this part a bit). Also the matt ward treatment(1d4chan hates him with a passion). Speaking of 1d4, they're at odds deciding who's the chuck norris of war40k, draigo or logan grimnar(I'd vote for latter). Still, they do have a good trilogy (and few short stories), in said trilogy book 2, there's a cool moment where protagonist trades wits with a demon titan no less (book 3 was a shake up but with a reasonable ending), check it out if able.
@@mizublackriver7021 It's just called Grey Knights (book 1 called as such, book 2 is dark adeptus, book 3 hammer of daemons). There's also prequel Sacrifice(it's quite...grimdark), and the Emperor's Gift (novel where you follow guy called Hyperion(who becomes prognosticator later) during the 1st war for armageddon (he breaks angron's old demon sword) and the "months of shame"(he brokers the truce between inquisition and space wolves)).
@@Bread-nx9fo Oh yeah, completely forgot about him, he's actually the top contender for the chuck norris, grimnar close second(also santa, bcs of wolf sled he uses).
Jesus the bloody sisters story is very unhinged lol. Like im all for horror and descimating a readers brain with terrible acts of war. But that felt far fetched asf.
Its even worse because you know who they were fighting? Khorne daemons. Totally, killing your allies and covering yourself in your blood will totally help with that...
The problem with the Grey Knight is that the Adeptus Custodes exist now, and the Custodes really do the whole "Hyper Elite Super Marines" thing better than the Grey Knights ever did. And I say this as someone who fucking loves the Grey Knights. Mostly because I'm a huge fan of the Paladin archetype in fiction, and the Grey Knights are all about that paladin archetype, from their helmets that resemble knightly great helms, to their whole "shining silver armor" aesthetic. If I were writing these guys, I'd lean into the idea that these are Traitor Legion Marines who chose to stay Loyalist, and give them a complex about this that leads to them seeking martyrdom even more than other Astartes. Every Grey Knight knows that they are kin to traitors, and every other Astartes does too. They should specialize in fighting Warp Entities (Daemons, Psykers, etc.), but struggle against horde armies due to their focus on slaying monsters and sorcerers. If I were in charge of the next Grey Knight codex. . . I wouldn't write one. I'd fold them into the Inquisition Codex instead, and move their HQ units to elites or something similar, so that every Grey Knight army needs to be led by an Inquisitor. Make them an MEQ troops option for Inquisition armies or something.
All Lore issues aside, the aesthetic of the Grey Knights design is my absolute favorite. The Silver armor and unique helmets just looks so amazing. Along with the glowing blue Halberds, they just look so damn badass!
I LIKE the idea of the greyknights, BUT as the idea that they are the best to use against daemons...as they were made for. like yes army wise, tech wise, gene wise, psychic wise they are one of if not THE best space marine chapter to exist ever...there's really only one group of marines that can compete with them and that's thousand sons, and even there the comparison is just a wizard duel and daemonology mastery AND THATS WHERE IT SHOULD BE. Grey Knights are the guys you send out for a daemon prince, a daemon primarch, a daemon world ect ect... if it has anything to do with a large scale daemonic influence the GK's should show up and just be absolute monsters WITH THE CAVEAT that because of their secrecy, and their elitism, the numbers they bring in...like the tabletop, are fewer than other responses.
I'll be honest, I am reeling from the comparison but the previous writing of some of their stories does make them wacky strong worfs. I like them because of the silver/grey armor they wear and them just being good at fighting demons in 40k is quite cool to me. Granted on tabletop currently I'm not jumping for joy for their rules currently after a few games but I still enjoy them. I am glad that you did make a GK video after the first legion series you did so good stuff. This video was funny to me and I enjoyed it. I heard they did re-write Kaldor's fight with Mortarion but I haven't read it so I'm not sure how true that is. But hey another good video, I really enjoy your stuff.
The Grey Knights in their game and in their lore examples aren't actually good at fighting Demons. If the definition of good is winning 200,000 battles in a row over the course of 200 years. The Grey Knights perform just as well as Imperial Guardsmen against demons. They get slaughtered in droves in any major battle.
@@genericscout5408 That makes me like em more. Dont want to sound like a hypocrite or just backwards, I really enjoyed reading lore where the grey knights in their version of full force and either get killed and sometimes succeed or get shrek'd but like a small handful of em make it and save the day or beat the daemon. Also makes cool little stories for tabletop too depending how it goes
I love these guys. With the new Terminators I think they can get an excellent lease of life. And I also really want to see the Purple Knight as a chaos character. That would be so incredibly sick. I also think that Kaldor is a shard of Magnus and that's why he could do that. And as for fighting Primarchs, in Arks of Omen a taskforce gets absolutely bodied by Angron
I liked the Grey Knights lore that was back in 3.5 edition Daemonhunters codex, it was more grounded ( like every 1 to 1000 human survive the Geneseed implantation like every other Space Marine Chapter ) and was less cartoony that it is today. They had that mysterious but rad af vibe to them up to the point where M.Ward self written himself in the GK's lore. To say that Guilliman was to all Space Marines their spiritual liege was catastrophic mistake on a memeable level was the overstatement for many years.
As a player that really got into 40k in 5th, Grey knights have for a long time left a sour taste in my mind. Their the sort of army I would never want to own and thats its honestly only within the last few months that Iv gradually started to soften on them. ..that boarding patrol box was actually tempting. A restaurant will be judged by the worst cook in the kitchen, One bad meal and you'll never go back to that restaurant again. 40ks has a big kitchen with a lot of cooks. Ward was, even looking back years later after the hate and the memes have burned down to bitter coals, a pretty bad cook. But that doesn't mean those other cooks didn't put out some amazing dishes. Its been a long while, and that chef that gave everybody on /tg/ diarrhea years ago is gone. It might be time to see what somebody else can do with that recipe.
I love the Grey Knights when they're treated as what they are. Yes they are better Marines, but better at fighting chaos. Everything they have is tailored to fighting daemons. Though I despise whoever had Draigo carve out Morty's heart, he deserves better than being a blatant example of the worf effect
Goddammit this gave me some ugly flashbacks! Lore PTSD, if you will. The pains! I still think Grey Knights are pretty awesome - in my own little headcanon. Picking the best bits, ignoring MOST of the stuff Ward wrote. They fill a nice little niche in Imperium background, and as long as you see them as the best DAEMONHUNTERS, I can live with them being the bestest in comparison to other Marines. Having said all that, I still wish they had remained what they were in 2nd and early 3rd edition: an option to add to existing Imperium armies, not a force of their own. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL for Grey Knights to fight mundane shit like Orks, Tyranids or anythign else outside of "OMG daemons everywhere, shit has gone WRONG!!!!11". They are of course here to stay, and their model range is (mostly) cool, but still... P.S.: You already featured that art of Malcador on his throne depicting "II" and "XI"... as in relation to the missing Legions. Looking forward to whatever you have in store for us for the Eleventh, but if you have no odea yet: *wink*. ;)
The grey knights were my first army I started painting a bit after the game chaos gate I think in 2023. I really liked the idea of sec-ops space marines that teleport down kill there target and teleport back.
As a kid who couldn't afford a shit ton of minis I loved them. I also like elite armies in general. Frankly I feel the way about custodes that you feel about gk. Custodes are so powerful they shouldn't be an army but a narrative element
While the Gary Sue-ing is.. well not good I just love the idea of these guys, the last act of vengeance by a fallen god Plus I played a ton of Chaosgate which REALLY sells them
I think i finally figured out what my first army is going to be, when i actually have money. Its gonna be a mix between guardsmen, and grey knights. Because the fate of those guardsmen is fuckin hilarious to me.
I remember being in a 40k milsim/rp server in vrchat that had the grey knights and battle sisters in it, fun times. We'd bully the sisters with the blood story and on an unrelated note our unofficial motto was something along the lines of "TAZE HIS BALLS!!"
the grey knights were my favorite until I learned more about the death watch.... so now I am rocking an Inquisition army so that I can have both!!! My son and I first created a Salamanders army, and as we learned who the bestest was, we started to get into the Custodians, but that fell out of favor with the whole "henry cavil," female custodes thing. It just started to feel lame. I then learned about the Grey Knights, and almost immediately started to paint them and battle sisters exclusively. We loved the boy scouts playing with the girl scouts thing.... but they all seemed so darned serious and judgy. That is when I learned about the Death Watch, and realized that was the closest I would get to the real Dirty Dozen, with Clint Eastwood fighting in power armor. The Death Watch wins! But, now I have about 1500 points of Grey, Sisters and Death Watch.... what to do? Inquisition!!! Now I have Greyfax! As far as them being Gary Stu's.... I like to see them arguing in my head lore with the Custodians about who is the purest in front of a wheel chair with a dead guy in it who doesn't answer either of them back. "Nu uh... I am the best!!!" "Daaaaaadd!!! He keeps touching me!" Oh, wait. "she" keeps touching me. My bad.
Grey Knights are often overlooked as specialists. They’re good at fighting daemons (notice how each of the super powerful entities they swing above their weight against are always daemons), but not nearly as good at fighting other threats. They can lose and they are by no means the best at everything. Ward era writings shouldn’t be taken as canon. Also primarchs could use to be knocked down a peg(even though the draigo thing is definitely stupid) and I like the idea that they aren’t the invulnerable gods they were made out to be in myths recanted from over 10,000 years ago.
I like the grey knights. I’m new to 40K and they’re one of my top 3 favorites. But World Eaters have to be my favorite mainly because Angron caught my eye in a game shop. I’ve been reading up on the world eaters and it’s interesting to me. But I mainly try not to read too much into the grey knights because I like that they’re supposed to be secretive. So the less I know about them, the more immersed I am with them if that makes sense. Also they remind me of King Arthur’s round table.
Death Watch certainly are a weaker but cooler version of the grey knights but both have weird rules with the great rift and Gullimen and Lion back here’s hoping they fight out in the open
I love the purity of purpose and absolute focus of the grey knights I love how much they focus on their goal of eradicating daemon's and the extreme training they go through to perfect their minds and prepare themselves for their mission they're like futuristic warrior monks that can shoot lightning with the power of their minds and I think that is so cool.
I like grey knights as a faction for the same reason I like the custodes. They are just so unique. Sure they have some bad dysfunctional lore, but this is GW, everything has some of that. The army plays with a heavy inflection of lore flavor that is more pronounced particularly in 10 th than other sm fractions.
First you diss my beloved Space Wolves, and now you diss my beloved Grey Knights tooo???? I hate you... But i like your style and content. I always look forward to your uploads!!!
I like the Grey Knights but more on how they were interpreted by ADB's. They're REALLY powerful, like "an elite squad of them broke Angron's axe and banished him back to the warp" powerful but it still took so many of them to get the hardest of shit done. There's also the rare good writing of Ward (probably) about Castelan Crowe and the cursed walking stick, which is pretty dope. I also like to think the Emperor's genes getting mixed into this was solely for the incorruptible part. Their fate is nigh immovable, sure like the sororitas but it's more 'it can stop the murder curse' incorruptible. it's like a failsafe. While I really like them, there's way too many things about them that are pretty disagreeable like going scorched earth on regular citizens seeing them or were able to fight chaos and lived, and not fighting xenos. They went further back in my line of favorites when I discovered the Exorcists. Sucks that there's only few info about them.
Yeah people like to point at "breaking Angron's weapon and banishing him" as "GK are too OP", ignoring how most of the force didn't survive the fight. The way I see it, their scorched earth policy makes sense. Demon corruption is slow, insidious, and only noticeable once it's waaay too late. If a populated world has been saved by the Grey Knights, that means that that world with all of its Warhammer 40k billions of citizens are potentially exposed to an event that could have heralded a greater demon, opened a portal to the warp, or having that planet turned into a daemon world. If a big demon portal suddenly opened up above New York, there's a high chance that most of the people there would've seen the warp through that portal. People in the surrounding area would have it confirmed that demons exist, dark gods exist, and there are ways to call them and maybe get yourself blessed.
To fight the insanity of chaos you must become insane yourself - grey knight's most likely. And oh their "primarch" is the emperor, same as the shiny golden boys.
They have been OTT since 2nd Ed. The 2nd ed "Black Codex" had them as an ally only contigent of a single squad of termies that was basically equivalent to an army in points cost (high 900s for five guys, ffs) but they were all that and a shotgun.
So here's some lore to think about.. While never explicitly stated it could be implicitly implied that since Grey Knights were a chapter founded by Malcador outside of the normal legions, they are not bound (or do not follow depending upon how you want to portray it) by Codex Astartes. There could be more than 1k Grey Knights. They have more than 1 "Grand" Master but only 1 Supreme Grand Master. They follow Imperial Inquisition rules and not Astartes rules. Grey Knights were the equivalent of a Primaris before there were Primaris hence why initially they drastically over powered regular Astartes although Aaron Dembski Bowden nerfed them hard in "The Emporers Gift" having them being only on par with Space Wolves.. even still that book showed that there were far more Grey Knights than Space Wolves because if you think about it there was no way they brought all the Grey Knights to fight the Space Wolves at Fenris so there has to be more than 1k Grey Knights and why they are not really a "chapter" but more a "force". I wouldnt say Legion because while they do answer to the Supreme Grand Master they also answer to the Inquisition and they were not one of the original 20 "Legions".
My new canon for the GKs is that Kaldor Draigo is impeccably stupid and insane, and prone to random fits of screaming. "HAVE YOU EVER EATEN... A TANGERINE??!"
Grey Knights: Rejoice children of the Emperor, we are here to save you!
Imperial Citizen: Hurray it's the Grey Knights!
GK: FROM YOURSELVES!
IC: Oh no, it's the Grey Knights...
"You saved us"
"Oh i wouldn't say saved, more like, _under new management_ "
Based Hellsing enjoyer
@@andreibaciu7518 Irradicated
Lamenters would be hilariously sad. Well, I’ll wait till the cursed founding comes up.
Certainly tragic but they try their best no matter what and they’re very skilled. They managed to widdle the numbers of one of the biggest tyranid fleet and survived over 100 years in the warp, held their grounds against chaos long enough for other astartes chapters they reinforce them. These guys are tragic but they’re no where near the term weak.
Anyways this isn’t an angry comment rather a supportive comment about the Lamenters and I’ll be waiting for the video too.
@@patrickiamonfire965 I have no words.
To get from the second to the 21st founding will take some time.
Lore aside, I actually really vibe with the GK aesthetic something fierce. I LOVE the sharp terminator knight heads and the wrist bolters. Genuinely some of my fave designs, shame they have such inconsistent lore :(
AT LAST A FELLOW GK ENJOYER FOR THE ARMOR! HUZZA!
@@klortikterra4423 I love the blend of middle ages plate with the grimfuture tech of 40k. It kinda feels like what the marines were going for but never quite hit for me (except for MK2-3 which are appreciated)
@@bearsayshet710 i am a massive history nerd, and the medieval look was one of two big factors to playing them. other being they countered my dads chaos (he's been collecting since 2nd)
MK6 helm looks a bit like a bascinet too.
90% of the reason I like the Grey Knights is because of their aesthetic. I love the schizo tech future knight work gold lettering inscribed on it. The remaining 10% is, as a Paladin Sorcerer multiclass enjoyer, they're basically the Sorcadin of 40k.
God i love Grey Knights. Im such a Grey Knight enjoyer. Every day i wake up and put on my finest clothes, go down to the hobby shop and buy more Grey Knights. They have the best writing in the setting and absolutely wipe the tabletop. Grey Knights could beat Custodes so easily if you really think about it. I love the Grey Knights. I can feel Kaldor Draigo coming inside me
There is no way you meant to write that last sentence.
amen brother
Grey Knights could really beat the Emperor tbh I love spending 140 dollars on patrols please let my family go GW
"Unlimited nutting"
Least insane Grey Knights player
While the vast majority of their Ward Era lore has been de-canonized, the damage is still very much done amongst the old guard (or anyone who joined pre-8th edition). You'll still find many people who consider the Grey Knights as nothing than a chapter of Gary Stu archetypes.
Yeah agreed. They were my chapter till Matt ward. I quit entirely and sold my Grey knights and now I play battle tech.
Good
In your dreams maybe. Draigo 1v1 Morty and carving a name into his heart is still canon. I haven't seen evidence that any of his other feats aren't canon either.
I played against that when it came out I had chaos marines at the time
There is no such a thing as "de-canonisation".
Period.
What once was canon, always will be canon.
Keep in Mind, the grey knights were written, concepted and "WrItTeN" by the same guy of "he who shall not be named" that made the ultramarines Gary sues until 8th edition.
That being said, I do like that they're the inquisitions true hammers against chaos, there's some cool lore behind them (first battle of Armageddon) that is there. Like you said though, its like they're the 40k equivalent to a faction wide very, VERY bad fan-fic.
Idk why they don’t just retcon them so they’re written better
@@scrungobungus8395 Because if they do that He Who Will Not Be Named will complain. And try to re-retcon
I have the idea that the Grey Knights are secretly not of the Emperor's Geneseed and are actually Thousand Sons. Janus was a TS after all and was their first grand master, and it would fit the whole "Everyone is a psyker" thing
Wasnt he also infused with the good shard of Magnus the Gays soul
Also, during the Siege of Terra the Emperor offered Magnus a second chance to serve the Imperium, with a new Legion. Coincidence?
Maybe.
And the Emperor for all of his power, is a normal human, an Alpha Psyker and perpetual, but an biological human, not transhuman.
@@matteussilvestre8583 Hey, out of curiosity, has anyone else thought of this?
No flesh change though. If they were of Magnus they'd be very corruptible.
The Grey Knights should be the very embodiment of the all that's best about the Astartes ( who are in the words of the Emperor 'the defenders of humanity' ), right down to not allowing Inquisitors to wipe out uncorrupted loyalists, sadly their writing is generally bad because it apparently has to be grimdark ( such as wiping out the sisters for no sensible reason, fighting the Space Wolves because an Inquisitor with questionable authority says so, or killing innocents who 'know too much' ).
Much like the Custodes, they were also never conceived in the game as being an Army in their own right, originally they were meant to be a small elite unit to drop on a Greater Deamon/Avatar like a bomb for Imperial forces.
To me they should be like the Men In Black of 40K, and I think one of the better interpretations of the grey Knights was in Chaosgate: Daemonhunters, showing them not beign lap dogs of inquisitors and actually questioning them and confronting the one in their ship, and you know, ACTUALLY SHOWING EMOTIONS!
The Sister Blood thing was decanonised as edgy bullshit, and are any innocents REALLY safe after exposure to daemoni fuckery?
@@SeanCrosser I think if the baseline humans are aware that daemons are real then so too are the angels of the God Emperor, it's something to reaffirm faith when you see the deamonic foe slain by the Grey Knights, and you shouldn't be killed just for bearing witness.
@@edgieststalker8141 I sometimes think since the Fall of Cadia they should stand in the light now rather than hide in the shadows, the Imperium needs such things to rally against chaos. I really should get around to looking at the Chaosgate game, that sounds cool.
@@SeanCrosserthough it wasn’t really decanonized . 40k usually retcones things by replacing those moments in the old lore .
For instance older lore said space marines were space cops .
Now their super soldiers
That moment where the grey knights kill the sisters hasn’t been replaced by newer lore or officially confirmed to be noncanon
I've always imagined the Grey Knights as having strength in between the regular Astartes and Custodes, as they are classified in lore as Sanctic Astartes instead of Adeptus Astartes, as well having tougher and more rigorous training in comparison to the other Astartes. I do understand the unappeal of having Spacier Marines that are better just because, and I do hope that their lore is written in a way to make them earn that Spacier Marines title. Hel, I'd even do it myself if I had experience writing at all lol
Also if it makes you feel better, the Grey Knights on tabletop are just worse than other astartes in general. They are basically a shooting army without the shooting, as their melee is alright but nothing better than anyone else's, and they have no good shooting weapons for their infantry. Their best model is the fucking Thunderhawk, and that costs over $900
@@Streygenmoment Well, if the models would be as good as they are in the lore, Custodes would win every game. So of course you have to balance it out. I really like the elite nature of the GK's. One of my favorite characters in 40k is Garran Crowe - unfortunately, there aren't too many books with these boys.
@@ruinerblodsinn6648 counter point, the army cannot fight vehicles effectively unless you spam Paladins/Chaplain combos, Librarians, or Nemesis Dreadknights. We are an Elite army without the strength of one
@ruinerblodsinn6648 custodians are stronger in the table top. They just have less numbers in the table top. Should of done something like that
thier actually equal since a grey knight can increase thier strength speed and resilience beyond that of a marine. they literally bless thier bodies with battle powers, to enhance combat ability.
I can’t believe “The emperors gift” finally came out in audio form after all these years. It’s been a good summer for 40k
That is where I learned about them lol
"Someone wants them to be the main characters of 40k" - Matt Ward. It was Matt Ward
I thought the Ultramarines were Matt Ward Gary Stus
@@RetroRadianceLight he did both. They both were powers by Matt Ward
@thewerdna
To be fair, Ward also worked on the Necrons 5th edition - the one that turned the Necrons from 'scary emotionless robots' to 'bickering Egyptian robots.'
Your opinion on that change could vary, but that codex also introduced all the big Necron characters we know today - the Silent King, the forgetful Zandrekh, and even Trazyn the Infinite
The Emperor's Gift is an excellent read and now on audible for those that prefer audiobooks. It's a slower-burn than other ADB stories. I found the pacing drew me closer to the main characters such that the things they eventually see and do hit harder than the usual bolter-porn action that can be absorbed at a distance. He quite literally places the reader inside the minds of the main characters as much of the dialogue between them is done psychically. So, communication isn't just restricted to words and largely incorporates touches of images, emotions, etc. It's a good book.
I view Grey Knights (which I also play) as an over specialized force meant to deal with a specific threat and nothing else. Their gear is so tailored to deal with demonic forces that to be used in any other setting other than to smash demons to paste makes them look like generic space marines in overly polished war gear. Like a Grey Knight Grand Master could be using a master crafted, finely inscribed, thrice blessed, dipped in the blood of saints, thunder hammer so holy that to even look at it makes demons explode. But against orks, tau, eldar or some human that blinked when he should have ran, its just a lead weight on a stick.
With that in mind it's really funny to imagine a squad of Grey Knights genuinely struggling more against a "simple" Genestealer Cult infestation over something insane like boarding a daemon-possessed ship.
Yeah. Against demons, their thrice-warded, perfectly honed minds are the sharpest, hottest 1000° kitchen knife.
In front of a zoanthrope, they're fancy canned food. Losing a Librarian to brain burnout sucks, but it's even worse when the entire chapter is made up of Librarians.
I do love the idea that Grey Knights fare terrible against everything else, even though I'm pretty sure the lore states they have 3 times more plot armor than Ciaphas Cain.
@@CoffeeMaus OH heavens no. They lost a Grand Master to Logan Grimnar during the Months of Shame exodus, they lost an entire brotherhood to Angron, They lost another to warp travel drive failure (which came back a few centuries later), and nearly lost another to gellar field failure. They got it rough.
@@theodorehodbor5080forget genestealer cult, imagine a grey knight squad being wiped by a simple chaos cult.
Say what you will about the Grey Knights, but their armor is simply incredible. They are a royal pain in the ass to paint well, but when they are done right, very few armies can match their look on the tabletop.
Lore-wise, yes they are kind of all over the place. But I think it’s fitting that they did pick up a “Primarch” in the Horus Heresy Lore: the Noble Shard of Magnus.
Going off of you mentioning how Grey Knights are the better overall Space Marines, there is a story (I know, writers can be inconsistent with portrayals, as you mentioned) of the Grey Knights getting shit-stomped by the Space Wolves in something called the Months of Shame. It's definitely something to look into if you haven't already and kinda shows that while they are cool, at least in my opinion, they can struggle against other loyalist chapters.
Joros, the biggest shame the GK Order had ever brought to the Imperium.
Honestly I like how the Grey Knights are portrayed in the whole Armageddon fiasco. Instead of being uber-chads who can beat daemon primarchs on a regular basis literally almost the entire force deployed there was killed trying to banish Angron, and even then not permanently. Along with them also getting the fuck beaten out of them by the Space Wolves while the whole of the Inquisition was backing them I feel like it a lot better showed how while the Grey Knights are very good at dealing with Chaos they'll struggle against other threats, and even then when dealing with Chaos even they have limits.
If Grey Knights are the biggest bestest space marines who can all have Terminator Armor, here's the BIGGERER, BETTEREREST Space Wolves man who can SPRINT FULL SPEED in terminator armor and follow that up with a perfect decapitation of a Grey Knight Grandmaster!
@SeanCrosser to be fair space wolves are probably the worst chapter for any Astartes to fight just because they've been used as executioners of Space Marines for a very long time. Leman Russ even wrote an entire book on the subject of how to wipe out an Astartes Legion.
Not to mention they're use to fighting psykers. Honestly there wouldn't be a worse match up for the Grey Knights than the Wolves.
Yeah but space wolves are just plain murder. Anybody who tries to fight them always gets bodied.
The Grey Knights are essentially just loyalist Thousand Sons. Their gene seed obviously comes from Magnus despite what the lore says, because the Emperor clearly doesn't have gene seed since he's neither a Primarch nor even an Astartes and only Magnus's gene seed has the properties of the Grey Knights, making almost all recipients into psykers. The Grey Knights aren't (or shouldn't be) the best at everything: they're just the best psykers among the Space Marines, with an exclusive focus on fighting Chaos, especially demons, and that's all. If you really like the Thousand Sons but you want to play loyalists then the Grey Knights are your guys. GW / Black Library needs to get somebody on the Grey Knights who knows how to write. They look amazing and just need some better stories about them.
This reminds me of an old-ish SsethTzeentach video where he was browsing Sonic OC characters and there it was, Terminus, the Knight of Endings, literally a Grey Knight, which got as edgy as you can imagine.
Bro the grey knight that fell to slaanesh's corruption pulled a LEEEEEREROOOOOY JENKINS
I enjoy the theory that each Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights hosts the Noble Shard of Magnus. Instead of the shard having died along with Janus, it just possessed the next Supreme Grand Master and continues to do so. Which would give at least some plausibility to how Kaldor Draigo could have gone up against Mortarion.
I love the idea that there is a 1/100 chance that summoning a daemon will summon Caldor Draigo instead.
That such funny idea. Like imagine being in their shoes.
Y’all are a chaos cult, you’ve gotten the evening ready, Steve has brought the blood and skulls it’s gotta be great.
Y’all get around the pentagram and say Hamana eight hundred times. Then there’s a giant flash of light. And the a great ass, sliver knight runs out, kills everyone, doesn’t elaborate, and disappears
Wacky Nonsense basically descrips the entire franchise
Grey Knights were my favorite when I first got into the lore but I think Imperial Fists and Black Templars will always be my real favorite chapters. I really like the Salamanders, Iron Warriors and Blood Ravens as well. Most legions or chapters are pretty easy to get behind.
But I guess i just like the I.F. and B.T. for personal reasons.
Fists embody the calmness and objectivity I wish to aspire to and the Templars wrestle most directly with the bottomless well of rage that resides in them all.
I know none of that is about GK but tbh my favorite thing about them is how they're represented in TTS, especially Draigo xD
Haha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's a fan of multiple chapters. Hell, I'm sure this is the norm but being new to the community, it's still cool to see. My favs are the Salamanders, Raven Guard, and Dark Angels.
@@genefactor007 Nice, man! Welcome to the community :D Yeah as far as I can tell most people like multiple factions, even if they don't play multiple or dive as deep into the lore. For a long time I was a total Imperium fanboy, but got into some chaos factions and the necrons. An' den derez da ORKS (deyz da best)
Dark Angels and Raven guard are cool as hell too! Really there aren't many chapters I dislike, off the top of my head. There's a lot of surface level stuff and good/bad jokes about most factions. But there's something for just about everyone in Warhammer :)
"Yes! I am comparing Grey Knights to Sonichu".....
My sides have gone into the warp XD
No one can get through a grey knights video without mentioning "that" sisters moment
It was such a stupid, edgy thing. Makes zero sense to slaughter incorruptible sisters to fight demons instead of... just fighting demons with them.
Nemesis Force Weapon +1 or a squad of highly devout, furious women bearing bolters and flamers that could hold off enemy advance while you huddle up for a banishment ritual? Silly question, stupid choice.
I has hat
Grey Knights are fine, just not in GW’s hands.
I wish GW would decanonize the grey knights
they are here to stay bud and likely more lore too.@@RetroRadianceLight
they should make female grey knight
*HERETIC!!!*
I actually don't mind the idea of the Grey Knights being better than most other Space Marines. These are _supposed_ to be the guys you call when you need a Bloodthirster deleted. They wouldn't be as suited for traditional warfare as other Chapters but, outside of Custodes, they should absolutely be the last ones anyone would want to fight head-on.
The Grey Knights are cool in concept, but dumb in execution and inconsistent in lore.
I still prefer the Blood Ravens for the role of Loyalist Psychic bois.
Nathaniel Garro is still better than Kaldor Draigo. No cap. He just is.
Blood Ravens are OGs, just ignore the third dawn of war game and they stay awesome.
3:13 Kitten be like "It's NOT CANON!"
These lads can also be such a tragic bunch. Their recruitment comes from taking members from other chapters and further breaking them down mentally and physically just to remake them into stronger warriors. So you're taking someone that was already broken down and had parts of their personality burned away to make a super soldier and you're doing it again, but more brutally. Poor knights don't even have memories of their childhood, if their lucky they have faint echoes of their past. In the hands of more competent writers we could have some very interesting stories, sadly more often than not the Greryknights feel like either like diet Custodes or jobbers in order to highlight just how strong a daemon ,or daemon prince, is.
Where did you find this information???
@@Miron_Marnic its part of their lore. If you want a more indepth dive luetin has a vid on how Greyknight training works.
@@Miron_Marnicin the 8th and 9th addition codex’s, it states that Grey Knights recruit from all manner of Imperial worlds, barbaric worlds, Black Ships, civilised worlds and also the recruiting worlds of the Astartes, often without their knowledge. Some chapters, notably The Exorcists and The Silver Skulls identify certain of the own recruits in whom the Grey Knights may show an interest and offer them over. It’s not clear how far down the road these recruits have gone before being transferred.
@@Eagle-eye-pie Alright. I knew that the GK recruit from basically the entire Imperium, but I didn't know that the Astartes homeworlds also count. But still, they have the Emperor's own gene seed, so it is not possible to make an aspirant with some organs implanted a Grey Knight. Or maybe they can. I don't know, it is the inquisition after all.
@@Miron_Marnic I couldn’t find any indication that the recruits taken from Astartes worlds had received any implants or especially any gene seed before being taken. As you say, this wouldn’t make sense anyway, so it should be assumed the recruits are at an early stage of recruitment imo. The real trials begin on Titan!
Have you ever eaten. A tangerine.
Would you like to try one?
I love the grey knights I think them being "better" then other Astartes comes down to the fact that they are all space wizards with all the positives and negatives that entails
I can see in a fucked up way why they can kill greater daemons far easier then normal heretic Astarte's since their gear is designed to hunt Daemons, It makes sense they can crush daemons that normal marines would struggle against but have a far harder time killing normal traitors since they special anti daemon gear is far less effective.
I kind of like that since it makes them seem like the specialists they are meant to be rather then just better space marines
A custodes remarks that without them being psykers (since they were fighting alongside Custodes, and therefore Sisters Of Silence), they're JUUUST a bit better than standard Astartes in combat, due to their focus in teamwork, and working together in small groups against hordes is practically their schtick.
I doubt they could hold a siege as well as Imperial Fists, do taxes like Ultramarines, or sneak behind you like Raven Guard, though.
Can't wait for carcharadons!
daddy shark dooo dooo dooo dooo
I love the aesthetic, especially in the artworks since the minis are kinda outdated with those bulimic thigh, and I don't really see them as just another chapter but better. I like how their psychic trait is more oriented towards channeling it through their weird weapons or in a defensive way, while having the classical sorcery represented better in the thousand sons. I'm ok with there being a top secret psychic chapter that excels against daemons and as a result are on average better than other SM. Too bad their lore is all over the place and mostly sucks.
8:17 hopped up on ground up eldar warpstone crack. my gods this guy is hilarious!
Chaos gate was actually a pretty fun game with a good story it was written by adb who wrote the night lords trilogy
They're like the coolest person you've ever met but then you find out they pour the milk first before adding their cereal.
Honestly I like the Grey Knights because futuristic super soldiers in knight armour fighting demons with power swords is a really cool aesthetic. The main problem with them is how they were/are handled in the lore with their main character stndrome and such. But still I personally just think having a middle ground between space marines and custodes being neat, partly justified with their niche being nigh uncorruptable psykers whose job it is to fight demons but... I understand other people's disliking of them since the space marines but better part of them does add to the "im specihul" aura around them. Do I have a point or am I just an outlier?
I have the Sonic OC issue you brought up, but with Custodes.
They're just too obviously Golden Special Best Space Marines. "Each hand-crafted by athe Emperor himself!"
It turns me off completley.
I don't have that with The Grey Knights, so this was interesting :)
Maybe becuse I never engaged in specific stories of thier lore? Perhaps I DO see them as having a niche that they excell at?
(The Chaos Gate game has also recently reinforced how BADLY outnumbered they always are. Always vulnerable. Every mission is one mistake away from losing the whole squad)
My first real interaction with GK's was chaosgate daemonhunter, where it fekt harder to deal with marines than it did daemons. You can bench press that plaguebearer but you gotta use true xcom tactics against deathguard.
I really like how their task force in Angron's Ark of Omen book was described too.
Very much so a "oh hey GK's are here!....oh fuck gk's are here what the fuck is coming"
They showed up are preparing for Angron and theres nowhere where i felt like that was not a serious notion
I thought you would make a quip like "the 50 shades of grey knight power levels with how inconsistent they are" or something like that.
Grey knights just always called to me as Gray Knight has been my handle for many things for years before I even heard about them, and they're just really cool with their paladin aesthetic, and well, paladins, another thing I've been a big fan of. Castellan Crowe is a BAMF, and also nearly saved me in a game I played against my friend playing nids with his fight on death and repeat nearly wiping a unit on his own. His fuck you I'm the most uncorruptible deal with it, this insanely powerful sword with a demon inside it constantly trying to turn me and everyone around me to chaos, ya it's just a regular ass sword in my hand because I refuse to give in and use it. He's the best.
Another case of why trying to powerscale anything in 40k is a futile effort. Each BL and Codex writer is working off their own headcanon on that and GW doesn't care as long as the models sell. Characters are as powerful as the plot needs them to be which gets crazy with the authors that dont understand the meaning of restraint.
Which isn't helped by the fact that there are several characters who are essentially immortal so them getting beaten doesn't change anything major. The Avatar of Khaine, Grearer Daemons, Daemon Primarchs and the Tyranid Swarmlord all have enough notable losses to put a sizeable dent in their perceived threat level.
That bit where they struggled against a plague marine when they could normally defeat a greater demon with little difficulty may be an example of the perils of overspecialisation. They're too good at fighting demons that they are ill-equipped for even proxies for demons.
Grey Knights are what got me into 40k because I thought they looked cool. I learned about their lore, learned how fucking dumb they actually are, and I still like them the most because they look cool.
I have yet to see a TH-camr make a video of specifically successor chapters of each legion. Good job mr bones
You should discuss the Carcharodon chapter. But otherwise the Black Templar would make for a fun episode.
Grey knights when written well and in concept are super cool, but the way they are portrayed seem like that one kid at recess with an anti everything shield.
Thematically cool but not always interesting on their own, Grey Knights are, however, the catalyst for more than one interesting story centered around another faction, like when the Space Wolves punched them in the face over killing a planet they just fought and bled to defend, or the Fall of Shadowbrink where they fail outright ad get eaten by Tyranids because they were so worried about the Daemon relic they were guarding cracking open, only for the bugs to easily defeat the Daemons and banish them back to the Warp pretty much by accident.
"They're bureaucrats, Morty, we don't respect them!"
I like the part in the lore where Logan Grimnar kicked some of their shiny asses...
The Knight Errants were cool though...
i am compelled to say hi back to you every time you introduce yourself in a video.
thank you for your efforts arthur.
Grey Knights are "the hammer blow of the Ordo Malleus" -- I see what you did there
The one thing I really dislike about them is the "remove those who shouldn't know about us" bit(the novel of hyperion does redeem this part a bit). Also the matt ward treatment(1d4chan hates him with a passion). Speaking of 1d4, they're at odds deciding who's the chuck norris of war40k, draigo or logan grimnar(I'd vote for latter). Still, they do have a good trilogy (and few short stories), in said trilogy book 2, there's a cool moment where protagonist trades wits with a demon titan no less (book 3 was a shake up but with a reasonable ending), check it out if able.
It's obviously Sly Marbo, he can solo the entire armies of chaos if he felt like it.
What's the trilogy name?
@@mizublackriver7021 It's just called Grey Knights (book 1 called as such, book 2 is dark adeptus, book 3 hammer of daemons). There's also prequel Sacrifice(it's quite...grimdark), and the Emperor's Gift (novel where you follow guy called Hyperion(who becomes prognosticator later) during the 1st war for armageddon (he breaks angron's old demon sword) and the "months of shame"(he brokers the truce between inquisition and space wolves)).
@@Bread-nx9fo Oh yeah, completely forgot about him, he's actually the top contender for the chuck norris, grimnar close second(also santa, bcs of wolf sled he uses).
I happened to view your social and i must say. I love oatmeal and his derpy little face🥰
Jesus the bloody sisters story is very unhinged lol. Like im all for horror and descimating a readers brain with terrible acts of war. But that felt far fetched asf.
Its even worse because you know who they were fighting? Khorne daemons. Totally, killing your allies and covering yourself in your blood will totally help with that...
The problem with the Grey Knight is that the Adeptus Custodes exist now, and the Custodes really do the whole "Hyper Elite Super Marines" thing better than the Grey Knights ever did. And I say this as someone who fucking loves the Grey Knights. Mostly because I'm a huge fan of the Paladin archetype in fiction, and the Grey Knights are all about that paladin archetype, from their helmets that resemble knightly great helms, to their whole "shining silver armor" aesthetic.
If I were writing these guys, I'd lean into the idea that these are Traitor Legion Marines who chose to stay Loyalist, and give them a complex about this that leads to them seeking martyrdom even more than other Astartes. Every Grey Knight knows that they are kin to traitors, and every other Astartes does too. They should specialize in fighting Warp Entities (Daemons, Psykers, etc.), but struggle against horde armies due to their focus on slaying monsters and sorcerers.
If I were in charge of the next Grey Knight codex. . . I wouldn't write one. I'd fold them into the Inquisition Codex instead, and move their HQ units to elites or something similar, so that every Grey Knight army needs to be led by an Inquisitor. Make them an MEQ troops option for Inquisition armies or something.
All Lore issues aside, the aesthetic of the Grey Knights design is my absolute favorite. The Silver armor and unique helmets just looks so amazing. Along with the glowing blue Halberds, they just look so damn badass!
I LIKE the idea of the greyknights, BUT as the idea that they are the best to use against daemons...as they were made for.
like yes army wise, tech wise, gene wise, psychic wise they are one of if not THE best space marine chapter to exist ever...there's really only one group of marines that can compete with them and that's thousand sons, and even there the comparison is just a wizard duel and daemonology mastery
AND THATS WHERE IT SHOULD BE. Grey Knights are the guys you send out for a daemon prince, a daemon primarch, a daemon world ect ect... if it has anything to do with a large scale daemonic influence the GK's should show up and just be absolute monsters WITH THE CAVEAT that because of their secrecy, and their elitism, the numbers they bring in...like the tabletop, are fewer than other responses.
Greyknights in a nutshell: "what if space knights but more knights... and with magic"
You should do a video on what happened to the countries on terra
I'll be honest, I am reeling from the comparison but the previous writing of some of their stories does make them wacky strong worfs. I like them because of the silver/grey armor they wear and them just being good at fighting demons in 40k is quite cool to me. Granted on tabletop currently I'm not jumping for joy for their rules currently after a few games but I still enjoy them. I am glad that you did make a GK video after the first legion series you did so good stuff. This video was funny to me and I enjoyed it. I heard they did re-write Kaldor's fight with Mortarion but I haven't read it so I'm not sure how true that is. But hey another good video, I really enjoy your stuff.
The Grey Knights in their game and in their lore examples aren't actually good at fighting Demons. If the definition of good is winning 200,000 battles in a row over the course of 200 years. The Grey Knights perform just as well as Imperial Guardsmen against demons. They get slaughtered in droves in any major battle.
@@genericscout5408 That makes me like em more. Dont want to sound like a hypocrite or just backwards, I really enjoyed reading lore where the grey knights in their version of full force and either get killed and sometimes succeed or get shrek'd but like a small handful of em make it and save the day or beat the daemon. Also makes cool little stories for tabletop too depending how it goes
I love these guys. With the new Terminators I think they can get an excellent lease of life. And I also really want to see the Purple Knight as a chaos character. That would be so incredibly sick. I also think that Kaldor is a shard of Magnus and that's why he could do that. And as for fighting Primarchs, in Arks of Omen a taskforce gets absolutely bodied by Angron
You absolute sausage
I liked the Grey Knights lore that was back in 3.5 edition Daemonhunters codex, it was more grounded ( like every 1 to 1000 human survive the Geneseed implantation like every other Space Marine Chapter ) and was less cartoony that it is today. They had that mysterious but rad af vibe to them up to the point where M.Ward self written himself in the GK's lore.
To say that Guilliman was to all Space Marines their spiritual liege was catastrophic mistake on a memeable level was the overstatement for many years.
They like to think they’re better until they Run into Space Wolves and Salamanders.
I feel like Space Wolves are just as much Gary Stus as Wardian Era Ultramarines or Grey Knights
Salamanders? Is there a story about that?
Have you ever had a tangerine?
I see that you have a beard.
Looking like the deathwatch is the clear choice for the 11th video.
2nd Legion successor video, 2nd request for the Flesh Tearers once you get up to 9 and the boys in red! Love your stuff!
I like it when the funny greay space marine shows up and removes my brain bits from the soul bits
As a player that really got into 40k in 5th, Grey knights have for a long time left a sour taste in my mind. Their the sort of army I would never want to own and thats its honestly only within the last few months that Iv gradually started to soften on them. ..that boarding patrol box was actually tempting.
A restaurant will be judged by the worst cook in the kitchen, One bad meal and you'll never go back to that restaurant again. 40ks has a big kitchen with a lot of cooks. Ward was, even looking back years later after the hate and the memes have burned down to bitter coals, a pretty bad cook. But that doesn't mean those other cooks didn't put out some amazing dishes. Its been a long while, and that chef that gave everybody on /tg/ diarrhea years ago is gone. It might be time to see what somebody else can do with that recipe.
True
I love the Grey Knights when they're treated as what they are. Yes they are better Marines, but better at fighting chaos. Everything they have is tailored to fighting daemons. Though I despise whoever had Draigo carve out Morty's heart, he deserves better than being a blatant example of the worf effect
Goddammit this gave me some ugly flashbacks! Lore PTSD, if you will. The pains!
I still think Grey Knights are pretty awesome - in my own little headcanon. Picking the best bits, ignoring MOST of the stuff Ward wrote. They fill a nice little niche in Imperium background, and as long as you see them as the best DAEMONHUNTERS, I can live with them being the bestest in comparison to other Marines.
Having said all that, I still wish they had remained what they were in 2nd and early 3rd edition: an option to add to existing Imperium armies, not a force of their own. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL for Grey Knights to fight mundane shit like Orks, Tyranids or anythign else outside of "OMG daemons everywhere, shit has gone WRONG!!!!11". They are of course here to stay, and their model range is (mostly) cool, but still...
P.S.: You already featured that art of Malcador on his throne depicting "II" and "XI"... as in relation to the missing Legions. Looking forward to whatever you have in store for us for the Eleventh, but if you have no odea yet: *wink*. ;)
GOTTA LOVE HOW U CAN SEE HIS SELF CONFIDENCE IN THE OPENING RISE BY EVERY VIDEO
That reminds me, I need a new jar-I mean, clear display case for my Shadowsun mini.
For my Halloween costume, I am gonna wear skeleton Pajamas, and a Grey Knight helmet that I am making myself.
Mr Bones wants to cover all 2nd founding:
proceeds to talk about the fallen and grey knights
Drago is the Shadow to Catos Sonic, and you know it.
i guess the -death guards- deathwatch would be next ?
There are a few armies in 40K that really should just be units in other army’s books. Gray Knights are the most egregious examples of that.
The grey knights were my first army I started painting a bit after the game chaos gate I think in 2023. I really liked the idea of sec-ops space marines that teleport down kill there target and teleport back.
You should do a video on black shields or the sharterd legions
"What do you think about the Grey Knights?"
I don't. Nice try, Inquisitor.
As a kid who couldn't afford a shit ton of minis I loved them. I also like elite armies in general.
Frankly I feel the way about custodes that you feel about gk. Custodes are so powerful they shouldn't be an army but a narrative element
While the Gary Sue-ing is.. well not good
I just love the idea of these guys, the last act of vengeance by a fallen god
Plus I played a ton of Chaosgate which REALLY sells them
I think i finally figured out what my first army is going to be, when i actually have money. Its gonna be a mix between guardsmen, and grey knights. Because the fate of those guardsmen is fuckin hilarious to me.
I remember being in a 40k milsim/rp server in vrchat that had the grey knights and battle sisters in it, fun times. We'd bully the sisters with the blood story and on an unrelated note our unofficial motto was something along the lines of "TAZE HIS BALLS!!"
the grey knights were my favorite until I learned more about the death watch.... so now I am rocking an Inquisition army so that I can have both!!! My son and I first created a Salamanders army, and as we learned who the bestest was, we started to get into the Custodians, but that fell out of favor with the whole "henry cavil," female custodes thing. It just started to feel lame. I then learned about the Grey Knights, and almost immediately started to paint them and battle sisters exclusively. We loved the boy scouts playing with the girl scouts thing.... but they all seemed so darned serious and judgy. That is when I learned about the Death Watch, and realized that was the closest I would get to the real Dirty Dozen, with Clint Eastwood fighting in power armor. The Death Watch wins! But, now I have about 1500 points of Grey, Sisters and Death Watch.... what to do? Inquisition!!! Now I have Greyfax!
As far as them being Gary Stu's.... I like to see them arguing in my head lore with the Custodians about who is the purest in front of a wheel chair with a dead guy in it who doesn't answer either of them back. "Nu uh... I am the best!!!" "Daaaaaadd!!! He keeps touching me!" Oh, wait. "she" keeps touching me. My bad.
Grey Knights are often overlooked as specialists. They’re good at fighting daemons (notice how each of the super powerful entities they swing above their weight against are always daemons), but not nearly as good at fighting other threats. They can lose and they are by no means the best at everything. Ward era writings shouldn’t be taken as canon.
Also primarchs could use to be knocked down a peg(even though the draigo thing is definitely stupid) and I like the idea that they aren’t the invulnerable gods they were made out to be in myths recanted from over 10,000 years ago.
I like the grey knights. I’m new to 40K and they’re one of my top 3 favorites. But World Eaters have to be my favorite mainly because Angron caught my eye in a game shop. I’ve been reading up on the world eaters and it’s interesting to me. But I mainly try not to read too much into the grey knights because I like that they’re supposed to be secretive. So the less I know about them, the more immersed I am with them if that makes sense. Also they remind me of King Arthur’s round table.
Grey Knights are the only 40k faction I genuinely wish would be Squatted from the entire setting.
Death Watch certainly are a weaker but cooler version of the grey knights but both have weird rules with the great rift and Gullimen and Lion back here’s hoping they fight out in the open
I love the purity of purpose and absolute focus of the grey knights I love how much they focus on their goal of eradicating daemon's and the extreme training they go through to perfect their minds and prepare themselves for their mission they're like futuristic warrior monks that can shoot lightning with the power of their minds and I think that is so cool.
I like grey knights as a faction for the same reason I like the custodes. They are just so unique.
Sure they have some bad dysfunctional lore, but this is GW, everything has some of that.
The army plays with a heavy inflection of lore flavor that is more pronounced particularly in 10 th than other sm fractions.
In Chaos Gate Daemonhunter. Morty still seething about the heart carving XD.
First you diss my beloved Space Wolves, and now you diss my beloved Grey Knights tooo???? I hate you... But i like your style and content. I always look forward to your uploads!!!
I like the Grey Knights but more on how they were interpreted by ADB's. They're REALLY powerful, like "an elite squad of them broke Angron's axe and banished him back to the warp" powerful but it still took so many of them to get the hardest of shit done. There's also the rare good writing of Ward (probably) about Castelan Crowe and the cursed walking stick, which is pretty dope.
I also like to think the Emperor's genes getting mixed into this was solely for the incorruptible part. Their fate is nigh immovable, sure like the sororitas but it's more 'it can stop the murder curse' incorruptible. it's like a failsafe.
While I really like them, there's way too many things about them that are pretty disagreeable like going scorched earth on regular citizens seeing them or were able to fight chaos and lived, and not fighting xenos. They went further back in my line of favorites when I discovered the Exorcists. Sucks that there's only few info about them.
Yeah people like to point at "breaking Angron's weapon and banishing him" as "GK are too OP", ignoring how most of the force didn't survive the fight.
The way I see it, their scorched earth policy makes sense. Demon corruption is slow, insidious, and only noticeable once it's waaay too late. If a populated world has been saved by the Grey Knights, that means that that world with all of its Warhammer 40k billions of citizens are potentially exposed to an event that could have heralded a greater demon, opened a portal to the warp, or having that planet turned into a daemon world.
If a big demon portal suddenly opened up above New York, there's a high chance that most of the people there would've seen the warp through that portal. People in the surrounding area would have it confirmed that demons exist, dark gods exist, and there are ways to call them and maybe get yourself blessed.
To fight the insanity of chaos you must become insane yourself - grey knight's most likely.
And oh their "primarch" is the emperor, same as the shiny golden boys.
“Ever eaten a tangerine? Would you like to try one?”
They have been OTT since 2nd Ed. The 2nd ed "Black Codex" had them as an ally only contigent of a single squad of termies that was basically equivalent to an army in points cost (high 900s for five guys, ffs) but they were all that and a shotgun.
So here's some lore to think about.. While never explicitly stated it could be implicitly implied that since Grey Knights were a chapter founded by Malcador outside of the normal legions, they are not bound (or do not follow depending upon how you want to portray it) by Codex Astartes. There could be more than 1k Grey Knights. They have more than 1 "Grand" Master but only 1 Supreme Grand Master. They follow Imperial Inquisition rules and not Astartes rules. Grey Knights were the equivalent of a Primaris before there were Primaris hence why initially they drastically over powered regular Astartes although Aaron Dembski Bowden nerfed them hard in "The Emporers Gift" having them being only on par with Space Wolves.. even still that book showed that there were far more Grey Knights than Space Wolves because if you think about it there was no way they brought all the Grey Knights to fight the Space Wolves at Fenris so there has to be more than 1k Grey Knights and why they are not really a "chapter" but more a "force". I wouldnt say Legion because while they do answer to the Supreme Grand Master they also answer to the Inquisition and they were not one of the original 20 "Legions".
My new canon for the GKs is that Kaldor Draigo is impeccably stupid and insane, and prone to random fits of screaming.
"HAVE YOU EVER EATEN... A TANGERINE??!"
I like the helmets of the grey knights