This section details army special rules including Grey Knights Special Rules, Daemonic Adversaries, Tactical Objectives, Warlord Traits and Wing Leaders.

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Grey Knights Special Rules

Combat Squads

Grey Knights squads can break down into smaller, tactically flexible formations known as combat squads.

A full strength, ten-man unit with this special rule can break down into two five-man units, called combat squads, considered to be two five-man squads of the same type. For example, a ten-man Grey Knight Terminator Squad can split into two five-man Terminator Squads using the Combat Squads special rule. You must decide which units are splitting into combat squads, and which models go into each combat squad, immediately before determining your Warlord Traits. A unit split into combat squads therefore is now two separate units for all game purposes, including calculating the total number of units in the army and determining the number of units you can place in Reserve. Then proceed with deployment as normal. In an exception to the normal rules, two combat squads split from the same unit can embark in the same transport vehicle, providing its Transport Capacity allows. Once you have decided whether or not to split a unit into combat squads, it must remain that way for the entire battle. It cannot split up or join back together later on in the battle, nor can you use a redeployment to split up a unit or join it back together.

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Purity of Spirit

Daemonology is the hardest psychic discipline of all to master, and only those who are pure of soul can hope to wield it without damning themselves.

Grey Knights Psykers can generate psychic powers from the Daemonology discipline. Grey Knights Psykers can only generate Sanctic powers from the Daemonology discipline – they cannot manifest Malefic psychic powers from this discipline. In addition, unless otherwise stated, when attempting to manifest psychic powers from the Daemonology discipline, Grey Knights Psykers only suffer Perils of the Warp if two or more 6s are rolled when taking a psychic test.

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The Aegis

The armour worn by the Grey Knights is inscribed with hexagrammic wards. In conjunction with the psychic might of the wearer, they can resist otherworldly magicks.

A unit that contains at least one model with this special rule re-rolls results of 1 when making Deny the Witch tests.

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Daemonic Adversaries

The power of Chaos waxes as cataclysm nears, and the armies of the Imperium are tested as never before. In addition to daemonic incursions without number, disturbing reports are reaching the knights of Titan of xenos imbued with the power of Chaos and battlefields assailed with psychic phenomena.

The following rules can be used in any battle that includes any units with the Grey Knights Faction, if both players agree. The rules presented here allow you to forge a narrative that naturally pits Grey Knights against foes that are outside of their normal anti-Daemon remit, with rules for fielding possessed adversaries and playing battles amidst a daemonic incursion. These rules refer to the player opposing the Grey Knight player as the ‘Adversary’.

Daemonic Possession

The Adversary’s Warlord gains the Daemon, Fleshbane, Armourbane and Smash special rules, as well as a 3+ invulnerable save.

The Adversary can take one of the following options for any Independent Characters in their army (except those with the Genestealer Cults, Necrons, Tau Empire or Tyranids Faction):


Independent Characters upgraded in this way generate their powers from the Daemonology (Malefic) discipline.

The Adversary can also take the following option for any Independent Characters in their army that are already Psykers (except those with the Genestealer Cults or Tyranids Faction):


Independent Characters upgraded in this way generate their powers from the Daemonology (Malefic) discipline.

The Adversary can include units with the Chaos Daemons Faction as Allies of Convenience of all units in their army (unless they would normally be Battle Brothers).

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Daemonic Incursion

As the veil of reality is torn aside and terrifying phenomena bombard the battlefield, Daemons spill from the Warp or possess the weak-minded, intent on slaughter. The Grey Knights advance unperturbed, their duty clear.

At the beginning of each of their Psychic phases, the Adversary rolls a dice, adds the current turn number, and consults the following table:

D6+Turn Result 2 The Warp is Calm: Nothing happens.  3 The Warp Stirs: The Adversary generates an additional Warp Charge point for each Psyker in their army in this phase.  4 Blessings of the Dark Gods: The Adversary chooses one friendly unit. That unit adds 1 to its Strength and Toughness characteristics. A unit may only be chosen once in this way.  5 Dark Tempest: The Adversary rolls a dice for each unengaged unit (friend or foe) on the battlefield. On the roll of a 6, that unit suffers D6 Strength 4 AP3 hits with the Ignores Cover special rule. Vehicles are hit on their side armour. Wounds are allocated by the unit’s controlling player.  6 Warp Surge: All models with the Daemon special rule gain a +1 bonus to their invulnerable saves until the Adversary’s next Psychic phase.  7 Possession: The Adversary chooses one friendly Independent Character. That character gains the Daemon and Eternal Warrior special rules.  8 Chaotic Hurricane: The Adversary rolls a dice for each unengaged unit (friend or foe) on the battlefield. On the roll of a 6, that unit suffers D6 Strength 6 AP3 hits with the Ignores Cover special rule. Vehicles are hit on their side armour. Wounds are allocated by the unit’s controlling player.  9 Limitless Power: The Adversary’s Psykers harness Warp Charge points on a 3+ in this phase.  10 Summoning: The Adversary chooses one of their Psykers. That Psyker instantly manifests the Summoning power from the Daemonology (Malefic) discipline. No Warp Charge points are used, and no Deny the Witch roll can be made to prevent this.  11 Doomsday: The Adversary rolls a dice for each unengaged unit (friend or foe) on the battlefield. On the roll of a 6, that unit suffers D6 Strength 8 AP3 hits with the Ignores Cover special rule. Vehicles are hit on their side armour. Wounds are allocated by the unit’s controlling player.  12+ Mass Possession: All of the Adversary’s non-vehicle units gain the Daemon, Fearless and Furious Charge special rules. If this result is rolled a second or subsequent time, models with the Daemon special rule gain a +1 bonus to their invulnerable saves. These bonuses can never improve an invulnerable save beyond 2+.

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Special Rules

Adepts of the Armoury

For each HQ choice in your Detachment (not including other Techmarines) you can include a Techmarine. These do not use up a slot on a Force Organisation chart.

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Blessing of the Omnissiah

In each of your Shooting phases, instead of firing his weapons, a character with this special rule may repair a single friendly vehicle that he is in base contact with or embarked upon. To do this, roll a D6. On a roll of 5+ (or 4+ if the model has a servo-harness), you may either restore a Hull Point lost earlier in the battle, or repair a Weapon Destroyed or Immobilised result suffered earlier in the battle; this is effective immediately.

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Bolster Defences

After deployment, but before Scout redeployments and Infiltrate deployments, nominate one piece of terrain in your deployment zone (this cannot be one you have purchased as part of your army). The terrain piece’s cover save is increased by one for the duration of the game (to a maximum of 3+). Note that a piece of terrain can only be bolstered once.

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Daemonbane

If the Force psychic power is successfully manifested and targets a unit with one or more weapons with this special rule then, in addition to the usual effects, all weapons with this special rule re-roll failed To Wound and armour penetration rolls against models with the Daemon special rule whilst the blessing is in effect.

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Force Shielding

Nemesis Dreadknights have a 5+ invulnerable save.

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Heroic Sacrifice

If this model is slain in close combat, he can immediately make one close combat attack against a model he is in base contact with before being removed as a casualty. Roll To Hit and To Wound as normal.

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Master Swordsman

Whenever he fights in a challenge, Castellan Crowe uses both of the Sword Strike and Blade Shield stances (see below):

Sword Strike: This model gains the Smash special rule.

Blade Shield: This model re-rolls all failed saving throws.

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Psi-flame

The Strength increases by 1 and the AP drops by 1 for each additional unit from the formation within 12" of the model making the attack.

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Psi-shock

If a unit containing at least one Psyker (i.e. a model with the Psyker, Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers or Psychic Pilot special rule) is hit by a weapon with the Psi-shock special rule, one randomly determined Psyker model in that unit suffers Perils of the Warp in addition to any other damage.

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Psychic Spoor

A unit hit by this shot is marked for the remainder of the battle. A marked unit is hit automatically by shots from the formation’s Stormraven Gunships (Blast weapons do not scatter). Additionally, marked units with the Daemon special rule halve their Toughness and/or Armour Values against hits from both mindstrike missiles and psybolt ammunition.

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Purifying Flame

All close combat attacks made by Purifiers have the Soul Blaze special rule.

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Repair

If a Rhino is Immobilised, then in subsequent turns, it may attempt to repair itself instead of shooting. To make the attempt, roll a D6 in the Shooting phase; on the roll of a 6, the vehicle is no longer Immobilised. Note that a successful Repair does not restore a Hull Point.

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Skies of Fury

If the Stormraven Gunship has moved more than 6", passengers can still disembark, but they must do so as follows:

Nominate any point over which the Grey Knights Stormraven moved that turn and deploy the squad as if it were Deep Striking onto that point. If the unit scatters, every disembarking model must immediately take a Dangerous Terrain test. If any of the models cannot be deployed, the entire unit is destroyed. Models that disembark using the Skies of Fury special rule cannot charge in the turn that they do so.

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Soul Imprint

A character wielding the Soul Glaive re-rolls failed psychic tests when attempting to manifest the Force psychic power. Furthermore, if the Force psychic power is successfully manifested and targets the character wielding this weapon, or his unit, then in addition to the usual effects, the Soul Glaive re-rolls all failed To Hit, To Wound and armour penetration rolls whilst the blessing is in effect.

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The Perfect Warrior

A model with this special rule must always issue and accept a challenge whenever possible. If you have several models with a special rule with this effect, choose one model to issue or accept the challenge. When fighting in a challenge, this model must choose a stance – either Sword Strike or Blade Shield – at the start of the Fight sub-phase. The chosen stance lasts until the end of the challenge.

If he chooses Sword Strike, this model gains the Smash special rule.

If he chooses Blade Shield, this model re-rolls all failed saving throws.

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The Strands of Fate

Brother-Captain Stern can use this special rule to re-roll one roll To Hit, To Wound or saving throw each phase. However, for each dice re-rolled using this special rule, your opponent can re-roll one roll To Hit, To Wound or saving throw at any point later in the game.

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Venerable

If a Venerable Dreadnought suffers a penetrating hit, you can make your opponent re-roll the result on the Vehicle Damage table. You must accept the second roll, even if it is worse than the first.

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Ward

A model equipped with this weapon has the Adamantium Will special rule.

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Zone of Banishment

If Brother-Captain Stern successfully manifests the Banishment psychic power from the Daemonology discipline, it targets all enemy units with the Daemon special rule that are within 12" of Brother-Captain Stern, instead of a single unit within 24".

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Tactical Objectives

Codex: Grey Knights describes six Tactical Objectives to use in your games of Warhammer 40,000 that are exclusive to Grey Knights players and help to reflect their endless war against Daemonkind and those corrupted by the Dark Gods.

If your Warlord has the Grey Knights Faction, these Tactical Objectives replace the Capture & Control Tactical Objectives (numbers 11-16).

If a Warhammer 40,000 mission has the Tactical Objectives special rule, players use the normal rules for using Tactical Objectives with the following exception: when a Grey Knights player generates a Capture & Control objective (numbers 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16), generate the corresponding Grey Knights Tactical Objective instead, as shown in the table below. Other Tactical Objectives (numbers 21-66) are generated normally.

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Warlord Traits

When generating his Warlord Trait, a Grey Knights Warlord can either roll on one of the Warlord Traits tables in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules, or roll on the table below.

D6	Warlord Traits
1	Daemon-Slayer The Warlord is a master of the rituals of banishing and unbinding, able to sever his daemonic foes’ connection to the Warp. The Warlord has the Hatred (Daemons) special rule. In addition, if the Warlord attempts to manifest the Banishment psychic power, he will successfully harness Warp Charge points on D6 rolls of 2+.
2	Hammer of Righteousness Fortified by the unflagging will of his battlebrothers, the Warlord charges into the foe like the hammer of the Emperor. The Warlord, and his unit, have the Hammer of Wrath special rule.
3	Unyielding Anvil The inspiring presence of the Warlord reminds the Grey Knights that there can be no retreat, no matter the odds arrayed against them. The Warlord, and all friendly units with the Grey Knights Faction within 12" of him, have the Stubborn special rule.
4	First to the Fray Teleportation assaults are a favoured tactic of the Grey Knights, many of its commanders mastering this ancient means of warfare and the almost forgotten technologies it relies upon. If placed in Deep Strike Reserve, the Warlord, and his unit, automatically arrive in your first turn and can re-roll the scatter dice when Deep Striking.
5	Perfect Timing The Warlord is a skilled commander and can judge his enemy’s battle plan with blinding speed, allowing him to lead a counter-charge just as his foe is about to strike. The Warlord, and his unit, have the Counter-attack special rule.
6	Lore Master The Warlord is a psyker of prodigious strength, a master of his craft who has spent a lifetime learning the forbidden lore of the Warp. The Warlord knows one more psychic power than is normal for his Psyker Mastery Level, which must be generated from the Daemonology (Sanctic) Discipline.

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Wing Leaders

Grey Knights Wing Leaders

The psychic pilots of the Grey Knights often utilise their abilities to aid them in battle. Those who excel in this regard become squadron leaders focussing their unnatural senses on defending their wingmen and driving out the unclean horrors of the Warp.

Faction: Grey Knights.

D6 Special Rule 1-2 Cloud Mind: The Wing Leader has the Shrouded special rule against enemy attacks made at a range of 18" or less.  3-4 Sixth Sense: The first time that the Wing Leader suffers a penetrating hit in each turn, roll a dice; on a roll of 4 or more that hit is ignored.  5-6 Gifted Psyker: The Wing Leader has the Psychic Pilot (Mastery Level 1) special rule, and knows the Banishment and Cleansing Flame powers from the Daemonology (Sanctic) discipline.

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