Detachment Focus: Augurium Task Force

The new Grey Knights Codex provides the Knights of Titan with five Detachments to play with. In this article, we’re looking at the Augurium Task Force Detachment.

How do you make a “tricky” Detachment for an army laden down with tricks? Give them uppy-downy++, which yeah OK, fair play. The Augurim Task Force takes the Grey Knight’s already potent army rule up an additional notch, providing you with unparalleled flexibility on redeploying your units around the board. Is that enough to give it some potential? Let’s find out.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes.

Note: Where this article references points costs, these are provisional costs provided to us by Games Workshop to support our review, and may be subject to change until they are published on Warhammer Community.

Detachment Overview

The Augurium Task Force leans further into the redeployment of the Grey Knights forces, we’ll discuss below.

• This Detachment excels are scoring points and battlefield mobility, even more so than normal.
• With a critical lack of rerolls or damage boosts, this Detachment may struggle to kill enemy units.
• This Detachment likes the usual of NDKs, and Strike Squads.

Detachment Rule: Prescient Deployment

Starting Battle Round 2, If you haven’t picked up your max number of units with Gate of Infinity at the end of your opponent’s turn (three in Strike Force games), then at the start of your movement phase you can pick up one. This is fairly good in the scoring department, as it lets you score primary/secondary points with a unit while still being able to redeploy it as needed, and hold off on the final decision about your last pickup till after you’ve drawn your Tactical Objectives. That extra information also helps inform whether you’re going to pull a unit and leave it in reserve to Rapid Ingress on your opponent’s turn.

This also makes Strike squads especially good in this Detachment, allowing them to secure an objective in your command phase before you pick them up. It’s cool, just Scout 6″ towards your expansion, advance onto the objective as needed, then your turn 2, secure it, score your primary points, and then pick them up to go hang out on your home objective (and secure it turn 3, then pick them up once the threat of enemy reserves is past). Feels good man.

Enhancements

There is no restriction on the type of character for any of the 4 enhancements, so GMDKs can take these.

• Grimoire of Conjunctions (10pts): Once per battle at the start of the fight phase, the bearer adds 4 Strength to melee weapons equipped. It’s cute for 10 points, guess a S18 GMDK hammer or S13 Grand Master melee could be relevant, but only once.Stacked on the Grand Master on top of their datasheet ability  is definitely the biggest difference you can manage with this.
• Shield of Prophecy (20pts): Once per battle at the start of the battle round, add 2 to the toughness characteristic of the models in the bearers unit. T7 on a Paladin squad is a decent break point, making S12 stuff wound on 3s, but I think bumping a GMDK to T10 for one battle round might just save it from stuff like melta (Maybe).
• One Foot in the Future (15pts): Each time the bearer’s unit is set up in your reinforcements step (so not Rapid Ingress), the unit can Normal move D6″ but cannot declare a charge that turn. Somewhat niche in the fact that you still have to deepstrike outside 9″ but it does mean your opponent has to screen objectives with this in mind, if you take it. Not to mention, you can kind of already do this with Interceptors.
• Doomseer’s Amulet (25pts): Each time the bearer’s unit is set up in your reinforcement step (again no Rapid), select an enemy unit within 12″ and visible to the bearer, enemy unit takes a battleshock test at -1. Meh, coin flip to stop an enemy unit from using strats on your turn.

Stratagems

These stratagems are semi niche, but they can augment a game plan.

• Aggressive Anticipation (1CP): Your shooting or the fight phase, one Grey Knights Psyker unit that has not been selected to shoot/fight ignores mods to WS/BS and/or mods to hit until the end of the phase. Ignoring hit mods for 1CP is decent with the lack of hit rerolls this GK Detachment is gonna have, but note you have to do it prior to selection, which means before your opponent would choose to activate defensive Stratagems like Smokescreen.
• Appointed Hour (1CP): In your shooting or the fight phase, one Grey Knights Psyker unit that has not been selected to shoot/fight scores Critical Hits on unmodified 5s. This only works on Psilencer/Gatling Psilencer and melee for a squad led by a Brother Captain, so the usage is kinda limited especially without hit rerolls. The good news is vs T12 targets, crit 5 lethals is even better than full hit rerolls and fishing for 6s, so this has some play.
• Forewarned Evasion (1CP): In your Opponent’s shooting phase or the fight phase, one Grey Knights Walker is -1 to hit till the end of the phase. -1 to hit can mean the difference between life and death vs heavy hitting units that are BS/WS 4+, so this strat is pretty good for keeping a NDK alive in some match ups.
• Necessary End (1CP): In the Fight phase after enemy has selected targets, one Grey Knights Infantry unit that was selected as a target fights on death, on a d6 roll that is higher than the current battle round number. Fights on death strats are always great, and this one is a little janky, but if you are doing it turns 1, 2, or 3 the roll is pretty normal (2/3/4). Turns 4 and 5 are gonna be dicey, burn a CP and hope you roll a 5 or 6, ehhhhhhh. Does at least make the army harder to pressure in melee early on.
• Redirected Strike (1CP): End of your command phase, put one Grey Knights Psyker unit with deep strike that is not within engagement range into reserves. Another way to score your points first and then pop a unit up. This strat basically lets you score 2 different sets of objectives, pick up one with the Detachment rule, and then another with this strat. Lots of scoring potential here, or just flat out picking up a 4th unit.
• Mirage of Echoes (1CP): Your opponent’s reinforcement step, just after an enemy unit has set up. One Grey Knights Psyker unit with Deep Strike that is within 12″ of that enemy unit and not within engagement range, can go into reserves. This strat is semi situational, but has some really good play vs enemies that rely on coming in from reserve to get at you (looking at you Subterranean Assault). You can forward screen with a unit, and when your opponent brings in the unit from reserve, dip out and leave that enemy unit out in the cold. Also note, you can Rapid Ingress this unit right back in, for the lolz.

Playing This Detachment

This Detachment is gonna lean on its redeployment mechanics in order to score points, even more so than GK already do. You will need to double down on your units in order to secure kills.

Strengths

• Lots of redeploy tech (with new improved Rapid Ingress feature).
• Strike squads more able to Sticky objectives, and still move around.
• Make your opponent scratch their head when you uppy downy units, in your own turn.

Weaknesses

• No real offensive buffs.
• Stratagems are mostly situational.
• Not really much in the way of expanded GK play.

A Sample List

Every list is going to start with a core of NDKs and Strike Squads, after that its all flavor.

Sticky Everywhere - click to expand

The Strike Squads will allow you to secure Objectives early and still run around the board as needed. The Paladins offer a decent melee threat that is mostly easy to hide, and with an attached Librarian they get 18” Lone Op. This really forces your opponent to get close to deal with them, which is what you want, plus if they under-commit, you are getting a paladin back from the Apothecary. The GMNDK and NDKs offer all of your shooting damage, and are your best source of fighting vehicles/monsters in melee.

Final Thoughts

This Detachment has some tricks, they aren’t really new ones for Grey Knights, but we’ll see. I have some concerns with the fact there is little to now damage boosts in this detachment, vs something like Warpbane which has them in spades. We’ll see.

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