I’ve long said that Grey Knights desperately need to cross the rubicon and grow up into big, strong marines. Alas, the wait continues with the latest release of Codex: Grey Knights in tenth edition. But with the new Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadnight kit, it’s at least something new for this quaint little faction of goofy little mind-rending pskyers. What lads.
Big thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with the Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight for review.
Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight
If you’re already familiar with the Nemesis Dreadknight kit, then there’s not going to be that much new here. The Grand Master upgrade is a half-sized sprue, and doesn’t contain a ton of new parts. But the parts that it has are all undeniably cool.
Rob:Â I was surprised at how little there is here. The new bits are nice – and very much more detailed than the standard bits – but they definitely left me saying “that’s it?” when I was assembling the model. The new head is nice, and you want those new bits on your model so they stand out, but the visual differences between this and a regular dreadknight will be slight if you aren’t using the mace or flail. And on that note, you probably won’t be using either unless you want the visual – I’d stick to the sword or hammer for rules purposes, and visually the mace is better looking than the hammer while being around the same size.
But before we go into the differences, let’s go over what this thing is in the first place.
Carry On My Tiny Son, There’ll be War When You Are Done
Games Workshop loves taking their Space Marines clad in a tanks-worth of armor, and letting them put on a second, larger tank for battle. From the little box Dreadnoughts, the big chonking Telemon Dreadnought, and all the way to the rad-as-hell-fight-me-about-it Invictor Tactical Warsuits – they all fit this bill. The Dreadknight is the Grey Knight’s exclusive version of this theme, and it’s one that a lot of people have a lot of opinions on. Those opinions sometimes use terms like “baby carrier,” because well, it is a little goofy to be honest.
But goofy or not, I really like them. To me, they have so much more personality than things like Ballistus Dreadnoughts. This kit embraces the goofy aesthetic and says “yes, this little man is my child, and I am walking him into battle.” Go off, king.
Rob:Â I ended up sub-assembling this guy before handing him off to paint, doing the upper body and lower body as separate parts (they glue together easily), and keeping the weapon hands separate. Like the original Nemesis Dreadknight, you can just plug the hands in without any glue using the hex-shaped pegs. You won’t have enough hands for every single option, but I was easily able to do the mace and the sword for the right hand.
Ball and Socket, and Double Hinge and Second Socket
Aesthetics aside, how pleasant is this model to build? Well, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
Some parts are great. The legs and feet go together pretty easily, despite looking a bit complex. The top of the model pivots around the hip on an interesting peg and sliding-socket design, though you have to pick one angle to glue it at (unless you magnetize it or just leave it friction fit).
The weapons are decently magnetizable. You don’t get enough parts to fully magnetize everything, but if you’re clever and don’t mind kitbashing a few things, you can make it work without too much issue.
My biggest complaint about assembling the model is the arms, specifically the supports sticking up out of the pauldrons. Those are on a double hinge and the arms themselves are in a ball and socket joint. With that many axes of mobility, you’d expect the arms to be highly posable. But they most definitely are not.
The hinges and sockets all work against each other, and actually restrict how many positions you put the arms in. And to glue them in place, you have to simultaneously glue the first hinge to the second, the second to the arm, and the arm to the shoulder. It’s enough of a “I wish I had a third hand” problem that Genestealer Cult players probably feel smug about it.
Gribbles, Books, and Flails: An Upgrade Tale
Now that you know what a Nemesis Dreadknight is, what’s all this about an upgrade sprue?
The Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight kit includes the regular Dreadknight sprues, plus one half-sized upgrade sprue. This upgrade sprue has some aesthetic pieces, as well as some new wargear.
Games Workshop wanted to embrace their long-standing tradition of hanging banners between legs, and decided to give the Nemesis Dreadknight one. They also gave it this pretty awesome book that stands on top of the model, and it’s legitimately cool as hell.
For wargear, there are a total of four new weapons, though one is the Fragstorm Grenade Launcher strapped to the Grand Master’s chest. You’ll almost certainly forget that it exists, to no effect on the battle.
The other ranged weapon upgrade is the Sublimator. It’s a souped-up melta, great for dishing out some hurt on enemy vehicles.
For melee, the upgrade sprue includes two new options. The Nemesis Mace and the Nemesis Flail, both of which look fantastic. Though mechanically, they’re both outshined by the Nemesis Daemon Greathammer from the original kit. But “rule of cool” and all, so build what you want.
Final Thoughts
It’s a pretty awesome kit, with a highly opinionated design, and a couple rough spots during assembly. If you’ve already got your fill of Nemesis Dreadknights, then it’s probably not worth picking up another just for the upgrade sprue. But if you’re thinking about starting a Grey Knights army, or want to expand an existing one, then it’s a kit definitely worth considering. And if you want to paint yours in the scheme you see here, then check out our How To Paint Everything – Grey Knights painting guide.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
