Ok, I’ll admit that I’ve been looking forward to this one. You see, not too long ago (well, 5th or 6th edition – one of those… maybe it was a long time ago) Grey Knights had one of the all time lazy painter army lists ever. It was called Draigo Wing and consisted of Kaldor Draigo, a couple of units of Paladins (which he made troop choices) and typically a Nemesis Dreadknight or two. A 2000 point army would consist of around 20-25 models and at one point it was also one of the best playing armies ever. People were terrified of facing this thing. So this should be a really fun challenge today – can we put together a 2000pt Draigo Wing army in 9th edition? Well, GW were nice enough to send me the new Codex, so let’s see what we can put together.

HQs

Of course, if we’re doing Draigo Wing, we need Kaldor Draigo – everyone’s favourite warp-bound screaming lunatic who will smash face with the best of them. He’s still ridiculously tanky in combat and in the hand-to-hand encouraging 9th edition, he’s a proper beast. That Titansword is looking very tasty, and the buffs he can give out are pretty nice too.

Alongside him, we’re taking a fully decked out Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight. The baby carrier warsuit is coming equipped with a Heavy Psycannon, Gatling Psilencer and a Nemesis Greatsword, along with a teleport homer for mobility. Yes, he clocks in at a lot of points but you get a fast, 13 wound, 6 attacks base monster with a 2+/4++. Not many people are going to want to get too close to him! Oh, and I’m giving him the Presaged Paralysis ability from the “Visions of Augurium” powers. This means that once per battle, I can stop my opponents using overwatch against him. Lol.

Elites

We’re taking 5 units of 5x Paladins here and while two squads will be decked out with a pair of incinerators and a lot of falchions, the third squad will be rocking 4x Nemesis Daemon Hammers and a Psycannon. I love that these guys now have 3 wounds each and add that to their similarly impressive statline and saves, these really are the elite of the elite. Oh and they of course get to pop psychic powers like almost everything else in the list. Two squads are decked out to churn through hordes with flame and sword, and the 3rd could go toe-to-toe with some of the biggest baddies in the game.

I’m also taking along an Ancient who can back up one of these units with his buffs in combat. Yes, it does mean buying a 4th box of Grey Knight Terminators but I think it’s worth it for the abilities here. Teleport this guy in with a squad you want to do extra extra damage in combat and you’ll be able to herd most opponents like cattle around the tabletop.

And last in the elites slot, but certainly not least, a Grey Knights Venerable Dreadnought with a heavy flamer on one fist and a tank killing twin-linked lascannon on the other arm. It’s always nice to find a way to squeeze a boxy dread into any list and this guy is definitely not just making up the numbers. Aside from the weapons, that’s yet another psychic power to pop off in that phase.

Heavy Support

Stick with the classics. A Nemesis Dreadknight with teleporter, Greatsword, Heavy Incinerator and Heavy Psycannon. It can go hard in hand-to-hand but boy can it also shoot good. Well worth the points. There’s not really much else to say about it – it will do what you need it to do.

Flyer

Because while almost everything here can teleport, having something zoomy and bulky in the skies above the battlefield always helps. And a Stormraven, it of the flying brick legend, is still a good buy even if you’re dropping a lot of points on it. But it does have twin lascannons and twin multi-meltas. Oh, and it can even drop our Venerable Dreadnought off somewhere if you want that chonky boi to have a bit of extra speed.

The List:

HQ – Kaldor Draigo

HQ – Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight with sword, heavy cannon, gatling psi and a teleporter + PP

Elites – 5x Paladins with 2x Incinerators and a lot of falchions

Elites – 5x Paladins with 2x Incinerators and a lot of falchions

Elites – 5x Paladins with 4x daemon hammers and a psycannon

Elites – Paladin Ancient with psycannon

Elites – Venerable Dreadnought with twin las and a flamer fist

Heavy Support – Nemesis Dreadknight with sword, heavy cannon, incinerator and a teleporter

Flyer – Stormraven Gunship with multi-meltas and twin las

Points: 2000 (well, it might be 1990 – my maths for this list did go a bit all over the shop – either way it’s good)

Model Count: 21. …21! I think I’m in love! That’s proper Draigo Wing numbers!

List Name: Draigo Wing 2021

I’ll let you work out what relics to take, and there’s also the “Brotherhoods” system which gives you access to specific strategems, warlord traits and psychic powers. I like the “Prescient Brethren” for this list but you might have other ideas. I was hoping the above would fit into one Vanguard detachment but alas it doesn’t – you can only have one Grand Master per detachment and that’s Draigo, so you have to sacrifice 2cp to take the other Grand Master as an auxiliary choice. If you don’t want to pay the CP, You could just slot in another underarmed suit and slip a Brotherhood Champion in there, so you’d keep the firepower, but you’d be up to 22 models then and that just feels like too many!

How Does It Play?

To be honest, I reckon this will do very well. You’ve got enough hammers and swords to tear up anything else in combat, and with all the lascannons and psycannons, you could put down an army of superheavy tanks without too much issue. You can teleport a great chunk of it straight into you enemy lines, and if you’d rather sit back, let’s see how the enemy likes all those flamers and stormbolters. Ok, you have no objective secured, but do you think your opponent will have an army left after turn 3? I wouldn’t be so sure. And let’s not forget you’ll be popping off up to 8 psychic powers in that phase! And thanks to the Aegis, Mortal Wounds aren’t even as scary as they would be to other armies this small.

Honestly, at just 21 models, I am mega tempted by this. It’s a rules heavy army, so I’d need to remember a lot (which I’m not great at these days) but 21 models and that much hurt to dish out? Tempted. Genuinely tempted.

That’s your lot for this one. I hope you like the list. I love the fact that you can run a Draigo Wing type list in 2021 and 9th edition. Wonderful news indeed. Have a lovely rest of your day, and I’ll be back with more very soon. Onwards!