Easier =][= start

[kharn_the_betrayer]

With the two Inquisition armies being all metal (or at least 90%) there is a unique take on starting them. GW does provide some boxed sets that while nice are limited in selection (see special weapons in SoB box) or just to buy a ton of blisters. Which is the better way to start both DH and WH by getting a long series of blisters or using the boxes and blisters to bump up and provide alternate options?

[Tauren]

That depends entirely on which side you wish to start with. For 500 pts a couple units of storm troopers a unit of knights and a brother captain will round out nicely. At a 1000 pts an inquisitor with retinue, maybe a couple of light tanks (a rhino and a chimera) with those squads of storm troopers a unit of knights and the captain provide for a nice little mix up. 3 troops choices, one of which is nasty in melee and shooting. Knights are expensive though, coming in easily at 200+ points for a 8 man squad with all the fixens can bring them to 300+ without a question. That said with 2 shots at 24'' range at all times, melee that can tear apart anything, throw it a brother captain and watch them puree anything they come in contact with at range or in melee.

 

If you are going for a mixed force, sisters are 1 point more expensive for several points more in quality than storm troopers. Seraphim are another fine choice to deal with daemonhunters innate lack of anti-tank. Equip them with inferno pistols, and a VSS with an eviscerator and watch them tear up the flank cutting armor to pieces, and melt far more expensive termies into slag. Really I suggest you decide which way to go with it then buy the codex or if you have army builder start playin around with points.

[Captain Malachi]

I'd say the boxes are best for starting, they're cheaper and still have some options, meaning you can practice the army sooner and add in any additional special weapons models later.

[Tauren]

Additionally if you are playing Inquisition I suggest you know either how to convert (makes things alot cheaper for certain figures) and that you utilize ebay extensively. Many botched or unused inquisition miniatures show up on ebay for far cheaper than market cost. Buy em, strip em, clean em, convert em, paint them, play em. That's my philosophy with all things miniatures and even more so with inquisition because of its open book nature. Having extra bits from guns and other empire parts makes for some simple conversions like adding a strapped grenade launcher to a storm trooper.

[Auedawen]

I've never been sold on the boxes. Blisters allow for far more customization and you don't end up wasting good money on a model you'll never use. However, if the special weapon (or a plethora of squad leaders) is something you'll need, box sets are the way to go. Also, few stores are going to carry enough blisters to fill up your army, so you may need the box sets regardless (unless you plan on using websites like thewarstore).

[Inquisitor Fox]

I agree mostly with the above posters, with one major disagreement:

 

Some special weapon options are ONLY available in the boxes! Flamers and Grenade Launchers for Cadian Kasrkin models, at least the Immolator for Grey Knight Terminators, and some of the Inquisitor retinue options. That or the EBay/various bits stores may have them, but until the bits section of GW's site gets anywhere close to its old self (if it ever does), some options are only available in the combo boxes.

 

So.. well, you won't lose too much by starting with boxes, then customizing as you go. Worst case is you have a few painted models you don't play with much but can break out if you swap your squad fits down the road.

[number6]

For PAGKs, it all depends on how many incinerators you think you might need down the line. For every incinerator-toting GK you want to own, get the box set. After that, buy the PAGK blisters, otherwise you'll end up with way too many Justicars and incinerator GKs; more than you will ever use.

 

For GKTs, it depends on:

 

a. How many incinerator GKTs you think you'll want.

b. How many BCs and GK Heroes you will need.

c. How much conversion work you're willing to do to make those BCs/GK Heroes.

 

The reason the BC/GK Hero question is important is because GW only provides two GKT sculpts that are distinguishable from the two "normal" GKT sculpts: the BC "sergeant" model in the box set and the BC Stern model. Conversion of some kind or other will be necessary if you want to avoid paying for incinerator models you won't use and/or more "sergeant" models than you intend to field as squad/army leaders ... or a bunch of BC Stern lookalikes.

 

I never intented to field more than two GKT units at any given time, and I also didn't want any incinerators for my GKTs. So what I did was buy a box set, a GKT pyscannon arm bit, and a BC Stern. I gave the BC stern arm to the GKT w/incinerator from the box set and put the psycannon arm on the BC Stern model. That gave me two BCs/GK Heroes, which could be either with or without a psycannon, plus 4 more GKTs. If I used the Stern/psycannon model as my GK Hero, I could actually get away with using the "sergeant" model as a normal GKT and thus have a retinue of up to 5 GKTs for the GK Hero. Worked out very well as I was getting started, and let me add in more GKT models as I had money for them over a convenient stretch of time. I don't know if you can order GKT arms as bitz any more, though, so this plan might not work out quite as well going forward. :(

 

Can't speak to the situation for SoBs, though I'm sure "useless model syndrome" plagues the box set vs blister argument for them just as much as it does for GKs.

[Aidoneus]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that GKT psycannon arms are still available... in packs of 12. <_< I guess how you buy GKTs depends on how many you want to field, and in what role. Gameplay-wise, the only squad of GKT I really like is the 4-man squad with 2 psycannons, and for that you'd really be better off buying them individually.

 

Personally, I knew I wanted two incinerators for my PAGK, but no more after that. So I bought two box sets, and then just bought blisters after that. (I actually bought more justicars than I needed, but that was just because my early army lists had more squads in them) Certainly, you'll want to buy a decent amount in blisters, just because there's no way you'll be running 5-man squads with incinerators all the time. And psycannons only come in blisters, so if you want them there's really no choice.

 

For IST, I happen to have one box of them that I bought secondhand. He had converted two regular hellguns to plasma guns (actually, I did it for him), and then I further converted the flamer to a meltagun. After that, I converted somewhere between 8 and 11 other ISTs from Cadians (using re-breather helmets, spliced comm-packs, and lots of grenades and such around their belts), one of which has a grenade launcher and one with a meltagun. It's a pretty good mix, but I don't necessarily recommend doing things that way. The metal was really hard to convert, and I relied a lot on my more-than-healthy amount of dremel experience. :( The Cadian conversion looks good and is easy, but you only get so many comm-packs and re-breathers in a box, so there's a lot of waste. I was just fortunate to have an IG player friend with some spare bits.