Can Inquisitors rock it with the best of them?

[Gentlemanloser]

I had my Retinue (admittedly not with Mancatchers, and after taking several rounds of fire and losing several casualties) go two or three combat rounds with Abaddon and still have my psyker alive at the end of the Apocalypse game, thus claiming the objective

 

Ahhh!!! I get immense joy when Abby fails. :P

 

Did he roll any 1's? Go go Daemon Weapon! :P

[Captain Juan Juarez]

I think in a way we need to adapt the mindset (similar to say, Imperial Guard) where you don't think of just the "Inquisitor" as themselves, it's really "Inquisitor and Retinue" which is the real unit. The Retinue is really integral to the success or failure of the Inquisitor on the tabletop. While a Space Marine Captain can exist without a Command Squad, an Inquisitor Lord doesn't have the option until his fellows all die. Granted individual characters that are say 200 or 300 points are pretty well.. I mean we're at Archaeon or um.. Calgar or so. Buuuttt... a unit as a whole might be able to do relatively alright against just those folks by themselves. For a bit.

 

Therein lays the problem.. You are required to use the retinue to make the Inquisitor actually effective and this is a drawback from the choice in my opinion; yes you get some useful options and weapons, but it's still something that doesn't have much/any? flexibility.

How is a retinue not flexible?

 

Just because you have to take the Retinue and if you want anything out of them you need to tool them - and the Inquisitor - up to make them effective.

And how does that make them different from most of the other HQ units in the game?

 

At least from a Power Armour perspective, I believe even as "basic" HQ can more than hold its own by comparison.

[ArmouredWing]

Ok, so here's something related to this thread that I've been thinking about.

 

A local store is holding an 'arena of death' style game in a couple of weeks and whilst I was thinking of entering with a nun of doom I've also been considering exploiting the 'HQ' loophole that comes from an =][= Lord having to have a minimum retinue of 3.

 

With that being the case what =][= Lord would you run and what would the 3 henchmen be?

 

I've given this a little bit of thought, being a WH player I was considering running an WH =][= lord + force weapon, inferno pistol, psychic hood & some other goodies acompanied by 3 crusaders or 3 acolytes + mancatchers. However, not being someone who uses IL's for CC duties I'm not entirely sure whether either of these loadouts would stand a good chance in the arena.

 

So what are your thoughts?

[breng77]

What are the rules for the Arena of death? If it is an HQ showdown with no limits little in either Inquisition codex will stand up against HQ in 5E codices (swarmlord, Mephiston, Daemon Princes, etc)

[Inquisitor Fox]

I had my Retinue (admittedly not with Mancatchers, and after taking several rounds of fire and losing several casualties) go two or three combat rounds with Abaddon and still have my psyker alive at the end of the Apocalypse game, thus claiming the objective

 

Ahhh!!! I get immense joy when Abby fails. :)

 

Did he roll any 1's? Go go Daemon Weapon! ;)

Actually no.. I just was going through members of the Retinue like mad, but I only had to stall 2 combat phases to maintain the objective since he wasn't a psyker and it was a scenario special rule. If my Inquisitor lived, we held the objective :P Thankfully she delivered!

 

Now, I don't normally recommend holding objectives with Inquisitors and Retinues. I've discovered if you really want something held, deploy Space Marines in it. But it was what there was due to the scenario and our allied forces.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Ok, so here's something related to this thread that I've been thinking about.

 

A local store is holding an 'arena of death' style game in a couple of weeks and whilst I was thinking of entering with a nun of doom I've also been considering exploiting the 'HQ' loophole that comes from an =][= Lord having to have a minimum retinue of 3.

 

With that being the case what =][= Lord would you run and what would the 3 henchmen be?

 

I've given this a little bit of thought, being a WH player I was considering running an WH =][= lord + force weapon, inferno pistol, psychic hood & some other goodies acompanied by 3 crusaders or 3 acolytes + mancatchers. However, not being someone who uses IL's for CC duties I'm not entirely sure whether either of these loadouts would stand a good chance in the arena.

 

So what are your thoughts?

The main issues are the points limit of the Arena of Death. Inquisitors really begin to shine when you start stacking multiple henchmen types (the 2 chiurgeons, then the warriors and acolytes on top of that) to allow you to abuse wound allocation and the untargetability of Inquisitors so long as their Retinue is alive, letting the Inquisitor deal wounds all day long without being touched.

 

My modified Nun of Doom (no Inferno Pistol sadly) in the staff AoD went toe to toe with a Space Marine Captain with Relic Blade and Storm Shield and just about won her match, so thats an HQ we can handle at least. In terms of just the Inquisitor though, I'd have several reservations.

 

First, is the lack of immunity or prevention of any Instant Death wounds. The Mantle of Ophelia works for the Flying Nun, and the Flying Nun is immune to Force Weapons, but the Inquisitor isn't without 2 Chiurgeons. If you can get the henchmen, then that alleviates the problem, but Chiurgeons don't put out a lot of damage.

 

Second, is the juggling of points to squeek under limits. With the right henchmen and wargear Inquisitors do pretty well, but it is (as you and others have stated often) expensive ;) If there's running away and the like, His Will Be Done is almost more useful than a Force Weapon for much cheaper, a Rosarius is almost mandantory. If you're running a Force Weapon you definately want the additional attack.

 

I've found the Crusaders to be fantastic, the Chiurgeons to be a god-send, and the Acolytes to be serviceable. Granted I haven't followed my own advice in terms of Power Weapon-spam though, but even with a Power Weapon I'd rather have a Chiurgeon than an Acolyte with Carapace Armor and Power Weapon.