So Lets Talk Inquisitors...

[Joasht]

Much like the Henchmen and Interceptor Squad threads I started, I'm just going to (hopefully) start some brainstorming regarding one of the not-very-often-spoken-about option in our codex: the Inquisitor. Granted its gotten far more "talk time" than Interceptors/Henchmen at the time of posting, but I thought I'd post this anyway :rolleyes:

 

Some random thoughts of mine;

 

1) For the measly points cost of a single Purifier you can get an Inquisitor, who can fill the compulsory HQ slot should you need something cheap such as in smaller games, or if you just want a second (supporting) HQ character filling in that slot. Frankly the Inquisitor has awesome stats for his points IMO, but this is somewhat "balanced out" by the fact its a HQ choice.

 

2) Inquisitors open up the Henchmen option, which in turn, comes with a whole bunch of utility, but I won't be going so much into detail about them here. And lets not forget, they are also a source of Servo Skulls.

 

 

3) The Ordo Malleus Inquisitor is, IMO, one of the better Inquisitors. With access to the Hellrifle, he makes an awesome (and wonderfully cheap) long ranged character, ideal for babysitting a Jokaero/Servitor shooty squad (which is, by the way, actually fairly well-priced for the sheer amount of firepower they can dish out). He can also take the Daemonblade, which is surprisingly powerful (and unusually safe) for its points. Power Armor is pretty cheap too if you plan on putting him upfront.

 

I think the trick here is to keep him cheap; the second you start buying him things like Terminator armor or Psychic Powers he becomes very expensive very fast, and the cost for his upgrade to get Psychic Communion (which you'd probably already have courtesy of a GM if you took one) and Hammerhand seems a little pricey for my liking, but certainly still a very viable option to make his squad that much more killy in melee.

 

4) Not a big fan of the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor. The Psyocculum and crossbow are both rather situational, and I've never been a big fan of the Inferno pistol.

 

5) The Ordo Xenos Inquisitor is also not too shabby; he's a very affordable source of a Conversion Beamer (40 points cheaper than the Techmarine equivalent at base cost!) but given the range of the Servitor heavy weapons, the Conversion Beamer would be out of its "ideal range" whereas its nicely within the range of the Malleus's Hellrifle; makes me think that it may not be the best Servitor babysitter. Alternatively, the Xenos Inquisitor is also a very cheap source of those new-fangled grenades, of which I'm particularly fond of the Rad Grenade. A simple Power Weapon, Power Armor and Rad Grenades only runs to 58 points, which isn't too bad for what you are bringing to the table.

 

And of course theres the special characters:

1) Coteaz feels like a good example of an Inquisitor who took too many toys; at his points he has a bunch of special rules, but he's not particularly killy or survivable in close combat; without an invul save and due to his I1 theres a good chance he will die before ever swinging his hammer :/

However, he is a Lvl 2 Psyker with Sanctuary, which is an interesting and otherwise unobtainable combination for Inquisitors. Still, his greatest utility is making Henchmen Troops, which comes with its own benefits.

 

2) Valeria.....she's interesting and a toolbox of sorts. For many points you get a character with two very powerful one-shot attacks; a very rediculously powerful gun which sadly may actually miss because of her good-but-not-all-that BS 4, and her insta-gib amulet which is actually rather good, particularly against all those 2W characters out there. She also effectively has a Djinn Blade (I think the rules are exactly the same, but I could be wrong), which when combined with her ability to force rerolls of successful saves (which means even invul saves have to be rerolled) and her own invul save (which could save her when she hits herself on her head with her dagger) means that she's not *too* shabby in combat, but not great either. WS 4 S 3 simply means that even against a standard MEQ on the charge she'd only kill one, which is kinda sad. I'm personally inclined towards saying she's not worth it for her two one-shot abilities, but not THAT terrible either.

 

3) Karamazov: if this guy had an invul save I'd TOTALLY play him, every single game. Not because he is great, but simply because who doesn't like a big, walking nuke dispenser with horrifying accuracy? Granted you lose some men, but thats what those Acolyte henchmen are for :X

 

He's too expensive in my opinion, especially given that S10 attacks would one-shot him, and various other things would just insta-kill him with no chance of saving himself (as most such options ignore normal armor saves). Would pretty much force him to hang around at the back of the table nuking people since a T5 W4 model really isn't tough enough to take its own sweet time walking up into melee, and even once he gets there he can fight but isn't that great. I tend to view his combat stats as more of a defensive thing.

 

So anyway those are just my random babbles about the Inquisitors off the top of my head. What are your opinions on Inquisitors?

 

Thanks!

[Inquisitor Fox]

Well not really getting to test them yet... I have a few initial thoughts.

 

First, I think Arco's will be something more useful than people are giving them credit for yet. A mixed unit of Arco's, DCA's and a couple Crusaders will make mincemeat of most anything, especially paired with Hammerhand from the Inquisitor. Inquisitor's remain versatile as heck, with lots of different options. I also think all the attention will be on the Grey Knights, which means you can make a good sleeper unit that most people will overlook. Like say a unit of hot-shot lasguns with carapace or power armor... :rolleyes:

 

Lots of options, could be good. Time will tell though, and the loss of Chiurgeons make it a bit harder, as well as losing the Retinue rule. Iron Will has been replaced by Stubborn, so meh. We'll have to see ^_^

[grimz]

Can a Paladin Apothecary confer FnP to an inquisitor?

[Freman Bloodglaive]

If they're in the same squad.

[GreaterDragon]

After a few test games, I decided that a Grand Master's cost was too much for ~1500 point games so I turned to the Inquisitor in order to fill my HQ slot. Even though everyone is talking of how undercosted the basic GK marines are I find that all the costs add up in the end and I have to cut corners everwhere.

 

My current choice is an Ordo Xenos inquisitor with rad grenades and a servo skull.He is cheap,makes a unit a lot more effective in combat and he unlocks a henchmen unit.Only downside is that if you don't place him carefully he can die in the first CC he enters.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Go for two Malleus Inquisitors, terminator armour, psycannon for 160 points.

 

Buy two three man acolyte squads. Buy them Chimeras.

 

Take two five man Paladin squads, two psycannons, one daemon hammer, four halberds.

 

Stick the Inquisitors with the Paladin squads and stick them in the Chimeras. That's twelve shots from the top hatch from your psycannons.

 

Then you can load up your troops with Grey Knights in Rhinos.

[Gentlemanloser]

I think the trick here is to keep him cheap; the second you start buying him things like Terminator armor or Psychic Powers he becomes very expensive very fast

 

While I feel that an OM Inquisitor in TDA with a Psycannon (for 80 points) is rather cheap for a 3W mini. Stick him in a Termy/Pally group, and you negate his T3. Stick him in the middle of the group so he can't be targetted in CC.

 

He'll also confer Stubborn to the Unit.

 

Bargin!

[Whitefireinferno]

Wroong he is still a IC so will be picked out in Close combat.

[Joasht]

First, I think Arco's will be something more useful than people are giving them credit for yet.

 

I agree with this, and I believe I mentioned this in my henchmen thread as well. The sheer number of high-S attacks gives it a place; yes its only one extra attack and one extra strength than a DCA, but having a light sprinkling of them in a squad (assuming you don't know what you will be facing, e.g. in a tourney environment) would be pretty good.

 

While I feel that an OM Inquisitor in TDA with a Psycannon (for 80 points) is rather cheap for a 3W mini.

 

Reading this statement made me realize that I wrote the part about the costing in the mindset where the Inquisitor is the secondary HQ, in which case you would already have one high-priced HQ. If he were your only HQ then definately, 80 points is not an extravagant price to pay for him. Perhaps not a "bargain" given that a Paladin with a Psycannon costs only 5 points less (I'd argue that the extra point of toughness the Paladin has makes the gap between the W2 of the Paladin and W3 of the Inquisitor a little smaller), but certainly decently costed.

 

That gives you the option of sticking it to a Paladin squad (as someone mentioned earlier) to give even MORE psycannon shots, but IMO its a slight waste of Stubborn; even though Stubborn has less of an impact in 40k as compared to the Fantasy equivalent, its still something thats "factored into the cost" of the Inquisitor.

 

That said, after somemore thinking, I'm more excited than ever to actually use an "Inquisitorial Devastator Squad" in my army. For 35 points more than a basic Psyfleman Dread (I still hate that name :X) you instead get a Hellrifle Inquisitor, 3 Plasma Cannon Servitors and two monkeys. Thats six anti-transport and very-anti-MEQ shots, in an army that lacks long ranged firepower. Actually, who ever said we lack long ranged firepower? ;)

[Chengar Qordath]

Wroong he is still a IC so will be picked out in Close combat.

But only by models in base contact with him or models that are within 2" of models in base contact with him. So putting the Inquisitor in the middle of the unit can provide a lot of protection by reducing the number of models that can be engaged with him.

[HB66]

Inquisitors are the main reason why i really want to play GK in the first place.

- I am a big fluff player, i dont really care about winning alot of games, i just want to make up a story line and have my characters come to life on the board.

- I was not aware that there were so many options for inquisitors, OM, Xenos, etc.... this has made me even more excited to play inquisitors. I have recently started reading alot of the BL inquisitor books and cant wait to get my hands on the codex and start makin my own Demon crushing Inquisitor.

- all the henchmen that are available to inquisitors makes them so versatile and interesting, it also makes them the perfect army and character for a fluff player like me.

- thanks for the post letting us all know that there are different "types" of inquisitors, that made my day...now back to my cubicle :P

 

HB66

[biglou666]

3) The Ordo Malleus Inquisitor is, IMO, one of the better Inquisitors. With access to the Hellrifle, he makes an awesome (and wonderfully cheap) long ranged character, ideal for babysitting a Jokaero/Servitor shooty squad (which is, by the way, actually fairly well-priced for the sheer amount of firepower they can dish out). He can also take the Daemonblade, which is surprisingly powerful (and unusually safe) for its points. Power Armor is pretty cheap too if you plan on putting him upfront.

 

This. I am doing this, as it works perfectly in my shooty list. He is so cheap for what he does. BS4 is always nice aswell. shame about them being T3, but he is in a large squad, so it doesnt matter much. Your always much better to have a shooting inquisitor, than a combat one, if you want to keep it cheap.

[Gentlemanloser]

But only by models in base contact with him or models that are within 2" of models in base contact with him. So putting the Inquisitor in the middle of the unit can provide a lot of protection by reducing the number of models that can be engaged with him.

 

That. :P

 

Stick him in the middle, or back of a unit, so he can't get into B2B. Or, move him to the front when you assault a vehicle to get his Thunderhammer shots off.

 

Either way, you give him T4 and allow him to shoot his Psycannon. ;)

[Ashe Darke]

But only by models in base contact with him or models that are within 2" of models in base contact with him. So putting the Inquisitor in the middle of the unit can provide a lot of protection by reducing the number of models that can be engaged with him.

 

That. :P

 

Stick him in the middle, or back of a unit, so he can't get into B2B. Or, move him to the front when you assault a vehicle to get his Thunderhammer shots off.

 

Either way, you give him T4 and allow him to shoot his Psycannon. ;)

You can't hide an IC in the unit. Without looking at the FAQ this is possible as he has to move first but only had 6 inches to move, seen as you can't move through your own units you can trap him. But the FAQ says that he barges his way through the models.

 

Q: An Independent Character attached to a unit that is

reacting to being assaulted, or making a pile-in move,

must move before other friendly models to attempt to get

in base contact with an enemy. What happens if the

Independent Character is blocked from getting to enemy

models by friendly models around him? (p49)

A: If it is possible to move friendly models out of the way

to make space for the Independent Character then they

must move first. Followed by the Independent Character

and finally the rest of the unit can move. If the

Independent Character is still unable to make it into base

contact he must move as close to the enemy as possible.

 

So unless he is more than 6 inches from the front of the unit or you're very sneaky about models not being able to move to get him out the way it's gonna be hard to keep him out of the combat.

[Gentlemanloser]

Not at all, the units in front of him still follow the assault rules, so move in straight lines towards your opponent.

 

If he's behind a couple, that would preclude him from getting into B2B contact. :P

[Brother Valerius]

It might be adhering to the letter of the rules, but it is certainly not adhering to the spirit of the rules. I'd classify this one under "be a good sport and move him to the front like you're supposed to", personally.

[number6]

But only by models in base contact with him or models that are within 2" of models in base contact with him. So putting the Inquisitor in the middle of the unit can provide a lot of protection by reducing the number of models that can be engaged with him.

 

That. :P

 

Stick him in the middle, or back of a unit, so he can't get into B2B. Or, move him to the front when you assault a vehicle to get his Thunderhammer shots off.

 

Either way, you give him T4 and allow him to shoot his Psycannon. ;)

Bear in mind that during any pile-in moves the Inquisitor would have to be moved first in order to get into base contact. (p. 49 of the BRB)

[Joasht]

Some Blood Angels players tinker around with the whole "keeping the IC out of combat" for their Sanguinary Priests.

[Gentlemanloser]

Bear in mind that during any pile-in moves the Inquisitor would have to be moved first in order to get into base contact. (p. 49 of the BRB)

 

True, but if the minis in B2B in front of him are still there, he can't move anywhere. :sweat:

 

And you've been removing the other minis first, not the ones in front of him in B2B. Right? :rolleyes:

[Eddie Orlock]

It's even easier to keep him out of harms way if you're the one doing the charging. The Chappie is used to attach to my Hamernators almost never swung his crozius at anything actually scary after they hopped out of the Crusader. Generally I found a way to place him more than 6" away in the back of the unit so he couldn't actually get stuck in. The Termie Chaplain spent most of his career cheering from the sidelines and recording the heroic deeds of my assault terminators.

 

My weirdboy spends most of his time buried in the middle of a large mob of shoota boys, generally with enough in the way that he can't make it to the front line to be assasinated when the unit gets charged.

 

Really, it's functionally no different than the historical practice of turning a vehicles front armour to face an anticipated assault so the attackers would have to spend the first turn against your best facing and praying you could move away then next turn. Then they changed it. As much as they might try to change it, unless they force us to unit bases like War of the Ring, assault micro-management will still have an impact.

[Whitefireinferno]

.... So alot of you Knight Players bend the Rules? oh and to answer Joasht's question yeah most keep them out of combat by Leaving them in their Transports.

[Godhead]

How is that bending the rules? You move IC's 1st, then everyone else. However if there are models in the way, you move them trying to make room for the IC to move up, you don't just trample models in front of the IC in order to get him up front. The thing is, if the IC is all the way at the back or in the middle, then the 6inch assault move can very well ensure he is not in base to base. Heck sometimes my Thunderlord gets left out of a round or two combat due to being stranded after the 1st round of combat and needing to try to pile in to allocate his attacks. I mean, you do the same thing when preparing for an assault, right? You try to plan your assault move so that your IC ends up far enough away to prevent or minimize powerfist attacks, right?

[Stormshrug]

How is that bending the rules? You move IC's 1st, then everyone else. However if there are models in the way, you move them trying to make room for the IC to move up, you don't just trample models in front of the IC in order to get him up front. The thing is, if the IC is all the way at the back or in the middle, then the 6inch assault move can very well ensure he is not in base to base. Heck sometimes my Thunderlord gets left out of a round or two combat due to being stranded after the 1st round of combat and needing to try to pile in to allocate his attacks. I mean, you do the same thing when preparing for an assault, right? You try to plan your assault move so that your IC ends up far enough away to prevent or minimize powerfist attacks, right?

 

It's bending the rules because the spirit of the rules quite clearly demands that ICs be thrust into combat in a manner most glorious and nonstrategic. The fact that there IS a rule to try to get ICs into CC at all times means that this is what the rules intend to be the case. Of course, you *CAN* get around it (and sometimes, odd circumstances may cause you to accidentally avoid it to your own detriment), much as you *CAN* weave two squads of IG Sanctioned Psykers together to grant both squads a cover save - but clearly, this was NOT the way things were meant to work. Thus, you are willfully acting in opposition to the way that the rules are meant to function, and are "bending" them, though you are not breaking them, per se. It's not cheating, but it isn't going to make you popular, either.

 

-Stormshrug

[Gentlemanloser]

There is so much that fall into this category it's silly to comment on. Blocking Transport exits, or escape routes, so you instantly kill squads. Escorting units off the board so they can't regroup, or as said, positioning your charge to *avoid* deadly enemy ICs or Fists, removing casualties from the front of your unit to increase charge distance to avoid incoming CCs, etc, etc, etc.

 

Good strategic gameplay? Or cheesy behaviour?

 

/shrug.

 

I'll play my army to the best of it's (and my) ability to do so, and you do the same.

[Ozybonza]

There is so much that fall into this category it's silly to comment on. Blocking Transport exits, or escape routes, so you instantly kill squads. Escorting units off the board so they can't regroup, or as said, positioning your charge to *avoid* deadly enemy ICs or Fists, removing casualties from the front of your unit to increase charge distance to avoid incoming CCs, etc, etc, etc.

 

Good strategic gameplay? Or cheesy behaviour?

 

/shrug.

 

I'll play my army to the best of it's (and my) ability to do so, and you do the same.

 

 

All good strategies.

 

The enemy are running away? Keep moving forward - don't let them regroup!

 

The IC/assault thing can be rationed with the "protect the commander" mindset.

 

As for avoiding fists and the like, wouldn't you try and position your unit to maximise your own strengths and minimise your weaknesses?

 

It seems allot of people think that applying sound tactics and strategy isn't in the spirit of the game....