Uber close combat Inquisatorial Henchman Band

[L30n1d4s]

Thumbing through the new Codex: Inquisition, this is what I have come up with for the ultimate new close combat unit:

 

-Allied Inquisitor with Rad Grenades and PML(1)/Hammerhand/Force Sword, as well as the Relic that gives Scout on a Ld check from the Inquisitor (from the new Inquisition codex, not C: GK)

-Grey Knight Librarian with PML(3) Quicksilver, Hammerhand, Might of Titan, and Warding Stave

-Inquisitorial Warband with 8 Priests (from the new Inquistion codex, not C: GK).

 

This unit is Fearless and has re-rolls to hit on the first round of combat due to Priest's Zealot USR. Book Relic allows Scout the first turn in order to get closer as footsloggers and allows things like Hatred, Counterattack, etc. on subsequent turns.

 

More importantly is the synergy. Using 2x Hammerhands, Might of Titan, Quicksilver, and 6 of the Priests' War Hymn with the Smash option, you have:

 

-24 S6 AP2 I10 attacks on the charge, plus 3 S7 AP3 I10 attacks (Librarian Warding Stave) and 5 S6 AP3 I10 (Inquisitor Force Sword), plus 8 S6 AP- I10 attacks (2 Priest not using Smash option). All of these attacks have Amourbane, so goodby any type of vehicle they charge.

 

-Also, the enemy they are charging has -1T (due to Rad grenades), which means standard MEQs T4 are reduced to T3 which, coincidently, is low enough for ID from all the attacks made by this unit, without even having to use Force Weapons. Even most MCs are reduced to T5, meaning that they are being wounded on 3+s or 2+s by this unit's weapons.

 

-The remaining two Priests use the War Hymns to buff their unit with basically Shred USR (so re-roll all failed to wounds) and re-roll all armor/Invul saves. That means that the Priests are getting better than a Storm Shield with their Rosarius wargear (a re-rollable 4++ is better than a 3++) and the Librarian is getting a re-rollable 2++ (from Warding Stave), making him ridiculous in challenges while the rest of the unit tears through the enemy unit.

 

 

The weakness of this unit are its costs (slightly over 500 points, which is a a lot, but compared to many other deathstars, such as a LRC full of TH/SS Terminators, not so excessive), its vulnerability to shooting out of combat, and its depending on a lot of Ld 10 Psychic Tests/Ld Checks for Battle Hymns.

 

On the charge, I don't know of a single unit in the game that is going to win combat against this unit (or only some very rare, very lucky ones).

[Lord Morgrim]

Nice one.....nasty....might give it a try myself :)

[Gentlemanloser]

Priest Ld7 is the weakness of this.

 

Not guaranteed to make your Hymn roll.

[L30n1d4s]

Priests should be able to test for War Hymns on Ld10 from Inquisitor or Librarian. Unlike Psychic Tests, I believe they can use the best Ld in the unit when making regular Ld tests, which is what a test for War Hymns should be.

[Gentlemanloser]

Rule is;

 

 

War Hymns: A model with this special rule can take a Leadership test at the beginning of each Fight sub-phase in which he is locked in combat. If the test is successful, choose one of the following war hymns to immediately take effect.

 

Under Leadership Tests in the BRB it states;

 

 

If a unit includes models with different Leadership values, always use the highest Leadership from among them.

 

So it should be ok for Priests to use an ICs Ld for their War Hymns.
 

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Heh. Your principal problem is though, that melee is still weaker than shooting in 6th. Melee Deathstars are basically gone thanks to Riptides, Assault Terminators can still work but they need Raven delivery usually. 

 

It'd be fun for laughs, but put that down against any shooting list (ie most 6th edtion builds) and they'll evapourate it. 

[DominikB]

Toughness drop doesn't affect ID and te unwieldy will still make them strike at I1 sadly

[Grand Master Caloth]

Yes, T drops do effect ID

[Hymirl]

What if your opponent shoots your T3 5+ save priests with boltguns or something and kills them all? I'm not sure I'd be keen to try have a librarian tank damage for them...

 

While on paper it puts out a reasonable amount of combat damage, it's very very fragile. Surely you'd be better off losing the Librarian and getting a land raider to ride in.

[DominikB]

My codex says in explanation that it doesn't change it for ID.

[Lysere]

My codex says in explanation that it doesn't change it for ID.

 

Which codex? If it's GK they might have changed it in an FAQ, if you have C:I then I guess they made the Inquisition worse than the GK in that respect.

[Gentlemanloser]

This is from the original release of Codex: Inquisition (with the one use Orbital Strike);

 

 

RAD GRENADES

Rad grenades detonate in a shower of tiny contaminated fragments. Each particle’s radioactive emissions have a millisecond half-life, ensuring that the thrower can charge in without exposing himself to contamination. Nevertheless, those enemies caught in the initial explosion will feel the rad grenade’s debilitating influence for some time afterwards.

 

During a turn in which a unit equipped with rad grenades launches an assault, or is assaulted, the enemy unit(s) suffer a -1 penalty to their Toughness until the end of the phase (this does affect the victims’ Instant Death threshold).

 

[Grand Master Caloth]

Just as darkstrider's toy reduces toughness by one, it effects the ID threshold as well.