Close Combat Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Good day brothers.

 

I seek your thoughts and assistance on building an Ordo Hereticus inquisitor and accompanying warband tooled for close combat. I know that they won't be a death star. I just want something that is competent in hand-to-hand. Unfortunately I don't have a Land Raider or room for one in the list I am currently building for a tournament. I don't want to completely break the bank anyway since I have no illusions that this unit will take down other better HTH-oriented units. I just want it to be competent. So I'm thinking around a 240 point "limit" on this squad.

 

I anticipate people saying that Ordo Malleus would be better for hand-to-hand, but for fluff reasons I want Hereticus. Here is what I was thinking but maybe you guys have better ideas:

 

Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor

Power Armour

Inferno Pistol

Null Rod

Servo Skulls x3

[77]

 

Crusader x2

Arco Flagellant x2

Priest w/ meltabombs

Acolytes w/ carapace + meltagun x3

Acolytes w/ carapace x2

[160]

 

My thoughts: I really really want to use new Scion models, hence 5x henchmen in carapace. I thought the meltaguns would synergise well with inferno pistol and I want assault weapons (flamers are a rip off at 10 pts IMO). I could be convinced to drop the two just with carapace but I thought some ablative wounds would be good. Or I could have 1 death cult assassin/crusader/arco instead of those two. Lower body count but much better attacks.

 

For the inquisitor, is the null rod worth it? I haven't played any 6th edition yet so I am wondering how common psychic attacks are nowadays and if it's worth the points to make the unit immune. Or should I stick with a power sword and use the 15 extra points for an additional DCA/Crusader/Flagellant. Maybe a power fist (I4 isn't horrible but extra hitting power may be nice)?

[Inquisitor Fox]

Hey now, how convenient I just was working on my Codex: =][= list and have used a close combat Hereticus model since well, forever :D

 

My unit (which does assault out of a Land Raider) is a bit simpler:

 

(78) Inquisitor Nicole Pyykkönen (OH): Condemnor boltgun, power armor, psyker, force sword

 

(175) Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband: Ministorum Priest with eviscerator, 6 Death Cult Assassins, 2 Crusaders

 

253 points total, so technically a little over your limit.

 

The psyker takes Hammerhand (bringing the Priest to s8 with Eviscerator and all the DCA's to s5 ap3) and the priest gives juicy juicy war hymns as well as walker protection via the Eviscerator.  Crusaders have power weapons and storm shields so that's kind of a given.  I've found that in general putting shooting weapons in a close combat unit is kind of a waste.  The Inquisitor has a condemnor boltgun because she's always had one and it's the reason I picked the model.  Effectiveness-wise she'd be better off with the default bolt pistol (and cheaper pointswise) ;)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks for the input and the thoughts on shooting weapons on a close-combat squad. Go big or go home, eh? I'll give it some thought. I really would like to use some Scion models, though ... but maybe I can do a second warband to sit behind my Aegis defence line (seems like a waste to spend 4 pts for 4+ armour when they get 4+ cover from the Aegis though). The acolytes equal four DCA plus 10 extra points. I guess convert them to three DCA, drop the meltabombs, and I could do an eviscerator on the priest. Major "rule of cool" at play there.

I guess making the inquisitor a psyker is the best way to buff things, but unfortunately fluff trumps some things for me and Lord Inquisitor Soulis is definitely no psyker! He's not quite puritan to the level of even wanting to kill navigators and astropaths, but he's close. And I'm allying all this stuff into a Death Korps of Krieg army so ... yeah.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Fluffwise it could also be a prayer invoking the blessing of the Emperor as well In Codex: Witch Hunters there was a psychic power "His Will Be Done" that doubled kills for combat resolution purposes. Both are taken on a Ld test, so it's not totally out of line.

That being said, there's no one true way I've just found the combination of Hammerhand and DCA's to be particularly brutal, and the improved Priests of the Codex: =][= list add a lot of umph to an already pretty killer close combat unit. It'll take down most anything not in Terminator Armor, with very high Init, Str and AP of the heavy lifters (DCAs).

The majority of my warbands I do spend the points for Carapace Armor, as well, sometimes you need to sally those troops forward to grab objectives, reinforce things, mission peculiar qualities, or all sorts of things. There are weapons that deny cover, and if they are attacked from the rear the cover save of the line doesn't help them.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thanks again. I'll worry about the psyker thing though ... I'll think about it anyway. The quasi-act of faith thing might work fluff-wise since the lore I've built up around Lord Inquisitor Soulis (based as much on tabletop performance in the good old days as much as anything else) has him as somewhat of a living saint. So it could work.

Now let me bounce a few modelling/fluff ideas off you for death cult assassins if you don't mind. I really dislike the whole skin-tight leather suit/BDSM look of the DCA. So I want to go a whole different direction. Here are my ideas:

1) Since my main army is Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade, one DCA could be a special sort of Death Commando. I'd probably base the model off an engineer since they're the only DKoK models without greatcoats and that wouldn't be too conducive to the martial acrobatics DCA do. It seems plausible to me considering that DKoK regular troops have WS4 and their company commanders have WS5. So some sort of death cult within the military itself I like.

2) A Conan-type barbarian warrior from a planet with extremely high gravity, such that he's got John Carter of Mars-like superhuman reflexes, agility, and strength when in normal G environments. I'd base this model off a fantasy Dragon Slayer, swapping the axes out for swords (alas).

3) I thought the Redemptionist DCA in the Ravenor stories was an interesting idea, but for a group that's so puritanical they don't even want/allow others to see their faces, the whole skin-tight suit seemed wrong to me. I'd take the aesthetic in more of a Necromunda Redemptionist cultist direction. Could be a male or a female. For a female I think maybe High Elf Alarielle the Radiant as a base might work although she's got a bit too much jewellery and such. Chopping of her hair and GSing her helmet to be more of a mask is doable as well as giving her two power swords. Or the model could be some sort of living saint warrior woman what with the roses on the base. I do kind of like the model for a graceful but deadly assassin woman.

4) Seems to me that one or two of the Nazgûl from the Lord of the Rings line would make a rather nifty DCA. Very mysterious, wrapped in robes.

5) What do you think of using a Sister of Avelorn to represent some sort of Feudal world warrior-woman like Red Sonja sort of thing?

[thade]

Call me crazy (here it comes, haha) but I could see an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor leveraging various types of psykers in their force: from daemonhosts to sanctioned psykers to borrowed Space Marine Librarians. I think people forget (or eschew) the simple fact that the Imperium and it's forces are rife with philosophical inconsistencies and contradictions. In this case, any statement that an Ordo Hereticus Inq. would never ever use a psyker because "they abhor the witch" is patently silly. Here are some situations where an Order Hereticus Inquisitor may end up leveraging a psyker (or even BEING a psyker).

• Every ship needs at least one astropath; usually each one has several, especially the bigger ones, and Inquisitors tend to have larger ships. So, already there's clear precedent of the typical Inquisitorial "the ends justify the means" dogma; without astropaths they couldn't get where they needed to be in order to smite witches.
• Sometimes you're going to confront psykers so not having one might cost you. Null rods exist but that kind of tech isn't always available or even reliable; like all Imperium tech, it's expensive, rare, and difficult to maintain. If you have only one and it breaks, well...you are an Inquisitor, so OF COURSE you have a back-up plan!
• "In the name of the Immortal Emperor of Humankind." Or, "Because I said so," which is the de facto battle mantra of every single Inquisitor ever. Also sometimes known as "Because I know something you don't know."
• Sometimes Inquisitors are so radical that they're certifiably crazy even by Imperium standards. They may be especially arrogant, risk-happy, insane, or some combination thereof. An Inquisitor like this may deduce that a dozen daemonhosts (which basically consume all of their resources to keep control of and constantly put their ship and mission at risk) is the only conceivable way (their words) to reliably destroy psykers; or maybe it's precisely the fate that a loathsome witchcult deserves. Keep in mind that a radical Inquisitor may (and likely does) believe very, very strongly that they are in the RIGHT and are doing the RIGHT THING all the while with their horrific and definitively heretical behaviors.
• Maybe they don't trust Temple Assassins, they believe Null Rods to be loathsome xeno tech, and they think the Big E is whispering sweet nothings into their ear.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Thade, I see where you're coming from and I agree with everything you've written. However, MY Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor has always been rather puritan, and has never been a psyker in all the years I've fielded him using, variously, the "Heroes of the Imperium" list from the 3rd Ed main rule book, Codex: Witchhunters rules, and even using Ironhand Straken's rules from the IG codex to represent him. So now that I have access to Codex: Inquisition I'm inclined to keep continuity.

 

Yeah, he could USE psykers, but I don't think battle pskers would fit in a close-combat oriented squad. And he would never use daemonhosts no matter what (plus they don't seem that good IMO).

 

Inquisitor Nicole Pyykkönen's idea for saying fluff-wise that the psychic power Hammerhand is actually some sort of blessing similar to Sisters of Battle Acts of Faith is growing on me though.

[thade]

It can be hard when game mechanics become conflated with narrative; in this case, the thing that would prevent me from simply saying "it's mmAAAaaagic" is that anti-psyker gear in opposing forces will shut Hammerhand down. If my opponent has a null rod or runes or anything, my "Act of Faith" won't work.

 

You can make it work, of course. :)  But that's where my mind went.

[DinoDoc]

I realize this is probably for a narrative idea but aren't Ordo Xenos inquisitors better suited for getting stuck in due to the grenades they have access to?

[Inquisitor Fox]

The grenades are really useful. If one decided that the null rod wasn't important, and if you aren't using a Condemnor Boltgun... there is functionally Zero difference between the Inquisitor types other than gear. In that instance, it would be better to go with an Ordo Xenos psyker statwise, use the nifty grenades, and simply call it an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor in your own head and fluff. The combination of a Rad grenade with Hammerhand should not be overlooked. Psychotrokes are well, just fun. Personally I'm still not sure why they felt they wanted three Inquisitor entries or what the big deal is since all the Ordos are are a bunch of after hours clubs, but meh, whatever GW

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Yes, rad grenades are quite cool. But it seems to be pushing the envelope a bit to use Ordo Xenos rules and call him Ordo Hereticus when there are actual rules for an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor. I can handle missing out on those grenades. But we're getting a bit into the tall grass here ...

 

Do people have any feedback on the DCA ideas I posted?

[Inquisitor Fox]

I like them all to be honest. Really all a death cult has to be is a group that sacrifices the blood of the guilty / those they kill / etc. to the Emperor. Blood for the Golden Throne more or less. I'd be tempted to do something with the plastic fantasy Chaos Marauders, perhaps Conan style. Pretty good bang for the buck that way

Now, minor soap box time. Ahem... curse you GW for not being consistent in your own fluff about Inquisitors!!

An Inquisitor does not have to belong to any Ordo, could be in multiple Ordos simultaneously, can change Ordos, etc. Honestly there's zero reason why the entries need to be separate. GW has told us to do things like Counts As and free'd us in our Army List ideas. If you want to keep just to the OH entry that's definitely okay. It's also okay to use whichever Inquisitor profile fits the image of the Inquisitor you have in your head and call it Ordo Nosepickers for all that it makes a technical difference on the tabletop :)

I hope that makes sense. There is no one true way, so any answer is acceptable. I just mention it because as was rightly pointed out the grenades are very useful and Ordos being what they are, it makes little difference.

[thade]

This is an Inquisitional element! If you do a single unit of DCA (with nothing in the unit that's got different gear) you could technically use all of your ideas in the same unit. A few large barbarian goons, some commandos, a ragman, etc. You'd just need to take care with WYSIWYG wargear and otherwise do something to obviously tie them together...like big bicep bands or a unique and distinctive base or something.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Well, the unit won't just be DCA, I want to at least have some crusaders in there, but it seems to me that the crusaders would be clearly distinguishable by the fact that they're wearing armour (albeit just flak) and carrying Storm Shields. Whereas the DCA will all have two glowing power swords. I could make the crusaders more uniform, perhaps (give them same helmets, cloaks, shields) to clearly differentiate them from the more rag-tag band of DCA.

 

With my Inquisitorial warbands I've always tried to incorporate some gold and dark red into every model to bring them together. I could carry this through I think without much difficulty. No idea what I could do special about their bases.

[thade]

Yea, the better they all look + the more obvious it is, the better. "The two mail-clad warriors with giant shields are Crusaders. The rest of the rodents count-as DCA."

[Kilofix]

Slight digression but what are Crusaders (PS/SS) anyway?

 

I mean, I have the stock model, and I know what they are in C:GK and C:Inq, but fluffwise I've heard next to nothing about them.

[thade]

As ever, the Lexicanum is my go-to source for questions just like that one. :) Behold!

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Crusader#.UzV1m_RDtIE

[Kilofix]

As ever, the Lexicanum is my go-to source for questions just like that one. Behold!

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Crusader#.UzV1m_RDtIE

Thanks!

Doesn't say much though. Guess I'll see if I can get a copy of DH:Ascension to see if it has more info. So far the old Specialist Games Inquisitor and the core Dark Heresy books have been helpful in providing context and modeling examples for Henchmen.

I'm actually thinking of converting / modeling my "Navy" DCA like Connor looks in Assassin's Creed. Just an idea.

[thade]

It's good that they're so poorly specified; it gives you room to improvise and create your own narrative, your own reasoning as to who your "crusaders" are and why they're in their roles. :)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

I thought of a idea while making breakfast today to explain the psychic powers on a Puritan. Maybe when Lord Inquisitor Spilis had his near death experience (insta gibbed by a Catachan demo pack back in the day) latent phsychic tendencies he was ignorant of we're awakened. His followers say he was touched by the Emperor but he personally struggles mightily with the fact he's become something he previously had no tolerance for and is now re-evaluating many of his past actions.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

So now on to modelling questions!

I bought an Inquisitor Solomon Lok from Forgeworld to serve as the basis for the Ordo Hereticus power armoured inquisitor.

I'm not a huge fan of the cowled head or Lok's sword so I'm going to swap both of those, but otherwise leave the model pretty much as-is since I quite like it (obviously, that's why I chose it ). Firstly I'm trying to decide whether to go helmet or bare head, and secondly, looking for suggestions for either. What helmets do you think would look good with the Solomon Lok model?

If I go bare head (maybe to better allow for use of nacent psychic abilities?) I could go with the BA Death Company head with bionic eye. I was thinking of trying my hand at making an inquisitor hat out of green stuff and plasticard but not sure how that would look on the model or whether others have better ideas for a helmeted head. Thanks.

The sword's pretty easy, I just need to find a relatively inexpensive way to acquire the bit I need (GK terminator force sword with the =][= on it).

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Well, in lieu of any feedback on the head swap, I went ahead and made an executive decision ...

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/4/600137_md-.jpg

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Here's the finished conversion:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/4/600239_mb-.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/4/600240_mb-.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/4/600241_mb-.JPG

[Inquisitor Fox]

I like it :)  Definitely individualized, which is a good thing!

[Grand Master Caloth]

Even tho the hat looks like the one from Dawn of War: Retribution. Lol