The Watcher sets his gaze on The Redeemers

[Bukimimaru]

A very good afternoon to you my Brothers.

 

I've been collecting Blood Angels for several months now and I'm greatly enjoying the new Codex.

 

As I've explained in my blog over in the BA forums, I'm more interested in the painting /fluff side of the hobby and although I do really enjoy playing, the games are usually casual narrative or story driven affairs.

 

 

 

I've been working on some fluff involving my Chapter and I've introduced "Inquisitor Pattan", aka "The Watcher" to the story. He goes from Space Marine Chapter to Space Marine Chapter making sure there’s no funny business going on and he's taken a special interest in my successor chapter "The Redeemers" due to their... less than virtuous qualities.

 

 

 

I'd really like to field a small detachment to represent The Watcher and his cronies on the battlefield, so I've purchased the Inquisition Codex. I must say, it's left me more than a little puzzled. For such a small "army", the Inquisitors have access to a dumbfounding amount of Henchmen/Sidekicks etc, as well as special issue wargear and accessories. I was hoping I could draw on this fine forum's collective knowledge to help me make a decent first step in building my Warband.

 

 

 

My typical Blood Angel list is pretty standard fare; drop-pods with Meltacide assault squads, a couple of drop-podded Dreadnaughts and multiple units of Jump Infantry. The whole army is designed to get in my opponents face and reliably get the charge bonuses the new codex has to offer. I'd like to build my Inquisitor detachment with this theme in mind.

 

 

 

My humble question to you all is this:

 

Where do I start?

 

What Ordo would be able to offer the most benefits to my theme?

Should I "counts-as" one of the named inquisitors, or scratch build one?

 

 

Thanks in advance for your valued assistance.

 

Maru.

 

[*Furyou Miko]

Ordo Hereticus would be the fluffiest for an Inquisitor who specialises in examining Imperial assets for heresy.

 

The Inquisitor is definitely the place to start. Given the theme of your Blood Angels, I'd move on to an Inquisitorial Valkyrie to let them keep up with the podding Astartes.

 

As far as his duties of 'eliminating Marines' goes, the most tabletop-effective warband would probably be made up of Priests, Crusaders and Death Cultists, possibly with a Psyker for support (especially since the Hereticus Inquisitor's psychic powers are limited).

[Bukimimaru]

Thanks Miko, Thats really helpful.

I'd never even considered getting a Valkyrie, I'm always compaining that my BA only has access to a StormRaven.

 

I'll have another snoop over the codex tonight and take another look at the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor.

 

I'll let you guys know how I get on, I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions for y'all.

 

----------------------

 

Ok, I've had another look over the codex and I've settled on a Loadout for the Watcher.

 

The Watcher: ML1, Power sword, Infernus Pistol, 3 Servo Skulls.

 

A few things I'd like to bring up:

• Man, the inquisitors are seriously squishy. I had always pictured them as being super bad ass and tough to kill, but T3 with 4+ save? Thats pretty weak sauce. I suppose they are mega cheap.
• The Warlord Traits are awesome.
• What would you guys recommend for a small retenue to follow him around?

[Father Mehman]

Well, you can't have enough priests. Something about a holy man screaming blessings to his allies and curses at the foe all whilst handling a huge chainsword really does it for me. "Kill 'em all and let the Emperor sort them out!" That sort of thing.

 

Crusaders are another great unit to have. They come with Storm Shields (if my memory serves) and Power Swords so that's a huge plus. They'd be great at protecting your Inquisitor.

 

Death Cult Assasins are also good to have around, especially when charging. Let them loose and watch everything die.

 

Also, for a few points you can upgrade your Inquisitor to have Power Armour. You'll be kitbashing him at this point so why not? If yours has a Psychic Mastery Level, go with a Force Sword- you'll not use his charge for anything else, really, and you get Instant Death if you can "cast" it.

 

Hope this helps!

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Force sword comes for free with the pdsyker upgrade. It works like a power sword when it's not "charged up" by a psychic power so no reason to buy a power sword.

 

I agree power armour is points well spent. I agree it's annoying we can't soup our inquisitors up like we used to. They should have canines stats and more access to wargear IMO. But such is life. A Rosarius for Hereticus would make sense to me.

 

For warband it all depends on the battlefield role you envision for your inquisitor and friends.

[Bukimimaru]

Eventually I want to add The Watcher's Twin Sister, and Ordo Malius Inquisitor. I haven’t come up with a name yet, but I'm pretty sure you can take a second Inquisitor in the same detachment. My current unit will be geared more towards combat and His Sister's unit will be more Dakka. (if that’s a legitimate build for a small Inquisitor unit).

 

 

For now I'd like to try and keep the points for The Watcher at around 250pts, does that sound feasible for an Inquisitor detachment?

 

I was thinking something like:

 

The Watcher: ML1, Power Armour, Force sword, Infernus Pistol, 3 Servo Skulls.

2X Death Cult assassins (for the damage in combat) 

2x Crusaders (To tank ap2)

1X Valkrie Dedicated transport.

 

• Am I missing any obvious "Must take" bodyguards?
• Is the Valkrie an assault vehicle?
• There doesn’t seem to be much Dakka to choose from, have I missed anything I could take to support shooting?

[Charlo]

Servitors can have heavy weapons, Jokeros too.

 

The Acolytes also can grab special weapons!

[Bukimimaru]

So maybe Keep the Watcher and his C/C guys in a Valkrie, then when I take a second inquisitor, kit her our with 2x needlers and some Servitors in a Razorback?

[Father Mehman]

You could definitely do that with her. Plus, she'll get the Gunslinger Special Rule and that's always a tremendous amount of fun.

 

She could take all Servitors but maybe consider adding an Acolyte or two. Heavy Weapons are great but so are Storm Bolters and Flamers. That would leave you with a gap in her defence; close combat. A Priest armed with an Eviscerator should handle anything thrown your way.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

I would suggest trying to find the points to add a priest to the Watchers' squad since the Battle Hymns will seriously buff the assassins and crusaders.

 

I would also suggest considering having them ride in a Storm Raven "borrowed" from your Blood Angels, so that they can assault out of their ride. As-is, riding in a Valkyrie, they have to mill around for a turn eating enemy fire before they can charge anything.

 

For the shooty twin sister, I agree with the suggestion to add some cheap acolytes as bullet-catchers and additional firepower (I believe an acolyte with a storm bolter is a mere 7 points, or 5 points for an acolyte with bolter). Jokaeros are pricy but can add much fun to a shooty henchman squad. Or a dirt-cheap psyker (2 meltabombs) for some divination goodness. If you want to give the shooty squad some close-combat insurance, I would opt for a crusader or two versus the priest. They can tank wounds and keep the squad alive and a lone priest is much better as part of a close combat unit where his buffs pay a much higher dividend and make his price more worthwhile.

[Bukimimaru]

Thanks guys, some really sound advice there. I always take a Storm Raven with my BA, but I hadn't even thought about putting him in there. That will free up a lot of points I can spend on more bodyguards.

 

How's this:

 

+++ The Watcher (496pts) +++

 

++ Inquisition: Codex (2013) (Inquisitorial Detachment) ++

 

+ HQ +

 

Patton The Watcher - Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor [Force Sword, Inferno Pistol, Power Armour, Psyker (Mastery Level 1), 3x Servo Skulls]

 

Romani - Ordo Xenos Inquisitor [2x Needle Pistol, Power Armour]

 

+ Elites +

 

Romani's Warband - Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband [Crusader, Jokaero Weaponsmith]

····Acolyte [Chainsword, Hot Shot Lasgun, Power Armour]

····Acolyte [Chainsword, Hot Shot Lasgun, Meltabombs, Power Armour]

····Acolyte with Special Weapon [Chainsword, Meltagun, Power Armour]

····Acolyte with Special Weapon [Chainsword, Meltagun, Power Armour]

····Acolyte with Special Weapon [Chainsword, Meltagun, Power Armour]

····Servitor (Heavy Weapon) [Multi-melta]

····Servitor (Heavy Weapon) [Multi-melta]

 

The Watcher's Warband - Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband [2x Crusader, 2x Death Cult Assassin, Psyker, 2x Servitor]

····Acolyte [Chainsword, Flak Armour, Storm Bolter]

····Acolyte [Chainsword, Flak Armour, Storm Bolter]

····Acolyte [Chainsword, Flak Armour, Storm Bolter]

····Ministorum Priest [Eviscerator, Laspistol]

 

The Inquisitors with their relative war bands come to around 250points each.

Patton gets a lift in the Storm Raven, Romani "borrows" a drop pod.

 

The fun part is going to be sourcing and kit bashing all the Warband models. :)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

YMMV, but personally I think that armour upgrades for acolytes are so overpriced that it's not worth it. With all the points saved on the power armour you can bring more crusaders to tank wounds.

 

As for the Watcher's warband, my experience has been that ranged weapons are wasted on them and you're better having more DCA and crusaders so that you blend them in hand-to-hand right proper (for example an additional DCA who is only a few pts more than a storm bolster acolyte will do way more damage).