Ministorum Priest..

[thraxdown]

Does anyone take this guy? For 25 pts you give a melee focused unit zealot, plus whatever you get from his war hymns. Seems a pretty good deak to me. What's the best way to kit one out? Combi melta, but lose one attack? I would want to take an eviscerator but that will more than double the cost of the initial investment, I doubt that would be worth it. Or is barebones the way to go, especially since the laspistol and ccw puts you at 3 attacks base?

[Tempuss]

I like to keep him bare bones. With crappy leadership they are not always going to get the hymns off. better to have two than one all tooled up. If you need that AP2 go for the hymn that give him smash.

[casb1965]

Yeah barebones is best and keep him near the back of the unit as well. Remember zealot will give the whole unit a re-roll to hit in their first round of combat in addition to any war hymn you manage to get off.

[Servant of Dante]

If war hymns are the same as sisters ministorum priests then in assault you can take a leadership test and if you pass choose to give the priest smash, have everyone re-roll to wound, or have everyone re-roll armor and invuln

 

Very useful for the points. Even though he's only Ld 7

[WarriorFish]

Hymns are their main point, I agree they should be kept cheap :)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

As with others I always bring one for any inquisitorial war and I expect to see some close combat. I keep him bare bones since he's not that good in combat so not worth the points. You want to keep him near the back using his hymns.

[thraxdown]

Subquestion - Any advice on how to keep the priest from getting murdered in a challenge?

[WarriorFish]

Any character can accept challenges, having more than one so you can choose who takes the challenge is the only protection. Though if he refuses and hangs back he may not fight, but his hymns should still work?

[Lord_Caerolion]

Well, what about a Gun-slinger Priest? Laspistol/bolt-pistol, or laspistol/plasma-pistol? The bolt pistol combo costs pretty much nothing. I only ask since I'm thinking of counting one of my converted Acolytes as this, as a bit of a "convert up a cool looking model first, then think of the rules" type occurrence. :p

[angrom]

If I'm right when you take the leadership test to pass the priest prayer if there is an inquisitor in the unit you can use the maximum leadership so 10, that make him much more reliable.

Otherwise i always equip my priest with a power axe (yes he can!) because inquisition lack of ap2 weapons but have tons of ap3.

[casb1965]

If I'm right when you take the leadership test to pass the priest prayer if there is an inquisitor in the unit you can use the maximum leadership so 10, that make him much more reliable.

Otherwise i always equip my priest with a power axe (yes he can!) because inquisition lack of ap2 weapons but have tons of ap3.

 

Nice spot I hadn't considered the Power Axe as an option but it does say a "Power Weapon" not "Power Sword" as an upgrade.

[Father Mehman]

I think it says the Priest takes the test, not the highest Leadership value. I'm not sure as I don't have the rules to hand. Never mind, I have them now. Yeah, it says he/she has to take the test- there is no majority rule mentioned.

Anyway, since I don't have to dump most of my models in the Atlantic now, I think more Priests must be made. Barebones Priests are fine for those newly inducted to the cloth but nothing says Ecclesiarchy like an eviscerator / flamer ! That'll be my next project I think. I digress.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Any character can accept challenges, having more than one so you can choose who takes the challenge is the only protection. Though if he refuses and hangs back he may not fight, but his hymns should still work?

 

I'd have to re-read the rules on challenges and what happens when you decline. I think you may be right that the hymn still takes effect though.

 

Although in my experience, I've found that my opponents rarely remember that the priest is a character and neglect to issue challenges. Or my Inquisitor takes the challenge.

[thraxdown]

I missed the rosarius whenever I looked over the rules earlier.  A 4++ is pretty nice.  Another question I have, since the war hymns rules state "A model with this special rule can take a leadership test...." Does that mean if you took two in a unit you could cast two separate war hymns? 

 

I'm thinking about running one with a group of DCA and crusaders in a LRR, and leaving my two inquisitors with the two shooty warbands.

[angrom]

@Mehman,  yes the rule is the priest have to pass a leadership test to pass the prayer, but in the general rule book it also say that a leadership test can always use the highest leadership in the unit.  If the inquisition codex did say that the priest had to pass a characteristic test based on the leadership it would have been different. as it is mentioned it is not different than a moral check.

[Father Mehman]

@Mehman,  yes the rule is the priest have to pass a leadership test to pass the prayer, but in the general rule book it also say that a leadership test can always use the highest leadership in the unit.  If the inquisition codex did say that the priest had to pass a characteristic test based on the leadership it would have been different. as it is mentioned it is not different than a moral check.

It is different than a Morale test because it's not a Morale test.

 

Here's where I don't follow: the Inquisition Codex clearly says the Priest has to take the test- a characteristic test based on his own Leadership. If I need to quote the rule exactly as it's written, and I think I'll have to in this case, here it is:

 

"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." Codex: Inquisition (iPad Enhanced Edition Page 93)

 

The only unit in the entire Codex with the War Hymns special rule is the Ministorum Priest, thus, he is the one to take the test. If we're talking about Morale, yes, you can use the highest Leadership Value in the unit. In this case, we're not talking about Morale tests but a characteristic test.

[Plasmablasts]

Another benefit of priests: they are the only henchmen with access to frag grenades if your warband is not accompanying an Inquisitor.

 

They're also a means for a warband accompanying Coteaz to get them, since he apparently left them on the shelf in his shed...

[angrom]

@Mehman,  i agree with you the codex syntax is really weird.

but here what the GRB says, "if a unit has to take a leadership test and includes models with different Ld values, always use the highest Ld from among them"

For me that make sense in a fluff way that the presence of an inquisitor is gonna make his motivation boosted to the sky.

I personally always play the priest with an inquisitor with rad grenades in a unit of crusaders with 2 to 3 assassin in a land rider crusader

It is not cheap but this is our ultimate melee unit than can hold against almost everything.

Just be careful to not let your priest exposed on one side of the unit otherwise a smart opponent will move according to that on a side or deep strike on the priest side and the next shooting phase will most probably kill him first.

[thraxdown]

What's the consensus on taking multiple priests and using multiple hymns each assault phase in the same unit?

[angrom]

You can take multiple priest and use a different prayer for each of them, but you have to pass a test for each of them

just remember that you can't reroll a reroll.

So i recommend one priest for reroll saves, and one to reroll wounding

Also to notice that the priest give the zealot rule to the unit which allow you to reroll fail to hit on the assault phase

 

So imagine with rad grenades, the turn you assault, reroll to hit , reroll to wound with 5 attacks S4 ap3 attacks / assassins

and a -1 to T of the enemy  It is brutal.

[thraxdown]

Thanks. I'll try an inquisitor with rad grenades instead of a second priest i think

[Goonbandito]

@Mehman,  i agree with you the codex syntax is really weird.

but here what the GRB says, "if a unit has to take a leadership test and includes models with different Ld values, always use the highest Ld from among them"

For me that make sense in a fluff way that the presence of an inquisitor is gonna make his motivation boosted to the sky.

I personally always play the priest with an inquisitor with rad grenades in a unit of crusaders with 2 to 3 assassin in a land rider crusader

It is not cheap but this is our ultimate melee unit than can hold against almost everything.

Just be careful to not let your priest exposed on one side of the unit otherwise a smart opponent will move according to that on a side or deep strike on the priest side and the next shooting phase will most probably kill him first.

You need to read a bit further in the BRB - it specifies the difference between a Unit taking a leadership test (eg a Morale test, where you use the highest Ld of the Unit) and a model taking a Leadership test (in which case you use the individual models leadership stat). That rule got specifically tightened in 7th Edition, whereas in 6th Edition it was ambiguous.

 

In short, you need to test War Hymns on the Priests own Ld7.

 

Ministorum Priests are fantastic though. I use them in Guard and Sisters armies, and they provide excellent utility. Particularly in a Sisters army, where they can take a 15pt relic which lets them auto-pass the War Hymn check. I normally take two - 1 for Re-Roll saving throws, and 1 to Re-roll To Wounds. Plus they provide Zealot, which grants their unit both Fearless and Hatred - thats almost worth it alone.