Codex: Imperial Agents + Coteaz Reveal + Chamber Militant Battleforces

[Toxichobbit]

4 hours ago, DemonGSides said:

 

There's a navigator that's part of the IG Retinue datasheet but there's nothing in the current Imperial Agents index for him. 

 

Isn't that an Astropath, not a Navigator? I know they're both human psykers but they are quite different. One is blind and the other has a third eye. They should form a band. Could call it "The Human Psykers Band" or something.

[Indy Techwisp]

6 hours ago, Orange Knight said:

It would be pretty cool if this is actually a new Inquisitor who has taken the mantle of "Coteaz"

 

The timeline has advanced. This could be his interrogator ascended to the position. 

 

Funny story about that...

19 hours ago, Indy Techwisp said:

I saw some speculation that this guy isn't the original Coteaz, but a different Inquisitor taking up the Coteaz mantle (which I guess we would learn in codex lore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

Judging by the difference in build, Armour design, species of 2 headed bird and this new model having actual sculpted hair, I'd say it's on to something.

 

[Borbarad]

Tinfoil-hat time:

 

I was around since the 3rd edition; since then we had various kinds of incarnations of an inquisition codex or army list. Every time that army had a short shelf life, fading out of existence. I would be very cautious investing into this codex. It feels like something that will be shelved or at life support at best, when 11th edition roles in.

[Indy Techwisp]

9 minutes ago, Borbarad said:

Tinfoil-hat time:

 

I was around since the 3rd edition; since then we had various kinds of incarnations of an inquisition codex or army list. Every time that army had a short shelf life, fading out of existence. I would be very cautious investing into this codex. It feels like something that will be shelved or at life support at best, when 11th edition roles in.

 

Bigger Tinfoil hat time:

With the inclusion of Deathwatch into this incarnation, a version of what could be called "Codex Alien Hunters" has finally been released and thus the Curse of Inquisition codexes that's been in place since Alien Hunters got cancelled way back in 3rd/4th has now been broken.

 

The Inquisitorial Agents faction can now florish (until like 3 months into 11th when they announce 40k Grand Alliances and proceed to ruin the point of the book entirely by making [Imperium] a legal faction for list building.)

[Nephaston]

Or, everyone invests heavily into this codex so it doesn't immediately get shelved. It's not like GW made this one with zero confidence, they probably hope that it will do better than the iterations from over a decade ago.

[ThePenitentOne]

1 hour ago, Toxichobbit said:

 

Isn't that an Astropath, not a Navigator? I know they're both human psykers but they are quite different. One is blind and the other has a third eye. They should form a band. Could call it "The Human Psykers Band" or something.

 

Nope- this is Imperial Navigator Espern Locarno.

 

If you go to the downloads page and scroll down to the Legends section, there's an Imperial Agents document there- it his him in it. He has two abilities- one called "Third Eye" which battleshocks enemies, and one called "Gaze Into the Immaterium" which prevents deepstrikers from setting up within 12".

 

As they've done with other BSF characters, they'll likely keep the card as is, but change the unit name to Navigator.

 

I'm actually converting an Astropath by cutting the horns off the helmet and putting it on a Delaque body.

[Bouargh]

1 hour ago, Borbarad said:

Tinfoil-hat time:

 

I was around since the 3rd edition; since then we had various kinds of incarnations of an inquisition codex or army list. Every time that army had a short shelf life, fading out of existence. I would be very cautious investing into this codex. It feels like something that will be shelved or at life support at best, when 11th edition roles in.

It is also a known fact that your life expectancy can be seriously shortened once you have been "invited" for a casual chat in any inquisitorial (interrogation) chamber.

In the end there is some poesy in the idea of a swift disappearance.

 

But clearly, a codex made out of a concatenation of various disconnected stuff and trying out to make something consistent out of it looks like a recipe for disaster. A k a antichamber to phase out. So, yes, cautious decisions to be made before spending out too much is a potential consequence. Will depend on unit content though. But I am not that optimist. I guess the teased stuff is the only stuff.

[DemonGSides]

19 minutes ago, ThePenitentOne said:

 

Nope- this is Imperial Navigator Espern Locarno.

 

If you go to the downloads page and scroll down to the Legends section, there's an Imperial Agents document there- it his him in it. He has two abilities- one called "Third Eye" which battleshocks enemies, and one called "Gaze Into the Immaterium" which prevents deepstrikers from setting up within 12".

 

As they've done with other BSF characters, they'll likely keep the card as is, but change the unit name to Navigator.

 

I'm actually converting an Astropath by cutting the horns off the helmet and putting it on a Delaque body.

You're both right and I was wrong!  I misattributed the name (Astropath) from what is in the IG retinue to this guy who's a Navigator.
 

I have him and if I was in need of the Regimental attache's for whatever reason I would probably use him as the model, but you're both correct; this is Espern Locarno, I just mis-titled him.

My b!

[Ioldanach]

This codex has me very excited. From the looks of it, GW won't make it as expansive as I would have liked, but it definitely scratches the Inquisition itch. As much as I love the Deathwatch, I am not averse to seeing them return to something more closely resembling their initial usage (i.e., as a squad that you add to an army of the Imperium). I just wish that GW would do the same things with the Grey Knights (and I have a full army of Titan's champions, so I fully understand how that might not be welcome to many).

 

I really hope that GW doesn't limit players to the named Inquisitors, allowing for unique scratch-built renditions of these characters.

[brother_b]

I feel there is a need for inquisition. They're a huge part of the lore for the Imperium. The game of 40k is skirmish level anyway, it’s not like it’s epic scale or anything. Inquisitors in 40K make more sense to me than Abaddon, Guilliman, or the Avatar of Khaine always showing up.

 

I feel that GW was also looking for a way to continue to make money in 40K on all of the wonderful models they’ve made for kill team, blackstone fortress, etc.

 

I think additional new units such as a basic inquisitor or an inquisition upgrade sprue to work with kasrkin, tempests, IG, etc would also have been a good call.

 

I can’t wait to see what the rules entail and please keep my space apes!

[Timberley]

6 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

Do we have a leaked or confirmed list of what datasheets are in the book?

 

It would be helpful for everyone of course, but regarding Arbites, I was hoping for a Marshall, Judge, vehicles combination. 

I just hope they bring back the Holy Repressor for my Arbites!  Having finally got one, I really want to use it in a 1000pts army...

Edited July 23 by Timberley
I can spell...

[TheVoidDragon]

It's great that theirs finally a codex for them and there's plenty of really cool miniatures so hopefully lots of chances to make a variety of different themed forces...but to me it just seems so lacking, as if they didn't want to give it any proper attention and do things properly.

The Coteaz miniature is just such a downgrade compared to the original. It's took away all the interesting detail and just looks bland and uninspired. It's not very often I think a new miniature is just worse than the previous, but that is one of them. It comes across as like a poorly done imitation of Coteaz that only got half-finished.

Outside of that though, it's the lack of anything else being released alongside the book that's the problem. New Arbites, or a customizable Inquisitor Kit, or different Acolyte teams one for each Ordos, or Inquisitorial Stormtroopers. Something to make it feel like there's actually some substance to this.

Just a shame really as it's a cool idea that's been asked for for a while, there were so many things they could have done miniatures wise, if this is really all there is then it come across as just not putting any real effort in.

[ThePenitentOne]

27 minutes ago, Timberley said:

I just hope they bring back the Holy Repressor for my Arbites!  Having finally got one, I really want to use it in a 1000pts army...

There is a Legends card for it. 

 

Not ideal, obviously, but if you've got the model, there is a way you can use it.

[Nova-V]

I'll mention Coteaz as at this point it seems mandatory!  Awful, odd model, so bad it's a tick against getting the Battleforce with him in.  I do like the bird though.

 

 As someone who thanks to KT and other bits and bobs has built up an Agents backlog I'm very excited by this release.  I wasn't around for the original books so this is my first access to a proper Agents codex.  

 

Two things have struck me as odd.  First is the lack of plastic generic inquisitor.  I know big names like Coteaz sell but I would have thought a generic plastic Inquisitor would have been fairly important to list building.

 

Second is the lack of Scions as requisitioned units.  Scions are trained in the same schools as SoB, Inquisitors, members of the Ecclesiarchy and all manner of other Imperial positions.  The regiments that don't go off to support the Guard are the closest thing the Inquisition has to troops under their direction control.  Kasrkin now taking up the slot of elite guard units that are directly in the Guard command structure and embedded directly into normal guard regiments.  Could've been a good chance to expand and make Scions an army within Agents as long as their was easy rules to allow them into AM armies for existing players.

[Robbienw]

We do need a generic Inquisitor kit for sure.  Also they should have brought back Inquisitorial Storm Troopers in the same style armour as the 2000 3rd edition IG Storm Troopers.

[Marshal Rohr]

Valraks video about this is 100% right. This is all so phoned in. 

[Schrödingers Primarch]

4 minutes ago, Marshal Rohr said:

Valraks video about this is 100% right. This is all so phoned in. 

This is one rumor I wish he was wrong about. From a first preview, it's about as low effort as you can get re-launching a faction. 1 new model and a codex graphic from 2003....

[Castellan Wulfrik]

2 hours ago, TheVoidDragon said:

It's great that theirs finally a codex for them and there's plenty of really cool miniatures so hopefully lots of chances to make a variety of different themed forces...but to me it just seems so lacking, as if they didn't want to give it any proper attention and do things properly.

The Coteaz miniature is just such a downgrade compared to the original. It's took away all the interesting detail and just looks bland and uninspired. It's not very often I think a new miniature is just worse than the previous, but that is one of them. It comes across as like a poorly done imitation of Coteaz that only got half-finished.

Outside of that though, it's the lack of anything else being released alongside the book that's the problem. New Arbites, or a customizable Inquisitor Kit, or different Acolyte teams one for each Ordos, or Inquisitorial Stormtroopers. Something to make it feel like there's actually some substance to this.

Just a shame really as it's a cool idea that's been asked for for a while, there were so many things they could have done miniatures wise, if this is really all there is then it come across as just not putting any real effort in.

I feel exactly the same, I've waited a long time for an Inquisition codex as someone who collected Deathwatch. I've always wanted to field an Ordo Xenos force rather than a pure Deathwatch force, it felt more appropriate as an army. However, I don't see anything interesting from this preview. It looks exceedingly shallow and boring with limited options. I'll reserve final judgment until I see the datasheets but right now it's not looking good at all. Like you said, Scions? Squatted stormtroopers in favour of Scions then seemingly not having them in the codex when it returns seems like a slap in the face. What are the transport options? The way the boxes are set up makes me think it will be quite restrictive, Blackstars, Land Raiders, Valkyries etc, should be accessible to any unit when an inquisitor is in the army. The lack of a generic inquisitor model also has me concerned about the loadout options on the datasheet, but it could go the other way and mean they'll be looser with the options given their record with that. And Coteaz... being shown up by a metal model from, what, 2003? I remember ordering his hammer when they still sold bits separately. 

This is either a really poor preview or a really poor codex, unfortunately I suspect the latter. I have absolutely no confidence the 40K team knows what they're doing or have any good direction and I haven't for several editions now, the studio desperately needs a refresh. 

[ZeroWolf]

31 minutes ago, Schrödingers Primarch said:

This is one rumor I wish he was wrong about. From a first preview, it's about as low effort as you can get re-launching a faction. 1 new model and a codex graphic from 2003....

I'm wondering if it's down to the recent focus on AoS, so this codex was put together as filler if you will. Would work nicely with the idea that the miniature only became Corteaz later in its life so they had something to launch with.

[Emperor Ming]

1 hour ago, Robbienw said:

We do need a generic Inquisitor kit for sure. 

I use inq cartavolnus

 

Amazing model. 

Edited July 24 by Emperor Ming

[ThePenitentOne]

I don't know man, I wrote it a few pages back, and I'll say it again- this release has no new units and only one lackluster model to support it, and yes, that is suboptimal.

 

But the actual book... Just the book, actually looks pretty good. 

 

If it had been as phoned in as everyone is saying, it wouldn't have detachments in the same way the Index didn't have them. Now that would have sucked. The certainly wouldn't have bothered to allow Chamber units to be used with the Assigned Agents rule to totally soup up. They didn't have to fix transports either, but they did that too. And finally, last but not least... CRUSADE!

 

Yes, I had a list of models I was secretly hoping for, but I also know better than to doubt Valrak, so I managed my expectations for models. Did I want Arbites and Navy HQ's? HELL YA! Did I want Arbites bikes and a Repressor? HELL YA! But I was also pretty sure they weren't coming, so for me, a book with Agent detachments, effective Chamber rules, effective transport rules and bespoke Crusade content is an unqualified win.

 

Caveat: One article also couldn't tell us everything, so we don't know whether or not the Valkyrie will be a Navy transport, and that's a bigger deal to me than it should be given how easy that is to houserule if GW doesn't get it right. It's also fair to say that I wished that they had preserved more of the Deathwatch (the Fortis, Indomitor and Spectrus Teams to be specific). Construction of DW armies is also a little vague in this article for anyone to know how good or bad that will be; it depends on how they keyword it; GK and Sisters units that deploy via the Assigned Agents rule will be classified as Requisitioned Agents, meaning you could only bring one Sisters or GK unit with the Inquisition characters and retinue units in a 2k game if you wanted to mix with guard or whatever. But with DW, since we don't have the option of fielding a DW detachment and assigning Inquisition troops to it via assigned Agents like we can for GK or Sisters if we want more than the Requisitioned Agents limit allows, we need to bring lots of DW units to the Space Marine army if we want to simulate a DW army. So hopefully some DW models have the Ordo Xenos keyword so that they can be Assigned Agents that fall under the Retinue or Character categories.

 

I wish I had a better idea about when to expect the release and the Goonhammer review.

 

But the main point is that a lack of new models doesn't mean the book is bad. You have to evaluate the book as the book, and leave the lack of models as its own separate issue. The range still needs a lot of improvement, but the book looks like it's got a lot of potential to me.

[Interrogator Stobz]

As a Grog who already has a Kill Team of SoB, a Deathwatch Kill Team, a squad of Grey Knight Termies I bought for fun, a large variety of Inquisition retinue, several Assassins, two generic Inquisitors, and a just purchased old style Coteaz on the way to my home, I'm looking forward to being thoroughly confused as to which Ordo I want to play. 

 

TBH, they're gonna sit on my shelf until the 10th goes away, but it will be nice to have legal shelf units for a while.

 

I'm also looking forward to Valkeries being allowed as transports, but not holding my breath. 

 

Edited July 24 by Interrogator Stobz

[Gamiel]

12 hours ago, Bouargh said:

But clearly, a codex made out of a concatenation of various disconnected stuff and trying out to make something consistent out of it looks like a recipe for disaster

Or not. It worked very well for Gorkamorka after all.

[son of the forest]

15 hours ago, Indy Techwisp said:

 

Funny story about that...

 

Just seen that there's a Coteaz novel on the way by Darius Hinks, which might explain somethings.

[Captain Idaho]

I don't like that art. It seems like an amateur or fan made attempt at an existing art or model piece.

 

Could Coteaz have been designed as a generic or different Inquisitor? Yeah maybe, but who cares - still looks rubbish either way. 

Edited July 24 by Captain Idaho