The workhorses of the Inquisition part 1

For each Inquisitor in a Grey Knight army you may take a single Inquisitorial Warband. These warbands are a non-elite elite choice (they do not take a force orginaztion slot but are in the elite section) and by now we all know how precious the Grey Knight elites are, the warband is not to be excluded.  These are made up of many different units (or just one). They have a squad size of 3-12 and can be comprised of any combination of units. They can also take a Rhino, Razorback or Chimera as a transport. This unit is a great way to fill gaps in your army, create a theme or in one case get really cheap troops.

I’ll cover a few of the units this time and the rest later. It would be a really long post if I went over all the choices.

Arco Flagellants

Take a convict, add in crazy kill drug dispensers, replace their arms with metal whips, electro saws or some pointy killing device, throw on a helm to keep him calm and then implant a phrase to make him go kill crazy. Say “Teddy Bear” and watch this guy turn into a choppy death machine. That is an Arco Flagellants.

These guys come with WS 5, BS 1, strength 5, toughness 3, 1 wound, 4 attacks, initiative 3, leadership 8 and no save. They do come with Feel No Pain. They will run the cost of a Chaos Marine.



"The activation phrase..FIG NUTS."

Crusaders

These are holy rollin’ warriors. They can be special honor guards or religious fanatics, but either way they have some martial prowess.

They are WS 4, BS 3, strength, toughness, initiative 3, have 1 wound and attack, leadership 8 and a 5+/3++ save. They come armed with flak armor, power weapon and storm shield, and same cost as an Arco.

"Have at you with my strength 3 power weapon!"

Death Cult Assassins

They’re followers of in a Death Cult, be it Imperial or otherwise. Do I really need to explain what these girls (for some reason they always are girls) stand for and do?

The ladies bring WS 5, BS 3, strength 4, toughness 3, 1 wound, initiative 6, 2 attacks, leadership 8, a 5+/5++ save and Uncanny Reflexes. They are armed with two power weapons and flak armor. They are the same cost as Arcos and Crusaders.

Uncanny Reflexes-gives these girls a 5++ save.

It should be less post-punk rock and more stabby girls in vinyl body suits.

Banisher

What is the Inquisition without holy warriors with chainsaws? Well, nothing really.  These guys are a lesser version of the Imperial Guard Priest. They are sort of the anti-demon priest.

WS 3, BS 3, strength, toughness and initiative 3, 1 attack and wound, leadership 8 a 5+ save, and Aura of Faith. They are armed with flak armor, las pistol, chain sword and eviscerator (power fist for those lacking the knowledge). He also comes with the same price tag as the following three.

Aura of Faith- will force all demons (and units that qualify for demon status) within 6” of this guy, to re-roll successful invulnerable saves.

I'm probably underutilized by people.

 Mystic

These are minor psykers that are pulled into the service of the Inquisition. They aren’t melting faces, shooting warp energy from their bum, throwing tanks at people or turning the battle ground to feta cheese. Their cool warp power is…..G.P.S.

A WS 3, BS 3, strength toughness and initiative 3, 1 wound and attack, leadership 8, a 5+ save and Psychic Beacon is what they have. They are armed with a las pistol and flak armor. He costs five points less than the previous entries.

Psychic Beacon- basically makes them a teleport homer. Any squad deep striking within 6” of a Mystic will not scatter. They must be on the table the turn before you can use them.



A basic 40K Mystic

Warrior Acolyte

Much like the Death Cult, these guys do not need a lot of explanation. They fight things and can be Guardsmen, Arbites, Skitarii or anything else.

They have a familiar stat line; WS 3, BS 3, strength, toughness and initiative 3, 1 wound and attack, leadership 8 and a 5+ save. They come with flak armor, las pistol and chain sword. These guys are stupid cheap at 2+2 points. Yeah, they are that cheap.

This is the only unit that can purchase upgrades. Any member may replace their pistol and/ or chain sword with; a bolter +1, a storm bolter +3 or a hot shot lasgun for +5.

Up to three members may replace pistol and/or sword with; combi-weapon any flavor +10, plasma gun, melta gun or flamer +10, power weapon or plasma pistol +15, storm shield +20, or power fist +25.

Any member may take carapace armor +4, power armor +10 or melta bombs +5.



Instead of melta bombs its gasoline and hand grenades!





Thoughts on this batch of henchmen

Arco Flagellants- great strength and number of attacks. Initiative and toughness bite a bit. No armor and no grenades bites a lot. Feel No Pain can help, but isn't stellar.

Crusaders- strength 3 power weapon and one attack, pass. A single wound toughness 3 model with a storm shield seems like a waste of points. If you want these guys stop and instead spend those points on more of these....

Death Cult- these are very popular and they should be. Initiative 6, two power weapons and strength 4. Sure their toughness and save are pretty bad, that should be over looked by their offensive awesome potential. Think about a Grey Knight or Inquisitor with Hammerhand in a squad of these ladies. Yeah, awesome offensive potential.

Banishers- are not terrible, but nowhere near great. They have a use and that is to ruin Fateweaver's day. heck it will ruin any demon's day. I know how awful demon save is to make. I internally celebrate each 5++ I make with demons. Now if I had to re-roll those I would probably die a little on the inside. Is he a must have, no. Is he useful? It depends on your area. For me hell yeah he is useful! Since I see at least one if not 2 Demon Princes a game. His eviscerator is sort of an after thought, since he only has one attack. I think his ability is much better than his weapon.

Mystic-well if you like to deep strike and want some security then this guy is almost a must. A teleport homer is great but it has to be on table a turn prior and in the right position when your teleporters are ready. At least he doesn't have to psy test for his ability to work, and it cannot be shut down. Sadly he is probably one of the least needed henchmen in the list.

Warrior Acolyte-is a very interesting choice. They can be cheap diversions or expensive wanna-be Marines.I like the options for this unit. I played them once and thought carapace and storm bolters on eight members was descent. I liked the 24 shots within 24" range. Then I threw them in a Chimera for fun and movement. They also had a couple of lazer monkeys and Coteaz but I'll get to them later. The problem I have is pricing on weapons. Why are a flamer, melta and plasma gun all +10 points? I guess that is cheap plasma gun, but an expensive flamer. I'm not sure who would add power armor to a Guardsman either? Carapace doubles their price and gives them some protection, but it isn't necessary. The same goes for the close combat options. They are nice and fun, but does anyone really want a Guardsmen with storm shield and power weapon? Who the hell is he going to scare? There are much much better close combat units in this codex than Acolytes. Keep these guys cheap and shooty.

Well that is about 1/2 the list of units for the Inquisitorial Warband. Then we have some of the crazier and more expensive units to review next.