Goatboy’s 40K: No One Expects the White Dwarf Inquisition
The White Dwarf Inquisition rules are here, let’s chit chat about them as I flip through the new White Dwarf.
The new Inquisition rules came out and we have another nail in the coffin that is the removal of the Index books. Overall there isn’t crazy things but it does add another bullet to the crazy gun that is the current Marine codex. Heck – I expect at least one Inquisitor to show up when you have points left over and want a buddy who can cast 2 spells and deny 2 wrapped up in Terminator armor.
The book gives you all the components you need to make an Inquisition detachment. They kept all the special characters we all know and love. You got the guy riding in a giant rascal. The bird lover man. The lady with an excellent hat. Heck they even have that one dude who is all into the exorcist and stuff. Overall the characters are ok if a bit over costed. I think Inquisitor Greyfax is pretty interesting in that she has two denies with a +1. Overall the characters are the same sorts of things we expected from a reworked Inquisition book.
Say Yes to the Inquisition
On top of this they did add the one rule that will allow these guys to work in the current top dog Imperium armies. You can always take one single Inquisitor in an all Imperium army that doesn’t take up a slot and it doesn’t turn off those armies abilities that require all units to be the same. Take that Assassins! Heck I bet Assassins get this sneakily updated when Chapter Approved comes out and they shove in the Assassin rules in there. Lord just give Marines more awesome stuff why don’t ya? Anyway this mixed with the ability for an Assassin to ride in any vehicle means these guys are gonna show up. Admech would love to have some anti psychic support as well as guard armies having some extra special buddies to throw some spells on. They also have a Quarry rule that gives your Inquisitor units rerolls versus specific stuff based on what they hate. They mostly hate Chaos but Psykers and Xenos are also added. It usually gives you reroll hit and wound options so it could be a big screw you to some daemon players.
Psychic Powers
Speaking of spells – the Inquisition has its own spell set. There is a no need for Morale spell that seems interesting in there. There is also another no overwatch option that can be cast on an enemy unit. I shudder to think of how rough it could be for Tau with one of these guys, some White Scar friends, and big blob of bikers screaming in. Heck the Ordo Malleus power helps an Infantry/Biker unit by giving the unit a 5++ invulnerable save. That isn’t to bad for one of the models I expect to show up in peoples list. Having a Terminator come down, throw out a useful spell or two and be a pain to remove might be good. Especially on a pretty cheap body.
Warlord Traits
The Warlord traits are ok with other options to gain Command Points (handy for armies that want one as you can give an Inquisitor a Warlord trait). There is another neat one that gives you the ability to reroll one hit, wound, psychic test, damage roll, and one deny the witch roll. The Order Hereticus special trait could be neat as it removes the ability of an unit to fall back on a 4+ if it doesn’t have a minimum move characteristic. It’s cute but I don’t see that one being used as much as someone would want it too. It takes being in combat with your Inquisitor and while they are not too bad – they are not the best in combat. I expect the double psychic powers/denies or the Radical all the rerolls one would be the best.
Relics
The relics are kind of boring with two swords, digital weapons (did they have a sale on it cuz all these Imperial armies get em), A pistol, some kind of shroud, and poisons. I feel that these are a let down as they could have gone nuts with some of the options. We don’t need the old grenades back – but at the very least we could have had some wacky laser beam weapon and maybe some kind of brown noise inducing space ape device. The Stratagem that gives your model a warlord trait also gives them a relic so something will be taken. It all depends on what you want to do with them. The shroud or the Tainted Blade could be fun. The Tainted blade is like a Daemon Weapon where you roll a d6 to see if the weapon works. If it does – for every saving throw the target fails after getting hit and wounded by the weapon the bearer can make an extra attack that doesn’t stack. It seems fun and you can do something cool by modeling a radical sword on an Inquisitor.
Strats
There are only 4 stratagems with one I’ve already talked about. There is another orbital bombardment option for 4 CP that picks a point and you roll 2d6 for the range from that point. Every unit within range you roll a 4+ and subtract 1 for characters. 4+ they take d3 mortal wounds. You could easily stack this with some Imperial fist options or Impulsor nonsense to start rolling a ton of dice to mortal wound out your friends. I don’t know how good it could be but it would be a serious troll army. There is a gain d3 command points if you kill a character as well. You have some options for better overwatch on friendly units within 6″ of the inquisitor as well. The Warlord trait and the Orbital bombardment might see some usage. Thankfully the bombardment is only a once per game or it could get nutty.
The Units
Finally we have the same units from before – Daemonhosts, Acolytes, and Jokaeros. Acolytes seem interesting in that you can give them all Storm Bolters and at 10 points apiece it could be neat. That is a lot of cheap bullets you can have pile out of a Rhino to throw some damage out. I don’t expect to see much of these guys as the Inquisition detachments only let you have one Inquisitor in them. As that is your only HQ choice it becomes hard to build that non soup based Battalion to gain the Command points. I am sure there is a way to game it using some soup options as Acolytes can be purchased as a single model and when so it gains the Character keyword. Kind of annoying that little guy but something to think about.
Overall the big add ons is having a Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator armor, Daemon Hammer, Storm bolter for 111 points. Throw in 2 psychic spells and you got something to think about. Heck the new Black Templar rules showcase a great place for this model to ride around in with a Lander Raider Crusader full of Vanguard Vets/Sword dudes ready to jump out and throw some damage on some unsuspecting Heretics.
What do you think about the new Inquisitor rules? Is having a cheap troop option for a Soup based army an issue? Are we going to see the return of Acolyte Circus?
