Warhammer 40K: Imperial Agents Detachments – The Ordos & Rogue Traders Arrive
Today we get a quick summary and rules preview for the detachments inside Codex: Imperial Agents. Call in the Ordos and Rogue Trader support!
I’m going to be blunt here: the Imperial Agents Codex is a weird one. It’s a hodgepodge of units all tossed together into one book. We’ve got three different Ordos together plus Rogue Traders and Inquisitors. I’m still waiting to see how this one shakes out. At least for today’s preview we’re getting a better idea of the detachments in the book and how those will function. At least players are going to have loads of options to use.
“Codex: Imperial Agents contains thematic Detachments that give your army special rules to reflect the unique ways many forces in the 41st Millennium fight. While every Inquisitor has their own particular ways of purging aliens, mutants, or heretics, the skills taught by their Ordos give them all some commonality, and the three most important – the Ordo Xenos, the Ordo Hereticus, and the Ordo Malleus – make up three of the four Detachments in the book.”
Imperial Agents Detachments
You’re probably familiar with the three Ordos of the Imperial Agents: the Ordo Xenos, the Ordo Hereticus, and the Ordo Malleus. These make up three of the detachments in the book. Here’s a quick summary for each based on the info from GW:
- Ordo Xenos – This is the Deathwatch army detachment. They will be able to switch “between Mission Tactics to impart powerful bonuses like Precision, Sustained Hits, and Lethal Hits on their attacks when the perfect moment arises.“
- Ordo Hereticus – This is the “Witch Hunters” army with Adepta Sororitas and Imperial Cult allies. The “Purgation Force prefers the purifying flame to root out cowardly foes, giving their ranged weapons Ignores Cover and becoming especially powerful when targeting hordes of Chaos troops.“
- Ordo Malleus – The “Daemon Hunters” army detachment with Grey Knight units as primary focus. With this detachment units will “reroll Hit rolls of 1, extending to rerolling Wound rolls of 1 against Daemons.“
Obviously, for each of these detachments, they will have their own batch of Enhancements and Stratagems for their respective unit focus. I’m really hoping we see some fancy weapon options for all three Ordos in the mix!
Rogue Traders, Ahoy!
The final Detachment is the Imperialis Fleet and it looks pretty funky. This is where all those Rogue Traders can be most useful.
“This Detachment provides a flexible set of rules that use Voidfarer units like the Rogue Trader Entourage and Navy Breachers while still supporting every other unit in the Codex. The Detachment rule At All Costs rewards careful focus, either maximising firepower against dangerous enemies with Eliminate At All Costs or rendering troops defending a key objective immensely hard to shift with Acquire At All Costs.”
The Imperialis Fleet having access to those more …eclectic units from Kill Team does open up some options. I’m curious to see how well those Navy Breachers will perform in this detachment. At least their Enhancements look promising.
Dropping some Breachers in the backfield could really muck up the enemy plans. And hey, they do like it danger close! And if you’re worried about just using lasguns and combat shotguns, there’s a Stratagem for that…
Unleash the Violent Acquisition upon your foes! Or something. I’m not really sure what the Imperial Navy Breachers battle cry is. But say that when they open fire.
Again, I think this codex is going to be a strange one to play. Also keep in mind that you can still mix these units together as they are all under that Imperial Agents umbrella. I honestly want to get a closer look at the rules in this book for that very reason. At this point, I can’t tell if this one is going to be a hot mess or some secret meta-breaking army. I’m sure Deathwatch players are still mad about losing their own codex. At the same time this one could be pretty competitive with all the different options they have access to. It’s gonna get weird, man.
A grab-bag of orphaned units? I mean…it could would with the right rules…maybe?
