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Eisenhorn looks pretty decent. Not great, but decent. I really wish we had some more options in terms of hitting things in the face better, but maybe that's being reserved for the codex and more play testing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thinking of things I feel like we're missing: Interrogators. Read Carrion Throne a couple days ago (and excluding the awesomeness of a human bashing heretics with an Astartes Crozius Arcanum aside) it really pushed a kind of dual leadership thing between the two. Kind of like an Astartes Captain and Lieutenant kind of deal. I hope we get rules to represent that in the codex.

 Fafnir wrote:
The big problem with GW's "no models, no rules" policy facing the Inquisition is that they had always been built from the ground up as being the faction meant for individual expression above all else. They were built from the ground up to rely heavily on converted models, since every Inquisitor is meant to be unique and eccentric. They've been on the losing end of this policy for years, getting options constantly cut. There is no way that they could have come out of this on top, not through GW's lens. They simply will never be able to pump out enough variety of models to fill the scope of the Inquisition, because the Inquisition's scope is infinite.

What needs to happen for the Inquisition to ever be a remotely fun or remotely viable faction is for GW to step back on their policy. Properly acknowledge that certain factions, most namely the Inquisition, should be made with advanced modellers with an eye for customization in mind. Make some core kits, but market them as a basis for converting and combining with other GW products. You could even twist it as a throwback to earlier eras to draw on the nostalgia factor.

I feel like this would be easily covered by a special rule. Give Acolytes a mid range PPM, a human stat line, a laspistol, the freedom to be modeled with any equipment, and a rule like "In each turn the Acolyte may enhance the hit roll, wound roll, armor save, damage, range, number of attacks, etc by a total of plus whatever. This represents the flexibility of the Inquisition's elite training and esoteric arsenal." One turn they could all produce vibroblades, the next turn magnetic breaching charges, the next some ridiculous hand cannon, and so on. You might need BS2+ to hit some infiltrators one turn and S5 melee to beat down a monster the next. The player (and the Inquisitor) has a true jack of all trades warband and we can all use our funkiest models.

I have always loved the Inquisition for 40k, one of the best backgrounds and model ranges...(includes all of the armies you can use with them of course).

As all of you know, playing them has been much tougher. I don't think I have ever beat anyone with them, (this is of course because I play more casual and I build for theme over power).

Right now, I am playing a 2000 point list:

x2 Blackstars with x3 Inquisitors in Terminator armor in each Blackstar (Theme build)
Greyfax with x6 Acolytes
Vindicare & Culexus Assassin
Palidin Knight Lord of War

I am seriously looking at replacing the Knight with a Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight armor. Group is currently playing a lot of big stuff: Knights, Magnus, Lord of Change, Blood Thirsters and Rouboute etc

Is there anything you can suggest that can be added like a Grey Knight, Space Marine........DeathWatch, Chaos model that can be played that fits into an Inquisitor theme and makes it a little more competitive?

Custodes shield captain on jetbike or three

since we're wishlisting:

Codex released not as a standalone thing, but something close to imperial agents. HOWEVER:

Rules wishlisting:
Not expanded units, but simply a rule similar to "authority of the inquisition" that allows inquisitorial units to not count against other factions for the purposes of battle forging. This would make embedding inqusitors and specialist acolyte units easy to integrate with other imperial armies as it should be.

Unit wishlisting:

Inqusitors regain power armor and a wider weapon selection, make the 'default' wargear match the currently sold inquisitor model to satisfy the "codex matches model" clause.

Acolytes get a much wider arsenal, and the ability to take carapace and PA back, but the "default" wargear matches the kit (preferably some new DW style box) edit: bonus points here if there are rules for some of the more exotic stuff in the necromunda boxes, like combi-needlers


retain quarry and the ability to jack transports, and the army would be in the best place it's been since 2nd ed.

 WindstormSCR wrote:
since we're wishlisting:

Codex released not as a standalone thing, but something close to imperial agents. HOWEVER:

Rules wishlisting:
Not expanded units, but simply a rule similar to "authority of the inquisition" that allows inquisitorial units to not count against other factions for the purposes of battle forging. This would make embedding inqusitors and specialist acolyte units easy to integrate with other imperial armies as it should be.

Unit wishlisting:

Inqusitors regain power armor and a wider weapon selection, make the 'default' wargear match the currently sold inquisitor model to satisfy the "codex matches model" clause.

Acolytes get a much wider arsenal, and the ability to take carapace and PA back, but the "default" wargear matches the kit (preferably some new DW style box) edit: bonus points here if there are rules for some of the more exotic stuff in the necromunda boxes, like combi-needlers


retain quarry and the ability to jack transports, and the army would be in the best place it's been since 2nd ed.

I do wish they would expand the rule, to make it so that dedicated transports don't break the inquisition faction

AdmiralHalsey wrote:
Concerning.

Even legendary inquisitors from novels with their own custom made figures apparently still can't hit on 2's, and also have no Inv save.

He hits on 2 with his sword.

Regardless, he's not great at 100 points, but I'm still getting one.

Edit: Reading is hard at 2 am.

Inquisitor detachments can take Tempestus Scions as troops, they gain the ordo re-roll bonuses and authority of the inquisition but lose the tempestus doctrine and the AM orders. Would this be cool?

What do people think of the Inquisitorial Land Raider Proteus?

I've built an Ordo Hereticus conclave list (that probably should be a lot smaller) around an Inquisitor Lord of my own fluff (but using Katerina Greyfax's rules & model), and I want her to ride around in a Land Raider Proteus. Is it any good? Should I run it with a Storm Trooper Battalion for fluff? What's the story with it?

I'm going to leave the Land Raider question alone, because I don't have my book handy to look at it right now.

That said, since we're talking updates I'm going to say that I'm not going to be shocked if GW gives us Tempestus Scions as our troop choice. The Telepathica got entries in the Guard codex, and with us lacking a troop choice of our own, I could see them giving us the in-lore go-to for Inquisitorial personal armies. That could put Acolytes as the personal retinue/bodyguards of our Inquisitor.

Hopefully this means the Tempestus guys would get <Quarry> as well, but who knows what they'll do exactly.

Regardless how they do it, I rather hope the extensive list of transport options gets datasheets in the book proper so I don't need every Imperium book just to field my army due to mixing and matching transports.

In the meantime though I'm going to work on how to turn Yvrainne into an Order Famulous themed Interregator for my Hereticus Inquisitor and figure out how I'm going to do my Inquisitor.

WRT Inquisition and wishlisting in general, it would be cool if they released some kind of "generic human character upgrade" kit that had varied little stuff in it like bionics, doodads, shoulderboards, and weapons that you could use to make more unique IG/AM/AM (Seriously, how did they let there be three factions now named AM?) characters and inquisitors out of. Might even be able to get some use out of such a thing for Stealer Cults/R&H/Chaos Cultists even. That's, like, 6 factions it would be useful for.

As it stands, I have a bunch of the old metal inquisitors, but I recently just scratchbuilt myself one out of a Scion kit, a Dark Angels upgrade sprue for the robed body, a GK force staff, and a singular Kasrkin backpack I just happened to have laying around for some reason. It looks cool, and I have enough crap just laying around that this isn't a problem for me, but for the new or even average player, that's quite inaccessible.

Some kind of proper kit is basically a must at this point. While the army has always been about conversions, without a DW style kit for newer players (or those who want to play the army but don't want to bother with conversions) the army will remain inaccessible to too many people, something I don't think GW ultimately wants. Mostly because if they're going to spend time (and money) working on books for armies I have the feeling they're going to do something to try and support said armies. Because support means more money.

Would it be possible to run a Demon Host army and if so, would you want to? :-)

 Da-Rock wrote:
Would it be possible to run a Demon Host army and if so, would you want to? :-)

Einsenhorn + Demon Host

Arco-flails (three of them in a squad)
Acolyte with plasmas/stormbolters (six)

all cruising around in a repressor.


look! here comes the eversor.

The point is the throw the daemon host and the evesor on a suicide run to tie up whatever valuable. Charge in with the repressor, spill out the arco-flails and maybe a penitent engine for toots.

Fall back with repressor and have acolytes shoot.


I would try to combine it with a Tallern ambush punisher leman russ variant. That way I'd have a small number of models tying up a chunk of his troops while I at least get one round of shooting to clear some chaff.

Always enjoyed them daemonhosts from 4th edition stormtrooper codex days. The radical Inquisition has always been underrated.

 Da-Rock wrote:
Would it be possible to run a Demon Host army and if so, would you want to? :-)

Not really. They're simply awful in all respects as units, and offer nothing of value in a way that you can cogently build a list around. Eisenhorn's Daemonhost is a step in the right direction, but it's not something you can build an army around, especially since it lacks a turn-1 delivery system that assault based units need.

I like the idea of the host being tied to the Inquisitor, but it does present some serious vulnerabilities. Daemonhosts should be able to pull a Morathi when things start to go pear shaped.

...You know, it's really sad thinking about all the options that should be available to the Inquisition, because so much of it has potential for some really interesting, fluffy, and fun gameplay mechanics that no other faction really gets to work with. With every other faction moving more and more towards "here are our characters, here's how to use them how we want you to," the Inquisition is the perfect canvas to coexist in that sphere while allowing others to satisfy the urge to make weird and wonderful armies of "your dudes." A real character centred army developed around more than just tossing out reroll auras, but defining entire playstyles... a man can dream, I guess.

I'm still fiddling around with how I plan to build my army but I'm thinking of something like this (local meta uses PL so I'm not too stressed about points for upgrades):

Hereticus Inquisitor w/ Dominate Power ? on Wargear atm (he's getting a Grynix companion on his base nicked from Yvrainne)

Hereticus Interregator (using Inquisitior rules) converted from Yvrainne to be an Order Famulous Sororitas (thinking Sister of Silence head and sword, and no idea about what to put in her other hand)

1 Squad of 6 Hereticus Alcolytes (almost want to go full plasma to run them like a mini-Hellblaster unit because if they have Quarry they can potentially murder their target in a single turn)
1 Monkey (to support the Alcolytes for when they don't have Quarry to support their shooting)

3 Ogryn (to be converted up from other models to represent Chrono Gladiators, might make these guys Bullgryns with Shields and Power Mauls instead, but I rather like the amount of shooting these guys have too, opinons very much welcome)

10 man Scion Squad (not committed on load out)
10 man Scion Squad (again, still debating load out)
10 man Scion Squad (you guessed it, load out)

Salamander Tanks (for horde control) (up to 3, likely run individually)

I'm considering putting the Alcolytes into a Valkriye or perhaps a Land Speeder, but I haven't committed yet. Also up for consideration is taking a Repressor because it's a big tank that looks like it'd make a nice Inquisitorial vehicle. The Ogryn will loaded up into a Valkryie for sure, just because they need the extra hustle a transport brings and the Valkryie does a good job of providing that.

Now, obviously I've left a fair amount of room for other stuff (and opinions on how to field some things since I'm still getting back into the swing of things), so any opinions would be great! I'm just going to run this as a single detachment of Imperium so I can have more play mixing things up.

So I guess no input about the Land Raider Prometheus then, damn.

I'm not sure how I want my list to be, honestly. Yours sounds solid, Clockwork Zion, but I don't know how big mine should be, if I should include the Land Raider or Valkyrie or Chimera, or really anything...

...it's so disappointing to lack options. I'd make a decision already if any of the options already stood out to me.

I haven't ever played the Prometheus so no input for me unfortunately.

I am using the two Blackstars that have been sitting on my self with a tribunal of Inquisitors in Terminator armor.

I also love the Assassins so I use them a lot. What I need are ideas on a single big man to battle my groups Magnus, Lord of Change, Roboute and Knights. (I am thinking of converting a Wargame Exclusive Chaos lord exclusive mini that is in the chaotic image of Roboute....who I would run as Roboute since they are similar size).

I have considered:
Roboute
Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight armor
Voldus
Kaldor Draigo
The new Custodes HQ

The problem I've seen with the Land Raider is it's <Ordos> models only....which at the moment isn't exactly a massive list of options. Add in that it only holds 10 models (meaning for PL players, like me, you have to pay for models you're not taking to fit two units or Alcolytes, or you're running 1 unit of Alcolytes and up to 4 of the other options) and basically it just doesn't do enough to justify it's points (or power) cost. Paired with a full codex with more options (and a dedicated melee unit that could benefit from bussing up the board, like Crusaders or Death Cult Assassins) it'll likely do well, but right now it's currently being hampered by a lack of good options to run in it.

Which actually brought another thing to my attention: anti-tank. How is everyone currently approaching that since Melta is basically a crapshoot for our Alcolytes?

 ClockworkZion wrote:
The problem I've seen with the Land Raider is it's <Ordos> models only....which at the moment isn't exactly a massive list of options. Add in that it only holds 10 models (meaning for PL players, like me, you have to pay for models you're not taking to fit two units or Alcolytes, or you're running 1 unit of Alcolytes and up to 4 of the other options) and basically it just doesn't do enough to justify it's points (or power) cost. Paired with a full codex with more options (and a dedicated melee unit that could benefit from bussing up the board, like Crusaders or Death Cult Assassins) it'll likely do well, but right now it's currently being hampered by a lack of good options to run in it.

Which actually brought another thing to my attention: anti-tank. How is everyone currently approaching that since Melta is basically a crapshoot for our Alcolytes?

Alright, good point on the Land Raider, I'll set it aside for now.

And yes, I'm struggling with the same question. Smite spam is about the best we can do, with "interrogators" just being Inquisitor-rule stand ins (since, of course, they don't have their own unit entry ).

Looking at my book last night (and proving I shouldn't post ANYTHING rules related without source material on hand when I do) I noticed I made a mistake: Alcolytes are 1PL per, so 5 costs 5 PL and throwing two squads into a Land Raider is doable, but I'm still not sure how I'd kit them out for the task. Mostly because it's too expensive to use like a drop plasma unit (and a Drop Pod would be better (and a little more hilarious for use of fear, surprise and our many other weapons ) for that task). It practically BEGS for some kind of assault oriented unit, but if we want something in there that could do the task (like Assault Terminators) we have to lose the Ordos rules for the generic Marine LR.

I mean, I'm still getting one (eventually at least), but I'm struggling to see how to make it work.

That said, I'm looking at 10 Astra Militarum Crusaders and a Astra Militarum Priest in a Valkyrie as a fun tool. They can't lay down enough chops to match the DCA, but 30 attacks with power swords can still blender up stuff reasonably well (assuming they get into charge range, since sadly we can't use their AoF to move them into range after disembarking due to the way the rules work (AoF at the start of the movement phase, disembark is either during or at the end of the phase which basically means we can't Grav Chute in and then move and then charge :()). I'm still playing with ideas though. I know I'm ignoring the obvious choices of Marine sourced choppy units but honestly I want to stick to a more mortal list.

*sigh* if Repentia were good, or even halfway decent I'd be putting some Sisters into my army (well ones who have actual rules unlike my Order Famulous conversion project), but they're painfully bad.

Bullgryns still look like a nice choice, but I'm lacking a means to properly get something into melee when it hits the table unless I shove them into a tank and drive it pell-mell towards the enemy lines and hope the dice gods smile favorably. Then again I'm pretty anti-gunline in terms of playstyle and will likely end up playing my Inquisition as a short range shooty army that is supported by melee units (like my Sisters, only squishier).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thinking of Smite Spam, if we really want to be "that guy" we could spam Astra Militarum Primaris Psykers. They're cheaper than Inquisitors. Honestly I wouldn't really go that route, but it's something we can do.

I'll likely have to look at options like bringing in some tanks for my anti-tank. Leman Russes look okay, but I'm kind of thinking that Predators could be okay for the job.

That or maybe Land Speeders.

So what I've been stuffing in the Land Raider are:

3 Inquisitors (well, 2 + 1 "interrogator") a Jokaero, for the Land Raider itself (since this actually is 24 shots that benefits and is large enough to hide behind), and Acolytes to taste. Sometimes, if detachment limits are a concern, I'll drop the Interrogator and bring another Acolyte or something, not really sure.

The neato thing about the Land Raider is not only does it get Ordo (meaning Jokaero work on it), but also it gets Quarry, meaning it can re-roll to hit and to wound against Chaos, with the bonus that it ignores cover, so that -1 rend on the heavy bolters is always always doing work.

The issue I am struggling with for anti-tank is I am loathe to bring Leman Russes or any battle tanks. The vision I have for my inquisition is very very character driven, meaning the Warlord's Land Raider is about the only big scary tank that I want. I have a Valkyrie ready to go.

One anti-tank solution I've bought but not tried yet is a Marauder Destroyer from Forge World. It's an aircraft, so it's easy to fluff as the Inquisitor calling in air support from the Imperial Navy using his unquestionable authority, and has 8 Hellstrike missiles (72" range melta weapons), 6 autocannons, and an assault cannon (IIRC, don't have the plans right here in front of me).

The problem with it is: 1) it's a Lord of War, so people get scurred 2) it's 540 points for a T7 vehicle with only 20 wounds (essentially Shoot Me bait) that can't be put in reserve 3) Did I mention it's an easily-killed fire magnet?

I'm in the same boat about putting a lot of stuff into the army actually. I feel like a good Inquisitorial war band has a story behind it which gives it some kind of theme. In my case I'm going with heavy conversions to tap into the less military side of the Imperium and try and get that "undercover" feel for the army. At the same time though, I don't want to completely shoot my own legs off just for the sake of theme, so while theme is important, the underlying focus is still a TAC list I can put down and have a reasonably good time with and not worry about being tabled with constantly.

 ClockworkZion wrote:
I'm in the same boat about putting a lot of stuff into the army actually. I feel like a good Inquisitorial war band has a story behind it which gives it some kind of theme. In my case I'm going with heavy conversions to tap into the less military side of the Imperium and try and get that "undercover" feel for the army. At the same time though, I don't want to completely shoot my own legs off just for the sake of theme, so while theme is important, the underlying focus is still a TAC list I can put down and have a reasonably good time with and not worry about being tabled with constantly.

For sure.

I do think improved ORDO rules could do this (why do Ordo Hereticus and Ordo Malleus match so much? I'd make Ordo Hereticus specialize against units with the Imperium keyword, since they usually hunt heretics / fallen marines / fallen guard who have recently turned and still probably use Imperial doctrines and equipment...) and Psyker.)

I also think Warlord Traits could help, especially if they do the late-7th edition version where an Inquisitor could be a sort of mini-Warlord.

Stratagems would be the army's strong-suite, if I had my 'druthers, since they don't really scale with the army's components (so a small Inquisition detachment could unlock all kinds of whacky stratagems). An example might be The Authority of the Rosette: Use this stratagem before the battle; any Imperium detachment of your choice becomes an Inquisition detachment and gains the Ordo and Quarry rules. Or something.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

 ClockworkZion wrote:
I'm in the same boat about putting a lot of stuff into the army actually. I feel like a good Inquisitorial war band has a story behind it which gives it some kind of theme. In my case I'm going with heavy conversions to tap into the less military side of the Imperium and try and get that "undercover" feel for the army. At the same time though, I don't want to completely shoot my own legs off just for the sake of theme, so while theme is important, the underlying focus is still a TAC list I can put down and have a reasonably good time with and not worry about being tabled with constantly.

For sure.

I do think improved ORDO rules could do this (why do Ordo Hereticus and Ordo Malleus match so much? I'd make Ordo Hereticus specialize against units with the Imperium keyword, since they usually hunt heretics / fallen marines / fallen guard who have recently turned and still probably use Imperial doctrines and equipment...) and Psyker.)

I also think Warlord Traits could help, especially if they do the late-7th edition version where an Inquisitor could be a sort of mini-Warlord.

Stratagems would be the army's strong-suite, if I had my 'druthers, since they don't really scale with the army's components (so a small Inquisition detachment could unlock all kinds of whacky stratagems). An example might be The Authority of the Rosette: Use this stratagem before the battle; any Imperium detachment of your choice becomes an Inquisition detachment and gains the Ordo and Quarry rules. Or something.

I definitely agree that we have a problem right now. We lack options, relics, strategems, and even warlord traits to call our own (I know we got skipped during CA but I feel like that's because they hadn't started working on our stuff yet so we didn't get any beta rules mixed in there). It's hard to make the army feel properly Inquisitorial.

That said, since we're missing so much right now I don't feel too bad about running a Vanguard detachment and only getting 4 CP for my Imperium keyword army. I mean I'm basically only spending it on potential rerolls, so why worry about being greedy for CP? That approach has made things better in terms of options.

That said, I've been kind of stuck on a mental Alcolyte vs Scion thing. Scions run cheaper in CP than Alcolytes and hit with shooting on a 3+ and have grav chute insertion. Alcolytes can run a dakka block for 5 CP (which I want to say is the same cost as the Scions for 5 guys) with all Storm Bolters, which basically (I'm admittedly mentally fudging the math for re-rolls to hit and wound in terms of effective ballistic skill) hit on a 3+ against quarry targets, but basically against anything you don't have quarry against you're worse. Basically it's a tough call to make and I'm probably going to build squads of both kinds to run but having some kind of idea which way I want to take the army would probably help a lot.

This would be a lot easier if Alcolytes were troops (or had a troop equiv) because then I'd just take them and enough dakka to make a Flash Git jealous.

I'm still back and forth on the mini-Hellblaster squad of Alcolytes. On one hand they could potentially delete a <Quarry> target thanks to the re-rolls, they're fairly situational and I'm not 100% sold on plasma (blame my years of running melta I guess) and I'm concerned that there may be a nerf incoming for plasma that'd make such a unit a lot less effective in actual play.

It depends which Ordo you are. Ordo Xenos Quarry is not nearly as good as Ordo Hereticus quarry, which is also better than Ordo Malleus quarry.

Scions are better than every iteration of Acolyte except Ordo Malleus and Ordo Hereticus specifically against their quarry, in which case the Acolytes dramatically outperform scions.

The problem with plasma (or special-weapon-other-than-storm-bolter) acolytes in general is overpayment. 8PPM is already a lot, plus paying BS3+ weapon prices on a BS4+ model is never worth it.

They're only mediocre when firing at Quarry targets, and fairly atrocious firing at anything else. It's awful. It's why I look at options like the Land Raider that at least have tons of bullets and don't pay so much for the Quarry rule (free, for the Inquisition land raider versus its counterpart in the Astartes).

I use Scions for the rank and file normally and usually refer to them as "Inquisitorial Stormtroopers" just a bit more loudly than needed.

Honestly, I don't really have a use-case for Acolytes other than 1 man squads to backfill my deployment zone so that enemies cannot deep strike in it. I had 6 with my GK in the last game I played that I measured out to cover everything that my GK and Taurox weren't already blocking off. Kept some Harlequin bikes from getting the drop on me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, now that I'm thinking more about it, I think the best use of Acolytes are to fill empty spots on vehicles for OTHER armies. It's not five space marines in a razorback, it's five of the Emperor's vaunted and chosen angels of death with their one guy with a special weapon... and Steve the Acolyte. Just a couple more points than a plain space marine would be with weapon in hand.

 daedalus wrote:
I use Scions for the rank and file normally and usually refer to them as "Inquisitorial Stormtroopers" just a bit more loudly than needed.

Honestly, I don't really have a use-case for Acolytes other than 1 man squads to backfill my deployment zone so that enemies cannot deep strike in it. I had 6 with my GK in the last game I played that I measured out to cover everything that my GK and Taurox weren't already blocking off. Kept some Harlequin bikes from getting the drop on me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, now that I'm thinking more about it, I think the best use of Acolytes are to fill empty spots on vehicles for OTHER armies. It's not five space marines in a razorback, it's five of the Emperor's vaunted and chosen angels of death with their one guy with a special weapon... and Steve the Acolyte. Just a couple more points than a plain space marine would be with weapon in hand.

This makes me very sad though, as I'd like acolytes to be a useful core or at least useful as Inquisitorial bodyguards - meaning someone running a character focused army like mine would benefit.

I'm secretly hoping they take down the 1 wound FAQ during the March FAQ cycle.

Unit1126PLL wrote:It depends which Ordo you are. Ordo Xenos Quarry is not nearly as good as Ordo Hereticus quarry, which is also better than Ordo Malleus quarry.

Scions are better than every iteration of Acolyte except Ordo Malleus and Ordo Hereticus specifically against their quarry, in which case the Acolytes dramatically outperform scions.

The problem with plasma (or special-weapon-other-than-storm-bolter) acolytes in general is overpayment. 8PPM is already a lot, plus paying BS3+ weapon prices on a BS4+ model is never worth it.

They're only mediocre when firing at Quarry targets, and fairly atrocious firing at anything else. It's awful. It's why I look at options like the Land Raider that at least have tons of bullets and don't pay so much for the Quarry rule (free, for the Inquisition land raider versus its counterpart in the Astartes).

Currently my focus is a Hereticus Inquisitor, but if Xenos make an upswing locally I may need to build a second army (maybe one that has the forces a little more military to give it a different feel from my Hereticus one).

daedalus wrote:I use Scions for the rank and file normally and usually refer to them as "Inquisitorial Stormtroopers" just a bit more loudly than needed.

Honestly, I don't really have a use-case for Acolytes other than 1 man squads to backfill my deployment zone so that enemies cannot deep strike in it. I had 6 with my GK in the last game I played that I measured out to cover everything that my GK and Taurox weren't already blocking off. Kept some Harlequin bikes from getting the drop on me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, now that I'm thinking more about it, I think the best use of Acolytes are to fill empty spots on vehicles for OTHER armies. It's not five space marines in a razorback, it's five of the Emperor's vaunted and chosen angels of death with their one guy with a special weapon... and Steve the Acolyte. Just a couple more points than a plain space marine would be with weapon in hand.

I disagree, but mostly because it seems like a cumbersome way to use them unless you're just trying to fill Elite slots cheaply for a Brigade detachment. I feel like they have a use, even if it's just a dedicated character hunter. I'm still in the planning stages though so my opinion is theoretical at most.

Unit1126PLL wrote:This makes me very sad though, as I'd like acolytes to be a useful core or at least useful as Inquisitorial bodyguards - meaning someone running a character focused army like mine would benefit.

I'm secretly hoping they take down the 1 wound FAQ during the March FAQ cycle.

I don't think we're getting any buffs in the FAQ honestly. I'm just hoping we don't get restrictions to our transport vehicles options. But that's the Sisters player in me speaking.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

This makes me very sad though, as I'd like acolytes to be a useful core or at least useful as Inquisitorial bodyguards - meaning someone running a character focused army like mine would benefit.

I'm secretly hoping they take down the 1 wound FAQ during the March FAQ cycle.

Yeah, that would make me happy.

I have mixed feelings about acolytes thematically. I felt like they were much more characterful back in 3rd when they were the Inquisitor-in-training that went in the Inquisitor's freakshow retinue. Then 5th came along and, while they got awesome in terms of flexibility and whatnot, I felt like they just became squads of highly configurable guardsmen, and that kind of lost some of that character feel to me. Not to mention that the only builds I ever saw of them even then was flak armor and maybe a bolter.

If I was 100% wishlisting, I'd make inquisitors more expensive, make their stats significantly better (+1 to hit in either melee or shooting would go a long way), and give them their power armor option back. Then I'd turn acolytes into an elite character that has the same level of customization as the inq with maybe a bodyguard rule for when they're standing near the inq. Maybe they even get a stat boost from being next to the inq too in exchange for being a bit more expensive or something. I don't know. Then I'd bring scions in as troops without the doctrine, but they get the Inquisition rules. It's characterful, and then you can at least make a detachment that's not only Vanguard.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ClockworkZion wrote:

I disagree, but mostly because it seems like a cumbersome way to use them unless you're just trying to fill Elite slots cheaply for a Brigade detachment. I feel like they have a use, even if it's just a dedicated character hunter. I'm still in the planning stages though so my opinion is theoretical at most.

I guess character hunting is a use. I was picturing them with an Inquisitor in a separate Vanguard. 87-119 points + whatever loadout for three to six extra special weapons tucked away in vehicles AND a character with real smite AND +1 CP is really not the worst choice you could make for a marine army.