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With 5th edition looming, and since it's been a while since any attention was paid to ye olde DH codex, I thought it would be nice to bring them out for a little discussion. I'm kind of aware of the old "kyoto pattern" inquisitor and it's 4th edition equivalent, but I was hoping to talk a little more about it.

With the rumored, uhm, "modifications" to the IC rules; I think the "gunslinger" style inquisitor loses alot of his luster. He'll basically be tied to a squad unless you want him to get popped. IS there some funky stuff in the DH/WH armories that while not game winning or effective every game, could be useful enough to justify taking to tournament style situations? I'm thinking null rods, sacred incense, bolter/crossbows, psychic hoods, some of the psychic powers like holocaust (especially for GK heroes), sanctuary, and word of the emperor seem like they might come into their own - especially with the all daemon codex on the horizon.

I'm aware that you can spend alot of points on gimmicks in a inquisitor retinue, especially in you start bringing an allied WH to a DH army or vice versa. However, I do like their access to some really unique wargear and special rules so any help would be appreciated.

Since I don't really see Zilla nid or Dual lash going away with 5th (they'll be different, but they'll be there), I'm liking the WH Combi-Stake Crossbow more and more. The most fun overkill of that wargear being:

Elite INQ, Combi-Stakebow
3 x Acolyte, Combi-Stakebow
84pts for the unit

What you get is once per game 8 Assault 24" shots that wound a psyker on 2+ with no normal save allowed. That's got a good chance to oneshot a hive tyrant or DP that is coming after your lines. In games without psykers, it's just 84 points for 4 bolters - bad deal but not terrible.

For just pure support, nothing beats
DH Elite INQ, Tarot
2 x Mystic
47 pts

For just 104 pts, you get an Inquisitor, 3 Acolytes and 2 Sages. Gives your Inquisitor +1 BS, and one model in the unit can re-roll a failed ranged to-hit roll, and they all still have their Bolter-Stake Crossbows.

I usually roll my Inquisitor in the Bell of Lost Souls Pattern of Inq with shooty thing (either scourging or bolter crossbow if WH, Psycannon if DH) 2 Heavy bolter servitors and 1 Plasma servitor, then 2 sages. Depending on points level she is elite, or HQ with psychic hood if points are high. Pretty cheap, and the reroll on the shooting keeps the plasma guy from cooking himself.

I am putting together a melee Inq retinue with Landraider, Inq Lord with Power Stake (wounds psykers on 2+), 2 acolytes with power armor and mancatchers, acolyte with Combi-flamer, 2 Crusaders (Power wep/4+ inv ccw-shield) 1 power fist servitor, familier and 2 medics. Ridiculously expensive, and tremendously silly, but should be fun.

Specifically against demons, mystics will be a must. Getting free shots at units deep striking within 4D6" of the inquisitor could be nasty, especially with 2 sages. Then all you need is a 2x psycannon GK unit within 12" to nominate the shots to.

Dakkaladd nailed it. A mystic will force a deamon army to deepstrike further back, or accept a fair number of casualties. I run an Inq squad with a psycannon, 2 heavy bolters, plasma cannon, 2 sages and a mystic. Anyone would have to think twice with the chance of eating 9 shots and a blast template on deployment.

Dual mystic INQ parked next to a demolisher LR is a beautiful deep strike deterrent.

So, if I were to deploy something along these lines for a WH inquisitor- would it be effective.

Inquisitor - bolter/stake, liber
2 heavy bolter servitors
3 acolytes- carapace armor, bolter/stakes
1 chirugeon

Essentially, you're looking at a 30" no go zone for DP/Hive Tyrants along with heavy bolters to help with ranged fire and further discourage intruders while being hard to kill. Sure it's expensive, but is it worth it?

Better to put the heavy bolters in a separate unit so that each type of fire can be confined to the units on which it is most effective. I like the cheap build a lot.

Yeah, if you're going with the bows, forget the HBs.

I'm a little skeptical of the the bow thing myself. I don't believe in tooling to fight specific armies, and I don't like the fact that when there are no psykers on the table, all you've got is a few very expensive, fragile bolters which I think (disagreeing with Moz) really is terrible. I guess it makes sense if the rest of your army has some special vulnerability to Chaos and nidzilla and is strong enough against other armies to blow 80-100 points on a potentially useless unit.

Wehrkind, I don't know about the DH ret, but the WH ret you list is not BoLS-pattern at all AFAIK. BoLS-pattern keeps the Inq him/herself cheap, does not use a plascannon, and takes two Chirurgeons and no Sages. It goes something like this:

Inq: bolter
Acolyte: carapace, bolter
2 Chirurgeons
3 HB servitors

for 136 points for the Elite version. HQ is something like this:

Inq Lord: bolter, carapace
2 Acolytes: carapace, bolter
2 Chirurgeons
3 HB servitors

for 181 points.

I find the HQ version not worthwhile, but the Elite version pretty handy. It's what I use when I need to use an Inq.

It's a serious waste to not tack a hood onto an HQ lord in an all-comers list. Weight Watchers-style list building be damned, that thing is worth far more than the 20 points that it costs. As an Eldar/Nid player, I can attest to the weight of both it's game-effect and psych-effect. Damn I hate those things.

Good point. I would definitely add that to the Lord. Too bad it doesn't work too well on the Elite version.

I usually forego the carapace too and just count on having cover for these guys. They aren't a mobile unit, and they have a lot of range. There's no reason they can't grab some cover.

Edit: Nvmind I see the mixed armor and chiurgeons. Little pricey, the elite you've listed is actually 146. The wound saving mechanism of 2 acolytes, armor, and 2 chirurgeons is 50 pts total. That's a fair chunk for what's basically ignoring one T3 4+ save wound per turn.

Make it a DH squad and go for this:
Inq, Bolter
3 HB sevitor
2 Mystic
2 Sage

128 pts and now your bullet catchers are doing deepstrike defense and helping your shots hit.

Nah, the Elite version has only one Acolyte. 39 points is reasonable for the ability IMO considering the range they'll be operating at. In the initial turns, there won't usually be that much firepower that can reach them (there are of course exceptions--Lootas, ugh); by the time small arms, the real enemy of such a ret, could get in range, my opponent usually has other things to worry about (like SoBs).

I've never used the DH version, so no comment there.

I think I might have to now bring a naked Elite Inq with 2 Mystics escorting a Baneblade to every monthly Apocalypse game at my FLGS.

t-C : You might be right, I don't know if they use the sages anymore, and I am a little too lazy to look them up. I like them though with the plasma cannon (which I know they don't use) since that is really what puts the hurt down on squads.

Upon inspection: Right, he mentions it as worth it for DH retinues, but not as useful for WH. I would disagree, but then I am generally sporting a hard on for any sort of blast template.

I also agree with the bit about the stake cross bows. I just can't get excited about a weapon that I can use once for that many points, and most likely can't use at all. I think too many armies just don't have psychics (IG, some SM, some CSM, Tau, Necron) to really be worth taking it. Now, if I am going to an Apoc game where I know there will be eldar and chaos based on our local meta game, they look a lot better.