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Hi dakka

Coteaz looks like a good HQ choice for starting an Inquisitorial army; This would be most likely to be a mechanized army and I was wondering which henchmen would be best used as troops for this type of army.

Hey I am doing something similar, so I will share my thoughts.

1) REGARLESS of what the RAW is, I will not play with more than 6 Henchmen Warbands. I am sure that this is what the FAQ will eventually say. Some people think that Cortex lets you take an infinite number of henchmen units, but I am not so sure about that. it is the case of waiting for the FAQ, but I would not buy 30 Razorbacks hoping for the FAQ saying you can play with all of them.



2) Do you want the henchmen, or just the Transport? You CAN take units of 3x warriors with Special Weapons, and A Razorback or Chimera for SUPER cheap. If you are going this route, it is a good way to MIN/MAX but still have 6 scoring tanks. Then you can take all of the GK goodies you can. You could even just take 3x bland warriors if you wanted.




3) Close Combat Henchman Options.

A is for Arco-Flaggelent. 15 pts. gets you WS5 S5 and A4 with FNP. Great option for fighting horde units, especially Orks. Also, S% is enough to pen most vehicles rear armor.

B is for Banisher. The aura of faith is great, but only works on Daemons. For 30 pts. you can get a guy with a chain fist. I am not sold on it as he only has A1, but include one to keep that walker from tying you up all game.

C is for Crusaders. 15 pts, and you get a Storm Shield. The Power Weapon is just gravy. I would include some Every Time.

D is for Death Cult Assassins. again 15 pts., this time you get WS5 S4 A2+1 and I6. This is your elite killer. A great unit for taking out the small number but heavily armored foes. I would pick either Arcos or Death cult as they are good at fighting different types of units.

E is for..HQ..Honestly, I think that your HQ coices should ride with Close Combat Henchmen. Cortex can cast Mind Blades, AND HammerHand on the unit essetiallg giving them +2S and then Cast Sanctuary next turn to lessen/negate the counter charge.



4) Shooting Henchmen. this one is a lot longer as there are a TON of choices and weapon options. I will just say a few things.

a) I like that Plasma Guns are only 10 points instead of 15. I think that they are worth the same as a melta gun, and it makes them a strong(er) contender than in other Codii
b) Jokero work well with the fire points and protection of a Chimera.
c) I am not sold on the Servitors, as you need an HQ to babysit them.
d) Psykers are good, but only LD8. They will get STUFFED by hoods, and have trouble casting at the best of times.



5) Deamonhosts. They are a strange unit. Their random powers are a bit..lackluster. they will only ever have 1-2 attacks in close combat, so weather they are I10, S6, or Power. FNP is always good, especially when combines with a 5++ save, and the shooting powers are..decent for a 10pt model. I would only take them for one reason though....T4. If you take a unit of half or more of them, then the whole unit gets majority T of 4, which can help. They are not bad as place fillers around servitors or special weapons, but they are not a unit on their own.

Sven really nailed it... not much to add except my own opinion.

If you are going to run torquemada, it makes sense to at least have one henchmen unit with some CC potential to take advantage of hammerhand (although I don't see anything about mindblades in the codex). You probably also want to take a set of rally good 12" range guns to take advantage of "I've been expecting you". Triple plasma gun acolytes is pretty good for that.

in terms of the CC units that can join him, I rally like a mix of crusaders and death cult assassins. hammerhanded death cultists are RIDICULOUS. 4 strength 5 power weapon swings at initiative 6 and WS5 on the charge? The crusaders do a good job of having strength 4 power weapons after hammerhand, and taking those power weapon wounds and trying to win combats by as large of a margin as possible.

This is my dream Coteaz unit...

3x acolytes with plasma guns, 4x crusaders, 4x death cult assassins in a chimera with hull heavy flamer

For the rest of the units, I think that this is just way too good to pass up...

3x acolytes with meltaguns in a chimera with hull heavy flamer

Its a chimera loaded with some melta for less than 100 points. They might not be BS4 meltas, but for that bargain price, I don't care.... IG meltavets are 155, they have 16% more hits with their meltas and some rarely used ablative wounds... for over a 50% increase in cost.


If Coteaz wants to get into combat, you pretty much have to let him....

You can't Torquemada anything!!!

Huh? huh? amirite? This guy gets it...

Yeah he summed it all up

This is a good thread. The Henchmen are by far the strongest and most flexible unit in the Grey Knights codex so they deserve the attention.

Thanks for the input guys

@svendrex

I think max use of the henchmen as troops is the way to go for and they really need transports Chimeras look good with 6 AV12 but razorbacks maybe also a good idea for Lascannons and of course rhinos if you want to rush in.

I'm was planning on using 6 psykers in combination with servo skulls; 6 str 10 ap1 large blasts are just good to pass up (Big problem with eldar though). Might need to use a Vindicare and Dreads to deal with libbys and psychic hood.

Do you guys think henchmen should be run mixed or just the bare bodies you need(just 3 acolytes with special weapons or add more just for ablative wounds) the squad may get too expensive with trying to put more money into it but, it maybe also too fragile if it's just the bare things you need.

In terms of shooting, Warriors with stormbolters or hotshot lasguns come out to less than 10 points each. Might be an interesting foot horde where every model throws out 2 bolter shots at 24". Add some jokaero and watch the fireworks, perhaps? (Yes foot lists are not optimal. However, it sounds fun).

For me, the Death Cult Assassins seem to be the most valuable thing in the section. On average, each assassin is going to kill a marine at initiative 6, without having the charge. At 15 points a piece, a 12 man squad will wipe just about anything without a low invul save. Flagellants look decent, but I don't know how they'll stand up against a full boyz mob, especially when x5 Flamer Chimeras are available too.

In the beginning I was thinking about how well spamming 5 Jokaero in Chimeras would be (like everyone else, probably). But now I'm wondering about a wacky mixed shooting unit. How about 3 Jokaero, 5 psykers and a couple daemonhosts? I believe both daemonhosts and psykers use a single model to fire from so you can really take advantage of the firing points. The Jokaero are the most reliable of these and so you've got 3 shots from them which should help stabilize the usefulness of your shooting.

5-man Warrior Acolytes with plasma guns and a TL lascannon razorback looks pretty good for only 130 points.

Death cult assassins, especially, are what impresses me. They are literally eldar banshees and scorpions combined. Take a unit of those with 2 crusaders, maybe 3 special weapon warriors, and that is a gnarly assault unit. Only problem is grenades - looks like the only way to include them is via an inquisitor.

So some of my stuff was based off on the the Playtest version of the Codex, and not the actual release. I have had a chance to look at the full release and here is an updated look at some of the Henchmen.

1) Arco Flaggelents + Xeno Inquisitor with Hammer Hand and Rad Grenades. With this combination, the Arco's are S6 and your opponent loses 1 point of Toughness. With this combination your Arco Faggelents will Deal Instant Death to Multi-wound T4 baddies, (think Ork Nobs or Tyranid Warriors or even GK Paladins). This CAN be useful, but is not really needed in a take all comers list.

2) Cortez shooting at Deep Strikers. Honestly, this bonus is very situational. I all depends on the enemy army list. since he is an IC he can deploy with different squads, either a Jokero or Special weapon squad, maybe Even Demon Hosts if they roll well. I would NOT have a single unit set up for shooting AND close combat. Deploy him with shooters against Daemons or a DoA army. Keep the Close Combat squad for normal games.

3) Jokero Units. The way the wording of the Inconceivable Customization rule currently is it seems to be that a unit with 6 Jokero can Never get any of the Upgrades, They always roll a 6+ and get another roll. We will have to wait for a FAQ or Errata to deal with this, but RAW that is what happens. Honestly, the rule looks like it was written assuming that you would only ever take 1-2 Jokero in a single unit.

4) Psykers. These guys are not that great. Yeah S10 AP1 Large blast. Almost every competitive list has some kind a psy-defence if it can take it. Psykers are LD 8 making them unreliable in the best of times, and totally getting shut down by Hoods, Runes, or Shadow of the Warp. Then add in the fact that if you do roll a perils, the whole squad is gone. High Damage, but unreliable. Only expect to shoot once or maybe twice.

5) MIN/MAX and MSU has always been super competitive in 5th Edition. Take 6x3 Henchmen in Chimeras with Whatever Specials you like. Then Add 3 Psybolt Rile dreads, and that is only about ~1100 pts of so. Then you still have room for 2x5 purifiers in a Rhino or Razor (with psybolt Assault cannons maybe?). At 1500 you have 9 AV12 vehicles, 2 AV11. 6 scoring units, and the purifiers who will rock most things in close combat. I think that this will be one of the more competitive Corteaz builds.

5th edition is all about minimum squads with anti-tank specials, spamming Cheap low AV vehicles, and taking out a ton of AV as well. Then take a few units who will own face in combat and you are good to go. This list is kinda cheezy, and it does not even use the infinite Henchmen squads.

Yeah Razorbacks with 3 Rifleman Dreads list is the most competitive of the Coteaz builds; most likely gonna go with this one.

Quick review of Henchmen:

Arco-Flagellant - Bad. Not as good as a Death Cult Assassin - No power weapons, low initiative. More survivable sure, but death cult assassins kill the enemy first as their defence mechanism. May find use against large numbers of Orks or Tyranids, but really, you want Purifiers for those.

Banisher - Bad. Very Good against Daemons, but unless you list tailor, not worth it against other armies. Eviscerator is useful as a chainfist, but henchmen have access to cheap melta, so it shouldn't be necessary.

Crusader - Good. For one reason - Storm Shield. Reasonable in close combat, but it's main job is to take a wound that would otherwise nuke a Jokaero, and shrug it off 2/3 of the time.

Daemonhost - Bad. Different power every turn means you can't effectively plan ahead.

Death Cult Assassin - Good. Lots of attacks, Power weapons, High initiative, high weaponskill. Couple with an Inquisitor with hammerhand, or rad grenades, or both, and 5 or 6 DCAs will murder 10 MEQs before they ever get to strike back. Pad with crusaders or warriors to absorb shooting wounds. Transportation a must.

Servitor - Bad. Needs to have an inquisitor with them to be useful. If you have a spare Inquisitor who's willing to sacrifice any close combat ability to stick with servitors, by all means go ahead. Xeno Inquisitor with a conversion beamer springs to mind.

Jokaero - Good. Rule weirdness means you shouldn't take more than a few in a squad (or you don't get upgrades), but 1 or 2 in a shooty henchmen band are a huge boost. Once it gets FAQed to make table re-rolls not get the bonus, then feel free to take more. Only BS3, but the option of shooting a lascannon, multimelta or heavy flamer as the situation demands is amazing. Bargain basement obliterator.

Mystic - Useful. Take one in a henchmen unit if you have things deep striking.

Psyker - Good. Take 5 or 6 to make sure the blast is AP1/2, and you'll kill anything out of cover. Only BS3, so expect the blasts to be less accurate than you might like. One perils result and they all die. Still, 60 points for a high S / low AP blast is a bargain. Partner with other shooty henchmen.

Warriors - Good. If a unit has less than 12 models in it, pad it out with warriors to catch bullets. Take 3 with meltaguns and put them in a chimera for mobile anti-tank. Don't both with any upgrades other than Plasma Guns or Melta Guns - other henchmen types can do those jobs better. If you want bolter spam, grey knights will do it better.




Just posted some henchmen builds in another thread. Allow me to reiterate (some of these are too expensive to be effective, but interesting non-the-less):

1. Assaultus Maximus:

Xenos Inquisitor, Rad Grenades, Level 1 Psyker, Hammerhand
4 Crusaders
7 Death Cult Assassins
Stormraven w/ Multi-Melta, Plasma Cannon, Hurricane Bolters

Total - 470
Expensive? Sure. Fragile? A little. Deadly? Absolutely. If the Inquisitor gets off Hammerhand and the unit gets a charge (which it should, the Stormraven has an assault ramp) then the Death Cult Assassins alone will kill an expected 15.5 MEQs on the charge, striking at I6. Hammerhand + Rad Grenades makes you wound on 2+. and DCAs are WS5 with 4 attacks on the charge. Crusaders absorb anything nasty, and the Storm Raven softens up anything that looks scary.

2. Assaultus Goodenough-us

Xeno Inquisitor, Rad Grenades
2 Crusaders
5 Death Cult Assassins
4 Warrior Acolytes
Chimera

Total - 216

Less Expensive, still fragile, still deadly. No Hammerhand means you only wound on threes, but the unit can still be expected to nuke a 10-man MEQ squad without too much trouble before they get to strike back. Harder to get the charge off, but half the price.

3. Shooty-us Mobilitus

2 Jokaero
3 Warriors w/ Meltaguns
Chimera

Total - 167

Chimera has a top-hatch capacity of 5. Either move around, shooting 3 Meltas and 2 Heavy Flamers out the top, or stay still and Lascannon/Multilaser threats until they get close enough. If you have spare points, feel free to add extra warrior bodies to absorb wounds.

4. Shooty-us Decentus

2 Jokaero
6 Psykers
3 Warriors w/ Plasma Guns
1 Crusader

Total - 175

Stay in cover. Hope for a one on the jokaero upgrade (to get the range bonus). 6 Psykers = an S8 AP1 Large Blast. 2 Jokaero = 2 Lascannons. 3 Warriors = 3 Long range plasma shots, increasing to six if something gets close. Crusader jumps in front of the first nasty thing that fires their way.

5. Shooty-us Overkillus

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor w/ Conversion Beamer
Techmarine w/ Conversion Beamer, 3 Servo Skulls
6 Psykers
3 Servitors w/ Multimeltas
2 Jokaero
1 Warrior w/ Plasma Gun
Total - 363

All eggs on one basket. Techmarine bolsters some cover in a corner to 3+, and you sit in it. Servo skulls help reduce the blasts for the psykers and conversion beamers. You get two small S8/10 Blasts, one large S8 AP1 blast, 3 Multi Meltas, 2 Lascannon/Multimeltas and a Plasma gun. Anything that stumbles into range gets killed. Anything that sneezes at you however, will kill you first. 3+ cover helps, but you need to ensure the unit it properly protected.

Well wouldn't a lasplas/TL las razorback with 3 vanilla warrior acolytes be also good as your troops choice considering they only cost 92 points? plus they have a chance to remove stun and shaken results.