How to do Witchhunters?

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**purplkrush**

I almost did this in a GK complaint thread but decided to start my own instead. I actually want to create a Witch Hunters army. I don't want to use any GK at all. Looking through the GK Codex I'm seeing some serious problems. I love the fluff and would really like to do it the way the old PDF Codex was written. This brings me to my questions...

1. Browsing the codex I thought it stated that each Henchmen Squad requires an Inquisitor. 1 Inquisitor allows 3-12 Henchmen, but only takes 1 HQ slot and the squad must be attached?

2. Is there any way to return to Penitent Engines instead of Dreads? No nuns please.

3. Why did they remove Inquisitorial Stormtroopers? Obviously Henchmen are Elites so are guard the best place where can I get more troops?

4. If I take Guard for an ally as they would provide good troops in the form of Vet Squads, since the Storm Troopers from Witchhunters PDF are only available as Elites for Guard, can I take a low cost HQ like a Ministorum Priest to fulfill my HQ obligation?

5. With Guard, do I have to take an entire Platoon?

6. In larger games would it be better to play base Gaurd and ally them with GK? Does it matter?

What else might you suggest to flesh out the army? I love the idea of an Inquisitor with his retinue of weird commanding a battlefield. The basic Inquisitors themselves have virtual autonomy in their makeup and that of their retinue and so are incredibly flexible and will allow me almost any flavor for any game, not tying me down to any one play style. Which will kill my wallet I'm sure... Also, I have a Chaos army which is why I want to remain GK/Sister-less.

Not sure what else to ask right now... I just have no real interest in learning all about Guard just to play Witchhunters.

**Melcavuk**

1 )Run Coteaz as your HQ which unlocks henchmen squads as troops for you, this way you can have a diverse army of unique and scoring units without relying on GK marines to do it for you.

2) You can run Dreadknights as something suitably penitenty... other than that theres dreads but I cant really see anything else to use as a walker other than those two.

3) See number 1

4) Techpriests and priests no longer fill compulsary HQ, you can do Primaris Psyker, and if you want something near storm trooperish try carapace vets.

5) Take vets, they come in squads not platoons

6) Personal taste, its your army.

All in all I'd suggest running a henchmen list with GK units as counts-as for flavour and then if you need more "meaty" troops choices look to your guard allies for either a mass of bodies or heavy weapons.

**Kroothawk**

Use the old 3rd edition Witchhunter Codex and ignore the fact that there is an OOP WD with updated rules for Sororitas

**Mr. S Baldrick**

Try running Coteaz henchmen allied with SOB or SOB allied with guard or Coteaz GK. I have tried all of them and all work well.

**Lynata**

OP doesn't want "nuns" - fair enough, as Inquisitors requisitioning a bunch of IG would happen far more often than requesting SoB support, anyways.

Hence I'd simply recommend GK Corteaz with Henchmen (as ISTs) and maybe some IG allies? The obvious choice, imho.

Penitent Engines are Ministorum stuff, but I like Melcavuk's idea of using Dreadknight rules for them. In this case I'd also add a Ministorum priest to your army, though, for fluff reasons (to "sanction" the use of PE). I'm not sure what's possible with the GK rules there, but if all else fails just slot him into one of the IG units.

**purplkrush**

You guys are rockin my world so far. Thanks for all the advice, got another question or two.

1. So I'm stuck with Coteaz since even if I ran another army base there are no non-GK troops to fill requirements as an allied detachment, right?

2. WYSIWYG question, if the base troop has chainsword and laspistol and I upgrade the laspistol to hot-shot lasgun but do not upgrade the chainsword, do I have to model the chainsword or is it assumed to be had since the base troop has it? What about armor upgrades from Flak to Carapace? I'm thinking about using either Storm Troopers or Death Corps of Krieg for my Warriors Acolyte because they have the lasguns already and I like the look both but kinda prefer the anonymous-evil-overlord look of the Death Corps.

3. What's up with the Razorback having psychic powers? I'm planning on getting a couple Chimeras down the line some time, as this will be a very slow-build army for me, but why the psychic powers for Rhinos and Razorbacks? Are they meant for GK only?

Thanks again for all the advice. I think this could be a really fun army to play out but it's nothing like my CSMs. I'm also thinking about going Guard Allied to grab some Sentinels cause I just love the models, sad I know. One last thing, I couldn't find Steel Legions troops on GW's website. Where can I get these? I thought they looked nearly a good as the Death Corps and might shave some cash off a starter army.

EDIT:

Obviously I'm not going to be able to ignore Guard rules and such to build this army as staying away from GK limits my FA and HS slots. What do you suggest I look into to make effective use of Guard in those areas?

**Mahtamori**

1. Pretty much. Grey Knights troop choices are a bit.... dull... if you don't want men in power armour or tactical dreadnoughts.

2. For all WYSIWYG questions, please refer to your opponent(s) or tournament organisers. It is and always has been the most optional of the mandatory rules and also consistently overruled by both Rule of Cool and Count As.

3. Yes. Psychic Pilot. Grey Knights are, apparently, witches the whole bunch.

**Hollowman**

You could go for Guard, but honestly if you want some speed in your army you can throw down razorbacks with a small henchman squad for cheap using the GK codex, and you have access to a fine flyer that I imagine an Inquisitor could get ahold of just as easily as GK (the Storm Raven). IG have some great fast attack, but if you don't want to buy the required troops and HQ a GK henchman list is quite capable of manueverability.

**MrFlutterPie**

If you take some IG either as your base or as an a ally you can make Arbites out of the Vets. Give them shotguns, carapace and then add grenade launchers.

In the old WH you could take Arbites and it's a super fluffy choice as well. Which Hunters work with local Arbite precincts all the time to hunt down witches and rouge psykers. Plus those 2ed models (if you go that way) are badass

If you are worried about the physic pilot rules just say the Inquisitor has upgraded the vehicles with advanced armour, sensor suites and avionics to reflect the in game effects.

**purplkrush**

This might be the last question then... What about Steel Legion? Are they no longer sold? Do I need an older catalogue to order them?

**Decio**

They are sold in the Collector section of 40k on the GW website. Of course, you could peruse through eBay and other places if you wanted secondhand.

And if you don't really like Coteaz, just change the appearance, keep the WYSIWYG stuff (eagle, hammer, armor) and modify the original body so it looks more appealing.

**Crimson**

purplkrush wrote:

1. So I'm stuck with Coteaz since even if I ran another army base there are no non-GK troops to fill requirements as an allied detachment, right?

Yes, and this is my biggest peeve with the GK codex. It is impossible to have an Ordo Hereticus or Ordo Xenos Inquisitor without Grey Knights. That is idiotic and do not reflect fluff at all. Ironically the only Inquisitor that can get rid of GKs is from Ordo Malleus.

If only GW would chance this and also give the Inquisitors an option for Iron Halos, fluffy allied inquisitors would be way more viable.

2. WYSIWYG question, if the base troop has chainsword and laspistol and I upgrade the laspistol to hot-shot lasgun but do not upgrade the chainsword, do I have to model the chainsword or is it assumed to be had since the base troop has it? What about armor upgrades from Flak to Carapace? I'm thinking about using either Storm Troopers or Death Corps of Krieg for my Warriors Acolyte because they have the lasguns already and I like the look both but kinda prefer the anonymous-evil-overlord look of the Death Corps.

A chainsword is a normal close combat weapon, and rules wise a single CCW without pistol does absolutely nothing. You don't have to model it.

**purplkrush**

Threadomancy... Muahahah!! Okay, less of a resurrection here and more of an out-patient procedure. Here's what I'm thinking about to start up a 500pt army as a base for future expansion. I'm really trying to streamline EXACTLY what I'm going to play to start as the tally on the finances for what I want is starting to make me sweat a bit.

Coteaz w/ x3 Death Cult Assassins

Inquisitor w/ Psyker and x3 Servitors w/Heavy Bolters

x10 Warriors Acolyte w/ x8 Hotshot Lasguns, x2 Plasma Guns

x10 Warriors Acolyte w/ x8 Storm Bolters, x2 Plasma Pistols

Chimera w/ Dozer Blade, Searchlight

Chimera

I wanted something fun to play that can serve as a solid base for future purchases. Eventually I'll add some Guard allies and grab some Penitent Engines. My overarching idea is more of a SWAT Team/Black Ops type of assault Guard. Is this something that sounds like a good start?

As far as the army composition is concerned, model-wise, I wanted to do Steel Legion for my "gun line" WAcs and grab some Redemtionist Gang models (Necromunda) for the "assault" WAcs. So where could I get some Storm Bolters for them?

**svendrex**

purplkrush wrote:

Coteaz w/ x3 Death Cult Assassins

Inquisitor w/ Psyker and x3 Servitors w/Heavy Bolters

x10 Warriors Acolyte w/ x8 Hotshot Lasguns, x2 Plasma Guns

x10 Warriors Acolyte w/ x8 Storm Bolters, x2 Plasma Pistols

Chimera w/ Dozer Blade, Searchlight

Chimera

I wanted something fun to play that can serve as a solid base for future purchases. Eventually I'll add some Guard allies and grab some Penitent Engines. My overarching idea is more of a SWAT Team/Black Ops type of assault Guard. Is this something that sounds like a good start?

As far as the army composition is concerned, model-wise, I wanted to do Steel Legion for my "gun line" WAcs and grab some Redemtionist Gang models (Necromunda) for the "assault" WAcs. So where could I get some Storm Bolters for them?

I just have a few comments on the list

1) Henchmen in 6th edition can not really do close combat at low points value very well. In 5th edition you could charge out of a Razorback or Rhino if it did not move, but in 6th edition this is not the case. Walking up the board with T3 models looking to get into combat is not great either. This leaves you with very expensive assault vehicles as your only real option for assault henchmen.

Also, i have found that Coteaz works better with a shooting unit than a combat one. The re-roll is great for plasma guns (preventing overheats) and with stubborn and LD 10 he can make a shooty unit decent in combat, as you can loose combat, Hammer a few marines in the face, all without running away.

2) I am not sold on the plasma pistols for the second unit. It looks like you want something that can shoot and then charge. What about meltaguns? you could get 3 of them for the same price, and I think they are just better. You loose a single S3 attack in close combat, but you gain the ability to Instant death T4 stuff, no Get's Hot, and you get the Melta Rule if you need to kill a tank.

3) I am not a huge fan of the hot-shot lasguns. Personally I think that I would rather have 2 guys with bolters for 10 points, than one guy with a Hot shot for 9 points. However, I understand that from a modeling and fluff perspective, you may prefer the Hot Shots.

Here is a similar list for you to think about.

Coteaz
7x Acolytes with Storm Bolters, 3x Acolytes with Meltaguns
Chimera with light

7x Acolytes with Bolters, 3x Acolytes with Plasmaguns
Chimera with light

Inquisitor with hellrifle and Psyker upgrade
4x Acolytes with Bolters, 3x HB servitors.

total is 500 points dead on.