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This has probably come up before, but it's up right now in Army Lists.

GK p90 says, "For each Inquisitor in your army, you may also include a unit of 3-12 henchmen.... This unit does not use up a force organisation slot."
This caveat refers explicitly to "this unit," as in, the unit associated with the Inq, and says nothing about Warbands in general.
The GK FAQ says,
Q: "Taking Inquisitor Coteaz in your force turns Henchmen Warbands into troops choices. Does this mean they take up a force organisation slot and can no longer be taken as an elites choice?"
A: "Yes to both questions."
If having an Inquisitor means it "can no longer be taken as an elites choice," then not having an Inq means it CAN be taken as an Elites choice, else there would be no reason to clarify. So there are three options for Warbands. 1) If there's an Inq, then a single Warband uses no slot. 2) If Coteaz is in the army, then up to six Warbands (in a single Primary FOC) can take up Troop slots. 3) If no Inq of any kind, then Warbands take up Elite slots.

I have permission to take units that are listed in my book. Warbands are listed under Elites, with the caveat that they take no slot if there's an Inq, or Troop slots if Coteaz; thus, they can be taken as Elites. The rules do not say that you cannot take a Warband w/o an Inq; there is no restriction on my permission.

If you are reading it correctly then I can take just a Tyrant Guard Brood as my Tyranid HQ and deny my opponent from ever getting Slay the Warlord.

If you could take a Henchman squad without an Inquisitor, what is the squad's Unit Composition? It only has one if it is accompanying an Inquisitor.

If so, than I can take a command squad without an HQ, too...

I'm not familiar with the wording surrounding these other examples, so I cannot comment on them. Perhaps if you provided the pertinent rule(s) so that a valid comparison can be made?

The lack of "Composition" in the entry seems to be a good step toward the "No" option.

Sure - You may include one Tyrant Guard brood for each Hive Tyrant in your army. Thse broods do not count towards your HQ allowance.

This is the exact same situation as you are asking about.

Interesting question, and made all the more complicated as I dig further into it.

Bodyguard units, such as the above mentioned brood guards, are normally listed at the end of the HQ section. They have their own formatting box that clearly indicates that it is separate from the rest of the units being listed in this section. Within they have rules that tell you how to deal with these unique 'slot-less' units. This formatting highlights that you need to take care with these units, read through the rules throughly and follow the limitations within.

The Gray Knight warband breaks all this formatting. They are listed in the elite section of the book instead of the HQ. They do not have the same formatting boxes used throughout the other codex books to separate 'bodyguards' from the rest of the army. Then you have that FAQ which is greatly indicating that the warband is an elite choice, just another case of FAQ's making things less clear. All these differences point towards the war-band being an elite choice as well as one that can be taken as a 'slot-less' choice should certain requirements be met.

Then there is the exact wording in the 'Lord of Formosa' rule, found on page 86, to make the lack of formatting even more confusing. This rule is the one allowing Coteaz to take war-bands as troop choices, so it is central to the question being asked in the FAQ and to the debate we would have to form around it. That rules wording once more brings up the limitation of requiring a inquisitor for each war-band, as an exception clause to allow you to ignore this section of the rules for war-bands.

If they where already an elite choice, then there would be no need for this section part of the Lord of Formosa, and the inclusion does run counter to the questions risen with the lack of standard formatting and the wording of the FAQ.

My Rules as Written conclusion:
They do clearly state 'for each' which is a requirement term found throughout many place in many books. Being a requirement you need to meet this limitation before you can evoke the rules. The formatting used can sometimes be used to try and judge an intent, of course, but the formatting is never grounds to override what is clearly written within. The intent in this case might not be as cut and dry as other body guard units, particularly thanks to the FAQ, but when the intent is so clouded all you can do is follow the exact writings found in the book.

If you do not have an inquisitor for each war-band then you can not take a war-band, even as an elite slot, with the exception being Coteaz of course.

Jinx, it's even easier than that. What is the minimum squad size of an Inquisitorless Henchmen squad? Maximum size? How many of each model can you take? All of this is only contained in the line telling you that you can take a squad of 3-12 in any combination for each Inquisitor in your army.

 Elric Greywolf wrote:

The GK FAQ says,
Q: "Taking Inquisitor Coteaz in your force turns Henchmen Warbands into troops choices. Does this mean they take up a force organisation slot and can no longer be taken as an elites choice?"
A: "Yes to both questions."

I think the problem is that you apply the wording to more than intended.

If having an Inquisitor means it "can no longer be taken as an elites choice," then not having an Inq means it CAN be taken as an Elites choice, else there would be no reason to clarify. So there are three options for Warbands. 1) If there's an Inq, then a single Warband uses no slot. 2) If Coteaz is in the army, then up to six Warbands (in a single Primary FOC) can take up Troop slots. 3) If no Inq of any kind, then Warbands take up Elite slots.

The FAQ address the effects of having Corteaz in your army.
See what happens if we change the wording to what I believe is more accurate;

If having an Inquisitor Inquisitor Corteaz means it "can no longer be taken as an elites choice," then not having an Inq Inquisitor Corteaz means it CAN be taken as an Elites choice

- Which of course is correct - assuming you bring an Inquisitor to access the option of having Henchmen Warbands as an Elite choice.

I believe your option 3 is fabricated out of whole cloth and not really supported in the rules.

Steelmage99 wrote:

assuming you bring an Inquisitor to access the option of having Henchmen Warbands as an Elite choice.

If what most people are saying is true, then Warbands can NEVER be an Elites choice. They can either be no choice, with most Inquisitors, or a Troops choice, with Coteaz.

I believe your option 3 is fabricated out of whole cloth and not really supported in the rules.

Option 3 might indeed be fabricated. The point of this thread was to determine whether or not that was the case.

I'd also be interested in hearing the rationale behind the single person who voted "Yes." As the OP, and the devil's advocate for the "Yes" option, I did not vote.

And finally, regarding the "bodyguards" point, the GK codex does have a bodyguard option: GM Mordrak and his Ghosts. Someone above was correct, that other bodyguard options (including the ghosts) are presented much differently than the Warband option.

But again, I think SlowPoke points out the best counter: what's the unit composition if there's no Inquisitor?

Fact 1) Henchman warbands are elite choices by default. However, see Fact 2:

Fact 2) "For each Inquisitor in your army, you may also include a unit of 3-12 henchmen... ...This unit does not use up a force organisation slot."

Fact 3) Coteaz makes them count as troop choices instead

So, if you have an inquisitor you may select 1 warband per which doesn't use up an FOC slot. If you have Coteaz you have to take warbands as troop choices (subject to the normal restrictions for such), and if you have neither? The warband does count as an elite choice, but you are not given permission to include one in your army.

Any questions?

One:
Why didn't the editor catch the formatting issue?

Not really looking for an answer here, just digging once more on the fact Game Workshop does need to get better editors.

JinxDragon wrote:
One:
Why didn't the editor catch the formatting issue?

Because GW forgot to buy them the bananas.

 Elric Greywolf wrote:
If what most people are saying is true, then Warbands can NEVER be an Elites choice.

Careful with this bit. They don't use up a slot with a normal Inquisitor, but they ARE still Elites. This matters when you consider missions such as Big Guns Never Tire, where it's not the Troops that do the scoring.

 Neorealist wrote:
Fact 1) Henchman warbands are elite choices by default. However, see Fact 2:

Fact 2) "For each Inquisitor in your army, you may also include a unit of 3-12 henchmen... ...This unit does not use up a force organisation slot."

Fact 3) Coteaz makes them count as troop choices instead

So, if you have an inquisitor you may select 1 warband per which doesn't use up an FOC slot. If you have Coteaz you have to take warbands as troop choices (subject to the normal restrictions for such), and if you have neither? The warband does count as an elite choice, but you are not given permission to include one in your army.

Any questions?

Just a clarification, I believe that the Henchmen were listed under Elites simply for what they count as. Even though they don't occupy an FOC when you take an inquisitor (not Coteaz), they counts as Elites and therefore are not scoring units.

Great point Super Ready!

Being that they are listed in the elite section of the book, they can follow additional rules for elites that other bodyguards are denied access to. This includes being scoring units in certain mission types and probably a handful of other things as well. It would explain the formatting and I had completely overlooked that.

JinxDragon wrote:
Great point Super Ready!

Being that they are listed in the elite section of the book, they can follow additional rules for elites that other bodyguards are denied access to. This includes being scoring units in certain mission types and probably a handful of other things as well. It would explain the formatting and I had completely overlooked that.

Elites are never scoring in any mission type, only Troops, and then in 2 others, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support.

 Enigwolf wrote:

JinxDragon wrote:
Great point Super Ready!

Being that they are listed in the elite section of the book, they can follow additional rules for elites that other bodyguards are denied access to. This includes being scoring units in certain mission types and probably a handful of other things as well. It would explain the formatting and I had completely overlooked that.

Elites are never scoring in any mission type listed in the BRB, only Troops, and then in 2 others, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support.

FTFY.

True, but they hypothetically 'could' be, if GW ever releases a mission, special rule, or what have you that cues off of being an elite choice. It gives them a position within the FOC and allows rules which effect such to work properly.

However just being an elite choice does not give you the ability to take them in your army list, you have to fulfill all of their other prerequisites too. (aka, 1+ Inquisitor(s))

I think Super Ready has answered the question, very well done. As to the scoring, I think there used to be BRB missions in which elites were scoring (4th maybe?), so it could happen in the future.

 Elric Greywolf wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:

assuming you bring an Inquisitor to access the option of having Henchmen Warbands as an Elite choice.

If what most people are saying is true, then Warbands can NEVER be an Elites choice. They can either be no choice, with most Inquisitors, or a Troops choice, with Coteaz.

I see them as being an Elite choice without using or "taking up" an Elite choice (or selection, if you will)
This is the same way that a Designated Transport is an "X" choice (depending on the unit it was selected for) without actually using up a slot in the FOC