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I really want to run a choppy Inquisitor with Acolytes, maybe Crusaders or Death Cult, hopefully in a transport, and I'm just not seeing an obvious winning combo. Anyone have any insights or anecdotal evidence?

Bullgryns with mauls and slabshields in valkyries!

Move the valk less the 20", grav shoot out, move the Bullgryn normally as you've only disembarked, charge, smash.

Crusaders and Deathcult assassins can go in sisters of battle rhino's as well.

And obvisouly Inquisitors and Acolytes can go in ANY imperial transport ignoring restrictions unless they the inquisitor is in terminator armour, in which case he/she can only go in transports that can carry terminators

For strictly inquisitors and acolytes, it seems to me that a psyker inquisitor with terrify and a force staff paired with acolytes with power maul and all kitted out with needle pistols is probably the closest you can get to proper close-up killy.

Maybe swap the inquisitor's needler with an inferno pistol instead.

Taffy17 wrote:
Bullgryns with mauls and slabshields in valkyries!

Move the valk less the 20", grav shoot out, move the Bullgryn normally as you've only disembarked, charge, smash.

Crusaders and Deathcult assassins can go in sisters of battle rhino's as well.

And obvisouly Inquisitors and Acolytes can go in ANY imperial transport ignoring restrictions unless they the inquisitor is in terminator armour, in which case he/she can only go in transports that can carry terminators

Bullgryns definitely have my attention. I think I'll buy a box and test them in a Chimera (which I already have) before I invest in a Valkyrie. Maybe 3x Bullgryns with maul and slabshield (those are the big ones, right?), an Inquisitor psyker (for Terrify) with a power weapon (for extra AP), a Priest (for the extra attack), and maybe an Acolyte with an Incinerator (love the S6 flamer, although those things seem overcosted).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Captain Joystick wrote:
For strictly inquisitors and acolytes, it seems to me that a psyker inquisitor with terrify and a force staff paired with acolytes with power maul and all kitted out with needle pistols is probably the closest you can get to proper close-up killy.

Maybe swap the inquisitor's needler with an inferno pistol instead.

I'm not strict on Inquisitor + Acolytes... I'd do AM Veterans, or really any Imperium unit with a Transport the Inquisitor and his friends could join. Acolytes seemed obvious because they come equipped for CC, and that's where my Battle Sisters are lacking.

I have a collection of models I might use:
several Priests with laspistol and chainsword (the default loadout for Acolytes)
Priest with an eviscerator
Priest with a power maul
Priest with a plasma gun
a couple of actual Inquisitorial retinue models that could count as flamers or incinerators or something suitably flamey
a variety of Inquisitor models
a nice red Chimera, currently with dual heavy bolters (from the psybolt days), although flamers look great for this purpose
lots of plastic Catachan parts and some cool resin medieval helmets that I could knock together with whatever weapons I need

I feel like I have the raw materials, I'm just looking for the right build. Thanks for the ideas!

Bullygruns are extremely resilient, mix and match the shields for the 2+, 4++, and (barring an injury) can take the most optimal save vs. the attacking weapon. Math-Hammer with median dmg has 20 genestealers killing *just less than 2 Bullygruns (*5.93 wds on the charge), whereas they shred guard (29.63 wds)

they are decent at melee, basically 3-5 (depending on Priest & charge) Autocannon hits per dude, not the best but nothing most armies can ignore.

Cotaez is kind of a beatstick for his points. There's a bit of a combo with him and GKs. He can reduce something's LD, while giving the GKs his LD of 11 (if he's warlord). They then cast their power that causes mortal wound based on a LD roll-off.

As a bonus, the GKs all have storm bolters and force weapons. They aren't even crazy expensive.

AFB at the moment, so can't remember names of any of the powers. Sorry for that.

 MacPhail wrote:

I'm not strict on Inquisitor + Acolytes... I'd do AM Veterans, or really any Imperium unit with a Transport the Inquisitor and his friends could join. Acolytes seemed obvious because they come equipped for CC, and that's where my Battle Sisters are lacking.

I wouldn't really call an Inquisitor and Acolytes 'choppy' but they are certainly good value for their points. An Inquisitor with a power maul and 6 acolytes costs 99 points and pumps out 18 S3 and 4 S5 attacks in melee (as well as getting boltguns/pistols for free) while having 23 wounds at LD 9 with various to hit and/or to wound re-rolls depending on their Ordo. That not going to take out a Bloodthrister but it will make a pretty big dent.

Pseudomonas wrote:

 MacPhail wrote:

I'm not strict on Inquisitor + Acolytes... I'd do AM Veterans, or really any Imperium unit with a Transport the Inquisitor and his friends could join. Acolytes seemed obvious because they come equipped for CC, and that's where my Battle Sisters are lacking.

I wouldn't really call an Inquisitor and Acolytes 'choppy' but they are certainly good value for their points. An Inquisitor with a power maul and 6 acolytes costs 99 points and pumps out 18 S3 and 4 S5 attacks in melee (as well as getting boltguns/pistols for free) while having 23 wounds at LD 9 with various to hit and/or to wound re-rolls depending on their Ordo. That not going to take out a Bloodthrister but it will make a pretty big dent.

Not sure how you come up with 99 points, but an Inquisitor is 55 and Acolytes are 8, so that's 103 base, plus 4 per power maul, so 131 with them all swinging mauls. Still not terribly high, and worth considering for some melee beat downs, but you may be better off with any of the Ministorum units, which are all fluffy for INQ, and can apparently get in Sororitas Rhinos and Immolators (but not Repressors, boo).

Though this isn't really a melee unit, ive been taking about 20 acolytes with storm bolters to screen my SM shooting army, and they actually are pretty good at tying up assaults since they have so many wounds. Most marine squads can't kill them in one turn and they won't run away if there is an inq around.

I imagine you could give them weapons and they might not be terrible. 2 attacks base is pretty good after all.

Thanks, y'all... really great suggestions. I think the front runners right now, based on models I own or am prepared to build or buy, are the following:

3x Bullgryns w/ maul & slabshield, Inquisitor w/ power sword, Acolyte w/ flamer, Priest w/ maul, in a Chimera, maybe eventually a Valkyrie
1 or 2 Inquisitors riding in a Sisters Rhino with a mix of Acolytes, Priests, Death Company, and Crusaders for a pile of wounds and power weapons... but what numbers?
I really wanted a Veteran squad with flamers and heavy flamers to go run face first into something, but the Sisters are actually pretty good at that so... no

JCD386-- what models are you using for all those storm bolters?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, here's two groups (of multiple units each) that I might actually run. What do you think of these two outfits, one shooty, one choppy, both designed to work up close courtesy of a Ministorum Immolator? Lots of wounds, lots of melee attacks, great Leadership, with a mix of prickly weapons.

161 points, PL12
Inquisitor w/ Power Sword & Bolter
Ministorum Priest w/ Eviscerator
Acolyte w/ Power Maul
Acolyte w/ Flamer
Acolyte w/ Laspistol & Chainsword (x2)

153 points, PL12
Inquisitor w/ Plasma Pistol
Ministorum Priest w/ Plasma Gun
Acolyte w/ Storm Bolter
Acolyte w/ Flamer
Acolyte w/ Laspistol & Chainsword (x2)

I'm interested in peoples experience with the DCA, Crusader, Arco, Priest "squad". I was thinking about using 1 priest, 4 crusaders, 3 flagellants and 2 DCA in a rhino. The plan is to jump out and charge with the crusaders first to soak up overwatch. My concern is they're not actually a whole squad,

Better to use the rhino itself to draw overwatch.

I'm not sure of the value of combining the units in this way. The trouble is that the crusaders can't protect the others anyway, so they become a lot less use. It might be better to go all-crusader or all something else.

the_Jakman wrote:
I'm interested in peoples experience with the DCA, Crusader, Arco, Priest "squad". I was thinking about using 1 priest, 4 crusaders, 3 flagellants and 2 DCA in a rhino. The plan is to jump out and charge with the crusaders first to soak up overwatch. My concern is they're not actually a whole squad,

Remember that kill a crusader is easier than kill a marine with a bolter...

I'm interested on Crusader effectivity. I planned to make my own Arbitres unit using this rules... after using it could you please tell us if they are effective enough?

Guardsmen with grey knight storm bolters.

 MacPhail wrote:

JCD386-- what models are you using for all those storm bolters?

Not poster...
I used modified guardsmen with FW umbra ferrox boaters.

Scions could be inquisitorial storm troopers as well and they're definitely the new cool kids in this edition

 MacPhail wrote:

Taffy17 wrote:
Bullgryns with mauls and slabshields in valkyries!

Move the valk less the 20", grav shoot out, move the Bullgryn normally as you've only disembarked, charge, smash.

Crusaders and Deathcult assassins can go in sisters of battle rhino's as well.

And obvisouly Inquisitors and Acolytes can go in ANY imperial transport ignoring restrictions unless they the inquisitor is in terminator armour, in which case he/she can only go in transports that can carry terminators

Bullgryns definitely have my attention. I think I'll buy a box and test them in a Chimera (which I already have) before I invest in a Valkyrie. Maybe 3x Bullgryns with maul and slabshield (those are the big ones, right?), an Inquisitor psyker (for Terrify) with a power weapon (for extra AP), a Priest (for the extra attack), and maybe an Acolyte with an Incinerator (love the S6 flamer, although those things seem overcosted).

I think Incinerator is just for Inquisitors.

 minionboy wrote:

Pseudomonas wrote:

 MacPhail wrote:

I'm not strict on Inquisitor + Acolytes... I'd do AM Veterans, or really any Imperium unit with a Transport the Inquisitor and his friends could join. Acolytes seemed obvious because they come equipped for CC, and that's where my Battle Sisters are lacking.

I wouldn't really call an Inquisitor and Acolytes 'choppy' but they are certainly good value for their points. An Inquisitor with a power maul and 6 acolytes costs 99 points and pumps out 18 S3 and 4 S5 attacks in melee (as well as getting boltguns/pistols for free) while having 23 wounds at LD 9 with various to hit and/or to wound re-rolls depending on their Ordo. That not going to take out a Bloodthrister but it will make a pretty big dent.

Not sure how you come up with 99 points, but an Inquisitor is 55 and Acolytes are 8, so that's 103 base, plus 4 per power maul, so 131 with them all swinging mauls. Still not terribly high, and worth considering for some melee beat downs, but you may be better off with any of the Ministorum units, which are all fluffy for INQ, and can apparently get in Sororitas Rhinos and Immolators (but not Repressors, boo).

I'm still torn between Arco-Flagellants and HtH Acolytes. Those are the only units I can convert and I need some punchy close combat units in my Inquisition army (together with Hellhound, many Psyker Inquisitors and some Scions). Flagellants are more expensive but they have way more attacks, but for the price of two full strength units I can field MANY Acolytes with Power Mauls and pistols.

Please help I cant decide between those!!!

Mandragola wrote:
Better to use the rhino itself to draw overwatch.

I'm not sure of the value of combining the units in this way. The trouble is that the crusaders can't protect the others anyway, so they become a lot less use. It might be better to go all-crusader or all something else.

At that point, you might as well bring a repressor since it's not completely worthless in melee (though it can't carry the DCA and Crusaders).

I plan on using two Inquisitors and 16-18 acolytes in 2 space marine rhinos in my shooty Space Marine lists as speedbumps / counter assault unit for enemy assault units in order to keep them off my razorbacks, dakka dreads, devastators, and so on.

I think i am going to keep them with storm bolters, but I could also see chainswords or mauls working pretty well.

The fact is, most units can't kill a 5 man squad of acolytes in one turn of shooting or combat, and with Ld9 from the Inquisitors, they are not likely to run away until they are basically useless.

The rhinos and inquisitors power helps them avoid overwatches, and they can just fall back during my turn so i can keep shooting things.

The inquisitor's cheap source of smite is also great for killing expensive enemy units.

2 Rhinos, 2 Inquisitors, and 16 stormbolter acolytes costs 414 points for over 70 wounds of speedbump between you and the enemy, all of which is more or less immune to morale and character sniping, and seems pretty good to me.

jcd386 wrote:
I plan on using two Inquisitors and 16-18 acolytes in 2 space marine rhinos in my shooty Space Marine lists as speedbumps / counter assault unit for enemy assault units in order to keep them off my razorbacks, dakka dreads, devastators, and so on.

I think i am going to keep them with storm bolters, but I could also see chainswords or mauls working pretty well.

The fact is, most units can't kill a 5 man squad of acolytes in one turn of shooting or combat, and with Ld9 from the Inquisitors, they are not likely to run away until they are basically useless.

The rhinos and inquisitors power helps them avoid overwatches, and they can just fall back during my turn so i can keep shooting things.

The inquisitor's cheap source of smite is also great for killing expensive enemy units.

2 Rhinos, 2 Inquisitors, and 16 stormbolter acolytes costs 414 points for over 70 wounds of speedbump between you and the enemy, all of which is more or less immune to morale and character sniping, and seems pretty good to me.

I didn't think I'd be the only one. My two groupings described above run smaller squads to keep the transports armed and run at 510 with two Immolators. In addition to the benefits described here, I think the extra attacks and greater resiliency of the Priests help offset the smaller numbers. I'm planning on using them in a similar way... I'll push them up behind the Dominions to look for a favorable countercharge, use them to screen the drop Scions by running them out on a flank, or use them in the backfield to roadblock for the Canoness/Rets/Exos package. I'm pretty excited to use these guys, but my group is still playing smaller games, and I don't see this allocation of points being serviceable until around 2k.

Aaaand the FAQ just changed acolytes to one wound but they still cost the same...so they seem pretty useless now to me.

jcd386 wrote:
Aaaand the FAQ just changed acolytes to one wound but they still cost the same...so they seem pretty useless now to me.

Back to the drawing board... Death Cult? Crusaders? Back on the shelf with the whole lot until next edition? I'm determined to field an in your face Inquisition package, but the Acolyte FAQ takes the best option off the table. They were a bit ridiculous...

I guess death cult and crusaders are your main options. Depending on how wide your definition of "Inquisitional" forces are, you could also use sisters, GK, or models you like counting as something inquisitorial but using the rules of marines or something.

Looking a the math, I think Flagellants are our best bet, especially with a priest. The second wound makes them twice as resilient as a death cult assassin.

jcd386 wrote:
I guess death cult and crusaders are your main options. Depending on how wide your definition of "Inquisitional" forces are, you could also use sisters, GK, or models you like counting as something inquisitorial but using the rules of marines or something.

"Models I like" are part of why I'm trying to get this unit up and running:

I have a bunch of officers, commissars, some old tech gang dudes from somewhere, and a couple of human bombs that for some reason have been written out of the Imperial Guard. Their lack of arms indicates my frustration with finding a purpose that will get these guys back on the table.


These are some of my favs. If only four shotguns and a grenade launcher was the new 8th ed power combo.