As a Witch Hunters player one of the most common questions I get is about building an Inquisitorial Retinue. It's an easy task to mess up and the difference between a strong Inquisitor and a weak one can dramatically affect an army's performance.
Here are a few things to avoid when building an Inquisitorial Retinue:
1. Don't take an Inquisitor unless you also intend to take Assassins. There are better ways to get BS4 Heavy Bolters in a Witch Hunters army.
2. Don't take an Inquisitor Lord unless you are planning on taking three units of Assassins. The Elite Inquisitor is just as good and is a lot cheaper.
3. Don't try to make your Inquisitor a close combat fighter. It's tempting, I know, but it will never work.
4. Don't go overboard on the unit. I try to keep the unit under 140 points for an Elite choice and 180 points for an HQ choice. If you are approaching 200 points, you've gone terribly wrong.
5. Don't add Henchmen that you don't need. Some of them are interesting and cool, but they end up watering down your majority army and weakening the squad.
6. Don't forget about the Mixed Armor rules (BGB, p76). It's the key to building a successful Retinue. No, really. Read it again.
Here is my typical Inquisitorial Retinue:
"Shooty" Elite Inquisitor
Elite Inquisitor (Boltgun)
Retinue: 3 Heavy Bolter Gun Servitors, 1 Acolyte (Carapace Armor, Boltgun), 2 Chirurgeons
136pts
This squad can deal out a lot of damage for 136pts and take a reasonable amount of shooting in return. Against a standard MEq army, I generally retain 100% of my Victory Points and pour out nine BS4 Heavy Bolter shots per turn for six turns. In the last year, I've only lost this squad to a Torrent of Fire army (Damn Eldar Scatterlasers!).
The HQ version has the same build, but I'll add another Acolyte (in Carapace Armor) or two. Don't be tempted to use the Plasma Cannon + Sage combo -- leave this to the Daemonhunter Inquisitors.
Things to consider:
1. I buy Boltguns for my Inquisitor and Acolytes because I like them (and I usually get a couple of shots with them if my opponent closes). The squad would perform just as well if you left them with LasPistols and CCWs.
2. A Liber Heresius is a decent piece of wargear, particularly if you build your own board (or your club doesn't build mirrored boards). Being able to select the board edge 83% (or 92%) of the time can be very handy.
3. An Inquistor Lord with a Psychic Hood can also be worth the points. I rarely use one, but with the new Eldar Codex I've been tempted. Don't bother spending the points unless you are taking an Inquisitor Lord.
4. The Bolter-Stake Crossbow can be devastating in a very specific situations. When facing a Hive Tyrant, for example, it's the best 10pts you can spend.
Things to remember:
1. Chirurgeons require you to put a wound on the Inquisitor to work. They don't work like Apothecaries or Medics. If you can't put a wound on the Inquisitor (due to Mixed Armor or due to the fact that he's not a viable target), then the Chirurgeon won't work. Yes, that means you have to pay 5pts to downgrade the Inquisitor Lord's armor to Carapace Armor. He needs to be in majority armor type.
2. Acolytes require you to put a wound on the Inquisitor to work as well.
3. Both the Chirurgeon and Acolyte special abilities work only once per turn.
4. Gun Servitors have Targeters. That means you can pre-measure your 36" Heavy Bolter. Always use this early in your shooting as it will help you range in your army's other weapons. Very handy.
5. Gun Servitors also have Frag Grenades and Krak Grenades. I have yet to use them, but it's nice to know they are there.
6. Inquisitors are psykers, even if they don't have psyhic powers. This is rarely a benefit, but something to keep in mind.
Next Time: The Art of Taking Wounds on an Inquisitorial Retinue.
11 comments:
Really dig the article. I have tried the Inquisitorial Army once before...I failed. More articles like this could bring those models out of the closet...
Yeah man this is a tasty reference article! You often end up explaining this on the witchhunters tactica on warseer, and now linking to here will make it easy. That's a nice looking retinue as well - did you paint it? Nice.
very much liked this tactica as well as the others (DCA!), i was a bit bummed when GW's armies of the imperium software wouldn't allow downgrading the IL's armor to carapace. strange...
Hey there. Great tactica, if a bit shorter than your normal. I pay DH, so it's not entirely applicable, but still handy. I find myself agreeing with a lot of what you say. I did have a couple questions though.
Why do you say leave plasma cannons to DH inquisitors? My guess would be either psycannons or mystics have something to do with it. Am I right?
Why do you say the acolyte's ability works only once per turn? Can you point me to a rule somewhere that says that?
Thanks,
-Aidoneus
@Aidoneus: It was only shorter because I hadn't found my incredibly long-winded voice at that point, lol.
Plasma Cannon Servitors are generally too expensive and are more effective in DH retinues because of Mystics. Against armies that Deep Strike or Summon, Mystics make the shots/cost of a Plasma Cannon work.
It's in the description of the Acolyte. The Inquisitor "may only allocate one wound per Acolyte in any given phase" (WH, p15).
I can help you with your DH retinue too, they are a lot of fun to put together!
Hmm... you're right, it's there. Looks like if you have multiple acolytes you can still allocate all the wounds to a single acolyte (one with Arty Armour, for example).
The weird things though is that there isn't any such restriction in my DH codex. I know there have been reprintings of the DH codex (mine is first print), so it might have been added in later. But the way it looks to me is that my acolyte is just better than a WH acolyte.
That makes me happy!
If you're interested, my usual DH Inq build (Elites) is the following:
Inquisitor: Psycannon, Auspex
-3 Gun Servitors: Heavy Bolters
-1 Sage
-1 Mystic
-1 Acolyte: Artificer Armour
It works well for me. The acolyte ends up protecting the squads from a lot of incoming fire.
Of course, I would love to see your take on a DH inquisitor. All your stuff I've read so far has been fantastic! Keep it coming!
@Aidoneus: The acolyte restriction was one of the sneaky things that GW added in the second printing. The most current printing of the DH codex has the restriction.
Your DH Inquisitor build pretty good. I wouldn't bother with the Mystic unless you also take a Plasma Cannon Servitor.
In my gun line army (I take 4 Inquisitors and lots of Inducted Space Marines), I take the following Inquisitors:
Inquisitor Lord (Psycannon, Psychic Hood)
Retinue: 2 Sages, Mystic, 2 HB Servitors, 1 Plasma Cannon Servitor and one or more Acolytes.
Since I have three 6+ henchmen, I put my Acolytes in Carapace Amor to keep my Servitors alive longer.
My Elite Inquisitor has the following build:
Inquisitor (Psycannon, Emperor's Tarot)
Retinue: 2 Sages, Mystic, 2 HB Servitors, 1 Plasma Cannon Servitor. If I feel that I need more resiliency (e.g., not enough cover), I'll drop a Heavy Bolter Servitor for an Acolyte.
I like the Artificer Armor trick, but in most games I have a tough time keeping my majority army 4+.
@ mkerr first off I really like all the tactica you have written! Second I was looking to make a DH =I= lord for my guard army and went to make one like the one you have posted in the comments and saw that there is no carapace armour in the armoury to give to acolytes. But there is power armour, so I was thinking having 3 acolytes in power armour with the =I='s 3+ save that would be 4, along with 2 sages, 1 mystic, and 2 HB servitors and 1 PC servitor. I gave the lord a lot of stuff maybe too much what do you think of the above squad plus this wargear on the lord: psycannon, psychic hood, emperor's tarot, aupex. thanks
@Anonymous: You've got an early printing of the codex. They included Carapace Armor in the most recent printing, so feel free to include it on your Acolytes (+5pts).
I don't recommend Power Armor. You end up in a bad Mixed Armor situation:
1. 4 models in 3+
2. 3 models in 6+
3. 3 models in 4+
So the first casualty you lose, drops you out of 3+ armor all the way down to 6+. That's a steep drop.
Your wargear looks fine on your Inquisitor Lord. I always take a Psycannon and an Emperor's Tarot. I'd drop the Auspex (it will encourage you to deploy your Inquisitor Lord in a bad location).
The 5th Ed rules really changed up retinues. Now it doesn't matter how many 3/4/6+ saves you have, they all have an equal chance of being hit (given enough incoming fire). This also makes medics near-useless, since with a 6+ save they'll NEVER get a chance to use it. I really hope medics get a 4+ save in a FAQ.
Can we get tactica on the daemonhunters retinue?
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