So Allies for Inquisition....
Let's have a quick review of our favourites:
1) Codex: IG
2) Codex: BA
3) Codex: SM
4) Codex: GK
Some quick thoughts....
1) IG....
Ideal fit for Ordo Xenos:
The first thing that springs to mind is the Blob Squad, fill it with power axes on the Sgts. Don't bother tagging in a Commissar, you can get a Stubborn Ld10 character without sacrificing PW attacks for a reroll...and this for around half the points....add Hammerhand and Rad Grenades done....
Karamazov....this match up was made for this guy, few tag teams offer sacrificial units like IG....infiltrate a small squad with a PW let it get charged, survive one turn and then Nuke it in your turn....."send in the next wave" would be a perfect match up for this meanie....
Ordo Hereticus and Xenos could make an evil death star with Straken in their midst....Null Rod, HH, Plas Syphon and Rads and pile into the LR, perhaps throw in Nork too for kicks....charge.....think about this with HH Straken becomes lots of attacks at Str8 (everyone else Str5) on the charge against -1T anything, with a Force weapon that can instant gibb pretty much anything and an AP3 Null rod for instant gibbing Psykers, GK etc etc....a fair few ablative wounds in the group too, perhaps issue a challenge with Straken, he'll still get the bonuses.....that's not a nice thought to be honest.....carry the Liber Heresius and cause a fear test before you've even started......it's going to cause problems....
Ordo Malleus...Terminator armour, Psycannon, DH, Warlord done
2) BA....
Wow...er Xenos for HH Rad combo...Servo Skulls...win...so many options, I can't remember if an Inquisitor could join up with a DC squad....if he could....
....for kicks how about Joining Mephiston with a couple of Sang Priests in a mini deathstar, I'm sure even Meph would like some assistance from time to time.....HH Rad grenades, Plas Syphon....anyone? As far as I'm aware Meph is a unit on his own that can be joined by ICs btw...
3) Codex: SM
But specifically FW Red Hunters.....lets take a look and remind ourselves....
Adamantium Will
Mneumonic Redaction Protocols
By this Seal, Battle Brothers with GK as long as an Inq is alive
Once per game, the same number of units (incl. Dreds) as whichever turn it is can all auto get one of the following rules:
• Counter-attack
• Monster Hunter
• Tank Hunters
• Hatred
• Skyfire
• Interceptor
For me any of the three highlighted are particularly good, Red Hunters Devastators are really versatile, as are Dreds....
But do they specifically benefit from having an Inq around? Well if you want GK Librarian blessings its a start....
An Inquisitor is a cheap way of teaming up with GK and getting HQs out there, but it's also a great way of laying down some serious Prescience with cheap Psykers available to give as many units as possible rerolls to hit.....this seems incredibly powerful....now in turn three or four shoot with any of these skills and shits going down.....
Now imagine carrying a Liber Heresius......Split Fire comes into it's own.....That's a lot of rerolling fire support/ anti-air....but when the protocols kick in something is going to die...
Codex GK:
The ONLY way to get any of the Elite Assassin clades......that's enough for me
Want to fight a Daemonic incursion....don't leave home without your Grimlore of True Names.....that's going to hurt something nasty a lot....
...I think the best thing here is the extra power an Inquisitor can bring to GK in linking in other allies which full fill deficiencies, light tanks in particular Predators, Vindicators, Whirlwinds etc borrowed from the Red Hunters.....
I'm sure there's millions more, opportunities provided from the Liber Heresius seem the most exciting as there are so many combo's.....
Friday 29 November 2013
Coalition of the Winning
OK so whilst I have much maligned the new GW digital Codex: Inquisition it is full of a whole heap of new combinations, most are bound to get retcon'd out of existence due to unsettling the balance of things
Edit: hmmm....perhaps we've always known that GW FAQers are more Amalathian than the Monodominant traits their legal team gets accused of being :)
Anyway on with the show.....Now ignoring the massive change in the meta game of allowing a third Codex to be in your army lets look at it in more detail.....
The second biggest single change in this new codex is that the Inquisition can buddy up with any other Imperial Army, that means that as well as all those groovy psychic powers (Prescience, Hammerhand, Psychic Communion) that now come into play, all their equipment can benefit allies too, so Servo Skulls, Rad Grenades, Psychout Grenades, Null Rod are free to be spread around too.
On top of that it delivers new special rules in Warlord traits and relics which offer awesome combination potential.....
(This said I still maintain it's not worth the £15.99 GW are charging for the android version but hey)
So how might these changes be best made use of:
Psychic Powers:
Now in the past I complained about the nerf to furious charge and the bitter pill the BA players had to swallow, however add Hammer Hand to the unit, now BA assault troops are now Str6 on the charge, couple this with Rad grenades and you're dealing instant death to any base T4 acolyte out there.....now it seems HoW hits wont count as the power only affects the psyker and his unit so no spreading the love for extra strength on the Int10 hits, not even sure that would be legal but still....Now this is quite well known to GK players but having it available to any unit in the Imperium is a huge equaliser. Any unit instantly gets so much better with Hammerhand.
For once I can see a real opportunity to take on units of Wraiths, instant killing each one with a single attack just became a real possibility.
Psychic Communion probably has the greatest potential to have synergies with other codices, bringing flyers in just at the right time is crucial in gaining a tactical advantage, but how about bringing in the rest of those Drop Pods on turn two or three, combine this with the utility of servo skulls and the Inquisitor just became the lynch pin for any deep strike assault.
Exchanging for BRB powers is always a viable option when Prescience is on offer, not that Marines really have need for rerolls to hit anymore, but prescience on a Sternguard Veteran Squad is a definite win. Especially as Sternguard with rerolls to hit was considered to powerful to alow them access to Bolter Drill.....well that proxy Death Watch unit just got it back.....but this works in CC too. Now imagine Combi Meltas or multiple flamers with the ability to drop pod in and then split fire......with rerolls? Not interested?
If they don't nerf this then it was designed to be this awesome.....
Equipment
Servo Skull, Servo Skull, Servo Skull and that's how many you want....
Pending a rules inquiry servo skulls will allow your BA Assault Squads to deploy from Deep Strike without scattering....not even D6".....worth thinking about.
Drop Pods also became precision implements of delivery, after scattering and deploying your pretty much guaranteed to deliver the guys within 2" of the spot you want them in....it's really amazing.....this means Frag Cannons, Heavy Flamers, Melta guns in Pods became so much more reliable.....This will Definitely see a return to Alpha strike, some players wont like it, but it's going to happen for sure....
Land Raiders....now no one really Deep Strikes a 260pts if it has a footprint the size of a Realm of Battle Board...but allowing for 6 inches....that's so much easier as the LR will almost always land partially on the spot you pick for it....with pre-measuring this means you can deliver a hard as nails Assault vehicle right into your opponents face, with a high likelihood to bring it in exactly when you want it to arrive.....perhaps just after the orbital bombardments have prepped the area.....
Rad Grenades are just my favourite piece of war gear since the rogue trader days, they completely nerf your opponent and there's nothing that can be done to defend against them.....which makes me think Snipers are going to become common place.....
Null Rods are going to be everywhere, I can see a Xenos and Heretical Inquisitorial tag team popping up into lots of lists, what's not clear is if the Null Rod works whilst embarked as clearly this would be an advantage....if only I'd taken this when I fought the Doom of Malan'tai...but it's not just it's massive potential for defence it delivers in attack too, provided any Str3 attacks can get through at AP3 this is taking down big stuff....
My brain hurts now I need to go rest in my pain glove for a while...I'll be back with some more thoughts on using the Tome of Vethric and how it works.....
Edit: hmmm....perhaps we've always known that GW FAQers are more Amalathian than the Monodominant traits their legal team gets accused of being :)
Anyway on with the show.....Now ignoring the massive change in the meta game of allowing a third Codex to be in your army lets look at it in more detail.....
The second biggest single change in this new codex is that the Inquisition can buddy up with any other Imperial Army, that means that as well as all those groovy psychic powers (Prescience, Hammerhand, Psychic Communion) that now come into play, all their equipment can benefit allies too, so Servo Skulls, Rad Grenades, Psychout Grenades, Null Rod are free to be spread around too.
On top of that it delivers new special rules in Warlord traits and relics which offer awesome combination potential.....
(This said I still maintain it's not worth the £15.99 GW are charging for the android version but hey)
So how might these changes be best made use of:
Psychic Powers:
Now in the past I complained about the nerf to furious charge and the bitter pill the BA players had to swallow, however add Hammer Hand to the unit, now BA assault troops are now Str6 on the charge, couple this with Rad grenades and you're dealing instant death to any base T4 acolyte out there.....now it seems HoW hits wont count as the power only affects the psyker and his unit so no spreading the love for extra strength on the Int10 hits, not even sure that would be legal but still....Now this is quite well known to GK players but having it available to any unit in the Imperium is a huge equaliser. Any unit instantly gets so much better with Hammerhand.
For once I can see a real opportunity to take on units of Wraiths, instant killing each one with a single attack just became a real possibility.
Psychic Communion probably has the greatest potential to have synergies with other codices, bringing flyers in just at the right time is crucial in gaining a tactical advantage, but how about bringing in the rest of those Drop Pods on turn two or three, combine this with the utility of servo skulls and the Inquisitor just became the lynch pin for any deep strike assault.
Exchanging for BRB powers is always a viable option when Prescience is on offer, not that Marines really have need for rerolls to hit anymore, but prescience on a Sternguard Veteran Squad is a definite win. Especially as Sternguard with rerolls to hit was considered to powerful to alow them access to Bolter Drill.....well that proxy Death Watch unit just got it back.....but this works in CC too. Now imagine Combi Meltas or multiple flamers with the ability to drop pod in and then split fire......with rerolls? Not interested?
If they don't nerf this then it was designed to be this awesome.....
Equipment
Servo Skull, Servo Skull, Servo Skull and that's how many you want....
Pending a rules inquiry servo skulls will allow your BA Assault Squads to deploy from Deep Strike without scattering....not even D6".....worth thinking about.
Drop Pods also became precision implements of delivery, after scattering and deploying your pretty much guaranteed to deliver the guys within 2" of the spot you want them in....it's really amazing.....this means Frag Cannons, Heavy Flamers, Melta guns in Pods became so much more reliable.....This will Definitely see a return to Alpha strike, some players wont like it, but it's going to happen for sure....
Land Raiders....now no one really Deep Strikes a 260pts if it has a footprint the size of a Realm of Battle Board...but allowing for 6 inches....that's so much easier as the LR will almost always land partially on the spot you pick for it....with pre-measuring this means you can deliver a hard as nails Assault vehicle right into your opponents face, with a high likelihood to bring it in exactly when you want it to arrive.....perhaps just after the orbital bombardments have prepped the area.....
Rad Grenades are just my favourite piece of war gear since the rogue trader days, they completely nerf your opponent and there's nothing that can be done to defend against them.....which makes me think Snipers are going to become common place.....
Null Rods are going to be everywhere, I can see a Xenos and Heretical Inquisitorial tag team popping up into lots of lists, what's not clear is if the Null Rod works whilst embarked as clearly this would be an advantage....if only I'd taken this when I fought the Doom of Malan'tai...but it's not just it's massive potential for defence it delivers in attack too, provided any Str3 attacks can get through at AP3 this is taking down big stuff....
My brain hurts now I need to go rest in my pain glove for a while...I'll be back with some more thoughts on using the Tome of Vethric and how it works.....
Saturday 16 November 2013
Review of the New Digital Codex: Inquisition
If you're thinking of buying the new digital codex......don't
+++communication ends+++
Well.....let's try and be objective....
New stuff you get
Some new fluff
Ordo specific warlord traits
3x Inquisition relics
Access to LR and Valk as dedicated transports
What you don't get, what they could have given you....
Access to proper Storm Troopers as troops.....(only the henchmen BS3 equivalent)
Access to Deathwatch or any other new unit...
Access to penal troops
Special access to Assassin clades outside of GK allies
Wargear beyond the GK codex
Storm Ravens
Vendettas
Immolators
Exorcists
Conclaves of Inquisitors
Additional rules for mini/ home brew Ordos
As usual I get so excited about the prospect of some decent attention for the Inquisition, instead we get a very weak and very poor value job from the guys that matter......honestly I could have done better.....
Yet again we're left feeling exploited for our expectation.......sucks
+++communication ends+++
Well.....let's try and be objective....
New stuff you get
Some new fluff
Ordo specific warlord traits
3x Inquisition relics
Access to LR and Valk as dedicated transports
What you don't get, what they could have given you....
Access to proper Storm Troopers as troops.....(only the henchmen BS3 equivalent)
Access to Deathwatch or any other new unit...
Access to penal troops
Special access to Assassin clades outside of GK allies
Wargear beyond the GK codex
Storm Ravens
Vendettas
Immolators
Exorcists
Conclaves of Inquisitors
Additional rules for mini/ home brew Ordos
As usual I get so excited about the prospect of some decent attention for the Inquisition, instead we get a very weak and very poor value job from the guys that matter......honestly I could have done better.....
Yet again we're left feeling exploited for our expectation.......sucks
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