Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Inquisition

Why Play Inquisition

The Inquisition may seem like a peculiar army at first glance- for starters, they have no Troops, Heavy Support, or Fast Attack units and their army selection in general is just barely enough to qualify as an army. However, that misses the point of playing them- their role is to act as a secondary Allied detachment that can cover whatever bases that the main army (and its allied detachment) can't cover for. Combined with some impressive wargear and the ability to nominate an HQ as the army's warlord while remaining as an allied detachment, the Inquisition makes an ideal ally for just about any Imperial faction (and several xenos factions as well).

Nobody ever expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Special Rules

Unlike normal armies, the FOC for the Inquisition consists of a minimum of 1 HQ unit (2 max) and up to 3 Elites (along with any Dedicated Transports). Naturally, this means that you'll have to get creative with your wargear to make the most of your army. However, this all changes when you take the nature of the Inquisitorial Detachment special rule (listed below).

Inquisitorial Detachment

Unlike normal Allied detachments, an Inquisitorial detachment can be taken in addition to any other detachments you might have. For example, you could take a Space Marine army with an Imperial Guard allied detachment and add an Inquisitorial detachment to it as well, essentially letting you use three different factions within the same army list. If you take the Inquisition codex as your primary detachment, not only are you allowed an allied detachment, but also another Inquisitorial detachment (only drawback to this is that this one doesn't score with the elites, but meh). And as an added bonus, you can declare one of the Inquisitors to be your Warlord in place of a primary detachment's character, allowing the use of the Inquisitor's impressive warlord traits across the whole army.

The Big I's Armory

Wargear

• Condemnor Boltgun: This boltgun also incorporates a single-shot crossbow- while S5 AP- seems like a joke, it also has the Psi-Shock rule that forces Psykers which take an unsaved wound from it to roll for Perils of the Warp. A bit too situational to be useful.
  • UPDATE: You now just have to hit the group with the psyker now to cause Perils on them. This is great, but if there's more than one psyker in the group, you randomly choose which psyker gets the Perils. A great buff, but it might cause some grief if you want to kill that one specific heretic or mutant.
• Conversion Beamer: Who forgot these? An interesting little item for Xeno Inquistors that fires a blast that gets more powerful the farther it shoots (At 1-18 inches it's S6 AP-, 19-42 it's S8 AP4 and at 43-72 it's S10 AP1). Obviously this is best used for a heavy weapons Inquisitor at the way back, maybe with a couple Jokero to back them up. Combines oddly well with Split Fire granted by the Liber Hersius, allowing you to shoot 1 Vehicle wayyyyy the fuck off on the other side of the board while your Jokero hit another. Don't forget Prescience.
• Hellrifle: Not to be confused with the Hellgun, this fucker does an impressive job of tearing up MEQs with S6 AP3, and Heavy 1 plus Rending makes it even better at it. Malleus lists should probably include this with a shooting HQ, if you're not going for Terminator Armor, that is.
• Incinerator: S6 AP 4 flamer. A good choice, but generally the psycannon is a better pick. However, it's hilariously destructive against Blobguard, Blobtau, Blobgreen and Blobanids. Fire it and watch instant death melt those hundreds of units away. Shares the same strong points (albeit stronger by a point or two) as all flamer weapons, great for overwatch and for clearing occupied buildings. Shish Kebab time.
• Psycannon: The good ol' signature ranged weapon of Grey Knights and the shit responsible for 20% of the rage directed against them, a strength 7 AP 4 rifle with two firing modes: 2 shots as an assault weapon or 4 shots as a rending heavy weapon if the shooter didn't move on this turn. It is always fired in the latter mode if the model using it is in terminator armor. Mercifully, you only get two of them in the list, max, so people don't bitch at you 24/7. As an Inqusitor, you also need to shell points out the nose just for it. May be too overpriced here.
• Nemesis Daemon Hammer: Standard thunder hammer plus Nemesis Force rules. Malleus terminators get this by default.
• Scythian Venom Talon: S User, AP-, Poison (2+). Use the Needle Pistol instead. Really. I mean, it's okay if you get the rending, then you can be a shitty version of a Dark Eldar, but...
• Needle Pistol: ...why do that when you have this? The range stinks, but AP2 and Poison (2+) mean that it's guaranteed to ruin the day of any Terminator that gets too close. Pretty nice if the Jokaero you're taking give you the +12" range upgrade!
• Null Rod: It would be an average power weapon if it weren't for its special Witchbane rule, which cancels the effects of psychic powers (from allies and enemies) on the user's unit and causes models with the Psyker and Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers rule to suffer Instant Death when they take unsaved wounds.
• Daemonblade: While using a daemon weapon is almost always a bad idea if you aren't with Chaos (especially because it's S User and AP-), it gives you two randomly selected powers from the following list (roll 2d6, doubles lets you choose which buffs you want). It can be funny if you get the right rolls, and since 7 is statistically likely, it's alright versus Daemons, I guess...Or you could take a Hellrifle.
  • 2-3: S increases to User+3.
  • 4: Gain +3 attacks.
  • 5: Gain AP2.
  • 6: Gain +1W each time an unsaved wound with the Daemonblade is inflicted.
  • 7: Always wound Daemons on a 2+, and forces them to reroll successful invulnerable saves.
  • 8: Gain Furious Charge and Rage.
  • 9: Gain Feel No Pain and Eternal Warrior.
  • 10: Gain Poison (2+).
  • 11+: Gain Force and generate a bonus Warp Charge each turn.
• Orbital Strike Relay: Unlike Inquisitors with the Burner of Worlds Warlord Trait, Inquisitor Krazypantsoff gets a choice of three different forms of Exterminatus. All of them have infinite range and the Orbital rule.
  • Barrage Bomb: S6, AP4, Ordnance D3(!), Large Blast. When you absolutely have to blow everything up.
  • Lance Strike: S10, AP1, Heavy 1, Lance, Blast. Your go-to Titan-killer.
  • Psyk-out Bomb: S6, AP4, Ordnance 1, Psi-Shock, Large Blast. Situational at best and probably the weakest of the three.
• Defense Orb: Adds 5++ invulnerable save. Jokaero get these, not you. Your Inquisitor doesn't get an Invulnerable save. Go fuck yourself.
• Digital Weapons: Reroll a single failed To Wound roll each assault phase. If you're in melee, and Ordo Xenos, things have probably gone wrong already, but it might be okay...maybe. Probably not. Could help get that lucky Force strike through.
• Empyrean Brain Mines: After assault moves have been made but before any blows are struck, Nominate one enemy model in base contact with the bearer. That model must pass an Initiative test to avoid the brain mine. If the test is passed, nothing happens. If the test is failed, the victim cannot strike any blows during this Assault phase. It's...alright. A good protection in Challeneges, to be sure. You could derp out an opponent and own them with your Nemesis Hammer.
• Psyocculum: The user's unit gets BS10 when shooting at a unit which has at least 1 model with Psyker, Psychic Pilot or Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers. AMAZINGly situational. Emphasis on Amazing. Bonus points for using this versus Tyranids.
• Rosarius: Gain a 4++ invulnerable save. Nope, Inquisitors can't get it.
• Servo-skulls: These are placed on the battlefield (and can be placed anywhere outside the enemy deployment zone) after deployment areas have been determined, but before any forces are deployed. Enemy infiltrators cannot set up within 12" of a Servo-skull and enemy scouts can't use their pre-game move to approach within 12" of a Servo-skull. A friendly unit arriving by Deep Strike rolls one D6 less for scatter if it aims to arrive within 12" of a Servo-skull and friendly blast templates placed within 12" of a Servo-skull roll one D6 less for scatter. They can't technically be destroyed, but if an enemy gets within 6" of one it will be removed from play. It's also a great way of rounding out points if you take three Acolytes with special weapons and those are the only ones you take. Yaaaay, OCD!
• Ulumeathi Plasma Syphon: Matt Ward's infamous addition to the Grey Knights is now (mercifully) in an army that isn't quite as likely to abuse it. It still reduces all models firing plasma weapons within 12" to BS1, making it a pain in the ass to anyone who relies on them, though the Tau are no longer quite as badly affected by it as they used to be (since it only affects weapons that are explicitly described as being plasma weapons in the rulebook, and pulse weapons aren't considered to be a part of that category now).
• Rad-Grenades: Ordo Xenos only. Grenades that reduce the enemy's toughness by 1 for a round when in assault. Pretty nifty.
• Psychotroke Grenades: Ordo Xenos only again. Roll a d6 when in assault and something hilarious could happen, ranging from auto-hits to jack-shit.

Inquisitorial Relics:

Only one Relic can be used per army.

• Liber Heresius: 15 points. Also known as "The Big Book of Heresy", the bearer of this tome can take a Leadership test at the start of any turn. If the test is passed, the bearer of the Liber Heresius and his unit, gain either Scouts (only before the start of the first turn), Split Fire, Counter-Attack, Fear, or Hatred until the start of their next turn. You can't choose the same rule twice, though. Overall, a well-rounded choice
• Grimoire of True Names: 5 points. When the bearer of the Grimoire of True Names is fighting a challenge against a model with the Daemon special rule, his opponent suffers a -5 penalty to his WS, I, and L characteristics (to a minimum of 1). Cheap, but its benefits are far too specific to be useful.

Alternate take: For 5pts you make your inquisitor a daemon bashing machine. Now bearing in mind 3 armies take daemons (chaos daemons, chaos space marines, and sometimes eldar), this is actually quite useful. It's only 5pts. A lot of chaos space marine armies that you see at the tournament scene tend to take a daemon prince these days, and if it comes to slay the warlord, your inquisitor will likely wipe the floor with one. Coming standard with psyk-out grenades, and then being able to hit it on 3s is a godsend. Combined with giving him a force weapon, it will be a breeze. And against chaos daemons it works just as well, in fact well enough to stand a chance against greater daemons, this works against eldar avatars too and is down right hilarious when your 60pts inquisitor goes all calgar on him.

• The Tome of Vethric: 20 points. If your opponent's detachment is a xenos army, the tome's bearer gains a USR from the following list that corresponds to that xenos race. If both the primary and allied detachment are xenos, you get both of their corresponding USRs. Since all of them are ideal for countering their corresponding race, this one is a must-have when fighting xenos. Unfortunately, since over half the factions in the game are Imperial/Chaos, it may not be the best choice if you aren't tailoring.
  • Eldar: Split Fire
  • Dark Eldar: Night Vision
  • Tau: Furious Charge
  • Necrons: Tank Hunter
  • Orks: Counter-Attack
  • Tyranids: Monster Hunter

Vehicle Upgrades

• Dozer Blades: It's a Dozer Blade. You know what it does.
• Storm Bolter: It's a storm bolter. You should know what this does too, hopefully.
• Hunter-Killer Missile: If you need to ask this, no, you need to go back to Basic.
• Searchlight: Right, report to your Commissar
• Smoke Launchers: Well, people always forget to use these, so...I suppose it's tolerable to mention. A nice use to get your transports semi-safely to their destination.
• Psybolt Ammo: All Bolter and Assault Cannon shots gain an additional +1S. Give this to a Land Raider Crusader and revel in the dakka.
• Truesilver Armor: If a model with the Daemon, Psyker, Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers or Psychic Pilot hits this vehicle in close combat, it suffers a Strength 6 hit for each hit once damage has been resolved against the vehicle. Why are you buying this? Seriously, there's no reason to. Even against Grey Knights, it'd only be moderately useful.
• Psyflame Ammo: Psybolt ammo for flame weapons. Rinse repeat.

Warlord Traits

• 1- Unquestionable Wisdom: The Warlord and his unit can choose to pass or fail any Morale Test. Take that Papa Smurf!
• 2- Reader of the Tarot: While the Warlord is alive, you can roll two dice and choose the more favorable result when rolling for Reserves, Outflank, Mysterious Terrain, and Mysterious Objectives. This one...this one's interesting. It doesn't say that it doesn't effect Allied Detachments, it just says you can choose dice when rolling, this one's pretty sweet. Might be FAQ'd or updated, but...keep an eye on it.
• 3- Burner of Worlds: Once per game, the Warlord can skip the shooting phase to call down an orbital bombardment (infinite range, S10 AP1, Ordnance 1, Large Blast, Barrage, and Orbital). Exterminatus on demand, baby.

4-6 are different depending on which Ordo your Inquisitor is a part of.

Hereticus

• 4- Witch Hunter: The Warlord and his unit gain Preferred Enemy (Psykers). Karamazov has this trait by default. It's alright, but a Psyocculum in the unit renders it useless, so...be careful.
• 5- Will of Iron: The Warlord and his unit gain Adamantium Will. If your Inquisitor is a Psyker, this makes you Deny on a 4+, pretty sweet.
• 6- Master of Interrogation: Enemy Infiltrators can't be set up within 24" of the Warlord. If you also took 3 servo skulls, well, just laugh at your opponent as you ask them to set up Infiltrators. Considering how rare they are now, though...you might not even get a giggle. Still cool.

Xenos

• 4- Xeno Hunter: The Warlord and his unit have Preferred Enemy (Xenos) when targeting enemy non-vehicle units from the following lists: Dark Eldar, Eldar, Necrons, Orks, Tau, and Tyranids. Pretty sweet, not gonna lie. Can be fuck-mothering useful if you're actually facing one of those units.
• 5- Xenotech Collector: The Warlord gains a 6++, and one of the Warlord's ranged weapons gains S+1 and Rending for the duration of the battle. One of the only ways to give an Inquisitor an Invuln save.
• 6- Purity of Mankind: Humanity Fuck Yeah in game. The Warlord and his unit gain Hatred.

Malleus

• 4- Daemonhunter: The Warlord and his unit gain Preferred Enemy (Daemons). Coteaz has this by default. See the other two, it's conditional at best, but can be damn nice in the right spot.
• 5- Incorruptible: All units with the Daemon USR within 12" of the Warlord suffer a -1 penalty to their invulnerable save on top of any other modifiers. Watch Daemons weep if you combine this with a Grimoire of True Names and a right roll on a Daemonblade.
• 6- Forbidden Lore: If the Warlord is a Psyker, he generates a bonus Warp Charge each turn; otherwise, the Warlord gains Adamantium Will. Awesome. Just awesome. It lets you cast Prescience and get a Force weapon strike! Win-Win! The other one doesn't apply, you should ALWAYS take a psyker as an Inquisitor.

Unit Analysis

HQ

It wouldn't be an Inquisitorial detachment without some Inquisitors, right? On top of the returning characters (apart from the conspicuously absent Valeria), you also have a generic Inquisitor whose Wargear choices are dependent on their Ordo. The generic Inquisitor can be upgraded to a Mastery Level 1 psyker for an additional 30 points. The thing is, Inquisition can roll on Pyromancy, Telekenisis, oh, yeah, and Divination- and that's on top of their own Inquisition-only powers. Take a psyker. Cheap access to Divination for whatever army you're a detachment of. You need it. It's good.

• Ordo Malleus Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Terminator Armor, Incinerators and Psycannons, Psybolt ammunition, Empyrean brain mines, the Hellrifle, the Daemonblade, and Nemesis Daemonhammers. To be flat out honest, he's probably the most Close Combat oriented. This guy with a unit of Crusaders, Assassins, and a couple of Priests in a Land Raider can get messy quick, lots of potential to overwhelm people with strength boosting weapons from your cheap access to Power anything. He also is the only one who can get an invulnerable save base. So, there's that. Still, unless you're going against Daemons, his Warlord traits are mostly...er, useless. Daemonblade can be fun, but don't rely on getting something amazing.
  • Inquisitor Torquemada Coteaz : "Torquemada – do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada - do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada - do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it - you can't Torquemada anything!" [1] - Completely different from the Daemon Hunters Codex in both fluff and gameplay, but is nonetheless still loved, he's the big bad Inquisitor, with a master-crafted Daemon hammer, a psyber-eagle (which is apparently more lethal than a storm bolter),and artificer armor. On top of that, he's a Mastery Level 2 Psyker with access to the Divination, Pyromancy, and Telepathy disciplines (or the Hammerhead, Sanctuary, and Dark Excommunication powers- your choice). If an enemy unit arrives from reserve within 12" of him, he and his unit can shoot at it, even if it's not his turn, and he can force either player to re-roll to seize the initiative. He also makes Inquisitorial Henchmen scoring units even when his detachment isn't the main one, making him useful for supplementing an army whose scoring units aren't quite up to snuff. And the cherry on top? You get all of this for a paltry 100 points.
  • Inquisitor Hector Rex (Forgeworld) - This is one buff Inquisitor. Unlike a majority of Inquisitors (well, humans overall), Rex is as strong as your average Space Marine which is shown on his profile with him being S4 (though he remains T3 like the rest of the average humans, a tear shed in pity). Equipped with Artificer armor, Storm Shield, a bolt pistol, and a Nemesis Force Sword that requires no worse than a 4 2+ to wound a Daemon, Rex seems like the poor man's Kaldor Draigo (though model wise he's Draigo's superior, badass looking mofo that he is). He also has Psyker Mastery Level 2 along with 3 Psychic powers available to him (Sanctuary, Holocaust, and Dark Excommunication to be exact), Stubborn, and let's you take an extra unit of Henchmen that doesn't take up a Force Org. slot. At 175 points, he's not too shabby. Also, fluff wise, this guy is arguably the biggest badass in the Imperium, he fricking flipped off An'ggrath before fighting one on one, and beat him!

• Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Inferno Pistols, Condemnor Boltguns, Thunder Hammers, Null Rods, and the Psyocculum. He's pretty nice. His Warlord traits go against Psykers mostly, so if you really hate that trolling Eldar player who's running a 'fluffy' Wraithguard heavy list, you can take a Psyocculum and some Jokaero and make him dance for his life. BS10 monkeys can fling some serious shit. If you're taking an Inquisitor for an all-comers list, he's probably the one to take given how popular Psykers are these days.
  • Inquisitor Karamazov - He's no longer a Monstrous Creature anymore, despite his size, but he does have the statline of one, and has a master-crafted multi-melta (that he can fire on the move and assault in the same turn) and power sword, and an orbital strike beacon (that he can fire on a friendly unit to prevent scatter). However, he can't embark on transports and has no Invulnerable save; a single S10 hit is all that's needed to end Krazypantsoff's purges. Which, honestly, you can't really blame the Tau player for enjoying. He's an Independent Character, so you can join him with some shooty unit and PURGE EVERYTHING with orbital strikes. And he also has a nice set of grenades...

• Ordo Xenos Inquisitor - Compared to the other two, he gets Needle Pistols, Scythian Venom Talons, Conversion Beamers, Digital Weapons, Rad and Psychotroke grenades, and the Ulumeathi Plasma Siphon. Xenos is...interesting. His gear is exotic, his traits are useful, but only against Xeno codices. Conversion Beamer can be fun, but the poor guy's only BS4, if you're making him a psyker, which you should be, and giving him some Jokaero, you can take Prescience and really lay some hurt on tanks. Little pricey, and you're going to need to drop Prescience on them to make it really reliable. Incidentally, someone really needs to make a tournament-legal Inquisition army consisting of nothing but max numbers of Ordo Xenos Inquisitors and max numbers of space monkeys - Jokaero with this as a banner: http://goo.gl/FRng0 SUFFER NOT THE ALIEN TO LIVE!
  • Inquisitor Solomon Lok (Forgeworld) - Who forgot about this guy? A Xenos Inquisitor from IA4: The Anphelion Project, Lok and his retinue unfortunately get eaten by the Nids, but that won't stop him and his group from having their own set of rules! Lok has WS5 and BS4 which go great with his wargear: MC Power Sword, Bolt Pistol with Psybolt Ammo, Artificer Armor, Digital Weapons, Frag, Krak and Psyk-Out Grenades AND a Refactor Field. That's right, an Inquisitor with a stock Invuln Save. Emperor be praised. He is however, only S/T3 with 3 Wounds, so be careful with him (his Warlord Trait grants him and his unit FnP while they're within 3" of an objective so that helps). Our good Inquisitor even has Stubborn, so he and his unit are that much harder to get rid of. Lok even comes with his own Warband, bringing the total amount you can take in an Inquisitorial Detachment up to 4! The catch here is that they can't be upgraded beyond what is already listed for them in the rules, so take that with a grain of salt. Lok can either start the game with this unit or not. The best part? You get ALL THIS, for only 80 Points. EIGHTY POINTS. How's that for cost-efficiency?
    • Autosavant Wassily: Counts as a Warrior Acolyte with no upgrades, and whilst within 6” of Solomon Lok he grants him +1 to his BS.
    • Astropath Zarneck: Counts as a Mystic
    • Major Durra, D Company, 99th Elysian Regiment: Counts as a Warrior Acolyte with the following upgrades: hot-shot lasgun and melta bombs.
    • Tech-Priest Magos Biologis Arthon: Counts as a Warrior Acolyte with the following upgrades: power armour and power axe.
    • Four Servitors: No Upgrades
    • One Servo Skull: Yeah. That's right. An extra Servo Skull. Boom.

Elite

You only have one choice for this, but it's a fairly customizable one at least.

• Inquisitorial Henchmen - Your Inquisitor's band of ragtag misfits, think of them as the Inglourious Basterds IN SPACE! If you're the primary detachment, these are scoring units, but Coteaz can make them scoring units when used as an Inquisitorial detachment as well. Take a bunch of them and make like you're playing Dark Heresy. (Not like you have a choice.)
  • Arco-Flagellant - Puts out 4 S5 attacks per turn (that unfortunately allow armor saves) and has Feel No Pain. Good for being used as beatsticks against low-armor units, such as Orks or lesser daemons. Can glance light vehicles to death in a heartbeat. It's debatable if these guys are better then Assassins now, but they lay on the saves.
  • Crusader - Comes with power weapon and storm shield, use them to suck up wounds that would otherwise be unsaveable. Not so good for offense, but soak heavy fire like a sponge.
  • Daemonhost - Fun the same way that Orks are, being unreliable but interesting. For ten points you could get a servitor with a Heavy Bolter or something, though. It's reliable too!
  • Death Cult Assassin - If you use Crusaders for defense, you use these girls for attack. S4, 3 power sword attacks (4 on the charge) and 5+ invuln saves, they can dish out the hurt, but they can't take it.
  • Inquisitorial Servitor - Well-armored and start with power fists, but are better when outfitted with heavy weapons. A cheap way to put some plasma cannons onto the field. But there's a catch- if a unit with a Servitor in it doesn't also have an Inquisitor in it, the unit the Servitor is in has a 50-50 chance of being unable to move, shoot, or assault that turn.
  • Jokaero Weaponsmith - You can thank the Old Ones for these guys; Space Monkeys that make your guns better! Yay! Also, their digital weapons can function as either a multimelta or a lascannon (and a heavy flamer for painful overwatches), making them one of the few anti-armor units in the codex. Unfortunately, they suffer when taken in bulk, due to being expensive and having mediocre BS. A good rule of thumb is two. I've found more just bloat the squad's cost.
  • Mystic - Unless you're planning to 'defensive deepstrike' some guys in Valks using your Grav Chutes, mystics won't do much for your army. However, they do a great job at helping allied reserves come in better.
  • Psyker - S10 Ap1 Large Blasts. The Vindicator wishes it could do this shit. Unfortunately you need eight of them to pull off such a powerful attack, and if you roll Perils they'll all pop like a psychic balloon. Put a squad of Psykers in a rhino and drive them round dropping s10 ap1 large blasts using your opponent's tears as lube for your massive troll dick. Or, ya know, they'll just ignore it with Deny the Witch. Fear rule lawyers for they may point out the AP doesn't get better with the number of psykers but actually increases, meaning it will stay AP6 or end up AP- altogether. FAQ updates into the 7th edition have taken away this power and replaced it with a roll on any of the general tables. 10 point psyker models for the win! Brotherhood of pyskers, of course.
  • Acolyte - Can be anything from simply Glorified Guardsmen to I-wish-I-was-a-Space-Marine. They're cheap, expendable, and they can have their wargear customized. It's like having a build a bear for Guardsmen! Really you should only be taking about three though. They can be used for warm bodies but their real power is in Melta/Plasma. Still:
    • Any of them can swap out their usual wargear for boltguns, storm bolters, or hot-shot lasguns.
    • Up to three can take meltaguns, plasma pistols, power swords, combi-weapons, etc. You can kit them out to deal with nearly anything.
    • Carapace armor doubles their cost, and power armor more than triples it, but makes them a lot more survivable.
  • Ministorum Priest - Ported from the Sisters of Battle Codex, and no less potent for it. Unlike the other henchmen, they are considered to be Characters. Use their Hymns to keep everyone buffed and give them either an Eviscerator, power maul or a chainsword and plasma pistol for maximum close-combat effectiveness. Meltabombs are a good investment if you have points to spare. If you want a shooting unit, though, these guys can stay home and preach.

(Here's a fun after thought that I've been playing in recent games. 9+ priests in a squad, all armed with eviscerators, and given a land raider. Costs more than a fully upgraded Knight Crusader, and they will never, ever earn their points back, but they WILL absolutely murderfuck pretty much anything they charge. 27+ S6 AP2 Armorbame attacks, re-rollable 4++, and just for giggles 9 las pistol shots before the charge to mock the enemy. Throw a chaplain or a librarian with Telekenisis or Telepathy in the blob for a little extra kick, and/or some Bullgryns in front to keep these zealots alive for more than one combat.)

Dedicated Transports

This is your main source of big guns, so be sure to get one Dedicated Transport for each unit if you can.

• Rhino: The METAL BAWKSES we all know and love. Cheap, effective, and that psybolt ammo upgrade will help give it a little extra power.
• Razorback: Another Space Marine vehicle ported over, with all the strengths and weaknesses intact.

(Another Take- A much passed over option, 6 warrior acolytes with 3 bolters and 3 plasmaguns mounted in a Razorback with the stock twin-heavy bolter with psybolt ammo comes in under 120 points and is pretty badass. 3 S6 heavybolter shots with rerolls and 3 plasmaguns..... yeah you're thinking about it now.)

• Land Raider - The Inquisition gets 3 of the variants. All of them can use the Inquisitorial vehicle upgrades.
  • Classic (or Godhammer) pattern Land Raider - 2 sets of twin-linked lascannons and a twin-linked heavy bolter. Carries 10 (it was 12 in 5th edition until it got changed). Power of the Machine Spirit allows an additional weapon to be fired at a different target (even while shaken/stunned), theoretically allowing you to move 6" and destroy two enemy tanks (if you're lucky). As schizophrenic as it is, you don't have too many other anti-tank options to choose from so you may as well use it as one. If you're allying in your Inquisitors to a different list, though, use their Anti-tank options.
  • Crusader - 2 sets of "Hurricane Bolters" (3 regular bolters, all twin-linked) and 1 twin-linked Assault cannon, and the 6th edition changes to the rules have greatly improved its weapons. Carries 16(!) Often with a multi-melta added (for popping shots at tanks). The Crusader WANTS to be up close, where it's short-ranged anti-infantry guns work wonders to support the squad it was escorting. Give it Extra Armor, nothing sucks more than a stunned Land Raider. Psybolt Ammunition ammunition is a must-have as well, given all those Bolter shots you'll be firing with it.
  • Redeemer - Keeps the twin-linked Assault Cannon of the Crusader, but replaces the side-mounted Hurricane Bolters with a pair of Flamestorm Cannons, nasty S6 AP3 flamers. Carries 12. Far nastier against infantry than the crusader, but needs to be up closer... which means melta-range. Whoops. Also, it doesn't help that Flamestorm Cannons being mounted on the side means that the Redeemer can have difficulty hitting things directly in front of it. Multi-Melta optional, but nice. And the cherry on top: 10 points cheaper than the other two Land Raider varieties. Remember, you may not be allowed to snap shot templates, but power of the machine spirit means you can move 12" and still make someone extra crispy. And did I mention that it can upgrade itself with Psyflame ammo for only 15 points?
• Chimera: This is the best choice, right here. The king of the Metal Boxes, Jokaero and Heavy Weapon Servitors love these things. Change out the turret to a bolter and grab Psybolt for S6 AP4 goodness. Not to mention, it can transport things like your Ordo Malleus terminator Inquisitor.
• Valkyrie: Grav chute insertion might be useful in some cases, and it's the only flyer you've got (not to mention your only reliable anti-air defense). It starts with extra armor and a searchlight too. Pretty sweet. It doesn't get access to the Armory. Really, why you'd put a Dozer Blade on a Valk is beyond me, but...who knows.

Fortifications

• Aegis Defence Lines: Not on your own, you don't. Your guys are WAY too expensive to have out in the open, even behind a Defence Line, the amount of Ignore cover in the game is too much to risk getting out of your METAHL BAWKSES. If you're going to Ally Guard, or another similar gunline army, then yeah. I'd say go for it, but flying solo? Stay clear.

• Skyshield Landing Pad: Well. It, uh, looks nice.

• Imperial Bastion: Huh...ya know. It has potential as a command tower, but...you could also just do what the smartass below me suggests and be even more effective.

• Fortress of Redemption: Upgrade an inquisitor with divination and hide out in the missile bunker while your allies do all your fighting for you. Or just stand the Inquisitor on top of the tower with a Conversion Beamer and Orbital relay and just have him scream rage down upon your foes.

Building your Army

Step One: Figure out what you're doing with your Inquisitorial Detachment and which army it's allying to. If you're going to ally your guys with Marines, grabbing some extra bodies and taking Coteaz is a great way to get extra scoring, for instance. If you're allying Guard, you might want more Jokaero for cheaper Heavy Weapons Squads and a Psyker Inquisitor for Divination. Once you get a good idea of what you're going to ally into, you can start off.

Step Two: Grab an Inquisitor model and some Inquisitorial Stormtroopers. No matter what, you'll usually need a few acolytes, unless you're just having the guy run around on his own. It's fair game, but the Inquisitorial Henchmen have access to the transports, not the Inquisitors. For weaponry on these guys, I'd recommend grabbing the Special Weapon guys. Meltas and Plasma are a good option, as most armies lack ways of putting more then one in a squad without making the cost skyrocket. You usually can't go wrong with a bit of plasma in any list. I'd recommend grabbing a Chimera as well. It can be nice to give a little mobile cover to the hat-wearing ponce.

Step Three: Toy about with what you're taking out of your normal lists for Inquisition. If you're going to just add an Inquisitor, where will he stand, what will you need to do to make sure he's protected? That 55 point no invuln save humie isn't the most resilient thing in the world, even in Terminator Armor he's still T3 with a 5++ at best.

Step Four: Experiment and Playtest. They don't stand that well on their own (due to the fact that they're missing 3 FOC slots), but you can easily make them into the most dangerous thing on the field if your opponent has other things to worry about. More then any other, Inquisition Detachments are about finding the balance between your squishy support HQ Inquisitor and the rest of your army.

Allies

As a result of the unique FOC and Inquisitorial Detachment rules, this section will focus more on how you can be a more effective ally to a main detachment than how well the other factions can act as your allies. Keep in mind that when an Inquisitorial detachment is used in addition to another allied detachment, both relationships will be used (e.g. in a Space Marines army with a Tau allied detachment, the Inquisitorial detachment will be Battle Brothers with the Space Marines, but Desperate Allies with the Tau). For simplicity's sake, the following section assumes that you are the only allied detachment present.

Battle Brothers

Imperial Guard: Divination on Punishers. Seriously. Leman Russ Punishers, with Divination. Forget that it's only STR 5, you're throwing 20 dice re-rolling. Add Pask for Gravy. IG can do that on its own now, so no longer relevant. Probably the best bet for an ally, both in practice and in a fluffy list. You can take the specialized weapons that they can't, and provide nice fire support with a good shooty unit that's loaded to the gills with Marine Killin' weapons. Alternatively, you could kit out an Ordo Malleus for melee, and Deep Strike him in with Tempestus. Deliver that Nemesis hammer to the face.

Space Marines: Blobs of Acolytes are your best bet with Space Marines- you give them some extra strength in numbers while they give you some extra bulk and deal with the tougher enemies that you're not suited to fighting yourself (e.g. MCs, named ICs). A good choice as an ally to support, as most of the 'vanilla' chapters also don't get access to Divination. Prescience on Devastators or Centurions, by the Emperor, think of the devastation. Keep in mind how the Red Hunter Forge world tactic works with Inquisitor and Sisters of battle or Grey Knights.

Sisters of Battle: An interesting blend here. You get a ton of anti-infantry with Sisters and ways to get around Cover saves without giving up your precious Prescience. With Immospam back in full force, it could be a very neat combo, giving the Sisters the psyker support they need and some extra long range firepower outside of the (admittedly amazing) Exorcist. Coteaz in a 20 girl block of sisters is hilarious just from the amount of now guided bolter fire, not to mention the torrent of unhappiness that awaits any unit foolish enough to deep strike within "I've Been Expecting You" range.

Blood Angels: Your fire support is pretty good, and Servo Skulls can make sure that Deep Striking Land Raider ends up on target and not suffering Mishaps. Though you may find your Inquisitor Henchmen overlapping with how versatile that Blood Angels units can be.

Dark Angels: Servo skulls reduce friendly Deep Strike scatter and deploy pre-game, so value is found with Deathwing Deep Strike armies. Otherwise, mostly same advantages as per regular SM. Dark Angels can add some speed to your lists as well, though, with bikers. They do suffer from the critical drawback of not having Centurions to PrescienceDev-Cens are twin-linked, and even if they weren't DA already have Prescience.

Grey Knights: Apart from the Stormraven, GK don't have any air units- they'll be grateful if you bring along a Valkyrie or two. And because they lost most of their anti-armor options with the Codex split, a bunch of Acolytes with meltas, lascannons, and whatnot is exactly what they need to stay in the game.

(Another take- Why The Fuck Bother, if your going to ally GK with the inquisition then JUST PLAY GK! The ONLY way it works is if you want to play inquisitor spam and say fuck those elite slots, I just want henchmen for days. Seriously, ally guard, and NOT hate youself.)

Space Wolves: Valkyries (ironic for space vikings). You can finally take fliers with Space Wolves, and it rocks. Make sure you kit the buggers out with Lascannons. It also helps to add another cheap source of Psyker onto the field. 55 points for a Prescience on your Longfangs on either side of the field? Sign me up. (Coteaz and long fangs also a pretty great combo)

Allies of Convenience

Eldar: The space elves are as squishy as it gets, so bring along some Rhinos or Land Raiders they can hide behind. They won't benefit from the Priest's buffs, but if they brought any Farseers or Warlocks they won't need them anyway. Try to check on your ally's army and see what they're specializing in to complement their army more effectively.- for example, if it's mostly ranged units like Dire Avengers, consider taking Crusaders to act as meat-shields so the Dire Avengers won't get stuck in melee combat.

An Alternate Opinion: Why? Why ally your army that, is pretty much there to provide psyker support, to a super psyker army? While you can add decent infantry, you're pretty much just better off using Eldar alone, or allied with Tau. Your troops are eerily similar in statlines, except yours are more garbage in melee due to low initiative. While you do have access to a durable flier, as well as Land Raiders, do you really want them in a list where they won't keep up with the bulk of the force?

Desperate Allies

Dark Eldar: They add overwhelming anti-tank and speed to your rather slow list. They're not very good at holding the line, however, and fold when they get sneezed upon. One Eye Open won't apply much, however, which is pretty damn nice. They'll be so far forward that it won't matter.

Tau Empire: Prescience. On Suits. If you can keep yourself at that magical distance away, you can make that Battlesuit squad twin-linked. Or those Broadsides. Or that Hammerhead. Or...you get the idea. It has potential, but you may be better with Eldar. However it is a hell of a lot cheaper to just play 'shuffle the Inquisitor' a lot. No of course you can't do that - only friendly units can be targeted by Prescience, and neither Desperate Allies, nor Allies of Convenience are counted as friendly units for the targeting of psychic powers. The main reason to go InquisiTau is still to fill up the big lack of psychic support that Tau are usually stuck slogging through, but it has to be thrown at the enemy's face, not hanging back to mess with blessings. Remember that the Inquisition, like most Imperial armies, relies on short-ranged firepower, so be sure to make the most of Tau's longer range and jump-shoot-jump; One Eye Open stings like a bitch.

Tyranids: More or less there to add deep strikers through tyrranocytes as well as a large amount of monstrous creatures

Tactics

Attack of the Flying Monkeys: A new spin on an old classic from the Grey Knights codex, and surprisingly MORE infuriating than ever. Due to the unique FOCs, you will need two Inquisition detachments- one as the Ground Force and the other as the Air Force. Here is a basic template you can use as a base, chop and screw to taste/points/etc:

+++ Ground Force +++ Primary Detatchment +++

Inquisitor Coteaz - 100

5 Jokaero + Chimera - 230

5 Jokaero + Chimera - 230

5 Jokaero + Chimera - 230

Random Inquisitor pointsink - 25+

5 Jokaero + Chimera - 230

5 Jokaero + Chimera - 230

5 Jokaero + Chimera - 230

TOTAL = 1505+ pts

For your Inquisitorial Air Force, you can take ANOTHER Coteaz (cue raging smelly neckbeards) or a generic Inquisitor, or better yet Hector Rex (for that extra unit of henchmen). Grab as many Jokaero as you can, and let the lascannon/multi-melta shitstorm commence. Give all squads a Valkyrie as a Dedicated Transport, being sure to take the heavy bolter sponsons and multiple rocket pods. Hilarity will ensue as you grav-chute drop your space apes all over while blasting infantry off the map with the Valkyries, backed up by Chimera and more lascannon spam on the ground.

For even more barrels of monkey fun, deploy Servo Skulls to block cheeky enemy infiltrators (White Scars), take Cypher and infiltrate your own ninja monkeys deep into enemy lines so they can absolutely smear monkey shit everywhere.

Xeno-tastic Grenade Jugglers: An Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with Rad Grenades and Psychotroke Grenades will cost you 55 points. Give him Hammerhand for 30 points more, and stick him with a unit that doesn't have any grenades. Awesome ensues. For example, consider the following. Imagine you had a unit of 5 Assault Terminators with Lightning Claws charging a Hive Tyrant/Monstrous Creature through Difficult Terrain. Normally, you wouldn't do this retarted tactic because you'd be:

• attacking last (so you'd die)
• hitting on 4's (so you'd miss)
• wounding on 6's (true you'd be re-rolling, but no thanks).

Just by sticking our grenade happy Xenos Inquisitor in there, suddenly you're:

• attacking first (Frag Grenades to ignore initiative penalty, Psyk-out grenades drop the Tyrant to I1)
• possibly hitting on 3's, or even auto-hitting (Psychotroke Grenades)
• wounding on 5's, (Rad greandes) or 4's if you cast Hammerhand.

Suddenly you've got a much greater chance of surviving. Alternatively, Rad Grenades + Hammerhand and a Space Marine with a Thunder Hammer = Instant Death to anything T:6 or lower.

CHAINSAW BONDAGE HELL: Take Krazypantzoff for a one shot, non scattering orbital blast. Take Cotaez to ensure you get first turn. Fill the remaining points entirely with mixed blobs of Deathcult Assassins and eviscerators priests. Season with Jokaero for heavy flamer overwatches. Dedicate one or two land raiders so you can get your murderblobs to the front line without being forced to make too many saves. You'll be squishy as hell, but if you stay on the offensive, and get into combat as quickly as possible every turn, you'll be able cause major pain for your opponent. Unlikely that you'll be able to hold any objectives, so your best bet will be trying to table your enemy in the first three or four turns. Use Krazypantz's orbital strike if your blobs go up against a blob bigger than them, or something they can't kill on their own. Keep in mind you only get the one though, so make it count.

Anti-guard-wanna-be-guard-infantry-spam:

Assuming your playing this army you've already have either played Guardsmen, fought against Guardsmen and have probably had Grey Knights, so why not merge them? Take an Ordo Malleus inquisitor with Psybolt ammo and your flavour of bolter, and another with a Hellrifle.take two units of warrior acolytes in carapace armour with Stormbolters, possibly take three acolytes with special weapons of either flamers or plasma guns in a squad if you are feeling exotic then put them in chimereas with two heavy bolters and a storm bolter,then equipt the tank with Psybolt ammunition. make sure to make one a 11 man squad to allow your bolter inquisitor to travel with them. your last squad should be heavy weapon servitors squad with your choice of instant fucking death to put your ordo FaZe Inqisiniper. to burn extra points or make your anti-horde army or imperial fist playing opponent cry even more, drop half your heavy weapon servitors for jakero weaponsmiths.

alternate take: put all the units in Valkyries with Lascannons and Heavy Bolters and drop down on the objective or behind their lines and unleash that fire power.