Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Agents

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In an interesting hiccup of fate, a little book called Codex: Imperial Agents have been bequeathed to use by the folks of Games Workshop. It contains within many factions and small detachments that an enterprising player (especially those of the Imperial bent) may wish to utilize.

Why Play Imperial Agents?

This book is better to be known as Codex: Allies. If you play using Armies of the Imperium (and even then if you don't,) Imperial Agents offer relatively cheap ways to fill in some of the holes in your lists.

• Rely on vehicles? The Engineseer Congregation gives you a direct means to repair and even buff them
• Lacking psychic oomph? Take the Astra Telepathica or the Culexus or the Grey Knights or the Inquisition
• Lack flyers? There's a formation that gives you flyers free of tax.

Overall it is quite funny to think about with it. Small detachments allow for a mess of an army. Which might not be the best on the min/max side of the game. But having it together with Inquisition and the, very cool, Divisio Military special rule can make you an army that is just oozing character. It is still a mess in some parts and missing some toys the Inquisition have in their codex.

Additionally, there are some more things to consider:

• This codex covers Inquisition, Sisters of Battle/Ecclesiarchy, and Assassins in a nice hardback format. If you already have these armies, you need this book.
• Many of the cloned units have either new formations or straight upgrades/alterations that make them better than other versions.
• So much conversion potential! Seriously, get out there you crazy modders.

Factions

This book lacks a unified Faction that is anything different than the generic Armies of the Imperium. Instead, there are several factions contained within that contain one or more formations that can be fielded.

This is particularly important with the newest ally ruling stating that Battle Brothers cannot begin the game embarked in an allied transport (Thanks a lot, Eldar). One of the largest downsides to taking these new units as allies is that they have to stay outside your transports turn one.

Cult Mechanicus

Somewhat noteworthy here in that it gives new(ish) units to an existing faction. The new formation is probably the best way to field them still, but it makes for an interesting addition to a cult force.

Detachments

Enginseer Congregation:

• Requires:
  • 1 HQ, which must be an Enginseer.
  • 0-1 Elites, which must be Servitors.
• Units of this detachment gain Canticles of the Omnissiah.

A simple detachment, but a handy one. Hurt severely by lack of a transport, it nonetheless makes for a handy escort to slogging tank forces. If you're using an IG Armoured Company or a slow-walking Household Detachment, having a few of these guys will really help you out.

Special Rules

Canticles of the Omnissiah

At the start of every turn, before reserves mosey on in, count the number of units with the Canticles of the Omnissiah unit. If you have more units, the resulting buff gets even better. Also, when counting the number of units you discount any squads that are falling back, and the canticle remains at that power level even if units regroup or new ones arrive on the table and bring your total higher. You may enact one Canticle of the Omnissiah which lasts until your next turn. With some exceptions, generally you can only use each Canticle once per game. The Canticles are:

• Incantation of the Iron Soul: - Having 1-3 units gives them Stubborn, 4-7 gives them Stubborn and the ability to reroll failed morale, fear & pinning checks. Having 8+ units just goes stuff it and gives them all Fearless.
• Shroudpsalm: 1-3 = Stealth, 4-7 = Shrouded while having 8+ gives both rules.
  • This can combo beautifully with an allied force that you attached the Engineseer to.
• Chant of the Remorseless Fist: 1-3 units gives re-rolls of one to-hit in close combat, followed by re-rolls of one and two at 4-7, then simply getting to re-roll all fails to hit if you have 8+ units on the tabletop.
• Benediction of Omniscience: 1-3 units gives re-rolls of one to-hit while shooting, followed by re-rolls of one and two at 4-7, then simply getting to re-roll all fails to hit if you have 8+ units on the tabletop.
  • This is great for gun servitors.
• Invocation of Machine Might: 1-3 = plus one strength, increasing to plus two at 4-7, then plus three at 8+ units.
  • This can make your basic servo-arm servitors surprisingly deadly in combat considering their cheap price tag.
• Litany of the Electromancer: Your dudes generate electricity; in close combat, for every model you have with the Canticle the enemy takes a S4 AP- hit at Initiative 10 that phase. Increasing to two hits at 4-7 squads, and three hits at 8+.

Also note that the buffs only apply to friendly models that have the Canticles of the Omnissiah special rule as according to the rulebook, Canticle effects held by independent characters do not confer unto squads unless specifically noted and vice versa, so you can't attach an Engineseer to a space marine squad and make them electrical or boost the accuracy of guardsmen. The only ones that apply to allies would be Shroudpsalm and The Incantation of the Iron Soul, which provide USRs that can confer to attached squads.

Units

HQ

• Techpriest Engineseer: Exactly the same as the Astra Miliatrum Engineseer. However, you are giving away orders and intra-codex synergy for effectively no limits in how many you can take and Canticles of the Omnissiah. If you were going to take Engineseers, this probably the preferable manner because Canticles are flat out worth it, especially if you have a Cult Mechanicus force the Enginseers and their servitors can easily buff up how many "units" are affected by canticles, giving you a +2 bonus for 50 points! Since Engineseers are Independent Characters, they can even give stealth/shrouded/both to squads that don't have Canticles one turn per game, as a quick example.

ELITE

• Servitors: Same deal as the Engineseer. Arguably benefit from Canticles even more and if you want to take advantage of the higher Canticle bonuses, you want to get these guys. Normally milquetoast, the ability to get temporary re-rolls in shooting/melee as well as buffs makes servitors much more valuable. They're also borderline mandatory to come with servo-arms if you want your Engineseer to go around and actually fix things. If you use Litany of the Electromancer then they can also work shockingly well (badumtish) in melee combat, since they're cheap enough that you shouldn't worry too much about losing them if you want to have them counter-charge an approaching enemy.

Aeronautica Imperialis

A good faction to ally in wherever you need a little extra air support or transport with no strings attached, Aeronautica Imperialis also has the added benefit of being the only faction that bypasses the usual restriction on embarking allies. Thanks to the most recent FAQ, "Transports from this Faction can transport Astra Militarum, Militarum Tempestus and Inquisition units as if they were all of the same Faction."

Detachment

Imperial Navy Section:

• Requires:
  • 1 Fast Attack
  • 0-1 HQ
• You may re-roll Reserve rolls for this detachment. Combined with a fleet officer, your air support is pretty much assured to arrive turn two.
• Must be of the Aeronautica Imperialis faction.

Units

HQ

• Officer of the Fleet: The Officer must pass a command test to either give you a +1 to your reserves or force a -1 on enemy reserve rolls, seriously jeopardizing their well-thought schemes. However, he won't stop drop pods, his Ld is 7 (giving a 58% of his shit even working), and if the enemy doesn't reserve anything you've bought an expensive meat shield. So a bit more random, at that Leadership it's a bit of a risky gamble, and forces you to choose buff or bane. In combat, the Officer is as good as dead - use him as another warm body to stop a shot for your commander in the back of the squad. To boost his price up to equaling a powerfist, you can give him a refractor field for a slight boost in his chances of survival, though you might as well skip it since he'll be more survivable and cheaper just by hiding somewhere in the back (he also only needs to be on the board to use his abilities). Unlike his Astra Militarum counterpart, he's an independent character so you can use him to eat challenges that your real HQs find distasteful. He is also a massive fuck you towards Daemons players.
  • In summary: he's great for or against reserve-heavy armies, otherwise mediocre. There's also the Valkyrie paywall you have to consider.

Fast Attack

• Valkyries: (Attack Flyer) Goddamnit, why don't you have one? Valkyrie seems like a relatively expensive flying Chimera, but it is well worth it. It has BY DEFAULT Extra Armor in its profile, which means the bad bitch can never be stunlocked. If you keep your Valkyries zooming around the table, it's rare for them to die, keep them alive to support your armor with a hard-hitting blast from its Multiple Rocket Pods.

Valkyries eat infantry and shit brass and work best carrying a squad in, deep-striking the squad in the most annoying place possible, and then flying off to rain hell on the enemy. It doesn't necessarily matter what this squad is, maybe some Sisters if you make them a part of the Inquisition thanks to the Inquisition's formation, maybe some Inquisition Henchmen, it could even start on the board if you have a Skyshield Landing Pad and be used to transport an Assassin to a better location if you feel like it.

It should be noted that there are other units in Imperial Armies that can handle AA better, as well as Infantry better, however Valkyries are good at covering both bases well enough that if your current army's lacking a great way of dealing with either, then you likely won't be disappointed by the flyer, on top of it being a decent transport.

Adeptus Astra Telepathica

Detachments

Psykana Division:

• Requires:
  • 1 HQ
  • 1-3 Elite
• Must be of the Astra Telepathica Faction.
• HQ harnesses warp charges on 3+ when 5+ Wyrdvane Psykers from the same detachment are within 12".
• If your army doesn't rely heavily on transports, like blobguard, you can add any number of Primaris Psykers or Astropaths to your forces. The extra leadership, useful psychic punch/defense, and, for the Primaris the melee boost, can add a great edge for a fairly minimal cost investment.

Units

HQ

• Primaris Psyker: Largely unchanged from being in the Imperial Guard, he's still a very cheap Psyker, still has access to everything except Daemonology and Telekinesis, still has decent equipment (such as a free Force Weapon and Refractor Field) and Empyric Link makes him a fantastic choice to buff to ML2, give some offensive powers (go with Biomancy or Pyromancy) and stick him wherever you see fit, preferably within range of the Wyrdvane's.

The Primaris can also make a great challenge troll, you can technically give him a force axe, which allows him three S4 AP2 attacks base (four on the charge) and so long as he's within range of the Wyrdvanes he can ensure Instant Death's on 3+. Of course while he can dish out the hurt he cannot take it, so stick him in a squad, make somebody in that squad challenge to tie up the biggest, most dangerous non-Eternal Warrior enemy there is, and when everyone else in the opposing squad is dead (hopefully everyone else will attack before I1, or you'll resolve the the Primaris' attacks last) you can have him strike the opposing challenger, activate his force weapon, and there you go, no more opponent.

This strategy works best if you give him Biomancy, since the close range will allow him to use Smite, the other close range Biomancy attacks, and the buffs the unit can get either shine mostly in combat, or will help them get there/survive it. This also isn't limited to challenges, it can work well against any unit who has multiple Wounds, you just need to hide the Primaris somewhere in the unit (use the others as meatshields) to ensure he lives to attack (seriously, he can help make short work of the new Thousand Sons terminators).

• Astropath: Cheaper and weaker than the Primaris Psyker. Lacks a force weapon and needs to purchase the refractor field, though that's arguably not worth it. Imperial Agents swapped out what the Astropath used to know, now instead of knowing Telepathy and Telekinesis, he knows Telepathy and Divination (meaning he only knows Divination). An excellent choice since you're going to want to use Prescience a lot, even if you didn't have the bonus of re-rolling Reserve rolls whenever he casts a Psychic Power (he's more useful than the Officer of the Fleet for bringing in reserves, unfortunately he doesn't have the ability to hinder the enemy's). He can also be upgraded to become ML2 but you don't want to do this, if he perils then he's fucked, if he's in combat he's fucked, if he gets shot he's fucked. You're better off with a second Astropath since a second one costs the exact same while having two of them gets the same results (unless you're trying to deny, but for psychic duels you want a Primaris anyway) and is twice as hard to kill.

ELITE

• Wyrdvane Psykers: Another cheap psychic option, if you need more Psykers then you should get these guys as they come in 10 points more than a Primaris, but with the same powers and the ability to buff up the Primaris further. The lack of transport really hurts these guys in this list, which is why they're best used as an ally to an army that actually has transports (either keep them near the Primaris' transport, or put the Primaris in their unit and put them all in the same transport). Bonus points if you put them in a transport that has fire points so that you can throw powers around while the others shoot (an Inquisition Chimera could be extremely handy in this case).

Do note that if you're taking an Astropath instead of the Primaris, don't take these guys. Always get the Primaris first and then get them so that you can make the most our of their buffing ability, otherwise you're paying 10 extra points for a larger target, one that doesn't have the luxury of hiding inside another unit, and one that is limited to the same powers without the ability to become ML2 (on top of having a worse profile and worse equipment).

Also note that you'll probably want to buy an extra body or two if you want to make the most of their Empyric Link, losing it just because one of them died stings like a bitch.

Adepta Sororitas

This is a side-grade of the already extant Codex: Adepta Sororitas and does not replace it. Rumor has it that a true 7e SoB codex is in the works, substantiated by the confirmation of plastic SoBs and the rules overhaul for Saint Celestine in Fall of Cadia.

Formations

Ministorum delegation:

• Requires:
  • 1 HQ which must be a Ministorum Priest
  • 0-1 Elites
• All units must be of the Adepta Sororitas faction
• All units gain shield of faith, perfect for MSU command squads or small battle conclaves
• Like the Psykana Division, this gives you an excuse to add a priest to *every single* unit in your army. Zealot alone makes this worthwhile, but your prayers, AM, and the option for an eviscerator or plasma gun is fantastic, as well.

Vestal Task force:

• Follows the same structure as the Combined Arms Detachment except this excludes Fortifications and Lords of War
  • Once per game re-roll failed saving throws of 1 for one turn until your next turn
  • Re-roll for Sisters' Warlord Trait on the Sisters Table.
• You're better off taking the normal Combined Arms Detachment unless you really plan on having a turn that requires making many saves.

Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave:

• Requires:
  • 1 Ministorum Priest or Uriah Jacobus
  • 3-10 units of Arco-flagellants, Crusaders, and/or Death Cult Assasins
• All units become one single unit and gain Shield of Faith. Of note is that only the flaggelents don't come with an invul, so this is largely for the AW.

Units

Follow the general Sisters tactics here. However, the Adepta Sororitas of the Imperial Agents book have been slightly modified.

Differences:

• Saint Celestine is not in the codex, but can instead be found in the Fall of Cadia supplement as well as in Codex: Adepta Sororitas.
• Priest is now an HQ.
• Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave has become the aforementioned Formation rather than a free HQ slot. However, you can field dedicated units of Crusaders, Arco-flagellants, and Death Cult Assassins as generic Elite slots that do not require Priests.
• Sororitas Command Squad now takes up an Elite slot but no longer requires a Canoness.
• Also the Acts of Faith do not end at end of a phase, now they are in effect till the End of the Turn. Which is a slight buff.
• If you are used to priests from the IG or Inquisitors faction, these guys are far superior. Aside from AW from the formation, they also have the option to take power weapons, eviscerators, combi-weapons/condemner, relics including a daemon-slaying mace, and is a full independent character.

Deathwatch

Detachment

Deathwatch Kill Team

• Requires:
  • 1 Troops
• Must be of the Deathwatch faction.
• Non-vehicles of this formation re-roll armour penetration and to-wound rolls of 1. This, combined with Mission Tactics, acts as Preferred Enemy. Not bad at all if you're taking them as a single "assassin" unit.

Special Rules

Mission Tactics - One of the many things that makes these snowflakes special. The Deathwatch version of Chapter Tactics, at the beginning of your first turn, pick a force organization slot (Purgatus=HQ, Dominatus=Elite, Furor=Troops, Venator=Fast Attack, Malleus=Heavy Support). You re-roll 1s to hit against enemy units of that type. Once per game, you can change which type you get this rule against.

Note that since it stacks with Aquila Doctrine, there's no reason not to completely specialize each Deathwatch squad into one roll. Don't try to cover multiple bases with each squad, just get another one to do something different.

Units

Troops

• Veterans: Sternguard Veterans as Troops, with the same basic wargear as the Sternguard and the special ammunition the deathwatch is famous for. As for as the groups of power armoured units in this book go, they're more expensive than the Sisters, less expensive than the Knights, and far more customizable than both. To start off, you're forced to get at least 5, but unlike many other armies, all 5 of them can get special weapons and wargear, and this is where the massive amounts of customization come into play.

If you want them to be good at semi-long ranged combat (24"-36"), then grab a few missile launchers, some stalker pattern boltguns and call it a day. Seriously, their special ammunition for the bolter can reach so far it's not even funny, allowing you to outshoot the Tau while ignoring their armour at the same time. Note that you should never buy Storm Bolters, it's just a bad idea since they cannot use special ammunition, and that is a huge bonus to just squander for a very minor possible benefit. If for whatever reason you absolutely have to take it, always replace the CCW of the Marine with it, and this goes for buying long-ranged weapons in general, losing the CCW will not hurt you in any way, shape or form, losing the boltgun will, unless you're replacing it with a weapon from the Special/Heavy Weapons lists (where replacing it is mandatory, but you can get cool shit there). Unlike the Storm Bolter, the Heavy Bolter is an option you might consider getting, it's only 5 points more than the Storm Bolter, puts out more shots than your specialist ammo allows for, and usually at a higher Strength and AP value too, though it's by no means a must-have. You could also give one of the Marines a Storm Shield and stick him up front, just in case you're worried about any long-ranged AP3.

For mid-range combat (8"-24") you've got a some nice options, most of which are completely outshined by the all-purpose Frag Cannon. Despite their price Frag Cannons are well worth getting, and anyone who's T5 and can resist the close-range ID will still go down to a barrage of S7-S9 AP4-AP2 shots, after you use them to pop whatever Transport your target happens to be hiding in of course, just make sure they're properly supported and the enemy can't focus all of their fire on the squad before they've done their job. Getting a squad with Frag Cannons into position is one of the harder things you can do with the Deathwatch, especially if your opponent knows what you're doing, and isn't stupid. The Infernus Heavy Bolter can be useful here too, being strong enough and putting out enough shots to warrant its price tag for an Assault weapon that's usually a Heavy weapon, and the Heavy Flamer provides great protection against enemy units that somehow got a little too close, though that's more of a mulligan in this case. If you're worried about units getting that close, or if you want to close in yourself, then you should have just paid the extra 5 points and gotten another Frag Cannon. You also still have your bolters and their special ammunition, and in this case you don't want the Stalker Boltguns. Heavy simply isn't going to offer as much of a benefit as the mobility a Rapid-fire gun can offer.

Note too that there are a few ways to get Frag Launchers into position on Turn 1, you can use the Inquisition to get Master of Ambush and set up your guys already within killing distance, or you can buy one of several transports to get them there. Corvus Blackstars, Chimera's, Sororitas Rhino's (the latter two courtesy of the Inquisition), all of them will get you there without costing too much, at the same time they'll also offer extra protection to your troops. This is nice because Frag Launchers are fucking expensive, being three points more than another marine!

Do note as well that if mid-ranged AP2 is all you're after and you've only got one specific 2+ save target in mind, then just go for Grav-guns or Plasma Guns, both of which benefit Greatly from the Mission Tactics and Aquila Doctrine, and cost a little less than the Frag Cannons.

For close range weapons, Heavy Flamers are a nice option, being far cheaper than the Frag Cannon (and the Infernus Heavy Bolter), shotguns can do wonders for softening down an opponent for assault, as well as acting as a good deterrent for the squad getting assaulted themselves (the amount of Template weapons the Deathwatch can field is disgusting). Once again Frag Launchers shine here but you need to be more careful with them, while their Template fire is devastating the squad's going to become a very big target, and you can only Overwatch once. If you get charged by something you didn't want to use the Wall of Death on, then you're kind of screwed when the squad you did want to WoD decides to join the party too. This is on top of not needing quite that much Wall of Death anyway (you do not need 2D3 per marine), Heavy Flamers can give you all you needed while keeping your points down. The Infernus Heavy Bolter is debatable here, mostly because of its Assault Heavy Flamer. If you know you're up against blobs and want to move marines to help counter a player who knows how to position blobs so that Heavy Flamers aren't so bad, then go for it. Even though Frag Cannon's are only 5 points more, you might need that AP4 (and Rending doesn't always cut it).

For close combat you've got a ton of options, and feel free to mix and match. If you know you're going to be against some TEQ's then grab a power axe/fist to go alongside some Lightning Claws. Get a Storm Shield so that you can live long enough to make it to close combat in case you know that the opponent's get their fair share of AP3 weapons. Always make somebody a Black Shield if you know they're going to Assault, his special rule comes in handy more often than not, and you should definitely give him something like a Power Fist or a Thunder Hammer, as he'll almost always be Wounding on 2+ while Aquila Doctrine lets him re-roll the 1's. A Xenophase Sword for the Sergeant can also be a good idea, but only if you know what you're up against. Many opponents you want to have re-roll their Invulnerable saves are going to have 2+ armour, though you'll be glad he had it any time you go up against ones who don't. Heavy Thunder Hammers can also be a great idea, and you might as well take one instead of the generic Hammer if you were planning on getting one anyway since it's only 5 points, and being two-handed isn't going to hurt you since the generic's have Specialist Weapon. S10 AP2 is fantastic, but don't always count on Pulverize, you simply don't have the attacks necessary to get it to happen whenever it's most convenient.

Note that having a Xenophase Sword can and will also cancel out some of the re-rollable Invulnerable save's some armies can get. You can't re-roll twice, so if the first save is successful, and the second save is a failure, then that's it, the second save remains a failure and their bonus for re-rolling saves no longer has any benefit.

Deathwatch in assault can also benefit greatly from an allied Priest as he can make the whole squad live a lot longer than they had any right to, especially if you've got a Storm Shield soaking up a lot of damage from AP2-AP3 weapons.

There are also a few different ways of actually getting Deathwatch assault squads into assault, however the most obvious one is to just take a Corvus, and then ally in somebody who can either bring the Skyshield Landing Pad, or ally in an Astropath (it's not like you weren't going to need Prescience on something that you were allying the Deathwatch with already).

Finally, remember that no matter their loadout, a Deathwatch Veteran Squad is always going to be a target, so make sure you've got other squads covering their ass and picking of any potential threats (such as AP3, Strength 6+, and any sort of transport popper). Their cost can skyrocket, and losing them before they've done their job can easily cost you the game.

Fast Attack

• Corvus Blackstar: The air transport Space Marine players (and most Imperial players) have been waiting for since the beginning of time. The Corvus Blackstar is a complete beast, being a flying transport that's also an assault vehicle while being durable enough to get your dudes where they need to be, and killy enough to justify being 60 points more than a Valkyrie. Always get the Auspex Array, always get Extra Armour, and always get the Infernum Halo-launcher for a neat 200 points on a BS5 flyer that fires S6+ weapons while Aquila Doctrine essentially allows it to re-roll failed To Wound/Penetration rolls and the launcher allows it to re-roll cover saves if it Jinks. It's all around pretty awesome.

Unfortunately most of the other upgrades can (and in most cases, should) be skipped. Lascannons are a waste of points, you can just ally in somebody cheaper who already has them, or take their near-equivalents on other Imperial Agents/Fortifications (provided an ally has the ability to pick those), not to mention how many shots you're going to lose in the trade-off. Likewise the Blackstar Rocket Launcher can be skipped, any other aerial vehicle should easily be handled by the four Stormstrike Missiles, while anything on the ground should be handled by the Deathwatch Veterans, the Assault Cannon on the Corvus, or anyone else you could possible ally in. The Locater Beacon can also be skipped, there's others to ally in if you want to make sure Deep-strikers don't go anywhere (Grey Knights and Mystics do the job way better), not to mention that unless you're using a Skyshield Landing Pad, the Blackstar's going to start in reserve as well, and might show up after the Deep-strikers.

The Hurricane Bolter could possibly be worth it, while not necessary it's a handy bit of dakka to add alongside the Assault Cannon, and it buffs up with Strafing Run and Aquila Doctrine quite nicely.

Grey Knights

Special Rules to remember

• Brotherhood of Psykers: Now a USR, Brotherhood of Psykers basically just means that the entire squad counts as a single model when manifesting psychic powers, and you use the Justicar's Ld for the test(or any model). Squads also get +1 to their Deny the witch rolls, due to the fact that squads count as being mastery level 1.
• Combat Squads: Just like literally all other Chapters, Grey Knights like to split up into two five-man combat squads. Note that, thanks to Brotherhood of Psykers, splitting into combat squads will double the number of mindbullets you can put out each turn.
• Preferred Enemy (Daemons): Makes sense that these guys have a rule meant for fucking over Daemons. They get to re-roll 1's to-hit and to-wound. This'll transfer even if they get attached to an allied commander.
• Aegis: The armour worn by Grey Knights has arcane seals and holy random stuff, meaning they don't give a damn about psychic powers. Whenever an enemy psychic power is activated, a Grey Knight player may re-roll 1's when rolling to Deny the Witch. Not a huge bonus, but do you expect daemon hunters to go on a chaos safari without some protection against the Warp? That being said a lvl3 Lib with a staff will be denying on 3s against most witchfires and maledictions, re-rolling 1s and can bubble this 12" with his hood so your opponent gets blessings or nothing.
• Purity of Spirit: This allows your Grey Knights to use Sanctic powers without suffering Perils on any double, instead just double 6's like any other power.

Detachments

Daemonhunters Strike Force

• Requires:
  • 1 Troops OR 1 Fast Attack
  • 0-1 Heavy Support
• Start reserve rolls on turn 1 for units in this detachment that are Deep-striking with 3+ being a successful reserve roll. Also, Deep-strikers may shoot and run on the turn they arrive from reserve. An awesome rule, and one that can be abused by a few units, as discussed below.

Wargear

Ranged Weapons

• Storm Bolters: Nothing wrong with them, they're like Bolters but better (not to mention they don't fuck up your charge) and they come standard on all models except the Dreadknight.
• Psilencer: A gatling gun that fires off six shots a turn at strength 4 at AP-, so daemons with armor will shake it off and even Orks get saves against it... at least, until you learn that you can use Force on this. Unfortunately it's still not worth it as the Knights don't have the ability to effectively spam it, the multi-wound thickies will either be saved by high Toughness or high Armour. Could potentially be useful against low Toughness, high Wound models like swarms, but your Incinerator should Instant Death those already, and you don't have to worry about it missing.
  • Gatling Psilencer: The heavy version on the Dreadknight pumping out 12 shots with Force, but still only S4 AP- and with the exact same problems as the regular Psilencer.

Note that if you're lucky enough, or determined enough to get Misfortune (5th spell of Divination Discipline) you can give this gun rending (auto-wounding and ignoring armor) against a unit, which could potentially make this gun good, so if you really want to use it then feel free to stock up on Astropaths.

• Incinerator: A S6 AP4 flamer. Has Soulblaze! A good choice, especially now that this has Soulblaze, and in this smaller selection it's generally a better pick over the Psycannon thanks to all units involved either having great mobility, or the ability to Deep-strike. It's hilariously destructive against Blobguard, Blobtau, Blobgreen and Blobnids. Fire it and watch instant death melt those hundreds of units away and remember, Instant Death prevents any pesky FNP shenanigans. 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.
  • Heavy Incinerator: The heavy version for the Dreadknight, same as the old codex (with the old special rule now coming in the convenient Torrent USR). Gained Soulblaze just like the standard incinerator. Enjoy tabling whole blobs.
• Psycannon: The good ol' signature ranged weapon of Grey Knights, a strength 7 AP 4 rifle with Salvo 2/4 (a pretty painful nerf) and the Rending USR. Thanks to it being salvo, now everything non-Terminator that moves with a Psycannon uses it as a glorified pistol that prevents them from charging. No longer the fantastic choice it once was, the Psycannon can't be taken by enough Knights to justify firing it once before combat, or even spamming it across squads as the only models that can take it are very expensive ones who excel more in combat than outside of it.
  • Heavy Psycannon: The heavy version for the Dreadknight, Same as the standard psycannon (S7 AP4 Rending) but with 2 firing modes: Heavy 1 Large Blast, or Salvo 3/6 (which, because it can only be taken by an MC, really just means 6 shots). It has the same issues as the regular Psycannon but to a lesser extent since Dreadknights don't have to worry about the 'one model in X' bullshit the regular squads are saddled with. Still on a model that excels mostly in close combat, however they can be made useful by a helpful Astropath giving the Knight Prescience.
• Psyk-Out Grenades: A returning tool, these can force enemy psykers that charge to lose their bonus attack. But if you want them out of the way sooner, you can throw them, giving them a profile similar to the Haywire Grenade, except with a Blast template that will force perils on a random psyker in the template UNIT that gets hit. Pretty good at bypassing Look Out Sir!'s if you want to ensure that Psyker dies (and that's also if his perils doesn't outright kill him).

Melee Weapons

First things first, nearly all Grey Knight units have Nemesis Force Weapons. They are considered Force Weapons, that gives the model/unit the Force psychic power that the unit can cast (and be denied) in the psychic phase. This means you'll typically rip through any monsters and multi-wound infantry unfortunate or stupid enough to get caught with you in melee. All Grey Knight units, except for the Dreadknight, have Hammerhand, which gives the unit +2 strength until your next psychic phase so if you're up against higher Toughness armies you don't have to immediately reach for the Daemon Hammers. Grey Knights don't have access to nearly all of the standard wargear of other marine armies. Their upgrades for their infantry are mostly limited to their exclusive wargear. All of their close combat weapons have Daemonbane, which allows a re-roll on failed pens and to-wounds against units with the Daemon USR if you activated Force on the last Psychic Phase.

• Nemesis Force Sword: Standard weapon for the codex, nothing special beyond being a force weapon with daemonbane. It helps you keep squad prices down as Halberds are not the same "must haves" they used to be.
• Nemesis Force Halberd: S+1 AP3 weapon with two-handed. At 2 points a pop they are hard to say no to, until you read what the Falchions can do for you. +1 Strength isn't quite as good as +1 Attack (at least not with the amount of Attacks you'll normally be getting), and anything that would require Strength 7 from both the Halberd and Hammerhand should instead be handled by the Dreadknight, or by Knights carrying Daemon Hammers.
• Nemesis Force Falchions: Gives an extra attack due to being two Specialist weapons, but otherwise identical to the basic Nemesis Force Sword. The extra attack is pretty much your best option to make up for your low model count, and for most models the +1A will result in more wounds than the +1S from the halberd (especially if the +1S is made irrelevant by hammer hand). Considering its low cost in comparison to your high cost models, +4 points for an extra attack with no downsides is a steal.
• Nemesis Warding Stave: 5 points and it gives the wielder a Force Staff with +2 strength and Adamantium Will, like the Rune Priest's Rune Stave. Not bad for a front line Strike Squad, a 50% (Brotherhood of Psykers and Adamantium Will means we Deny on 4+) chance to Deny the Witch against stuff like Psychic Shriek can go along way to giving your Strikes some more survivability. Plus you also have Daemonbane, so extra Daemon-killy.

This thing is a must-take for at least one member of your squad and every one of your units needs one of these. 4+ Deny the Witch and the ability to re-roll 1's thanks to The Aegis is fantastic. Also, Adamantium Will states that "if at least one model in a unit has this rule...", so one is enough. Also, you are not an Anti-marine force, you are an Anti-Daemon force so AP4 is enough, and paying 5 points for S6 before Hammerhand is always awesome.

• Nemesis Daemon Hammer: Standard thunder hammer plus Daemonbane and Force. It's cheap to add to a squad and is practically a must have against 2+ armored foes or vehicles, since it's the only AP2 weapon the Knights get, aside from the Dreadknight's gear. Rush these at that Big, Scary 6-7 wound MC, give the Knights Hammerhand, and crush the enemy at Strength 10!
• Nemesis Greatsword: Exclusive to the Dreadknight, it's like a Powerfist but with Force and Master-Crafted instead of Unwieldy, and because of this there's no reason to choose the fist over the Greatsword.

Units

Troops

• Terminators: Your only Troop choice in this book, presumably here to give the Inquisition something to call upon for their Chambers Militant like in the good old days, and/or to help out every army Imperial army who had trouble finding their own TEQ/Instant Death. Grey Knight Terminators are Dead 'ard and killy, with a price to match. They will get expensive very quickly, especially if you take too many of them, but fortunately Terminators don't lose their force weapons if you give them special weapons, like psycannons or incinerators, and Termies are Relentless, so they can be kitted out for shooting without losing any assault power. They even have grenades, just about the only thing these guys don't have are Storm Shields.

Of note is that aside from being really good at killing Daemons, they're excellent for MEQ's in general, aside from the having Force weapons they can buff up their Strength by +2 thanks to Hammerhand, and unlike regular Psykers they don't have to worry about the extra risk of getting perils. Better yet, Hammerhand also boosts regular characters attached to the party, bonus points for attaching an Eversor Assassin to the squad, charging into combat, and butchering everything in sight with the Eversor's 8 S7 I7 AP3 Attacks (This won't work, assassins can't be joined by Independent characters or attached to other squads) before using the rest of the squad to mop up whoever's left over. This also works very well with a Culexus, the Assassin's relatively low Strength being the only thing preventing them from killing things like Hive Tyrants.

Note that if you're Deep-striking them you'll probably want some way to reduce/remove their scatter, to that end it might be worth it to get an Inquisitor and an Acolyte squad so that you could take advantage of their Mystic or a Grey Knights Interceptor Squad (more on that in their entry). You're also going to want an Incinerator, the GEQ clearer being able to destroy blobs of Guard, Tyranids and Daemons alike while denying most of them their Feel No Pain and Armour.

Feel free to skip the Psilencer, unless you know for a fact that you're going to be up against Daemons. The high amount of shots are offset by its low Strength and low AP value, you'll likely Wound only once, but so long as you've used Banishment and so long as they don't have an armour save the single Wound should be all you need to get rid of whatever multi-wound Daemon you were up against. Otherwise if they have any sort of armour you're much better served by the Incinerator or the Psycannon.

Speaking of the Psycannon, Grey Knight Terminators do not make a very good shooting squad as only one if five of them can get it, and while the Psycannon is a nice thing to have, it's certainly not necessary if you're going to be sticking them in a Land Raider, or Deep-striking them. Incinerators are better for the latter, being able to get guaranteed hits while being both strong and cheap, while Land Raiders have no fire points, and as soon as you're out you'll want to charge and the Termies should have no problem hacking apart whatever you were going to shoot anyway.

As for their melee weapons, at least upgrade them so that they're using Nemesis Falchions. It's only four points to give them all an extra attack, force halberds can be skipped, if you need the extra Strength you can just go with Hammerhand, and at least one of them should be given a Warding Stave if you know you'll be up against offensive Psykers. The Daemon Hammer can also be really good, and with Hammerhand it becomes S10, so that's a plus.

Lastly is the Justicar, Digital Weapons could be a nice bonus but Master-crafted can be safely ignored, you can get better results by allying in a Priest to help the squad out, and he'll also help them to live longer at that. Melta Bombs can also be ignored, whatever you need blown up can safely be handled better either by Daemon Hammers striking more times at S10, or by somebody else you can ally in. The Teleport Homer can also a decent option if you know you're bringing in more Grey Knight Terminators, as that's the only thing it works on but unless you feel like gambling on where the first Terminator Squad arrives it's better to leave the job of carrying it to the Interceptor's, as explained below (otherwise feel free to try and build around the first squad that landed).

Fast Attack

• Interceptor Squad: The Grey Knights only Fast Attack choice, at least it's one that synergizes well with the Termies. First things first, they have all the options that Terminators do, except theirs are cheaper, they can become equally as strong, but they're not as killy, or as tough as the Termies. What they excel in is acting as an anchor, thanks to their Personal Teleporter and the Justicar's purchasable Teleport Homer. Simply teleport shunt them 30", and from that new point start calling down their Terminator buddies. The only real downside to this is you don't get to take advantage of Rites of Teleportation (or if you try to use them, you're hoping they don't all immediately work).

They can be used similarly to the Terminators, buy them at the minimum some falchions so that they get the extra attack, and everything else still applies as before. They're not a good ranged squad, Psilencers aren't usually a good idea, neither are Psycannons (and with their special 30" move they can really benefit from Incinerators), Daemon Hammers are still great, Halberds aren't needed, a Warding Stave is good if you're up against a Psyker to help deny, Digital Weapons are a good idea to help get that To Wound roll with your Force Weapons (hitting will likely be easier than Wounding anyway).

An asshole-ish thing to do is to try and take Inquisitors so you can get Master of Ambush, then use it to Infiltrate the Interceptors in to where you want the Termies to be, that way you can take advantage of the turn 1 Deep-strike roll, along with using an Astropath and optionally a an Officer of the Fleet to ensure that they arrive that turn. This way you can hop in with the Interceptors, flame away, drop in the terminators, flame away, and even optionally use any sort of flamer the Inquisitor could buy to burn more, clearing out whatever hordes (or even higher Toughness creatures considering Incinerators are S6) and clearing out a safe space for everyone else.

If you do this you can have nearly your entire army on the opposite side of the board on turn 1 (three Infiltrators as well as however many Deep-strikers) which could easily mess up an enemy gunline, so long as you make sure not to leave all of your units out in the open.

Note that you can also try to use this strategy with a Dreadknight, with about as much success though it's not nearly as needed as with the Terminators thanks to the fact that the Dreadknight can also get the Personal Teleporter, which makes it a Jump Monstrous Creature and allowing it to do the same teleport shunt that the Interceptors can do (though it is still an option, in case you wanted to save those 30 points for something else).

Heavy Support

• Nemesis Dreadknight: A monstrous creature that can ally with anyone in the Imperium? Well everyone else seems to have been getting their own MC's, so why not? Originally meant to combat Greater Daemons, the Dreadknight can do well against nearly every other MC in the game thanks to good equipment, cheap cost, good saves (2+/5++, while having access to Sanctuary to buff himself to 4++), access to great gear and fantastic movement, at least once you buy it the Personal Teleporter (not needed if you're Deep-striking).

Unfortunately it only starts off with the two Power Fists as a base, and while they're not bad they're not the dirt-cheap Greatsword the knight can buy either, which gives you the exact same benefits, but at I4 and with the Force rule to boot. The Hammer can be good too, but generally I4 attacks will help you more than Concussive and it's just a marginal increase to get the Greatsword over the Hammer.

For ranged weapons, as above you can skip the Psilencer. Whatever you want to Instant Death should be handled either in melee, or handled by another unit entirely. The Heavy Psycannon looks nice, and it could be worth it since you actually want the Dreadknight to be charging against really meaty targets that warrants that level of Strength. If you're especially dead-set on it, then get an Astropath for Prescience and then the Dreadknight can make a lot of points back in a single volley, before making the rest back in melee.

While not exactly meant to clear out larger groups (better left to the Interceptors and Terminators), the Dreadknight isn't too bad at it provided he has his Greatsword and an Incinerator. Flame the enemy (make sure to take full advantage of Torrent) then charge to get 5 Initiative 4 Strength 10 Attacks. Whatever you're up against should break and get crushed.

Do keep in mind that the Dreadknight isn't without weaknesses, poison can fuck it up, so can any sort of Rending, as well as pseudo-rending and unlike most other MC's the Dreadknight isn't Fearless. ATSKNF is good for keeping it on the board, but you don't want it moved out of position thanks to things like Tank Shocks and Terrify, and having it run from assault, even if it's immune to sweeping advances is really annoying, especially if your opponent just guns it down before it can get back where it belongs. To that end try to avoid it if you're fighting enemies like Dark Eldar, or you're up against a tank-heavy force (it'll be of less use to you than some other troops with Melta's, even if it gets in close it's simply not that points efficient at that job).

• Landraider Types:
  • Godhammer (Basic): Nope. Do not take it, the Grey Knights in this book work best as allies, so use them as allies, buy somebody else to blow up shit and buy a different Land Raider that'll better fit your transport needs with its loadout.
  • Crusader: That's more like it. While the loss of Psybolt Ammo hurts (a tear shed in pity) it's still a really great assault vehicle, and more than capable of delivering a full squad of Termies into battle in case you didn't want to take advantage of their Rites of Teleportation. Just watch out for terrain, getting your Land Raider immobilized (even if it'll only happen 1/6th of the time) really fucking sucks, and with the amount of points you need to put into a Terminator Squad inside one of these Raiders (at least 400) you don't want it to operate at anything less than peak efficiency.
  • Redeemer: This one's iffy as a prospect, if you're up against Daemons or any army that requires you to get close to use your Template weapons, then you're going to want certain defences, but these Raiders don't have any sort of defence like Truesilver armour, and its range always puts it within easy Melta range, on top of MC charge which are the two fastest ways to lose it.

If you know you're not going to be up against either MC's or Melta's, then go ahead and take it, so long as you can use it and flame a couple MEQ's it can make its points back extremely quickly.

Legion of the Damned

Detachments

Spectral Host:

• Requires:
  • 1 Elite
  • 0-3 Additional Elites
• Must be of the Legion of the Damned faction
• All units of this detachment start as Deep Strike reserves but may choose to automatically pass or fail their reserve rolls.
• Aside from tournament faffing, there is no special reason to take the other elite choices from this detachment versus taking multiple detachments.

Units

Elites

• Damned Legionaires: Fucking expensive, but you're getting what you paid for. Massively buffed thanks to the fact that they automatically pass/fail reserve rolls, and they also synergize really well with any faction that allows the to Deep Strike without scatter, such as the Inquisition's mystics (although the ability to re-roll both scatter and the 2D6 greatly minimizes the chance of a mishap anyway). All of their ranged weapons ignore cover, they can fire any of them on the move, and a 3++ save makes them really hard to get rid of. Take them to fuck up GEQ's that're hiding behind cover, and/or as a surprise vehicle popper if you picked up the meltaguns. They can also be pretty good in close combat, while being no TH/SS termies they do have the same statlines as MEQ veterans while ignoring all power weapons in return.

Unfortunately their effectiveness as TEQ hunters has somewhat diminished as they can no longer take combi-weapons or a plasma cannon, a tear shed in pity, though the ability to appear whenever you want does bump up their effectiveness as GEQ killers, as they retained their Flamer and Heavy Flamer (and also retained Slow and Purposeful so that you can always fire the Heavy Flamer).

Note that there is no real advantage to upping the size of the squad, besides denying your opponent a kill point (though that should still have taken a fair bit of effort, even with just 5 of them). If you want more, then just get another squad since this also increases the amount of special weapons the squad can take.

Officio Assassinorium

The Assassins' Blades (Armoury)

• Wargear of the Vindicare Temple
  • Exitus Rifle: This is the reason this guy is so well known. This rifle is a Sniper with a range of 72"(!), AP2, and access to Exitus Ammo. This allows the Vindicare to take down a number of different enemies...See that angry Chaos Lord? *BLAM*. See that Farseer? *BLAM* See that Chimera? *BLAM*. You can do this by using one of the following bullets...
  • Exitus Ammo: Each time he fires, the Vindicare assassin may choose 1 of 3 bullets, each useful in one way or another.
    • Hellfire: Shots will always wound on a 2+. Of the three it's the second most useful, coming in handy whenever Shield-breaker and Turbo-penetrator rounds aren't needed.
    • Shield-breaker: Invulnerable saves cannot be taken against wounds, glancing hits, or penetrating hits from this bullet. Mainly useful against models that either have really good Invuln saves but few Wounds (such as Legion of the Damned, some Daemons and Commissars) or against models that have Invulnerable saves that are too powerful to rely on Turbo-penetrator rounds (such as Cataphractii Captains or Daemons buffed with the Grimoire of True Names).
    • Turbo-penetrator: Against vehicles, bullets hit at strength 10. Against all other targets, it inflicts D3 wounds. This is the one you want to use whenever a character is in sight, even if that character is in a unit. The Vindicare has a hefty price tag and killing characters is the fastest and most efficient way to make those points back.
  • Exitus Pistol: Highly overshadowed by the rifle version, but worth noting that this little fucker is Range: 12", S:X, AP:2 Pistol, Sniper, Exitus Ammo. What does that means? Well, +1 A in combat along his combat weapon, which is nice as a last resort; and the notion that he can relocate and keep firing anyone who gets too close with the same ammo that the rifle (a good thing as the rifle is a Heavy weapon). Which could save his life temporally until help arrives. Still not worth it using it instead of the rifle: you've brought a sniper, not a gunslinger.
  • Spy Mask: All shooting shots made by the Vindicare Assassin Ignore Cover... We do not need to exaggerate how awesome this is, it speaks for itself. Any direct-firing fortification shots also benefit from this (and the BS8), which can often be more useful than the rifle.

• Wargear of the Callidus Temple
  • Neural Shredder: Basically a template Sniper weapon, hits at strength 1 but at AP2 and always wounds on a 4+, sadly no effect on buildings or vehicles. Mainly used to wipe out the bodyguard of whomever she's going to be fighting. Also keep in mind that as a Template weapon it can be used to Wall of Death enemies who are charging her, which might save her life if she's caught by somebody you don't want her to be fighting (likely because you decided to Infiltrate her too close and the opponent didn't like the idea they could only fire Snap Shots at her).
  • C'tan Phase Sword: Strength User, AP2! (Bye bye Terminators) and has Phasing, which allows for each roll of a 6 in CC, those attacks do not allow invulnerable saves to be taken, which makes her an excellent choice to take on enemy HQ's.
  • Poison Blades: Strength User, no AP, but has rending and poison (+3). You're almost never going to use these, anything with Toughness high enough to require them is either going to be something with an armour save so good that there's no point (even with Rending, and sometimes they'll have an Invulnerable save too) or it's going to be something strong enough to kill her anyway (a lot of MC's can become S8 to ID her). If you're up against something tough enough to require them, you'd be better off stocking up on something that isn't a Callidus.

• Wargear of the Eversor Temple
  • Executioner Pistol: Strength 1, AP nothing but wit poisoned, or It can fire just as a regular Bolt Pistol. Would be pretty meh if the Assassin couldn't fire it four times, and as a mixture of both Needle Pistol and Bolt Pistol at that. Generally the Bolt Pistol will be more useful. Who knows, you could be up against something like Necrons or Plague Marines, in which case poisoning the Plague Marines would be more helpful than blowing them up.
  • Frenzon: The Eversor Assassin rolls 3d6 to charge and get 3 extra attacks from the charge instead of 1...Giving you 8 attacks at WS8...Have fun drinking your enemies tears.
  • Neuro-gauntlet: Gives the Eversor Assassin Flesh Bane and Shred in close combat, though it has no AP. Great against low armoured targets like Orks where the Power Sword wasn't going to help as much due to only being S4, and if he's up against something like TEQ's then the Neuro-gauntlet would serve him better (though you'd be an idiot for pitting him against TEQ's, literally every other assassin is better for that role).

• Wargear of the Culexus Temple
  • Animus Speculum: It is a shooting attack at 18" fired in the psychic phase, Strength 5 and AP1 three shots, increases in shots by how many Psykers there are near him...Friend or Foe. You can also elect to use three warp charges to add three shots to the speculums attack. Using this also doesn't count as shooting (due to it being in the psychic phase) meaning you can still toss a 'nade or run in the following phases.
  • Psyk-Out Grenades: Its a low range, S2 but with no AP. However, one Psyker in that unit targeted sufferers Perils of the Warp... And when assaulting - Psykers do not get extra attacks against charging the Culexus Assassin. A mulligan at best, you'll likely use it just because the Culexus has no other ranged weapon and you're already in a position to assault.
  • Etherium: All units targeting the Culexus Assassin in close combat or range, have to shoot, or hit at BS and WS 1. Note that no matter what, your opponent cannot boost their weapon skill, meaning that even the Tau are stuck at BS1! Psykers hate Culexus by default, but this is why everyone hates him. Be wary of stuff that can ignores this like Kharn hitting on 2+ in CC (why you would try to fight Kharn in assault with a Culexus is beyond us).

Detachments

Assassinorium Operative:

• Requires:
  • 1 Elite
• Gain 1 additional Victory Point if enemy warlord was killed by an assassin from this detachment. Better for some assassins than others, but pretty much the only way to take assassins (other than unbound or with an Execution Force, below). In any case it's a nice bonus, even if you don't plan on capitalizing on it the detachment otherwise has no restrictions.

Jan 2017 update: The Castellans of the Imperium formation from Fall of Cadia allows you to take assassins as elite choices, so 3 of them per CAD. Fun. Sadly they can't all go inside a transport together, because 3 Eversors charging out of a Landraider would make people cry a little too much…

Units

Elite:

• Vindicare Assassin: The most expensive of the four, he's got a decent way to go to make that back for somebody who can shoot only once a turn (and who you do not want in assault), though thanks to his special goodies that let him kill things better it's not an uphill battle. In general he's the best for picking out targets thanks to 'Deadshot', making shots from the Vindicare Assassin have precision shots (unfortunately Look Out Sir! is still allowed, though thanks to No Escape it'll only work half the time on IC's), but unfortunately this doesn't apply to Snap Shots. He is also an Independent Operative, which means he can never have a character join him, however he can still join units, he can be the Warlord (ironically) but sadly he still can't have a Warlord Trait (though you were probably going to roll Fear anyway, so it's about the same). Like all Assassins he has an awesome stat line - though the only stat he should be using is his BS and he is not meant to be the model that gets back his points in 1 turn - his job is back up, to take down the units that are bothering you.

Though the other assassins are great in their own right, the Vindicare is undoubtedly the best for most situations. His Exitus Rifle can quite literally deal with everything except large hordes, though even that isn't an issue thanks to the fact that the Vindicare can enter fortifications, which can then use his BS of 8. Put him on something like a Plasma Obliterator with an attached Haemotrope Reactor so that all of his MEQ-killing S8 AP2 in that Massive Blast will ignore cover, and at BS8 on average it won't even scatter.

Most fortress walls also offer fantastic vantage points for his rifle, so if you're getting him, try to get something extra that'll allow him to immediately set up and be able to shoot turn one.

• Callidus Assassin: The second most expensive, she is the sneaky, infiltrator type out of the 4. She has a special rule which allows her to be up to 1" from a enemy unit during her infiltrate, and enemy units can only snapfire at her during her first turn on the field, but you should try not to set her up this close. She can be counter-charged, probably by something you didn't pay for her to be killing and even though she has Hit & Run, you don't want her losing Wounds against the wrong targets (or getting ID'd by them if you were stupid enough to set her up anywhere near a S8 enemy).

The Callidus is basically a mini-distraction carnifex meant to scare the fuck out of the opponent. Use this assassin to destroy low highly armoured models (Terminators, Power Armour, Daemon Princes with warp forged armour) as well as enemy leaders, thanks to her chance to ignore Invuln saves. With her high WS, BS and Nueral Shredder she could properly take a few terminators before getting overwhelmed. Still, she is an assassin. Get her into the fight, take someone out and leave. Sticking around in fights will cost you.

Note that if you want to take advantage of her Nueral Shredder the most and are confident enough, a ballsy tactic is to shoot an enemy squad with it, then let them charge her, killing one or two more in the Wall of Death that follows since all of its attacks are AP2. She doesn't lose that much by not charging (just one attack, though the tradeoff could easily be worth it since she'll auto-hit at least one WoD anyway) and she'll almost always make her 5 attacks before the enemy can strike back, but if things don't work in your favour and the enemy retains enough models for when they get their turn, things can get sour fast. Hit and Run can also help to abuse the Neural Shredder since even if you can't fire it normally before she gets charged again, she'll still get another Wall of Death use out of it.

• Eversor Assassin: The cheapest out of the lot, he is the overwhelming attacks assassin. The Eversor excels at killing hordes, MEQ's and GEQ's thanks to fast shot which allows him to fire 4 times in one turn (at the same target) and still charge, using 3d6 and gaining 3 attacks on the charge. If he dies, he activates "bio-meltdown" which is a strength 5 hit to all models within 6" before he is removed (though thanks to the wording Wounds are applied to the unit as they would a blast weapon, so the models who get hit might necessarily not be the ones Wounded) which is a nice and final "fuck you" to whoever you're up against (and seeing as how he should always be in combat, you should always get a few extra kills with it).

While he's very good in combat, two things that can be kind of an issue are actually getting him there, and Instant Death from anyone S8 and above with their ranged attacks. A good solution for both is to just stick him in a transport, preferably one that can assault as the Assassins can now join units. So long as he's sheltered until he can Rip and Tear you shouldn't be disappointed by the results (though you should try to avoid S8 opponents in melee anyway).

Culexus Assassin: The second cheapest and easily the most survivable of the lot. While obviously meant to fuck over Psykers in every way imaginable, this isn't the only thing the Culexus is good at. Firstly is the reason he's so survivable, Etherium. All attacks against him are made at WS1/BS1, no matter who he's up against and this cannot be buffed up in any way, shape or form, not even by markerlight spam (so go out there and kill some blue commies). On top of this he still retains the 4++ save for whenever anything does hit, if he didn't manage to kill whatever the hell it was first of course. Secondly, all of his attacks ignore armour saves. This is important as it means his AP2 doesn't come from any sort of weapon, and isn't actually an AP value so models who can take AP values away and models who use the AP values of others against them are completely fucked, regardless of whether or not they're Psykers, and especially if he rolls a 6 on his To Wound since that's now an AP2 Wound with Instant Death. Thirdly is his Animus Speculum, which works on more than just Psykers and at an AP value that'll let it pop Rhino's and Chimera's so long as you get a lucky shot into their weaker armour. Last is the threat he's meant to counter, Psykers. As bad as he can fuck up everyone else, Culexus assassins fuck up Psykers twice as hard. No Psyker within 12" can generate a warp charge, every Psyker within that distance makes his Speculum stronger, he has Preferred Enemy (Psykers) which can help the Speculum nuke a unit (so long as a Librarian is inside a unit of terminators the entire squad's fucked) and his close combat attacks always cause Instant Death to Psykers.

The Animus Speculum is a fantastic ranged weapon, and one that can easily be abused now that the Astra Telepathica can now be allied in, as it's possible to abuse this weapon by buying some cheap Astropaths and running them near the Assassin, on average an extra 100 points can get you 7 S5 AP1 shots at BS8 a turn. The only downside is that thanks to his Independent Operative rule he cannot be joined by them directly, however thanks to how it's written, you could put him in a unit of Wyrdvane Psykers, then add the Astropaths to that as his rule states that his model can't be joined by characters, and in that case they're both just joining a different unit.

Another ballsy tactic is to use the Culexus as a shield for everyone else in a unit (possibly even the unit of Psykers, as mentioned in the above tactic) and put him front and center, so that the only shots that'll hit the unit will hit the Culexus first. This effectively means the entire squad's invisible, only being hit on 6's, with no hope of buffing this up thanks to markerlights.

A really ballsy (and frankly bullshit) tactic is to ally in an Inquisitor and try to get Master of Ambush (usually allying in two or three to take advantage of their abilities and increase the odds). If you do get it, Infiltrate the Culexus, and then Infiltrate several Psykers alongside so that he can immediately use the Animus Speculum to tear shit up, before charging into melee to finish the job. It relies more on luck, but even if you don't get it those Inquisitors were still going to come into handy, as were those Psykers so failure doesn't really hurt all that much.

You also get bragging rights if you play the with the Empyric Storm random results, the opponent's Warlord gets Psychic Apotheosis, and then you kill him with the Culexus, netting yourself a bonus VP in the process.

Formations

Execution Force:

• Requires:
  • Vindicare Assassin
  • Callidus Assassin
  • Eversor Assassin
  • Culexus Assassin
• All gain Preferred Enemy (Warlord)
• Gain 1 additional Victory Point if enemy warlord was killed by an assassin from this detachment.
• Generally a little overkill for anything short of Apocalypse and there's no real reason to take it as the regular detachment also provides the same bonus, even Preferred Enemy is generally not worth it thanks to the fact that the Assassins are going to cost so much more than the Warlord they're trying to kill unless, once again, you're playing Apocalypse and were going to be taking all four to do different roles anyway.

Inquisition

Much like the Adepta Sororitas, the Inquisition of this book do not replace that of Codex: Inquisition (at least not until the next FAQ). As another side-grade, they gain certain things, get other buffs and lose other items and units.

Detachment

Inquisitorial Representative: Resembles the Inquisitorial Detachment but keep in mind several things. First of all, in order to take another Inquisitor: you have to field another one of these, and considering the benefits you would probably want to do that already. Secondly, with this you cannot field mobs of select models. Acolytes are the only Elites choice that can be fielded in units of more than one model. All others are solitary unless taken in a specific formation. You lose direct access to the Arco-flagellant, Ministorum priest, Death Cult Assassin, Psykers, and Servitors unless you take a specific formation, though the new formation highly resembles the old unit and comes with a few new bonuses.

• Requires:
  • 1 HQ
  • 0-3 Elite
• The Inquisitor from this detachment may generate a Warlord trait even though they are not the Warlord. For the sake of the Warlord trait they count as a Warlord. Honestly fantastic for grabbing an extra Tactical Warlord trait, and thanks to the wording you can keep taking additional detachments (of one Inquisitor each) for additional traits.

Interestingly this detachment says that unique Inquisitors picked as a part of this detachment can generate and use a Warlord Trait, even if they're not the Warlord. Thanks to the wording not saying it replaces a Warlord trait, this could be argued that unique Inquisitors (such as Coteaz, Karamazov and Greyfax) get two Warlord traits if they are the warlord, and that they're not limited to their chosen trait if they're not the Warlord.

• All units must be of the Inquisition faction.

The Big =][='s Armory

Armour

• Flak Armor: Acolytes and just about every Henchmen choice have this base. Cardboard armor with a shit 5+ save. Bolters negate it. Thankfully, many classes can trade it (such as Acolytes) or elect to take it on superior Invulns (Crusaders and Acolytes).
• Carapace Armor: 4+ save. No longer expensive so feel free to take it on Acolytes who aren't going to get Storm Shields. All Inquisitors have it base, though unlike the Acolytes they're not likely to keep it.
• Power Armor: 3+ Armor save, and a mandatory boost for any Inquisitor you want to do shit with as it only adds a marginal price upgrade (just three points to make your Inquisitor a more survivable) is a straight upgrade from the Carapace the Inquisitor has. Now it's all right to give to Acolytes since the upgrade is 5 points instead of 10, though it's definitely not necessary since an extra acolyte is only a point less. It can be pretty sweet however if you have it on several acolytes and get a Jokaero to upgrade it into being effectively Artificer Armour (and with Storm Shields you can have your own wannabe Terminator Squad).
• Terminator Armor: The good old famous Deathwing/Grey Knight Paladin armor available only on your Daemonhunter Inquisitor! It more than doubles the Inquisitor's point cost but you're likely taking it anyway because it's the only way you get a guaranteed 2+ Armor and the only way any Inquisitor can get a 5+ Invuln. It also confers the ability for your Inquisitor to Deepstrike (presumably with an attached Grey Knights squad) so it's advised you take a Mystic in that case.

Weapons of the Ordos

Henchmen Ranged Weapons

• Bolter: 1 point for S4 AP5. Want to be the same price as a Guardsmen and have better ranged weaponry? Pretty much always worth it unless you just want dedicated tarpitters, in which case the +1 attack from the default loadout is more up your alley. Thanks to the cheaper power armour you can also become a Space Marine lite, or even better if you get a good Jokaero result.
• Storm Bolter: 3 points, 24" Assault 2 is decent if you want a cheap pokey gunline. Also, if you get lucky with Jokaero rolls you can get Rending on them and begin drinking your opponent's tears. However, 5 Acolytes with SB is the same as 7 Acolytes with Bolt Guns. Sure the Storm Bolter has other advantages (such as always getting its 2 shots and not slowing you down), but always consider the trade off.
• Hot-shot Lasgun: S3 AP 3 18" range for 5 points. Slaughters MEQs pretty handily. Not generally worth it though when you can take Militarum Tempestus allies, especially since they can take Hotshot volley guns, they get BS 4 and orders from their HQ squad.
• Combi-weapons: A bit of a waste for the Acolytes. They're too pricey and you could just spend the same amount of points to get the real version.
• Plasma Pistol: A terrible idea. For five points less you can get the real version.

Henchmen Melee Weapons

• Chainsword: Bog-standard Close Combat Weapon. All Acolytes have one base, and it should stay that way thanks to the following two options...
• Power Weapon: The same everyone knows and loves from the various Codices and the Inquisition is no longer limited to strictly power swords. There's an interesting twist here however, the Inquisition has no need (or want) to take them. Acolytes can take them too, but they're so fucking expensive for the little guys that you're simply better off with more bodies, or other models (such as Death Cult Assassins from the Inquisition's formation as they come with them standard and have a better profile).
• Power Fist: Fucking hell, why? There is no reason to take this, it's just way too fucking expensive and you're never going to make those points back on Acolytes!

Henchman Special Weapons and Wargear

• Flamer: BS 3 doesn't matter here, so it's not an awful take if you expect hordes.
• Meltagun: Do take it. Short-ranged Anti-tank and good at downing Marines in a pinch. Take 2 per squad and jam tons of them with a an Astropath and two meatshields in Rhino's/Chimeras and roll down the field.
• Plasma Gun: With S7 AP2 and Rapid Fire, it excels at taking down just about anything from Orks to Terminators to Tyranid Monsters. Though rolling a 1 to-hit means Gets hot! and your guy can die. Be aware of this and take Carapace Armor at the minimum, or better yet Power Armour. Once again the Acolytes are BS 3, grab a an Astropath for Prescience so that on top of hitting more often, Get's Hot! doesn't hurt you as much..
• Defense Orb: Adds 5++ invulnerable save. Jokaero get these, not you. Your Inquisitor doesn't get an Invulnerable save unless he's a part of the Ordo Malleus and buys Terminator Armor.
• Storm Shield: The user gains a 3+ invulnerable save, but can't get the bonus for two CCW's. Acolytes can buy them for 15 points (now being cheaper than the Crusaders), but for some stupid reason Inquisitors can't get them.

All Ordos Ranged Weapons

• Bolt Pistol: Allows your Inquisitor to have an extra attack. All Inquisitors have 1 base but it is almost always a better call to replace it with another weapon.
• Combi-Weapon: Tried and true option, a Bolter that comes with a 1-use Flamer, Meltagun, or Plasma Gun. If you know when to use it, it will never disappoint. Acolytes can also take these, although it's kind of pointless since they can get the full version for the same price (though that only applies to three of them, however you shouldn't need more than three anyway).
• Plasma Pistol: The same pistol Space Marines, Imperial Guard, and Sisters of Battle have. However, because you're such an influential fellow you can get yours for the same overcosted price of... 15 points. Not great, and it's unlikely to make its points back in a game unless you somehow manage to ID some GEQ commander (Genestealer Cults come to mind).

All Ordos Melee Weapons

• Chainsword: Bog-standard Close Combat Weapon. All Inquisitors have one base but it is almost always a better call to replace it with another weapon.
• Power Weapon: As mentioned in the henchmen section, the Inquisition has no need of them. Seriously, Hammers for the Ordo Malleus cost the same and are far better, Hammers for the Ordo Hereticus are only five points more, and Ordo Xenos Inquisitors have cheaper Power Swords as an option which combine with their rad grenades for better results.
• Power Fist: Nope. There's still no reason to take this, it costs as much as a brand new Inquisitor (who also gets a Warlord Trait), upgrading to get a free Force Weapon is only five points more, and both Malleus and Hereticus Inquisitors can buy Hammers which are not only better, but cheaper!
  • Force Weapon: No longer limited to just Power Swords, force weapons are power weapons with the Force Special rule. A Psyker Inquisitor can take one for free, and that is awesome. Generally won't disappoint if you want to smack things with Instant Death. Note too that it is the only item here that Acolytes cannot take.

All Ordos Special Wargear

• Psyk-Out grenades: All Inquisitors have it by default and this can't be swapped for anything. Made from the psychic shit that condenses from the bottom of the Golden Throne and drops stops charging Psykers from getting their bonus attacks should the unit get charged, and can also be thrown as a weak S2 AP- attack that causes a Psyker in the unit to immediately suffer Perils. Specialized, but free, so you've no right to complain.

Ordo Malleus Ranged Weapons

• 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. Debatably cheap enough to spam, but only if you have an Astropath using Prescience to ensure you don't miss. You can also use it to instadeath most GEQ HQs (as well as enemy Inquisitors since Power Armour's the best they can get), which is a nice little touch.
• Incinerator: S6 AP 4 flamer. A good choice, but generally the hellrifle 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, crowd control, and for clearing occupied buildings. Shish Kebab time.
• Storm bolter: Malleus Terminators get it by default. It's 2 shots at 24" so it's an improvement over the Bolt Pistol or the Bolter part of a Combi-weapon. Since it is assault, not rapid-fire, it's great on any dedicated close combat units.
• Psycannon: The good ol' signature ranged weapon of Grey Knights and the shit responsible for 20% of the rage directed against them before 7E, it's an S7/AP4 Rending rifle with an unusual Type: Assault 2/Heavy 4. In this codex it can only be taken by Malleus Inquisitors in Terminator armour, so it always uses the latter profile. The 15-point price is very reasonable, but to get access to it you have to blow 40 points on Terminator armour, and now that one Inquisitor costs as much as three. Avoid it, if you want to be more shooty then you've got other options, and the only thing it really shines at on these Inquisitors is being a AV11/AV12 transport popper.

Ordo Malleus Melee Weapons

• 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 two 2d6, if you get the same result twice it 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. OR, for shits and giggles and some pretty good asskicking, grab two daemonblades (There's nothing in the codex that says you can't) and get FOUR epic powers. Imagine going up against 3 S6 AP2 attacks from a FNP Eternal Warrior inquisitor that can instant death in a duel...or 6 poisoned attacks with furious charge and rage and the inquisitor gains another wound each time he kills something. Now you get to tell people to remove their models on melee combat, HAHAHAHAHA!... Thankfully too this book also clarifies which effects apply to the Inquisitor, and which effects only apply to the blade, so even if you're not using them the blades can still help you out if you roll lucky enough, though now they're also Two-handed weapons.

Note too that since the effects are so random it's not recommended to take these blades in anything but casual matches. They cost the same as Daemon Hammers, and generally won't perform as well, though if you take one alongside a Daemon Hammer simply to buff up the Inquisitor's profile then they could potentially be worth it (possibly giving you a S10 Inquisitor on the charge, or giving your Daemonhammer 8 Attacks on the charge, not to mention being the only source of Eternal Warrior for your squishy Inquisitor).

• 2-3: Attacks with the Daemonblade are made at +3 Strength.
• 4: The wielder gains +3 Attacks. This is one of the results you want if you're using an Inquisitor who's only taking the blade for its buffs.
• 5: The Daemonblade becomes AP2. All around a good result, especially if you get boosted strength.
• 6: The Wielder gains +1W each time an unsaved wound with the Daemonblade is inflicted up to a maximum of 10 wounds.
• 7: Always wound Daemons on a 2+, and forces them to reroll successful invulnerable saves. Arguably better than the Daemonhammer for taking on Greater Daemons that you've paralyzed with the Grimoire of True Names and Empyrean Brain Mines.
• 8: The Wielder gains Furious Charge and Rage. This is another result that only applies to the user, allowing you to reap the benefits while using a different weapon.
• 9: The Wielder gains Feel No Pain and Eternal Warrior. Once again it specifically applies to the user, so you don't have to use the blade to gain the benefits.
• 10: The Daemonblade becomes Poisoned (2+). This could be worth it if you got the result to increase your Strength since Poisoned allows you to re-roll failed To Wound rolls in close combat, as long as the user's strength is higher than the target's Toughness.
• 11+: Gain Force and generate a bonus Warp Charge each turn. An awesome bonus, your Malleus Inquisitor should always be a Psyker anyway.

• Nemesis Daemon Hammer: Standard thunder hammer with Force plus forcing Daemons/Psykers wounded by this to test Ld or get insta-killed. An awesome weapon, not just because of its rules but also because of its shockingly cheap point cost. Malleus terminators also get this by default.

Ordo Malleus Special Warger

• 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 all right on its own, but great when combined with anything that lowers the enemy's Initiative (such as Strikedown, Concussive, or that weird stasis shit if you ally with Dark Angels) or when the Inquisitor is already up against a low Initiative target. Also provides good protection in Challenges, you could derp out an opponent and own them with your Nemesis Hammer.

When combined with the Grimoire of True Names and a Daemon Hammer you turn your 90 pt Inquisitor into a Daemon killing machine. One-shotting a Blood Thirster in a challenge is not unheard of, and as mentioned in the Null Rod entry, if you combine this with a Hereticus Inquisitor who has the Null Rod (and maybe a third Malleus Inquisitor for good measure and extra insurance on your Brain Mines) you can even kill Magnus without breaking a sweat, as well as any Greater Daemon for that matter.

• Psybolt Ammunition: Your boltgun/pistol/stormbolter now has +1 Strength. If you're struggling to put those last five points somewhere, it's not the WORST take. Would go better on one of your vehicles, though (like a Heavy Bolter Razorback or Chimera).

Ordo Hereticus Ranged Weapons

• Condemnor Boltgun: This Combi-weapon incorporates a single-shot crossbow- while S5 AP- seems like a joke, it also has the Psi-Shock rule that forces a randomly determined Psyker in the enemy unit to insta-Perils on top of anything else. Pretty neat, but a bit expensive for what it does, being the same price as a plasma pistol and pricier than combi-plasma.
• Inferno Pistol: The same Blood Angels and Sisters of Battle Pistol they know and love. S8 AP1 with a range just slightly longer than the average charge range. Also has the Melta rule, but at 3", you are more than likely to be caught in the blast, or get killed when the enemy pours out of the transport you popped. Still preferable over the Plasma Pistol and if you get the Jokearo to boost the range on it then it can be a really effective weapon (on top of looking really cool).
• Orbital Strike Relay: Unique to Karamazov (unfortunately). Unlike Inquisitors with the Burner of Worlds Warlord Trait, Inquisitor Krazypantsoff(Карамазов) gets a choice of three different forms of Exterminatus. All of them have infinite range and the Orbital rule, and are also once per game.
  • Barrage Bomb: S6, AP4, Ordnance D3(!), Large Blast. When you absolutely have to blow everything up. Best reserved for Traitor Guard, hordes and Genestealer Cults.
  • 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. About the only time you'd use it is when you have a model in combat with the enemy's Warlord who happens to be a Psyker (or they're in combat against a really powerful Psyker) and you take advantage of Karamazov's By Any Means Necessary rule to ensure it doesn't scatter. Whichever Psyker you do want to give a guaranteed perils to however, should also be the only Psyker in that unit otherwise you'd have been better off with the barrage bomb.

Ordo Hereticus Melee Weapons

• Null Rod: It would be an average power sword if it weren't for its special Witchbane rule, which prevents the unit with this item from being targeted by all Psychic Powers, friendly or enemy. In addition it also has the Instant Death rule if used against enemy Psykers, and at AP3 it can kill a surprising amount of opponents. Hell, two Inquisitors with Null Rods and a Priest have will have a guaranteed kill on a hive Tyrant (mathhammer wise) so long as the Priest challenges, while remaining cheaper (although to that end a Culexus Assassin would have been better for the job).

Note that while it stops Psychic Powers from affecting the unit, it doesn't prevent the unit itself from using them, so feel free to attach it to a Psyker-heavy force so that you can lob powers while remaining safe from Psychic counter-attack, and with all of the Psychic bullshit flying around, a Null Rod can easily be worth the points.

Feel free to laugh as Magnus the Red struggles to deal with puny humans (Malleus and Hereticus Inquisitors) who are not only immune to his Psychic shit, but can also beat him in melee thanks to the The Grimoire dropping him to I2, the Brain Mines paralyzing him, and their hammers keeping him at I1 so he stays paralyzed. Oddly enough a group of Inquisitors with this gear are far and away the best defence against him, so long as they can catch him in melee they've got (mathhammer wise) a guaranteed kill while costing a fraction of the Primarch's points.

• Thunder Hammer: An interesting buy. For 5 points less than a Power Fist you get Concussive, which is a nice bonus. It's more likely to come into effect with your Inquisitor because his S6 blows will only insta-kill other mere humans. Malleus' Daemon Hammer is better and cheaper; feel free to rage.

Ordo Hereticus Special Warger

• 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. It doesn't work on Flying Monstrous Creatures with Psyker rule, sadly. Psyocculum pushes your BS up to 10, but then Snap Shooting from them being flyers drags it back down to 1, regardless of the circumstances. Find some form of access to skyfire (Skyfire Nexus, Space Marine Command Tanks) though and you're good.

Ordo Xenos Ranged Weapons

• Conversion Beamer: An interesting little item for Xenos 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 (though preferably not in the same unit as the bonus +12" result could fuck them over). 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 the rest of the squad hit another. Don't forget Prescience. But what you do is this. Take a Xenos Inquisiitor with one of these, and a Hereticus one with a psyoccolum behind an Aegis with icarus lascannon. What happens then is you get the beamer shredding anything far away while the Hereticus pops flyers. Woe betide Lords of Change, Flying Princes, Flyrants or... Well any other psykers as the BS 10 lascannon can punch a hole in anything with wings and the beamer will mulch any Psykers on the ground. And the best part? This is both dirt cheap and easily spammable.
• Needle Pistol: 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!

Ordo Xenos Melee Weapons

• Scythian Venom Talon: S User, AP-, Poison (2+). Use the Needle Pistol instead. Really. I mean, you can be a shitty version of a Dark Eldar, but it has no AP and no Rending. About the only way it could be worth it is if you found some way to boost the Inquisitor's Strength, but without access to Biomancy (and Iron Arm which would have made this awesome) the best you can do is to skip it.

Ordo Xenos Special Warger

• Digital Weapons: Re-roll a single failed To Wound roll each assault phase. Could help get that lucky Force strike in. If you're in melee, and Ordo Xenos, things have probably gone wrong already, unless you take the following two trinkets in which case it could be a very good investment...
• Psychotroke Grenades: Roll a d6 when in the first round of an assault and something hilarious could happen:
  • 1 - Jack shit. Better hope you're with a good assault squad.
  • 2 - All your attacks auto-hit. Also, the enemy models only get 1 attack each. Roll this against something that has a fuckton of attacks and high WS (Ork Boyz, Daemonettes, Wulfen, Genestealers), and watch the opponent rage harder than the Angry Marines.
  • 3 - You re-roll failed hits. Not so great, especially if you're in a Henchman Warband where a Priest is giving the unit Hatred, or have an allied Priest in the same unit.
  • 4 - The enemy is now Ld2. Fearless ignores this natch, but for any non-fearless units the price of losing combat by even a pitiful 1 wound just got extremely high.
  • 5 - The enemy is now I1. No longer worthless now that Psyk-out grenades have been changed. It combos best with Empyrean Brain Mines, which your Inquisitor can't get, though if you did take a Malleus Inquisitor and aren't fighting Daemons then good on you.
  • 6 - All enemy models must make initiative tests. If a model fails they attack their own guys instead of yours, and any wounds count toward your Combat Resolution. Single model units re-roll this result. This is the result you hope for against Orks and Tyranids, aside from #2. It can also be pretty sweet against Daemons if you use the Grimoire of True Names to nuke a big monster's Initiative.
• Rad grenades: Grenades that reduce the enemy's toughness by 1 for a round when in assault. Pretty nifty. Pretty much a guaranteed brief enfeeble on the enemy.

Has the strange property of not limiting the reduction of toughness to 1. Per 40k rules, T0 results in instant death. Also makes no mention that it doesn't stack with other units. So if 3 ordo Xenos with rad grenades charge a 50-strong guardsmen blob as separate units, all 50 instantly die. Field 25 of them for 1000 points, and slowly march them up the field. Laugh as everything dies from being near them. Take some skitarii allies and stick him in a squad of vanguard, laugh as your inquisitor kills the mighty space marines on a 2+!

Note too that this Rad grenade stacking strategy is one of the few counters to the new Split rule the Pink Horrors have gotten. Separate Inquisitors can charge in, and cause all Daemons involved to die by proxy, then do that to the Blue Horrors, then the Brimstone Horrors, without much worry.

• 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. This new book also makes it clear that all plasma weapons count, including the Tau's plasma rifles.

Inquisitorial Relics:

Only one of each relic may be taken for your army, except in ITC tournaments, where your whole army may only have a single relic.

• Grimoire of True Names: Why AREN'T you taking this? 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 Ld characteristics (to a minimum of 1). Now bearing in mind that now, EVERY army can take daemons thanks to Demonology this is actually quite useful, and once again 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 while Daemon armies will take Greater Daemons, and if it comes to slay the warlord, so long as they have Brain Mines your Inquisitor will wipe the floor with them. Being able to hit it on 3s is a godsend even without worrying much about counterattacks and if you also gave them a Daemon Hammer (and why wouldn't you?) challenges will be a breeze. This also works against Eldar Avatars too and is downright hilarious when your 60pts inquisitor goes all Calgar on Kahine.
• 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 (At Ld10, that's not too shabby). 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 and good for all-comers lists, you might as well take it so long as the points are free.
• 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: You know what it does. Re-roll failed Dangerous Terrain tests. Can't be taken by Land Raiders, unfortunately. Virtually mandatory on every other vehicle that'll be on a table with even mild terrain.
• Storm Bolter: You should know what this is too, hopefully. It's a Storm Bolter, it's in the basic weapons loadout above already.
• Hunter-Killer Missile: A one-use only Krak missile (S8 AP3) but with infinite range. If you needed to ask about this, no, you need to go back to basic.
• Searchlight: Right, report to the Lord Inquisitor. (Removes the Stealth from Night Fighting on a single unit, but you also lose the Stealth given from Night Fight if you do so). Night fighting is piss-poor in 7th but it doesn't matter since almost all vehicles come standard with this anyway.
• Smoke Launchers: Well, people always forget to use these, so...I suppose it's tolerable to mention. Once per game, the vehicle gets a 5+ Cover Save. A nice way to get your transports semi-safely to their destination.
• Psybolt Ammo: All Bolter, Heavy Bolter, Storm bolter shots gain an additional +1S. Give this to a twin-Heavy Bolter Chimera 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. This is godsend against daemons as you can dangle a rhino with this in front of 20 flesh hounds and get 1st blood and make your opponent RAGE.

Bonus points if you somehow manage to Instant Death a Psyker with it.

Units

HQ

• Ordo Malleus Inquisitor: Easily the most melee focused of the three, the Malleus Inquisitor still has access to the Daemonhammer, and he still has access to his Daemonblade, though they can now dual-wield them and the blades make it clear which of their effects affect the user, and which affect the blade (meaning that he can get four effects by using two blades, even though he can only attack in close combat with one), though you shouldn't expect something amazing out of it, even if you do purchase two swords for him. His ranged weapons aren't that bad either, though getting a Psycannon costs a lot of points, as does the Terminator armour it requires (to the point that it's arguably not worth it), and the Hellrifle is almost cheap enough to spam it as a MEQ-killer (get some Astropaths for Prescience and this certainly becomes an option), though as already mentioned this Inquisitor mostly shines in melee. Make him a Psyker, give him the Daemonhammer and Empyrean Brain Mines and let him go to town with his force weapon.

If you want to make the most out of him and you happen to be fighting Daemons (or really anyone with the Daemon rule), then feel free to take the Grimoire of True Names, and use this alongside your Brain Mines to drop Greater Daemons down to I1, then smash them with the Daemonhammer. It's not unheard of for Bloodthirsters to charge into fights against these guys and fucking lose.

• Inquisitor Coteaz: Coteaz covers a lot of bases, and covers them very well. He's a good psyker, has a decent enough ranged attack, is good enough in melee and doesn't cost a lot of points, what's not to love? Well for starters even though his model is wearing a rosarius whoever wrote the rules didn't recognize it, so he has no Invuln save. This is easily remedied by putting him in with a unit of Acolytes, with at least one of whom has a storm shield (though unfortunately he's kind of boned if he gets into melee combat with anyone S6 or higher). Secondly his special rule, Lord of Formosa isn't really all that useful in the current rules, thanks to the fact that Daemonhosts and Jokaero are single-model units now (you can give three models ObSec, yay) and between the three, Daemonhosts, Jokaero and Acolytes make up all of the models he can give the rule to.

That being said, he's still good for his points, and his I've Been Expecting You rule is nothing to sneeze at, in a properly shooty squad (gained by using the Inquisition's formation or by allying him in with another army) he can cause an absurd amount of damage in a very short time, and even if he doesn't, the bubble he generates that scares away Deep-strikes and Outflanks could easily be worth the price, though if you want an Inquisitor who isn't a jack-of-all-trades you'd be better off with the generic one.

• Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor: The saddest of the bunch, though not fully without advantages. Unfortunately the Malleus and Xenos both have more going for them than the Hereticus Inquisitors, and of the three the Hereticus is far and away the most specialized. They also get shafted in odd ways, such as their thunder hammers costing 5 point more than the Malleus' version, and that one's a force hammer! Their power fists also cost 5 points more than their thunder hammers! That being said, there are a number of ways to get a lot of use out of these Inquisitors, mostly through buffing/defending the unit they're currently in.

Both of these revolve around using the Null Rod and Psyocculum. The Psyocculum is straightforward, put him in a unit (even a unit of conscripts) and so long as you're shooting at a unit with psykers, they'll be BS 10. Preferably you'll be using weapons meant more for killing the unit around the psyker than the psyker themself, as that means you get more out of it. The Null Rod on the other hand is mainly meant for countering the psychic bullshit that's been going around as of late, simply put it makes the Inquisitor a miniature Culexus Assassin. Their attacks are at AP3 with Instant Death against psykers (which encompasses a surprising amount of characters, hell two Inquisitors with Null Rods and an allied Priest can kill a Hive Tyrant while remaining cheaper) and no psychic powers may be used against them or their unit. Getting a few Inquisitors with Null Rods to protect from Magnus and Ahriman could have been worth it on their own, even if this detachment didn't also let them come with their own Warlord Traits. They can also take the Liber Heresius to further buff their unit, and considering the buffs it can offer it's well worth the 15 points to do so.

• Inquisitor Karamazov: Still no Invuln save, still no Eternal Warrior, still gets ID'd by a railgun shot. Put him in a unit that has storm shields to give him some sort of protection, or better yet add him to the Inquisition's formation, try to get the 12" range bonus from the Jokaero and laugh as he burns shit with a 36" multi-melta before crushing opponents in assault.

Karamazov best shines in an assault-heavy army, preferably one that has alternate means of traversing the board (such as Marines with their Geomancy) but he can still work with the Inquisition, all you need is an Acolyte unit who got far in a transport (one of whom is a mystic), an Inquisitor who happened to get Gate of Infinity, and then you can deep strike Karamazov and his unit right next to the Acolytes without fear of scatter. This is of course assuming you opponent's not coming to you, if they are then they'll have their work cut out for them as Karamazov can rip and tear with the best of them.

Karamazov's also pretty good as a buffer too, Dread Reputation makes sure that he and everyone else around him stay exactly where they should be (functioning as a priest-lite, but for multiple units) while By Any Means Necessary is actually helped by the Daemonhost's new size of one model per unit, so long as you can get any of them into combat you can sacrifice a 10 point model to make sure his blasts don't scatter, which is more than worth it.

• Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax (Imperial Triumvirate): 150 points costing a shitload more than a regular Inquisitor (also halfway between Coteaz and Karamazov), and debatably worth it. She has the exact same statline as normal inquisitors, but has a Master-Crafted Condemnor Boltgun, a Master-Crafted Powersword, and a Psyocculum in addition to her Psyk-out grenades. While this doesn't excuse her cost, she's a ML2 psyker who always counts as having a higher level than the enemy to help deny, and one who can only take Telepathy, though she does also always know a unique power called Aura of Oppression: WC1 or WC3. The 1 Warp Charge version is a malediction targeting a single enemy non-vehicle unit within 12" which forces a pinning test, which even if they pass they cannot run, turbo-boost, sweeping advance, or fire Overwatch. The WC3 variant is instead a "nova Malediction" targeting all non-vehicle enemy units within 12". How much you plan on using her Aura is what's going to determine whether or not she's worth the hefty price tag. It's great in particular at shutting down Tau Support fire bullshit and Dark Angels Supreme Fire Discipline (and it combos beautifully with Assassins and assault heavy Henchmen Warbands). If you don't plan on using it, then don't get her, stick to a regular Inquisitor who can grab better more useful gear and abilities while costing less, and if you are going to use it then grab some Psykers (preferably Astropaths from the Telepathica) for extra charges.

• Ordo Xenos Inquisitor: A good shooter and de-buffer, of the three the Xenos Inquisitor is best suited for an all-comers list as their Rad Grenades, Plasma Syphon and Psychotroke Grenades all work wonders on everything. Put them in an assault squad to help it mulch through the opponents and keep it safe from rapid-fire plasma, or give him a Conversion Beamer, sit him back, and start shooting. Interestingly it could be argued that the rad grenades stack with each other, and since they don't stop at lowering their victims to T1, you could have three Inquisitors charge the same T3 target, and it would die before striking back at all. While not ideal, this could also be used to cancel the new Pink Horror's bullshit split rule.

Unfortunately the Ordo Xenos don't have a special character of their own since Inquisitor Valeria's now dead, presumably killed by Greyfax above.

Elites

• Acolytes: Acolytes are an excellent unit, being cheap enough to function as extra bodies to any army lacking them, while having decent upgrade options. You could outshine the Tempestus with hotshot lasguns and power armour (still BS3, though Prescience from an Inquisitor or a Psyocculum can help with that) or you could give them all bolters/storm bolters, which makes them an odd squad, one that doesn't cost a lot and still gets good weapons. They're also cheap enough that you'll have to start weighing what's worth more, a killier/hardier squad or multiple, weaker squads?

Do not use them as melee troops. Though they have two weapons they still have the statline of a regular human, and unless they're up against similarly-sized units of humans, or they charge units of humans that don't number too much, they're going to lose and any of the armour options to make them live longer are wasted on an assault squad of these guys. If you still really want to use them in an assault role, then just take the formation below and stock up on better melee units while putting any wounds you can on the acolytes first.

Of note is that they're one of the very few units in the game who can make use of the gunslinger rule. Acolytes can buy plasma pistols and combine them with their laspistols to fire twice, though don't expect this to be any sort of game changer.

• Available Transport Options:

• Chimera: The tax for getting it isn't so bad however, Acolytes are dirt-cheap and the Inquisition's Chimera's have certain advantages to them, like being able to upgrade their heavy bolters with psybolt ammo so that you're ID'ing GEQ's, Tempestus and Tau, all the while ignoring most of their armour saves. A storm bolter also wouldn't go amiss either since it'll also benefit from the psybolt ammo. It's a good little transport, and well worth the points once upgraded.
• Sororitas Rhino: That's correct. 5 points more than Codex: Inquisition but now with a 6+ invulnerable save and Adamantium Will. Debatably not worth it compared to the Chimera, it's cheaper, loses a point of armour in the front but gains a point in the side, and it doesn't have options to the psybolt ammo that the Chimera has, though it otherwise keeps the same roll. Take it if you're strapped for points, or are really worried about Psyker shooting your tanks, but not so worried about it that you'd by an Inquisitor with a Null Rod.
• Land Raider Variants:

• Godhammer (basic): Shouldn't be taken. You've got monkeys for lascannons, Inquisitor's (or allied Astropath's) for re-rolls, and even Chimeras provide deadlier heavy bolter fire. You also don't have the troops needed to make this one worth it, and if you're allying just to get an Assault Transport out of the Inquisition then you're better off with one of the next two options.
• Crusader: If you're taking this it'll be because you're allying the Inquisitor in with another army that doesn't have access to Assault Transports, or you're using the formation that allows you to take a massive unit and you built if for assault. If it's the former, then load it with your best unit, charge in, don't risk going through terrain (seriously, the Crusader shines in close range and getting immobilized is a huge waste of 250 points) and have fun. If it's the latter, then it's a bit iffier. While the Inquisition can get good assault units, Chimeras with psybolt ammo (which the Crusader can no longer purchase) are cheaper, more spammable, and more likely to make their points back. If you used the formation to build a good assault squad though (see the formation for more details) then it could still be worth it to load the Crusader up, charge into the enemy, and use buckets of dice considering how many attacks you should get from charging.
• Redeemer: Iffier than the Crusader, the guns are good, the issue simply comes from the fact that it is extremely short ranged. If you can get it there it'll tear shit up, but if your opponent has a few melta's/monstrous creatures/chainfists (or their equivalents), then its range easily puts it into their range, which is the fastest way to lose it. If your opponent doesn't have any of those however, then the Redeemer is good both against MEQ's and hordes and can arguably make its points back the fastest out of the three, only needing to flame/shoot a few particular squads to break even.

• Valkyrie: Unless you use a formation to ally in the Deathwatch (and you really shouldn't, explained in the formation) this is the only flyer you're going to have access to. It's a good thing that it's a good one then. It still doesn't have access to the armoury (so no S6 heavy bolters for it) but it's still the tough and deadly plane from before, and it still has access to grav-chute insertion, which is great considering that Acolytes cost so little it doesn't matter if one of them dies or not when you use it. Put them inside, use it to pester infantry/destroy aircraft (loading it up with high Strength or blasts as is appropriate) and have fun.

• Daemonhost: Free kill points for the enemy! Seriously, Daemonhosts are not hard to kill and their effectiveness is extremely random. They can be fun in huge groups, but you're limited to one model per unit, so if you take them you're either running an unbound list, you're using the formation below, or you're going to be abusing the fact that they now come with the Daemon special rule as there are some weapons/rules that can activate when a model is near a Daemon, and paying 10 points to make this a guarantee is certainly worth it. Don't take them if your plan is simply to run lone Daemonhosts at your enemy, more often than not it won't work out in your favour.
• Jokaero Weaponsmith: The shooting monkeys everyone remembers and loves. They still keep their all of their old weapons (including the ring/lascannon/multi-melta/heavy flamer) however now they are limited to one model a unit. Single-model Jokaero aren't going to do too much unless you roll really lucky on either their shots or their special table, and even then the special table is only going to affect the Inquisitor or whatever other character you're allied with. Buffing any Independent Character with +12" to any non-template ranged weapon is really good. If you added Cawl to the unit for example you could turn his gun into a 24" S10 AP1 Melta that fires D3 times.

Overall though, if you want to make sure your Jokaero are going to do something then you can't just stop at one. Get at least 3, yes that'll max out your detachment, yes that can leave you open for Kill Points, but another detachment gets you another Warlord Trait and with 3 you can at least guarantee they are going to do something. You'll get a good result on the random chart, or they'll blow up that transport that you needed gone, and unless your opponent can make kill points off of them then they'll likely not consider a single 35 point model worth the firepower of an entire squad, especially when there's larger, more threatening targets out there.

Heavy Support

• Chimera: The Inquisitorial Representative detachment has no option for a Heavy Support unit of any kind, so if you take a Chimera it'll be as a dedicated transport (see above for tactics on how to use it best), or it'll be in an unbound list and why would you go unbound with this army? Getting a bonus Warlord trait is worth the points and the Acolyte tax is so minimal for their Chimera.

Formation

Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband:

• Requires:
  • 1 Inquisitor of any type, including Unique Characters
  • 1 Acolyte unit
  • 0-1 Ministorum Priests unit
  • 0-1 Crusaders unit
  • 0-6 Daemonhosts units
  • 0-1 Arco-flagellants unit
  • 0-1 Death Cult Assassins unit
  • 0-1 Tech-priest Engineseers unit
  • 0-6 Jokaero Weaponsmiths units
  • 0-1 Astropaths unit
• All units/models (excluding the Inquisitor) combine with Acolytes into one large squad.
• One Inquisitor from this detachment may generate a Warlord trait even though they are not the Warlord. For the sake of the Warlord trait they count as a Warlord.
• Depending on your Inquisitor, you may field an additional unit at cost, with all of the units now sharing the Inquisition Faction rather than their own faction(s):
  • Ordo Malleus and/or Inquisitor Coteaz may purchase a Grey Knight Terminator Squad. The effectiveness of this squad should be obvious, though unless you choose to Deep-strike them they don't offer much the Inquisition doesn't already have (and for far cheaper) other than 2+ saves. If you do choose to Deep-strike them however, then you should make one of the Acolytes a mystic to ensure that there is no scatter. Having termies always arrive with perfect accuracy is great, they can serve as a nice scare tactic, absorbing fire so your other units have nothing to worry about or they can hack apart anyone in melee (and considering how easily Grey Knights can become S6 with 3-4 Attacks each, that shouldn't be an issue).

• Note too that if you give the Inquisitor Terminator Armour he can join the fight right next to the Grey Knights, which could be really useful as the Grimoire of True Names and Empyrean Brain Mines can both take out any Daemons strong enough to tear through the Grey Knights 2+ Armour saves, while his Incinerator can help both with clearing out any enemies he lands near, and Wall of Death'ing anyone who tries to charge the unit.
• Ordo Hereticus and/or Inquisitor Karamazov/Greyfax may purchase an Adepta Sororitas Battle Sisters Squad. The Sisters are a little harder to justify over the Knights, and are better at supporting a shooting force rather than a melee one, even though Hereticus Inquisitors are better suited for melee (their ranged options simply not being as good as the other two Ordo's). If you gave the Inquisitor a Psyocculum and are up against a Psyker-heavy force then they could easily be worth it (especially if the Inquisitor also uses Prescience), a decked-out Sisters squad can also greatly benefit from the mobility provided by a Valkyrie that the Inquisition can provide for them this way, being tough enough not to die to random fire like most of the Inquisition's units, while remaining a better option over a fully loaded up Acolyte squad thanks to their special rules and Act of Faith.

Alternatively you could station them a little farther ahead than your other squads and let them valiantly die to enemy gunfire and charges (or put them wherever your own force is weak to do so), soaking up a fair amount of damage in the process that could have been used against your other units. If making them martyrs is your plan then keep their loadout minimal, in this role they're likely only going to use their Act of Faith once and even if they don't get it you won't see a big loss. Paying for martyrs to get anything besides more bodies is just a waste of points.

You could also use them to get extra Rhino's or Immolators, but rather ironically the Sisters' vehicles will benefit your other units a lot more than they will the nuns, most of your other units being better off closing the distance while the Sisters will want to keep away from the enemy.

• Ordo Xenos may purchase a Deathwatch Veterans unit. There's very little point to this, if you ally in the Deathwatch you get Aquila Doctrine, allowing you to re-roll any AP/To Wound roll of 1, whereas if you get the Inquisitor to bring them in you get nothing, aside from them being a part of the Inquisition again (so the only reason you'd do it, is because you care about the fluff). If for whatever reason you're forbidden from taking allies, then this is more of a mulligan than anything else. In that case you'd want to take them, load them up with melee or ranged (whichever fits your preference, although preferably they'd do the opposite of whatever your current Henchman Warband is doing so that all of your bases are covered) and then go to town. If you're going ranged you could try giving them a Chimera or Sororitas Rhino to help close the distance (both of which are more likely to last longer than the Deathwatch's own vehicles) and if you're going melee wise then you should take the Blackstar, or a Land Raider if you know that you're going to be up against a lot of AA.

• The warband may take a Chimera, Sororitas Rhino, Land Raider (basic, redeemer, or crusader), or Valkyrie as a transport.
• Because your allied units are now Inquisition faction, they can start embarked in an allied AI Valkyrie. This is especially helpful for Sisters who otherwise lack a flying transport.
• Generally there's no monobuild with the Henchmen Warband, though there are a few things you're going to want to add right off the bat. Get Crusaders or Acolytes with storm shields to take the hits for everyone (Acolytes would likely be better, Crusaders don't usually do the killing and Acolytes with storm shields are 11 points cheaper) else and get a Priest to ensure your unit stays where it is (25 points is a small price to pay for Fearless).
  • From there you can build off of whatever you want the squad to be doing, get a few Jokaero if you're going shooty (make sure to get at least two monkeys so you can avoid the shit result on their table) and make sure to buff them with the near-mandatory Astropath (always choose Divination so that BS3 doesn't screw you over as hard). This also makes a good bunker to station a shooty Inquisitor in, such as an Inquisitor with a conversion beamer (though be warned that the Jokaero's range buff is actually a nerf in the case of the beamer).

You could also add a Hereticus Inquisitor with Divination and a Psyocculum if you wanted to skip the Astropath entirely and are up against a Psyker-heavy force (buying the Inquisitor the Psychic Level is only 5 points more than getting the Astropath, and they also get a free force weapon to boot, just in case you get into combat). Coteaz could also be fine if you got the +12" range buff from the Jokaero. A Malleus Inquisitor with a Psycannon could also do well, but that combination eats up a shitload of points and you'd be better off with 2 more Jokaero for your shooty squad.

You could also get a shitload of Acolytes and Boltguns, 10 of them are only 50 points, and if you get the range buff from the Jokaero then 10 Acolytes with Storm Bolters + Prescience (aka what the entire squad was getting in some way anyway) then they can mulch hordes across vast distances (yes, this means you'd not only outrange the Tau with their pulse rifles, but you'd be doing it with better guns).

• If you're assaulting then depending on what you're up against you're going to need either Death Cult Assassins and/or Arco-flagellants. Death Cults are slightly better against MEQ's (it's a very slight difference), Arco-flagellants are better against everything else except Monstrous Creatures with high Toughness and/or high saves, but if you get into combat with those then the Death Cults weren't going to save you anyway. If you're going melee then as far as Inquisitors go you should stick to Malleus, Xenos, Coteaz and Karamazov. Karamazov's lack of an Invuln save is greatly mitigated by Crusaders, unless buffed by Jokaero, Coteaz mainly shines in combat and both the Malleus Inquisitors and the Xenos Inquisitors get better gear than the Hereticus as far as this unit goes (such as a cheaper Thunder Hammer that's also a Force Weapon, or Psychotroke/Rad Grenades/Plasma Syphon).
• Notably there isn't much as to why you'd take an Engineseer, he might come in handy fixing a vehicle and/or in combat but those points are still better spent on another unit as the Engineseer's role in the warband is limited (and if you really wanted him, you should just ally him in anyway, at least that way he gets the Canticles of the Omnissiah rule and that version's an Independent Character to boot). The Daemonhosts are also iffy, either being really good or really bad depending on the roll of the dice, but then again they're only 10 points so go for it if you're feeling lucky and have the points to spare, just make sure to get a lot of them as when they finally get that really good roll, you can be rewarded by a fantastic result. Another thing to note is that Inquisitor's who choose Sanctic Daemonology might get lucky and get Sanctuary, in which case they can make every Crusader/Acolyte with a storm shield gets a 2++ save to effectively make the squad unmovable.
• While not recommended, a ridiculous tactic is to take this unit specifically with the Acolytes, a Chimera and two Jokaero just so you can pull up to another transport (presumably one looking for a much meatier unit), use the two multi-melta's to burn open the transport, and then the use everything on the Chimera to gun down the exposed occupants. It's a pricey tactic and one that relies on your opponent not knowing what you're doing (it's also easily countered), coming in at 162 points minimum (preferably 172 with the recommended psybolt ammo and storm bolter on the Chimera) but if you're feeling lucky then go ahead and fuck up a Land Raider with it.

See Also:

• Adepta Sororitas Tactics
• Astra Militarum Tactics
• Deathwatch Tactics
• Grey Knights Tactics
• Inquisition Tactics
• Officio Assassinorum Tactics