Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Inquisition(8E)

Why Play Inquisition

Because you want an army that nobody expects, with surprise and fear as your chief weapons. Actually in 8E the main reason nobody expects them is that they took a big shot to the pills, losing most of their assault capability to the Adeptus Ministorum and having their glorious monkeys nerf-batted into oblivion, so nobody will expect you to be so masochistic as to actually try to win a game with them (at least until the Codex drops... maybe). That said, if you're not a WAAC man-child and you like your fluff as much as your crunch, you can still build an interesting force especially when combined with the Adeptus Ministorum, Sisters of Silence and other Agents, and/or the Adeptus Militarum or really any Imperial force. You think John Blanche will stop playing Inquisition? Not on your life.

Pros

• Super fluffy
• Great for model customisation
• Can ally with all Imperium units
• Decent psyker HQs
• Interesting unique characters
• Some units can use any Imperial transport

Cons

• Small choice of units
• Some normal sized infantry units can use no transports of any kind
• Not really viable as a single-subfaction army (at least until the codex drops) due to being a gimmick-driven army in an edition that thinks gimmicks are too hard for the kiddies to understand.

Special Rules

<Ordo>: All units except Daemonhost belong to a specific Ordo - either of your choosing or specified for characters. Ordo Malleus hates Chaos and Daemons, Ordo Hereticus hates Chaos and Psykers, Ordo Xenos hates filthy xenos. You can also take the generic benefit (Ordo Smashfucker?) that makes them hate CHARACTER units.

Quarry: Gain a bonus when you're attacking your Ordo's specific quarry (as per <Ordo> above). Malleus and Hereticus re-roll hits and wounds, Xenos re-roll hit and wound rolls of 1 (presumably more restrictive because it has much wider application) and Specialist (custom) Ordos re-roll hits of 1 on Characters. Remember that Jokaero and Daemonhost don't have this, even though Jokaero do have <Ordo>. Because reasons.

Authority of the Inquisition: That's a pretty transport, shame if someone were to requisition it. Inquisitors and Acolytes can ride in any Imperium Transport, which makes plenty of sense. Of course, Jokaero and Daemonhost don't get this either, so they have literally zero transport options and will be walking on from the edge. If they're ever taken. Which they won't be. But still you can look at that Baneblade and fill it with a ton of Acolytes. Which is fluffy and somewhat funny. Sadly, even if 40 Dudes got space in a Stormlord, and so do Ogryns it is just a no go that someone in TDA might enter. Because reasons.

Psychic Powers

Telethesia

• Terrify: Useful for getting allied fragile melee monsters in without taking losses to overwatch. 18" range, only needs a 6 to get off, and debuffs Ld -1 as well as preventing overwatch until your next psychic phase, which is pretty good.

• Mental Fortitude: Easy to get off, and will cause a unit nearby to auto pass morale tests. Also good, despite Ld failures not being as potentially catastrophic as they were previously. Also as it's targetable at any Imperium unit, that's another good reason to take an allied Inquisitor psyker.

• Dominate: Quite how an Inquisitor straight out of the Academy could have a 50/50 shot of convincing Old One Eye to start gnawing on his friends will remain a mystery, but it's a thing. Especially cool as Deny The Witch is now mostly limited to psykers.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Inquisitor: Comes in three flavors (or maybe four, but no one knows - its like the secret icecream you eat in summer but forget later on) with their own different areas of expertise may seem meh on paper but damn. With WS3+ and BS3+ plus the re-rolls from Quarry, they can put out a lot of hits with a good number of attacks. A wide range of wargear but certainly go for a thunder hammer or Power fist, you can take the -1 to hit with your re-rolls. Surprisingly good at exterminating low key units, my Ordo Hereticus with power fist personally killed a Nurgle plague caster, 8 death guard and roughly 9 pox walkers through 4 turns of combat. Always keep near acolytes as they will boost his survivability. For shooting you would be good with a combi-weapon as again you should be getting re-rolls and if you aren't, you're using the wrong inquisitor for the wrong job. Also understand this, your Inquisitor is not a superhuman God for killing things, they are human with special Wargear, if you try to 1v1 a Chaos Lord, Necron Overlord, Dark Eldar Archon, Greater Daemon or a Space Marine Captain you will die a horrible death.
  • The real problem is that Inquisitors lost the ability to take Power Armour and will come with a 4+ (And still they did not figure out how to strap a Stormshield on their arms, it might hinder them to point at heretics and stuff) and no invuln. (They don't need it with acolytes, they have 2+ look out sir which is better than a 4++ as it comes after saves). The only exception is...
• Terminator Malleus Inquisitor: The beefy Option. Comes with Terminator Armor for an invuln and Teleport Strike, Storm Bolter and Nemesis Daemon Hammer. Might take Combi Weapons and can be a psyker.

Unique Inquisitors

• Greyfax: The love of Celestine is still around. She comes with Power Armour, Condemnor Boltgun and a mastercrafted Powersword. She can target Psyker or Deamon Characters even if they are not in front of her and denies the bitch 2 times a turn with a +1 bonus on the deny test.

• Karamazov: God old chap Krazypantsoff is still there. Sadly he is not a dreadnought. But he was able to swing a Rosarius around his neck so he got a 4++. All in all he is beefy and can roast Stuff. He comes with the Throne of Judgment (which got the stompy feet of Judgment) boosting him into a T5 8W model and since he is a character you can not snipe him out of his acolytes. Which also can take the wounds he fails to save with his 4++. Oh Dear, if that's not sexy enough. In addition he got a 30" Storm 1 mastercrafted multi-melta. Sadly he is slow, which is sad, especially since he cannot be transported. He also lost his Orbital Strike.
• Coteaz: Still expecting you, but you not him. His rule "I am expecting you" is still there. But you only fire overwatch with a unit within 6" of him. Funny thing is though, that it is not stated that the unit can only fire if the incoming unit is within a certain range. Means: your plasma can fire 24" on something popping up. Also he got a 2+ Save (still no invul cause that nifty rosarius is still priest only, would be a shame if someone else hangs it around their neck), his psyber-eagle with 1d6 shots and a mastercrafted nemesis daemon hammer, which does not give a -1 to hit. For what he does, he is quite cheap.
  • Also, I might be wrong here, a unit disembarking from a transport is set up onto the battlefield. Which means your Dudes can fire at them. Oh the Joy!

Elites

• Acolytes: 3 wounds each(faq changed this to a single wound, lame) but with a 5+? What's the point of these when they can die in droves I hear you ask. Two words, wound bank. These guys have a look out sir rule for friendly inquisitor of the same Ordo, on a 2+ every time the inquisitor would take a wound an acolyte within 3" takes a mortal wound instead. Think about that for a second, that also counts for damage, you would roll your inquisitors armour save, then your opponent would work out damage, then your roll your 2+ for each wound. Surround your Inqusitor with a bunch of them and watch him never die! Give them power swords and laspistols and walk through chaos marines on the charge (Backed up by an inquisitor of course). Or take a unit of 6 Plasma Guns and always Overcharge them as you have safety in re-rolls. Also, they come at 8 pts a body so reasonably priced. Cheap units with all flamers is more fun than it should be.
  • Acolytes will suffer if they do not show some heretics where their Empra is. The more save Option would be a Power Woodplank over the Sword. But you loose the sweet -3 AP spot. In the end it come to pointing them at the Stuff they can kill. With all the Options they can take there should be allways a good setup and they should not dissapoint
• With only having 1 wound after the Faq, Acolytes just aren't as cool. It was honestly a fun gimmick to have multiwounds on a frail body, but it was just a mistake and not meant to be. Perhaps you can make house rules for them, take your dudes to a whole new level and say that the 3 wound models are Acolytes from Dark Heresy.

• Daemonhost: The biggest weakness is that they are not a character, nor part of a unit. So if you field one he dies quick since a 5++ will not save you that long. In addition random is fun but the stuff you can roll for now is actually way better then before: Either 12" move with Fly, healing all wounds (at 3W meh) or d3 mortal wounds on every unit within 3". Last is neat but how will he get there? Since he can not join a transport. Also free first blood is free.

• Jokaero Weaponsmith: Dear space apes, how much do I want to like you! The simple fact that they are firstly not catgirls and secondly not Characters makes them less than good. Also they can't ride Transports, no barrel of monkeys for you. Their weapon modification table got gimped; they can give a <ORDO> unit within 6" either to hit rerolls, to wound rerolls or both. At least there's no chance of getting bupkis or wasting a roll because you took too many laser apes. If your opponent is Chaos and you are Hereticus the ape is just an ape. But still he got his ring right? Now he hits on a 4+, got a slightly worse multi-melta or a Storm 5 bolter with -1AP. But the point is: He is alone and only got a 5++ at a T3 body. So he is free first blood.

Heavy Support

• Inquisition Land Raider Prometheus (FW)

Building Your Army

boi Run an inquisitor with another army and wait for a codex.