A (not so) Humble Review of Inquisitorial Henchmen

[Master Antaeus]

So you've looked at our 5 units in the Militarum Tempestus codex and said to yourself: "Is this it?"

 

Anywhere you might ask, people will tell you that MT Scions are meant to be allies, or to have allies added to them.  Maybe you like the MT orders over the guard orders, or find that fielding 50 guys plus a tank command squad is just a little too cumbersome.  You've decided to add an Inquisitor or three to your army, but aren't sure what to do with all of the allies.  Have no fear, Harsh Rhettoric will educat you.

 

Inquisitorial Henchmen can be taken in squads of 3-12 and can take any dedicated transport from Codex: Inquisition.  That list is thus: Rhino, Chimera, Razorback, Valkyrie, Land Raider, Land Raider Crusader, Land Raider Redeemer.  Without any of the clunkiness of the Guard, you can add some heavy armor and long range tank-killing power to your list.

 

Pros

-Highly Flexible: You can kit a henchmen squad for just about anything.

 

-Cheap!: Though some individual henchmen are expensive, if you build your squads intelligently with a specific role in mind, you can keep them very cheap.

 

-Varied: Not much good tactically, but henchmen squads can look as diverse or as uniform as you want.  This is a big plus for me.

 

Cons

-Expensive: I know, it says cheap above, but you can accidentally go nuts.  Getting all of the parts you need together can also be expensive in dollars if you don't already have deep shelves of minis.

 

-Complicated: The Jokaero and Daemonhost in particular, but keeping track of all of the little special rules can be daunting without practice and good note-taking habits.  If you don't have the models you need, or had to kit-bash some things, I've seen people lose track of what model was what.  Bizarrely, it helps to name them.

 

-Has trouble projecting: Unless you plan to take a bunch of land raiders, chimeras aren't the most ideal platform for pushing the line forward.  At a certain point, they will expose their tender sides, where even bolters can menace them.  This is one of the reasons they work so well with Scions, because Scions specialize in pushing the line forward, but falter because they lack support and variety. 

 

Henchmen types

 

Acolyte: The most common henchmen.  He (or she) is less points than a heavy stubber on a tank and has a guardsman's profile, laspistol, flak armor and CCW.  Acolytes get their own section because you can give them a bewildering array of crap to kit them out for various purposes.

 

Acolyte Gear (any acolyte can take any of these)

-Boltgun: The cheapest amount of points you can spend while still spending points.  If your acolyte is going to be used for any purpose other than soaking up wounds, I highly recommend adding a humble bolter.

 

-Storm Bolter: one point less than the acolyte himself, this would be a good choice if it weren't so difficult to find models with storm bolters.  Necromunda gangers with heavy stubbers do the trick admirably.  A gaggle of acolytes with storm bolters can put out a respectable amount of fire from far away, but bear in mind that they only hit half the time.

 

-Hotshot Lasgun: You should probably be aware that your entire Scions force has these in spades and just move on.

 

-Carapace Armor: not a bad choice and usually justifiable for most imperial guard models (where you will be drawing the bulk of your acolytes if you weren't born in the early 80's and have piles of necromunda minis clogging your shelves)  Will keep your acolytes alive, but not as much as you might hope.  Keep it cheap and only give carapace armor to the acolytes with plasma guns.  Costs as much as the acolyte.

 

-Power Armor: Double the cost of the carapace armor, this triples the cost of the acolyte and brings him to the same amount as a Scion.  Unless you have a few sisters of battle floating around your henchmen warbands, I would pass on this.  Your plasmalytes don't hit reliably enough to justify this level of investment.

 

-Meltabombs: At slightly more points than the guy you're giving it to, I would only put this on acolytes that you know will be in the thick of it, and even then, only on one or two.

 

Inquisitorial gear (3 acolytes can make one choice each)  This commentary will apply to all henchmen, not just acolytes.

 

-Combi weapon: Why take a one shot melta or plasma?  Just buy a plasma or meltagun.

 

-Flamer: Good for defending a chimera or building, but I find my acolytes are mostly dead by the time these come into play offensively.

 

-Meltagun: take in 3's put in chimeras, Taurox or valkyries.  A minimum size unit of acolytes with meltas costs only 42 points for 3 meltas.  If you have open transports, you could do a lot worse.

 

-Plasmagun: 5 points cheaper than any other army pays!  You can load up on these, but when you look at the price, just imagine it being 4 points more expensive for the carapace armor, otherwise you will be shamefully removing plasmalytes from your own vehicles when they try to shoot out.  Do not take in any squad you intend to assault with.

 

Plasma Pistol: Expensive, better on your inquisitor anyway.

 

Power Weapon: Yeah, you could give it to an acolyte, but there are better (and cheaper) choices if you want power weapons.

 

Storm Shield: see power weapon.

 

Power Fist: costs over 6 times what an acolyte costs.  Believe me, no henchman who can take this has enough attacks to justify it.

 

Other henchmen types

 

Assault henchmen: each of these options costs what most people have to pay for a power weapon, except for the Daemonhost, who is 5 points less.

 

-Arco-flagellant: not only does this guy look cool, but he puts out an unholy number of high WS, respectable strength attacks (no AP, but he hits so hard that it won't matter unless you've turned him loose on terminators.  The only problem with him is he has no armor save; only FnP, so if you can get the Jokaero to give him a 5++, or even better, Forewarning to get him a 4++, this guy dishes out the hurt.  The book says he has 'arco-flails' but the mini has two of them.  You'll have to discuss with your opponent whether the plurality entitles him to an extra attack.  Without it, he has 5 on the charge. 

 

-Crusader: basic guardsman statline with slightly better weapon skill, the crusader has, for very cheap, a power weapon and storm shield.  The fact that it says power weapon means you can take a power axe and go to town on terminators, relying on his storm shield to weather the attacks beforehand, though this tactic usually requires the presence of several crusaders which can become prohibitively expensive.

 

-Daemonhost: unquestionably the cheapest and most obnoxious (to its owning player) of the assault henchmen.  The daemonhost has to roll at the beginning of each turn on a table that might give them FnP, AP2 or Initiative 10 or even a shooting attack.  Unless you're taking these for flavor, save yourself some heartache and go for the more reliable stuff.

 

-Death Cult Assassin: Significantly improved profile over that of a guardsman with higher WS, S, much higher I and an extra attack, she (all of the models are clad in skintight S&M gear) has a 5++ and two power weapons.  The two power weapons are interesting because you can actually choose to have them be two different power weapons and choose which profile you want without sacrificing any attacks.  I would recommend power sword and power axe.  Bear in mind that, despite her great initiative, she doesn't have frag grenades.

 

Shooting henchmen

-Servitor: Servitors either carry power fists or guns, but the assault options above are so good, you really should be buying them for their guns.  Up to three can get guns.  Heavy bolters and multi-meltas are free, while the plasma cannon costs a few points.  The drawback to parking a bunch of chimeras loaded with (cheap!) plasma cannon servitors in the back field and raining misery on your opponent all game is that they have mind-lock and you must have an Inquisitor in the unit or they won't function half the time.  Also, you won't be able to move the Chimera, which can make placing it difficult.  I would only put these guys on foot in terrain if I had some way of fortifying the terrain or improving their save.

 

-Jokaero: The Jokaero straddles the line between shooting and support.  His digital weapons can be used as a/an (inaccurate) lascannon, multi-melta or heavy flamer.  This is really good and he can bolster both defensively and offensively and still shoot something if he moves, but he also buffs his squad by making their weapons shoot farther, make their armor work better, etc.  There is quite a bit of book keeping as the changes last the whole game, even if models leave the unit or the Jokaero dies.  Not sure whether an Inquisitor who was in the unit at the start of the game gets the benefit and/or keeps it if he leaves.  I am inclined to believe that he does.  As a combatant, the Jokaero is pretty terrible, though he has a 5++.  If you hate the monkey, use a tech priest.  If anyone says anything, tell them there were no monkeys in Dark Heresy.

 

Support henchmen

-Mystic: The mystic is basically an acolyte who carries an augur array for 15 less points.  If your army build has you putting henchmen downrange, this can really come in handy for getting Scions to where they are needed reliably.  If not, there's still the augur array.

 

-Psyker: If you want to field a bunch of psykers they can be quite powerful in numbers with Brotherhood of psykers, but those points are better spent protecting your psychic inquisitors.  That said, every henchmen squad should have one of these because every unit that has at least one of these gives you more dice for psychic powers.  If you have slots left over, it might even be worth your while to assemble tiny squads of these guys (minimum is 18 points; psyker and 2 acolytes) and just hide them on foot the whole game.  On their own, they have a decent set of powers and can't (to my knowledge) roll on the tables.  If they can, then they are amazing.

 

-Ministorum Priest: Like the Jokaero, the priest straddles the line between assault and support.  While he is no slouch in combat, all of the assault henchmen are better than him.  The reason you take him is his prayers.  He can, on a successful leadership check, cause the unit to re-roll failed saves, give himself the smash special rule or have the unit re-roll failed to-wound during the fight subphase.  Obviously, a gaggle of naked acolytes with forewarning and re-rollable saves will eventually roll over some pretty dolorous odds.  You can do the prayers on your turn and your opponent's turn.  Oh, he can take a rosarius (4++) or an eviscerator, which is basically a chainfist.  He also has the option to take most ranged choices from the armory.  You might think this is strange, but it's because the old GW priests have plasma guns, shotguns, autoguns and plasma pistols and GW has to make its old models fieldable.  If you ever looked at a unit choice that made no sense and wondered who was drunk at the wheel, it was probably made that way so that an old model could be used.

 

Transports:

The only noteworthy thing here is that the Chimera is 10 points less than its AM cousin and has 5 fire points instead of 2.  WAAAGH!!!

 

Vehicle Equipment (most of the standard stuff is here, I'll go over the unusual stuff)

 

-Psybolt Ammunition: counts the strength on your bolt weapons, autocannons and assault cannons as one higher.  It's so cheap that it's an auto-include on every vehicle that it can be taken on except possibly the vanilla land raider.  For extra fun, take this on a chimera and then trade its multi-laser for a heavy bolter (make sure you don't mutilate your chimera, though; if they ever update this book, I guarantee you this upgrade is going away).

 

-Truesilver Armor: every time a psyker or daemon hits this vehicle in assault, it takes a moderate strength hit after combat has been resolved.  It's pretty cheap; as long as you don't mind painting your vehicles bright silver.  Not an auto include, and certainly any good player can mitigate this by holding his psyker back or shooting your vehicle.

 

 

 

[Lucien Eilam]

Your rulebook needs updating. Crusaders can only take power swords, and all Inquisition psykers roll for powers.

[march10k]

Your rulebook needs updating. Crusaders can only take power swords, and all Inquisition psykers roll for powers.

Death cult assassins, too, are restricted to power swords.  Good thing, too...anything else would be as unfluffy as axe-wielding banshees...I think crusaders should have more choice, but they don't.

[Master Antaeus]

Are you sure?  I can't find anything that says that.

[march10k]

you have a digital codex, right?  It's been updated, but your copy...not so much.  I used to have that problem, no idea how it suddenly started getting the updates.  In any event, it's in there...explicitly a power sword, not a power weapon.

[Lucien Eilam]

Are you sure?  I can't find anything that says that.

 

It was updated for the current edition. If you bought it direct from BL, download it from them again. If you bought it from the iBookstore, you should get an automatic update, but you could try deleting it and downloading again if that hasn't happened.

 

It's very easy to date the latest version: psykers have access to Daemonology (Sanctic), which didn't exist for the original release.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Death Cult assassins and Acolytes sound like fun, can they attach to a unit? If they can that'd be mean, putting 3 PG acolytes into a plasma min squad of Stormies, and then putting them in a land raider. Or taking full up unit of Death cult assassins in the land raider, for a screaming pile of beat. Inquisition actually sounds like it could be fun.

[Lucien Eilam]

They're not independent, those are all options for a squad of 3-12 models, but you can mix them up in any combination of henchmen types you please.

 

Shooty Acolytes are stuck at BS3 so not brilliant, but 3x plasma or melta can be spammed relatively cheaply.

 

The assault henchmen are better, as they get appropriate stat bonuses.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Then that kinda sucks. Lone Inquisitors are Independent Characters though, can they take dedicated transports? I ask because that's kind of the big concern here, as how do I make use of the transports if I have to buy henchmen to get them. Then you can only deploy the unit inside the transport, so you'd have to spend a turn embarking, which leaves your men exposed if you don't get first turn. The assault henchmen seem like they could manage to tie up a unit fairly well, but in an army that is focused on fire and maneuver, that may or may not be a good thing. It seems to me that regular guard would probably be the better allies, save for some cheap basic inquisitors. 

[Lucien Eilam]

I don't understand the question. All Inquisition vehicles are Dedicated Transports for Henchmen squads. Henchmen can start the game deployed in their transport, and as independent characters the Inquisitors can join them.

 

You can't join a squad of Henchmen to a squad of Scions, because Henchmen are a squad, not independent characters.

[march10k]

I've seen melee henchman bands, both from inquisition and from sisters, do unspeakable things...they can be stupid nasty.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I don't understand the question. All Inquisition vehicles are Dedicated Transports for Henchmen squads. Henchmen can start the game deployed in their transport, and as independent characters the Inquisitors can join them.

 

You can't join a squad of Henchmen to a squad of Scions, because Henchmen are a squad, not independent characters.

 

That answered my question. In the Guard a Commissar can take a dedicated transport. he can then join a squad and they can all ride in the transport. I was wondering if Inquisitors could do the same, but you answered that question, and it was a resounding no. I get that henchmen are a squad and cannot join other squads, and that is disappointing, since that would help the scions out, and give them a big metal box to ride in.

 

Taking a few small units of henchmen could be a good way to field some good support units, but it seems to me that for stormtroopers inquisition are points better spent elsewhere.

[Lucien Eilam]

In the Guard a Commissar can take a dedicated transport.

Are you sure? From memory, the only IG HQ with a Dedicated Transport option is the Company Command squad, and Commissars aren't independent.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

 

In the Guard a Commissar can take a dedicated transport.

Are you sure? From memory, the only IG HQ with a Dedicated Transport option is the Company Command squad, and Commissars aren't independent.

 

I just looked it up, and I stand corrected, disregard. I wonder where I got that notion from. 

[nismogrendel]

I really like these reviews, please do more of them!