Codex: Inquisition - First Impressions

[Narric]

Have myself a copy of Codex: Inquisition.

My first thought is the lack of a Troops choice. Not even Storm Troopers with Hellguns? This kinda puts the codex in the stupid pile from the start for me, as an army without Troops is not an army.

Inquisition Traits. Unlike REAL codexi, this has several different tables depending on what flavour you're Inquisitor is. Which is fair enough, and means you can really get into the style of being a Heretic inquisitor or Loyalist. However, the fact that the Inquisitor can be the Warlord, despite not being the Primary Detachment, despite not having Troops to his name, is frankly stupid.
Looking at the Traits beyond that fact, they're surprisingly balance in my eyes, if a bit copy/pasted. I must however point something out.

• Why would a Heretic Inquisitor still be on a Psyker killing spree? Wouldn't powerful psykers be a boon ally for a rogue inquisitor?
• Am I the only one that thinks the Incorruptable trait is badly written? How does "Not abide his presence" translate to "their Invul save is reduce by 1" it just doesn't add up. My thoughts would have been Daemon Characters would have been forced to charge the Inquisitor, and must accept challenges.
• Xenotech collector sounds more like an upgrade than a trait. This could have been used for something different, had the writer(s) used theirimagination.

Wargear includes a lot of Copy/paste weapons and gear, so I'll only talk about stuf which is unique to this Codex.

• The Hellrifle is basically a man-sized and portable Anti-aircraft gun heck, possibly an anti-tank gun as well when Rending comes into it.
• Needle Pistol - Becuase Fabulous bill can't have all the awesome toys. A little bit harsh, but though it has fewer shots, It is a Pistol weapon, and could get Re-rolls against less tough races like Eldar, and Tau due to being Str3
• Even in the old Daemonhunter and Witch Hunter Codexi, i never found the Orbital Strike that apealing. The SM Chapter Master version which comes standard also just looked to be an unneed extra to make the slightly higher points seem like a good deal.
  With these Strikes, why would you bother with the Lance or Psyk-out? Unless you really need to be rid of a group of Psykers (Jetbike Council I could understand) the Barrage potentially deals out more hurt.
• The clarification of the Acro-flails makes me wonder why they even bothered writing the wargear entry. We've had units in the past where its just stated "They have a Close Combat Weapon" in place of some fanciful named piece of gear.
• Ah, so here is where the generic Daemon Weapons went from the Chaos Marine Codex. Regardless of rolling for what the weapon bnuses are each game, this weapon is by far more powerful. AP2 & Poisoned 2+ seem like ridiculous combinations that just scream over powered.
• The Nemesis Daemon Hammer is worse, as it it practically a one-hit kill agiainst a fair number of Characters, and definately would wipe the floor with any rank & file troop. Whats the point of including Concussive? The Inquisitor has multiples attacks, and at double strength and AP2, you're probably relying on a lacklustre Invul save to protect you, so you're dead anyway.
• OH hey, more Fabulous Bill wargear with an Inquisition touch to them. The Null Rod may not inflict instant death fo anything will an 2+ Armour save, but it will still make you question buying those multi-wounded models in big units.
• Aren't the  Scythians those Snake-men bodyguards in the Dark Eldar codex? I'm fairly certain that they weren't "Warrior Monks" there. The Venom Talon just sounds like a stolen Dark Eldar Weapon anyway.
• The Empyrean Brain Mines sound long winded for what they do. Its strange that here we have something long winded and explains how it works, but the result doesn't really fit. Surely if you're "rendered momentarily cataonic" wouldn't that effectively mean you slump to the floor, and are either finished by an idly stab by the enemy, or troden underfoot by more able soldiers trying to get into the fight. The descriptions makes me think this should be an Instant Death piece of wargear, but here is where we get a "Balanced" weapon? WTF?!?
• My understanding of Psybolts were they were specialised Boltgun ammo, hence why they work with them. To my knowledge however, Autoocannons and Assault Cannons are not Bolt weapons, and would require such ridiculous quantities of these rounds that manufacture would either be expensive or impossible. As classified by the Rulebook, Autocannons and Assault Cannons are Auto-weapons. So technically I'm within my ability to give Psybolt Ammo to anyone with an Autogun or Autopistol, or heck, maybe i'll put it on my Quad-gun? Thats reasonable, right?
• The LSD grenades make no sense. By the rulebook, models are only hit automatically if their WS is zero. This also means they can't attack back. The only reason they wrote "Automatically hit" instead of the affected unit is WS1 for this turn" is becuase a model with WS1 can still hit pretty much anything on a 5+. Which was lazy writing for the main rulebook awkwardly.
  The rest of the Grenades effects ca basically be summed up as so:
  "The affected unit is fucked. no escaping that fact"
  So another piece of OP wargear for the Inquisition.
• The Psyocculum is daft, in that its a small head worn piece of gear, that apparently affects everybody. So one person can see Psykers better, it means everybody can hit that pinprick of a spot in the distance easier to?
• Rad Grenades are stupid, especially if you consider the fact this will be a normal Inquisitor throwing them at, say Chaos Marines, or heck, Loyalist Marines. The Radiation wouldn't effect the target, it wouldn't effect the Inquisitor. Its basically GW trying to sound Sciency, but completely falling to account for what all the other races are equipped with, and how Radiation works entirely.
• The Plasma Syphon was a joke when it came with the Grey Knights Codex. but I think the fact they say "as defined by the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook" means that Tau Pulse rifles are not included, as they are not in the Plasma Weapon section.
• Truesilver Armour is basically another piece of wargear stolen from a non-imperial Codex, and made better. Dark eldar vehicle scythes? Tau Flechette Dischargers? Yeah, so what it only affects Psykers and their ilk, but this is still ridiculous. I wouldn't be surprised if this is expanded next edition to affect anyone who affects the vehicle.

Thats my rant about the wargear over, now what about the army list? >

• Inquisitor Corteaz is so underpriced its beyond a joke. Its flat out bullshit. IBEY would have been semi-balanced if it was classed as Overwatch, and could only be down once per enemy turn. LoF is the Writers' attempt at giving the codex Troops, without having the sense to call them troops -_-
  Spy Network is kinda meh. I'd figure only a power gamer would enforce this, and chances are smarter players would avoid such an arsehole.
• Karamazov seems to have had a reduction in cost iirc. BAMN _(lol) is an OP ability, as targeting a friendly model shouldn't negate the roll for scatter. I love how the Throne is now reduced to nothing more than a single line special rule. Its hilarious of a joke, just like this codex.
• Both Inquisitors are underpriced (what a shock!). I find it funny that a Lord Commissar from the IG codex is technically better as a leader, and at base cost and gear, would easily wipe the floor with the budget Inquisitor. The underpriced-ness however measn for the sameprice as that Commissar, the Inquisitor has a much larger array of Wargear options. I think that to simply balance this, the Inquisitor just needs to be roughly 60pts base.

Everythig else is just copy/pasted from Grey Knigths and Imperial Guard.

To be quite honest, its staggering that people would use this, and not think they're just playing to win.

This is a list that could probably do some some damage:
Hereticus Inquisitor - 43pts
Power Sword, Power Armour

Henchmen - 180pts
12 x Crusaders

Henchmen - 180pts
12 x Crusaders

Henchmen - 180pts
12 x Crusaders

Total = 583pts

Before charging, thats 39 Power Weapon attacks, bolstered by 3+ Invuls on the Crusaders, and 3+ Armour for the Inquisitor.

Thats before taking into consideration Warlord Traits.

As a codex, this one is a joke, and has no need to exist, beyond selling OOP Inquisitor models. If it was a full codex, and gave more depth to the Inquisition beyond just "I'm an Inquisitor, people listen to me or die, you're going to die becuase I have access to pretty much whatever I want"

[CoffeeGrunt]

It doesn't have Troops because it's not meant to be a standalone army, it's meant to plug in to other armies and give them stuff they couldn't normally access.

The Inquistor being able to be Warlord makes perfect sense in the fluff, and happens a lot in the backstory when Inquisitors take over armies to get stuff done.

A Heretic Inquisitor of Khorne would despise Psykers, whiel a more borderline Inquisitor would probably be on a downward spiral of anti-Psyker activities. Daemons being unable to abide his presence also makes sense, as his psychic emanations would disrupt their fragile connection to the Warp.

I don't know if you've ever read the Grey Knights Codex, but a lot of your complaints are also in there, which is where this Codex comes from.

Narric, as much as this Codex might annoy you, it's much better to read a level, honest review that considers all viewpoints, rather than a rant. I ended up closing this review because it sounded like every comment on Bell of Lost Souls by the end. Please try and write in a more constructive manner.

"I'm an Inquisitor, people listen to me or die, you're going to die becuase I have access to pretty much whatever I want"

That's...that's what they do...

Also I've seen plenty of people play this Codex without "power gaming." If this was meant to be a review, you don't end it by insulting any fans of the Codex who may be reading it and calling them power gamers...

[Chris]

Where is this codex? Is it a digital release? If so, can someone link it for me?
I've checked the GW website and couldn't find it...

[CoffeeGrunt]

http://www.blacklibrary.com/games-workshop-digital-editions/Codex-Inquisition-eBook-_Edition.html

[Narric]

The fact of it being a Plug-in army is the exact reason it shouldn't take the Walord position. And the stuff that these armies don't have access to at the writing of the Codex, are things they will likely get in their own updates in due time, or could easily borrow from Proper allies, such as Guard supplying Space Marines with Hydra for Anti-Flier (before the 6th ed codex) And Blood Angels with Storm Eagles buddying up with Space Wolves.

The fact the Warlord traits are random means that you can't just fall back on the "Well he's a Khorne worshipping Inquisitor" becuase that means the WTs are overiding the fluff the player already had in mind whilst creating the army. WTs in my mind should add to the background of the character, not take away character creation from the player.
The way you describe an Inquisitors effect on Daemons is much more sound an explaination, and in fact would be perfectly fine justificiation. However the as written explaination and the as written effect, don't really match up in my mind.

I have read Codex: GK, and it just makes me question why they created Codex: Inquisiton even more. Most of what is in this codex is, as you said, in the GK one. This Codex is clearly unneeded, and the few things that are added could have easily been done on a free to print Errata/FAQ sheet, or heck, they could have done with the GK codex what they did with the old Dark Eldar codex, and re-released it with the up-to-date Inquisition stuff. Yes people just wanting the Inquisition stuff would be forking out extra, but theyre doing that anyway for this Codex. GW get more money, players who bought the codex also have access to a larger army, which can result in GW getting more money. The Recent Space Marine Codex shows what I mean, with Black Templars originally being a whole different army, yet throw an admited cunning use of army wide rules, was integrated into the Regular SM codex. By doing GW has shown they can actually minimise the number of codexi, but keep the variety of army styles and composistions the same, or larger.

I'm sorry that my review is one sided. I will edit out saying that everyone who uses it is a power gamer, as that is an increadibly harsh and broad statement.
From a codex writer point of view, I see so much imbalance, so much unneeded rules, so little variety. It doesn't deserve the title "Codex" for the same reason you gave of it being a plug-in. Calling it a Codex devalues the already existing Codexi, showing how little it takes to make an army win any game_{, but that was already started when Codex: GK showed up}. A Codex in my eyes has always been a self-contaned army, not needing additions or supplements to win, but here is a "Codex" that cannot even support itself.

To give this a proper and short review, I'd start by saying there are a large number of unnecessary options, and unit pricing is below what it should be to be balanced. The character given are also underwelming before taking into consideration their special rules:
Corteaz can be Instant Death'd by Plasma Guns and other smaller Special Weapons AP2 or better. Is pretty pathetic in close combat for a leader, and doesn't really give much to his force beyond Leadership 10. His abilities combined with the right squad however mean can be a nightmare in game against Deep Striking specialists like daemons.
Karamazov on the other hand is what I'd expect out of an Inquisition character, and is actually reasonably priced. His By Any Means rule is however a little OTT as it ignores scatter entirely without proper justification, but his Dread Reputation is reasonable, and does fit properly with fluff in my own opinion.
The Hereticus, Malleus and Xenos Inquisitor options are severally under priced, when compared to their closest match, the Lord Inquisitor from Codex: Imperial guard, at nearly a third of the price, for barel half the ability. for only 30pts more, they're again cheaper then they should be when compared to the Primaris Psyker _{(Codex: IG)}. Both types have interesting Wargear choices, thought it doesn't feel right to have a Conversion Beamer attached to an ordinary Human, Inquisitor or no.
I could start comapring the Henchmen to their closest equivalent in the IG codex, but it can be essentially summed up as everything is under priced.
Without going into a rant, thats all I can say about it.

[Waaaghpower]

Fluff and balance aside, adding an Inquisitor or Two sounds like it'll be a bunch of fun. For 25 points, you get cheap ablative wounds. For 65-ish, you get a powerful addition to any Close Combat unit. For 95, you get a huge CC badass who also buffs his unit like a boss.

[Narric]

I will admit that was one of the reasons I looked it up. Its just I got cuaght up in a rant once I had all the info in front of me. However, I think I'll stick to a Lord Commissar from Codex IG, as they're better in combat before upgrades, and don't require an extra book to use for my army

One thing has just struck me. If All Inquisitors have fairly decent acccess to pretty much any wargear the Imperium has ever produced, why is it only the Xenos Inquisitor who has access to the Conversion Beamer?

[Waaaghpower]

I will admit that was one of the reasons I looked it up. Its just I got cuaght up in a rant once I had all the info in front of me. However, I think I'll stick to a Lord Commissar from Codex IG, as they're better in combat before upgrades, and don't require an extra book to use for my army

One thing has just struck me. If All Inquisitors have fairly decent acccess to pretty much any wargear the Imperium has ever produced, why is it only the Xenos Inquisitor who has access to the Conversion Beamer?

The problem is, Lord Commissars are also triple the points cost before wargear. For 70 Points, an Inquisition Comissar has Terminator Armor and a Thunder Hammer+. Or, he has a 3+ save (Meh) and a Thunder Hammer+, *And* either a super-powered CC weapon or a bunch of buffs. (+3 attacks, or FNP and Eternal Warrior, or +1 Mastery Level, etc.)
Even if the Demonblade gets all bad rolls, you still get +1 attack from it.

[Chris]

Most interesting... I may actually pick this up. An Inquisitor or two could definitely add some punch to my 'Sons of Corvane'...