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Hi,
today is Bastille Day in France and I?ve got plenty of free time on my hands, so here?s a short review of the Inquisition army list, against which I?ve played a few times now.
First off, as I said in a previous post on the temporary Epicomms boards, I think Lord Inquisitor made a really good job and produced a very characterful list.
Now for the rest of my comments and suggestions, in no particular order:
GENERIC COMMENTS
- First suggestion, and a rather radical one : instead of making one big list, I think you should make 3 separate, shorter lists. This would imply some repeated text (the universal Inquisition forces, for example), but this (mainly cosmetic) change would make it much easier to choose your forces and would give a ?cleaner? look overall. This would also mean a smaller ?Upgrades? section for each army, making the whole thing less confusing.
- I like the allied/inducted forces system, I think it works out quite well. However, I?m not sure you should allow Allied troops to be selected from another Ordo. Why would the Deathwatch and Grey Knights be deployed together? The Ordos are very specialized and very rarely fight together, I think.
- I think the Strategy Rating section could be simplified as well. Just give the Inquisition a generic SR 5 with a -1 modifier if Imperial troops are included in the army.
UNIVERSAL INQUISITION FORCES
- Last Man Standing: is this rule really needed? It?s only useful if you place you Inquisitor at the front of your formation? Why bother with a rule that will rarely be used?
- The Inquisitor Lord upgrade isn?t clear : since you can have 1 Inquisitor per 1000 points of army, the text (as worded) seems to imply that you can add 0-1 Inquisitor Lord to each Inquisitor Retinue, meaning you could have 3 Supreme Commanders in a 3000 points army.
- Warrior Henchmen: while Slow-Firing may be in character, I also think it adds an unwelcome micro-management aspect. ?OK, this stand fired last turn, but not this one...? Why not make their plasma cannon AP5+/AT5+ and be done with Slow-Firing?
- Support Staff are a very nice idea, although it?s easy lose track of the number of re-rolls used (using dice is of course the solution, but it?s so easy to pick up the wrong dice inadvertently).
- Officio Assassinorum : I love them! Making them special effects instead of actual models was an excellent idea. Just one thing, though: How does the Venenum assassin work exactly? It is an Insidious effect but it apparently has to be played after deployment, meaning you have to activate it *before* the game starts? And does it receive the -2 modifier for being activated in the first turn? If this is the case, shouldn't it be cheaper because of its lower initiative?
- Arco-flagellants and Penitent Engines: are you sure the Crazed special rule is needed? Why would you want to hold back these troops anyway? All they have is assault and/or CC weapons, so they will be assaulting at every opportunity, special rule or not.
- Gun Cutter: the Glavian Pilot upgrade is too complicated in my opinion, not too mention very strong (too strong?). It think the list would be better off without it.
- Pegasus Landers: instead of adding a special rule, why not simply make them transport upgrades?
DEATHWATCH
- I?ll copy and paste Honda?s feeling on this (taken from a discussion on the temporary Epicomms board), as it reflects mine perfectly (my emphasis):
Well, I think one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that their "superior" ammo isn't of the quality that bolter armed troopers will start running round blowing up Leman Russ tanks and the like. However, the ammo does and should provide superior armor penetration against power armor troops.
Also the idea of a squad of guys running up and emptying their bolter clips into a Gargant and blowing it up is a bit of a stretch. After all, even Imperial titans have to take some time to beat through the shields, start fires, etc.
So as was proposed above, I think strong consideration should be given to limiting the sniper ability to AP weapons.
A precedent for the approach of focusing the weapons on AP shots occurs in the Tau list where their Rail and pulse rifles have had the AT fire removed, even though shooting at armored transport in 40K is de rigueur.
If this is implemented (Sniper on AP weapons only and not in assault), Deathwatch marines should probably be made FF3+ to justify their cost. Perhaps give Deathwatch Terminators an edge by allowing their assault cannons to have Sniper (representing very rare and expensive special ammo).
- Thunderhawk Destructor: I?m no specialist on air units, but isn?t it a bit cheap at 250?
GREY KNIGHTS
- Rites of Exorcism is great and very characterful.
- As Ilushia already mentioned, Shrouding could do with a better wording. Again, I'll copy and paste his suggested rewording, as I like it a lot : ?Any Indirect Fire, Aircraft attack or attack originating from beyond 45cm of the formation counts units with Shrouding as being in cover?.
- The "No Invulnerable Save? on Psycannons is a nice touch. 
- Holocaust is yet another special rule, and perhaps it isn't essential, but I like it a lot. This is what makes the Grey Knights so special.
SISTERS OF BATTLE
- Faithful: perhaps a bit complicated to keep track of which units have prayed or not, but a nice touch nonetheless.
- Seraphims: Shouldn?t they be CC5+ and FF3+ instead of CC4+ and FF4+?
- Sisters Repentia: I think that, for clarity?s sake, the Mistress (and her electro-whip) should be made a character.
- Basilica Imperialis: the variable CC and FF values are a bit clunky in my opinion. Better to give it CC5+ and FF4+ right away.
Right, that?s it. While it may sound like a lot of criticism, please don?t be put off with it, as I feel you?re doing a great job. I just think the list (or lists, if you ever decide to go that way) is a bit confusing and suffers from too many special rules at the moment.
I hope you?ll find these commentaries useful and look forward to seeing the next version of the list.
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