CODEX:INQUSITION 6TH EDITION

Hello gamers and welcome back to Games Knight where we kick of 2014 with a review of Codex: Inquisition by GW from the 40k universe. Before we head into the review though, let’s take a moment to address what has been going on at GW in January. Not a great start for GW as stock prices dropped by 24% leading many fans, and not so fans, to start predicting the end is nigh for GW. I agree and disagree with this statement. I think it is the start of the decline for GW that much is clear. Many gamers have simply had enough of GW’s ever rising price lists and also the lack of imagination and lack of development with their existing flag ship products. Although 2014 will herald a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and the new Dwarf miniatures do look stunning, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. With the decision last year by GW to kill off their specialist games like Necromunda, Battle Fleet Gothic and Inquisitor, that leaves 40K, WFB and LOR as the 3 games GW have in their arsenal. These are great games on their own but, again, nothing new for fans to get too excited about. Rumour control has been running wild this past month and one of the rumours I find interesting is GW to take on a concept of making the games ‘living editions’ doing away with new edition releases. If GW were to do this would that mean the end of new box sets or would we get them more regular with updated rules books with new FAQ’s?

Despite all this and, as I say, I do think GW are on the decline now, this is a decline we won’t see come to a head for another good 4-5 years. Love GW or hate them, they are still leaps and bounds ahead of other games companies such as Mantic Games and Privateer Press. It is a gulf that is shrinking year by year and I personally predict Mantic Games will be the next GW but it is a long way off yet. Another GW change this year has seen their monthly magazine publication White Dwarf switch to a weekly release and a new monthly magazine entitled Warhammer Visions. For me White Dwarf magazine was at its zenith in the 90’s and I have brought it on and off since and stopped buying it the last few months. The only reason I can see them doing this would to be tie in with the ‘living edition’ formats as this would herald weekly releases as opposed to monthly. Remember to take this with giant salt rocks, just my opinion.

Anyway, without further ado here is this week’s review –

 

CODEX: INQUISITION 6^TH EDITION

First things first with this release it is digital only which I will be honest I am not a fan of at all. I am not opposed to their being a digital option of a product but take serious exception to products being digital only. I was very surprised that GW decided to make this release digital only with the Inquisition being a firm fan favourite amongst ardent Imperium players. I am confident a physical Codex would have sold very well but GW seems to favour digital products more and more at present. There is plenty of fluff on the history and origins of the Inquisition but this is all pretty much a copy and paste from previous Daemon Hunters / Grey Knight codex releases although there is background on some different Ordos not previously mentioned in the Ordo Chronos, Ordo Scriptorum, Ordo Machinum & Ordo Sicarius.

Presentation wise it is good but again I feel making this a digital only release has diminished the sheer brilliance of the work art displayed in the Codex. Artwork always looks better on paper, period. The anatomy of the Codex is easy enough to follow with it being familiar to recent codex releases for 6^th edition.  I was very pleased to see the Inquisitorial warbands left the same as they are listed in the current Grey Knights codex along with Coteaz retaining his ‘I’ve been expecting you’ and ‘Lord of Formosa’ special rules. This now leads us to the very cool thing about this Codex…. At last 40k fans can without hindrance or restrictions field an Inquisitorial army. It has been possible before but in a very painstaking way, this Codex makes it  a lot easier and also allows you to add and Inquisitor and his retinue to your existing army, even if not an Imperium based force!

INCLUDING INQUISITORS IN YOUR ARMY

When you choose an army, Inquisitors may be taken as a primary detachment or as a

special form of allied detachment known as an Inquisitorial detachment.

If you take Inquisitors as a primary detachment, use the Inquisitorial detachment Force

Organisation chart instead of the primary detachment Force Organisation chart.

Alternatively, an army may include an Inquisitorial detachment in addition to any other

detachments. Other detachments, such as allied detachments, additional primary

detachments and fortifications can be taken normally. So, for example, you could field an

army with an Imperial Guard primary detachment, an allied detachment of Space

Marines, and an Inquisitorial detachment.

The Inquisitorial detachment Force Organisation chart has boxes corresponding to

different battlefield roles. Each black box is a choice you must take in order to include

this detachment as part of your army, whilst each grey box is a unit you can include as

part of this detachment.

If you take the Inquisitorial detachment as your primary detachment, then

Inquisitorial Henchmen Warbands are scoring units.

 

ORDO GAMES KNIGHT

Despite hating the fact this is a digital only product I will give this product a 4 out of 5 rating as GW finally give the fans a product they really want. Fans of the Inquisition, like me, have wanted this for a long time and here it is. I think this gives a lot of scope to Narrative driven 40k campaigns and kit-bashing projects to make up your own Inquisitor and retinues. It certainly inspired me to do so and I will show what I came up with next week here on Games Knight.

That’s going to do it for this week, have fun with whatever hobby projects you delving into and if you feel like sharing any opinions then get in touch – contactgamesknight@gmail.com