New Army Ideas - Inquisition

I wrote a little bit a while ago about wanting to start a new army for 8th Edition and how I was thinking of starting a Ynnari army because it gave me a lot of options.  Since writing that I have been carrying on with my Flesh Tearers and still have a few more bits to finish with them before I am happy enough with them to move on to something new.  I also started to have other ideas floating around in my head of other armies I could build instead.  I am not completely off the idea of Eldar but I have starting thinking about maybe doing an Imperial Inquisition army instead.

Why Inquisition?
Years ago, in maybe 3rd or 4th Edition I started a small Witch Hunters army, an Inquisitor, some assassins and henchmen and Sisters of Battle.  It never really went anywhere and I only picked up a few models before I ended up taking a break from the hobby and moving on to another army when I came back.

Since then I have read more lore for the Inquisition and still really like them as a faction.  The Eisenhorn and Ravenor books are some of my favourites from the Black Library and I have also started reading the Beast Arises books which have a lot to do with the Officio Assassinorum and Inquisition (at least in the early books that I have read...no spoilers please), so I still have a soft spot for that part of the Imperium.

I realised I could do with the Inquisition what I had planned to do with Ynnari and build one army which could be easily expanded into multiple armies which could be used together or separately when I wanted which meant I'd have a lot of option to paint and play with.  My plan was to build a core list of what I felt was a fluffy Inquisition/Assassins army and then fill it out with the Chamber Militant of each Ordo or Militarum Tempestus as Inquisitional Storm Troopers.  I didn't want to build an "Imperial Soup" army just picking the best units from each of the Imperial faction so while I will include units for lots of faction I aim to keep it as fluffy as possible and only include units I think would be working with an Inquisitor.

Inquisition Core List

My idea for the core Inquisition list was based off the fluff for the Black Ships which I had seen mixed with an Assassin Strike Force.  Obviously I planned on getting one of each Assassin and an Inquisitor (or Inquisitors) to lead it.  Next I decided that I wasn't going to do Acolytes, or at least not yet, they don't have official models so depending on what happens to the Inquisition in 8th Edition might not make it into the Codex and the massive number of weapon options they have makes converting them difficult for now.  I do really like the Daemon Host models (and the fluff for them) so decided to get one to go along with my Inquisitor.

Instead I decided to go with the idea of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica Black Ships which from some of the lore I've seen work closely with the Ordo Hereticus since the Adeptus Astra Telepathica pick up psykers and the Ordo Hereticus hunt psykers.  So the last part of my core force is going to be Sister of Silence, who work on the Black Ships and Psykers from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.

I think this gives me a fluffy start to my army and should work quite well.  It gives me plenty of specialist units (and a lot of psyker/anti-psyker) and while they might not be consider the best units in the game fits the theme I'm looking for and once filled out with other armies should fill any gaps that that Chamber Militant has.

The Chamber Militants
So with an idea for my core list sorted I wanted to bulk it out a bit by adding in other Imperial forces that work with the Inquisition.  I want to sort the core list first and I can play them with my Flesh Tearers while I am building it up, but Flesh Tearers aren't very fluffy allies for the Inquisition as Gabriel Seth has a habit of killing or torturing Inquisitors he meets.  The idea here was to get a number of smaller forces that could work alongside my Inquisition/Assassin force to add some flavour and versatility and to represent an Inquisitor requisitioning other Imperial forces for his  or her mission.  Later I can grow these into their own forces.

Tempestus Scions

Not really a Chamber Militant but Inquisitorial Storm Troopers have been a part of the fluff for a long time so they seemed like a obvious choice for adding to my army.  Depending on when I get round to starting my army (I'll explain why later) these are likely to be the first addition to my army.

I wanted an army that played differently from the Space Marines I currently play so an elite guard army seems like a good bet.  They are a shooting army instead of close combat which my Flesh Tearers focus on and although they aren't as fast as the masses of jump infantry I currently use they do have great transports and almost universal deep striking ability which keeps them mobile (which I like).  The idea of having a base of Inquisition force on the board at the start of them game and then suddenly a huge alpha strike from Tempestus Scions anywhere on the board I need them sounds really fun.

Adepta Sororitas (Adepta Ministorum)

When I first did a Witch Hunters army I planned to do it half Inquisition and half Sisters of Battle and I would still love to do that.  However I don't really want to buy and paint up an army of metal Sisters of Battle.  If when I get the core army finished plastic Sisters are finally out (or coming out) then I will definitely do them as my first Chamber Militant.  This isn't super unrealistic, we have been getting rumours of plastic Sisters for years and I still have plenty of Flesh Tearers to paint up before I start on the Inquisitor force.

They might have boltguns and power armour but they play differently from Space Marines and are mostly a short ranged, mobile, shooting army at the moment unlike my Flesh Tearers who are my combat orientated.  They are also the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus so are as fluffy as you can get for an Inquisition army.

They are also part of the Ministorum and I think they also have some great fluffy units for an Inquisitor to have as part of their army.  Things like Crusaders, Death Cult Assassins, Priests, Arco-Flagellants and the like are all cool units that I think would have a place in an Inquisitor's army.  However for now, like the Sisters of Battle, most of these models are only in metal or finecast so chances are I will be waiting to see what happens with them in the future before adding them to my army.

Grey Knights

The Grey Knights (and Deathwatch) are lower down on my list of Chamber Militants to add because I want something non-Space Marine first and while they are both super elite even by Space Marine standards they are still a Space Marine army.  That aside both will play differently to my current army and both are extremely fluffy additions to this army.

I actually like Grey Knights and was thinking of starting an army of them but it was a choice between Flesh Tearers and them and Flesh Tearers won because I liked the whole "dying chapter trying to go out heroes instead of monsters" part of the lore.  I do think that things like the Dreadknight are a bit silly but still so cool and a really elite army with lots of Terminators does sound pretty fun.

Deathwatch

Deathwatch are last on the list not because I like them less than Grey Knights but because honestly I rarely fight Xenos at the moment so having an army specialising in killing Xenos seems a little pointless when I can hunt heretics, mutants, psykers and daemons with the other two Ordos.  I do like Deathwatch though and would happily add a force of them too my Inquisition even if I rarely fight Xenos (I might just do the others first).

I really like the customisation of Deathwatch Killteams.  Being able to customise the load out of every single member sounds really fun (and expensive).  I also like the look of them, the different colour chapter badges and decoration on each marine makes it look like an army of individuals.

And More...
Once I have done all that I will have a few different armies to play that can sort of be mixed and matched and still be fluffy or play by themselves just as that faction.  If I do this it is obviously a long term project and will take me a while do get through everything, especially at the rate I paint, but I think it will be fun and rewarding to do.  When I am done I can start looking at other units to add in or just expand any of the armies I have.

Talking of adding in new units there is one group of not quite so fluffy units that I would like to add in just because I love them,
the Militarum Auxilla.  Although they are normally added to Imperial Guard regiments I just really like Ogryns, Bullgryns and Rattling Snipers.  It may not be as fluffy as some of the other groups I want to add but I just like them so might have to find a way to get a few into my army just to keep have an excuse to buy some.

Anyway this is my currently plan.  I still haven't 100% decided I wont be doing Ynnari but it is getting more and more likely I will go with Inquisition for now.  We will see what happens when I do finish my Flesh Tearers (currently have a Stormraven, Baal Predator, Terminator Assault Squad, Captain and Seth to paint up and thinking I might get a couple of Razorbacks as well before I move on).  Once I am done with them I will make the final decision but I like the idea of starting with a small Inquisition force and building from there.  It wont be the end of my Flesh Tearers, I will be keeping them to play with and might add a new unit here and there depending on what I think they need (or I want) but ideally this will become my new primary project.