Tactica Daemon Hunters

Tactica Daemon Hunters: Army List
by By Alexander McLaren

Elites Choices:
Next up we have the Inquisitor Lord's baby brother, the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor. He has all the disadvantages of the Lord but does not have the Iron Will rule and can only take 6 henchmen. Loser right? Not so fast...

First off he's only 20 points for a 2 wound, Leadership 8 independent character. Since you don't have to buy a retinue you can attach him to a squad and use him to boost hand to hand, firepower or even leadership. An Inquisitor with a power weapon, plasma pistol, incinerator or the holocaust power is a cheap way to boost your squad, similar to Preachers in the old IG list.

He can also be used in some of the assault configurations I mentioned before but remember he's only Leadership 8 and is not fearless. Add in a Hierophant to get him up to Ld9.

But where he really shines is in the Inquisition Firebase...

Recommendation: Inquisitor, psycannon, Emperor's Tarot (65 points), 3 gun servitors with heavy bolters and a sage (85 points). For 150 points you get 9 heavy bolter shots at BS4, and 3 psycannon shots at BS5. Throw in a mystic and you can take pop shots at deep strikers or summoned daemons. Swap one heavy bolter for a plasma cannon and you can go Marine hunting. Throw them behind a 10 man marine squad or an IG meat shield and they're not going anywhere, you don't even have to give the Inquisitor armor (but watch out for those whirlwinds!). Plus he will (usually) give you a bonus to get the first turn.

Conclusion: Usually he's just another mediocre choice with some potential but the firebase gets my HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION.

Daemonhosts are a great, evocative idea with a horrible, horrible execution and some of the most cringe-worthy models to come out of any company, ever. And yes, I am including the Wing Head Night Lords and Captain Cortez in there. It really is a shame since the 2 54mm Daemonhosts in Inquisitor are excellent and the character Cherubael is one of the most interesting in Dan Abnet's Eisenhorn Trilogy. But let's see what we got... S6, good. T4, good. W4, excellent. D6 attacks? Psychic powers used in random order? No power weapon? 85 points?!

Recommendation: Don't even consider them. If you like the concept, and I really do, model up some possessed marines, call them the Exorcists (a Marine chapter the Inquisition deliberately infested with Daemons to make super warriors) and use Grey Knight rules. For 75 points you can have 3 GKs who are also S6, have storm bolters, a better save and more attacks than this guy. You'll have all the fun and fluff Daemonhosts get but without the horrible rules.

Conclusion: If you use these turkeys, people will laugh at you.

Then there are the hot ninja chicks in bondage gear, the Death Cult Assassins. 1-3 for 40 points each. They have no ranged weapons but can infiltrate and get 3 power weapon attacks. And with I5, S4 they'll be able to take down some marines in a fight. And they are hot ninja chicks in bondage gear.

But, they are 'independent units' not 'independent characters'. They are units of 1 model, they cannot join other units, they cannot ride in transports and they can be shot by anyone who has line of sight. Infiltration is not always available and when it is they will still have to cross 18" of ground. At least 1 round of shooting, probably 2 at a T3 model with a 5+ save (at least it's invulnerable). It might be easier just to spot your opponent the 40 points...

Recommendation: Keep them screened and out of sight and hope your opponent forgets about them. As a counter-assault unit inside your army they can be a deadly surprise but without a transport or a decent save these are not a viable assault unit. If you really want to try and use them, infiltrate or march them behind a durable unit and hope for the best.

Conclusion: Useful counter-assault but that's about it.

Assassins however can provide you with more useful hot, hot ninja action. They come in 4 flavors, two of which are actually useful!

It is important to note 2 highly annoying rule differences between the Daemon Hunters and Assassin Codexi. First the DH book requires you take an Inquisitor. Since you only have 1 elite ally slot you would have to take an expensive Inquisition Lord before you can add an allied Assassin. More importantly, in Assassins, they were independent characters but in the Daemon Hunter book they became merely independent. They no longer get the "you can't shoot me" rule for independent characters. As a result assassins are a bit harder to use offensively. The Vindicare can stand back and shoot, the Calidus is just wacky, but it is hard to deliver the Eversore and Culexus to battle. Your best bet is to use them for counter-assault or march them behind other infiltrators.

However, this being GW, there is one loophole you can use. The Daemon Hunter FAQ specifically says you may still use the Assassin Codex but you cannot use both books for allies. So if all you want is an assassin just take one from the Assassins book. Of course this being GW the Assassins book is out of print. Luckily the points and rules (except for the Independent/Independent Character thing) are the same. Unfortunately not everyone is aware of all this so some opponents may not let you do it. (sigh)

Vindicares are the sniper assassins. With an AP2 sniper rifle and the ability to choose targets they seem pretty decent. Plus snipers are WAY KEWL. But... they will only wound half the time (figure 3 or 4 kills over 6 turns) and they cannot shoot screened models. You might get lucky during a game but a lot of times you'll struggle to make back your points. For longer games and mega battles they look more attractive but generally they are not the best.

Eversores are the hand-to-hand monsters, taking apart Wraithlords and Daemon Princes with abandon. Plus with their 12" charge you can catch many, many players off guard. Just march him behind a transport or squad and he should be in assault range in 1-2 turns. Strangely, he's the cheapest assassin too. And he's a hyped up ninja on drugs with a skull on his head!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Callidus is the annoying cheesy assassin. They allow you to move an enemy unit during deployment, you place them anywhere, they have a psychic flamer attack AND a sword that ignores all saves. Oh and they get a poison needle attack and can leave combat at the end of the turn (and then charge back in and hit you again). I have trouble imagining a player who could not get 120 points of value out of this little lady. Of course you have to know her limits, she usually cannot hold her own against the highest level of opponents, a demon prince or hive tyrant will eat her alive. She also cannot withstand too many attacks, she is only T4, W2, 4+ save. She is best used against isolated shooty squads rather than against lords or masses of troops. The only other disadvantage I see is popularity. After the Wraithlord and C'Tan (or maybe the Harlequin Wraithlord allied with your Deceiver-lead Necron army, yes it's legal! Thank you Gav Thrope) nothing is as vilified as the Calidus assassin. Recommended but only so long as you don't mind the sneers and low sportsmanship you deserve you dirty cheesy munchkin.

Culexus is the anti-psyker assassin. He lowers leadership and gets more shots for each psyker within 12". Generally not much good except against certain rare armies like 1000 Sons or Ulthwe Seer Councils and even then he has the weaknesses I mentioned before. I've heard of some players coming up with bizarre ways to exploit his funky rules though. One player wants to put him in the middle of some Black Templars to lower their leadership and increase the chance they'll run forward. Another wants to make a Last Chancers force with 20 psykers so he'll have an insane number of shots (good luck getting in range). I've never used a Culexus but other than these larks I don't see why I would.

Grey Knight Terminators are one of the best picks in this book. I can see the first companies of many chapters resigning to join the Grey Knights. Unlike ordinary terminators they are not limited to powerfists but get the ever-nifty S6 Nemesis Power Weapon instead, plus WS5, fearless and the full page of GK wackiness for just 4 points more than ordinary terminators. Of course they're still terminators, expensive and (against the right weapons) fragile.

Recommendations: While the S6 power weapon is very, very nice there will be times you will want S8. Don't forget you can upgrade some of them to have a thunder hammer and storm shield for free. 2 should be enough for most squads. Since these terminators do not have more firepower than other GK squads (in fact they have less since they can only take 1 weapon upgrade). You will want to get them into melee as soon as you can. You can deep strike them in with an incinerator or psycannon (remember they do not count as moving so the psycannon can use its full range) and you can give their Brother Captain one too. If you do deep strike make sure you have some other deep striking units too or your poor termis will bear the brunt of an entire army's shooting and assaults. Alternately you can screen them and march them forward, don't forget they can be screened by 6 point guardsmen! I'm pretty down on Land Raiders but if you really want you can give them a Crusader and deliver them that way.

One more trick, if you take the Orbital Strike the melta strike is only AP3 (unlike every other melta weapon in 40k). Target an objective with the melta strike then teleport in some terminators who can hold it safe and sound.

Conclusion: They're Terminators, but better than vanilla Terminators in every way.