Grey Knight Inquisitor Coteaz is a beast. One-hundred points of such absolute, cost-efficient awesome that I really think anyone gunning for a "cheap HQ" and taking just a naked Inquisitor is robbing themselves of not only a sexy sculpt, but a great unit. You get a load of wargear and special abilities at a really great price, though it's not as if he's outrageously undercosted. Check out Coteaz and a comparable Ordo Malleus Inquisitor:
Coteaz
- 2+ armor save
- MC Nemesis Daemon Hammer
- Psyker (Level 2!!) with Hammerhand, Sanctuary and Dark Excommunication
- Stormbolter-esque Psyber-eagle
- Free shots at enemies arriving from reserve in a 12" radius
- Re-rolls on all Seize the Initiative attempts
100 pts
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| Bald eagles in the grim-dark future |
Comparable Malleus Inquisitor
- 2+/5++ terminator armor
- Nemesis Daemon Hammer
- Psyker (Level 1) with Hammerhand
- Stormbolter
- Can Deep Strike
- Can take a Psycannon at an extra 15 pts
- Oddly, appears to lose frag and krak grenades and can't ride in a Rhino or Razorback
95 pts
Coteaz is fairly even in bonuses vs. price, although with a few clear advantages and it's hard to put a price tag on Henchmen groups as Troop choices. Sanctuary, I would argue, is a pretty big deal and the fact that he's a Psyker level 2 means he'll be Hammerhanding with your Grey Knights on your turn and potentially thwarting charges on the next.
Close Combat
There's no doubt that Inquisitor Torquemeda Coteaz is an HQ that is a boon to any unit that expects to be getting into close combat. Sanctuary can help insure that you get the charge and Hammerhand at Ld10 means you'll probably be hitting real damn hard. He's got a Master-crafted thunder hammer and even is sitting in artificer armor which means anything not a power weapon has about a snowball's chance in, well, not hell, but maybe West Virginia... during the warm months. With so much to offer, it'd be a crime not to let him see combat. But should he be in base-to-base.... or just in the background cheering the rest of your units on and throwing his Hammerhand into the ring?
Because at T3 with no invulnerable save, the Inquisitor will be going down fast to any power fist or thunder hammer coming his way. One intrepid power klaw swung in his direction and that's 100 pts down the drain. What I think this means is you have to choose what close combat encounters Coteaz will be getting into or even might be getting into so you can judge whether to lead with him out in the front and reap those MC NFH swings or tuck him safely in the back as part of the cheer team. Of course, it's hard to completely control what models he gets into close combat with but with Sanctuary and a little forethought you can maximize his utility without getting him turned into a fine red and gold mist.
I personally like throwing him in with the Grey Knights: Purifiers or even with GKT in a Storm Raven or Landraider. There's absolutely no reason you should not take him in an other all GK army that has no or only a very small handful of henchmen. The Inquisitorial Henchmen as Troop choices is a bonus and not a requirement. What's nice about him is if you do in fact decide to go the Henchmen route, you can chip him in a unit of Death Cult Assassins and he can make them hit even harder at S5! Don't forget the utility of his grenades and Stubborn rule too.
Shooting
Coteaz doesn't offer much shooty potential just on his lonesome. The D6 Psyber-eagles are more cute than powerful and while I'd say they're on the whole better than bolters it's not by a ton. His I've Been Expecting You special rule offers some closer examination, however, as it has some thematic meshing with Strike Squad and Interceptor's psychic ability Warp Quake. With a little clever positioning you can create a pretty sizable danger zone that might force your opponent to deploy his DSing reserves on the distant peripheries of battle. Nothing earth-shattering, to be sure, especially since Deep Strike is not oft used in 5th ed. anyways (quite risky) but these abilities are there whether you use them or not and with a little foresight and planning you can incorporate them into your strategy without much change to your plan of attack. You have the cards, might as well know how to play them.
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| Let's face it, you just can't Torquemada anything... |
The best bet for a punchy pewpew Coteaz would be to bunker him up in a Chimera with Servitors and a Jokaero or two or Melta acolytes and roll them up all in the center of your force along with the rest of your army. You'll have Sanctuary to make charging your own guys difficult and if you push up far enough you can extend that cone of I've Been Expecting You to the table edge that your opponent might be deploying reserves in from. Not a reliably solid strategy by any means but a possibility that could help push your dominant position over the edge.
Utility
Um, Coteaz gets you Henchmen units. As troops. Up to six, without having to field an Inquisitor for each. The utility here speaks, nah screams bloody murder for itself as Henchmen troops can be designed to fit a lot of niche purposes that regular Grey Knights might have problems filling (shooting past their 24" bubble, for example). Coteaz also has Dark Communication which is fluffy and a bit specific too but, hey, you never know. It's not something certainly you'd ever take on a Librarian so for the Inquisitor it's just a seldom used bonus the existence of which one should not forget.
Really his relatively low cost can't be stressed enough too. For small point games where you don't want to get Crowe and a naked Inquisitor to you seems as a waste of even 25 pts (it is, unless you're having him feed Servitors or take a Henchmen unit in your army as well), he's a relative beast of an HQ. That he has Stubborn as a special rule and (never forget!) frag and krak grenades are bonus points in his favor.
Advantages
- Point cost that's almost a steal
- Psyker (Level 2) with great abilities for both your opponent's turn and yours
- Master-crafted hammer and solid armor save
- HENCHMEN HENCHMEN HENCHMEN
- He's stubborn
Disadvantages
- No invulnerable save
- Easy to slay by instant death
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