Hey everyone, Reecius here to share some knowledge on how to use Inquisitor Greyfax to best effect in your army! Check the Tactics Corner for more great articles and tips.
I recently brought Inquisitor Greyfax in my Major event winning Tallarn army. Many folks were asking why I brought her and how she worked so I thought I’d explain in greater depth.
Overview:
First of, her rules can be found in Imperial Index 2. She’s not too pricey, coming in at 85pts with gear and has some solid kit to boot.
- Master-crafted Condemnor Boltgun: 24″, Rapid Fire 1, S4, Ap-1, 1 Damage, 3 Damage vs. Psykers.
- Master-crafted Power Sword: normal power sword but 2 damage.
- Psyk-out Grenades: does Mortal Wounds to Daemons and Psykers on a hit roll of 6+
Beyond this, she has some strong special rules:
- Ordo Hereticus: Re-roll hit and wound rolls when targeting Psykers or Daemons.
- Psyocculum: Greyfax can target enemy Characters that are Daemons or Psykers even if they are not the closest unit.
- Indomitable: +1 to Deny the Witch.
- Unquestionable Wisdom: All Imperium units within 6″ can use her Leadership value of 10.
- Psyker: Grefax knows one power+Smite and can attempt to Deny the Witch twice per psychic phase.
- Authority of the Inquisition: allows her to ride in Imperium transports.
Telethesia Discipline:
- Terrify: WC 6, 18″, -1 Leadership and no overwatch for the effected enemy unit.
- Mental Fortitude: WC 4, 18″, makes an Imperium unit fearless.
- Dominate: WC 7, 18″, allows you to shoot with an enemy character’s ranged weapon or attack with a single attack in melee at their own army.
Tactics:
She’s got reasonably solid stats with WS and BS of 3+, St and T of 3, 4 Attacks, but the good part is 5 wounds and a 3+. Why? That helps a ton to resist all of the various methods in the game to kill her with Snipers, etc. 5 wounds is a solid amount and a 3+ in cover goes to a 2+ which means you have reasonable defense against Oathbreaker Missiles, the Vindicare, etc. particularly with a CP re-roll. The moderate WS/BS is offset by the re-rolls vs. Psykers and Daemons which is where she really shines. A flat 3 Damage sniper weapon is no joke with a full re-roll aura and potentially 2 shots. For me she’s only ever in melee if the wheels fall off of the bus or if an enemy character that triggers her abilities comes within striking distance for some reason.
Typically I have her advance with the Bullgryn and Infantry where her Ld10 buff is absolutely awesome for preventing morale attrition. This means my army loses steam much slower than it otherwise would which increase my damage output throughout the game. There, she’s in great position to use her powerful psychic defense to really screw up enemy plans. Combine her with the Culexus if you have access to one vs. a psychic heavy enemy to really shut down key powers (just remember to keep the Culexus away from Greyfax as he nerfs her, too!). The Culexus giving a -2 to cast and her+1 to deny means that even against psychic powerhouses like Thousand Sons or Eldar you will have excellent odds of stopping key powers which by itself can tilt a game in your favor. If you stop a key Warp Time, Jinx, Quicken, Doom, etc. it can be absolutely huge. Just be sure to be aware of what powers your opponent has, what they do, and to decide ahead of time which ones you are going all in on to try and stop.
That strong defense and her ability to snipe Psykers really screws up enemy plans. If she gets in range to blast one with her Condemnor it stings! Most Psykers are in the 4-5 wound range so between that and a judicious application of a Vindicare or other sniper unit (like an Astra Militarum psyker with Psychic Maelstrom) means you can pop a key enemy support character quite easily. It also means you can attain board control by forcing your opponent to stay away or risk losing a key model or power, allowing you to play very aggressively which some armies may struggle with otherwise.
Additionally, her powers are awesome, particularly Dominate. As most Imperial Knights in the game now are Characters, this power’s found new life. In my experience, it’s not difficult to get into range by turn 2 or 3 to start using it and it again forces your opponent to either stay away or risk having their powerful Knights shoot their own units. Even units like Bobby G, an Archon with a Blaster, or Mortarion, etc. are good targets as their weapons are really nasty. If in some instance an enemy Character has a Plasma weapon (or something similar) you can try to make them hurt or kill themselves by overcharging it and shooting something with a negative to hit. This comes up often with the Castellan especially. Now, it’s important to remember that this power shouldn’t be the core of your strategy with her as it has multiple failure points. It’s just one more tool in her tool-chest and something that can really gunk up your opponent’s plans. If you really do want to go for it on turn 1 due to a deployment scenario that is favorable for it, put her in a transport if possible, disembark and then haul butt forward for that extra distance which may just get you where you need to be. Typically though, I find it best to be patient and not overexpose her, advancing up behind the bulwark that is the Bullgryn.
If that isn’t a good choice then Terrify is solid, particularly against armies like T’au or other similar shooty armies, and of course, you can always just Smite!
In all, I have found her to be invaluable in my Guard army and I am sure you could make great use of her in other Imperial Armies too, particularly those that are looking for some solid answers to enemy psykers and/or need some morale support.
Plus, the model is absolutely awesome!
What do you think about Inquisitor Greyfax?
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
After I heard about your luck with her, I tried her with 3 elysian sniper teams and my opponent(GSC) just was stunned with her ability to stick it to characters AND what I did to his characters.
Yeah, she’s awesome.
Run her as a full Vanguard with 3 or more acolytes. They are dirt cheap and if kept near her can take her wounds on a 2+.
When using Dominate, remember that having any other models from the army within 1″ (other than members of their own unit) will prevent it from being able to shoot, though of course in those cases it can make a single attack. One melee attack is a lot less scary than shooting with one gun in most cases, though.
Greyfax’s biggest value is that she is a beast against Psykers (and Daemons as well, though the two often overlap), both shutting down their spells and sniping them if they aren’t careful with terrain. +1 to denials is quite big, even in the absence of other stuff, and it makes shutting down a key spell a lot more probable.
On the other hand, she eats an entire detachment from your army, and especially in the Imperium that is a pretty significant downside, since you have access to so many other good tools.
Yes, people were trying that tactic at the event but I found it really didn’t help too much. By Turns 2-3 I had plowed through most infantry and the Knights had to reposition to do anything so the defense was limited.
I usually only take 1-2 deatchments anyway, so for me it was NBD but yes, she does eat a CP and a detachment but I found it to be totally worth the trade off.
I know this question depends on army build a bit, but say hypothetically you have the points and detachment and can fit either Greyfax or an assassin via the stratagem. Do you stick with the assassin strat (with all the flexibiity that provides) or go Grefax. Assume there’s some infantry to make use of her ld buff, but not the 100 or so you had at BSB.
Ah, that’s a tough one. She’s as useful as an Assassin IMO. It would really come down to the list, ultimately.
Thanks for the feedback and the article, that still gives me info to go on. I didn’t even look into her and similar because I just assumed they were on the high side of points.
Do you have any other Denies in the list? A Culexus by itself won’t typically stop most spells, but in combination with other psykers it is devastating. Greyfax has a much better chance of shutting down enemy spells by her lonesome, but is overall not as synergetic at doing so.
Exactly. I also have an Astropath which gives even more defense, but the Culexus+Greyfax is money.
No denies (although I could probably squeeze a single one in).
I am playing around with a 3 knight, 3 tank commander build (magnetized so some points flexibility) and I have been trying to keep 85 points free for the assassin (which is tough, there’s very little fat to trim) but Greyfax has an appeal also. I am leaning Greyfax now just because that is one model to build and in 4 weeks paint rather than 4 lol. I’ll eventually get to assassins and branching out to other builds so no harm in diversifying.
Sounds like a very interesting list, actually. Never have to worry about games not finishing, lol.
Yeah exactly lol. More time for beers. Though looks like a few folks have been doing ok with similar builds based on BCP/BoK, despite it being a skew list. Totally foreign style for me though, so it will be interesting. Actually looking to use Tallarn initially so it can have some trickiness.
Another Inquisitor that I have found very useful is Hector Rex from Forge World. 2 casts, 3 denies, deep strikes. Doesn’t have the +1 to deny naturally, but has a Psychic Hood so gets it with 12″. Has a 2+, 3++ and is not too shabby in CC.
Run her as a full Vanguard detachment with 3 acolytes. They are dirt cheap, you gain a cp AND they take her hits if within 3 inches on a 2+!