Ordos Xenos

[Just_Me]

As far as I’m concerned, the Alien Hunters really don’t get enough face time, they are a very cool and interesting organization, but they barely get a peep. Even most of the background on Inquisitor factionalism seemed to assume only Malleus or Hereticus. Fortunately, the new Dark Heresy books finally seem to be shining the limelight on the Xenos.

Now in spite of their total lack of coverage (Dark Eldar, Necrons and Sororitas can cry all they want about not getting updated, Xenos never even got a codex :p), I have always had a love for them. So a while back when I was flush with a new unspent paycheck, Eisenhorn and Ravenor fresh in my mind, and the Pound beginning to falter, I took the plunge and ordered the Solomon Lok model and resolved to start an Ordos Xenos force. Well, it’s been slow going and other projects have intruded, but I am finally approaching the 1k mark for my Alien Hunters.

Because we don’t have our own codex, or even a neutral codex, I decided to use the Hereticus codex, as it seemed the least pigeon-holed between the two. However, while I chose gear and units from the Witch Hunters list, I restricted myself to items that were available (or had identical equivalents) on both lists, the only exception being I gave my acolyte (represented by the Cal Jerico model from Necromunda) a shotgun to represent his twin pistols. I also made choices that were “tech based” rather than “faith based;” no penitents or preachers, no flaming brands or the like, my Inquisitor and his band are heavy on the servitor and servo-skull models. I also took the lowly Inquisitorial Storm Troopers as troops choices.

At this point the army consists of:
• Inquisitor Lord and retinue (Combat servitors, servo-skull familiars, and tech servitor sage, along with one human acolyte)
• Inquisitor with retinue (plasma and heavy bolter gun servitors and sage for heavy fire support)
• Death cultists
• Inquisitorial Storm Troopers (one five man unit with flamers, one ten man unit with plasma)
• Orbital strike (could be fun, and as my Inquisitor’s fluff gives him his own ship, albeit a small one, it makes sense)

Just the other day I purchased a box of Kroot online that I will include with the mercenary rules to finish it out to around 1,000 points (oh, did I mention he was a radical?)

Now I am not really interested in a tactical analysis of my list strength (though I will listen if you really want to give one), hence why it appears in this forum. Instead I am interested in what people think of the list in terms of fluff, does it seem like it would be believable as a Xenos list? What advice do you have to make it more so? Has anyone else done Xenos, and if so how did they do theirs?

[miteyheroes]

You could add a Deathwatch Kill Team or two? Either using the old rules, or using Sternguard rules? Mind you, they're probably less Radical and more Puritan. Less likely to fight alongside Kroot!

Hmm, if you wanted to go REALLY radical you could use random new alien races as the Inquisitor's retinue, or as flagellants or SoBs? Maybe "Faith" could be a weird Alien psychic power or something?

Anyway, the Ordo Xenos are a cool concept. Go for it!

[energongoodie]

I'd love a xenos army too. Jervis Johnson said there is something in the works when he visited my local GW last year. I think there will be a codex covering all the branches of the Inquisition.

[Melissia]

If you want a radical, why not include some mercenaries? Kroot and Orks are the most common. Eldar also occasionally sell their services, most commonly the piratical elements/corsairs.

[Duke]

I know it might be too late, but I really think you could better represent Xenos hunters with Sternguard...

Duke

[Just_Me]

I picked the Kroot mercenaries because I felt that it communicated "radical" quite well.

As some of you suggested I have been considering adding a unit of Deathwatch, preferably with the old killteam rules. For one thing, as long as there are a set of rules for the Deathwatch from GW out there (however outdated and iffy they my be), for another it would give me access to the hellfire bolts and suspensors for the heavy bolter and some differant special ammo for the bolters, at the cost of hellfire rounds and a few others for the boltguns.

It is true I would have to come up with some interpretations for the older rules mentioned in the deathwatch article, but I think it can be made to work with a modicum of effort. Most of all it lets me take them in my list within the rules, something the allies rules won't allow me to do for sternguard. One of the things I was trying to do here was prove that there is enough flexibility within GW's rules to make this list within them (even if those rules are weird and pseudo-official).

As for the justification of including Deathwatch, I don't really think it's insurmountable, the fluff seem to establish that the Deathwatch are slightly more willing to countenance their Inquisitor's more questionable schemes than Sisters or Grey Knights; in the first Dawn of War book Deathwatch helped to steal a fragment of the Wailing Doom for their Inquisitor's experimentation, as I understand it in Warrior Coven the Deathwatch fought alongside the Eldar as part of a longstanding pact, and Kryptman had a force of Deathwatch who stayed loyal to him and helped him to lead Leviathan into Ork space even after he was branded a radical and cast out by the Inquisition. In short I seems that the Deathwatch are more mentally flexible than the other Chambers Militant, so I don't think they would be out of place in a radical Ordos Xenos force.

Oh, and for those who care about such things, my Inquisitor adheres to the Xenos Hybris philosophy (it's in Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods). The sort summary is he believes in understanding aliens and learning from them, and that humanity has no choice but to work with some alien species if they are to continue to survive.

[Nabterayl]

This is a semi-tactical question, but why the sage? Witch hunter inquisitors aren't exactly shooty. I know that Solomon Lok comes with a sage model, but what does he need BS5 for?

If you decide to do Deathwatch, I agree with Duke that the Sternguard rules are probably the place to look. Since it looks like you're just doing a kill-team, though, have you considered grabbing some Valkyries from IA2? I don't know much about the OX, but it seems to me that of all the inquisitorial forces they'd have the greatest need for conventional high technology, and Valkyries seem like they'd fit the bill. OX kill-teams have always struck me as the most commando-like of all inquisitorial house troops as well, and Valkyries fit that bill as well.

Plus (and again semi-tactical), they could let your storm troopers pack some meltaguns for extra anti-vehicle punch, while they handle the anti-infantry duties.

[miteyheroes]

You could have Sternguard if you constructed the force as SM Army with allied Inquisition and Kroot?

But yes. Probably just using old-skool Kill Team rules is the way forward.

[eagleboy7259]

Deathwatch Kill Team with a radical Inquistor? I'd have to imagine Xenos hating marines would have a problem working with the Kroot, similar to the radical Malleus Inquistors not having access to GK because of the demonhosts. I just hope and pray codex inquistion / heros of the imperium or whatever is more than just a myth and gets here sometime soon. I miss taking my demonhunters to regular action

[Just_Me]

This is a semi-tactical question, but why the sage? Witch hunter inquisitors aren't exactly shooty. I know that Solomon Lok comes with a sage model, but what does he need BS5 for?

If you decide to do Deathwatch, I agree with Duke that the Sternguard rules are probably the place to look. Since it looks like you're just doing a kill-team, though, have you considered grabbing some Valkyries from IA2? I don't know much about the OX, but it seems to me that of all the inquisitorial forces they'd have the greatest need for conventional high technology, and Valkyries seem like they'd fit the bill. OX kill-teams have always struck me as the most commando-like of all inquisitorial house troops as well, and Valkyries fit that bill as well.

Actually I use the servo skull with the scroll as a familiar, I am using the technical servitor model from forgeworld as a sage in that unit. I have a sage in there because a) it looks cool, and b) so he can make best use of Scourging, a potentially very nasty psychic power. I have however been thinking of moving that sage over to my elite Inquisitor unit, to give them two sages and a reroll. Currently he has one sage (the one from Cotreaz's set) and I wanted to add the Lexmechanic model from the Witch Hunter retinue, but I can't approve the cost of buying the whole box for one or two models, and I haven't found it separate yet...

I would love to give the entire force Valkyries as transports as I whole-heartedly agree that they fit very well, but the issue there is a $$ one, those Valkyries are expensive suckers...

[Old_Paladin]

Of the Chamber Militant's; the Xeno's, by rule, have to be more openminded.

Daemons are terrible things, that cannot be reasoned with. They seek only to eat souls.
Heretics and Traitors will univerally stop at nothing to undermine the rule of the God-Emperor.

Aliens, on the other hand, are not all like that. True, some are dangerous (like orks, tau, dark eldar, etc.), but not all. Some are helpful, like the Jokaero; even the Kroot have their uses.
Additionally, there are a lot of tiny alien cultures that are simply too stupid/wussy to care about. Part of the indoctrination, is to calm-down the blood lust; otherwise, the OX would be frothing at the mouth and wasting time and resources going after pointless targets. They actually need to be Marines to say "We will let those aliens live and ignore them, because we have better things to do."

[Just_Me]

Precisely; Daemons/Chaos = bad, not even the most debased of Xanthite or Horusian would really argue that unchecked Chaos is anything but anathema to humanity, while by their very definition traitors and rebels are a threat to whatever organization they have turned on.

Aliens are a slightly fuzzier matter, many of them are dangerous, some spectacularly so, and some are nearly as corrupting as Chaos itself (some even make use of warp based technology), while still others may deal with traitors. So the OX has to deal with many of the same types of threat the other Ordos do.

On the other hand the Imperium has benefited from alien interactions and research into aliens (the Jokaero are quite useful, and the C'tan phase-blade is reverse engineered Necron tech), and there are some aliens out there who are not above cooperating with humanity (the Eldar have worked with the Imperium on more than one occasion, distasteful as it may have been for both parties). Some sentient aliens are either so minor a power, or so biologically divergent from humanity that they never compete with the Imperium (what interest would sulfur breathers have in a human planet with a oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere?). Non-sentient aliens are even used as livestock in some cases.

Add to all of this that the sheer number of alien species out there is realistically beyond hope of truly eradicating and the OX has to pick it's battles. the same might be said about Chaos, but that is a matter of having no choice but to fight tooth and nail against any and every instance of it purely as a holding action. So the OX can't waste time and resources on everything, and must look to understanding their foe to maximize their effectiveness wherever possible.

Flavorwise I always saw the OX as one part exterminator, one part big-game hunter, one part biologist, and two parts evil scientist, they usually have to look into alien knowledge and conduct research on them just to do their jobs, and they certainly have done so on a very large scale (Anphelion project anyone?). If nothing else the "mundane" nature of their designated responsibilities means they are most inclined to be pragmatic out of all the Ordos. Not that there aren't hardliners, there certainly are, but the environment they work in is much more conducive to openmindedness and pragmatism.

[Melissia]

The mind of an OX inquisitor:

Is it worth killing?
Yes: Well kill it already.
No. Then is it worth enslaving?
Yes: Enslave them then.
No. Then is it worth allying with?
Yes: Arrange a temporary alliance and plan for backstabbing them later.
No: Ignore it, not worth your time.



The mind of an OM inquisitor:

Is it a daemon?
Yes: KILL IT MORON!
No: Investigate it for daemonic influence.
Does it have daemonic influence?
Yes: KILL IT MORON!
No: Hand it off to the OH.


The mind of an OH Inquisitor:

Is it heretical?
Yes: BURN IT!
No: BURN IT ANYWAY!

[Just_Me]

That's scarily accurate...

Not to mention hilarious :D.

[Duke]

my fav. has to be the OH inquisitor...

Burn it because it IS a heretical dog... Or, burn it mecause one day in the future it MAY (Possibly) become a heretical dog.

Duke

[gwensdad]

The mind of an OX inquisitor:


The mind of an OM inquisitor:


The mind of an OH Inquisitor:




I need to re-make this as a flowchart. It is 100% =I= win.

[Just_Me]

I figured as long as I am talking about my Inquisition forces, I might as well post some pics. Strictly speaking such things probably belong in the "Modeling and Painting" sub forum, but as long as this thread already exists, I don't see any reason to clutter up that forum.

My painting skills are only middling, and I avoid some of the "advanced" techniques like highlighting and washes (for every one I see that looks good, I have seen five that I think don't really help the model at all), so don't expect Golden Daemon quality stuff. Some of the pictures may also be a bit blurry.

Obviously there are no Kroot (they haven't arrived yet), but the rest the force is intact.

Pictures part one:

The whole force:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/Just_Me_Images/Inquisition/Groupphoto.jpg

Inquisitor Lord and Retinue:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/Just_Me_Images/Inquisition/Armitageandretinue-1.jpg

Inquisitor with fire support:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/Just_Me_Images/Inquisition/InqwithBFGs.jpg

Death Cultists:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/Just_Me_Images/Inquisition/DeathCultists.jpg

[Just_Me]

Part two:

Plasma armed Inquisitorial Storm Troopers:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/Just_Me_Images/Inquisition/PlasmaSTs.jpg

Flamer armed Inquisitorial Storm Troopers:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/Just_Me_Images/Inquisition/FlamerSTs.jpg

You may not be able to tell from these pictures, but all of the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers have the "=I=" symbol painted on both of their shoulder pads. The Orbital Strike is going to be represented by a teleport homer from the Terminator box as a marker (but you don't really need to see a picture of that :p).

Let me know what you think.

[FirBholg]

Nice force! It all looks good on the table together, and I like the simple but functional look of the Stormtroopers.

It's nice to see the Ordo Xenos getting some love. They're awesome generally (just look at Inquisitor Kryptman) and I'm fond of the Deathwatch as well as the possibility of allied Xenos (Kroot, Eldar, Blood Axes...). I'm tempted to run up a unit of Deathwatch using the Sternguard rules at some point, because I'll never be able to collect an army for all the Loyalist chapters I like.

You're making me tempted by an Inquisition force now - much as I love the existing Storm Trooper and Kasrkin models, I'm going to have to hold out for a plastic Stormtrooper release before I can justify it to myself though ;)


Oh, and don't forget, a Heretic can seek redemption. Traitors, not so much... *Darn trigger happy Witch Hunters...*

[Just_Me]

It's nice to see the Ordo Xenos getting some love. They're awesome generally (just look at Inquisitor Kryptman) and I'm fond of the Deathwatch as well as the possibility of allied Xenos (Kroot, Eldar, Blood Axes...). I'm tempted to run up a unit of Deathwatch using the Sternguard rules at some point, because I'll never be able to collect an army for all the Loyalist chapters I like.

The ability to include aliens was one of what I saw as the coolest benefits to this particular choice of theme for my army. I anticipate the Kroot will be very interesting to build and paint, I intend to give them all war paint, and to that end I am looking up some info on Native American and African face painting traditions, though I suspect I will just end up doing something that looks cool regardless of its basis in reality. As to the Deathwatch, I think it would be a great way to include some of the myriad Astartes chapters without building whole new armies.

On another note, how do people feel about using "counts-as" rules for the various Imperial Assassins? I was thinking of designing some ravening Xenos beast to count as an Eversor, he already has rules that make him move like a "beast" and most of his abilities are easy to account for in some alien predator; Neuro-gauntlet = venomous fangs/claws, Needle-pistol = poisonous spit or spines, and Bio-meltdown could be a explosive device built into its control collar.

On the other hand, I have thought about representing the Vindicare with the female sniper from Privateer Press' Warmachine:

http://privateerpress.com/files/products/khador/units/widowmakers.png

With a little modification I think the model would look good and fit quite well. The primary reason to do this would be story based, as I actually have the models for all of the Assassin Temples. Officio Assassinorum Operatives are deployed on a purely as-needed basis, and it would be unlikely (though not unheard of) for one to be attached to an Inquisitor's retinue indefinitely. As I want to make my Inquisition force as self-contained as possible, the sniper could represent a very skilled marksman that the Inquisitor has picked up and employed.

[FirBholg]

I've got some kroot sprues lying around the house somewhere - they're really nice models, especially the little accessories, like hunks of meat (snacks for later ;) ).

Personally, I'd have no problems with counts-as Assassins. The Evesor/Xenos beast would definitely work, and I'd be very interested to see what you came up with (sounds like it would be dun to model!). The Vindicare could also work - the Widowmaker is a lovely model. Personally I'd be inclined to treat her as an Assassin Operative who was attached to your Inquisitor at some point in the past (as you say, there's precedence for this - the Inquisition War trilogy for starters) - it may even be that she's keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't go too far...
Equally, with a little genetic or pharmaceutical enhancement, there's no reason that she couldn't be an independent agent in the Inquisitor's employ. After all, there's not that much difference between the stat lines of Death Cultists and full-blown Assassin Temple operatives :)

[OnFyre]

Since you have two inquisitors in your force, you could explain a Deathwatch/Kroot 'alliance' by just having the Kroot work for one Inquisitor and the Deathwatch work for the other. I like the image of a more radical inquisitor arguing with his more orderly team-mate, then them both shouting down the troops under each other's command when they start to complain about their 'co-workers'.

[Proximus]

I have been convinced that it would NOT be unfluffy to have kroot mercenaries AND a deathwatch team in the same army. Although I personally am not really sure about whether I'd want to have the kroot in my army, I think that a deathwatch team is absolutely mandatory for an ordo xenos army. But in case of such an interestingly and colourful army project I`d say: Just stuff all those fancy units into your army, it`ll just add to the flavour and story.

You know what also would be cool? Use some Adeptus Mechanicus models (like the IG engineseer) to represent the elite inquisitor and his retinue. I imagine that an ordo xenos inquisitor gets some assistance from a magos biologis quite often.

[Sparda]

Cool idea, you should throw some Eldar in just because there to awesome to resist.