Greetings.

[Zelpha]

Hello there!

Played 40k for ages and always been interested in playing Inquisitor, but the community didn't support it, in till now.
Looking forward to digging my teeth into some serious tabletop mayhem.

I'm currently located in Durham, England. If you around that area drop me a PM!

Zelpha

[Bloodpact]

Welcome to the Conclave

Great to see new faces. Hope to see you at the next Conclave event!

Do you have any models yet, or is the wonderful world of Inquisitor new to you?

[Zelpha]

Thanks

Sorry, a Conclave event?

I have a Arbites Judge that i brought and painted. (Because he looks pretty slick!)
I've spent the last couple of weeks hunting high and low for suitable 54mm models, including using the resources on this site. But nothing seems to really fit. I guess conversion is the because option?

Any advice?

[Bloodpact]

The Conclave runs Inquisitor events approx every 3 months, usually at Warhammer World in Nottingham. The most recent was in fact today! You can see the build up thread next to this on the forum list (It was called the Twin Arches). There will be plenty of follow up coming over the next couple of days.

The best bet when getting started is to firstly envision what kind of warband you want to use (Inquisition, Mechanicum, Xenos, Rogue Trader, Ecclesiarchy, Heretic, the list is extensive!). Once you know what kind of characters you want to include, there are plenty of people on here who can point you in the right deirection towards models that would be suitable.

Are you reasonably knowledgable about the 40k fluff and lore? This will help as well, and even if you dont read many of the novels, there is a whole wealth of info on websites like http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page#.ULpy2INlzng. I would certainly recommend reading the Eisenhorn and Ravenor novels by Dan Abnett as these give you a really good feel for the operations of the Inquisition away from the war-fronts, and entangled in the complex world of imperial society.

My first warband was a Malleus Inquisitor, who wasn't quite over the line into being a dangerous radical, but was still slightly morally skewed. He was made from Eisenhorn with a new set of arms with greenstuffed sleeves and Slick Devlans head. He was accompanied by a gunslinger who was simply the majority of Slick Devlan with a lasgun glued to his back and a scope made from a couple of off-cuts of circular plastic and a cocktail stick for the body of it! If you are looking for conversion ideas the painting and modelling section of this site usually has some blogs from some really talented modellers. I dont have the link handy, but Kaleds retrospective thread where he discusses all the models in his collection really inspired me (and eventually i'll get around to doing one myself!)

The current warband i was using today is led by a sinister Ordo Hereticus inquisitor who is a powerful and knowledgable psyker, but is physically weak and not suited to getting into any fights. Its important when designing characters that they aren't all bad-ass armoured psychic killing machines as the real fun in inquisitor is overcoming anything a creative GM can throw at you, even if it isnt fighting to your strength. The inquisition rarely get to fight the enemies of mankind on their own terms!

Have you played the game yet, or just admired it from afar?

[Zelpha]

That's pretty cool, Warhammer World is a great venue as well!

I has hoping to play something like Dark Eldar, but i understand its not the easiest thing for GMs to play around and that most Eldar tend to be above and beyond most other characters.

I've followed Inquisitor since its released, but only taken place in a couple of games. I've played 40k for about 10 years at this point.

Do you recommend 54mm over 28mm? Do both have their benefits?
Are Marines/Eldar really that broken? I get the impression that they are...

[Keravin]

Both 28 and 54 have their benefits, but you need to do work on converting 28 as it will make you think a lot more about the character than using a stock model.

Space marines are supposed to be elite and the conclave advocates a more realistic approach to stats than the book and that emphasises how much impact a space marine can have.   I played a game recently where it took a number of inquisitors to take down a single marine.

Eldar and dark eldar can fit, but you want to fit them into the narrative that your gm and other players want to play as that's key for  playing.

[Kaled]

Do you recommend 54mm over 28mm? Do both have their benefits?

Yes, both have benefits but there's not much to choose between them. Both can be done cheaply if that's what you want, and they can both be pretty expensive - it all depends on the approach you take.  Most 28mm terrain works really well at 54mm so you shouldn't let that influence your decision. Really I'd say it comes down to which you prefer modelling at. Some people like 28mm as there are a lot of readily available bits, others prefer working at 54mm as it gives them chance to do something at a larger scale to what they do normally. Personally I far prefer 54mm; I just don't find 28mm all that satisfying. But then other people feel the opposite. It also depends who you want to play against, so if you have a gaming group you'll need to take their opinions into account. If you want to join us at our events, then you'd be more than welcome, but they're mostly played at 54mm. However if you want to play at 28mm, head over to the Ammobunker and see when their next event is - they tend to play mostly at 28mm. It's all really down to personal preference.

Are Marines/Eldar really that broken? I get the impression that they are...

I wouldn't say they're broken - but they're as powerful as they should be according to the fluff. So a marine can take on many themes his own number of enemies and expect to prevail - and so given that the opposing warband is likely to only contain 3-4 'ordinary' humans, if it comes to a fight (and it usually does) then the marine is likely to just slaughter the opposition. Of course there are ways to structure scenarios so that the marine is at a disadvantage, but I find that unsatisfying for both the maine player and his opponent(s) and therefore prefer not to use them.  Eldar of any variety are incredibly fast, well equipped, deadly and no more fragile than a normal human. Thus they too can carve through the opposition without too much trouble.  That's one reason why players tend to stick to human characters with weapons that are likely to need a few hits to put someone out of action. The game is more fun when a character is bleeding from being stabbed, has a few lasgun holes in him, and is just recovering from being clubbed by a shock maul, but still fights on to achieve his objectives. If characters have powerswords or bolt guns then often the first hit is enough to take an opposing character out of action and ensure they play no further part in the scenario which is far less fun for everyone involved.

That's not to say you can't, or even shouldn't, use Eldar or Marines but you should consider the impact they'll have on the game and how much fun they'll be for your opponents to play against before you decide to use them.  If you want to play Dark Eldar then don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't, but realise that they're not where the game works best. You could always look at something like a human cult whose true masters are Dark Eldar who have infiltrated the Imperial world as part of some nefarious scheme - that way you can play some games using human cultists and have a Dark Eldar to bring out for scenarios where he's needed (in much the same way that many players same their most militaristic characters for the big confrontations and use more low key characters for scenarios where their characters are not expecting a fight.

I've spent the last couple of weeks hunting high and low for suitable 54mm models, including using the resources on this site. But nothing seems to really fit. I guess conversion is the because option?

Almost everyone who plays at 54mm converts their models to some degree or other. Historically 28mm players have come in for a lot of flak for all too often just picking models straight out of their 40k armies, but some communities of 28mm players (such as the one over at the Ammobunker) have some beautifully converted 28mm models. So these days it's probably fair to say that Inquisitor players see conversion as the way to go, regardless of which scale they play at. I'll leave someone else to talk about conversion possibilities at 28mm as that's it really my area of expertise, but at 54mm there are loads of fantasy and historical miniatures (and some sci-fi ones) that can be easily converted to fit the 41st millenium - it all depends on how much work you want to do. I, and many other players, started out doing simple conversions of 54mm models - buying several kits and mixing the bits up to create different characters, but over time I found I needed to sculpt the odd piece to get the character I wanted and found it a good way to increase my conversion and sculpting skills.

What sorts of models are you looking for? And how much conversion work do you want to do?

[Bloodpact]

I played my first game of 28mm in years yesterday, and personally i didnt feel as engaged with the game as with 54mm. Because of the smaller scale i felt like i was further away and everything is more spaced out, whereas with 54mm, you feel closer to the action. This might sound a little odd, but its just my personal perspective. We have a great many people who play both scales often, so its a valid option. Im going to make 28mm versions of my characters anyway, as i know there are people who only play 28mm, and with the small size of the community, its best to be flexible.

Dark Eldar isnt a bad choice, but can be tricky to work some character types in 54mm (as somebody who has looked into it a couple of times). Andrea miniatures do a good range of 54mm Elf characters with fantasy style armour that with a few tweaks can be made into Wych type characters. The fully armour Kabalites would be a little trickier, but probably not impossible. Eldar characters arent as broken as Marines becuse their strength and toughness wont be very high, and they dont wear much armour so although they will be quite skilled, one good shot will cripple them.  I still wouldnt recommend more than 2 characters in a warband, from a balance perspective, and because they wont be found in large numbers on Imperial Planets, and would draw too much attention to themselves!

[Zelpha]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm personally more inclined to play 54mm, because that was the attraction in the first place. I remember the White Dwarf battle reports and how good it looked.
Judging from all the comments, i'll look more into a human based Warband as i'm trying to get some people into this that haven't played before and i think it would be less taxing on our GM.
From experience i would say conversion is a stronger aspect for the hobby for me. (Painting less so  ) So i'm quite willing to put the time in. 

It also depends who you want to play against, so if you have a gaming group you'll need to take their opinions into account.

As i mentioned above, this is a big worry for me and trying to keep the requirements of setting up Inquisitor to a minimum to encourage people to start-up. But i imagine once they do, they'll be hooked.

The fully armour Kabalites would be a little trickier, but probably not impossible.

What do you think of this guy?
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/mordekai-54mm.html

I think the first steps for me to take our a build up a character and to run a campaign. Unfortunately i think to make that happen it will have to be 28mm. But who knows what the future holds.

Once again, thanks for all the advice so far, keep it coming!

[Keravin]

If you have a look at the inq28 blog you can see that inq 28 can look as good done properly.  It's all about getting the right feelings in the players and everyone investing the time and approach to play the game how you want to.

I like the model for dark eldar.  At some point I want to do a haemonculi operating in imperious or fringe spaces.

[krenshar]

If you take a look at the Skoll Archive and specifically the Dark Magenta Issues folder, the first issue has an article full of simple scenarios for learning the rules a stage at a time.  I'd recommend running your friends through them to start with.  The other advantage is that they use one model per player, keeping the initial outlay small.

Beware pushing the conversion angle too hard with your inductees/victims; especially if you talk them into 54mm, there's nothing wrong with stock models so long as their owners like them.  My friends and I bought the game at release and fixated on having unique models but I don't think any of us had ever used greenstuff back then.  Had we just built and painted them as they came, we'd have played far more games and I doubt our enthusiasm would have waned like it did.  There's no harm in having three Eisenhorn figures on the table so long as everyone's having fun.

[Kaled]

As i mentioned above, this is a big worry for me and trying to keep the requirements of setting up Inquisitor to a minimum to encourage people to start-up.

It's possible to build very cheap 54mm warbands - I once build a four man warband for about £10 using cheap models and (mostly) 28mm parts from my bits box. That was using De Agostini Star Wars figurines, but there are plenty of other options if you're on a budget. 4-6 characters is plenty to get started running games with two players and a GM, and the rules are free so getting started should be do-able without breaking the bank.

[Hadriel Caine]

Welcome to the Conclave.

I've got a 28mm Dark Eldar warband in this thread: http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1801.0

One of my concepts was to have a dracon or sybarite running around with some alien mercenaries. Although 3 Eldar may be appropriately powerful in terms of background I find more than one char with stats in the 100s really breaks the game.

I like the look of that 54mm mini. Perfect for a DE. Alyster Wick was working on some DE rules for a Commoragh expansion last time I was active on this forum (around a year ago). I don't know if anything came to them.

Good luck and if you need pointers your in the right place.

A.