Games Workshop has unexpectedly announced a brand new codex rulebook for Warhammer 40k – Codex Imperial Agents – which consolidates and expands on the rules for fielding the Inquisition, Imperial Navy, and Imperial Assassins as standalone armies or as battlefield allies for other Imperium armies.
Revealed out of the blue via GW’s Warhammer Community site on Monday, the new ‘dex will launch with three ‘battleforce’ box sets – one themed around each of the three major segments of the Warhammer 40k Inquisition – plus a stern new model for the legendary Inquisitor Lord Coteaz and his two-headed cyber-eagle.
Honestly, it’s caught us all by surprise (in a very good way); we’d been doggedly waiting for news of the next Warhammer 40k codex releases, but this particular one was not on our bingo card. As usual for GW, there’s no confirmed release date or pricing for either Codex: Imperial Agents or any of the battleforces – but there’s a fair amount of exciting detail to go through, so read on, loyal citizen…
In general, what we’ve seen so far suggests this is a massive lore win for fans of Imperium-aligned Warhammer 40k factions – not only expanding the options to field obscure models in mixed, story-rich Imperial army lists, but also making it feasible to field a fully Inquisition army for the first time ever in 40k.
GW confirms that the new codex has four full Warhammer 40k detachments you can use to build out an entire, matched play-legal Inquisition army – they’re called:
- Ordo Hereticus
- Ordo Malleus
- Ordo Xenos
- Imperialis Fleet
We’ve only seen one of those new, dedicated detachment rules spoiled so far, but it seems fairly tasty. The Imperialis Fleet subfaction, themed around agility and flexible deployment, gets the rule At All Costs. It lets you choose one of two army-wide buffs each turn: either plus one to hit rolls against a named target, or improved objective control and a 5+ invulnerable save for all your units on a targeted objective.
Beyond that, we’re getting a bunch more deliciously fluffy options for ‘allying in’ Inquisition-themed detachments to other Imperial armies like Space Marines or Astra Militarum.
The Imperial Agents’ army rule – Assigned Agents – works the same as it did in the 10th Edition index rules, but the new book uses a couple of extra keywords to reintroduce a bunch of fan favorite units to the Inquisition line-up, including Deathwatch kill-teams, characters, and Corvus Blackstar flyers, as well as Grey Knights Terminators and Sisters of Battle squads.
It means that, within the unit limits in the table above, you’ll now be able to plug those units into any Imperium army you like. Imperial Soup isn’t quite back, folks – but we’re getting more than a soupçon of it here.
New Inquisitor Coteaz model
This surprise codex announcement comes paired with just one brand new model – an updated character kit for Inquisitor Coteaz and his trademark, two-headed Cyber-Eagle.
We haven’t seen any exciting rules updates for Coteaz as part of this initial unveiling, suggesting he’s not going to be drastically changed from the 2023 Index rules – but we’ll have to wait to find out for sure.
Cool though he is, we don’t rate it among the most exciting reveals of the year (although fans who spotted Coteaz’ distinctive fur cloak or a bit of his birb in GW ‘Rumor Engine’ teasers a few months back will feel vindicated).
Imperial Agents battleforces and models
More dramatic is the sudden announcement of no fewer than three (3) Inquisition themed battleforce box sets, one for each of the Inquisitiorial Ordos.
The Ordo Xenos battleforce looks to include:
- Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus x 1
- Corvus Blackstar x 1
- Elucidian Starstriders x 1
- Deathwatch Kill-team x 1
- Kill Team: Inquisitorial Agents x 1
- Navigator x 1
The Ordo Hereticus battleforce apparently includes:
- Inquisitor Greyfax x 1
- Kill Team: Inquisitorial Agents x 1
- Kill Team: Exaction Squad x 1
- Ministorum Priest x 1
- Battle Sisters x 10
- Sisters of Battle Immolator tank x 1
And the slightly more elite-focused Ordo Malleus battleforce is packing:
- Inquisitor Coteaz x 1
- Kill Team: Inquisitorial Agents x 2
- Grey Knights Terminators x 5
- Chimera transport x 1
- Culexus Assassin x 1
- Pious Vorne x 1
New Inquisitor datasheet rules
Least thrilling among the reveals in Monday’s WarCom article are a couple of rules that’ll appear in the new Inquisitor datasheet – but they’re still worth noting as you plan your new army.
Blessed Wardings grants the Inquisitor’s led unit a useful, but unremarkable 6+ invulnerable save, while Power of the Rosette gives you a decent 2/3 chance of refunding a command point every time you use a 40k stratagem on that unit.
It’s nothing explosive – and you’ll likely want to bring one of the more specialized, named Inquisitors to lead your Imperial Agents detachments when allying in to another army. But we can see several of these cheaper, regular Inquisitors making it into pure Inquisition armies as squad leaders, once the new codex drops.
When is it coming out?
As usual with Games Workshop reveals, we’ve seen no confirmation (or even estimate) of when Codex: Imperial Agents or the three new battleforces will go to pre-order or become available in stores.
But we can confidently predict they’ll be with us before the end of 2024, for two reasons. Firstly, battleforce box sets are traditionally marketed as holiday gift products, so we’d expect to see these boxes (and their matching codex) on sale in time for Christmas.
And, secondly, WarCom throws in a quick note at the end of its Wednesday article confirming that: the Imperial Agents are arriving before the new Grey Knights codex; that the Grey Knights codex is “on the way next year”; and that “there are still a few factions to get through” before the Knights of Titan get their turn.
Given the usual gaps between GW releases, we think that places the Imperial Agents releases in late 2024 – but, of course, we’ll update you as soon as we hear more specifics from Geedubs.
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the Inquisition, check out our complete guides to the Imperium of Man, and Malcador the Sigillite – the man who set this shadowy organization in motion 10,000 years before the current 40k lore.
And, for all the latest info and updates, make sure you bookmark our Warhammer 40k news page and follow Wargamer on Google News.
Source: Wargamer
