Legionis Tacticum: Daemonhunters by Patrick Eibel
We will continue this series by discussing a recent addition to Warhammer 40K: the Daemonhunters.

Strengths: Flexibility, variety of troops
Weaknesses: Expensive units
Key Wargear: Incinerator, psycannon, Nemesis force weapon

Tactics: Daemonhunters offer the ability to play four different types of armies: 

• Pure Daemonhunter;
• DH allied with Space Marines;
• DH allied with Imperial Guard; or 
• DH as allies to another Imperial force. 

Of the three remaining choices, an allied Daemonhunter/Imperial Guard army is the best fit. Why is this? The Daemonhunters’ greatest weaknesses are a lack of heavy firepower (only a Grey Knight Dreadnought or Land Raider has access to a shooting weapon greater than Strength 6) and a lack of cheap troops. By combining forces with Imperial Guard, a Daemonhunter player can bulk up his army with a couple of Infantry Platoons and give each squad a heavy bolter (70 points for the squad), a missile launcher (75 points), or a lascannon (85 points). Once you have taken the requisite two Stormtrooper or Grey Knight squads and a couple of Infantry Platoons, you can round out the army by taking a Leman Russ for some ordnance and some Sentinels for mobility. 

Let’s now turn our attention to the choices in the Daemonhunter Codex. Grey Knights, although expensive, are actually pretty good assault troops, in that each one is armed with a Strength 6 close combat weapon and a storm bolter. The trick is getting them to the battle, which involves either using a Land Raider or teleporting them via Deep Strike. If you use the teleport option, I recommend taking Stormtrooper squads with teleport homers to make sure that your Grey Knights don’t deviate too far from the battle. 

Inquisitors and their Retinues are an interesting quandary. You could tool them up for assault (Inquisitor with Daemonhammer, two Stormtroopers with assault weapons, three Acolytes with power weapons, and a Heirophant), or tool them for shooting (Inquisitor with psycannon, two Servitors with heavy weapons, two Sages, two Acolytes with storm bolters). The problem is that the basic stats for the Inquisitor and their Retinue are just not that fearsome. Inquisitors are best in a counterassault role or to add punch to more tactical units, like Stormtroopers.

As far as wargear goes, here are the choices I would recommend working into your army: 

• Chainfist, Daemonhammer, Eviscerator or Thunder Hammer for your Inquisitor—A good way to boost your Inquisitor’s Strength beyond his measly 3;
• Icon of the Just—If you are investing points in your Inquisitor, you should try to keep him alive;
• Incinerators and psycannons—Anything that ignores invulnerable saves is a good thing;
• Teleport homers—If you are planning to Deep Strike your Grey Knights, you will want to bring them in on target;
• Holocaust, Scourging and Word of The Emperor psychic powers—Holocaust is better if used by Grey Knight Terminators who can shrug off any hits that may overlap onto them. The other two can help in either the Shooting or Assault phase, depending on what your Inquisitor is weak at. 

Related Pages
Introduction to the series
Other articles in this series
 

© Copyright Patrick Eibel, June 2004. Used with permission.
 

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