In this series of articles we take a deep dive into a specific detachment for a faction, covering the faction’s rules and upgrades and talking about how to build around that faction for competitive play. In this article, we’re covering the Ordo Hereticus Purgation Force Detachment for the Imperial Agents.
Codex: Imperial Agents introduced four Detachments, with three of those modeled after the forces an Inquisitor of a particular Ordo might call to heel, replete with the specialized Imperial Forces dedicated to taking down that type of threat. The Purgation Force Detachment ostensibly gives us the rules for running an army of the Ordo Hereticus, the fanatical forces dedicated to cleansing the galaxy of unsanctioned psykers and the taint of Heresy.
Thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of this Codex.
Detachment Overview
The Purgation Force detachment is the closest thing we’re going to get to a modern version of Codex: Witch Hunters, combining inquisitors, some imperial weirdos, and Sisters of Battle. That said, there are a limited number of weirdos here, and a very limited Sisters force to work with – we’re mostly just talking about Battle Sisters, Priests, and Inquisitors when it comes to Ordo Hereticus units proper, and even with those, the Sisters aren’t a BATTLELINE unit. Your primary choice in that regard are going to be Adeptus Arbites, but fortunately those benefit from your Detachment rule.
Detachment Rule: Root Out Heresy
Ranged weapons equipped by ADEPTUS ARBITES, INQUISITOR, INQUISITORIAL AGENTS, and ORDO HERETICUS models in your army have the [IGNORES COVER] ability. Additionally, when one of those units makes an attack targeting a CHAOS unit containing 5+ models, they gain the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability.
Not too shabby! Ignores Cover is fairly solid, though your biggest challenge is just going to be that most of the affected units don’t have weapons with AP, so there’s a limit to the utility you’ll get out of this against many armies. Sustained Hits 1 is solid against Chaos, and unlike the benefits for Daemon Hunters, you’re going to run into a lot of Chaos units.
Enhancements
All of these can go on an Inquisitor and three of them can go on an Munistorum Priest. There are some decent options here, and the Liber Heresius and No Escape are the stand-outs.
- Liber Heresius – Inquisitor/Priest model only. After both players have deployed, you can take up to three AGENTS OF THE IMPERIUM units from your army and redeploy them, including setting them up in Strategic Reserves. This is stellar – it’s always useful, and it’s especially useful when you want to reposition your Assassins.
- No Escape (Aura) – Inquisitor only. While an enemy unit is within 6” of the bearer, each time it tries to fall back it has to pass a Leadership Test or remain stationary. This is also very good, though you really want this on an Inquisitor paired with a unit of melee Deathwatch or a unit of Grey Knight Terminators.
- Witch Hunter – Inquisitor/Priest model only. While the bearer is leading a unit, that unit can re-roll Hit rolls against PSYKER units. Super situational, but solid. Great for going up against Thousand Sons, Grey Knights, and Tyranids.
- Ignis Judicium – Inquisitor/Priest model only. The bearer’s ranged weapons gain [MELTA 1], [PRECISION], and [DEVASTATING WOUNDS]. A very impressive trio, but your model has no way to re-roll wounds to really make use of this. It’s OK on the Inquisitor’s Psychic Shock Wave, but that already had Devastating Wounds.
Stratagems
These six Stratagems can all be used on Inquisitorial Agents, Adeptus Arbites, and Ordo Hereticus units.
- Stun Grenades (Wargear, 1 CP) – Use at the start of any phase except the Command phase on an Arbites, Agents, or Ordo Hereticus unit with GRENADES that isn’t in engagement range of an enemy unit. Pick a visible enemy unit within 8” that isn’t a MONSTER or VEHICLE and that unit has to take a Battle-shock test. Also, until the end of the phase, it gets -1 to its hit rolls. Wow, that was a lot of caveats. This is fine, I guess? Giving an enemy unit -1 to hit is decent.
- Dispense Justice (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Shooting or Fight phase on an Arbites/Inquisitorial Agents/Hereticus unit that hasn’t shot or fought yet. For the rest of the phase their weapons gain the [LETHAL HITS] ability.
- Inviolate Jurisdiction (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in the Shooting or Fight phase on an Arbites/Inquisitorial Agents/Hereticus Infantry unit which is within range of an objective marker and was picked as the target of an attack. Until the end of the phase, they gain the Feel No Pain 5+ ability. This is a very solid way to help a unit stay alive just long enough to weather some incoming damage, though Feel No Pains are at their best on multi-wound models.
- Execution Order (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in your Command phase on an Arbites/Inquisitorial Agents/Hereticus Infantry unit in your army. Pick an enemy CHARACTER unit on the battlefield and until the start of your next Command phase each time a model in your unit targets that character they gain the [PRECISION] ability. This is solid when you need to just delete an enemy character with a meltagun or multi-melta. It’s surprisingly powerful and between the Inquisitor/Munistorum Priest and a unit of Sisters, you can push through enough damage to kill most non-Terminator characters.
- Line of Fire (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Use in the Shooting phase on an Arbitse/Inquisitorial Agents/Hereticus unit that hasn’t shot yet. Until the end of the phase they can target enemy units within Engagement range of a friendly unit with ranged weapons (excluding blast weapons), as long as the target is within 12”.
- Exact Punishment (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Shooting phase, just after an Agents of the Imperium unit from your army is destroyed by an enemy unit’s attacks. One of your Arbites/Inquisitorial Agents/Hereticus units within 6” of the destroyed unit can shoot as if it were your shooting phase, but have to target that unit.
Playing This Detachment
This Detachment starts with three units of Sisters of Battle and a trio of Immolators. Munistorum Priests make the best Leaders for those Sisters units, and you can split the more effective shooting halves into the Immolators. From there you’ll need some Arbites as your battleline units and backfield objective holders, and once you’ve got those in place you’re going to have to fill the rest of your army with Grey Knights Terminators and Deathwatch Kill Teams. Your biggest challenge is really that Sisters are the core of your army, but you can only take three units of them since they aren’t BATTLELINE. That also hurts them for the purposes of doing missions in Pariah Nexus. As I keep coming back to this I keep wondering why you wouldn’t just take proper Sisters of Battle and add an Inquisitor and a Priest to make it a whole army and I’m coming up blank.
Final Thoughts
The Ordo Hereticus Detachment sadly feels kind of half-baked, relying on units which aren’t BATTLELINE for its core ability and with little else to support. The Detachment rule is interesting and the Stratagems you get to work with have some power, plus if you wanted to make Arbites work this is the detachment to do it. If you’re looking for an Imperial Agents Detachment to build around, you could certainly do worse.
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