USING INDUCTED IMPERIAL GUARD OR ALLIED SPACE MARINE CONTINGENTS
As noted earlier, even a dedicated witch hunting force may include many diverse elements brought together for the task in hand. To allow for this variant, the Witch Hunters army list contains options for Inducted Imperial Guard and Allied Space Marine forces. You'll need access to Codex: Space Marines or Codex: Imperial Guard in order to use these options.
When using Allied or Inducted troops, only the basic versions of these troop types published in the appropriate Codex can be used. No variants of any kind can be incorporated. Either inducted Imperial Guard or allied Space Marines can be used in any one Witch Hunters army, but not both.
When using units in this manner, you must first fulfil all compulsory unit choices on the Force Organisation chart from the Witch Hunters list. Once these criteria have been met, Allied and Inducted squads may be taken from the list (see page 26).
Designer's note: It is still perfectly permissible to use, for instance, Steel Legion models as normal Imperial Guardsmen, or variant Space Marine Chapter models to stand in for normal Space Marines, although they obviously would not use any Chapter-specific rules.
Inducted Imperial Guard These may be elements of Imperial Guard regiments requisitioned on Inquisitorial authority, local planetary defence troops pressed into service to eliminate the forces of witchcraft and heresy, or even an Inquisitor's secretly-recruited private army.
Allied Space Marines Allied Space Marines will usually come from a Chapter with long associations with the Ordo Hereticus. In some cases these allegiances may stretch back thousands of years, kept alive by generations of Space Marine Librarians recording each oath and honour bestowed and earned. An Inquisitor would not call upon such precious allies except in dire circumstances, to deal with some terrible threat that cannot be answered by the Adepta Sororitas in time.
Allied Space Marines may not be used if any Adepta Sororitas units are present in the Witch Hunters force.
Pure Witch Hunters Forces For a 'pure' Witch Hunters force just stick to the forces in the army list from this book. Note that it is entirely possible to form an army based purely around the Adepta Sororitas, if you so wish, by sticking to the Sisters of Battle units available to the army. This will make for a very characterful force to play and, armed with such faith, you'll certainly have the Emperor watching over you!
Using Witch Hunters as Allies
In keeping with the many possibilities for the forces of the Ordo Hereticus to appear within Space Marine and Imperial forces, Witch Hunters units can be included as allies in any of the following Codex armies:
- Space Marines, including variant armies such as Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Dark Angels*, Black Templars, Salamanders and other loyalist Index Astartes Chapters.
- Imperial Guard and its variants, such as Catachan Jungle Fighters and Armageddon Steel Legion.
- Daemonhunters.
* Note that if Witch Hunters are present, the Inquisitorial scrutiny means that the Dark Angels' 'Hunt The Fallen' special rule is suspended.
Neither Inducted Imperial Guard nor Allied Space Marines may be included in such a contingent, and the total number of Witch Hunters unit choices may not exceed the following:
- 0-1 HQ choice
- 0-1 Elite choice
- 0-2 Troops choices
- 0-1 Fast Attack choice
Note that Heavy Support may not be chosen.
Any compulsory choices (such as the one HQ and two Troops choices in a standard mission) must be fulfilled from the 'parent' list and not the Witch Hunters list.
Witch Hunters cannot ally with a force that uses any other type of ally with the exception of separate detachments and units from other Ordos of the Inquisition.
If you have an existing Warhammer 40,000 army, this is the simplest way of incorporating an Inquisitor or a squad of Sisters of Battle. This will provide handy background hooks for campaigns and add character and unique abilities for one-off games. If you're interested in building a bigger witch hunting force, it's also a good way to build gradually and get a feel for the Witch Hunters units as you go.