PAGE TO TABLE - PART FOUR

Nov 15

No One Expects!.....

The Emperor’s Inquisition!!! Right-o, I warned you last time that our look back at how Games Workshop have translated characters from prose to miniature form would be taking a minor detour into the realm of 54mm figures, and here we are as in this installment of Page to Table I get to talk about what I’d argue might be the most important product for the 40k setting (at least prior to Rowboat waking up), the skirmish/RPG hybrid that was Inquisitor.

Launched in May of 2001, Inquisitor had been teased for several months before release, including (in hindsight) the release of the Inquis Exterminatus artbook from Black Library, all ominous iconography of the Inquisition, with a final tease that went something along the lines of “Everything you know is a lie…”. On release the game immediately stood out with it’s use of miniatures in 54mm scale, all of which (barring some releases much, much later in the line towards the end of it’s support by GW) represented specific characters whose rules & bios were presented in either the core book or the later supplements published by the Fanatic in-print. Whilst this scale is regarded as one of the contributors to the difficulty that Inquisitor had in finding long-term sales, the fact that the game itself has endured as Inquistor28 and inspired a raft of creators to launch their own endeavours is a tribute to it’s impact. The game itself was remarkably crunchy (in the best way!) with the use of d100’s giving games a wonderfully cinematic flair.

It should also not be understated how much of an impact the lore of Inquisitor had, taking what had previously been a pretty monolithic institution - The Emperors Holy Ordos - and revealing it to be, just like the rest of The Imperium, riddled with internecine fighting, Ordos beyond just the headline trio of Malleus, Xenos & Hereticus, and with doctrinal differences that often led Inquisitors down pathways both Puritan and Radical that could see them declared Traitorus Excomunicato. Narrative soil that has proven to be shockingly fertile over the decades since Inquisitors release.

Oh hey, speaking of Radical Inquisitors……

Gregor Eisenhorn

Look, I couldn’t not talk about our man Gregor here. One of the initial trio of Inquisitors released for, well, Inquisitor, for many Eisenhorn was the highlight of that launch lineup as everything told you a story, from the layered robes, the disguised dueling cane, the trinkets dotted about him, to the timeworn face and the calipers on his legs. This is a character with a story to him, and it clearly resonated within Games Workshop, as Dan Abnett’s first novel to star him - Xenos - released at more or less the same time as the game, kicking off a series that of trilogies that, whilst we still await the final volume of the Bequin sequence, the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies are frequently noted amongst fans favourite books and recommendations for folks new to the 40k setting (a recommendation I cannot fault as they are excellent books, and ones that as a follower of Dan’s work I feel helped him grow as a writer).

Xenos is also important as (to the best of my knowledge and investigation - please correct me if I am wrong) it represented the first time that Black Library would publish a work with a character from one of their games in a starring role. Prior to this (and honestly for some time after, excluding the Horus Heresy books - don’t worry, I’ll be getting to those…) Black Library shied away from publishing work with tabletop characters in prominent positions. You might get a cameo (Dante & Mephiston in the framing devices for Bloodquest, Ahriman in Demonifuge, etc), or a name-check, but there was a concerted effort to keep events on the tabletop separate from what happened in the published fiction.

And whilst the Inquisitor range is long gone from retail availability, Games Workshop did not forget about Gregor Eisenhorn and in 2018 released a resin miniature of him that is still available to this day. Interestingly this is a bit of amalgamation, merging elements of Eisenhorn from various points of his career as depicted in the novels, with rules for using him in 40k that have remained pleasingly flavourful across the editions (he is currently classed as Legends for rules purposes). Fingers crossed he might (eventually) see a plastic release…..

(Side note - from the off I was so taken with Eisenhorns miniature that he formed the basis for the leader of my own warband for Inquisitor. Greenstuff hair, some extra scars, swapping out weapons & trinkets, and I present to you Inquisitor Trayest Greymalkin)

Kal Jericho

Somewhat inevitably, given the character had become something of a fan fave during his adventures in Warhammer Monthly, and around this time became involved in an arc that saw him kidnapped cough recruited by his Inquisitor mother to assist her warband off-world, Kal received a miniature and rules for use in Inquisitor in April of 2002.

Jena Orechiel
Aka Heleana Jerico, mother of Kal Jericho and member of the Ordo Xenos, received a miniature and rules for Inquisitor in September of 2003, sculpted by Steve Buddel

Other things of note? Well lets see. Whilst he’s not received a miniature since his 54mm incarnation, Inquisitor Covenant has received fiction of his own from the ever-reliable pen of John French in the form of the Horusian Wars, and his appearance has remained a popular take on a younger, more sure of their path, Inquisitor that gives off a heavy paladin vibe.

Deathwatch Battle Brother Artemis, divisive to players of Inquisitor because A) that’s a big hunk of metal and B) the Inquisitor ruleset was exceptional in how it made sure that the baseline for a member of the Adeptus Astartes in the game could do more damage bare-handed than most weapons in the game. Oh, and this was before factoring in their power armour, which made them just as fast & dangerous as the lore hand made them out to be but never quite translated to the rules of 40k. Artemis was a very nice miniature in person though, so long as you remembered to use pins, and was our first real glimpse of the third of the Orders Militant that Inquisitors could call upon - the Ordo Malleus had the Grey Knights, the Ordo Hereticus the Adepta Sororitas, and the Ordo Xenos with the Deathwatch. Outside of a metal conversion kit and some Chapter Approved rules for adding a single Deathwatch Killteam to Imperial armies in 3rd edition 40k, the Deathwatch were relatively poorly served outside of novels until late in 7th edition Warhammer 40,000 when they received a Codex Supplement of their own. And amongst the dedicated kits the faction received was Artemis, now promoted to Watch-Captain, his original pose recreated and with a suitable amount of extra bling to mark his new rank.

Beyond this, in recent years Games Workshop have shown a quite wonderful habit of using new kits to include parts to let you recreate characters from Inquisitor. To date Damien 1427 can be built out of the Archoflagellents, Sgt Stone from the Inquisitorial Agents, and Preacher Josef can be built from the Sanctifiers kit. Fingers crossed these won’t be the last times we see the likes of these.