Inquisitor is a 2001 tabletop miniatures game based in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 (Warhammer 40K, or simply 40K) universe. Whereas the main line of Warhammer 40K games is based on squad based tactical warfare, Inquisitor focused on a small group of player characters akin to many role-playing games. Inquisitor miniatures are no longer produced by Games Workshop but, whilst they were, the game had its own website and 54 mm scale models were available as "Specialist Games" from the Games Workshop catalogue.

Players choose a warband, typically made up of an Inquisitor and their henchmen, but also potentially led by any of a huge variety of characters from throughout the 40K universe's Imperium, such as Rogue Traders, Space Marines or Tech-priests. It also offers the chance for players to take on the guise of some of the Imperium's greatest enemies, such as Chaos Lords, the Demonic legions of Chaos, Genestealer Cult Leaders, or twisted Mutants.

The game

The game was supported by Games Workshop's Specialist Games division, which periodically released new rules for the game through the Specialist Games website Home | Games Workshop Webstore. The game was intended for older wargamers, aged 16 and up.

The Inquisitor rulebook was available as a hard copy from Games Workshop, or as a PDF from the Specialist Games website. It gives information about the Inquisition and the Warhammer 40K universe in general. The name, when written, is sometimes shortened to =I=, =][=, or -][- by fans, in homage to the symbol of the Inquisition as depicted on the cover of the rulebook.

Inquisitor uses a rules system in which two 10-sided dice (known together as a d100 or d%) are thrown to generate a percentile value, with one die representing the "tens" and the other representing "units". Standard six-sided dice are also used for several of the game's mechanics.

There are, technically, no limitations on the effective power and equipment of a player character - the rules do not prevent a player from creating a character armed with extremely potent combinations of equipment and skills. The game rulebook does offer an optional "points" system that the organisers of a campaign might use to limit or guide their players, and the general expectation is that players exercise common sense when creating their characters. Unlike a tactical wargame or role-playing game, Inquisitor describes itself as a "narrative" skirmish game, with an emphasis on storytelling in the nature of action movies or adventure novels, as opposed to a focus on winning at all costs.

Source books

There were several additional companion rulebooks for the Inquisitor game available:

  • Thorian Faction Sourcebook:

:This book details the background and history of the Thorian philosophy and those who follow it. Amongst other topics, the book focuses on the efforts of Promeus, a semi-legendary figure from the earliest days of the Imperium, and his desire to revive the Emperor of Mankind from his half-life existence on the Golden Throne. It traces his and his followers', the Promeans, attempts to achieve their end, and their conflict with their allies and later rivals led by Moriana. Over millennia, the two factions slowly disappear, but their history and achievements paved the way for two factions, the Thorians and the Horusians, to rise and seek out a new way to approach the divine nature of the Emperor.

:The book details additional characters and how the followers of the Thorian philosophy interact with other Ordos of the Inquisition. It also provides additional weapons and powers to be used by the Thorians.

Reviews

  • Backstab #31
  • Świat Gier Komputerowych #101

History

After a good period on release where Inquisitor experienced relatively good popularity when compared with other games outside of Games Workshop's main franchises (Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Fantasy Battles), the game has slowly lost both appeal and support from Games Workshop.

For a time articles featuring Inquisitor were commonly featured in Games Workshop's flagship magazine White Dwarf together with new miniature releases. Partly due to the introduction of Games Workshop's The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, and the resultant use of the magazine space for articles relating to it, Inquisitor's coverage was later moved to the game's own magazine, Exterminatus. Exterminatus ran for a short period (10 quarterly issues), until Games Workshop grouped all of its Specialist Games range magazines into one larger magazine named Fanatic (for much of its run, Fanatic was solely an online magazine) which was also later discontinued. Together with this miniatures were restricted to online sales only and some have since gone out of production such as the Kal Jerico model. In 2004 the rulebook was made available as a free PDF within the Specialist Games section of the Games Workshop website.

The decline has also been reflected in the game's online support. In 2007 the game's online forum was removed from Games Workshop's servers (although a replacement is now hosted and run privately by fans at the-conclave.co.uk, where it still has a loyal fanbase).

At the same time, a considerable majority of the Fanatic online articles were taken down from the site. No "official" content has been released by Games Workshop since its site redesign, thus any new articles or updates since then have been fan-written.

Production of Inquisitor miniatures by Games Workshop has now ceased and, following a period when the remaining stock was sold off, the miniatures are no longer available from Games Workshop either online or in store.

While the game is currently no longer supported by Games Workshop, and the models are no longer available in the 54mm scale, the game is still played by players that often review some

of Games workshops' older properties.

In recent years, a scaled down version has been created by a loyal group of players. Lovingly referred to as "Inquisimunda", this version of Inquisitor scales down the miniatures to a more accessible 28mm/28mm heroic scale sizing, with players using models kitbashed from other models, or directly using models from the Games Workshop “Warhammer 40,000” or "Necromunda" lines (hence the term "Inquisimunda", a portmanteau of both games).

Beyond the scale change, the game rules remain largely intact, but hardcore devotees can still find models and materials on reseller and auction sites.

References

  • Games Workshop's Inquisitor homepage