| Designer(s) | Gavin Thorpe and others |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Games Workshop |
| Players | 2+ |
| Age range | 12+ (though it is aimed at older, more mature players) |
| Setup time | 5 - 30 minutes |
| Playing time | 30 minutes - 3 hours |
| Random chance | Dice rolling |
| Website | Inquisitor Homepage |
Inquisitor is a tabletop miniatures game based in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 Universe. Whereas Warhammer 40,000 is based on squad based tactical warfare, Inquisitor focuses on a small group of adventurers and plays a bit like a Role-playing game. Inquisitor has its own website[1] and 54 mm scale models are available as "Specialist Games" from the Games Workshop catalogue.[2]
Players choose a warband, usually made up of an Inquisitor and his/her henchmen, but also potentially led by any of a huge variety of rogues and heroes from throughout the Imperium such as Rogue Traders, Space Marines or Tech-priests. It even offers the chance to take on the guise of some of the Imperium's greatest enemies, such as Chaos Sorcerers, Genestealer Cult Leaders or twisted Mutants.
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The game is supported by Games Workshop's Specialist Games division, which periodically releases new rules for the game through the Specialist Games [1]. The game is intended for older wargamers, aged 16 and up.
The Inquisitor rulebook is available as a hard copy from Games Workshop,[3] or as a PDF from the Specialist Games website. It gives information about the Inquisition and the WH40K universe in general. The name, when written, is sometimes shortened to =I= by fans, or =][=, or -][- in homage to the symbol of the Inquisition as depicted on the cover of the rulebook.
Inquisitor uses a rules system based around the throwing of two 10-sided dice (known together as a d100 or d%), generating a percentile value, with one die representing the "tens" and the other representing "units". Standard six-sided dice are used for several of the game's mechanics also.
There are, technically, no limitations on the effective power and equipment of a player character - there are no hard and fast rules that prevent a player from creating a character armed with terrifyingly potent combinations of equipment and skills, although the game rulebook includes an optional "points" system that the organisers of a campaign might use to limit or guide their players. The 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, and the emphasis is on spinning a good story along the lines of a great action movie or adventure novel, rather than focusing on winning at all costs.
There are a few additional companion rulebooks for the Inquisitor game:
There are currently three campaigns in the game and each has a Conspiracies book[1][2]:
Player characters are usually represented in-game by 54 mm miniatures purchased from Games Workshop, roughly twice as large as the standard 28 mm Heroic scale of WH40K miniatures. The models available represent existing characters (such as Witch-hunter Tyrus, or Inquisitor Eisenhorn) presented in the rulebook. Players wishing to depict their own unique characters are generally required to extensively convert their models, or give them unique paint schemes. However, the distances given in the rulebook are written as yards, so that players can use any scale of miniature they wish, including the same models with which they play standard Warhammer 40,000.[3]
There are many different groups that players can play. Presented here are the archetypes represented in the Rulebook[3]:
With the release of Inquisitor came two reviews by RPGnet.
The first, in July 2001, was written by Charlie Engasser on the product. In his review, he states that the good aspects of the game are that "the production values as far as the printed material are excellent" and "Anyone familiar with the Warhammer universe will be pretty much at ease here." On the other hand, he describes the bad aspects such as the cost of the game and stated that "Completely ignoring races like the Space Orks, Eldar and most importantly, the Tyranids is a pretty glaring omission." [5] The later release of random character generators (such as in White Dwarf Magazine, issue 258 and the second issue of the Inquisitor supplement Exterminatus) has partially rectified this problem, as well as the release of a supplement specifically describing a campaign against the Eldar.
The second, in August 2001, was written by Sean Broughton-Wright on the game mechanics and playing. After noting problems with the variability of product quality ("the usual excellence displayed in such figures as Artemis to the rushed look of some others like Slick Devlan") and complimenting the quality of artwork ("all the good stuff that you'd expect of a Games Workshop product set in the 40K Universe"), he discusses the mechanics; he states, "The great strength of the GW game in its gearing towards competitive play is understandably missing here. As a war game it isn't very successful either." Among other issues, he was "bogged down in rules" and that he "Can't help but feel this would have been better as a first person shooter." This revolves around the issue that he points out, that "There seems to be very little support, even when compared to other sideline games like Mordheim."[6]
However, while the above points on competitive play are accurate (although there is an annual tournament,[7] the players are primarily ranked on their contribution to making the game an entertaining story), the introduction to the game rulebook sets out the game as a narrative game focused on the internal machinations of the Imperium allowing players and their Gamesmaster a large galactic sandbox, and that it should not be perceived as a balanced competitive game.
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 games 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, meaning that any new articles or updates for the game are fan written.