Kill Team - Inquisitorial Agents

I mentioned in my Daemonhost article that I had been playing a lot of Darktide and reading a lot of Eisenhorn and Ravenor books. And if there’s one thing cooler than a Daemonhost it’s your own band of eclectic weirdos with which to protect the Imperium from the alien, the mutant and the heretic.

I missed out on picking up the Inquisitorial Agents when the Ashes of Faith box set was released in May 2023 but absolutely jumped on the opportunity when they became available separately. And so the box sat on my shelf for a time while I decided which options I would go with when I built them. The decision was however rendered moot with the release of Codex: Imperial Agents. You see I was in my local Warhammer store, for their store anniversary I believe, which was just after Codex Imperial Agents hit the shelves, so there were the reboxed Inquisitorial Agents on display. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, I would be able to build all of the options for the team plus I would be left with a bunch of Inquisition themed bits for other conversions.

Assembly

Whilst having two boxes did eliminate most of the decisions I needed to make there was one I needed to make. And that was to decide which of the three weapon options I wanted my Gun Servitors to have. The choices are a Heavy Bolter, Multi Melta or a Plasma Cannon. I chose the Heavy Bolter and Plasma Cannon because they sound fun. I could have magnetised the options but in the end, I didn’t. I also didn’t build the second Tome-Skull as I didn’t feel there was much point. Everything else was put together as per the instructions.

Once I had everything assembled all the models were then primed with Colour Forge Standard Grey. The remaining skin on the Gun Servitors was base coated with a couple layers of Two Thin Coats Griffon Claw. The skin on everything else meanwhile was base coated with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. Knowing of experience that Skeleton Horde contrast paint doesn’t work too well over grey, I basecoated the Tome-Skull and ream of paper on the Autosavant with Army Painter Oak Brown. With that done I then gave each model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink to set the lights and shadows. 

Moving onto the main colours I split the models into two groups: the Deathworld Veteran, Penal Legionnaire, Tome-Skull and Gun Servitors in one group, and the rest of the models into the other group. The models in the second group had broadly similar colour schemes so it made sense to group them together. It was this second group comprising the Interrogator, Autosavant, Questkeeper, Enlightener, Hexorist, Mystic, and Pistolier that I started with. 

Agents

Whilst the Inquisition, and certainly its agents, don’t have a uniform per se I did want them to have a unifying (for lack of a better word) colour scheme so that they looked like they are all on the same team. At some point in the distant past someone, probably in a copy of White Dwarf, came up with a black and red scheme for some Inquisition related miniatures. It’s quite a striking scheme for what is effectively the Imperium’s secret police, so it’s stuck throughout the years. And naturally, I wanted to use it for my Inquisition Agents. 

So with that in mind I grabbed my pots of Black Templar, Garaghak’s Sewer and purchased a pot of Flesh Tearers Red to use as my main colour palette. To help differentiate the similar sculpts I made sure to use a different colour for each. For example, I painted the robe of the Interrogator with Garaghak’s Sewer and the robe of the Enlightener with Flesh Tearers Red. As a side note, Flesh Tearers Red is my new favourite colour. It’s a beautiful deep and saturated red that I’m definitely going to be using a lot more. I did have to be a bit clever about which colour I used as a few of them are wearing bits of armour on their shoulder or wrists, and I knew I was going to paint them black. So anyone that had these pieces of armour couldn’t have a black robe. Additionally, Garaghak’s Sewer is a great colour for leather so for anyone that used that colour for their robe couldn’t use that same colour for their pouches, instead I fell back on old faithful: Gore Grunta Fur. 

Moving onto the other details I used Army Painter Skeleton Bone for parchment, skulls, candle wax and the lining of the Enlightener’s hood. The fur lining on the Hexorist’s robe I painted with Basilicanum Grey and the laces with Skrag Brown. The Mystic’s blindfold I painted with Army Painter Speedpaint Purple Swarm, as purple is typically associated with psykers in the Imperium. The cover of the book that the Interrogator I painted with Two Thin Coats Royal Cloak and the bookmark with Two Thin Coats Sword Hilt Burgundy. While I had it out, I also used Sword Hilt Burgundy for the wax seals of the purity seals. 

For the metallics, I started by picking out the weapon workings and blades with Scale75 Thrash Metal. Most of the top half of the Autosavant is bionic and as it’s quite textured I decided to save some time and painted it with a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. To help break up the silver, I painted the cabling around his skull with Vallejo Hammered Copper. Being agents of one of the most powerful organisations in the Imperium I made sure to cover these guys in a frankly excessive amount of gold detail. With that in mind I painted the trim on the clothing and armour, the greaves on the Questkeeper and Pistolier, and the icon on the Mystic’s staff with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. 

To finish things off the skin was given a wash of Reikland Fleshshade, aside from the Questkeeper whose skin I painted with Wyldwood. The areas that I had painted silver were given a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. The candles were given a wash of Seraphim Sepia while the flames I basecoated with Army Painter Matt White and then gave a coat of Imperial Fist. 

Gun Servitors and Veterans

Taking inspiration from the Questkeeper, I painted the skin on the Deathworld Veteran with Wyldwood. Unfortunately this time it ended up blotchy like the poor guy had a wasting illness. It was so bad I ended up repainting the skin with Vallejo Dark Fleshtone. Similarly with his vest I had initially painted it with Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red, but it was a bit too close to the skin. So I repainted it with Vallejo Khaki, the soft beige contrasting nicely with the skin and keeping with the militaristic theme. Speaking of theme, the next step was using the various greens I had at my disposal to paint in the rest of the details. For example, I used Militarum Green for his shoulder armour, Army Painter Speedpaint Desolate Brown for the loincloth and Creed Camo for the trousers.

I finished the details off by painting any leather details with Gore Gunta Fur, any cloth wraps with Snakebite Leather and the boots with Black Templar. For the metallic details I painted the top of this head and various blades with Scale75 Thrash Metal, and any gold details like pommels with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. To bring out the texture the metallic areas were given a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. The skin meanwhile was given a coat of Army Painter Purple Tone. 

For the Penal Legionnaire I wanted to really contrast the green tones of the Death World Veteran. So with that in mind I painted the Penal Legionnaire’s top with Army Painter Speedpaint Highlord Blue and his trousers with Burnished Red. For the weapons, to give them that old and worn appearance I gave them a coat of Ratling Grime followed by a drybrush of Necron Compound. A super easy trick I picked up from watching Eons of Battle. From there the rest of my Penal Legionnaire was fairly by the numbers; Gore Grunta Fur leather, Scale75 Thrash Metal silver details, Reikland Fleshshade wash on the skin, Black Templar boots and so forth. 

For the gun-toting Servitors I started by giving their pallid decayed skin a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. Servitors might be lobotomised machine slaves, but they are still technically alive. To make the Inquisition symbol carved into the arm stand out a bit more I gave that a coat of Guilliman Flesh. Their undersuits I painted with Basilicanum Grey and the boots with Black Templar. I figured that servitors are viewed the same way that we today might view some industrial equipment, so with that in mind I painted the armour with Iyanden Yellow. It’s not as bright as Imperial Fist but it does work over a grey undercoat much better. Plus the slight orange tone it has gives the impression of rust in the recesses. For the weapons I painted the gun casing with Vallejo Scarlet Red, a contrast paint wouldn’t do so well over such large flat areas. And the working parts of the weapons I painted with Ratling Grime before giving a drybrush of Necron Compound. The coils on the plasma cannon I first basecoated with Army Painter Matt White before giving them a coat of Talassar Blue. To finish things off I picked out a few of the cables with Scale75 Thrash Metal and Vallejo Hammered Copper. 

The Tome-Skull presented some challenges as I use Army Painter Skeleton Bone as the base colour for bone, parchment, and candle wax. To differentiate things a bit more I had base coated the skull with a couple thin coats of Army Painter Oak Brown prior to the zenithal highlight. That way when I applied a coat of Skeleton Horde I was left with warm brown shadows rather than a drab grey. For the pages of the ubiquitous tome I painted them with Skeleton Bone and then to make them stand out a little more I painted the candles with Mesphiston Red. The book cover I painted with Two Thin Coats Royal Cloak and the straps with Skrag Brown. Everything else on the model, that is to say the mechanical gubbins, I painted with Ratling Grime and then drybrushed with Necron Compound. The page were then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone while the candles were washed with Dark Tone. To finish things off I used Black Templar and Flesh Tearers Red to paint in some text on the pages. 

Bases

As dictated by my Space Wolves so many years ago, pretty much all my Imperial forces have a tundra basing scheme. To do this I first covered the bases with Stirland Mud texture paint which was then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone and drybrushed with Tyrant Skull. I then dabbed on some PVA glue in patches and dunked the bases in a tub of Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains. Valhallan Blizzard texture paint was then used to add snow effects to the base. Lastly the rims of each base were painted with Steel Legion Drab.