This is the first of my posts on what I consider to be Key Units in various Army books. A Key unit is usually one which is flexible and it is often the unit which has the ability to plug holes in your army book.
Arco Flagellant
This is a large volume of high strength attacks type henchman. Low toughness and no armour will limit its usefulness. Feel no pain is nice, but not especially useful with the low toughness. This henchmen type is most useful against low toughness high volume armies. I don’t believe this is especially needed in the Grey Knight unit, as they have a huge volume of shooting at ap 4 and 5 which should be easily able to deal with these enemies.
Rating: 3/10
Banisher
This should only be taken for its special ability which is not very impressive or useful given Warp Quake does a better job and is available on your troops choices. Unfortunately this works only against Daemons of Chaos and Summoned Daemons in Chaos Space marine armies. There is no scaling in their ability, so at the absolute limit, you should only ever include one. They can take an Evicisirator for a boost to their combat ability. Take this if you include one but it really is the most useless henchman.
Rating: 1/10
Crusader
One of the best choices in this section. A power weapon, flak armour and a storm shield on a guardsman statline for less points than a space marine. Very useful for absorbing power weapon and low ap shots. Although they do have a power weapon they have only one attack per model, and no option for additional hand weapons. They are essentially an anvil choice which will keep the whole unit around. I consider these to be virtually compulsory for any successful Henchman Unit. You should take two or more in any full size unit you take. In smaller units or in armies where you have Coatez, they are not as essential as the role of the unit changes.
Rating: 8/10
Daemonhost
A fairly poor stat line, no options, and a large model don’t make this choice especially appealing. It has a random ability, most of which are quite decent but they vary between combat and ranged. Unfortunately as you have to roll and can’t pick it, this will mean that you can’t rely on this unit to do what is needed when you need it to. Really should only be taken in fluffy lists, and even then I would not recommend taking more than one or two.
Rating: 3/10
Death Cult Assassin
Along with the Crusader, the DCA is a top notch combat henchman. A large volume of high initiative power weapon attacks coupled with a decent weapon skill make this a no brainer in combat. Very good value for points, being the same price as a Crusader. Ideally in any hand to hand henchman unit you want around half of your unit made of these. They have a low save, which although it is invulnerable, can’t be relied on to keep them alive, so you will need other cheaper/better protected warriors to bulk out the unit. Ideally take three to six of these.
Rating: 8/10
Inquisitorial Servitor
This is the same unit which is available for Space Marine techmarines, and imperial guard techpriest engiseers. You get a guardsman statline, carpace armour and a bonus high strength powerfist style servo arm as default, along with the option to mount heavy weapons replacing the servo arm. Most of these weapons are expensive, but they can be useful if your henchman unit is going to be a shooting based unit. Options include heavy bolter [poor] plasma cannon [dangerous] and a multi melta [good]. I would advise to either take one or two of these for their high strength attacks, as the unit lacks instant death and anti-walker combat attacks, or leave them at home. Their shooting attacks are pricey and inaccurate, but at a push they can provide extra heavy shooting for a unit, which in a chimera can be useful. Shooting can be improved by the next unit.
Rating: 3/10 rising to 6/10 with a Jokaero.
Jokaero Weaponsmith
Expensive monkey with some interesting rules to improve the units shooting. These benefit primarily Servitors and Warrior acolytes so only include them if you have plenty of the first two choices in the unit. They are exceptionally expensive; possess a poor stat line and a low invulnerable save. They come with a heavy weapon choice and boost other guns in the unit. I would recommend taking none in a combat unit and one or two in a shooting unit.
Rating: 3/10 rising to 7/10 with sufficient numbers of shooting henchmen.
Mystic
A human with a teleporter homer. This unit does exactly what it sounds like it does and nothing flashy. You are perhaps paying a point or two too much for this ability but it could be useful depending on the composition of the rest of your army. I can’t foresee any reason to ever take more than one.
Rating: 4/10
Psyker
A shooting henchman, with a power which increases for every additional pysker. I like this unit, although I would always endeavour to take at least two if you take them, so you are wounding MEQs on 2+. Fairly useless in a combat unit, but handy to throw down a large template. In large numbers can cut through marine armies with ease as the AP also decreases per additional psyker.
Rating: 6/10
Warrior Acolyte
Cheap and incredibly customisable. I would advise bulking out any unit of henchmen with these. You can tool a few of them up with special weapons such as melta guns, or keep them cheap and use as wound counters for the other more specialised models in the unit. They do get plasma guns at a cheaper price than many armies, although they do have low bs and low save, so they are not an ideal place to put them. Many of the combat options can be put on other models cheaper, so they should really only be considered to be a shooting option.
Rating: 8/10
