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So, I was pretty impressed when I saw it at first. It looked pretty crazy. Having a think about it, and trying to see what it could do has led me to the following conclusions and thoughts:

1 - Statistically you should be generating an average of just under 1 counter per turn. A casino would be happy to take those odds, but it means that it's a fairly safe bet. In the space of a game, it's more likely to stay on than drop off (assuming I'm correct in assuming that you roll for the counter drop off 6 times a turn)

2 - You lose all use of the rest of your powers, so you don't necessarily want to jump straight into this.

3 - It turns your Farseer (or Spiritseer) into a hard hitting suicide bomber, so a nice late game trick perhaps?

4 - You want lots of mobility - my theory is the best way to use this is on a jetbike Farseer (preferably with a few Warlock buddies to give him some extra buffs while you're at it) who's holding either the Shard of Anaris (giving him some Instant Death love) or the Firesabre (cause setting fire to things is fun), or if he's on his own give him the Mantle of the Laughing God so he can get up to the enemy rocking a 2+ re-rollable Jink...

5 - Depending on the answer to my question over here -
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/531540.page#5701570
You might be able to give him one of those as well as the Phoenix Gem. If not, perhaps just the Gem - send him on a suicide mission and watch him blow up. Kapow!

So - you get your Farseer on a bike, get him most of the way over, then cast it on yourself, blast your way straight at their HQ or biggest nasty and see if you can kill it.

Yes, you're not guaranteed to get the ability, so building a unit specifically to take advantage of it might be silly, BUT you do get 3 shots at rolling it up on your Farseer, which is a pretty good risk to take I think. Just so long as you have a Plan B for the unit it's not so bad...

What does everyone else think? Foolishness or possible game-winner?

- A

Thing is a 'Trolltarch' (Autarch, Lance, Jetbike and Mantle), does similar things but much much more reliably. WS/BS/i6 is all high enough for against most targets and the lance has significantly better killing power than anything available to a Farseer.

I think its a case of if you're running a Farseer in a Deathstar of some kind, and have the points spare to have him equipped with the Shard (though it is pricey), I think rolling it and popping Death Mission as you reach combat is a nice way to win challenges. Unfortunately it has faaaar too many downsides to be counted on as a strategy.

I do look forwards to getting to try it out in a friendly though.

Fleshbane on the Witchblade is pretty nice, when you're rocking that many hits... But I think the Shard would be my favourite, since it gives him +2S as well...

What are the downsides, apart from no casting anything else?

This is one of those cases where I feel that IF you could choose your powers, this ability would be much more interesting. You could tune up a Farseer to do some real damage with it, but it's a waste of a ton of points if you don't get the ability.

Right, Now I do not think that the Pheonix Gem is a bad upgrade for a Farseer. People will want to kill your Psycher, and the Gem can be a get out of jail free card for your Farseer. You very might well get some use out of the Gem with or without death mission.

Also the Witchblade is a fine weapon, its still fleshbane, so pretty decent at killing basic troops, and its cheap. Both the Shard and Fire Saber are very expensive, and a huge waste of points it if you do not randomly roll death mission. Just stick with the Singing Spear. Its 1 handed now so you can still merrily chop things up.

Overall though I don't really like death mission. I would rather take an Autarch who I know is going to have 3 attacks, and give him a fancy weapon like the Shard. Once you start talking about a relic weapon, pheonix gem, and jetbike, you really should just take a pheonix lord....

Okies so - let's say you try for it.

Farseer
+jetbike
+singing spear
+runes of witnessing (cause you really don't want to fail one of your Death Mission top-up rolls...)
+shard of anaris replacing his pistol
= 175pts

10, 10, 3/5, 4, 3, 10, 3, 10, 3+/4++
Fearless, Rampage
+2S, 5A on the charge, Rending, Fleshbane, Instant Death in melee (or just S3, Fleshbane, Armourbane, 3A for 40pts less)
12" S9 Fleshbane or shurideath shooting

The Trolltarch mentioned above -
Autarch
+jetbike
+lance
+mantle
= 135pts

6, 6, 3, 4, 3, 6, 3, 10, 3+/4++
5A, S6, AP3, Lance on the charge only, S3 AP- after that

For 40 points more, the Deathseer sounds like a lot more fun... Sure he might explode, but where's the fun if you won't take the risk? Take the Gem instead of the Shard and save 15 points, take it as well if it gets FAQ'd like that and spent 40 more...

Makes him the cheapest, fastest, most powerful Phoenix Lord...

Make sure you've got a good Jetbike unit for him to play with if you don't get DM and he's still going to be a force to be reckoned with...

majendie wrote:
5A, S6, AP3, Lance on the charge only, S3 AP- after that

Ah yes, but he won't be in combat after that will he? Hit and Run

Also, the problem is that you can only count on getting Death Mission 50% of the time (or 75% with two seers, but then only one can take Shard, sooo)

Nothing preventing you from taking BOTH of course.....

That's why you have a good backup plan for your Deathseer. If you've got more Jetbikes, particularly warlocks on them, in your army, then you say either he goes it alone or with a buddy or two for some Death AND Glory, or he stays with the rest and helps out like usual.

He can, also, run with the Trolltarch as a unit of two, cast the Death Mission and go kill stuff...