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So I keep seeing people complain about Seer Council and O'Vesa Star lists and what not and it makes me wonder - why is the Vindicare Assassin not seeing more play at the moment? A single 36" S8 shot that removes an invulnerable save from wargear, is allocated by the assassin's controller, and cannot be LOS. It seems like a great way to neuter some of these deathstars that focus so much on rerolling invulnerable saves. Snipe out the Grimoire. Snipe out the Baron or a Farseer.

Put him into a Bastion (or bunker if stronghold is allowed) and he becomes a bit more resilient.

Am I missing something?

He probably is quite good against those targets. He ignores look out sir (a buff badly needed by other sniper characters like the eldar Illic) and as you say can nullify invulnerables. Cover saves and FNP can still be taken though.

Two probable reasons he is not much seen:
1. You have to be either allied or primary Grey Knights. If he was part of the new Inquisition rules he would probably be seen a lot more often.

2. At high level play when people are expecting to see those sorts of deathstars, building armies to counter them etc, it would probably be foolish to try and get your opponent's powerhouse with a static unit. All the deathstar units you mention are very mobile. Why would a good opponent necessarily expose them (especially the key models you describe) to a fire point or a static infantry model?

If he is used at all, I think he is still best off in a building though. Quite simply won't survive otherwise - a 3+ cover or 4+ inv save on 2 wounds just isn't enough for such a pricy non-IC.

Putting him behind an Aegis Line with access to the Quad-Gun or Icarus can also be fun. Make sure he's not the only guy holding it, in case you want to use his Sniper Rifle, but always placing a S9AP2 shot on whatever target you want, (Or always placing 4 S7 AP4 shots) can be hilarious.

So I keep seeing people complain about Seer Council and O'Vesa Star lists and what not and it makes me wonder - why is the Vindicare Assassin not seeing more play at the moment? A single 36" S8 shot that removes an invulnerable save from wargear, is allocated by the assassin's controller, and cannot be LOS. It seems like a great way to neuter some of these deathstars that focus so much on rerolling invulnerable saves. Snipe out the Grimoire. Snipe out the Baron or a Farseer.

Put him into a Bastion (or bunker if stronghold is allowed) and he becomes a bit more resilient.

Am I missing something?

You aren't. A Vindicare in a Bastion is a great meta buster (as is the GK codex in general). I know some people who are working on lists that incorporate it for the reasons you mentioned.

I love my Vindicare.

He is a bit of a toolbox, yes killing tanks and removing inv saves are great. But he does have a sniper rifle which pins so he becomes a great troop holder. Hi Sarge with a powerfist eat this bullet please. No squad since you dont have the sarges Ld roll your pinning test on your own!

Hi Plasma you can do some serious damage to my friends. Chew on this bullet please.

His survivability is low but throw something like a dreadknight into the mix and ill go for the kill on the big baby carrier over a lone sniper every time

I faced one is a bastion recently and he was a thorn in my side. He kept plinking at my Chaos Lords and there really wasn't anything I could do. My opponent also had him sitting next to an Icarus Lascannon which did wonders for him as well, since the Lascannon itself is not very good with low BS shooters. He could easily neuter a Deer council or a Screamerstar (by doing a 2 wound shot on the grimoire bearer).