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So I didn't see a thread anywhere on the new Imperial Assassins so I said I'd start one. I'll include my vague ramblings on their rules in a Spoiler tag if anyone wants a run down on them from someone who hasn't any real experience with how they were previously. Also if I have contravened any rules please let me know. No points costs or exact rules wording will be included.
Spoiler:
They all have an individual entry rather than a set stat line and special rules with add ons. Saying that they all went up by one wound and in stat line are no different from each other. Aside for the wound there doesn't look to be much change. Their individual Special Rules I will mention below if anything stood out. They all though have Fearless, Infiltrate and Move Through Cover as well as Lightning Reflexes which provides a 4+ Invulnerable save and removes the Init penalty for assaulting through difficult terrain. On top of that they have a penalty to your opponent's Look Out Sir rolls of -2 and a rule which stops ICs from Joining them (they are not ICs themselves) and if an Assassin is your Warlord, they gain no Warlord Trait.
They can be taken as an Assassin detachment of a single Elite with the special rule that if the enemy warlord dies to an assassin you get a Victory point. This may not be so difficult. I am seriously considering throwing one or more into my non-Imperial armies and just putting them away from the rest of the army Calidus and it's 1" infiltrate might be ideal for that though the rest wouldn't be too bad.
They also have a formation of one of each assassin that provides "Preferred Enemy (Warlord)" and the previously mentioned bonus victory point.
The Vindicare with his precision shots on all successful to hit rolls, combined with the Shield Breaker for no invul and his spy mask for Ignores cover looks like the best one. Or switch to hellfire for 2+ to wound or Turbo penetrator for D3 wounds. The Penetrator also counts as S10 against vehicles. (no more +4D6 penetration)
This guy frightens me, being able to reach out across the board and murder pretty much any Sergeant or special weapon. Ork Warlords are in a bad way as one Turbo Penetrator shot could kill a Warboss due to the lack of Invul saves. (2+ to hit, reroll on a 4+. A hit is allocated to the Warboss, 4+ to wound and then d3 wounds... AP2 and Ignores Cover)
He also has Blind grenades.
The Callidus could be fun, allowing Seize rerolls (important if you just infiltrated 2" away from the Enemy Warlord) and -3 to the first reserves roll.
Also has Fleet, Hit and Run and Precision Strikes. Polymorphine allows the Callidus to Infiltrate anywhere provided they are more than 1" from any enemy unit whether in Line of Sight or not. The Callidus can also choose to move on from the enemy board edge should they be held in reserves. The enemy can only fire Snap Shots at the Callidus on the first game turn or the turn in which they arrived.
The Neural Shredder is an AP2 template that wounds on a 4+. T
CC weapons look fun though not amazing, the "Phase Sword" doesn't allow Invul saves on a to wound of 6. Understandable really given the Vindicare only has one shot a turn whereas on a charge this guy has 6 attacks.
The Poison blade is AP- but poisoned 3+ and Rending.
The Eversor looks to be a bit of a beast, I would not want him to get the charge.
He has Feel no Pain, Furious Charge a Power Sword and Meltabombs. On top of that when he dies he inflicts a S5 ap- hit to all models within D6"
He also fires his pistol 4 times whenever he shoots, split between Needle or Bolt (your choice per shot) and Overwatches at full BS
Now for the fun part. The Eversor in juiced on Frenzon which allows him to charge 3D6 combined and adds 3 attacks on the charge rather than one (For a total 8 attacks) and can attack with his Power Sword or Neural gaunlet which is S User AP - Fleshbane and Shred.
Finally the Culexus could be the best or worst assassin depending on what your opponent takes. If he takes a Psyker heavy list he just shot himself in the foot. Truly.
So for gaks n' giggles the Culexus has Preferred Enemy Psykers and Fear. Armour saves cannot be taken against wounds from the Culexus's close combat attacks. (He has no weapons) Any roll of a 6 to wound is Instant death. Any wound is instant death against a Psyker.
Any Psykers, friend or foe within 12" have -3 LD, do not generate warp charges and only harness successfully on a 6. The Culexus cannot be targeted or affected by psychic powers. Any blessing or malediction affecting a unit immediately cease to be in effect if the unit moves within 12" of the Culexus...
Finally the Animus Speculum is fired in the Psychic phase and cannot be used to overwatch.
It is a range 18" S5 AP1 Assault X where X is equal to the combined mastery levels of all psyker units, friend or foe within 12" + up to 3 of your own generated warp charges.
Finally if the Culexus is targeted with shooting or close combat attacks you resolve it as BS1 or WS1 as appropriate.
With Infiltrate I am sorely tempted to take a Vindicare or Callidus in my non-Imperial Army. I should be able to avoid the worst part of Come the Apocalypse and honestly if they live up to their expectations (That is to say do something and then die), I don't believe they will be around long enough for One Eye Open to kick in.
Even if it is just putting a Vindicare in a ruin and aiming to kill squad characters and special weapons might be enough. While he has only one shot a turn, he should be able to remove a Melta gun or equivalent from a squad from pretty much anywhere on the battlefield.
The Callidus might also be good. Infiltrate up turn one, go for first player turn and target something that the AP2 Template that wounds on a 4+ can do some damage. Ride out the turn with the snapshot requirement and even if you get assaulted Hit and Run for a next turn assault assuming you survive, which shouldn't be too bad given if he doesn't challenge you you can use your Precision Strikes to again take out special weapons.
I think this guy could play havoc with an enemy in their deployment zone, particularly if you go for a soft target like a Devastator squad first with the Neural Shredder.
Any thoughts or am I just going mad thinking these guys could be a good addition to most army lists?
By the 37 keys of Tzeentch,We open the way for our brothers,
By the 1000 whispers of Slaanesh we call to them,
By the 12 plagues of Nurgle we fell their enemies,
And by the mighty axe of Khorne we cut open the world for them!
- Ritual of Summoning, Recited by Amphion and Zethus Dark Sorcerers of the Deimos Peninsula,Kronos
Dios mio that vindicare is railgun that hits on a 2+ and ignores cover. A weapon that can be taken by any army and put in a corner to do it's business.That is scary.
Grey Templar wrote: The Riptide can't be a giant death robot, its completely lacking a sword or massive chainsaw. All giant death robots have swords or massive chainsaws.
You know you're really doing something when you can make strangers hate you over the Internet. - Mauleed
Just remember folks. Panic. Panic all the time. It's the only way to survive, other than just being mindful, of course-but geez, that's so friggin' boring. - Aegis Grimm
Hallowed is the All Pie The Before Times: A Place That Celebrates The World That Was
It is pretty crazy as a single assassin can be taken as a detachment and as far as I can see, (and I may just be blind here) they are not unique so you can in theory take more than on of the same Assassin in a single army.
By the 37 keys of Tzeentch,We open the way for our brothers,
By the 1000 whispers of Slaanesh we call to them,
By the 12 plagues of Nurgle we fell their enemies,
And by the mighty axe of Khorne we cut open the world for them!
- Ritual of Summoning, Recited by Amphion and Zethus Dark Sorcerers of the Deimos Peninsula,Kronos
That was my biggest fear. So far between Belakor, Cypher and these lads the Dataslates have been pretty good
By the 37 keys of Tzeentch,We open the way for our brothers,
By the 1000 whispers of Slaanesh we call to them,
By the 12 plagues of Nurgle we fell their enemies,
And by the mighty axe of Khorne we cut open the world for them!
- Ritual of Summoning, Recited by Amphion and Zethus Dark Sorcerers of the Deimos Peninsula,Kronos
Dat Eversor tho. I like it. It's not spectacular against most hard-hitting enemies, but dear LORD will he tear through chaff like it's nobody's business.
They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines, and they shall know no fear.
I like to buffs to the Vindicare and Evesor, and think the Callidus and Culexus are dumb to the point of being borderline game breaking.
A single assassin form a dataslate just provided better anti-demon that the entire Grey Knights codex. I'll let that sink in.
Personally I'm not a fan of anything that greatly alters a way an army can play. An infiltrating assassin that can't be reliably shot at or charged, all with a 12" bubble will ruin a lot of armies.
The Callidus' new -3 to first reserve roll screws over any flier or army with one unit in reserves. I find both extremely problematic and they're extremely cheap too.
In other words: Everything people hated about the Baron in Seerstar lists just got given to the imperium and psyker heavy armies can't do a thing with that assassin on the field.
One or both will be a staple in every top-table list.
They each got his own "victim of choice" opponent type who he excels against, yet is of mediocre value against other things.
And pretty much anyone can get them in his army.
This gives them a unique status: Meta brakers.
They simply brake up the meta by EXISTING. if any one army type becomes dominant (competitively speaking) , people will simply splash in the appropriate assassin and make short work of it.
This dataslate single-highhandedly creates a "lead disadvantage" state, when anything that is too good, will fail as it gets countered. the road to victory will no longer be gimmek units that require spesific counter, as anyone can have them now-its to be either so balanced that no counter works, or just throw something unexpected at the table and annihilate the opponent's silver bullets with something that is weak to gold.
By the fact that they brake apart given armies, they actually make the game more balanced competitively, as you can't trust any one trick-no matter how good it is, as there is an assassin out there to kill it.
Psyker batteries-meet Culexus.
Hidden centerpiece units-Vindi will take care.
Gating deathstar-Callidus will do a number on it before it starts jumping.
T1-2 assault rush-will it bled? Eversor says yes.
They even counter each other up to a given point. vindi will make short work of cule and probably ever before they get too close, ever will tear calli and cule apart, calli can probably take down vindi without too much trouble, and a pair of cule will shut each other down as none can afford to get too close;
As for cule in general, I find it amusing how he shuts down your own psy power as well. unlike old times, if you want to fuel him with psyker batteries-the psykers will do nothing BUT fuel him.
But the enemy has GOT to have something that does not rely on psykers in order to kill it, not that its hard, he's isolated and on the frontlines, without anything that makes it incredibly hard to kill him with simple bolter spam. (you gonna need a few though, shooting at BS1 and all)
And none of the above works to any extend on an army based on zerging you with just too many worthless dudes.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/23 02:37:11
can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now.
The Vindicare Assassin has been nerfed slightly. His Shield Breaker bullets no longer destroys shield invulnerable saves, only ignores the invulnerable save for his own shots. I was looking forward to owning one but now I don't know.
And precision shots are only performed on a 6, not on every shot, from what I can remember looking at it briefly earlier today.
I'd agree with the Vindicare, except characters in blobs are fairly safe from him, needing to be struck with a 6 and then fail the admittedly-modified LoS to be then wounded (probably not killed). Combine with this that Shield Breakers no longer dissolve invul saves and that a Str10 + d6 rending shot is, per my instinct and brief number googling, worse than a 4d6 rending for AV penning and I'll say that the Vindicare should be relegated to maybe non-psychic MC killing or 3+/2+ unit killing.
They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines, and they shall know no fear.
Kangodo wrote: That has later been reported as false, so you still allocate.
I own the dataslate. Unless there's something I'm missing, that's how it is.
I am looking at it right now, just downloaded from Black Library, and it specifically states:
All successful To Hit rolls made by a Vindicare Assassin, excluding Snap Shots, have the Precision Shots special rule.
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
Ah, my mistake. I read that bit ad the assassin having the rule, not the shots having them. Still worse for enemies actually being ABLE to LoS the shots, but he is better than I thought.
They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines, and they shall know no fear.
Yeah, ICs are still more or less safe from the Vindicare (4+ to wound and 4+ LOS means at least 4 shots will be needed to get one through, although Hellfire rounds improve the wounding chance).
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
Cullexus FTW, my buddy plays DP-heavy Nurrgle Daemon list (add Belakor for the "fun" of it), I'm gonna hit him in the nuts with a Cullexus riding solo in a Land Raider and shove him up his line. Oh, you mean you don't get to generate 20 warp charges this round? Bummer.
In all seriousness though, as mentioned above, each of them excel at their roles, though I will concede that the Vindicare seems to have been nerfed a bit. He will still be a great way to remove critical models from the enemy (infantry or vehicle)
The Callidus can seriously wreck some enemy backlines, I can see it ruining a Tau player's day.
The Eversor is an infantry CC mulcher (MEQ or worse).
And the Cullexus will be the absolute bane of Eldar and Daemon armies.
I'm very much tempted to field the formation (all 4 of the assassins) in a list to see how they work out. That's a lot of points but I can see them doing some serious work.
I am thinking the Callidus is what the Lictor should have been. Actually I may "counts as" both the Ever and Callidus with Lictors in fun Nid lists. The CTA ally penalties should have minimum effect on these guys.
Actually, I think the vindicare received the biggest BUFF of the four.
Yea, his stopping power is slightly reduced, but he still have more than enough of that, his problem was that with 36" range and the need of clear LoS, he usually only had one shot, maximum two, before being gunned down by basic infantry as a "by the way" manuver. and heavy cover made these shots unreliable.
Now with whooping 72" and the ability to outright ignore cover, he is assured to at least get a few shots off unless given proper attention, and make these shots count.
can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now.
I think the Cullexus is best one now, being able to be shot at and hit in cc from foes using only BS/WS 1. Plus nullifying all psychic buffs within 12"
Yea, but of the 4 he's the most silver bullet.
Outright useless if you encounter tau, necron, dark eldar or most orks, and limited use against most space marines, imperial knights and such.
The others are at least somewhat useful no matter what your opponents has.
can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now.
LOVE the new assassins, how strong they are for tournaments is going to be 100% down to if they rule them as a dataslate like cypher/belakor or if they eat up your second slot.
Culexus is BALLER. makes running no psykers a much more viable strategy, helps you turn daemon factories against them via shutting down and getting more shots. He is the cheapest one to boot. But he still has the weakness of being targetted by blasts/flamers and the like(since its not snap shots)
His weapon is still useful because it gets at least 1-3 extra shots from your own dice if you are not casting.
I am super pumped by this. The assassins force you to take somewhat balanced lists because as was said above, one will LITERALLY wreck your gak if you are too focused on one aspect.
People who stopped buying GW but wont stop bitching about it are the vegans of warhammer
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can neither confirm nor deny I lost track of what I've got right now. 
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