Officio Assassinorum Operatives - Know Thy Assassins from TauOnline.Org

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Thanks to MalVeauX for this.

Introduction

The master assassins available to the Inquisition and their allies are the most powerful assassins around. Calling upon one requires such presence that only an Inquisitor can make such a call. Taking an assassin is not to be taken lightly as they are very expensive and very different from one another, each having strength and weaknesses aside from their character that one should consider before paying the price. Prior to the Inquisitorial codices release, there used to be a codex simply for the Assassins so that they were taken more freely-this is not the case anymore, as only our Inquisitors may assume control or be allied in order to be allowed access to one of our powerful Officio Temple servants.

Basic Principles of the Assassin

Assassins all have a similar background from their training and as such share a wide variety of things that we are interested in. It is their template specification that will further specialize them for their task and for their ultimate goal in our army list. Let's take a look at just what it means to be an Assassin, aside from the obvious:

Assassins are Independent, and this does not mean an Independent Character. This means they cannot join units, nor be joined by units and they don't count for anything in the game. They cannot hold objectives or table quarters-so if you're thinking of infiltrating your assassin into that lonely quarter and using their abilities from afar, think again.

They cannot even hitch rides in vehicles should you think having one in a Land Raider. The biggest issue with this is to know that you cannot abuse the Independent Character rules to keep your assassin safe or travel safely. Your opponents will single them out if they truly wish, so knowing this, choose your path carefully.

Infiltration is of course necessary when even thinking of an Assassin. As such, they infiltrate by the normal rules. It is very important to infiltrate them into a good position because they do not have any enhanced movements, nor can they use transports, so unless they're already close, it will be a long and wary walk to the enemy or target in mind.

Really one should be using infiltration in mind with their target. So place well, and always do so in cover-you do not want to lose your assassin to small arms fire as they are quite vulnerable when they're not going one-on-one.

Culexus Temple Assassin

The Culexus is the soulless assassin. It has no presence in the warp and cannot be detected at all as such. Most notably of the Culexus is the large Animus Speculum which is the large helmet of the assassin. This is the device that focuses our Culexus into it's powers to do that which it is required to do-Hunt the Psyker. It comes down to the War Gear and Special Rules to see what we have extra:

The Etherium, unlike all the other assassins, can help our Assassin to be double the trouble as normal. The Etherium protects the Culexus with all enemies firing or psykers casting at it, to pass a leadership test prior to being able to. In terms of the rules, if the Assassin is behind another squad, it will require a target priority test as well as a second leadership test to be allowed to fire, or use the psychic power in question.

The Animus Speculum is fueled by negative psychic energy. The closer it senses psykers, the more powerful it becomes. This weapon is utterly devastating and can be used to your advantage. The more psykers that are near by, the more potent the attacks become, so using this idea, we could use our own psykers to temporarily enhance our attacks if it was pertinent though this would be slightly difficult (such as massed Grey Knight Pyskers and Inquisitors). But remember, the more psykers near by, the more shots at our amazing ballistic skill we will have. This is quite effective against our new Space Marine friends, such as Librarians to eliminate many suits of power armor before our assault. In a sticky situation, it is possible to glance (penetrate) up to 11 armor (meaning side and rear armor of several tanks) with an AP value of 1 to increase it to a penetrate in the right situation, though this should be a secondary value to think of, not the primary.

The Psyk-Out Grenades are interesting, but take place of the Animus Speculum if used. This must really have a good chance to want to lose those powerful attacks. As such, it may always hit a psyker-but that's the only target that it is useful against. Coupled with Soullessness, would could effectively cause a few wounds on an enemy Warlock, but I really would suggest that this attack is fairly not worth it unless it is absolutely vital and possible to break your target. That would require it to be a lower wound count creature with a very low armor saves of any kind. Our targets will be around leadership 7, so don't expect a miracle to happen. I really would not use this power compared to the Animus.The Psyk-Out Grenades are interesting, but take place of the Animus Speculum if used. This must really have a good chance to want to lose those powerful attacks. As such, it may always hit a psyker-but that's the only target that it is useful against. Coupled with Soullessness, would could effectively cause a few wounds on an enemy Warlock, but I really would suggest that this attack is fairly not worth it unless it is absolutely vital and possible to break your target. That would require it to be a lower wound count creature with a very low armor saves of any kind. Our targets will be around leadership 7, so don't expect a miracle to happen. I really would not use this power compared to the Animus.

Because of the nature of the Psychic Abomination, enemy psykers cannot even stand their very pressense. As such, any psyker near by will require a moral check, not a leadership test, should they be within a radius near the assassin. This ability couples with the Souless ability very well for forcing hordes of moral checks in the midst of several enemy psykers. Beware though because this effects your own psykers as well!

Soulless is the ability that everyone thinks of, when they think of the Culexus. Any unit, including your own, will be reduced by the soullessness of the Culexus. This is generally thought to use it's own abilities in conjunction with, but it's really useful coupled with other unit's abilities. For example, from the Witch Hunters, we have Divine Pronouncement which would be useful. In the Space Marines, however, the Fear of the Darkness coupled with this Soulless ability would be utterly devastating to non-fearless armies, but it effects our psykers as well, so we will want to keep a healthy distance when trying to pass our own leadership tests to use powers.

Psyker Assassin's nature requires them to destroy the Psyker, efficiently, but relatively decent against others. However, as an Assassin of Psykers, we can always target them in the shooting phase and the assault phase, completely disregarding the other models, even if it is an independent character. Knowing this, one could easily cut through a squad to smash a Warlock, enemy Inquisitor, Librarian or even a Chaos Sorcerer and eliminate them quickly to shut down whatever powers they were using or preparing to use.

Life Drain is an amazing ability actually works wonders when in contact with an enemy psyker in close combat. Combined with our Psyker Assassin ability and Soulless special rules, before combat commences, we can drain our opponent for up to a single wound, with no save of any kind possible. Thanks to our Ld10 versus their Ld7 (or worse), we will easily pass this test against their roll typically and they will lose a wound generally. Then you're free to finish your attacks as normal in sequence. Think of it as a freebie against Psykers each turn, at the beginning of combat before attacks are made. However, it only works against Psykers so it is limited as such.

Application

So where is this assassin the most effective? And what can we expect against the enemies who are not our targeted audience? Good questions, let's take a quick run down of the various races that we may come up against.

• Daemonhunters: Inquisitors and most Grey Knight characters are all Pyskers. They're also very expensive and make very tempting targets for an assassin with this kind of anti-psyker power.
• Eldar: I think it's safe to say the Eldar are obvious as most of the army is psychic in some ways. Knowing this, you can easily crush those Warlocks who power the rest of the army and slow it to a grind or even take out Farseers quickly to ruin guidance or other such abilities.
• Space Marines: They're only really decent against the Librarian, but because they're so popular now, it has earned the rank of "good against" in terms of beating them down. Should a Librarian appear near our assassin, his psychic powers suddenly don't work well anymore and we can target and destroy him relatively easy should we want to by shooting, draining his life and then assaulting him.
• Witch Hunters: We're good against Witch Hunters simply because of the Inquisitors being psykers. However, they're not so great against pure Sisters of Battle variants.

• Chaos Space Marines: Sure, we can hunt psykers but they are few and far between, and often too powerful for even our assassin. For example, a Greater Daemon is a psyker, but we will never succeed in killing on with this assassin. It could be useful against Tzeentch but this is way too specialized and focused to be good against Chaos specifically.
• Dark Eldar: What can we say other than, where are the Psykers? Well, that is a hint. We can still kill a few things, but Dark Eldar are too fast and too many for a Culexus to be even remotely effective really.
• Imperial Guard: What psykers are there to attack? A few perhaps, but not many. Maybe they could have a mention if they had a specific ally with psykers.
• Necrons: I think it goes without saying that our Culexus is simply not a good idea against the Necrons. There are no psykers and they can get right back up after the attacks, making the Culexus simply not worth it.
• Orks: There are psychic orks, but they are so rare that it's really not worth considering. Otherwise, horde armies general are not good opponents for the Culexus.
• Tau: No psykers at all, nor can there be. As such, we're not going to do much here. However, as they are weak in close combat, we can at least still dominate them in that phase so in that sense the Culexus is still useful.
• Tyranid: The Tyranid have psykers to mention, but do you really want to tangle with a Hive Tyrant? Not worth it. Maybe if the new Tyranid codex presents us with more common psychic targets, but otherwise, another horde army is just never going to be worth it in our case.

Any variation or army missed can be assessed using these very ideas, but I think you get the point.

Callidus Temple Assasin

The Calldius is arguably the most powerful Assassin. She uses her powerful Polymorphine drug to infiltrate enemy lines and pluck Evil from the root. As such, she can shape shift her appearances to even that of Xenos. With her ability she can influence the enemy and get close to her target, such as enemy commanders with ease. However, let's take a look at the various gear and special rules that grant us these amazing abilities that give her, her much deserved title:

C'tan Phase Sword is a rarity. There are not many weapons in the 40k universe with the ability to cut through armor saves and invulnerable saves and what more, even cause 2D6 penetration against vehicles. Usually abilities like this are reserved for units such as Pariah and Dread Axe wielding Daemon Princes of Chaos, however, the Imperium have their own access to such a weapon and the Callidus is entrusted with it for her deadly accuracy. This weapon is best used against those well protected foe: such as Librarians, Cannoness, Archons, Farseers, or any other powerful foe who rely on invulnerable saves for their safety. Knowing we can ignore all of their saves gives us a massive advantage using the independent character rules and polymorphine abilities to ensure contact. What's more, we could use these very same abilities to slice open the rear armor of very important tanks. Believe it or not, this assassin can rip open a Leman Russ and then move on to destroy a command squad near by later via polymorphine she can arrive behind a vital tank, stun it automatically and then attempt to cut it open with relative ease with 2D6 penetration. Quite a versatile weapon when it's brutal against everything out there.

Neural Shredder is a gauntlet based template weapon is nothing short of amazing. We don't wound based on toughness but rather by leaderships (using majorities in most cases). This may sound like it's not that great, but when you're cutting through Space Marines who have a natural leadership, you will see it's the same as a flamer, but much more deadly as it pierces all armor. Combined with polymorphine we can setup for the absolute perfect placement of this template for maximum coverage and the chance to cause massive casualty, denying armor saves to it's victims. It's also an automatic stun against a vehicle, but no further damage other than it's D3 effects as outlined in the codex. This is nothing to snuff at though, as it ensures a tank to be quiet for a turn while she's busy cutting it open from the rear. This weapon is great for cutting through average leadership armies such as Tau, Eldar, Space Marines, Orks, etc who may have decent armor saves normally or simply low leadership for ease of wounding.

Polymorphine: Our Callidus remains in reserves instead of infiltrating as normal Assassins. This is not a bad thing however. She shows up on the battle field anywhere on the board, absolutely any where and using this gives her the unrivaled ability to be where she needs to be, when she becomes available. There's no scattering, no randomness, no extra risks. When she comes to the field, she means business and she does not play around. So using this ability, we setup the best fire line or the best assault path. We can setup to make sure to capture an important enemy and ruin them, or even prepare a Tank for the scrap yard by keeping it quiet and dicing it's innards from the safety of behind it. Nothing else has this kind of ability to show up and be this powerful, short of Daemon summoning, so keep that in mind.

The Poison Blades are a flavorful attack, though not the most useful of attacks. It is an extra attack, but it happens at the end of combat with an enemy in base contact with her. This means our Jump Back ability will generally prevent this skill from being used many times. However, if remaining in combat, this attack does become useful for a single chance to wound on an average chance against anything no matter the toughness; however normal armor saves apply, so don't expect amazing results. It is useful against low armor saving infantry however for an extra casualty!

Jump Back is my favorite and probably one of the most under used and incredible tactical abilities you could bring to the board. Many people think the Whisper in Your Ear and Polymorphine abilities are the flag ship skills and in many respects they are. However, Jump Back gives us some serious control on the combat phase in order to setup devastating attacks against vital characters and squads. This skill can be risky, but when it works, it really works well. At the beginning of the assault phase, we have a chance to simply leave it up to 6 inches, even if we were the one charging! Knowing this, we can allow our self to be open for an assault from a Daemon Prince for example, then quickly jump away with our ability for a chance to leave him sitting out in the open (after working so hard to move 18~24 inches just to achieve that assault). The same works for an assault happy Librarian or Chaplain as well. No matter what is coming at you, it really works well against characters and squads alike. The point is to leave them open for the shooting phase, or simply to use our Neural Shredder again and re-charge them for the bonus attack.

Keeping this in mind, know that you must move 3 or more inches away to ensure you are not locked into combat again by your enemy as they make a consolidation move after you leave combat (however, you can still leave that combat again too if you want at the beginning of the next assault phase, effectively leading a target or squad in a direction of your choice should they choose to attempt to keep you in combat). This ability truly shines when a Monstrous Creature attempts combat to be protected from the shooting phase, which you may promptly leave and expose them to fire (example: Daemon Prince, Hive Tyrant, etc).

A Word In Your Ear: One of the flagship abilities is that even though our Assassin is held in reserves, she still effects the battle before it starts. She allows us to move any enemy unit deployed up to a few inches which can be really tactically advantageous. This allows us to take an important squad out of cover and into the open. This allows us to expose that hiding barrage ordinance tank. This ability only works in the enemy deployment zone, so you may not use it to disrupt an enemy infiltrating squad outside of their deployment zone, so don't cheat your opponents with that ability. This is a great way to put that independent character out front where their status doesn't protect them anymore, such as a Commander or Ethereal or even Demagogue. It's also a great way of exposing a Hive Tyrant in cover or other such beast such as a Biovore. It's also great for keeping a fast and dangerous vehicle such as a Falcon right out front where we can tear them to ribbons on our first turn.

Application

Honestly the Calldius is effective in many ways against every army in multiple ways. She's always useful and always has the ability to cause damage equal to her points, which makes her simply perfect for all your assassin needs. Let's take a brief walk across who we're great against:

• Chaos Space Marines: You can use the Callidus to expose Defilers, Daemon Princes, Raptor squads, hidden Rhinos and Havoc teams for a good chance to fry them in the shooting phase. Later, you can show up and intercept an important target, and halt it or simply destroy it, such as acing the rear armor of a predator or silencing a squad of Havocs. She can also intercept, burn and then assault some Raptors, though I recommend avoiding many-model-fights and looking for the one-on-one fights where she performs far better.
• Daemonhunters: Of course she's useful against them. What better way to expose an Inquisitor or bunkered Storm Trooper squad, or vehicles that are now in plain sight. Also, we can use polymorphine to show up and fry Storm Troopers or Inquisitorial squads with the shredder and assault them with good success and breaking through their invulnerable defenses. Beware the anti-invulnerable save weapons though!
• Dark Eldar: Of course it's wonderful to move their expensive HQ and Raider into the open as it is open topped and begging for firepower. Later your shredder makes a mess of their average leadership 8. If all else fails, you can rip through invulnerable saves or simply destroy raiders at will. However, beware being outnumbered as you will fall to many but slay the few.
• Eldar: This is probably our best enemy for the Calldius as we can put their Farseer toting Wave Serpent or a Falcon right in plain sight for the ace shot. We can expose hiding Warp Spyders to their doom and we can prepare some Reapers for annihilation. Later we can show up to silence some D-cannons crews or Reapers with a combined burn-assault. Should we tango with a Wraithlord we can always jump away to avoid the fist.
• Imperial Guard: Destroying tanks with rear armor is fairly easy. So why not move one out to the front for exposure, rip another one up later and then just assault whatever heavy weapon crews are around. Guard are quickly ruined when their standard bearer and master vox caster are annihilated and you start causing moral checks around the battlefield. Simply exposing a vital unit and then destroying a vital heavy weapon team or tank is mind blowingly good.
• Necrons: What better way to put that Lord out front before he has a chance to join a Necron squad for protection. Another way to put those Destroyers front and center. Afterwards, we can always show up with the shredder to attempt some 6+ wounds, though it will be hard. However, they work nicely against Scarabs! Her real target would be the small squads of Heavy Destroyers or Destroyers who will be hard to attack back, but easily crushed with no hope of return as their guns are quiet and their We'll Be Back rolls denied.
• Orks: What can't she kill here? Want to move that Warboss retinue front and center? What better way to take down a Forcefield. She can even slice up that looted Leman Russ sitting in the back. However, stay away from mobs as even the weakest troops in vast numbers are trouble.
• Space Marines: We can cause absolute terror to that Devistator squad or that Whirlwind that was hiding before hand by exposing them. We can also put their Chaplain dangerously far away from his assault squad so that he cannot join them as he planned making him vulnerable. I particularly like the idea of moving an expensive heavy devastator squad right to the board edge as close as possible so that later, when she assaults them and forces them to run hopefully, they'll simply disappear from the board. It's also a great way to put that predator that was in a great position to fire on your tanks behind terrain where it is useless. Later, we can always assault some scouts that were causing trouble, rip open a Vindicator tank, or tangle with a solo Master who was granting Rites of Battle to his brothers. Virtually anything in this army is vulnerable.
• Tau: Tau are simply devastated by the Callidus. She exposes their precious battle suits or Ethereals or wrecks that Pathfinder move if we're lucky. We can take that hull down Hammerhead and make it penetrable should we have the first turn. Later we can fry battle suits or cut into some battlesuits or broadsides should we need to quite some long range weaponry. Nothing is safe here, but avoid Kroot like the plague.
• Tyranids: We get to throw the Hive Tyrant right out front this time to dispatch her if possible. We can also get that pesky Biovore out of cover. Better yet, we can get a fat squad of Gaunts prepared for a template attack in line of sight. Whatever you want to shoot at, you can! Later, we can show up and burn and assault something, though I would avoid the gaunts or anything that is numerous. She is best against those expensive but slow bugs such as biovores or static lone Warriors, basically anything by itself and expensive, but rather weak. You defiantly don't want to tangle with a monstrous creature of any kind or a squad of Warriors. More will be available once the new Codex is released soon!
• Witch Hunters: Whatever kind of Hunter your facing, odds are you'll cause some frowns when that Cannoness is made vulnerable or that Immolator full of Celestians is no longer hidden behind those rhinos. Maybe even the Seraphim or Inquisitor that were hiding are now readily accessible by your guns. Later, we can burn almost any squad we wish based on their average leadership and assault them for good results. Attacking a fat squad is not a good idea, but small Inquisitorial retinues are prime expensive and juicy targets as are Exorcists lurking in the background. No matter what it is, we can generally kill it here.

Rien especial, in other words: Nothing; She's right mean to everyone!

Any variation or army missed can be assessed using these very ideas, but I think you get the point.

Eversor Temple Assassin

The cheaper of the four, and the faster and more combat crazed it is, the Eversor is an excellent choice for spear head assaults and nasty surprises coming from such a small body. He's basically a ticking time-bomb that is fueled by the Inquisition to strike terror into our foes. Let's take a look at our war gear and special rules that give us this ability to have our enemies sweating.

There isn't much special about the Executioner Pistol, other than it's a pistol with two firing methods, both of which are similar. One is a standard bolt pistol, and the other is a needle pistol which always wounds on an average value, like Sniper Riles do, with a weaker AP value. Neither of these are terribly good, but they're decent against the low armored foe based on our number of shots being higher than normal thanks to Fast Shot.

Nothing special about the Power Weapon and Melta Bombs, but both are great of course. The Melta Bombs are particularly nice as it gives us a good ability to charge and bust a tank (Unless we miss our attack of course!). Really we should not be targeting tanks though when there is nothing else to attack, it's a possibility that could end up with a rubbled vehicle. The power weapon may seem out of place when we have the gauntlet, but against the T3 type enemies, this weapon may be used more often for the ease of wounding them, not to mention our bonus attacks for having multiple close combat weapons.

The Neuro-Gauntlet is a great weapon. We always wound on an average roll regardless of our enemy's toughness and we can even glance a tank. The good news is also that we ignore armor saves. This weapon will be used the more frequently most likely as it has the same chance to wound T4 enemies just like the Power Weapon, however we have more abilities against the tougher foes of course. Really, with our initiative and number of attacks due to Combat Drugs and assault distance, we can assault virtually any target and hope for good odds of destruction, even against something as scary as a Wraithlord or Carnifex with a chance to drop them without too much cause for concern.

With our Combat Drugs, we assault double the distance now and we get a load more of attacks on the charge rather than just the normal +1. However, this is only on the charge, so after that we're down to our normal number of attacks plus any bonuses for multiple combat weapons. There isn't much to say other than this is great as it's an obvious shock attack with explosive potential. More dice are always welcome!

Fast Shot: Because of our metabolism, we can always fire our pistol twice in the shooting phase as if we hadn't moved. This isn't anything amazing, but at least it's an extra shot with our good ballistic skill. Mainly this is most useful against the tougher targets as we can cause a quick two wounds prior to our explosive assault. However, all we can do is hope for better than average luck on those resulting wound rolls.

Bio-Meltdown! is quite a flavorful ability in that if we fall, which we always do, we go out with a bang. We get a mini-Holocaust attack in that we get a template and some wounds though with normal saves allowed. This is a fantastic ability to put an extra hole in the horde armies with low armor saves after they eventually rip the Evesor down after the shocking charge takes out a portion of their numbers.

Application

Evesor Assassins are kitted for combat and as such should be considered for quickly crushing an enemy that is perhaps not so strong in combat, however, we're generally good against virtually every army with the Evesor as everyone is vulnerable to the Neuro-Gauntlet and the Combat Drug induced spear head attack that we can perform.

• Chaos Space Marines: Hordes of attacks with speed, after a successful infiltration is a great way to break apart a Havoc team or even get an early charge on a Daemon Prince. We have good odds for causing damage and we generally cost cheaper than whatever it is we'll be attacking so it's always a good idea. After all, only a few models will pay for our price in the first place.
• Daemonhunters: This is a great way to slam into the ever-expensive Grey Knights. They are quite vulnerable due to small squad sizes and expensive numbers. Otherwise, we can always prey on weaker target such as Inquisitors or inducted allies. Even terminators are in danger in this case, but beware those invulnerable save ignoring weapons!
• Necrons: We have a great ability to assault those expensive Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers or even plundering small squads of Warriors. Necrons cost quite a mint, so even if we only kill a few, they won't have the best chance to come back to life and a few casualties more than pay for our price.
• Space Marines: Of course we're good at busting tough and highly armored infantry as that's what we're meant for! Destruction of that Devastator squad or a Tactical squad is always a welcoming target.
• Tau: We're good at combat and Tau aren't. The protocol is simple. Chasing down suits and beating them silly is easy and we can get double our cost back just killing three of them!
• Witch Hunters: Lots of weak power armor and we have hordes of attacks and wound easily? Sounds like a plan to me! This is a great way to bust and whittle down a large squad who will not be able to pull of a Spirit of the Martyr. However, we can also envelope Inquisitors or even tangle toe-to-toe with their Acro-Flagelants.

• Dark Eldar: When we face a squad that is just as fast, more numerous than us and generally really cheap, we don't really have a recipe for success. We could possibly kill an entire squad, via killing many them in the initial charge, but then being killed in return and exploding with a bio-meltdown. However, what's the use if we already killed everything that would normally be under that blast template? The Evesor can be useful against them of course, but your best bet is to assault the smaller squads.
• Eldar: Eldar are fast and numerous, so again, it's difficult to get where we need to be to have our best results. However, we can surprisingly take down a Wraithlord with relative ease which can be an incredible surprise for the price of our assassin. We can also tangle with the smaller more specialized squads, though many times we'll lose out on the initiative and perhaps not quite make those attacks.
• Imperial Guard: Hordes of cheap troops just aren't worth sending a combat-specialist after as he'll be overwhelmed. However busting into a command platoon could be a good idea, or assaulting an enemy infiltrator squad such as Snipers or pounding into that veteran squad.
• Orks: Attacking Orks with a single body that isn't that strong may result in dead orks, but it will only work so well as you can only reach 2 inches around you. Orks are too numerous and cheap. If anything assaulting the warboss and nob retinue may be worth while as they're expensive and heavily armored, but otherwise, it's just not going to be pretty whoever swings back at her.
• Tyranid: It's not hard to imagine what happens when you assault guants who have longer attack range than your assassin does. You may only kill a few in range, but they can do the same right back. Plus, they're faster so you may miss your charge in the first place. If anything assaulting a Hive Tyrant or Carnifex would be the best target really to at least get a few wounds started to make it easier later. That alone may be worth the points.

Any variation or army missed can be assessed using these very ideas, but I think you get the point.

Vindicare Temple Assassin

Sniper lovers rejoice as the master has arrived. The Vindicare is the absolute kind of snipers putting even the mighty Alaitoc to shame. They are pompous and deadly and stand by their skill, though they have such skill to back up that sort of behavior for sure! Of all the assassins the Vindicare generally receives a lot of attention due to popularity and the raw power and safety that the assassin has-however do not let such dreams fool you as he is not going to perform quite the same as the other assassins for his price.

Unfortunately it's a single shot and a single wound each turn. So making it count is where the dividing line of totally worth it and totally worthless will be drawn. Let's take a look at the awesome war gear and special rules that make the Vindicare the ultimate assassin.

Exitus Rifle, the rifle of the master. This beast of a weapon has the normal abilities of a sniper rifle, but with a far better AP value. But the fun doesn't stop there, we have special rounds that can be used, once per turn and once per battle to make these shots happen even better. Also, don't forget the pinning tests that you cause with this weapon.

Shield-breaker: This round is going to ignore both the armor save and invulnerable save of the target. This is great for breaking that last wound off of that important target, such as that daemon prince or Avatar or even the tattered Farseer or even Necron Lord. This shot is not going to be that great, but should you take it against that last, vital wound, it becomes worth the price all together.

Turbo-Penetrator: Inflicting multiple wounds is always welcome and we can even cause a little damage to a tank-though firing at a vehicle should not be considered unless no other more important targets are in sight. This kind of shot is great for taking down multi-wound foes, such as Farseers or attempting a spear-head shot to begin the downfall of a tough target, such as a Wraithlord or Daemon Prince.

Hellfire: The best round by far, is the Hellfire round. This shot always wounds pretty much, far better than normal on Sniper weapons. So we have incredibly good odds of both hitting and wounding our target. Essentially, we can stop something before it ever begins with this shot and it should be made with extreme care. This round takes out that vital lascannon, or squad character. It also takes out the daemon icon or picks off that last Necron Destroyer to deny the We'll Be Back roll. This shot is not to be wasted on just any leader, so make it count even if you have to wait until later in the game to take it. You may find that early on, nothing exists that is more worth another, but later in the game, the last daemon icon can be a very important target, or the final Warlock may also be important for examples.

Exitus Pistol: What better way to increase the pain than to match a pistol to the Rifle that started it all? The pistol is strong and has a fantastic AP, combined with the Vindicare's ballistic skill, we have a potent answer for the closing in enemy.

Spy Mask is simply awesome. Normally anyone will duck for cover when a nasty sniper such as this is lurking, but this mask reduces those cover saves to ensure we still hit on target. We reduce cover, but may not completely negate it. Also, we can see much further in night fights with the multiplier being much higher than normal.

The original Stealth Suit is found right here. During normal games, night fight rules will be in effect when firing at our Vindicare and during night fight missions, the distance is halved. What's not to like about the master sniper who can hit you but cannot be seen in return!

Marksman is the ability that everyone thinks of when they think of the Vinidcare. That is because he can pick off any of his targets, regardless of the rules of targeting restrictions. We can even choose to bust that independent character behind other squads. What a great way to punish an Ethereal for existing. Also a great way to pick off the champs of enemy squads to reduce their leadership, which is then amplified by the resulting pinning test with less leadership to pass it with! Taking out the Hive Node or the Warlock can be utterly vital to breaking the squad that they lead. Thus is the power of the Vindicare, when it works anyways.

Application:

Because we're a shooting ability Assassin, we're not terribly interested in close combat. Keeping that in mind, we're only good against enemies that really rely on individual models in groups to enhance or cause damage from safety, or abuse independent character rules. In this case, squad champions that are very important such as Warlocks and Shas'ui are prime targets as are opposing enemy weapons such as the single Plasma Cannon sitting in the rear. However, let's take a brief look at all the races and the application of the master sniper against them.

• Chaos Space Marines: Absolutely a great choice against Chaos as picking off Champs is very important to break their moral ability when not-fearless or removing their combat god from the midst of the pack. It's also perfect for taking out that Daemon Icon.
• Eldar: Is conceal giving you a hard time? Then remove the Warlocks, and we reduce that cover save as well to ensure they fail it and break the squad in the process with a pinning test. Otherwise, we can help to take down tougher targets such as Wraithlords or Reaper Exarchs who pose major threats.
• Imperial Guard: We can eliminate the Officer, thus breaking moral throughout the ranks. We can also remove that demolition charge from that special weapon squad. Or we can just take away that Commissar's last wound who was carrying the power fist.
• Necons: Just the fact that we can pick off the Necron Lord over and over with a combination of Hellfire round and then turbo-penetrator is enough to make anyone smile to get rid of that Resurrection Orb fast.
• Orks: We can destroy the Nob and ruin the moral of a squad that is under-sized. We can also pick off that force field model. We can take out the flamer or the tank buster that needed to be taken out. Orks have a lot of characters, so of course, we can make good use of taking them out. The bad news is the number of wounds they have sometimes makes it a little tougher!
• Space Marines: You bet it's good to break a Veteran out of the squad and reduce their leadership to 8 and force a pinning test. We can also remove that power fist model or that plasma cannon from the various ranks.
• Tau: Just the ability to put a hole through an Ethereal first turn with two wounds taken by a Turbo-Penetrator can be a wrecking-ball. Later we can take away the leadership from the Shas'ui in squads. Otherwise, our shots are generally not as important compared to more character-heavy armies.
• Tyranid: Hive Nodes are on the rise instead of Synpasis, so the Vindicare can make better use of his abilities against the Tyranid to break moral. However, don't expect miracles in all cases as the Tyranid move too fast at times to be able to keep shooting them when they're constantly in combat.
• Witch Hunters: Taking out Faithful characters with expensive War Gear is worth the ability 5 fold. Also taking out expensive retinue members of Inquisitors is also a great ability.

• Daemonhunters: It may be good to bust the Justicar, but we have to see them first, and having to roll all the time can be unreliable. Generally we're better shooting at Inquisitors and wrecking their special squad members for points, but really it's just a wanting effort.
• Dark Eldar: Dark Eldar have characters, but they're not quite as vital as the normal Eldar. However, taking a shot at heavy weapons such as Dark Lances can be worth while.

Any variation or army missed can be assessed using these very ideas, but I think you get the point.

Death-Cult Assassins and Conclusion

Death-Cult Assassins are not Officio Assassinorum Operatives and do not really belong in the same category as you are not limited to 0-1 of them. However you still require an Inquisitor to field them and they are more numerous. They are limited to combat only abilities, but are rather splendid, yet pricey. They are simply mentioned here as they too are an assassin but are not so amazing or different to warrant an article of their own.

They carry the normal rules for most assassins, but have cheaper prices and lesser stats. We do however maintain amazing speed and number of attacks on our profiles though we're quite fragile. Using these assassins generally is best in groups I have found because as independent units, each, small enemies that are tough, such as terminators are forced to spread their attacks to each assassin as they are independent of each other. That means they may miss a few and only manage to damage a single assassin with their multiple wounds rather than forcing us to remove whole models par normal rules.

Death-Cults are best against smaller, more resilient targets and should avoid the fast and numerous targets as they will be quickly overwhelmed. It is a good idea to hold them back to have them charge later, rather than early as they make great finishing blows. Keeping them behind a team that is mounted in a vehicle can be a great idea, though it wastes their infiltration ability. However the real key is targeting and assaulting the right squad to make best of their skills. Terminators, Chosen, Wraithguard, Immortals, etc are all prime candidates.

Conclusion

I hope this guide to your Officio Assassinorum Operative and Death-Cult Assassins has helped you to better choose or at least better use your assassin. There are countless combinations of units to couple with the various assassins but I'll leave that up to your imagination to figure the more far-fetched ideas out!

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